"Its danceable R 'n' B not disco", he shouted back with a cheeky grin. Dam, for the past 20 years I'd been calling it 'Disco'. I guess I must have got it wrong. I was a little puzzled but I guess this man should know, for he was given the name of 'The Godfather of Disco'. Mel Cheren had spoken and once again I'd learnt something. I only said I hoped David Depino would play some Disco tonight!

I guess categorisation and a DJ's restriction to playing one genre of music is the major problem in today's UK clubs. Mel had just helped me understand, its not House, Garage, Disco, Jazz Funk, Soul... its ALL "Danceable R 'n' B!". All just music, and should be played together AS MUSIC. If only the hosts and organisers of this party were so open minded.

This party had promised so much: David Depino and Louie Vega playing together for 8 hours on a kick ass sound system to celebrate the release of WestEnd Records 25 Year Anniversary CD (and Mel's Birthday!). But I guess this is an example of how a club can ruin a party.

I couldn't help but draw comparisons with my recent visit to The Shelter in NYC, which upon arrival we were personally greeted, thanked for coming out, shown in and told to have a great night.

When arriving at the Ministry of Sound, we were made to queue in the rain for over an hour and once we'd reached the entrance the doorman rudely said "no jeans or trainers tonight" (I'd been wearing trainers to the MoS for the pasted 5 years). As if this wasn't bad enough the young girlie with the guest list clip board then pipped up, "Yeah no trainers tonight, innit?" at which point I pointed out that she was in fact wearing jeans and trainers! The girl promptly disappeared, this was just typical of MoS.

Finally we made it through the gates by now wet, cold and pissed off, only to be met by another long queue, this time for the full body search. This was more reminiscent of an airport than a night club, as we were required to empty our pockets and walk through a metal detector then a full body search which included the security man putting his hands down your pants: NICE!

Finally inside I grabbed a drink and sat in the Bar area (now sponsored by Barcadi) waiting for David Depino to start in the Box at 2am. I took a long look around, boy how times have changed. This old derelict warehouse was now the epitome of commercial clubland UK. Kids who had all bought into the clubbing brand surrounded me. I guess none of them really knew why they were there: "hey it was just what young people did, innit?" Hell, they even all looked the same! This wasn't underground, this wasn't a place where you could be free to lose your inhibitions, express yourself and release the weeks inner tensions. No, this was something else. I'm still not sure what, but it was certainly a million miles away from the dreams of party pioneers like David Mancuso and Micheal Brody.

I left the bra cladded glamorous podium girls in the Bar and headed into the dark Box. Even with all the Ministry's present day faults the Box still holds a warm place in my heart. Maybe its the wonderful memories it holds for me or its resemblance to Paradise Garage? Whatever it is you can still lose yourself in there like no other place in London. The newly refurbished Box was filling up as I spied David Depino sitting in the new massive DJ booth. He was just sitting quietly, looking on as Chrissy T knocked out UK filtered disco house. What I would have given for David's thoughts. I took my spot on the dance floor as the excellent lighting flashed around me. I looked around checking the crowd, then from the corner of my eye I spied a familiar face. Dancing all on his own was a man who's been dancing for nearly 7 decades, Mel was in the house and I headed over to say hi. We embraced as I welcomed him back to London. The last time we were together in London was June 2000 at the now legendary London Paradise Garage party.

It was difficult to chat over the rumbling noise but I asked how Club Shelter's opening party went last week, he replied "It was just like the Garage use to be". This was quite a statement coming from Mel, I looked forward to my trip there at Easter.

The clock neared 2am as David Depino sifted through his record box. It was time for a true legend to take the controls and I couldn't wait. His first track was a forgettable bouncy house number, I stood on the dance floor a little confused. Wasn't this meant to be a party to celebrate 25 years of West End Records? And wasn't the whole point of flying Depino over because he played the original West End cuts at the Paradise Garage. I waited patiently, maybe he was just making the transition from Chirssy T's filtered house and would reach disco in time. But no it never happened. Don't get me wrong his musical selection was nice: "Star Suite", "Africanism", "Little L", "Change", but not hearing Depino play disco is like seeing the Beatles live and them not doing "twist and shout". It's such a waste. I dunno why he didn't play disco maybe he played what he thought the crowd wanted. And to be honest most of the people seemed to love it, but I think they would have loved anything. The music appeared to be merely wallpaper to their drug experience.

Louie was up next and he was equally frustrating. His musical selection was nice but followed a one-dimensional planar tracky tribally groove. Great for an hour or so, but a little bit much for five. Louie didn't take it anywhere and in my option didn't earn his money. At times I found myself bored, waiting for a spark to light the fire.

By this time the Box was full to bursting. In all the years I've been going I can't remember it being so packed. You quite literally could not dance, everyone bobbing on the spot. Louie was joined by his keyboard and guitar players and the three of them jammed freestyle. This was a welcomed change, but didn't work as well as it might, the records Louie played clashing and drowning out the instruments.

Mel kept making trips down from the DJ booth to the join us on the dance floor and this really made the party bearable. He'd arrived every time with a fresh bottle of water, which was welcomed as the temperature in the Box rose. His generosity is really something, as he handed out free West End promo CD's from the never ending pockets in his combats. Oh and then there was his four customised t-shirt changes: a couple of Paradise Garage ones, a sequinned Shelter one and finally a Soul Heaven T. Great! Such enthusiasm from a man who's nearing 70.

The clock was nearing 8:30am as Louie continued. The party was drawing to a close as the McDonalds breakfasts arrived in the DJ booth. The Disco I longed for never arrived and although at times it looked like David would come back on, Louie never seemed to give him a chance.

In fact I only remember hearing 3 tracks from West End records heyday in mid 70 early 80's: "Ain't No Mountain high enough", "Re-light My Fire" and Eddy Grant's "Time Warp" (none of them on West End Records).

I headed home in the morning sunshine feeling let down, frustrated and sold short. Why advertise a party as celebrating 25 Years Of West End Records and then not play any music from the label or its era. Why fly a legend in David Depino over and give him only two hours. Who's to blame? Well I'll leave you to think about that one. Or maybe it's just me, born 20 years to late in the wrong city... It was finally time for bed, only another 59 sleeps before I get the real deal at Club Shelter in New York... My dreams were sweet...