This year sees our imprint, Wah Wah 45s, reach a landmark fifteen years in the music business. What began as a ‘hobby’ label run by Hospital Records boss Chris Goss and his late brother Simon, has grown into a full time job for label directors Dom Servini and Adam Scrimshire, ably assisted by young buck Neil Bopperson.
Wah Wah 45s now has over a dozen artists on its books, and many of them are featured on this exhaustive compilation. Charting fifteen years of this fiercely independent soulful record label, as you would expect, a soulful strand runs through it. From the brassy funk and jazz of Hackney Colliery Band (with their hard-to-find first single Money), Colman Brothers (On a Better Day) and The Gene Dudley Group (the summertime smasher Minnie) to the sonorous dubwise sounds of Resonators (with the classic Sweet Love Affair) via Paper Tiger and Lea Lea’s more electronic edge, and Scrimshire, Stac and Bev Lee Harling’s lush, organic leanings.
And that’s without mentioning a little Kompa Funk from our Haitian born Canadian pianist Henri-Pierre Noel demonstrating his vocal prowess, as well as his awesome piano skills on Merci Bon Dieu. Elsewhere we go way back in time with some blue-eyed soul from Talc, Max Cole, Jamie Finlay, Part-Time Heroes and Ashley Thomas, and a few dollops of deepness from Alison Crockett (the glorious Like Rain), Maze Hill and Unforscene featuring the now world famous Alice Russell.
There’s a little folky flavour (something we’ve always had a penchant for) from Speeka, Rosie Brown (remixed here by Quantic) and Sesong, plus some early dance floor offerings from Easylifenatural and Luna & Bazis on the electronic tip, and Kendra Lou & The Miracles, Hardkandy and Gizelle Smith & The Mighty Mocambos holding things down in the funk corner.
Reactions
“An excellent compilation!” Craig Charles (BBC 6Music, UK)
“Wah Wah is such a dope label, 15 years already daaaaaamn !!! Here’s for another soulful & fresh 15, keep on killing it guys thank you. 4/5” Simbad (Various /Brownswood / Worldwide, UK)
“Incredible selection, perfect collection to celebrate 15 years of one of my all time favorite labels. 5/5” Tom Lowe (RTE Radio, Ireland)
“Smashing it guys! 5/5” Nick Armitage (22 Tracks, Holland)
“Releasing music of such a high standard for this length of time is an outstanding achievement. Happy Birthday Wah Wah 45s and here’s to 15 more!!!!” Lance Ferguson (ABC Double J ‘Sky High’ Radio Show Saturdays 6-8pm, Australia)
“It Sounds so Sunday doesn’t it?!” Cerys Matthews (BBC 6, UK)
“Got this at the weekend and have been playing the last few days. I have so many memories playing just about all these tracks (plus lots more not on the comp) and this shows what a brilliant job Dom, Adam and of course Simon have done over the 15 years!! Congratulations on 15 years and roll on 15 more!!5/5” Simon Harrison (Basic soul radio show, UK)
“Looking forward to We Wah Fifteen !!! Great music, great people around it. Thanks. 5/5” Electric Brother (Retroelectro radio show, Romania)
“All you need from music is here, keep on Wah Wah, we pray for you! 5/5” Chris ex (musica-re blog / up’n’loud radio / soul magazine / Bandrop.tv, Germany )
“A wonderful retrospective and a history lesson for those unfamiliar with early Wah Wah times. Happy birthday to you lovely people, here’s to many more!” Tom Headfunk (Headfunk, UK)
“Kwaliteee! On the Ipod A List heavy rotation at BB…” Chris Greenwood aka Madera Verde (Mi Soul, SOAS Radio, SMS, Bedroom Bar, UK)
