Various – Detroit Beatdown (Volume One)

My People samples Tenderness - Got To Keep On Trying

looove the Dwayne Jensen - My People. straight up funk groover.. been searching for the original sample for a while, very juicy. together with Abrams - Loose piano the top notch grooves on this LP. Essential.

Norm Talley's "Change" contains samples of underground gay classic "Carl Bean - I Was Born This Way" (1977).

I bought this in the first place for the Darren Abrams - Loose Piano track, but this compilation is a statement in Detroit's music history, so many fine talents gathered for this project and luckily vinyl only released on this single compilation

I have to echo the love the other discogs users have given this selection in their comments. This compilation is way more than you may expect from a collection of downtempo detroit house cuts. There is plenty of imagination shown by all producers involved and a lot of warmth in the music too. Another standout element is some of the sampling on these tracks - a real disco feel but not the kind of dull 're-edit' disco that is being produced by the truckload the moment. These track may be slow and long but you know you're listening to talented producers when you still want the groove to go on for at least a few more minutes. Invest some quality listening-time in this one.

I find it interesting that no one has commented on this album yet. It was the first attempt to make what has been going on in Detroit's house scene into a cohesive whole. Though it fails on some level due to the spread of genres and years usually played in their deejaying sets, this compilation does do a decent job of showing the different styles of production. Theo's discordant "Falling Up" is here in its original form, superior in my opinion to the more straightforward Carl Craig remix that has blown up. Norm Talley, not the most prolific producer, drops two more sample based gems on this album, as does one of the slept on originators of techno, Eddie Fowlkes. Mike Clark's "Let Your Love" uses it's vocal sample to hypnotise the dancefloor into ecstacy. Other highlights include Darren Abrams' "Loose Piano", Rick Wilhite's "Ruby Nights", and Delano Smith's "Metropolis", though every track on here is pretty strong. These tracks are meant to be dropped inbetween disco, techno, house, soul, 80's, and jazz records, that's the best way to understand the true beatdown sound!

Being a proud native of Detroit now living abroad, I nonetheless approached this collection with some trepidation. Would it be more of the often cold pulses from outer space and dancefloor mashes that we've come to expect? Certainly not. It shows that although not wildly innovative, these Detroit DJ's and producers have created a soulful urban vibe that still keeps with the signature Detroit feel. Brooding, but lovely and fulfilling. Norm Tally will certainly be one to watch as his bootleg productions begin to make the rounds...

"It was Eddie Folkes whom I first heard use the word Beatdown after I had raved about Norm Talley's tracks. To me it was Techno, but it was slower than any Techno I'd heard. It was just deep music and Eddie called it Beatdown. When I asked him for description of Beatdown, he just replied, 'Beat-down, down tempo'.
So what IS Beatdown? In my view, it is simply Detroit electronic music at a mid-tempo. Listen to Detroit Beatdown Vol. 1 and make up your own mind..."

Guy McCreery