***1/2

JOHN BLAIR PARTY, VOLUME 2: DJ JAMES ANDERSON

(LOGIC/BMG)

James Anderson, a newcomer to full-length DJ records, kicks up, in these 12 segued tracks, all the big beat, look-good chatter, echo effects, and huge, popping joys that full-tilt house music is capable of. Less plush than Junior Vasquez, not as oratorical as Danny Tenaglia, drier than David Morales, and less syncopated rhythmically than Little Louie Vega, but given to sparkling beat breaks and cute voices, Anderson nonetheless manages, with his sparer melodies and frisky beats, to evoke all of the glamor, happiness, and diva drama that his more famous rivals have established as central to house music's soul. Credit his taste in what to program: club-crazy gems like Charlotte's flamboyant, clothes-conscious "Skin," Christian & Rizzo's "You Got My Love," Blackout's traxx-styled "Got To Have Hope," Dave Moss & Ian Rich's lascivious "Slut," a remixed version of Deborah Harry's "Command & Obey," and Kim English's "Unspeakable Joy," whose title sums up Anderson's ecstatic set.

-- Michael Freedberg