Verve has once again opened their vaults to the remixers, and once again they've made wise selections when sending out the invites. Definitely some top names on here with whom Lab heads will be very familiar. The Truth & Soul crew (no specifics given, but presumably Mr. Michels & Co.) boldly take on Dinah Washington's version of "Cry Me A River(1)" to start things off, adding gentle drums and subtle horns to the stringy torch tune. Diplo goes for the stripped down chillout on Marlena Shaw's "California Soul(2)" (sadly now aka "that Dockers song"), French edit master Pilooski flexes his skills on Nina Simone's "Take Care of Business(3)," and Kenny Dope gives James Brown's "There Was A Time(4)" a high energy chop, - and that's just the first record. Over on slab number dos, 9th Wonder takes on the Roy Ayers classic "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" with iffy results, but Antibalas fares much better on their Afrobeat version of Patato & Totico's "Dilo Como Yo(5)" and Cinematic Orchestra round out the comp with the most original of the remixes, a gentle acoustic rework of "I Get A Kick Out Of You(6)" with Ms. Ella Fitzgerald on vocals. Double vinyl; 12 tracks total.

reviewed by Chris Lemon-Red