Brought up on a diet of whiskey and Abba by a record-obsessed Scottish father, Al Kent ran away to New York to get his proper musical education with Nicky Siano at the Loft. It helped form the disco connoisseur we know today, responsible for compiling the risqué Disco Love compilations on BBE, as well as countless other solo EPs and remixes for the label. As they approach their 20th birthday, we asked Al to pick his five favourite tracks that he’s helped release on BBE, be it remixing others, or rare records he’s licensed for his own compilations. Before you jump in, here’s some words from the man himself about what the label means to him.
“Before BBE my experience of compilation albums was nasty bootlegs on Soul Supply that sounded like they’d been mastered by a 90 year old man with tinnitus, or pressed on wafer-thin vinyl with a groove so shallow my needle couldn’t even find it. Being a musical snob who was only interested in obscure 12 inches that were pressed in quantities of less than fifty, I missed the first few BBE releases, but then they started putting out albums compiled by people I thought were cool – like Keb Darge, Joey Negro or Dimitri From Paris. The music was good, the packaging was good, and the cut was good – my needle stayed in the groove. So it was a lovely occasion when I joined the family years later and they started putting things out for me.
Twenty years is a long time for an independent record label to survive, especially in these days of young people just wanting to steal your shit. The BBE family work hard with a dedication to music that I love. That’s why they’re still here.”
Al Kent’s ‘Disco Love 4 – More More More Disco & Soul Uncovered’ is out now – buy it from the BBE website.
Curtis – ‘How can I Tell Her’ (BBE, 2012)
I still love this record after knowing it for the majority of my life. The 12” used to be a bastard to find, in fact no-one believed in its existence for a very long time when I used to say I wanted one. So it will always have a special place in my heart because I was right and they were wrong.
Arts & Craft – ‘I’ve Been Searching’ (BBE, 2012)
Possibly Walter Gibbons’s best mix. Or possibly his second best mix. Top three anyway.
The J’s – ‘When Did You Stop’ (BBE, 2014)
When you obsess over records, the first question you always ask when you find an artist is “do you have any tapes?” We’ve all got ‘Rock With You’ and the Salsoul back catalog multi tracks so it was lovely to be able to remix something a little more obscure like this, and even more lovely for BBE to release it.
Emanuel Laskey – ‘I’d Rather Leave On My Feet’ (BBE, 2016)
Words can’t describe how much I love this record. If it wasn’t for BBE I probably wouldn’t have had the motivation to splash out for a copy because it doesn’t show up often.
Sandy Barber ‘I Think I’ll Do Some Stepping On My Own’ (BBE, 2011)
This song is quite special to me as I used to think it was super obscure because once upon a time I only bought 45s and never ever saw it. After years of searching for it I found out it’s an album track and is pretty affordable. I remember that was a happy day for me.
