Pure Garage Platinum (The Very Best Of Pure Garage/Mixed Live By EZ) - Various Artists

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Lacking inspiration
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money

Advantages:	All the good songs in one place
Disadvantages:	Recycled old beats

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

With three cds and over three hours of music, Pure Garage Platinum brings together the best sounds of the five preceding Pure Garage albums stretching back to 2000, whilst adding a few ‘new’ songs along the way. There are 50 tracks, presented on three black compact discs with futuristic silver and blue fonts, which match the colours on the box of the set itself. There is no specific feel to each disc but the third disc features the most new material.

From the 50 tracks on the album, only of 13 them are new, so only 25% of the total. Having said that, the other 75% span five double-cd boxed sets so it is difficult to say whether it is worth buying. For someone who wants to know more about, or get into, the garage scene and wants a good summary of the last three years of garage music, you can’t go wrong with this. If you are a garage lover looking for new material, look elsewhere. If you detest basslines, you can forget about buying this cd now. On the way is hard and heavy basslines, rough and ready MCing and some sweet and smooth female vocals.

Five tracks from the Pure Garage series I think deserved to be on this album are: Bump N Flex - Promises; Dee Kline – I Don’t Smoke; Teebone Feat. MC Kie & MC Sparks – Fly Bi; Monsta Boy – Sorry; Shox – Monkey.

The mixing is spot-on by DJ EZ and most of the time there’s a good track on the way in. If you don’t like it, there’s relief to be had via the skip button. Most of the track selection is excellent and there is diversity to be had in terms of the composition. Varying heavy bass-dominated tracks with proper songs given the remix treatment, plus the occasional track that completely baffles the imagination, this is a welcome assorted mix.

Retailing for approximately £15.99, it is available in a blue and black box in the garage or compilation section of your local music store (available on Wsm records from Warner). The advertised ‘killer new tracks’ are good whilst not being outstanding, but at the end of the day, this album admits to being a “best of” collection, so I can’t really complain. For what it is, I give four stars: great music presented in a smooth fashion and some great memories of clubbing in the last couple of years. For full track reviews (50 tracks) see below.

CD 01/03 – Tracks (Disc rating: 7/10)

MJ Cole – Sincere
This well-known track starts off the album, although Sincere hasn’t featured in any PG compilations to date, MJ Cole has been involved on an ongoing basis through remixing the tunes of others. This track is quite fast and upbeat but relaxing, mixing nicely into:

Sweet Female Attitude – Flowers
A favourite all the way back from the original Pure Garage, this track mixes the sweet female vocals over a pleasant background melody. The most commercial and mainstream song on this disc, everyone should know this and turn it up loud whether it be your getting ready tune or maybe one for the car.

Zack Toms – Bring Me Down
This is another track from the first PG album, although in this case it is a different version. The sound is never really quite at an optimum and unfortunately, this might warrant the first usage of the skip button on your remote control.

Shy FX & T-Power Feat. Di – Shake Your Body (Sunship Vocal Mix)
Premiering on the Pure Garage series with the flavour of Sunship easily noticed, this song from 2001 is a welcome relief from the last song and a good addition to the compilation. More female vocals with a strong sense of bass, this is one to exact on the neighbours with!

Artful Dodger Feat. Richie Dan & Sevi G
The Artful Dodger has featured on all five previous PG compilations and this one is no exception, this song being the first of three contributions. This particular track introduces male vocals to the album for the first time, with the tangy sounds of Jamaican Richie Dan.

DJ Lewi – Hold Me Tight
Not content with featuring this track on Pure Garage, PG II and PG V, DJ EZ shamelessly features the most annoying of garage tracks *again*. What I can say about this is that it has a tiresomely repetitive bassline, the tedious “you used to know…” repeated female vocal and a sound effect that sounds like a dog’s bark.

Kele Le Roc – My Love
Keeping with the old theme, the 1996 hit My Love from the original PG is next in the mix. An interesting background melody with a bit of bassline makes for a moderately good track.

