Had RUEHL survived the recession, it's interesting to think about how it would be as a brand today. With the recent surges in fashion-influenced merchandise across the brands, it may be correct in assuming RUEHL would be the most fashion forward of the bunch...or maybe not! Perhaps classic style would be more appropriate for the target demographic?
Regardless, we'll never know. However, the RUEHL brand continues to live on, and one crucial piece of the brand was it's incredible music. Here are a selection of songs that never made it onto a RUEHL playlist - either because they are post 2010, or they were simply never chosen....enjoy.
I hope you enjoy listening to these tracks. Let us know if you have any other classic tracks that should have been featured in any of the brands!
Dom
Byron Stingily - Back To Paradise (Frankie Knuckles Classic Mix)
This aptly titled piece of house is typical Frankie Knuckles - fantastic piano, and far more melodic than most other pieces in the house genre. A good few of his remixes made it onto the RUEHL playlists, and this is one which seems so good, it's criminal it was never included. Also helping is Stingily's fantastic falsetto voice which is unusual, but brilliant at the same time - a bit like RUEHL.
Groove Assassin and Kenny Bobien - About Love (Sean McCabe Remix)
Bringing RUEHL bang up to date is this fantastic recent release by Groove Assassin and Kenny Bobien - taken from the incredible album Tales From Beyond The Tone Arm by Frankie Knuckles (definitely check this one out). It's ironically the same album which contains the remix of Candi Staton's Hallelujia Anyway that was featured on the most recent A&F playlist (Christmas 2012). By this logic, perhaps we'll see this one soon too...who knows.
Jose Carretas Feat. Diviniti - Life In A Box (Original Mix)
Beware folks, now we're divulging into obscure territory now. This fantastic track by Brazilian musician Jose Carretas is incredibly rare and the sort of unusual thing you'd expect to find on a RUEHL playlist. It's brilliantly laid back and very lounge-y - definitely the sort of thing you could imagine hearing inside No.925...
The Girl From Ipanema (Jazz N' Groove Mix)
One of my personal favourites. Although this is a version of the famous song about the coolest beach in Rio, this Jazz N' Groove remix feels right at home in a Greenwich Village brownstone. Probably one of the most sophisticated and adult pieces of house music you'll ever find.
Kerri Chandler - On My Way
This incredibly jazzy piece of house music has just the right amount of cool to make it a perfect fit for RUEHL...the saxophone is great.
Martine Girault - Rivival
Possibly one of the finest pieces of lounge music ever produced. Martine is a fantastic singer, but sadly has been relegated into the realms of obscurity - very unfair. However, her best work is without a doubt Revival, a brilliant late-night-esque piece of music. This would have fit perfectly with shopping inside an empty Ruehl on a late summer night just before closing...sadly something we'll never be able to do again: