December 27, 1986: The Hammy Awards 1986

This week’s edition of Record Mirror was a special two-week issue, so the next edition was dated 10th January 1987. There were no reviews or weekly charts this week.

THE HAMMY AWARDS

YO, HOMEBOY! It’s that double def fresh time of the year, when once again we open the golden envelope and see who was really hot to trot in 1986. All statistics are derived from the year-end disco charts, so you can’t argue! Record company executives can start quaking now, as I think some heads will roll…

DISCO ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Janet Jackson

RUNNERS UP: Midnight Star, Cameo, Kurtis Blow, Gwen Guthrie, Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk & Jesse Saunders featuring Darryl Pandy, Alexander O’Neal, Mantronix, Loose Ends, Princess

DISCO HIT OF 1986: Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk & Jesse Saunders featuring Darryl Pandy ‘Love Can’t Turn Around’ (London)

RECORD AT NUMBER ONE FOR LONGEST (tie): Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk & Jesse Saunders featuring Darryl Pandy ‘Love Can’t Turn Around’ (London) and Raze ‘Jack The Groove’ (Champion), both for six weeks.

IMPORT OF THE YEAR: Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley ‘Jack Your Body’ (US Underground) — however, ***STOP PRESS!!!*** it’s due here at last for December 29 rush release on London (LONX 117), legal difficulties having finally been resolved.

BEAT OF THE STREET: “der rump dump dum dum dump dum”

MY KIND OF TOWN: Chicago is.

ALBUM ARTISTS OF THE YEAR: Luther Vandross, Alexander O’Neal, Janet Jackson

DISCO LABELS OF THE YEAR: 1 (2) Club, 2 (–) A&M, 3 (8) London, 4 (4) 10 Records, 5 (7) Fourth & Broadway, 6 (–) Champion, 7 (10) MCA Records, 8 (9) Cooltempo, 9 (–) Warner Bros, 10 (3) Capitol, 11 (–) Tabu, 12 (–) Boiling Point, 13 (–) Supreme Records, 14 (–) Epic, 15 ( 1 ) Atlantic

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Motown (5 in ’85, 1 in ’84)

WE TRY HARDER: A&M

RECORD COMPANIES OF THE YEAR (labels ranked by hit strength): 1 (2) Phonogram (Club/ London), 2 (10) CBS/Epic (Tabu/Epic/CBS/Scotti Bros/Def Jam/Portrait), 3 (–) A&M, 4 (9) MCA (MCA Records/Solar), 5= (1) WEA (Warner Bros/Atlantic), 5= (8) Chrysalis (Cooltempo/Ensign/ Chrysalis), 7 (7) Island (Fourth & Broadway/Island), 8 (5) 10 Records, 9 (–) Champion, 10 (4) EMI (Capitol/EMI/ Manhattan/Total Control Records), 11 (–) Polydor (Boiling Point), 12 (–) Supreme Records, 13 (6) Virgin (Virgin, Circa Records), 14 (–) US Underground, 15 (–) Streetwave

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: RCA (3 in ’85, 2 in ’84)

WE TRY HARDER: CBS/Epic

PRODUCERS OF THE YEAR: Jam & Lewis

RUNNERS UP: Larry Blackmon, Stock-Aitken-Waterman, Full Force, Mantronik, Nick Martinelli

REMIXER OF THE YEAR: Mantronik

RUNNERS UP: Louil Silas Jr, Larry Levan, Shep Pettibone, Dancin’ Danny D

MEGAMIXER OF THE YEAR: Les Adams

EUROBEAT ARTISTS OF THE YEAR: Seventh Avenue

RUNNERS UP: Eastbound Expressway, Louise Thomas, Darryl Pandy, Man 2 Man Continue reading “December 27, 1986: The Hammy Awards 1986”

December 20, 1986: Throwdown, Howard Hewett, Nitro Deluxe, Master C & J, Prince Phillip Mitchell

