Julian Marsh - Pride 03 CD Review

Do any of you remember going to gay dance clubs and twirling to Hi-NRG music? No, not the dark tribal beats that dominate the circuit, the throw-your-hands-in-the-air-and-scream-for-joy-I-love-being gay music. For Pride 2003, Julian Marsh has compiled a CD of 13 hiNRG dance songs that will easily serve as the soundtrack for any march down main street.

The track selection is exceptional with songs from UK pop stars Steps (Tragedy) and Liberty X (Just a Little) and cover songs from europop producers Flip & Fill ( I Wanna Dance With Somebody), Almighty (Belle Lawrence - I Think We're Alone Now) and Sleazesisters (You're the Best Thing). Male singers even take the spotlight on three of the songs- most noticably Happy Charles (probably the only American on the CD) who hits the mark with a very appropriate reworking of the 60's peace anthem "Put a Little Love in Your Heart." Though, if I could vote one song off the island, Kate Project's "Time After Time" would be excised for the horribly accented vocals.

Normally I would be wary of so many cover versions (more than half of the CD), but for a Pride CD it makes sense to use songs that we can all sing along to. Isn't Pride about coming together and celebrating our lives?

Thank you Julian for providing us with a soundtrack.