Central Heating 1 [Audio CD] Tony D; Mr. Scruff & Mark Rae; Rae & Christian; Andy Votel; Funky Fresh Few; Only Child; Aim and Various Artists

Re-release Originaly Out in 1996 and Unavailable for the Last Two Years. Features the Original Version Of: Spellbound(Featuring veba) Two Colaborations from Mark Rae and Mr. Scruff. Three Tracks from Andy Votel. The Grand Central label was born in the heart of Northern Soul territory and founded by Rae & Christian's Mark Rae in 1995. Since then, it has grown (in reputation and influence, if not to conglomerate-shaking commercialism) as a force for some of the UK's most consistently interesting dancefloor-friendly r&b and hip-hop. Though Rae & Christian are the label's best-known artists (having worked with Texas, among others), there's no shortage of talent here--something that the label set out to prove with the release of the Central Heating compilation. This 2000 re-issue of the compilation contains all of the original tracks from: Aim (the Evel-Kneivel-sampling "Original Stuntmaster"); the Funky Fresh Few (hip-hop the Afrika Bambaata way, with a heavy dose of Kraftwerk); Mr Scruff; Only Child (the label's r&b divas); and Tony D--with not a slouch amongst the lot. There's also a few bonus tracks from the likes of Rae & Christian, Andy Votel (who also contributes an interesting take on Black Sabbath's "Hand of Doom") and Aim--none of which may be absolutely essential to those who own an earlier pressing but a nice bonus for the rest of us. --Randy Silver