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| | Companion | | | Music Artist : | | Boris Midney | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | O.Z. Records | | Release Date : | | 1999-08-03 | | Store Price : | | $15.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $15.98 | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. This Is a Test
2. Living up to Love
3. Step on Out
4. There's a Way
5. I Feel Delight
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Boris Midney didn't pass the sound quality test
Submitted on: 2001-12-20 |
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| When I received this disc I listened to it all, by earphones, from beginning to end. I must begin with sounding the alarm to Boris Midney fans and indecisives (vis-a-vis liking Midney's material) alike: this disc suffers from a rather serious defect in the sound quality: throughout the entire album, the stereo effect "folds back" for segments lasting up to part of a second or even more than 1 second - meaning you can hear these segments in mono. I don't know whether this problem origionated in the master tapes or it occured during the digital remastering. The point is that this renders the listening experience less than pleasant (unless you hear it through speakers at a low or medium volume), irrespective of the music's merits. Another technical drawback: the time notes for several tracks are different than the actual duration of the same tracks on this disc. I'm not talking about a mere 1 second difference - it may be a few seconds or as long as almost 1 minute. Cases in point are the tracks "This Is A Test", "Living Up To Love" and "I Feel Delight" - which actually lasts 6:21 and not 7:05!! One expects this kind of mishap never to have happened from the outset and one certainly deserves accurate time notes. On a general note, this album is afflicted with shallow, rather silly lyrics; also, the at times breathless singing of the French "Charmaine" girls is carried out annoyantly exaggerating -on purpose - the European pronunciations of the English lyrics. These two factors cast a noticable shadow over the other artistic aspects of this project. The best tracks on this Midney work are by descending order: "Living Up To Love", "This Is A Test" and "I Feel Delight". All three are very fun and enjoyable both for listening and dancing. They have a heck of a rhythm and tempo (disco-wise), though the fast tempo on "This Is A Test" alternates with a slower tempo once or twice during the course of this track, to my dismay. This album was done in a noticable soulful and funky form, in comparison with Midney's previous projects. Midney reverts back to his usual style on his next project, ("Double Discovery") where he covers the tracks "Living Up To Love" and "Step On Out". I consider these tracks' versions on this album inferior to the versions on "Double Discovery".
The track "There's A Way" is a cover his origional 1978 "USA-European Connection" track - I think this is pointless since this cover is uninspiring in the extreme. Midney seems to be running out of "caches" of inspiration vis-a-vis disco, though at a distinct distance from biting the dust. To sum up: If it weren't for the sound defects I would have notched this disc up to a 3 stars' rate. For the same reason I don't recommend bying this disc. |
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 Disco went out in style
Submitted on: 2001-09-20 |
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| Disco was long dead in the public's eye when this was released in 1981. Like Midney's other work, this was not designed to be a top 40 track- rather something designed for club play. He succeeded in attracting his intended audience, this track must be considered extraordinarly successful given it was a french import, and the fact that orchestral disco had long since disappeared from the public eye. There is a definite cheese factor in this track, and I find the re-use of USA European Connection's 1978 track "There's A Way" to be utterly tasteless, the original being far better. However, the two star tracks, "This Is A Test" and "Living Up To Love" will surely keep your feet tapping for a while, with a very well executed instrumental arrangement, and great vocalists overall. It surely showed the way house would go in the 90s. Overall, a great LP- lightyears ahead of Double Discovery's sappy LP, and I can say this is truly the last successful dedicated disco LP. Overall, a very fun LP that will make a fine addition to a hardcore collector's collection. |
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Disco's dying swansong
Submitted on: 2001-09-18 |
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| Disco went out in style, with the help of Boris Midney in this 1981 release. While high in the cheese factor, this isn't nearly as goopy as Midney's Double Discovery project. On the contrary; it's a varied and soulful groove. Light on the strings, great vocalists- it is a prime example of where pop music was to go in the 90s, without sounding like sappy boy bands. The best track is easily "Living Up To Love", which was covered again in Midney's final disco release, the 1982 LP Double Discovery. This version of "Living Up To Love" is far superior to the one that featured on Double Discovery, because of the superior vocalists and instrument arrangements. "This Is A Test" also ranks high in the cheese factor, but it is simply loads of fun. Unfortunately, by 1981 Boris Midney had really run out of inspiration, and resorted to covering a track called "There's A Way" which featured in his 1978 release of the second USA European Connection LP. The running time is only 30 minutes unfortunately, but it is a wonderful send off- the last truly successful disco release. |
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 Pass On This
Submitted on: 2001-07-27 |
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| This lp is high in the cheese factor, with silly lyrics and breathless ya-ya girl singing. The seemingly phonetic pronunciations of the vocalists overshadow the rest of the work. The music is more varied than on other Midney albums, more funky, but it is gimmicky as well and at times the strings are listless. Midney seemed to be repeating himself with the string arrangements by this point (1981). Laughably, the "sensous vocals" (as the credits actually read) are attributed to a "Charmaine." The male vocalist Kevin Owens remains unidentified, surely to his great relief. When Midney's album ran only about 30 minutes over 4 songs, was it really necessary to recycle a track from an earlier USA-Euro album ("There's A Way")? All in all, the inspiration and effort were faded in this project. |
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