DJ Andy Smith - The Document (Go Beat)

The DJ as curator of a vast archive of 40 years of vinyl history is not a new concept. But Andy Smith's 15 track compilation is one of the first to physically embrace four decades of dance music and mix them into a cohesive and coherent journey-by-DJ. This is the sort of mix CD you might only expect from Portishead's live support DJ. What starts of in familiar territory (tracks by the Jungle Brothers and the James Gang) soon venture into a more historical vein - cue Barry White and Marvin Gaye. But that's nothing compared to the moments when Tom Jones and Peggy Lee (crooning 'Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay') slide in. But all this is just a give-away - the best way to experience this album is to go in blind and listen with ever raising eyebrows as the whole thing unfolds.

The Document is Definitely consigned to the Eclectic Selection file - and that's before S.L. Troopers merges into The Spencer Davis Group. So stop trying to get hold of bootleg copies of Andy Smith's increasingly bootlegged WFNX Boston radio session and go straight for this, a totally legit assimilation of 60/70/80/90s beats. 9/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine