It's that familiar beat again..."Ummph, datdadatdoodat, Ummph, datdadatdoomphdat, Umph, dattadatdoodat..." and that can mean only one thing: Liz Torres is back in da House! Well, sort of... I don't know who Master C & J are, but I'll tell you one thing, whether you are twenty-five or fifty-five, if you are into really polished sensual (with that kind of Rican attitude) and sophisticated club House music; if you have or want to learn any sense of the lineage of Dance music in general, then you want this.
If you are a DJ or just a curious listener who loves the way you feel when you dance with a magical stranger, you want this. Or maybe you remember, as I do, the days of partying to this music until night turned into the next afternoon on nothing but fruit juices, water (before bottled spring became the trend), and whatever else was your pleasure, as you try to figure out your next level of aspirations, you OWE it to yourself to get your gee on to own this new collection. Put it in play mode when you have guests over for a wine and cheese sip; better still, take it with your downtown to your favorite club and implore the DJ to spin your favorite tracks as you light some incense and take over the din.
Torres is an almost forgotten house music female vocalist and pioneer who, with this release, will allow you to will feel her attitudinal adjustment, understand the flava, and reason that here are still disco dance clubs to this very day in spite of the sporadic yet persistent hateration.
Master C & J are the producers and the impetus to this, no doubt. That may be all I can really say about them unless I direct you to their web site. If nothing else, I give them kudos for the idea and following through on the re-releasing my reclusive Torres in spite of herself. Now on to highlight some cuts...
I still am amused and have a love/hate/love relationship with my fave cut, "Mama's Boy." I remember how it felt to hear that on Crocker's New York radio station WBLS FM, or the old "92KTU" back around 1985. That beat resurrected the hand-claps to-the-beat. Next I become esurient because of just how her vocal instrument forms the words on the bonus track, "Touch Of Love" (track nine), arousing the sensual primordial dance in my loins;
Also included is "Mind Games," which came about on a Chicago beach with then significant other, Jesse Jones. "Jesse was thinking about singing the track himself/I asked if he had words to it. He said he didn't/I said, well I just want to let you know I can sing a little/He said prove it. "Boom" 'Mind Games' was born." Sounds like a love story to me!
Then there is the minimal classic, "Face It." Still monotonous, but many "experts" seem to curiously like it and I glean that is an agenda thang. Finally and of course, the title track is gladly reprised en Espanol on track eight.
"Can't Get Enough: The Classics & More" from Master C & J Featuring Liz Torres [Casablanca Trax CTX-CD-5015] is a needed emotional rescue via the Wayback machine of our musical lives. I was moved to search for just one of her twelve inch singles as I dug through my vinyl crates-full O' jointz in search of this seclusive seductress on the old State Street label
I cannot rate the already hall-of-fame music that has a special place in all of our old skool music memories, but I can rate the brainstorm of Master C & J to put these "darkly skeletal and sensuous" jams back out with five feline stage presence stars. It is an honor to review works by my respected reluctant dancefloor diva, "L.T.", which is also our acronym for "legendary tracks." Long before a "J-Lo", Lil' Kim, or Christina was this Elle Gato. "Duumphf, datdadatduumphfdat" do you feline feel it?
