Month: July 1987

Due to the poor quality scan of this week’s column, some of the BPM fractions could not be deciphered, so in these cases they have been replaced with ½.

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

Freddie Bastone’s complete revamp of The Temptations’ ‘Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone’ (due imminently) really is a killer, only the vocal and a few instrumental elements remaining from the original eight-track recording, Freddie boosting the remix to 24 tracks with totally new rhythms – and he’s also been doing the same for Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ … Atlantic has circulated a strangely promo-only brilliant Pete Hammond-created 171⅓-144-123-121½-120½-124½-171⅓bpm megamix, with background party chatter and some James Brown cut-ins, of Arthur Conley ‘Sweet Soul Music’/Don Covay ‘See Saw’/Aretha Franklin ‘Respect’/Sam & Dave ‘Soul Man’/Wilson Pickett ‘In The Midnight Hour’, hopefully commercial one day … US pressings of the Public Enemy 12 inch include an extra instrumental version of the beat-cutting hot ‘Rebel Without A Pause’, too … Joyce Sims’ ‘Lifetime Love’ now appears to be flipped by an appropriately “jacked up” House Mix, which some may find useful … Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley has done a remix of Pseudo Echo’s great guitar-rocked 127½bpm pop revival of ‘Funky Town’ … Vaneese Thomas’s eponymous ‘Vaneese’ LP is already out here (Geffen Records K9241411) … Morgan Khan has signed the American Macola Record Co label for a worldwide deal … Horizon Radio International, a legal company now based in Gibraltar, is setting up a radio station in Spain with massive financial backing and has no connection with a new pirate station in London that’s passing itself off under the old Horizon name, falsely quoting founding director Chris Stewart’s name when trying to sell advertising … Mike Allen’s hip hop shows seem to have slipped quietly off Capital Radio’s schedule, a shame – he had become the current young generation’s Alan Freeman … Greg Edwards, also on Capital, did a stunning segue between Janet Jackson ‘Nasty’ and Terence Trent D’Arby ‘Wishing Well’, not the most similar of records on first impression … Friday (July 24) Steve Walsh joins Rick Davis at Uxbridge Regals, with a PA by David Grant too, before joining Jeff Thomas at Swansea Martha’s Vineyard on Monday (27) … Sunday (July 25) sees Robbie Vincent souling Walthamstow Racers, Chris Brown and Johnny Walker souling London Argyle Street’s Gazebo (by the Palladium), and a massive Fred Astaire tribute complete with filmclips and Pete Tong, Nicky Holloway, Gilles Peterson, Bob Jones and the usual crew at Northfleet Red Lion’s Slammer … Radio Orwell’s Busta Brooker and Essex Radio’s Dave Gregory headline a beach party all-dayer on Sunday (July 26) at Clacton-on-Sea Oscars … Epping Forest Country Club reopens after its fire next Thursday (July 30), with Gary Smith there that night weekly … The Castle Beat turns out apparently to have some connection with Prince Charles & The City Beat Band … Expansion Records have recorded a four-track single in Miami by the JBs featuring Mickey Murray … John Saint-Laurent (Winchester) points out that Alexander O’Neal’s ‘Fake’ and One Way’s ‘Let’s Talk About Sex’ are awfully similar, and can be made to sync like a bitch (as we DJs put it!) … LAH DEE DAH DEE!

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HOT VINYL

LILLO THOMAS ‘Downtown (Remix)’ (Capitol 12CL 453)
Remixed exotically wriggly 101⅔-0bpm jitterer once a bit like ‘All Night Long (All Night)’ but now possibly over-full of digital chipmunks and chirrups, although the rhythm remains good (seven inch version flip, and 114-0bpm ‘I’m In Love (Remix)’).

JAMES KING ‘Memory’ (Expansion Records EXPAND 8)
Fabulous uplifting infectious fluidly bounding 121½-121¼bpm real soul flier by the sometime leader of Philadelphia vocal group the Futures, full of timeless quality, flipped by the easily rolling 109½bpm ‘Easy Love’ and smoochy 72¼bpm ‘The Sorrow, The Pain’, just as soulful. You’ll play it again and again!

