Various - 9/10

Re-appraising music that’s perceived as cheesy or ultra-mainstream can be a fraught business, and a lot of the dross dug up by DJs has been tainted by either nostalgia or coked-up smug knowingness. But Berlin crate-digger DJ Supermarkt has avoided this better than most, even if his rightly-acclaimed ‘Too Slow To Disco’ pop and AOR have included the occasional unnecessarily noodly moment.

Not so on this third (all female-vocalled) volume, though: it really is all killer, no filler, ranging from huge names (Carole King, Carly Simon, Rickie Lee Jones) and familiar songs (‘Chuck E’s in Love’, ‘Midnight At The Oasis’) to obscure down-and-dirty funk, hippie-boho story-songs and smooth, soul-laced cheese. Some of the latter choices do venture quite into “drunk in the back of a cab with Magic FM blasting”, but in context that doesn’t matter one bit.

The brilliance here is that Supermarkt really is a true DJ, so the selection and sequencing bring out the very best in each track. Every song gleams with the big-studio gloss and virtuosic playing that characterise this era, but far more importantly they’re loaded with soul, wit and passion: all the qualities that give the music life way beyond its value as sonic wallpaper. This is bottled sunshine, and should be available on the NHS.

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