CJ Bolland – Sugar Is Sweeter
This anthem, also from way back in 1996 is straight back after a recent appearance on Pure Garage V. “Sugar daddy, comfort me…” says the high pitched female vocalist as the whole track comes to almost a complete standstill before the bassline thumps in and this track really gets going.

Artful Dodger Feat. Craig David – What You Gonna Do?
Available on PG IV, the hugely successful Craig David links up again with Artful Dodger just like he did when launching his career. There are lots of drums and vocals on this track, with a good measure of bass thrown in to make a good tune.

NCA Presents Robbie Craig – Lessons In Love
This song carries over nicely from the previous, much along the same vein. A bit rougher vocals from Robbie, but displaying a good vocal range and this one is a real one to dance to.

Angie Stone – No More Rain
Taken from the second Pure Garage compilation, this song features an instrumental at the start and a really Wookie-sounding bassline. The bass itself is nice and chunky and is guaranteed to test your speakers.

Wookie – Battle
Astoundingly, this track has not previously featured on the PG albums. Due to the similarities discussed in the last track, this song mixes in with ease. The male vocals are synchronised with the beat to make it very rhythmical and this will probably go around and around in your head after you listen to it.

Sticky Feat. Ms Dynamite – Booo! (EZ Special Mix)
One of my favourite tunes from all of EZ’s mixes, this features the unmistakable female vocals of Ms Dynamite. The song starts light before the bass kicks in and the volume begs to be raised. Amusingly, some of the words are censored with record scratching effects.

Jammin’ – Go DJ
This song is a middle-of-the-road track with vocals limited to the two words of the title. In between times, this will throw you back to the realms of Pure Garage IV from which it originally featured – and never on radio stations. I wonder why.

Wideboys Feat. Dennis G – Sambuca
Commercial Ayia Napa track Sambuca makes an appearance towards the end of disc one, anyone who has done a 18-30 holiday in the last two or three years will know what I am talking about. Only using two chords, this song is simple and good.

DJ Mac & Tim McEwan – R U Feeling Me?
One of the few songs on this disc which features a real song-style vocal contribution. Tim McEwan can actually sing and manages the lovey-dovey chorus very well. This song was also second-to last on the first disc of PG V.

Ed Case Feat. Sweetie Irie – Who?
Sweetie Irie, the singer responsible for some of the vocals with the Gorillaz, raps on this track with a rude bassline which closes out the first disc. As with 12 other tracks so far, this one is recycled so if you were looking for something new, prepare for mild disappointment.

CD 02/03 – Tracks (Disc rating: 9/10)

Azzido Da Bass – Dooms Night
Starting the second disc is a familiar tune taken from the second Pure Garage mix. This song has no lyrics to speak of, and takes about 45 seconds to build up before the distinctive bass begins and all hell breaks loose in the clubs. Also watch out about two minutes in where the song winds up before everyone goes mental to the music (again!).

Jaheim – Just In Case (Dub-a-holics Rollers Revival Mix)
The lead-out song from the end of PG V, this song is similar to the DJ Mac song on the first disc with a guy singing his heart out about how he loves someone. Bassline is more of a feature this time around though, carried on from the last track and great for getting ready to.

Jammin’ – Kinda Funky
Seamlessly, this track hits you with a similar level of bass with the lyrics asking, “do you wanna get down?” Featured in Pure Garage IV, this one has the drums and usual mix of instruments to make a good, whilst not outstanding track.

Robbie Craig & Gerideau – Who’s The Better Man?
Not one of my favourites, this song has the whining of these two guys arguing over the title: “Could it be me? Could it be you?” I don’t care, lets just get this jazz-style song over with and onto the next.

DJ EZ – Want You Back
Unfortunately Mr EZ has failed to produce any new material of his own, aside from the mixing, and this song is shamelessly stolen from the original Pure Garage. Skip this one, too.