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

Jet Star turns out to be the successor to the old Pama label, and — guess what? — it at last will be reissuing the original Mohawks ‘The Champ‘ in the new year … Jean Knight ‘Mr Big Stuff‘ is easily available here on Old Gold (OG 9534), presumably still 93bpm … UK DJ Mixing Championships heats start in January at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Walkers Tuesday 6, Edinburgh Ampitheatre Wed 7, Manchester Saturdays Tues 13, Barnsley Japanese Whispers Wed 14, Birmingham Millionaires Mon 19, Bristol Chasers Tues 20, Bournemouth Clouds Mon 25, with the UK final at London’s Hippodrome Tuesday, February 10 … I hope to be judging at all these venues, so see you there! … London’s Royal Albert Hall is the prestigious site of the final International Mixing Championships, transformed by Avitec Electronics into a massive disco for the occasion, on Monday March 9, the day after the Disco Mix Club’s 1987 International DJ Convention will once again have been at the Hippodrome (Sunday, March 8); tickets for both events are available singly or combined (the latter the better deal, while all are cheaper if bought before Feb 15 – call 06286-67276 for full details) … Disco Aid to date, with lots more money still to come, has raised £32,000 — better than nothing, but a long way short of expectations … CBS might now find takers for the James Brown 12 inch, having replaced the flip’s ‘Living In America (R&B Mix)’ with a Message House Mix of the charging full tilt (0-)126-0bpm ‘Goliath’ floor burner, remixed by Chris Lord-Alge, as too is its newly extended more delicately starting 108⅓-0bpm A-side, ‘How Do You Stop‘ (Scotti Bros JAMES 01) – typically, this yet again throws away an album’s hottest track on a B-side (shades of ‘What’s Missing’) … Phonogram have given up with ‘Victory’, replacing the A-side of Kool & The Gang’s 12 inch with ‘The Throwdown Mix‘ (Club JABXR 44), a typical neat 111…124½bpm Les Adams megamix of ‘Get Down On It/Ladies Night/Fresh/Big Fun/Straight Ahead/Celebration/Misled/Emergency’ – in fact, all the hit floor-fillers that fit, nicely timed for Christmas! … Hindsight’s subtitle ‘Spare A Dime Mix’ always led one to expect a remix and, sure enough, ‘Small Change’ is now also in a dubbier 111⅙bpm ‘The Corn Xchange Mix’ (Circa YRTX 1) – a pity the original hasn’t done as well nationally as it deserved … 5,000 copies of the originally promo-only current Loose Ends 12 inch twin-pack finally reached the shops commercially in yet another creative marketing ploy by Virgin, who now, along with some sort of cassette pack, have at least four configurations of ‘Nights Of Pleasure’ on sale, not counting seven inch – maybe if the right songs in the right mixes were widely available from the start, none of this manoeuvring would be necessary … CityBeat are starting a regular remix series of 12 inch four-trackers, The Ultimate Mixes ’87, kicking off with Arthur Baker’s four radical revamps of Freeez ‘IOU’ and Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk’s four of John Rocca ‘I Want It To Be Real’ (the inspiration behind Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley ‘Jack Your Body’!); the Freeez remixes are house-styled 121¼bpm Club Dub and 121bpm Club Vocal, go go-ish 105¼bpm Shakedown Vocal and Instrumental (CityBeat CBE 1209), due Jan 5 … rm’s next full BPM column after the Hammy Awards and Christmas won’t be until January 8, so note that also due on UK release earlier that week are the remixed 0-104⅔-0bpm Naturals ‘Funky Rasta’ (Cooltempo COOLX 140), and (all on Champion) Raze ‘Let The Music Move U’ (119¼)/’Get Down’ (119½)/’Control Me’ (128¼bpm) (CHAMP 1227), Gary L ‘Time’ (120½bpm) (CHAMP 1228), Libra Libra ‘I Like It’ (120¼bpm) (CHAMP 1226) … DJs, please post your next charts to us no later than Monday, January 5 … Hank Ballard & The Midnighters attracted lots of faces, including Capital’s Peter Young and Charlie Gillett, Radio London’s Robbie Vincent, Radio One’s John Peel, DevonAir’s Dave Treharne, WBLS’s Tim Westwood, the Monster Raving Loony Party’s Screaming Lord Sutch, and – to my delight – the guy who graduated from being a punter to DJ with me at The Scene 21 years ago, Brian Peters … Richard Searling presents his Top 50 personal soul choice of 1986 on Red Rose Radio between 10pm-2am on January 1 … Heatwave are recording here an album and single for February release via PRT … Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk has remixed First Choice ‘Let No Man Put Asunder’ with new vocals added by Roshelle Fleming … Brian Mason (Cricklewood Ashtons) thinks he can detect a similarity between more than just the titles of Robbie Nevil ‘C’est La Vie’ and T.S. Monk ‘Bon Bon Vie’, while likewise Bruce ‘Dr Juice’ Nelson (Sheffield Sinatra’s) suggests the Davis/Pinckney Project ‘You Can Dance (If You Want To)’ and Men Without Hats ‘Safety Dance’ … Krystal’s ‘Precious, Precious’, now I’ve checked, is not the old Jackie Moore song, but with so similar a title line the modern song could well have been a rearrangement … Heavy D. & The Boyz (due as a remix) has much the same ‘Triple M Bass’ as Worse ‘Em (now promoed here on Champion, at 97⅚-97⅓-97-96⅔-0bpm, which means I hadn’t spotted the US Profile pressing should really be 0-98⅓-97⅙-0bpm in similarly decelerating stages) … Steady “B” also has a 12 inch (with remixes as well as the already reviewed LP versions) of the modern “talking blues”-style ‘Cheatin’ Girl‘ and scratched bragging rap ‘Bring The Beat Back‘ (US Jive/Pop Art 1023-1-JD) … Ready For The World’s smoochily “probing” 0-64⅗bpm ‘Love You Down‘ topped US Black 45s, Freddie Jackson Black LPs, Dead Or Alive Club Play too in Billboard … Sharon Dee Clarke doesn’t have much acting to do as the night nurse in TV’s ‘The Singing Detective’, she’s usually asleep! … Pez Tellet & Andy Gould are promoting the brand new RJ’s on New Brighton promenade as a “serious dance venue’, to counter the area’s many fun-pubs, and they’d welcome offers of PAs on 051-639 5746 … Boxing Day (26) Rob Day and the Brothers Slide start the weekly Friday Escapism for all vintages of funk at New Cross Cupids (in Goldsmiths Tavern), as a replacement for the defunct Flim-Flam – which will return in February at a new venue … I don’t know why my ‘Hit List/Disco Round-Up’ reviews in the latest issue of JOCKS have been printed so far out of the right running order that most of the lead reviews come last, but it’s even got me confused! … Christmas is almost here — many thanks for all your cards, and KEEP CHILLED!


