Album Review: Larry Levan - Genius Of Time

You may not know the name, but Larry Levan's sounds are guaranteed to ping anyone's music radar.

His hybrid sound of soul, funk and gospel helped forge what would become disco in the mid '70s and later garage and house music in the '80s. Levan is the very template from which future scene divas would be pressed. Here then are 22 sparkly gems he produced or mixed before his untimely death at just 38. Gwen Guthrie, Grace Jones and Smokey Robinson all shine but there's a bounty of underappreciated lesser stars worth of discovery. Genius Of Time is a decadent and fabulous education.