Ah compilations - favourite hobby of the music nerd and true home of the "all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time" philosophy, to which this offering from Grand Central Records adheres like a limpit, which means the track-list is a bit of a jazz-soul-street-hip-hop lucky dip, and one reviewer's jackpot could be another's booby prize. Stick your stereo on random play and you wouldn't notice the difference; there are no mid-album highs like Michael Jackson's Thriller-Beat It-Billie Jean holy trinity. The comparison might be a bit unfair to a record label founded by a record shop assistant in Manchester, but unfair is in my job description. That said, this sampler of "rare and exclusive grooves" is a great way of broadening your musical horizons. Label founder Mark Rae's 'Lavish' and 'Make No Mistake' set a good example with a smooth, well-paced street-garage sound, although the latter is too long to maintain it's tempo; in non-journo speak, it gets a bit boring after five minutes. Dual Control's 'Boogie Down Feature' is a real highlight, with a big, nervy beat pinned down with taut strings and embroidered by insistant, urgent horn. 'Time Wasters' comes over all Massive Attack, who, judging by this album, are the Robert Johnson of Grand Central, but the track doesn't reach the same heights; here, rather than building the menace, repeating a coda to fade drags the life out of the song, and it gets wiped out by Funky Fresh Few's 'Clean Up', which subverts Gil-Scott Heron to the sound of a jazzy piano riff. Their other track, opening number 'Heavy Hittin', is another stand-out, all heavy MCing and beats fat enough to lose the remote control in. Elsewhere the news is not so good. Dotted around the album, you can hear what sounds like 80s day-glo poppets Mel and Kim, some truly awful world-music sludge (think Sting in a rainforest mixed with a saccharine Disney soundtrack; the kind where animals and ethnic minorities learn to respect each other's differences and save the environment) and six minutes of Nintendo Game Boy muzak. A strongly-worded letter is due at Grand Central's quality control department. And I'm none too sure about 'Window Pain', which seems to weave in disco staples 'Lost in Music' and 'We Are Family', either.

All in all, this is fine as background music while chilling in a summery garden with beer or smokes, or for a try-hard Dublin city bar, but you'd be better off buying albums proper by the Funky Fresh Few or Dual Control. Or just buy Thriller.

Sam Boland