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I had a great time when I was last in Glasgow but what would have made it even better would have been a trip to the Sub Club; I think we ended up in East Kilbride (or was it Cumbernauld?) which probably wasn’t the best of moves. Anyway, the history of the Sub Club dates back to 1st April 1987 when the doors opened on a Glasgow basement with the organisers hoping that like-minded folks would meet up for hassle free drink and a dance. A simple concept that’s replicated all over the globe but for so many, they never actually achieve their goals let alone do it for 20 years.

You can’t cram 20 years onto just 2 CDs but this set, one CD mixed by Subculture (Harri and Domenic) and the other by Optimo (JD Twitch and JG Wilkes) does a rather good job. The mere fact that the Subculture disc includes two of my favourite all-timers, Induceve’s ‘Time To Begin’ (the dub Henrik Schwarz remix) and the little heard instrumental of Jimmy “Bo” Horne’s ‘Spank’ (now that’s as fresh today as it was when it came out; 30 years ago!). And if you thought they don’t make ‘em like that anymore, the rest of the album shows you how close house is to old skool funk-jazz disco; particularly like ‘Psycho Set’, ‘Jupiter Jazz’, ‘The Martian’ and the dark piano groove on ‘The Gathering’. Added to that, there are appearances from Detroit royalty: Carl Craig, Derrik May and Stecey Pullen. In fact, CD1 is worth getting on its own as a history of house and techno on a Saturday night groove.

Now if I was doing this, for sheer irony, I might have picked a track for Soma’s Let’s Go Outside album, A Picnic With The Hunters. ‘I’ll Lick Your Spine’ would have fitted in with the eclectic Disc 2 that’s supposed to represent the Sunday band-focused night. This is the mix by as club residents Optimo. Better start with a small warning, following a snippet of Jeff Mills, ‘FFA’ by Leather Nun contains material of a very explicit sexual nature. That said, it’s almost like a Best Of with all your favourites from house, electro, disco, post punk funk past. The Orb, Luke Vibert, Alec Empire, Front 242 and, for all world fans, the classic ‘Marrakech’ by Beat Conductor is interspersed with some lesser known (or long forgotten) tracks. The modern day disco gods, Lindstrom and Prin Thomas stand out with ‘Mighty Girl’ and the Linkwood Family’s cut up of the 1987 dancefloor classic ‘I’m Back For More’ by Leo’s Sunshipp. Junior Byron’s ‘Dance To The Music’ is a good 25 years old but it’s not all about the past, Mugwump’s ‘Boutade’ is here in all it’s disco string deep house orchestration 2008 freshness.

Now the next time I’m in Glasgow, I’m definitely going to be putting a visit to the Sub Club on the agenda but until then, I’m more than happy with these two CDs.

Reviewed: Various — Sub Club 20 Years Underground (Soma) Cat. No.SomaCD60 Release date: 19th May 2008
Tracklisting - Disc A
1 Carl Craig - Mind of A Machine
2 The Martian - Sex In Zero Gravity
3 Neal Howard - The Gathering
4 Mayday - Wiggin (Stacey Pullen Remix)
5 Quadrant - Q.1.1.
6 Orlando Voorn - The Light
7 Soul Center II - Psycho Set
8 Steve Poindexter - Born 2
9 Code 6 - Quad 2
10 Round 2 - New Day
11 Induceve - Time To Begin (Henrik Shwarz Dub)
12 Jimmy Bo Horne - Spank
13 Arnold Jarvis - Take Some Time Out
14 Lee Lewis - Atmosphere
15 Galaxy 2 Galaxy - Jupiter Jazz
16 Code 6 - Last Voyage
Disc 2
1 Jeff Mills - The Bells (Section)
2 Leather Nun - FFA
3 Nocturnal Emissions - No Separation
4 The Orb - Ripples
5 Les Georges Leningrad — Missing Gary
6 OP: L Bastards — Spraybeat (Eagle Mix)
7 Alec Empire - Robot L.o.v.e.
8 Luke Vibert - Asheed
9 Beat Conductor - Marrakech
10 Amnesia - Ibiza
11 Ruth - Polaroid / Roman / Photo
12 Front 242 - Take One Electro
13 Baby Oliver - Shot Caller Electro
14 Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - Mighty Girl (feat. Tortuga — Grand Drum)
15 Imps - Almost Live But Definitely Plugged
16 Jay Shepheard - Last Days (of Cou Cou) (feat. Tortuga — Grand Drum)
17 Linkwood Family — Piece of Mind
18 Mugwump - Boutade Electro
19 Junior Byron - Dance To The Music
20 C Cat Trance - Shake The Mind

Links:
The Sub Club, 22 Jamaica Street, Glasgow, G1 4QD tel: 0141 248 4600: www.subclub.co.uk “Glasgow’s finest underground clubbing institution keeps on defining the city’s Sunday, with your hosts JD Twitch and JG Wilkes. Featuring a customarily leftfield special guest in No Age on 18 May”.
www.myspace.com/yoursubculture
www.somarecords.com
www.myspace.com/somarecords
www.optimo.co.uk
www.myspacec.com/subclubharri
www.pnumarecords.com
Samurai 5th Anniversary Event - Linstrom, DJ Cosmo, Allez Allez, Simon Rigg + Samurai FM DJs Future Sound Of Clapton & Mamiko Motto @ Visions Video Bar, 588 Kingsland Road, London E8 www.samurai.fm/event