Mix the Vibe: Louie Vega - For the Love of King Street

Album Review

A two-disc, 130-minute DJ mix of house music is a daunting prospect for anyone who intends to listen rather than to dance for two hours, so one important measure of a house DJ's skill is his or her ability to make the experience something less than an interminable exercise in thumping, head-numbing boredom. Louie Vega is better equipped than most to do just that, and if this collection doesn't entirely succeed as a listening experience it's probably more because of the limitations intrinsic to the genre than it is to his own skill. And, it's worth pointing out, this isn't really music for listening anyway. So don't be too surprised or dismayed when the overlong remix of Kerri Chandler's "So Let the Wind Come" fails to keep hold of your attention, or when Groove Box's "Casio's Theme" starts to grate. Less excusable are the off-key singing on Peven Everett's minimalist "I Can't Believe I Loved Her (Calypso Mix)" and Charles McDougald's dumb, overwrought vocals on Bassmental's "It's the Music (King Street Club Mix)." These low points are nicely redeemed, however, by such moments of brilliance as Kerri Chandler's "Coro (The Colonial Mentality)," with its hot, funky horns, and the fun '80s soul inflected "Closer (King Street Moody Club)" by Mood II Swing with Carole Sylvan. This album may not win house music any new converts, but established fans of the genre and of Louie Vega in particular will love it.