Re-members Only (Six Degrees Records) Remember the 1980s? Some of us would rather not, the memories are just too painful for a decade which - in the early part at least - went horribly wrong both musically and stylistically. King Britt, on the other hand, loves the 80s. In fact, he can't get enough of it. For those in the know, Re-Members Only is King Britt's follow-up to his 70s-inspired When The Funk Hits The Fan, released in 1998. In this day and age you don't go around calling yourself 'king' without good reason and he is a master DJ, mixer and producer from Philadelphia. On Re-Members Only King Britt is the house DJ of his own radio station, WISH 130, and he uses his time to lay down gem after gem on the turntable. The album starts by resurrecting such names as Alison Moyet (her first work in four years) and ABC's Martin Fry who guests on specially written tracks. The music is true to the age: there's plenty of synth-pop arrangements, thumb-slapping bass, drum machine backing, hissing hi-hats and studio hand-claps. Where the concept succeeds is in the mix, the vibe is slap bang up to date - King Britt takes the past and makes it happening, more so than most of the other club sounds around at present. If you stay on for the ride you'll hear Alma Horton (famous for Last Night A DJ Saved My Life), Jazzy Jeff, Grover Washington Jnr and De La Soul's Pos and Trugoy all doing their thing to a sylk-y linear groove, which literally grows and grows until you could swear you're back in the 21st century. Re-Members Only is a beautiful nightmare, whichever decade you come from.
