A series of compilations handpicked by artists such as Kid Loco and Groove Armada, the Late Night Tales collections share the same essential idea as the Back To Mine series, giving artists the opportunity to put together a collection of their favourite tunes “worth staying up for”.
Unsurprisingly, this particular collection of songs chosen and mixed under the stewardship of Jamiroquai is packed to the glitterball with ’70s funk and disco and just a smattering of soul, basically giving everybody’s favourite funked-up caucasian popster a chance to acknowledge where he stole all his best bits from.
It’s certainly a groovy affair (it’s almost impossible not to conjure up images of leopard skin sofas and lava lamps while this plays in the background), and contains some undoubted gems over its 17 tracks. Not least among these are lesser known songs from the Commodores, Sister Sledge and Marvin Gaye, not to mention a fantastic jazzy version of ‘California Dreaming’ sung partly in Spanish by Jose Feliciano.
But at times it does all turn a bit hotpants, and if you’re a fully paid-up member of the “Disco Sucks” brigade you’ll probably want to run screaming to your bed rather than stay up and listen to this after the club. For some inexplicable reason it also features a short story read by hoary voiced English actor Brian Blessed, which will definitely set you snoring.
Still, it does have the super-fly ‘Theme from Enter The Dragon’.