Sitting here tired but wired, trying to squeeze out some writing.... ...thought I'd take a quick break...
...just got the above-mentioned CD this afternoon from the kind people at Tresor. The included music is really surprising me. Never really listened to much of Fowlkes before, writing him off with my Darwinian schemas that assume since he hasn't endured the way that Atkins, May, Saunderson, and Craig have. Guess I assumed he, like Blake Baxter (in my opinion), were always second-rate Detroit producers. Well, I think my assumption was wrong. This is actually pretty interesting music. One can see why it never attained the legacy of May's or Atkins' since it's just a little too untraditional in terms of electronic dance music for the masses to grasp onto. May's and Atkins' music is pretty simple: emotive synths, funky beats, and some cosmic motifs -- pretty straight-forward stuff. It's tough for me to even put what I'm hearing -- "X=O" at the moment -- into words. Just don't have the effort right now. But above all, the original reason I bothered to take the time and energy to write this involves a cool little essay inside the CD booklet. It may be the literary geek in me that loved this, but there is an essay about the passing away of Ken Collier that really makes me realize how important that guy was. He should be looked at as the teacher/father-figure that would turn youths such as Fowlkes and his fellow peers onto the sounds of electronic dance music in the early '80s. Bottom line: if you get the chance, read the essay in this CD booklet; it talks about one of the guys that never became a legend to anyone outside of Detroit while his children went on to become superstars. Beautiful story that makes me think of all the Larry Levans and Lofts in NYC's highly chronicled history and how Collier belongs on the same mantel. Jason Birchmeier ---------------- Editor All Music Guide http://allmusic.com 734-887-5600x186 ----------------