HANK BALLARD & THE MIDNIGHTERS wore marvellous last Thursday at the Hammersmith Palais, turning the clock back to the Fifties and Sixties without making any compromise to more recent musical developments. Hank, with his tidily lean face looking ever youthful, began making hits in 1954 and surely couldn’t have been much more dynamic even then, while the Midnighters vocal group stood out on their own especially singing ‘My Girl’, member Caesar Valentino doing back flips and splits during his solo Jackie Wilson tribute, and guitarist Billy Davis revived all the redundant blues licks you never thought you’d see performed again (as was everything) in such perfectly dated style. Soul, blues, gospel and rock ‘n’ roll combined, with inevitably ‘The Twist’, to make an educational blast from the past and back to the future.


Friday (19) LWR’s Jasper and Jazzy M (seen above) with Rick Davis, Crazy Larry and Grandmaster Richie Rich start a “Syndicate” of DJs funking East Sheen’s the Bull; Sunday (21) London Charing Cross Road’s Astoria is funked from 4pm by Jeff Young, Simon Goffe, Tim Westwood, CJ Carlos, Gordon Mac, Jasper and BB&Q, while Graham Gold joins Joe Field souling Hemel Hempstead’s Heath Park; Monday (22) BB&Q are with Rick Davis at Uxbndge RegaIs; Wednesday (Christmas Eve) Northfleet Red Lion’s late night fancy dress Slammer has Chris Hill, Pete Tong, Eddie Gordon, while there are separate funk and jazz rooms at Hemel Hempstead’s Heath Park with Joe Field, Bob Cosby, Dave Ealand, Doug Osbourne and Big Blow; Christmas Day (25) Glasgow Dunlop Street’s Warehouse has BB&Q and 4AM (from 6pm!); Boxing Day (26) Preston Easy Street’s 4pm limited 600 admission Soul Sauce has Richard Searling, Kev Edwards, Kenni James and Roy Rose, while Camberley Cambridge Nite-Spot’s annual Frenchies beach party is hosted as ever by Chris Brown; Saturday (27) Great Shelford (Cambndge) De Freville Arms is souled by Martin Collins, Graham Gold, Tony Fernandez and Joe Field; Sunday (28) Leeds Tiffany’s alldayer stars unspecified jocks; Tuesday (30) Steve Allen souls Peterborough Millionaire. Those are the ones that arrived in time — it’s not a complete list, I know.


