A's and Bees Label
By: Dream Chimney
The following interview was conducted August 30, 2023
A's Bees is on its third release now, digging deep, they give us a double- sided beauty in the shape of Jackie Moore's Holding Back! The 12” benefits from remixes from the M+M team - John Morales and Sergio Munzabai on the Bee side.
And on the A-side we get some rework action from edit master - Moplen! The Disco re-edit wizard competently sprinkles his magic on the golden grooves of Jackie Moore's classic. Here we ask the Italian studio master to talk us through five albums that have impacted his musical world.
Inspirational Albums
1) Arpadys – Arpadys
I discovered this French act through a Joey Negro Compilation about 20 years ago; I was not so aware of the French side of disco then and this made me start to find out more about it. -Monkey Star” is a perfect example of electronic deep disco with spacey sounds over funky guitars.
2) Blaze – Basic Blaze
Pioneers of the New Jersey sound, Blaze had been in the game since the very beginning of house music; I remember I bought this album in the summer of 1997 and been listening to it in its full length every day for about one month; from the mid-tempo “The Garden” to the iconic “My Beat”, there are no fillers in this album and my choice goes to “Klubtrance”.
3) Candido – Dancin' & Prancin'
Even though the title track and “Jingo” are masterpieces, my favourite from this album is “Thousand Fingered Man”, with its long piano intro, deep chords, dreamy vocals and powerful drums/percussions; drums were also sampled by Dj Pierre for “The Horn Song” and later by Louie Vega for a Stephanie Cooke remix; a brilliant cover of “Thousand Fingered Man” was produced by Louie Vega himself.
4) Lil' Louis & The World – Journey With The Lonely
One the best house music albums ever released, it still sounds so fresh 30 years later; so many jams on it, “Do You Love Me”, “New Dance Beat”, “Saved My Life” and “Club Lonely” which is probably my favourite house record of all the time (I don't even remember how many different issues of this track I have).
5) Nuyorican Soul – Nuyorican Soul
I think MAW should have won a Grammy for this record, it was a game changer, Latin, disco, house blended in a perfect fusion of past, present and future club music; so many legends featuring in this album, Roy Ayers, Vince Montana, George Benson, Jocelyn Brown, India… my choice goes to “Sweet Tears”, even though each track is something special.