RICK ASTLEY ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ (RCA PT41448)
And now Stock Aitken Waterman recreate the Seventies Philly soul sound, sort of, for this catchily striding facile 113½bpm canterer with hustling hi-hats and rich baritone singing by the Rick of Rick And Lisa (inst/edit flip), tipped by many as a smash. Continue reading “July 25, 1987: Lillo Thomas, James King, Rick Astley, Sherrick, Roxanne Shanté”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

‘Just Call‘, the hot import seven inch by Sherrick (which should have been printed as lead review last week) is indeed now on UK promo 12 inch in two extended remixes, the pausing and slowly fading 112bpm Hot Line Mix, and trickily introed but more subtly soulful thunderthumbed (0-)112bpm Collect Call Mix, neither however necessarily improving on the original (which, just for the record, WEA’s disco plugger Fred Dove points out was actually circulated on the ‘Spring In The Air’ promo cassette at the beginning of February!) … Urban, amidst doubts that it’ll be commercially released, have promoed with great chart success a Nigel Wright-produced strong house-ish 125¼bpm treatment of the ‘James Bond’ theme, Jax ‘007 Licensed To Chill’ (URBX 6), complete with effects and dialogue including what sounds the Capital Radio DJ John Sachs’ usual impersonation of Sean Connery! … Club similarly have promoed, just on seven inch to gauge reaction, Jeff Lorber’s pleasantly duetted 79bpm ‘Back In Love‘ and drifting 97⅓bpm ‘Keep On Lovin’ Her‘ … Total Contrast will be plugging their Timmy Regisford-remixed sparsely pattering and snapping emphatically lurching 119¼bpm ‘Jody‘, due at the end of the month, by undertaking an exhaustive 44 date national PA tour — amidst which a couple of dates are suddenly reavailable, contact Steve Woolfe on 0474 327061 … Virgin, still trying to create interest in their London-based duo Well Red, have circulated import promo copies of their George Clinton mixed Slave-ishly jiggling 108⅔bpm ‘Get Lucky‘ … Regina Belle’s brilliant album is now out here at last (CBS 450998 1) … Tim Raidel is setting up a label called Dynamic Dance Records and is after hip hop, soul and house demo tapes at 90 Midland Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU2 0BL (0582 452807) … lan Dewhirst, the new “Rowdy Yates”, has left Fourth & Broadway … Peter Castle is after good PAs an 0737 772771 for Radio Mercury’s live Friday broadcasts from Redhill’s The Millionaire … Nicky Holloway, guesting at Simon Goffe’s Camden Lock Dingwalls Across The Tracks night this Thursday (July 16), is Doo-in It In The Park on Saturday (July 18) in London South Bank’s Jubilee Gardens (next to Festival Hall) with Pete Tong, Rob Day, Gilles Peterson, Chris Bangs, Bob Jones plus — get this! — PAs by James Brown veteran supporters Bobby Byrd and Vicki Anderson … Sybil joins jocks MP² — that’s Mike Pickering and Martin Prendergast — at Manchester Hacienda’s Nude Night this Friday (July 17), and Jeff Thomas at Swansea’s Martha’s Vineyard on Monday (July 20) … Dancin’ Danny D joins Paul Needham at Derby’s Knotted Snake for a Cooltempo ‘Fierce’ promotion on Saturday (July 18) … Jon Jules, Nic Wakefield, John Matthews and more mount a DJ Extravaganza at the Bass Bin in South Harrow’s The Avenue (Shaftesbury Circle) on Tuesday (July 21) … Dean Savonne’s funky Spats has moved on Mondays to Tulips in London’s Euston Road … Radio TKO’s DJs Roberto Forzoni and Mike Gee funk Clerkenwell Road’s Turnmills in the City of London on Tuesdays, the station’s Sunday 7-9pm jazz jock Big H Jazzing Ascot’s Belvedere (Blacknest) on Fridays and funking Camberley JW’s on Wednesdays … ‘Dirty Dave’ Woolstoncroft moved recently from Aberdeen to scratch mix nothing but house and soul (positively no chart music) at Charnock Richard’s The Park Nightstyle in Park Hall on Fridays/Saturdays … I got away last week back to the even sunnier Midlands, exploring Staffordshire’s Manifold Valley, Dove Dale, Weaver Hills and, circling it from every viewpoint without actually succumbing to the Towers’ funfair, Alton — the only consistently available radio station while driving around the country is BBC Radio 2, refreshingly different, nothing but big bands, dated jazz, country music, and seemingly a different version each day of the old song ‘Green Eyes’! … Adrian Love is the station’s best DJ, at least one knows where he’s coming from, man, and he manages not to sound as if he’s reading a script … Music Of Life soon releases ‘The Tables Are Turnin’‘ by Technics UK Mixing champ CJ Mackintosh & Einstein … LL Cool J’s 12 inch of ‘I’m Bad’ turns out only to have added the original version of ‘Rock The Bells’, not a remix, and ‘I Can’t Live Without My Radio’ … Terry Lewis, credited as co-producer of the Master Mix-released Meli’sa Morgan oldie, is not the Jimmy Jam-partnering chap of that name … rm’s Disco chart apparently needs explaining again (although it should be obvious). It reflects the material being played at specifically “black music” venues, the Hi-NRG chart reflects nowadays not only gay clubs but a certain Scottish input, while general pop clubs’ chart returns are used only in the compilation of the all-embracing chart printed by Jocks magazine: however, there’s a rumour that the pop-orientated Nightclub chart may be reappearing in rm … Severn Sound’s soul DJ Jerry Hipkiss points out: “The ‘Roadblock’ pre-release furore was the almost exact parallel of 1974’s Northern Soul scam when the Javells’ ‘Goodbye, Nothing To Say‘ was circulated on white label to certain select jocks, building an immense buzz, before it was discovered to be a British recording already released on Pye … LAH DEE DAH DEE!

