Incognito - More Tales Remixed (Bonus Track Edition) (2008)

British R&B hasn't been as huge a phenomenon as British rock, but even so, there are many reasons to applaud England's contributions to R&B. England spends more money on R&B than any other country in the world except the United States, and England has been the home of Lisa Stansfield, Hot Chocolate, Soul II Soul, Caron Wheeler, Imagination, Loose Ends, Junior, and Neneh Cherry (among many others). Another reason to applaud England's contributions to R&B is Incognito, who have been around since 1979. Incognito's work has generally had more to do with soul, funk, urban and acid jazz than with flat-out disco, but on More Tales Remixed, a variety of mixologists give songs from their 2008 release Tales from the Beach an overtly disco appeal. Of course, the word "disco" sounds very dated in the 21st century; it has a strong mid- to late-'70s connotation. But truth be told, disco didn't end with the 1970s; it simply diversified, became more high tech and acquired new names like dance-pop, deep house, Latin freestyle, and Hi-NRG. Not all post-'70s dance music is disco -- techno, with its loud, abrasive, in-your-face aggression, has a lot in common with punk, hardcore, industrial, and metal -- but a lot of it is essentially disco, and a disco mentality usually prevails on this 73-minute CD. Songs that weren't full-fledged disco on Tales from the Beach become full-fledged disco after they get dancefloor makeovers on More Tales Remixed; the remixes will be called dance-pop, house, club music, and other things, but the bottom line is that for the most part, More Tales Remixed is about taking soul, urban, and acid jazz tunes and making them as disco as possible. Thankfully, most of the remixes manage to emphasize club appeal without robbing the songs of their R&B appeal or their soulfulness. And even though More Tales Remixed falls short of essential and is slightly uneven (some of the remixes are more successful than others), hardcore Incognito fans will find a lot to enjoy on this overtly club-oriented disc.

Review by Alex Henderson