HOT VINYL

THROWDOWN ‘The Champ’ (HardBack BOSS 3)
Gilles Peterson, Paul Phillips and George Michael’s cousin Andros Giorgio have produced with musicians from Hi-Tension, Kandidate and the Team Ten Horns a note for note 111bpm remake of the reedy organ driven UK-recorded 1968 break beat classic by the Mohawks, currently numero uno on most DJs’ want lists (however, for good news, see Odds ‘n’ Bods!). Based on the chant and structure from Lowell Fulsom’s ‘Tramp’ – better known by Otis Redding & Carla Thomas – it’s still instrumental on the A-side (edit too), while the AA-side adds in Faze One and DJ Streets Ahead for a 0-100⅔bpm ‘Bust The Champ’ rap ‘n’ scratch (edit/beats too) that’s up to US standards of toughness.

HOWARD HEWETT ‘Stay’ (US Elektra 0-66827)
Shep Pettibone and the Latin Rascals have concocted five remixes of the Shalamar star’s hottest album track, a mesmeric jittering Jam & Lewis-ish swaying jogger that ends up excitingly pent up but is most immediately passionate in the 98½bpm Before Midnight Mix and slow burns in the 99bpm After Midnight Mix, with 98¼bpm Dub, 98⅓bpm Instrumental/Bonus Beats too.

NITRO DELUXE ‘The Brutal House’ (US Cutting Records CR-210)
Rapidly building over the past two weeks, this bass and jittery percussion boosted ever shifting 114½bpm instrumental reverts to the Bohannon, BT Express type of Seventies rhythm but with greater modern clarity and some squeaky doodling synth tones nagging through it all. The flip’s 114⅔bpm ‘Let’s Get Brutal’ and its 114bpm Dub are differently textured shorter treatments. Continue reading “December 20, 1986: Throwdown, Howard Hewett, Nitro Deluxe, Master C & J, Prince Phillip Mitchell”

December 13, 1986: Kool Moe Dee, Ronnie McNeir, Billy Preston, Romero, Stardom Groove featuring Tonya Wynne

