The Document II

Cast your mind back to 1998. Clubland had fragmented into myriad closed scenes - each playing their own micro-genres and nothing but - and the only mix-CD worth owning was Coldcut's ‘Journey By DJ’. Into this monochrome world arrived a kaleidoscopic timebomb bearing the unassuming name of ‘The Document’. Compiled by Andy Smith, ‘The Document’ proved hugely influential, reminding clubbers of things called 'songs', not just 'tracks' and selling over 100,000 copies in the process. Where else could you hear the orchestral funk of Tom Jones' 'Looking Out My Window' next to Clockwork Voodoo Freaks 'Deaf Mick's Throwdown' mash-up, or Flash's famed 'Wheels Of Steel' snuggling up to Peggy Lee's big band take on 'Dock Of The Bay'? Before 'The Document' you couldn't: afterwards you could barely move for opportunist celeb compilers claiming there'd always been a northern soul/ kitsch/ funk/ hip hop element to their music. The upshot was a stream of All Back For Another Late Night At Mine CDs, supplying a soundtrack you could swing and sing to when the raving was done.

Of course, as the tour DJ and unofficial crate-digger for Portishead, Andy Smith has long been acquainted with the good grooves of yesteryear as well as the booming beats of today. He supplied his friend Geoff Barrow with the samples that underpinned many a Portishead classic and, while others have been catching up with ‘The Document’, he's been moving on with his own Dynamo Productions - his partnership with Scott Hendy of Boca 45 - and readying ‘The Document II’ which is now gracing your stereo.

"You took my tape home, put it on, couldn't fit it/ you wouldn't admit it but you bit it/ couldn't swallow it, tried to follow it".

Not the words of Andy Smith (like all good DJs he speaks with his hands and other people's records) but Akbar, from ‘The Document II’, the long-awaited follow up. The track was included - apart from its obvious quality - as a cheeky riposte to those who'd followed his flavour, and is spread neatly across three tracks; a capella over Craig G and James Brown instrumentals, before booming back in with its own pounding M Boogie beat. It's typical of Andy's DJing style - using his skills on the decks, not to wow the tiny handful of scratch fetishists while boring the pants off everyone else, but to breathe new life into the tunes. Finding strange but beautiful bedfellows, making playmates out of the incompatible - that's the Smith stance.

That's why a compilation that has hip hop at its core begins with Kate Bush. "It's the most beautiful, mellowest tune," enthuses Andy. "I picked The Whole Story up when I was touring with Portishead and now I can't believe I didn't like her when I was young. It's amazing, weird pop music." It's why you hear Jack Jones' take on Bacharach/David's 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again' sandwiched between Cut Chemist and Eric B & Rakim. "I was playing in Australia and people came up saying 'that was the best night I've ever had and you were playing music that my grandmother would like'.”

DJ

Despite the vast array of DJ mixes on the shelves – if only they were edible we could solve world hunger in a week – only three, for our money, are genuine must-have classics. Andy Smith’s ‘The Document’ along with ’70 Minutes Of Madness’ and ‘2 Many DJs’, is part of that Holy Trinity. So for the follow-up Andy has the bar raised pretty high. Like its predecessor, it’s an eclectic foray through hip hop, soul and funk, not to mention Kate Bush and Serge Gainsbourg. And although our high expectations means it doesn’t have quite the same jaw-dropping impact, unlike most of the other CDs on this page, it certainly won’t end up serving as next year’s loft insulation. 4.5/5

IDJ

In the murky world of scratching and crate digging, it’s very easy to spend far too much time in the company of bearded men with hygiene issues and lose all sense of perspective and humour. Andy Smith, he of Portishead and deep deep crates, eschews all that nonsense and starts off the second in this excellent series with the wonderful Kate Bush. I’ve never seen Andy Smith close up lately, but I’d be surprised if he had a beard. In the original ‘Document’ he made unlikely beat heroes of Tom Jones and Peggy Lee; here he turns his attention to Three Dog Night and lounge crooner Jack Jones. In between all of this is turntable wizardry, a whistle stop tour of modern black music and the sainted Serge’s ‘Requiem Pour Un Con’. Not merely a document but the document. 4/5