Shinichi Osawa -- Sakurahills Disco 3000

Early in the life of this blog, I provided an article on bird's single "Game" which was the impetus for me to get producer Shinichi Osawa's (大沢伸一...aka Mondo Grosso) April 2000 compilation album "Sakurahills Disco 3000". Did love the neo-disco that bird provided, and the version of that single on this particular compilation was just a shade under 10 minutes long.

Basically, that's what Osawa provides through his friends here: a set of remixes that brings together that old disco feeling incorporated into the contemporary clubbing atmosphere at the time. Some of the tracks stand out more than others, including the launching track "Discotique Murphy's Theme" by SHD 3000 and Murphy himself. Couldn't find out who exactly SHD 3000 was but I'm wondering if it's just another alias for Osawa himself. Yup, it's repetitive but the point is just to get you all warmed up on the dance floor and into the rhythm.

Monday Michiru will always be a welcome sound for sore ears. Thus, she is here with SHD 3000 to provide "Real Thing". Written and composed by Michiru herself, it's very nice to hear the good ol' sweeping and soaring R&B with some classy jazz. Could imagine darting among the skyscrapers of Manhattan on a magic flying carpet while listening to this one on a clear night.

I read about the band Kyoto Jazz Massive in my copy of Steve McClure's "Nippon Pop" years ago but didn't actually get to listen to the these fellows until I bought "Sakurahills Disco 3000". Their contribution to the album is "Substream" which also came out as one of their singles. According to their Wikipedia entry, they like to combine crossover jazz and electronic styles, and with "Substream", there is that mix of funk/soul with the improvisation of jazz with the result being something like the coolest AOR on a couple of cans of Red Bull. It certainly gave me wings.

One of the members, Hajime Yoshizawa（吉澤はじめ）, is on the Fender Rhodes and as I hear him noodling away, I couldn't help but be reminded of the late Vince Guaraldi when he was playing some of his "Peanuts" music in the 1970s entries of the beloved series with Charlie Brown & Snoopy. The other members are the brothers Shuya and Yoshihiro Okino（沖野修也・沖野好洋）.

These must be the cool kids of Seton Academy!

For the lack of a better expression, I guess Fantastic Plastic Machine's "Petitions" would be one of the more frantic chillout disco tunes that I've heard. It's been years and years since I was on the dance floor (and frankly, any disco that would have me nowadays would need the extra insurance), and "Petitions" is one of those songs that will have my legs twisting all over the place into a pretzel while my upper body goes all slow and rubbery. While FPM chugs up the beat, the sultriness is provided by the voice of Lori Fine, the vocalist of COLDFEET.

All these years, I've been waiting to get some excuse to get the legendary Earth Wind & Fire here. Well, now I've got the reason. The final track in "Sakurahills Disco 3000" is the Phats & Small Mutant Disco Vocal Mix of EW&F's just-as-legendary "September", known as "September 99". As soon as I got the video here, I turned up the volume solely as an automatic reflex.

I first got to know the original "September" back on the radio when I was in high school. Since then, I've never failed to listen to the song and appreciate it in the fall. The original was also a pretty short number but it's just so filled with fun and goodness, and when I heard that there was an extended remix, I just had to listen to it. If bird's "Game" was the bait that got me drawn to "Sakurahills Disco 3000", seeing the listing for "September 99" was the hook that finally landed me.