Deee-Lite World Clique – MOFI 2 x180g 45RPM Vinyl LP

Dig! A rare club album that crossed over into the mainstream and became an international success, World Clique seemingly came from out of the blue from a band whose whimsical, quasi-psychedelic name — Deee-Lite — hints at the sheer fun, quirky personality, and humorous flair within its diverse borders. Renowned for the smash “Groove Is in the Heart,” ranked #233 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and No. 2 on Billboard’s 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time, the 1990 record is a good-time dive into funk, house, disco, and pop waters that never fails to put a smile on listeners’ faces or a spring in their step.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, strictly limited to 2,000 numbered copies, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents World Clique in audiophile quality for the first time. One of the most important aspects of the effort — rhythmic grooves, natch — tremendously benefits from the fact the 48-minute album gets spread across four vinyl sides. The upgrade allows for a boost in groove velocity and near eradication of inner-groove distortion all the while enhancing high- and low-frequency reproduction. Unless you’ve got out-of-print 12-inch singles from this Billboard Top 20 set, you’ve never even come close to hearing how good it sounds.

Constructed via a hybrid of instrumentation, singing, and samples, World Clique unfurls with a rainbow of colors, tones, details, and effects. This collectible reissue zeros in on the separation and spatial location crucial to the tracks, with clever touches such as supplementary echoes to panned vocals and hand claps in defined positions amid broad, deep soundstages. The clarity of everything from Lady Miss Kier’s breathy vocals and the group’s effortless hooks to the statement-making horns from James Brown band legends Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley brings Deee-Lite’s joyous delirium to life in multi-dimensional fashion.

Cool, real, fresh: The terms the trio tosses about on the album-opening “Deee-Lite Theme” still apply, even with the evolution of beat technology. Beholden to no trend, look or algorithm, Deee-Lite approaches World Clique as if anything is possible. That feeling extends to how the group weaves a broad palette of samples into its arrangements. Rather than using pieces of songs by the likes of Betty Wright, Quincy Jones, and the Monkees as foundations  and then layering original segments on top — Deee-Lite eschews then-popular excessive convention and judiciously incorporates samples as smart accents, transitions, and punctuation marks. The group’s savvy knack for sunny hooks, piano riffs, and unpredictability does the rest.

“Won’t you listen to what the DJ is spinnin’,” Kier instructs on the nuanced “E.S.P.,” the advice indicative of the carefree spirit and feet-moving vibes that make World Clique an instant party starter and mood elevator. Indeed, the very titles of most of the songs make Deee-Lite’s positive intentions transparent. The collective follows through with music steeped in retro R&B, daisy-age hip-hop, lite psychedelia, and bubbly pop that wiggles, flows, and turns your space into an imaginary dance floor.

More proof World Clique is much more than a one-hit wonder? Kier’s spry and airy vocals, which inject songs such as the simmering “Good Beat,” hop-scotching title track, and percolating “What Is Love?” with intrigue, soulfulness, and spice. They helped turn “Power of Love” into Deee-Lite’s second No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart. And they seamlessly blend with Collins’ guitar riffs and Parker and Wesley’s horns on the multifaceted “Try Me On…I’m Very You.”

Of course, what else needs to be said about that tandem’s work on “Groove Is in the Heart,” which hit the Top 5 on three Billboard charts and the Top 30 on yet another chart? Collins’ cooler-than-thou spoken intro and chorus interjections. That slide whistle. The start of an Eva Gabor comment on “Green Acres” transformed into its own speech motif. That cowbell. Those fluid bass lines. That get-down sass and kitsch. That spot-on rap interlude from Q-Tip. Add it all up and you have the song voted Best Single in the 1990 Pazz & Jop poll and one that is on “best” decade lists from Pitchfork, NME, Time Out, Billboard, Slant, and more —to say nothing of “best” all-time lists.

De-lovely, delightful, and truly delicious.

Track Listing:

Side One:

1. Deee-Lite Theme
2. Good Beat
3. Power of Love

Side Two:

1. Try Me On…I’m Very You
2. Smile On
3. What Is Love?

Side Three:

1. World Clique
2. E.S.P.
3. Groove Is in the Heart

Side Four:

1. Who Was That?
2. Deep-Ending
3. Build the Bridge