After The Playboy Mansion (2002)

Dimitri from Paris, increasingly the ultimate insider's disco DJ (enough so to receive the blessing of Hugh Hefner, the Sultan of Sensual himself), followed on from 2000's A Night at the Playboy Mansion with After the Playboy Mansion, a two-hour collection of house/disco nuggets from the late '70s to the present. The double-disc set is divided into "A Laidback Selection" for the first disc and "An Uplifting Selection" for the second -- the two are also available (separately) on LP. Laid-back is right on target for the first, which begins with Tony Humphries' languorous, eight-minute mix of "Nyce & Slo" by Lil' Louis, then deliberately winds its way through some seriously obscure, seriously sensual midtempo house. As on previous mixes, Dimitri shows off his deep, deep crates and knack for colliding the old school of underground garage (Maze, Gwen Guthrie, T.S. Monk, Tata Vega, Linda Clifford) with the new (Jephté Guillaume, Llorca, Boris Dlugosch, Alexkid). Of course, there simply aren't as many undiscovered disco/house chestnuts left, and the result is a selection tending toward the bland side of house, with a nearly endless parade of solid house chestnuts resulting in a lack of peaks (or valleys). Still, those with amorous intentions surely won't be paying attention to all the obscure selections on tap.