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

JOHN CECCHINI, of the Bonkers Showbars in Liverpool/Wallasey/Macclesfield, won last Thursday’s final of the Disc Jockey Of The Year, with Cuddly Craig Bland from Great Harwood s Munroes coming second and Jon Davis from Plymouth’s Academy third (the latter of course being runner-up to Chad Jackson in this year’s mixing contest, too) … Colin Hudd has abruptly split with his award-winning residency of eight years at Dartford’s Flicks, after owner Mike Keam offered less money than last year for working on Christmas Eve … New Orleans R&B star Lee Dorsey died last Tuesday from emphysema, which — ironically, considering ‘Working In The Coal Mine’ was his biggest hit — is what coal miners often suffer from … StreetSounds’ major opus, compiled by Ralph Tee, the massive 14 LP boxed set ‘The Philadelphia Story‘ (PHST 1986) contains 140 Philadelphia International classics covering the last 15 years, probably everything you can think of and then some, so if you haven’t got them already, this is the best way to get ’em now! … StreetSounds’ latest Artists Showcase albums are retrospectives of Keni Burke and Archie Bell & The Drells … Luther Vandross’s 12 inch, which has failed to sell since his LP is such better value, is now a four-tracker with — just what we wanted — an even more hi-NRG 143¼bpm US remix of ‘Stop To Love’, plus finally on single The Goonies’ soundtrack’s pleasant (0-)102⅙bpm ‘She’s So Good To Me‘ (Epic 650216 8) … Timex Social Club ‘Mixed Up World’ has now been promoed yet again with yet another juddery lurching 144bpm Bongo In The Congo Mix of ‘Thinking About You Girl’ (yawn) … US pressings of the Mantronix LP include the UK remix of ‘Ladies’ … ‘I’m In Love‘ is already Ruby Turner’s US single … Europe’s long standing fiendishly catchy smash, Taffy ‘I Love My Radio (Midnight Radio)’ (TransGlobal/Rhythm King TYPE 1T) is starting to hit now it’s out here, in a rollicking 119½bpm American Mix and harder 121bpm European Mix, one for pop jocks to check as it should be huge … The Concept have followed the exactly year old ‘Mr DJ’ with, logically though over similarly, the 119½bpm ‘Miss DJ‘ (on US Macola) … Capital Radio’s Dr Hip Hop, Mike Allen gets name-checked on Steady “B”’s US LP sleeve … Faze One are calling themselves Throwdown for a rapping remake of the Mohawks’ ‘The Champ‘, out next week on HardBack (but when will the much sought 1968 original ever be out again, legally?) … Dave Lee, of Rough Trade record distributors, tips off that MC Shy-D may have lifted ‘Biyo’ from the intro of last year’s Italian remake by Sammy Barbot, while Steve Parks’ ‘Movin’ In The Right Direction‘ (currently bootlegged) was title track of his 1984 gospel LP on US Solid Smoke … Thursday (11) Steve Walsh and Nick Lawrence look large funking Woodford Town Football Club’s Woodys … Graeme Park funks Matlock’s Ye Olde English club this Thursday (11), then on Monday (15) Any Day Now PA with him and Trevor M at their Nottingham Easy Street night, before on Wednesday (17) at his Nottingham The Garage residency and on Thursday (18) at Derby Blue Note’s Glint night Graeme is joined by some of London’s Wag Club DJs … Eon Irving funks Wednesdays’ Jungle Rock night at Kensington Henry Africa’s, John Matthews and Jon Jules funk Greenford Barbarella’s Rhythm Box Thursdays, John DeSade does Hythe seafront’s Ocean 11 Thur/Fridays … Stamford Hill’s redecorated late night Cotton Club, having successfully chased away the ruffians, now wants to attract a “nice” crowd who are into funky stuff — DJ Benny Wilson guarantees the music and atmosphere are good, so doesn’t anyone clean living wanna boogie, too? … I’m afraid you’ll be too late if you haven’t already sent in your gig details for the holiday season, as next week’s rm will be the last one of the year to have a regular column – after that, it’s Hammy Awards time! … KEEP CHILLED!


This fresh faced elf is in fact Radio London’s learned jazz DJ, Gilles Peterson, who’s somewhat cornered the market in compiling jazz LPs. His latest, StreetSounds’ ‘Jazz Juice 4‘ is due imminently (containing such as Mel Tormé ‘Comin’ Home Baby‘, Peggy Lee ‘Fever’, Billy Larkin & The Delegates ‘Pigmy Part 1‘ and Wild Bill Davis ‘Hit The Road Jack‘), while in the series he’s been doing for EMI is his most recent Blue Note compilation, ‘Blue Bop‘ (Blue Note BNSLP 2). This contains Don Wilkerson’s ‘Dem Tambourines‘, the saxist on Ray Charles’s ‘I Got A Woman’ recreating a similar exciting feel in 1962 to a Ramsey Lewis-ish 106-105-106-105⅓-0bpm backing (double the BPM for a truer tempo, except it’s not that frantic), which could be useful for more than just jazz jocks.


HOT VINYL

KOOL MOE DEE ‘Go See The Doctor’ (Jive JIVE T136)
Fast making the phrase “pus-sy pus pus” the singalong chant of the moment, this hilarious 89⅙bpm rap about a randy chap’s dose of VD and the girl he got it off may seem shockingly offensive enough to ban, but ponder this: right now, it’s getting through to kids the message that they should use a condom far more effectively than any government campaign could. There is a version with words reversed to protect the shockable, while the flip’s 91⅔bpm ‘Monster Crack‘ is a cleanly worded warning about drugs — not that that side’s getting any play. Far from getting steamed up about it, the protectors of our public morals should be ensuring that this is made available on the National Health!