“What a massive collection of turned on music. So nice to hear those goodies again, and some for the first time. If there where more stars for voting it would be always the full amount. Thank you so much Wah Wah 45… Starting from wonderful and getting better all the time. 5/5” Robert Lochmann aka DJ Jazzmadass (Radio X, freelance DJ, Germany)
“Happy birthday Wah Wah & Dom… Keep up the amazing work you are doing… Fabulous compilation to celebrate 15 years of amazing records. 4/5” Niksa Dragolin (Radio Eurostar, DJ Shows, Croatia)
“Very good! 4/5” Hector Pizarro (Chile con mix radio show, Dj resident/Producer, France)
“A wonderful eclectic blend of music to celebrate 15 years from a label at the very top of it game. 5/5” Aja (Ketch A Vibe, UK)
“Great one and congrats on 15 years ! 5/5” Ralf Zitzmann (Agogo Records, Germany)
“Love the artwork!!!!!! 5/5” Animisiewasz (Dj, Poland)
“Been enjoying Lea Lea’s stuff…” Kier (Record-Play, UK)
“Lovely and as usual timeless music. 4/5” Kid Fonque (DJ, South Africa)
“Well done. CONGRATS Dom! 5/5” Junior (Eavesdrop Radio 91.7FM / Recordbreakin.com, USA)
“WOW! USUAL TOP SHELF BISNIS!” The True Jazzchild (http://www.mixcloud.com/TJKid, Spain)
“Top quality as usual. Will definitely get some play from me.” Jason Palma (Higher Ground Radio, Canada)
“Love Unforscene and Colman Brothers” Mick Farrer (Solar Radio, UK)
“A fabulous celebration of a fabulous label! 4/5” Sam Allen (Stellar Inflight Radio & Eastside 89.7 FM Presenter, Australia)
“A storybook that tells the tale of a modern, eclectic and forward thinking label. Lovely loves love Wah Wah 4/5” Pete Buckenham (Eclectic On The Corner, UK)
http://artistxite.de/album/Various-Artists-Wah-Wah-45s-We-Wah-Fifteen
“Cool new retro stuff, Part Times Heroes with Jono and Max Cole are so sweet” Josef Sedlon (Radio 1, Czech Republic)
“The grooviest label, as usual” Francesco (Radio 2 Rai, Manifesto newspaper, Italy)
“Sounding top fellas! Perfect across-the-board Wah Wah manifesto. Will make sure I give it support on the radio show/out & about up north! 4/5” Luke Bolton AKA Bolts (Original Cultures/Fly High Society/So Flute/Select & Connect, UK)
“Amazing good vibes inside this various. Thanks. Cheers. Xav. 4/5” Azaxx (Thru Thoughts, France)
“Wow…. 15 years! Happy Birthday. Cheers on 15 more. Thanks for all the great releases! Cheers, Menno. 5/5” Mennert (Rupert & Mennert, Netherlands)
“A mighty catalogue by so many fine producers, oozing forward thinking soul – happy 15th y’all. 5/5” Alan Gubby (Buried Treasure, UK)
“Wah Wah 45s is really one of the best labels these days. I am so happy to own this little compilation and am really happy to play it on my radio show. 5/5” Christoph (ByteFM, WDR, Germany)
“Warm and kaleidoscopiquely” Andrej (ByteFM, Germany)
“Great compilation. 5/5” Ango (Supagroovalistic, France)
“Happy Birthday, Wah Wah 45s!! As expected, a great track selection – what a nice birthday cake! 5/5” Sven Thomschke, ‘Dr.Best’ (Radio Z 95.8 Germany)
“Listening to this great selection you’ll understand the great passion of Dom Servini for music!” Cesare Cera (Mighty Black Wax / Irma / Radio Bologna Uno, Italy)
“Happy birthday to Wah Wah 45s! Keep on for 100 years!” Chris Ex (Musica Re)
“I will play this during the fund drive show next show, lots of listeners tuned in then to pledge and support our station’s programming for another year. I’ll be sure to plug in the WW45s anniversary!” DJ Citizen Zain (90.7FM KALX, USA)
Russ Jones, SOAS Radio (UK)
Rado Tomek (Bratislava)
Dr. Best (Radio Z, Germany)
Robert Lochmann AKA DJ Jazzmadass (Radio X, Frankfurt)
Mans Stromberg (Radio Helsinki, Finland)
