Breaking Sound Barriers - Tiscali Music News

2001-11-02

Good Times is a very personable jockumentary recounting the story of the ubiquitous London sound system that deserves the most props (that's hip hop for credit) in the development of contemporary dance music culture in the UK.

A story seen through the eyes of its prime initiators and compadres in sound, Good Times takes us on a journey brimming with passion and visionary purpose through an ever-changing partycultural timeline. Climb on board the DJ booth and get pulled by a set of twin turbo black bass bins – pod racer style!

The early years were set against the backdrop of a UK divided by social unrest and New York, the city that epitomized the art of party starting. Young Norman Jay was determined to alter London clubland’s status quo of strict door and music policies by organizing his own jams and so enlisted the help of brother Joey and his Great Tribulation Reggae Sound System.

Soon renamed Good Times, after Norman’s first inspirational trip to NYC where Chic’s homonymous track was hitting all the block parties hard, the sound system and the funktions gained notoriety amongst the London-wide underground Soul massive as a vehicle for quality music and a new approach to partying away from London’s stagnating West End.

The brothers Jay were soon joined in the battle by mostly amicable competitors, and together they set out to instill a new sense of belonging and freedom in the mind, body and soul of once-excluded lovers of the funk.

The film shows us glimpses of contented warehouse party people, exstatic waving ravers, jubilant carnival crowds, and clips of the sounds that soaked the foundations for a variety of new scenes. There are big–ups from the likes of Jazzy B, Trevor Nelson, Judge Jules, Femi Fem and Kiss FM’s own Gordon Mac, which all go to confirm Norman Jay’s position as one of the founding fathers of today’s club scene… with a little help from those bone-shattering Good Times bins of course.

Go feel.

Good Times is showing in London at the Curzon Soho and the Brixton Ritzy until 10 November.


Links
Buy Good Times CDs
Good Times film site