Ok we all know that house music is more of a 12″ single release market with only a few artists releasing whole albums with their own compositions. But still it appears a little bit odd that after twelve years on the scene Necessary Phazes is only the second album by Anthony Nicholson under his own name. Starting in 1992 with Ron Trent as Urban Sound Gallery and African Blues he later launched the Clairaudience label and released his first album Dance Anthology on Peacefrog in 1999.
Just a mere six years later we get Anthony’s sophomore album. If you know and like his previous musical output then you’ll certainly love this album since he sticks close to what he does best and that is creating releaxed, deep inspirational house. This may not win him many new fans but if you compare Anthony’s early releases with what was the flavour of the month then, you’ll certainly notice that his stuff has a timeless quality that still sounds good today while most of the hip tunes of the past sound very dated. I’m sure the same can be said about this album in ten years time.
Listening to the album from start to finish takes you on a trip through Anthony Nicholsons musical evolution. The first two songs Welcome To The Future and Subliminal Messages are beautiful hypnotic house grooves that recalls early Urban Sound Gallery releases. Things get a little deeper with Ugochi on vocals on the deep house cut Don’t Stop (U Can Make It). The late nite retro house of Dirty Soul (Can’t Lift It) is of the same high class. With NewJazzFunkMovement Anthony takes a little excursion into groovy organic jazz house terrain, while Thinking Of You (with Ugochi on vocals once more) sees him delivering a warm enchanting Blaze like song.
The last three songs may be an outlook of what to expect from Anthony on future releases. The beats are a little bit more driving but still wearing his trademark like the jazzy Get Up or the repetitive Electro Disco. The closer Trust Yourself (Tribute To Lars Bartkuhn) has a great piano line over a house/electro hybrid groove.
In a nutshell Necessary Phazes is the musical progress of one the unsung heros of deep house on one excellent album.

Tracklisting of Necessary Phazes: 1. Welcome to the Future/ 2. Subliminal Messages/ 3. Don’t Stop (U Can Make It)/ 4. Dirty Soul (Can’t Lift It)/ 5. NewJazzFunMovement/ 6. Thinkin of You/ 7. Get Up/ 8. Electro Disco/ 9. Trust Yourself (Tribute to Lars Bartkuhn) | released 2005 by Trackmode

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