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ISLINGTON MUSIC WORKSHOP, a self-help music charity based at 44 Peartree Street, London EC1V 3SB (01-608 0232), is setting up its own I-M-W label in direct opposition to Morgan Khan and other operators who invite talent to walk in off the street, claiming that I-M-W will indeed release any music off the street that is good, without tying the artists up in financially unrewarding knots. Not a “cultural ghetto label”, it’s after all types of music. I just hope it doesn’t end up by being too idealistic in this hard business world.

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HOT VINYL

STEPHANIE MILLS ‘If I Were Your Woman’ LP (MCA Records MCF 3385)
On a pleasant enough slushy listening set full of crawling slowies, the soulful dancefloor standout is the delicate coolly ticking and rolling 101⅚bpm ‘(You’re Puttin’) A Rush On Me’, totally created by producer Paul Laurence with bassist Timmy Allen and remixed already by Louil Silas Jr, the only other rhythmic tracks being the Wayne Brathwaite-produced languidly tapping 110¾bpm ‘Running For Your Love‘ and Davy D/Russell Simmons-produced juddery rolling 99⅔bpm ‘Can’t Change My Ways‘, while the Nick Martinelli-produced dead slow 30½/61-0bpm ballad ‘I Feel Good All Over‘ currently tops the US Black Singles Chart.

SLY & ROBBIE ‘Fire’ (Fourth & Broadway 12BRW 71)
Now in a completely new Groucho Smykle remix, this 0-103½-0bpm ponderously bumping Ohio Players funk revamp may already be well known (the 1974 original inspired David Bowie’s ‘Fame’ the following year) but is nowhere near as instantly commercial as ‘Boops’. The flip has their old slinky 94bpm adaptation of the Beatles’ ‘Ticket To Ride‘, and drain-gurgling lightly loping 124½bpm reggae-ish ‘Miles (Black Satin)‘ organ instrumental.

STOCK AITKEN WATERMAN ‘Roadblock’ (Breakout USAF 611)
Turning out to be as I’d suspected all along “rare grooves to order”, this brilliant steadily rolling 0-99⅚-99⅔bpm dated funk groove has Maceo Parker-type sax by Gary Barnacle, chanting girls and party hardy atmosphere (dub flip), all created by the world famous production team who as artistes previously brought you a recreation of ‘New York Afternoon’. Continue reading “July 18, 1987: Stephanie Mills, Sly & Robbie, Stock Aitken Waterman, Criminal Element Orchestra, Jonathan Butler”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

JAKI GRAKAM, Princess, Black Britain and Dorothy Galdez are amongst the UK acts confirmed for next Tuesday’s British Dance Music Gala at New York’s Palladium (where only a few hundred of the 7,000 capacity crowd will be lucky to see anything!) during the New Music Seminar, while UK DJs performing too include Chad Jackson, Jeff Young, Pete Tong, Paul Oakenfold and, as MC, Steve Walsh … Disco Aid has actually changed the date of its national charity night, coming forward a week to Saturday, November 14 … Tony Blackburn’s frequent plugs for Paddington’s Bluebird Records shop, supplier of imports for his Radio London show, made headline news last week in The London Evening Standard: it seems he exceeds by far the four or five mentions he’s allowed to give the store in a year on non-commercial BBC, one listener having counted 29 plugs during the last three months — tut, tut! … Chris Hill was the subject of, and took part in, a segment of Ned Sherrin’s sparky ‘Loose Ends’ programme on Radio 4 recently, talking about his Canvey Island Goldmine career (currently revived on Fridays) … Theo Loyla’s Herne Bay-based Superjocks club promotion service has been incorporated (with himself as head at the old address) into the new Disco/Club Promotion division of London-based retail/media promotion company Bullet … Record Shack Records are finally forsaking Hi-NRG “to follow our natural route to dance orientated rock music”, says Jeff Weston, the label having found that apparent disco and radio acceptance even in the US does not necessarily translate into actual sales … Dancin’ Danny D has serviced lucky DJs with a ‘Rock The House’-ish 116½bpm jiggly thrash ‘n scratch in the current retro-funk fashion, Criminal Element Orchestra ‘Put The Needle To The Record‘ (Cooltempo COOLX 150), which he says will only be available commercially as a track on the label’s upcoming ‘Fierce’ compilation of current releases, although the promo 12 inch contains three mixes … Kool Chip (who, following his photo appearing last week, I now hear from Island Records is currently on bail after being arrested) has had a more jerkily rhythmic 0-100-0bpm Summerbeat Remix by Dancin’ Danny D (Fourth & Broadway 12BRWX 62) … Mantronix ‘Scream’ is also in a 101bpm Jack ‘N’ Chill Remix (10 Records TENR 169) … Arthur Baker’s creation for Champion Records, white-labelled for the New Music Seminar but not due commercially until probably September, Jack E Makossa ‘The Opera House‘ is, as exclusively revealed months ago, a truly “diva”-started 0-119½bpm scratch ‘n mix of opera and house, although basically just a bass-heavy jack trap as the flip’s opera-less African Mix emphasises … David Joseph’s white-labelled ‘No Turning Back’ is daringly an African-tempoed 108¾bpm instrumental wriggler — incidentally, it transpires that the original vocalist who David replaced on Chris Paul’s ‘Expansions’ was John Matthews, DJ on Sundays at South Harrow’s Bogarts! … Prince (if one can still mention him) has ‘Housequake’ scheduled as only the B-side of ‘U Got The Look‘, his follow-up next month, while as probably anticipated Herb Alpert follows with ‘Making Love In The Rain‘, the remaining Janet Jackson-featuring album track, but stupidly