***1/2 Various

NMC Groove Volume 1

(NMC)

Thank LaBouche for this CD, because before their success, one had to go to Montreal or Europe to find music as fast on its feet and girlishly swish. Total club kids probably know Dayeene's Stonebridge-mixed "Revelation" and "Alright" (late-night disco hits from as far back as 1991), but few CD buyers have ever heard Dayeene go raw and horny, and hardly anyone in the US has been within easy reach of Euro as speedy as Captain GQ's "Here I Come" and Look Twice's "Go Away," or voice-dub house jams as huggable as Freaky Baby's "Give It to Me Good."

Not even LaBouche boast a mix of pounding rhythm and sugary melody as plush and pushy as these 14 fiery free-falls. But how better to express going overboard and loving it (disco's ultimate mission) than by playing Miisa's two glorious raves "Get Ready" and "P.F.B.," Ernest Kohl's candy-coated "Only You," Anne Marie Taylor's garage-styled "Who's Gonna Cry," and Will to Will's "Take Me to Paradise"? These are songs that abolish every trace of Generation X pop's icy intellectual equilibrium.

-- Michael Freedberg