BEATS & PIECES
MCA RECORDS dance supremo Adrian Sykes returned from the States aghast at the cock-up that had occurred in his absence over the promo of Precious (see lead review), and promises that when released fully on July 3 it will indeed be called ‘Definition Of A Track’ with best versions on the A-side! … Champion’s label copy on the UK pressing of the A Guy Called Gerald based Voodoo Doll ‘Women Beat Their Men’ revealingly states “Licensed from Breaking Bones Records in co-operation with Rham Records” … Smith & Mighty merely mixed (as finished label copy reveals) the self-produced Dorothy ‘Reflections’ … Big Daddy Kane ‘Rap Summary (Lean On Me)’ is now in a stuttery (0-)103bpm Remix on import (US Cold Chillin’ 0-21235), scratching the ‘Lean On Me’ soundtrack’s gospel version and generally jiggling everything up over a tugging bass … UK released remixes I have neither time nor room to review this week include Mystique, Kariya (by M|A|R|R|S), Frankie Knuckles presents Satoshi Tomiie, Joyce Sims, D-Mob, Cookie Crew, Simon Harris, FFWD (Fast Forward), Tone Loc, Baby Ford … Raven Maize didn’t hit The Club Chart quite as high as anticipated last week because supplies back then were still hard to come by, while more recently hard to find has been the moronically repetitive Li’l Louis ‘French Kiss‘ (US Diamond), accurately described by Pete Tong as “to house what ‘The 900 Number’ was to hip hop” … DJ (rather than sales) returns were significant for the following releases roadblocked outside The Club Chart’s top 100 last week: Corporation Of One (House Mix UK), Overlord X, Imagination, Bizarre Inc (Atmosphere Mix), Kelly Charles (Remix), R. Tyme, Circuit (Remix), Edwin Starr, Karyn White, Levert, Paula Abdul, Tyree (Double Trouble Mix). Cybertron, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, June Montana (Remix), Three Times Dope, The Lincoln Boys, Poppa Ron Love, Chubb Rock, The Mafia … RCA have signed Mica Paris’s big sister, Alisha — not to be confused with an American girl of the same name on the same label some time ago! — who’s more in a street soul bag … Elvis Presley’s lookalike may not be too apparent if all you get to see is the main musical section of the Real Roxanne video (which is being re-cut to accommodate the Norman Cook remix in a separate version), as he is featured in the best part, a dialogue only intro … Big Fun ‘I Feel The Earth Move’ has reputedly had to be withdrawn, a disaster for pop jocks who didn’t get the promo! … Jason Donovan ‘Sealed With A Kiss’ (orchestrally preambled on 0-95⅚-95½-0bpm 12 inch) is flipped by the Philly Soul style attractively cantering semi-instrumental 0-124⅕-124⅖bpm ‘Just Call Me Up‘, worth checking … Friday (23) finds an under 18s Meltdown rave at Greenford Hall in Ruislip Road, Greenford, with Paul Goldsmith, Mark and Jason, while Deep (plus Sweet, Northern & Modern — Soul, that is) is supplied at Camden Town’s Dingwalls by Ivor Jones, Graeme Ellis, Ian Clark, Simon Dunmore and Gary Dennis … Aberdeen DJ Derek Howie, who has worked for Impulse in the past and knows the groundwork (like, for instance, the radio stations and all the chart return shops between Dundee and Aberdeen!), is offering his record promotional services for oil rich North East Scotland to interested companies on 0224-645522 … Pete Tong refers to me as “the Welsh Tourist Board”, although this week I’ve been up in farthest North West Scotland yet again, for the fourth time, just to watch it stay relatively light all night — BUT NOT FOR LONG!
HOT VINYL
CRY SISCO! ‘Afro Dizzi Act’ (Escape Records AWOLT 1, via PRT)
Sounding as if recorded in an arab souk, this actually Paris recorded confusing noises washed jittery 93⅚bpm bass bombing jogger samples bits of Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn dialogue from ‘The African Queen’, amongst many other effects, and is suddenly much hyped on a French pressing from last year that is apparently exploding in Balearic venues here (it’s for the Kon Kan market, if you get my drift), flipped by a 93⅔bpm edit and the altogether jollier breezily bounding 121bpm ‘Ki Ton Ko’ afro-pop-house chanter.
PRECIOUS ‘In Motion’ (MCA Records MCAT 1349)
Precisely ⅕bpm slower than the US pressing and with its priorities totally messed up, this UK pressing has made the import’s secondary B-side 119⅘bpm ‘In Motion (Vocal Mix)’ its lead title track, a hip house-ishly loping female rap that’s nowhere near as strong as the now UK flip relegated similar though much chunkier 119⅗-119⅘bpm A Definition Of A Track (the track in fact that, originally on last year’s influential ‘Back To Basics’ EP, gives the import its main ‘Definition Of A Track’ title), the UK single also including the instrumental 119⅘bpm Beats and Breakdown versions but omitting the harder vocal The Rap’s In Motion. Apart from the loss of its surely much more memorable main ‘Definition’ title, none of this really matters so long as you bear in mind that the best tracks are on the B-side.
HEAVY D. & THE BOYZ ‘Big Tyme’ (US Uptown Records MCA-42302)
Instantly massive on import, this strong rap album has the Zapp ‘More Bounce To The Ounce’ based ultra funky 108(intro)-105½bpm ‘More Bounce’, Marley Marl produced madly jaunty 0-102⅓bpm ‘Here We Go Again, Y’All‘, exciting JB sampling fast talking jumpy 109bpm ‘Flexin’‘, Brown & Byrd jittered funky 105½bpm ‘Big Tyme‘, ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ introed then ‘Mr Magic’ jazzy organ jogged 0-99⅙pm ‘You Ain’t Heard Nuttin Yet‘, patois accented attractive reggae 0-90⅚bpm ‘Mood For Love‘, Marley Marl produced wordily rolling 105⅚bpm ‘EZ Duz It, Do It EZ‘, Al B. Sure! backed swingbeat 0-105⅓bpm ‘Somebody For Me‘, dryly bragging 94bpm ‘Gyrlz, They Love Me‘, Martin Luther King preambled sombre (though jaunty oldies backed) 0-89⅙bpm ‘A Better Land‘, frantic “live” (0-)113½bpm ‘Let It Flow‘, and current Teddy Riley produced twiddly diddly jiggling (0-)114bpm ‘We Got Our Own Thang‘. Continue reading “June 24, 1989: Cry Sisco!, Precious, Heavy D & The Boyz, ‘Do The Right Thing’ soundtrack, Neneh Cherry”
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