Roy Davis Jrs Gabriel

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oft mentioned track, pivotally influential in regard to ukgarage (although you wouldn't guess that today - proof of how far it is warping and changing)

how does this stand up today. great, i say, a true classic, warm, gently bumping off kilter, sounds off centred just slightly, great vox (peven everett? i forget know)

your opinion?

― gareth, Thursday, 28 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i love it. yes, peven everett. reminds me of prince in a way (do you agree?)

― minna, Thursday, 28 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yes, possibly! i hadn't really thought of it like that, but you may be right, certainly in a way that romanthony, for example, never has

― gareth, Thursday, 28 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Always thought it was such a pretty tune that the garageheads raised on US stuff couldn't resist it, but, listening to tapes of pirate radio from then, it sticks out like a sore thumb, the perfect soundtrack to sipping Perrignon compared to the skippety Grant Nelson trax and hoover bass of Gant, Double 99 etc. Makes me wonder how something like Gabriel, which to me is so definably 'garage' can co- exist with the UK bastardisation(not meant in a bad way). How can two such distinctly different music forms be categorised semantically as the same?

― Nebbesh, Thursday, 28 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

A thing of beauty and a joy forever.

― Martin Skidmore, Thursday, 28 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes. It's the Live Garage Mix which is the one, isn't it? What does that mean? There's also an updated Large Joints remix on 2000's Sound of the Pirates compilation.

― JoB, Friday, 1 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

's "Gabrielle", btw.

On the US/UK mix around that time - it was very bizarre. Other tunes that were big but didn't fit were the Mousse T mix of "Runaway", which I always found particularly bizarre coming off the back of 187 Lockdown or some such.

Also bizarre was that brief fad for mixing mid-90s chicago ghetto house and Relief tracks in with the really brutal jungle rip-off garage (remember the Dead Dred and Some Justice rips?). At the time we all thought the scene would split into the choppy bumpy sound, but with 'real' vocals on one side, and the jungle stuff on the other.

― jacob, Friday, 1 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

that's where i first got 'Sci-Fi Soul' from, since the floaty/bass rhythm sounds like lunar dub. wonder why's it called "Gabrielle" though when it seems to be about the archangel Gabriel?

only bad thing - it's so distinctive it can get overplayed, overfamiliar. still, there's that low shake it gives the air in a room...

Tina Moore - "Never Let You Go (Kelly G Pump & Go mix)" is one of the other tracks mentioned as influence on development of 2-Step in UK Garage (it switches to 4/4 midtune).

― Paul, Friday, 1 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The song is NOT called Gabrielle (which even has a different pronounciation) and it never has been. Know thy bible, I say.

― JoB, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah, i know, JOB - thou longtime UK Garage DJ inspiration (layin' it on thick, but true!) - i thought so too, cos i'd seen it listed both ways and figured those crazy Brits had got it mixed up with a certain female pop singer. BUT! then i bought my copy on Large Records (the original label?) and sure enough it's called "Gabrielle" there too.

go figah!

― Paul, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Large is the original label, yes. My (British) copy is on XL-Recordings. "Original sound recording made by Large Records. The copyright in this sound recording is under license to XL-Recordings Ltd." So, apparently, the original issue was wrongly titled and corrected on the European release, too late to avoid eternal spelling confusion, yes? Fascinating! :-)

― JoB, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

...those crazy Chicagoans? doesn't have the same ring to it...

― Paul, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

twelve years pass...

his new album is really great and this single is one of the best things on it

https://soundcloud.com/roydavisjr/my-nation-ft-terry-dexter

― lex pretend, Friday, 21 March 2014 13:16 (eleven years ago)

OOOOOOH
IT'S LIKE A MASS INVASION
OOOOOOH

― lex pretend, Friday, 21 March 2014 13:18 (eleven years ago)

smh seriously no one else into this??? you fucking people.

― lex pretend, Sunday, 23 March 2014 17:50 (eleven years ago)

I think its awful, flat, ponderous and plodding. 32 seconds in and onwards is just a horrible sound and the vocals are too loud in the mix. Passing on this one!

― cog, Sunday, 23 March 2014 18:08 (eleven years ago)

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