the Beastie Boys’ newie is ‘She’s On It‘ when ‘Girls‘ is just crying out to be a national number one! … I thought Tony Griffin’s comment about Bristol’s lack of a funk scene would stir the locals, Gary Neal responding: “How can someone who’s only been in Bristol a couple of months be such a wally? If he’d care to look around he’d find a great, healthy funk and disco scene” … Paul Morrissey spins soul/jazz/rare groove on Thursdays at Bristol’s The Colosseum, Redcliffe Hill, and on Mondays with Mike Shawe and Vince Thomas at Bath’s Chemies in Kingsmead Square … Nicky Holloway and guests continue funking downstairs on Fridays, with Bob Jones newly resident upstairs for jazz and real soul, at the revamped Special Branch near London Bridge (strictly members only, details on 01-439 2628) … Ian Gordon funks Thursdays at Southport’s Kingsway Entertainment Centre on the promenade, and Saturdays at Bootle’s Quadrant Park … Sybil joins DJs Jeff Young and Paul Oakenfold at Streatham’s Project at Zigi’s this Friday (July 10), and is with Jocelyn Brown at Nottingham Rock City’s alldayer on Sunday … Jackie Becker has started a Thursday upfront funk/house/hip hop night at Brighton’s The Gloucester in Gloucester Place, and is after suitable PAs on 0273-604136 … Al Charles (Newton Le Willows Scandals) tells the tale of a Southport club owner who installed SL 1200 decks for the first time, and then told the new mixing DJ to stop scratching as he thought it would damage them! … James Brown’s oldies are being scratched in so much on other people’s records these days, why doesn’t he do a rap to them himself? … Les Adams has just equipped his home mixing studio with a 16-track recorder — makes a change from the old mono Studer! … Kev Ashton (Newquay Frizzbys/Tall Trees/Disco 5000) reckons Rozlyn Sorrell ‘Sucker For Candy’ sounds like Serious Intention’s ‘Serious’ … Freddie Jackson really needs to have a photo session, his latest import single features yet another of those old balcony shots! … Sherrick was actually included on WEA’s ‘Spring In The Air’ promo cassette sampler back in April, and played at Prestatyn … Boogie Down Productions/DJ Scott La Rock & Blastmaster KRS One’s ‘Criminal Minded’ album will be the first LP on Westside Records, with two unreleased bonus tracks, on July 20 … Feedback’s ‘Simply Magic’, already reviewed, isn’t in fact out until next week (distributed via PRT) … Natalie Cole’s jerkily bashing staccato 123bpm ‘Jump Start’ will here as well as in the US be flipped by her album’s far classier ‘More Than The Stars’ – that LP plus the equally classy Vaneese Thomas and funk-orientated Trouble Funk import sets, and the cocktail sippin’ and pickin’ George Benson/Earl Klugh collaboration will be reviewed when the weather’s not so good! … I last week took time away from the turntable to explore those bits of the sun-soaked Midlands that I’d previously rushed past, falling in love particularly with Bridgnorth, and Ironbridge – in the latter of which, discerning gourmets note, the recently opened Au Pont de Fer restaurant has food on a par with Ullswater’s Sharrow Bay Hotel, um yum, bloat bloat! … A&M serviced certain lucky DJs with Fred Perry shirts emblazoned by the Breakout logo in place of the designer trademark … Alan Jones and I do implore chart contributors please to make sure that their names and venues are always listed too on their returns, as some of the blank chart forms that record pluggers are sending DJs are very rudimentary and have no space for these (we don’t mind DJs using these forms if they find them easy to fill in, as we monitor all returns closely to prevent blatant hype anyway) … Pete Haigh (Blackpool) puts the South East/North West soul music divide in neat perspective – London is “rare groove”, we are “cool groove”! … LAH DEE DAH DEE!

