About Me
BETTER DAYS. OUT NOW ON BBE
A few early reviews:
Once in a blue, I sit down to review a CD or LP to that perks my ears within first four bars, and like I just downed a quad espresso, I get real charged and quickly start flipping through every track, and reading online to find out more. The Million Dollar Orchestra's "Better Days" has that effect. By the look of the cover, I thought it was another 70's rare disco groove band (which I also would've loved) but the music sounded so crisp and new. It just couldn't be old! I was immediately confused - aren't Escort and Chin Chin the only new disco bands? Alas, the liner notes explain it all. Turns out that the founder is Al Kent, who like so many producers, got tired of chopping disco loops for house tracks. Starting in 2005, the liners detail his 2 year journey of luck and destiny to form his band to finally make some disco that's authentic. So in 2007, with a full backing band 18 musicians deep, The Million Dollar Orchestra is hitting the block with first 8 track album. The chemistry is like super glue and the whole band is on fire with the timeless spirit of that good late '70's disco. I really can't pick my five favorites here, so here's a sampler: "Don'tcha Wanna Get Down(1)," "Get It Boy(2)," "Rock Freak Boogie(3)," "Feel The Music(4)," "Makin' Love(5)." Hats off for something I can enjoy all year. Highly recommended.
turntablelab.com
Like BBE labelmate and former Torontonian Robert Strauss, Glasgow’s Al Kent has a fantastic feel for the warmth and richness of disco. Clearly influenced by string-laden recordings from mid-’70s New York, the producer once worked with loops and samples, but now leads The Million Dollar Orchestra through one of the most magical modern takes on disco these ears have heard. Joyful from start to finish.
eyeweekly.com
Al Kent presents his Million Dollar Orchestra and shows us how to step back to those heady disco days in style! 8 ghetto style tracks that could easily have slipped out of some unseen blackploitation movie with their funky basslines, strings, percussion, melodies and atmospheres (not forgetting the lyrics also).
djvox.com
Sick and tired of cut and paste re-edits and hollow sounding Disco-House records, Scottish disco lord Al Kent decided to take matters into his own hands. He put together a real ‘orchestra’ to create dancefloor bound music that is full of retro charm and genuine musicianship. Following in the tradition of 70s outfits like Salsoul’s musical troupe, Kent’s modest outfit features horns, strings and singers and records delightful discoid ditties in an analogue studio. Efforts on this album such as the heart-warming “Don’tcha Wanna Get Downâ€, risqué “Rock Freak Boogie†and smile-inducing “Feel The Music†really hit home. This is New Disco, albeit with one ear stuck firmly in the past.
hearingisbelieving
Better days, indeed -- as the set takes us back to our favorite club sounds of the late 70s -- thanks to careful crafting from maestro Al Kent! The album's got a solid, soulful approach that's totally great -- a return to a time when making dance music involved a full range of instrumentation -- from tightly snapping drums and bumping bass, to fuller jazzy horns, and even a bit of strings! Al Kent brings them all together wonderfully -- and manages to make a sound here that's really quite authentic -- a batch of grooves that easily feel like they've been lifted from a stack of rare club 12" singles, and which hardly feel contemporary at all. There's a bit of vocals on the set from time to time -- mostly in a soulful chorus mode -- but overall, the style's more focused on the instrumentation, and often built around some really wicked basslines that recall the funkiest rhythms from the P&P scene. A treasure throughout -- and one of the few contemporary club sets we can recommend to any digger of older disco -- with tracks that include "Get It Boy", "Canal Street Bus Stop", "Rock Freak Boogie", "Keep On Doin Whatcha Doin", "Feel The Music", "Funky Funky Beat", and "Makin Love".
Dustygroove
Psychedelic Disco Madness from Germany* coming to you live like Charles Earland on an 8 tracked BBE album. Mainly instrumental with leading bass lines and minimal vocal overtones in the right places, it’s laidened with the underground dubs of a mid to late seventies deja vu. If you, like me, hear Juggy Murray Jones, El Coco, Patrick Adams, Dinasaur L, Atmosfear, Powerline, The Brothers, Mass Production and a touch of Francine McGhee influences throughout, we are reading off the same page. For me, amongst this quality collection “Don’t cha Wanna Get Down†is the ultimate bullet from this magnum album.
Soulsurvivor
* Germany??
