This Ubiquity release is a straight reissue of the CD version of 2000's
Parallel Dimensions, a full-length set of productions that
Theo Parrish initially put out in a typically limited quantity on his Sound Signature label. The original double-vinyl release contained five tracks, with only three of those -- bizarrely enough -- included on the CD version. Six other tracks, either previously released on vinyl or brand new, fleshed out the disc. Parrish's shrewdest move with the CD version was the inclusion of "Summertime Is Here," a one-sided 12" from 1999 that is sweltering in every sense; the producer incorporates live sax, trumpet, and vocals to help make a blissfully exploratory cross between soul-jazz and abstract house that should be considered a Motor City classic, genre be damned. It foreshadowed where he would take his sound with the
Rotating Assembly collaborations and is the central track here, if not
Parrish's prolific career. This shouldn't take the focus off several other excellent tracks ("Anansies Dances," "Serengeti Echoes," "Violet Green"), all of which trade in the producer's patented gritty/clunky mid-tempo approach to house. The average track clocks in somewhere around ten minutes, allowing enough space for those all-important subtle changes to generate an optimum supply of intensely hypnotic music that borders on the supernatural.
Parrish obsessives who already have the Sound Signature release might want to take note that Ubiquity has made an improvement on the sound quality; the elements of each track are more separable by the ear. Issued around the same time as the
Parrish-orchestrated
Rotating Assembly album, this widely distrubuted reissue should also help shine light on one of house music's few modern visionaries. (Another note: the vinyl version of Ubiquity's reissue contains the same nine tracks available on the CD version, rather than duplicating the five-track format of the Sound Signature release.) ~ Andy Kellman