You never know what you’re going to get with Tom Middleton. I’m all for versatility and variety, but it doesn’t always work out – I once witnessed him warming up Room 2 at Fabric with a selection of commercial R’n’B and hip-hop (Snoop Dogg & Justin Timberlake, De La Soul & Chaka Khan). The room stayed empty throughout. That was severely misguided and rather surprising to see from someone with so much skill and experience. Usually though, the man is fully on point – and this triple CD generally lives up to his usual reputation.
Sure, he wasn’t the most imaginative choice for their 3D series – given that he’s mixed umpteen compilations over the last few years – but it’s pretty irrelevant when it comes down to it. It’s the usual 3D format: one Club disc (a straight-up DJ set), one Studio disc (all his own productions), and a Home disc (his chillout selection). The Club disc is the real winner; a near faultless selection of sweet, bumping, soulful grooves and a dash of more electronic sounding gear to finish. He’s dug out a fine selection of classically styled US house – along with a slew of the finest deep beats from the UK – with the bouncy garage flow of Rhythm Plate’s ‘Remember The Days’ sidling up against the delicate, softened tech chords of Freerange stars Shur-i-kan & Milton Jackson’s ‘Swap Shop’, and Mark Knight & Funkagenda doing a sweet, Rhodes-filled rub of Groove Armada’s ‘Love Sweet Sound’. Trackheadz’s cinematic ‘Our Music’ recalls old Kerri Chandler Kaos material, before we finish with a touch of prog (James Zabiela & Artec), and finally some straight-up electronics with the acid of Wink’s ‘Swirl’ and the electro crescendo of Simian Mobile Disco’s ‘Clock’. The mix is laden with soul, lush melody, and groove – and comes as a pleasant surprise given the usual Renaissance sounds.
The Studio disc is generally superb – featuring the euphoric power house of his classic Cosmos belter ‘Take Me With You’ (still sound incredibly fresh today) and the sensual, trance-tinged ‘Look Inside’, as well as glistening downtempo moments like his Balearic-tinged rework of Lamb’s ‘What Sound’, and straight up, ass-shaking funky house grooves on his marvellous remix of Kerri Chandler’s ‘Bar A Thym’. A couple of slightly more run-of-the-mill tracks let the side down, but the diversity of his productions makes for an interesting listen.
The home listening disc doesn’t quite hold together for me, with a handful of gorgeous tracks and far too many forgettable moments. The cosmic porno-funk of Mudd’s ‘54B’ leads into the ‘80s synth soul euphoria of Crazy P’s ‘Music’s My Love’, with superb hip-hop producer Danny Breaks serving up a sublime Ninja Tune style moment in his scratch-meets-film soundtrack cut ‘Junkie For Beatz’, but by the time we reach Edward Shearmur’s schmaltzy ‘Grand Central’, there’s little impulse to continue listening. There’s a bit too much of a loungy / dinner soul ‘n’ jazz vibe going on here – I’m more for the Balearic sound or the Kruder & Dorfmeister style gear if we’re getting into some downtempo beats.
All in all still worth your money – with a great mix CD and some classic unmixed productions – but let down by a week third disc.
Tracklist
CD1 – Club
01 Funk D’Void Feat. Jay Leblone - Lovin' (Your Body Remix)
02 Kenny Hawkes & David Parr – Gemini 3. Rhythm Plate – Remember The Days
04 Hipp-e – Fade (Palm Skin Productions Smooth Edit)
05 Shur-i-kan vs. Milton Jackson – Swap Shop (Shur-i-kan’s Swaparama Dub)
06 Mike Acetate / Carlos Gibbs Feat. Roy Davis – Jus’ Move (Jimpster Mix)
07 Mona Lisa – Dancin’ (1200 Warriors NYC Mix)
08 Ben Watt – Lone Cat (Dennis Ferrer & Steve Martinez Special Re-rub)
09 Mood II Swing Feat. Tara J – Passing Time (Main Vocal Mix)
10 Groove Armada – Love Sweet Sound (Mark Knight & Funkagenda’s R.H.B Remix)
11 Mari Boine – Voui Voui Mui (Henrik Schwarz Mix)
12 Aya – Sean (Eric’s 2WFU Dub)
13 Trackheadz – Our Music
14 The Timewriter Introducing Sid Thomson - Life Is Just A Timeless Motion
15 James Zabiela – Human (Intro Mix)
16 Artec - Nine Times The Speed Of Sound
17 Wink - Swirl
18 Slg – Nine Hours
19 Simian Mobile Disco – Clock
CD2 – Studio (unmixed)
01 Cosmos – Take Me With You (Tom’s Y2K 3D Edit)
02 Cosmos – Lost Inside (Tom Middleton 3D Dub – Unreleased)
03 Ulrich Schnauss – In All The Wrong Places (TM’s 3D VIP Mix)
04 Lamb – What Sound (Tom Middleton Vox)
05 The Modwheel - Jungle Drums (Tom Middleton 3D Dub)
06 The Modwheel - Spiritcatcher
07 Kerri Chandler – Bar A Thym (Tom Middleton Cosmos Vox)
08 François DuBois - Blood (Tom Middleton Deep Mix)
09 Hefner vs. Cosmos – Dive Into You (Tom Middleton Vox)
10 The Modwheel – Into The Deep (Tom Middleton 3D Dub)
CD3 – Home
01 Middlewood Sessions – Fall Back (Spiritual South Remix)
02 System 7 & Derrick May - Altitude
03 Speakeasy - Allright
04 Orbital - Halcyon
05 Irresistible Force – Nepalese Bliss (Fila Brazilia Mix)
06 Incognito – I Can See The Future
07 Mudd – 54B
08 Crazy P – Music’s My Love
09 The Vogado Projects Feat. Lucy Gale – Never Come Back
10 The Foreign Exchange – Come Around (Edit)
11 Danny Breaks – Junkie For Beatz
12 Fenomenon - Out Of Control
13 Harmonic 33 – Rainsong
14 Jon Hopkins – Second Sense
15 Blu Mar Ten – Ghost Trio
16 Groovecatcher - Castaway
17 Edward Sheamur – Grand Central
18 Alucidnation - Pedal Steal
19 LA Synthesis – Zyllvakrynn