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‘DIRTY DEN’, Bristol’s Technics mixing finalist Dennis Murray, also came out as winner of the Mixing part of BBC Radio Bristol’s recent 1987 West Of England Rapping & Mixing Championships, with an inventive set which made up in klaxon and cheers-greeted excitement what it sometimes missed in finesse. Ironically, runner-up to him in the Technics area heats, Burnham-on Sea’s Martin Eccles was second again, with Richard Dean third. Winning rapper was MC Wizz Fresh, with the eight year old Little Rapper (Sam) coming second, judged on ability more than on sentimentality about his age, and Prince Gismo (Nathan Lewis) third. The radio station’s ‘Close Up’ programme presented an informative round up of the contest, with audience interviews which proved funk is truly alive and well, and living in Bristol!

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HOT VINYL

[Note: there was a mix-up in the ordering of this week’s reviews, which should have been led by Sherrick’s ‘Just Call’.]

DAVID GRANT ‘Change’ (Alternate Mix)’ (Polydor POSPX 871)
Obviously a punning title, this Phil Harding mixed rolling (0-)119¼-0bpm churner is just like ‘Searching’ by the group called Change’!

ERROL BROWN ‘Personal Touch (The Personal Mix)’ (WEA YZ130T)
Swain & Jolley-produced gently jiggling weaving (0-)97⅙bpm jogger with an interminable start, less blatantly commercial than his Hot Chocolate stuff although much tighter and more typical in its edited version.

OFF ‘Electrica Salsa’ (Sonet SONL 2323)
Ancient news for many by now, maybe, this Falco-esque gruffly muttered, changed and “aha aha”-ed haunting (0-)113⅔bpm electro pulsed jiggly Continental swayer (Remix flip) has been huge in Scotland, and in Eurobeat venues generally, but still has powerful pop potential. Continue reading “July 11, 1987: Sherrick, Colonel Abrams, Keni Stevens, Mr Lee, Public Enemy”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

SERIOUS RECORDS, no sooner had I reviewed their white label of First Choice ‘Let No Man Put Asunder’, delivered the commercial pressing which turns out to be a four-tracker (at 33⅓rpm) and does indeed include Rutger Kroese’s Special Dutch House Mix —here called just House Mix, while the white label’s House Mix 87 is now billed as Jack The Body Mix — plus the hustling 126⅗bpm ‘Let Me Down Easy (Club Mix) ‘ … Stock Aitken Waterman’s teasingly “bootlegged” ‘Roadblock’ has in fact been signed for UK release by Breakout all along, the label’s Mike Sefton concocting with wily Pete Waterman the whole scam, pressing up just 500 uncredited imports to wind up the rare groove snobs — and I could name several DJs who swore (before knowing they’d been conned) that they of course had had the “original seven inch” since 1973, crediting it variously to Maceo & The Macks and to the ‘lost’ James Brown session with Sly & Robbie … Breakout also snapped up Roxanne Shanté here … Steve Walsh has now totally replaced Fatback to ‘sing’ his own rabble-rousing 106⅙ chant-along version of ‘I Found Lovin’‘ (A1 Records 12A 1299), somewhat Judge Dread-accented and unlikely to get played much by his rival London DJs although possibly a welcome alternative for provincial jocks! … Radio London’s 4th of July soul celebrations actually start on Friday, July 3, at 10pm with Pete Tong for an hour, followed by Dave Pearce broadcasting live from New York’s WBLS with one of its DJs until midnight, when Steve Walsh comes from Watford’s Paradise Lost followed by Tony Blackburn with Graham Gold from Basildon’s Festival Halls before Dave Pearce closes down between 1-2am … Hardrock Soul Movement ‘Elaweaser Just A Skeezer’ on commercial pressings has been speeded up to 0-89⅙-0bpm … The Blow Monkeys with Curtis Mayfield ‘Celebrate’ has had a more starkly bonking 116⅔-0bpm striding remix, promoed on white label 12 inch although I believe in commercial form it may be a 10 inch … Terence Trent D’Arby ‘Wishing Well’ has been promoed in two drily tapping slower 104⅙ remixes, not obviously more danceable although some jocks are charting them … WEA’s disco plugger Fred Dove has circulated translucent gold coloured US Geffen Records promos of the excellent pent-up wailing soulfully jogging 78⅝bpm Vaneese Thomas ‘Let’s Talk It Over‘ (she’s apparently one of Memphis veteran Rufus Thomas’s daughters), certainly available at least on seven inch commercially … 10 Records sent DJs a pair of slipmats plugging Mantronix ‘Scream’ … Rob Manley, Manchester mixing mate of Chad Jackson, becomes A&M’s new dance promotions man from July 20, helping Def Sef … Paul Truelove is compiling a DJ mailing list for Basildon based Wax Records on 0268-728574, should you really want Gonzalez! … Thursday (July 2) Warren Aylward starts Chillin’ Out weekly with soul/jazz/rare grooves at Portsmouth’s Martines … Saturday (July 4) Doug Osborne, Dave Malone, Guy Palmer, Turbo and more funk and jazz (on two floors) a Nautical Nonsense Party at Sudbury’s Queen’s Arms in Gt. Cornard, Jeff Young and Doug Hughes soul Bexleyheath’s Drayman, and Carl Cox, Tony Wilson and Paul Clark funk Mile End’s Nashville … Sunday (July 5) lain Norman and Def Steph start a weekly jazz, samba and rap night at Stowmarket’s Stag Tavern … Monday (July 6) Astrud Gilberto, Flora Purim, Airto and Azymuth bring a breath of Brazil in a special Rio package to Le Palais, Hammersmith, while Jocelyn Brown plays Swansea’s Martha’s Vineyard … Tuesday (July 7) Tony Norris starts rare grooving Catford’s Forest Hill Frolics weekly … Dave Rawlings has a one hundred per cent jazz session Sunday lunchtimes in Basingstoke’s The Basshouse … DJ/entertainments manager Andy King is looking on 0905-612428 for properly professional promotion companies to supply Worcester’s The Pavilion with personal appearances who actually appear, personally and on time! … Epic here has finally released the previously import-only 1982 album by Luther Vandross, ‘Forever, For Always, For Love’ (EPC 25013), the one with ‘Bad Boy/Having A Party’, ‘You’re The Sweetest One’, ‘Since I Lost My Baby’ … Rough Trade is now, as previously warned, distributing various oldies on the Celluloid label, including the otherwise unremarkable Fab 5 Freddy ‘Change The Beat‘ (CEL 156), side two of which just happens to end with that much-scratched “this stuff is really fresh”… Atlantic Starr’s follow-up will be ‘One Lover At A Time‘, rather than the possibly anticipated ‘Let The Sun In‘ … should a ‘Roadblock’-type mystery import arrive sounding like something by Vince Montana, it may have come no further than from Worcester Park! … LAH DEE DAH DEE!