Todd Edwards – You’re The One
A good past contributor to these albums, Todd has bettered EZ by making a new track with some lovely words for the ladies: “You are beautiful”. Bassline is not overdone but fits in equally with other parts of the song.

Shola Ama – Imagine (Club Asylum Remix)
One of my two favourite tracks across the whole set, this song is greatly uplifting, featuring soft vocals and the remixing talents of Asylum. Originally included in the second PG, this song fits piano with a strong but not over-bearing bassline. Imagine my surprise when it’s followed up by this…

Nitin Sawhney – Sunset (MJ Cole Mix)
Just like that, my favourite track from the fifth Pure Garage is next in line after another smooth transition. This song has a background of strings, plus deeper female vocals. A great choice to follow the previous track, this song is also rather uplifting although not to the same extent. A good one to listen to if you are not feeling so good. The other of my two favourite tracks.

M Dubs Feat. Lady Shaw – Bump N Grind
This song is greatly overshadowed by both the previous and the next songs with little room to come into its own. The main part is a female vocalist shouting into the microphone. A male MC is also getting in on the action, in a mish-mash of a track which really disappoints after the quality of the last two. The Sunset strings don’t get mixed out until two minutes into this song, and only one minute thirty is on before mixing out.

Nikkie S & Nyke – Hey Nikkie
A variation of Hey Mickey, this song features mobile phone effects, a white cockney rapping the verses and soft female vocals on the chorus. The rap lyrics are completely laughable and completely preoccupied with sex. I bet he’s not really called Nikkie either!

DJ Faz – Destiny
This song quickens the pace a little and returns us to familiar territory. Distinctively, there is an over-bearing bassline and little in terms of lyrical content, but no silly stuff here. One for the clubs.

Zed Bias – Spare Ribz
Returning to Sillyville, this goes on about Chinese spare ribs with respite between for an instrumental part featuring lots of bass and the occasional grunt from some guy. It sounds like they recorded the vocals for this in a takeaway.

Architechs Feat. Nana – Body Groove
Yes, you have all heard of this one, it is much more normal than the preceding tracks and a lot more enjoyable to listen to. A successful combination of male/female vocals plus a simple melody and some bass, what more can you want? A quality track.

K-Ci & JoJo – Tell Me It’s Real
Not the original, but a good account of it is provided here, with the American Soul/RnB singers putting in the groundwork for a really good song. The remixers didn’t disappoint either, with a really nice melody based around a piano without forgetting that all-important bass.

Menta – Sounds Of Da Future
A new one for PG here, this song is heavily focussed on bass, there is an electronic knight rider sounding noise but aside from that, it is pretty much all bass. The only vocal is the title of the song, right at the end of the track, perhaps as an after-thought. It is not really ideal for dancing to or much else, except possibly winding up your neighbours.

Mike Dunn Feat. MD X-Press – God Made Me Phunky
There is male vocals laid down on this track and you can imagine him with a big smile on his face when recording it, this is a laid-back track and ideal for winding down a night out or to play quietly. This has been included previously by EZ on PG IV.

CD 03/03 – Tracks (Disc rating: 8.5/10)

EZ – Intro No. 7
This intro is identical to the intro featured on the first Pure Garage collection although deceptively has been given a number. A mix of beats and bass added to by a “EZ, DJ EZ” female vocal make this less of a song and more of a… intro. What did you expect?!

Liberty X – Just A Little (Bump & Flex Electro Shock Mix)
From Popstars to Garage compilations in one easy step, one of the memorable songs of 2002 is given the remix treatment by Bump & Flex for your listening pleasure. Sounding remarkably similar to Mis-Teeq on this occasion, there is an abundance of bass not usually associated with Liberty X. All the lyrics are in place though, so mainstream fans will not be disappointed.

Agent X – Decoy (Vocal Mix)
Notably different from the EZ special mix of this on PG IV, this time around there is a male MC taking over the song. Only three notes are used as the main melody to this but again simplicity triumphs and this track works quite well.

