69 – 4 Jazz Funk Classics

When I first listened to Ladies and Gentlemen and My Machines (both opening the Intergalactic Beats compilation), I remember thinking I had been listening to four or five tracks. Only upon looking at the track listing did I realise both were just one long track. Can't help but thinking that most techno and house producers these days still have not fully absorbed the lessons of, and further investigated the road taken by 69. This is at times imperfect, but raw and fearless and daring sampling art. And funky as hell to boot. The record that got me hooked to Carl Craig.

got the record, got the t-shirt, Carl Craig is GOD!

Can you spot the Jimi Hendrix sample on this one ?

While we're factivating, Carl Craig commandeered the title of this EP from UK analogue industrial noise-merchants Throbbing Gristle whos 1978 LP was entitled '20 Jazz Funk Greats' which contains, in my opinion the first sequenced 4/4 dancefloor track, namely 'Hot On The Heels Of Love'.

Some facts about this release- The break- beat sample featured in 'my machines (extraterrestrial ragga beats pt1/reprise pt2)' is from the Ragga Twins track 'Wipe The Needle' (from the album 'Reggae Owes Me Money'), produced by London's 'Shut up & Dance' & featuring a sample of 'We Play Reggae' by "In Crowd". Carl was reputedly a big fan of S.U.A.D.
There are indeed some cosmetic differences between the original release and the 2004 re- issue, most notably the weight. Also The 2004 re- issue came sealed in a white sealed sleeve, where as the original 1991 release mainly came in black or white sleeves, but you'd be hard pushed to find many sealed today, in fact in around 2000 this was considered rare & hard to find. The original pressing also feels a little less perfect with the centre labelling, which has a slightly more metallic bronzy/coppery colour, when compared to the slightly browner/flatter colour tone of the re- press.
I hope this is helpful if wanting to seek out an original copy of this seminal release...

I handed Carl my original copy to sign in plastic people, London 2004, and he looked bewildered, almost like it was long forgotten... The re-press then hit the shops within 2 months of the signing...

One of Carl Craig’s seminal projects of the nineties. Sixty Nine's tunes brought an amazingly broad & eclectic perspective to the World of underground electronic music. "4 Jazz Funk Classics", from 1991, Honored the Breakbeats & Jazz-Funk influences, still with great futuristic-electronic perspective. This is his start as 69, acclaimed by the specialists. "Ladies & Gentlemen", the opening tune, had sweet synths and percussion, with a sudden bassline storm and space effects causing a severe impact on the audience, meant to put the intense listeners into total hypnosis; absolutely perfect for a rave climax, the tune also surprises with a mega breakbeat at the drop out (probably sampled by an old school break standard) - followed by the bassline nightmare on the sequence.
"If Mojo was a.m." reminds the legendary Electrifying Mojo, who used to play magnificent sets on a Detroit Radio at nights during the eighties that influenced all the techno pioneers. Carl Craig did this music with very well made percussion, a fine bass and of course a sense for the underground.
"My Machines pt 1 & 2" is a mixture of experimentalism, bleep synths, modulations, and abstrack breaks at the drop out. The "Frequency Finale" is fast, strange, and pure panic, in a pandemonium of 303; it was inspired on Visage's seminal classic "Frequency 7" (that even Mojo would play on his Radio Sessions). A Grand finale!