RONNIE McNEIR ‘Follow Your Heart’ (Expansion Records EXPAND 6, via PRT)
On an already selling good value three-track 12 inch from his hard to find recent import album, this nice fluidly tripping 121¼bpm soul canterer Is flipped by the excellent Al Jarreau-meets-Keni Burke 93½bpm ‘Everybody’s In A Hurry‘ and slinkier 95bpm ‘Love’s Under Suspect‘, all beautifully sung with many subtle touches.

BILLY PRESTON ‘Since I Held You Close’ (US Motown 4570MG)
Much played by Capital Radio yet surprisingly slow to sell so far, this cleanly smacking slightly old fashioned exciting 112½-112⅚bpm driver is vocally a dead ringer for the Isley Brothers (inst/edit too), and to my mind terrific! The Nick Martinelli-produced pleasantly swaying (0-)90⅙bpm ‘It Don’t Get Better Than This’ makes a good bonus as well. Continue reading “December 13, 1986: Kool Moe Dee, Ronnie McNeir, Billy Preston, Romero, Stardom Groove featuring Tonya Wynne”

December 6, 1986: Bobby Womack, Schoolly-D, Mantronix, Level 42, Tashan

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

THE CREATIVE marketing of Loose Ends continues, another version of their 12 inch (Virgin VS 919-13) now featuring Nick Martinelli’s ‘Nights Of Pleasure’ mix and ‘Let’s Rock‘, as before, plus commercially at last Dancin’ Danny D’s slippery 102⅔bpm ‘Slow Down’ remix, and a brand new group-created wriggly bubbling 101⅔bpm ‘Johnny Broadhead‘ instrumental … Georgie Fame ‘Samba’ has been totally remixed by Phil Harding into an excellent 103bpm Ipanema Beach Party Mix (Ensign ENYR 605), incorporating brief quotes from ‘Yeh Yeh’, ‘Tequila’, The Girl From Ipanema’ and more in the lengthened new intro, with whistles and many extra effects, plus Mondo Kane’s ‘New York Afternoon’ added to the flip, but unfortunately it’s too late to convince chart-watchers there’s a samba revival going on and may not now be fully available … Phil Fearon ‘Ain’t Nothing But A House Party’ is similarly too late in a far fiercer electronically attacking 123bpm Fun’Kim-Mel Remix (Ensign PFW-2), mainly instrumental and truly house … Five Star ‘lf I Say Yes’ has been given an angrier 121bpm Shep Pettibone Urban Remix (Tent PT 40982R) … ‘Top Of The Pops’ next year starts being syndicated on US TV, with another Los Angeles-recorded American half-hour added to make an hour long weekly programme — but, as it’s being promoted as a “rock” show, and will be edited to include archive material and rock interviews, you can bet the bits left on the cutting room floor will be all the black hits which we as a nation enjoy and the US pop market is thus still denied … Luther Vandross topped US Black LPs, JM Silk Club Play, Dead Or Alive 12 Inch Sales in Billboard … US West End’s reissue of Bombers ‘Everybody Get Dancin’‘/Betty LaVette ‘Doin’ The Best That I Can‘ includes a condom shrink-wrapped to it — obviously the label’s doing its bit to combat AIDS! … Cameo’s ‘Candy’ remix in the US is being flipped by ‘She’s Strange’ … Alan Randall’s typically accurate recreations of George Formby’s ukulele-plunking oldies get medleyed in a scratch mix (really!) created by Nomis Sirrah, better known for his Cisum Fo Efil label through Evawteerts, who’s formed a new less “street” Superb outlet for the seasonally useful and well made 117¾-118¼-0bpm result, ‘’Ooked On Formby‘ (Superb FORMB 1), the 12 inch House Mix of which I’ve yet to hear! … ‘Street Sounds 19‘ is prettily packaged as an advent calendar (a common trend this year), window number five concealing the only photo featured, of Morgan Khan as Santa! … Ken ‘B’ Brudenell has stopped DJing to become DJ/Record Promotions Manager for Mecca Entertainments … Hank Ballard & The Midnighters are live next Thursday (11) at Hammersmith Palais: a black superstar of the Fifties and founding father of soul, Hank adapted Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters’ ‘What’cha Gonna Do‘ into his 1959 original version of ‘The Twist‘, for which he is now rather better known … Richard Searling’s “quiet storm” soul show will indeed be back on Preston’s Red Rose Radio, every Sunday 7-9pm from January 11 now … Steve Allen retains his long standing Saturday 7-9pm Hereward Radio soul show but has dropped his Thursday evening slot … Lowestoft’s Steve Ogley (0502-60364) is looking for a Norwich/Ipswich area venue in which to run a weekly house/funk/rap night … Andrew Holmes house/funk/raps Ashton-under-Lyme Birch Hotel’s Madhatter Wednesdays (just 50p), and reckons Duke Bootee ‘Broadway‘ shares rhythm tracks with Word Of Mouth featuring DJ Cheese ‘Coast To Coast‘ – quite likely, since Duke manages Cheese! … Chad Jackson says he’s been using the ‘Jungle Book’ mix since his time at Manchester’s Hacienda, long before the Disco Mixing championships, and anyway synchs it with a different track to the one used by Jon Davis — Jon meanwhile has quit Cornwall to John ‘Curly’ Marlowe at Plymouth’s Academy … Bournemouth’s “spectacular new” Clouds opens Thursday (4), while Welling’s Station disco pub has had a complete revamp … Robbie Nevil ‘C’Est La Vie’ on commercial copies features just Arthur Baker’s remix (and a dub), plus the pop 0-124½bpm ‘Time Waits For No One‘ … George Benson’s ‘Shiver’ seems aptly titled with all the chillin’ going on around it in the Disco chart, not only ‘ Chillin’ Out’ and ‘I’m Chillin’’, but also of course one of the most memorable lines from ‘The Rain’ is “I chilled” … Oran ‘Juice’ Jones having really taken off, how about someone investigating the import answer versions by Miss Thang and Leot Littlepage? … KEEP CHILLIN’!