PD Syndicate – Ruff Like Me
One of the most shocking inclusions on the album, this track has a huge reggae feel to it, the vocalist has a massive Jamaican accent and the beat is very reggae-style. In the breaks, this sound gets passed over for a bass-dominated groove, and the vocalist doing a rap which is difficult to understand. Bewildering and not what I was expecting, although slightly comical.

Brotherz In Law – U.N.D.E.R.G.R.O.U.N.D.
This track, from the third compilation is a return to form for the disc. The letters of the title are spelt out with an electronic synthesiser before a variable bassline starts, and the drums arrive to give this a medium paced feel to it. Towards the end, this song gets better but unfortunately this mixes into the next track.

Gemma Fox – Messy
This song unbelievably samples the voice of the Orange answer service. A 2002 track, this hasn’t been used before so it might be one to get used to. Although the language is pretty foul, the tune is reminiscent of Da Hool’s “Meet Her At The Love Parade” so it’s not all bad news about this track. A male rapper takes the mic on a More Fire Crew style – there’s nothing original about this track.

Artful Dodger – Woman Trouble
It’s *another* Artful Dodger song, and one of the first charting garage tracks of all. One of the few tracks that can actually merit the use of the word ‘song’, this is all you would expect from the respectable mainstream Dodger and his guest vocalists.

Reservoir Dogs – Buddha Finger
This is a funny track, its comedy value achieved through its cartoon-style vocal content which is not too dissimilar to the Wu-Tang Clan. This song can get a bit trancey with a repetitive bassline but the funny comments help you remain alert. “You think you’re tough? Well you’re not! You’re chicken!” –“Oh is that so?! You wanna prove it to me?”.

Glamma Kid – Why
Possibly the oldest track on the album and featured right at the beginning on the first Pure Garage album, this song features Shola Ama on guest vocals and not so much of Mr. Kid on this particular mix. This was a top-ten song when originally released and will be familiar to many.

Double 99 – Ripgroove
The fourth ‘new’ track on this disc, a woman yodelling dominates the vocal content whist a serious bassline gets busy elsewhere on the track. From way back in 1997, it is a mystery to me why this track is included, but at least salvation is on the way in form of the next track.

Shola Ama – Run To Me
We are brought another great track from Shola, some lovey-dovey lyrics all about how she loves her baby. Bass is not over-done here and the melody is allowed to lead for some of the time to make for a good listening experience even if you are not a garage fan.

TNT Vs. Outlaw – Transmission
“We are controlling transmission” is the message from this track, which seems to be a filler rather than a song in its own right, but the bass will enhance your enjoyment. In addition, it is less than two minutes long.

DJ Luck & MC Neat – A Little Bit Of Luck
I challenge anyone not to have heard of this. The most universally well-known track on the whole album, and I might say, the whole series of Pure Garage. MC Neat doing the business over the top of DJ Luck’s smooth control of the events on his turntables.

Bitin’ Back – She’s Breakin’ Up
After the best part of a minute contesting the song with Luck & Neat, this song develops into a real room shaker, never before appearing in the PG series. There are no real lyrics to speak of, except a couple of samples.

De La Soul – All Good (MJ Cole Mix)
Old Skool hip hop group De La Soul team up with Chaka Khan on this effort to bring a remix of their recent hit ‘All Good’. Personally I prefer the album version of this or the radio edit, for once MJ Cole seems to have messed one up. You can’t win them all.

Amar – Sometimes It Snows In April
A real feel-good track here, again another example of successfully blending male and female vocal parts. This time, there is a guitar based frontline with a generous portion of bass to blow your speakers. True to MC form, this guy seems to be preoccupied with sex in his lyrics, although not as explicitly as Mr. Nikki.

So Solid Crew – Woah
Closing out, we have the first and only appearance of the So Solid Crew. This song is taken from their album and also features on PG IV. It has a darker feel to it than most other songs on the albums and is a rather sinister way to finish the album. Last words? So Solid.