Jock Jams Vol. 5 CD

Madonna,Will Smith,Back Street Boys,Busta Rhymes,69 Boys,Ushe

Compilation producers: Patrick Edmonds, Raymond Castoldi.
The fifth volume in the Jock Jams series gets the balance just right, alternating American R&B and hip-hop tracks with the best of Euro-dance. From the R&B world comes "Miami" by Will Smith, "Turn It Up/Fire It Up" by Busta Rhymes, "Nice and Slow" by Usher, and "All I Have to Give" by Backstreet Boys. The flip-side, club music, includes tracks by Vengaboys ("We Like to Party"), Perfecto Allstarz ("Reach Up"), "I'm Gonna Get You" by Bizarre Inc., "Woof Woof" by 69 Boyz and "Burnin' Up" by Cevin Fisher. ~ Keith Farley
Imagine for a moment that you're a college freshman. It's early September, and you're out taking a walk in the balmy twilight of a Saturday, past stately limestone lecture halls and across leaf- and acorn-covered fields. Eventually, you wind up in some dark corner of your campus, where there stands a row of dilapidated houses with large Greek letters nailed against their sides. Blue lights spin against steam-covered basement windows. In the air is the stench of stale beer and sex. And somewhere, a DJ has cued up the Vengaboys' "We Like to Party."
If fraternities had a house CD--as they do house dogs and handshakes--Tommy Boy's JOCK JAMS, VOLUME 5 would be it. With prime bits of dance floor magic ranging from Madonna's "Ray of Light" to Will Smith's "Miami" to a rousing rendition of "You Ugly," led here by the album's omnipresent Jock Jams Cheerleaders, this album can turn even the most stoic wallflower into a raging dance machine. The aforementioned Vengaboys masterpiece is perhaps the album's crowning achievement, combining bleating--and vaguely Teutonic--horns over a steady drumbeat for an effect something like sitting outside of the Lincoln Tunnel during rush hour while on speed.