Danny Tenaglia - Global Underground 017: London

Speaking straight of the heart. This is a true masterwork. The main thing with this is that it clocks in at very low BPM but still makes people move to it. And playing it this set slow takes skilled experienced DJ's, And Danny is a master of it and does it so good, Too good actually.
And as for the track selection, it packed with excelent underground house tracks far too many to mention. It's deep house, tribal house, trancey sounds and techno. And they all are put together extremely well although many are edited. It's just perfect for relaxing homelistening as well as it could be danced too. But really, it's just Danny pointing a finger to you all who believe that it doesn't has to go in 133 bpm, it's aimed highly to the real enthusiast of house music lovers. And it shows that Danny still has the skills to pull it off bigtime. My conclusion: A Masterful compilation of highest order.

This is, without doubt, the high point of the entire Global Underground series and easily qualifies among the top 10 House music mixes of all time. It is a showcase of great music from beginning to end, intricate yet accessible, and masterfully mixed to seamless perfection by one the most experienced pairs of hands in the business. It was an eye–opening experience the first time, and many years later it still brings a unique pleasure. Timeless and classic, it sounds no less vital and relevant now than it did six years ago.

The throbbing, wildly exotic musical landscape that Tenaglia offers up traverses the entire breadth of underground dance music, from its roots in jazz, soul, and disco, and then onwards and upwards into its future where technology and ancient tribal rhythms meld into a perfect whole. This mix defies categorization by genre: the quality and diversity of Tenaglia's track selections are simply astounding, and virtually any one of them would today provide a welcome breath of fresh air on dancefloors anywhere in the world, especially in those places starved of soul by the acido–electro–syntho ephemera that are currently working their way through the bowels of the underground.

Although GU Tenaglia/London is all about House music, it has an unmistakably epic quality to it. "Epic" is a term that's more commonly associated with Trance, but there's none of the drugged out cheesiness of that genre to be found here; no trashy build up of soaring synthesizer refrains, tacky drum rolls, or the flabby self–consciousness that was the undoing of that particular dead–end in underground dance music. GU Tenaglia/London is uncompromisingly about getting down to dirty beats, grooving basslines, and dance music that pays proper respect to its origins while looking astutely forward to where it might head. Indeed, GU Tenaglia/London perfectly anticipated the entire tribal phase of the Progressive House movement, offering up one timeless classic after another that out–tribalizes and out–progresses anything that the dark princes of Progressive House (subsequently) ever managed to concoct; and it did so without ever disconnecting from the organic soulfulness that separates the true craftsmen from mere hacks and pretenders.

Those who take issue with this mix for its "slow" speed and/or the repetitiveness of certain tracks should bear in mind only one thing: all of it was deliberate. Tenaglia the DJ is the consummate tweaker/twister/reconstructor, whether in the studio or on the fly, more so even than Deep Dish. And, fortunately for those who need a clue, Tenaglia is prolific with his listening notes: you know he's on deck when the CD booklet runs into a dozen or more pages of fine print.

On the issue of speed:

[Tenaglia] is willing to let us into the secret of successfully flipping [between musical] styles [in a mix]: "I pitch it down," he says. Slowing everything down lets him be as eclectic as he wants, because it's all grooving at his pace. — Liner notes to GU Danny Tenaglia/Athens (1999).

Tenaglia plays gourmet house. He doesn't use rapid–fire snare rolls and he doesn't drop quick–fix dancefloor explosions. He teases out swaying grooves that slow–burn rather than flame up, but still bristle with energy ... . — Liner notes to the present mix.

(It's unlikely to be a coincidence that GU's resident PR man and liner note writer did his best work annotating the loquacious Tenaglia's GU mixes.)

On the issue of repetition, Tenaglia himself says this in the notes to this mix:

Pro–tools software was only used to edit and mainly shorten many of the songs that were way too long to fit on the CD's. There are also places where I've utilized the editing to do "minor" remixes here and there. The best example would be Track 1 of CD 2 "Signals", where I get to bring back the top of the song and have it rebuild since it never had any breakdown, and my special WMC re-edit of ATFC's "In & Out Of My Life". See if you can trainspot the others.

Danny Tenaglia produced this extraordinary mix after more than a quarter–century in the dance music business, and could well have retired on this crowning achievement. Luckily for his fans, he did not; unfortunately, though, he hasn't released anything commercially since GU Tenaglia/London that really comes close in quality, preferring mostly to work on eclectic productions in the studio and continuing to thrill audiences live on dancefloors. That's not so bad given the quality and longevity of this mix (something that can't be said for 75% of the other GU releases), but perhaps it is now time for him to help us connect the dots once again with a new 2XCD release that puts the last six years of House music into their proper context.

To give a contrary view I am seriously unimpressed with the content of this global underground edition. I admire the technical aspects i.e. seamless mixing etc but the tracks are weak, repetative, monotonous and sometimes downright stupid. I would say there are maybe 2 above average tracks, and that's about it. It's just my taste but I like a track to stand out in some way; something that gets you and stays with you. This release was instantly forgettable, IMHO.

I have a very much "split opinion" on this release. The first CD, whilst containing some top-drawer tunes such as "Watch Them Come" and "Touched By God", doesn't really seem to gel like a Tenaglia mix usually does. The "narrative" style he weaves through a set seems absent.

However, this all changes for the second disc, probably one of the best mixes ever released commercially. Straight away he starts with the vocal sample "the enchantment has ended; but the spell remains" which clearly indicates how Tenaglia has a knack for hypnotising the listener with his dark, mystical tales, almost like some kind of tribal wizard!

He slowly teases us through the repetitive mantras of "Otradnoje", trance-inducing beats of "Magical Digital Drum" and one of Laurent Garnier's finest re-works, Elegia's "Basic". He then starts to pick up the intensity with "Dominica" and "Junk Funk" before exploding into the uplifting electric vocals of MK's "Burning". The final piece of magic is created by dropping down again to the spine-tingling hypnotics of "Ways Of Love" and "Monsoon" before finishing with his masterpiece of re-editing, Devilfish "Live 1999". Here Tenaglia takes only the second half of an epic techno record, pitches the tempo right down and creates more drops to add to the tension between the hissing percussive workouts. His genius is confirmed!

Very tribal, very funky, very groovy, and VERY VERY good. This is one of my absolute favorite mixes off the Global Underground series. If you haven't heard this yet you don't know what you're missing. Danny will show you music you never thought existed.

This is the 2nd mix that Danny Tengalia has done for Global Underground. And just like the first mix, it's really, really good. I expect that from one of the best DJs in the world. The first disc starts out with tribal kinda funky type grooves that works its way into some progressive stuff and ends with progressive. Disc two is my favorite! It starts out with a repeatative type sample that he has tweaked himself (its not supposed to have any breakdowns but he re-edited it). But you realize from the beginning that yes this is progressive, but its deep and dark and makes you want to move! It stays progressive throughout the cd but moves into a trance-ish type sound at the end. Enjoy the ride!