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KOOL CHIP is otherwise known as Jack Blakney. A rapping and scratching homeboy from the Bronx, he actually recorded ‘Jazz It Up‘ a year ago, when it was turned down by labels all over New York, only to hit finally in the enlightened UK!

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Seen here in 1973, when they recorded ‘I Believe In Miracles’, are the JACKSON SISTERS — clockwise from top left, Rae, Gennie, Lyn, Jackie, and Pat. From Compton, California, the girls scored several soul hits in the USA, the biggest being released here (‘Miracles’ included) on the Mums label. Get grooving, rare freaks!

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HOT VINYL

RUSS BROWN ‘Take My Love’ (10 Records TENT 182)
Owner of New York City’s Soul Scissors salon, the gospel-singing hairdresser returns with a mournfully moaning (0-)116¼-116bpm burbling tense monotonous chugger (dub too), overshadowed however by the flip’s strong new 112½bpm remixed 1987 Edit of last year’s floor-filling ‘Set It Off’-ish ‘Gotta Find A Way’, still a haunting underground ‘sleeper’.

THE VALENTINE BROTHERS ‘No Better Love’ (US EMI America V-19225)
Self-produced excellent classy if maddeningly and naggingly derivative easily strolling 101⅔bpm thudding soul slinker (dub/edit too), a real grower and destined to be large although maybe not such a crossover as ‘Money’s Too Tight To Mention’!

KID ‘N PLAY ‘Last Night’ (Cooltempo COOLX 148)
Huge already, this Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince-style 98⅙bpm fresh mix of drily rapping duo and scratching and synching oldies uses the Brothers Johnson, Rufus & Chaka Khan, Esther Williams and more (inst/edit flip). Continue reading “July 4, 1987: Russ Brown, The Valentine Brothers, Kid ‘N Play, Newcleus, Arthur Conley”