Glitterbox Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Defected's colourful and diverse Glitterbox party has been a real success story in recent years and the label embodies that with a great representation of the sorts of sounds you will hear at the party. It's all about full throttle, emotionally intense house, soul and disco and that is exactly the case on Melvo Baptiste's opener 'Gonna Be Alright' (feat Jamie 3:26 & Annette Bowen) with its big diva vocals, piano stabs and hand claps. Mousse T keeps it silky and funky on the feel good 'Take It Back' and Riva Starr brings the swing to 'How It Feels'. Shakedown & Bootsy Collins's 'Funky & You Know It' (Shakedown Work That Mother mix) is a nice sleazy ass-shaker to close.

Review: Escort's 'Cocaine Blues' is undoubtedly a 21st century disco classic -a peak-time ready riff on Dillinger's 'Cocaine in the Brain' and People's Choice's 'Do It Anyway You Wanna' that has been a mainstay in DJ sets for the last 12 years. These fresh versions do a decent job breathing new life into a familiar favourite. John Morales does a good job of joining the dots between disco and house on his EP opening multi-track remix, while band-member JKriv adds a little more weight and spacey synth noises aplenty on his similarly fine rework. Sheffield's Crooked Man take over on side B, first delivering a pitched-down revision blessed with jangling piano stabs ('Crooked Line 1'), before reaching for the squelchy synths and trippy noises on a slightly wilder take ('Crooked Line 2').

Review: The Shapeshifters have always embodied a gloomy and soulful side of house music. Their upbeat, accessible tunes come with modern soul and lots of lovely frills. On this new album Let Loose for Glitterbox - a perfect home and a party they have often headlined - they delve deeper than ever before into that style. The luxuriant tunes come with plenty of grown-up orchestra additions, strings, horns, sax and smooth vocals. It's feel good, party-ready and will unite crowds of all ages with its disco-tinged sounds. So many of these are set to become classics it's pointless picking a favourite.

Review: The Shapeshifters are bonafide dance music champions with some rare studio skills. Their golden era sound is as rich as they come and their on going relationship with Glitterbox now results in a new future classic, 'Finally Ready.' It follows on from jams like 'Try My Love' and 'Life Is A Dancefloor' and has a strong message that no matter where you come from, on the dance floor there is always acceptance and hope. Grammy, Tony and Emmy Award-winning singer, director, composer, actor and playwright Billy Porter is the co-writer and with all its big strings, live horns and sense of theatre, it's another winner.

Review: Candi Staton's gospel-fired "Hallelujah Anyway" has a long and complex history. Over the years it has appeared in countless different forms, with this Glitterbox edition pairing two 2012 reworks with a couple of fresh rubs. In the latter category you'll find a deliciously bouncy and loved-up interpretation from Dr Packer that sounds like a late '80s Frankie Knuckles remix, and a "Classic Club Vibe" version by Moplen that dips the tempo and doffs a cap to early '90s New Jersey garage and gospel-house. Also worth a listen is Frankie Knuckles' luscious 2012 "Directors Cut Signature Praise" version, while there's also a fresh airing of Larse's chugging and dreamy deep house take.