HOT VINYL

BOBBY WOMACK ‘Womagic’ LP (MCA Records MCG 6020)
Largely recorded in Memphis with veteran producer Chips Momon, the super-soulster’s eagerly anticipated set is more for fireside listening with little to have truly lasting impact on dance floors, apart maybe from the typically surging (0-)116bpm ‘Can’tcha Hear The Children Calling’ and pulsing tender 100bpm ‘The Things We Do (When We’re Lonely)‘. His vintage Sixties-style 64¼bpm revival of the Masqueraders’ I Ain’t Got To Love Nobody Else‘ (the Tommy Cogbill-produced original remains one of my all-time faves), acoustic 0-51⅓/102⅔-103⅔bpm ‘When The Weekend Comes’, gentle (0-)99/49½-100⅓bpm ‘More Than Love’, plodding US single 86-87½bpm ‘(I Wanna) Make love To You’, soulfully doodling c21½bpm ‘I Can’t Stay Mad’, convoluted 0-112½bpm ‘It Ain’t Me’, and dead slow starting 0-39/78bpm ‘Outside Myself’ won’t disappoint fans, though.

SCHOOLLY-D ‘Saturday Night (X Rated)’ (US Schoolly-D Records SD-115)
Charted on import almost before the ink of our interview was dry, here’s the new rap he mentioned, a busily scratched (0-)99⅔bpm wiggly jitterer with enough foul mouthing amidst its mixture of nursery rhyme and drug attack to earn an “X” rating (radio version and instrumental too), while the dirtily bragging 0-103⅔-0bpm ‘Do It Do It!‘ repeatedly cuts in ‘Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf’.

MANTRONIX ‘Music Madness’ LP (10 Records DIX 50)
Hot hip hop without anything screaming out to be a single, liveliest being the rapid-fire rapped and whistled 99-0bpm ‘Electronic Energy Of…’, tunefully unison chanted go go hip hop 0-101⅓bpm ‘Scream’, and ‘Stone Fox Chase’-harmonica-ed 0-98bpm ‘Listen To The Bass Of Get Stupid Fresh Part II’, this latter repeated as the early basis of a 0-98⅓-101⅔-99⅔-0bpm ‘Mega Mix’. Their reported Forties big band foray finds echoes of ‘Sing Sing Sing’ in the 105¼bpm ‘Big Band B-Boy’, the 99bpm ‘Who Is It’, 103bpm ‘We Control The Dice’ and 92bpm title track completing a set whose initial sales have been on import. Continue reading “December 6, 1986: Bobby Womack, Schoolly-D, Mantronix, Level 42, Tashan”