It is beginning to resemble a sign of the times, having a good idea that becomes a success and then milking it until everybody gets bored. A new wave of mix-cd's is hitting the market: the follow-up to the successful DJ-mix. Dimitri From Paris couldn't complain about any lack of attention when he released his 'A Night At The Playboy Mansion' set as an album in 2000. Both an exercise in retro jet-set kitsch and a cynical branding crossover rolled into one, it became something of a hit with the intercontinental disco/lounge/Compost crowd. And so inevitably, a follow-up is released that makes even grander gestures. The double-pack is conceptually divided not unlike Sven Väth's recent effort: CD1 is called Laidback and represents something of a chill out vibe; CD2 is called Uplifting and is for moving on the dance floor. In short, the stuff that keeps rocket scientists awake at night.

While it may be a simple concept it also has its undeniably charms, especially when Dimitri decides to fill a substantial space of the mix with obscure mixes and forgotten tracks from the seventies and eighties. The Uplifting CD I'm very ambivalent about, disco often is a better proposition in theory than the reality of diva's endlessly shouting "I'm feeling it". Still early on, it hits a good stretch of spaced-out Brazilian disco before landing in diva hell. Things pick up at the end with the gritty and dubby 'It's Yours' by Jon Cutler featuring E-man that segues into a remix of Boris Dlugosch & Roisin Murphy's addictive 'Never Enough' into Ten City's classic 'That's The Way Love Is' and closing with a long version of 'Don't Leave Me This Way' (not the Communards version, you uncool fools.)

The Laidback CD by eschewing the disco template for a diverse approach is far more rewarding. Lil' Louis never disappoints so 'Nyce and Slo' is a perfect opener for a set that goes for a beautiful mix of dusky house, moody disco and dubbed-out funk. Highlights are the Tenaglia remix of the Grace Jones classic 'Feel up' and the mind-blowing 'So Good So Right' by Imagination, an inspired act of rescuing from obscurity for which Dimitri must be commended. My inner soul deadening critic-as-consumer guide would say something like: "3,5 stars. Nice non-intrusive music you can play at your party and people can both talk and dance to. Extra star added for the inclusion of non-obvious tracks.