LES ADAMS and I have once again put together the five hour continuously mixed party music show that will be broadcast only in the London area by Capital FM (95.8fm) on new year’s eve, between 9pm-2am Dec 31/Jan 1, and, although there isn’t room this year to print the full playlist as in the past to help the many DJs who normally relay it at their gigs, the all important midnight segment features some Scottish stuff leading up to the Big Ben Chimes, after which the next hour has John Anderson Band ‘Auld Lang Syne’/Technotronic featuring Felly ‘Pump Up The Jam (The Punani Mix)’/The Mix Master ‘Grand Piano’/Black Box ‘Ride On Time (The Original)’/The Rebel MC & Double Trouble ‘Street Tuff (Club/Scar Mixes)’/The Beatmasters featuring MC Betty Boo ‘Hey DJ I Can’t Dance To That Music You’re Playing’/Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers ‘That’s What I Like’/’Swing The Mood’/Dave Clark Five ‘Glad All Over’/The Beatles ‘She Loves You’/’A Hard Day’s Night’/Rolling Stones ‘Honky Tonk Women’/Tone Loc ‘Funky Cold Medina’/Free ‘All Right Now’/Bryan Ferry ‘Let’s Stick Together (Westside ’88 Remix)’/James Brown ‘Living In America’/Prince ‘Partyman (Video Mix)’/Miami Sound Machine ‘Dr Beat’/Gloria Estefan ‘Oye Mi Canto (12” Pablo Mix)’/Matt Bianco ‘Wap Bam Boogie (Latin Remix)’, many of them re-edited and with sampled overdubs – happy new year! … D Mob’s ‘Put Your Hands Together’, of course, is based confusingly on the O’Jays ‘Put Your Heads Together’ from 1983, rather than their 1974 ‘Put Your Hands Together’ oldie … Old Gold are now releasing their dance classics compiling Best Of 12 Inch Gold series on CD, each of the volumes containing eight separate various artists tracks in original 12” mixes … The London Powerplay next Friday, December 29, at Stonebridge Park’s The Complex (in Brent Field off the Harrow Road near the North Circular) features live on stage Chubb Rock, Hitman Howie Tee, Toni Scott, TDP, Rat Pack and “Superman In Control” from New York’s WBLS, DJ Klark Kent, plus other major names to be confirmed – get there early for the 9pm start (box office 01-961 5353) … CBS are promoting the ‘Lambada’ dance steps by circulating a large paper mat printed with numbered footprints, and a furry dice to give the dancing and contorting couples the random numbers they have to try and tread on! … The Hammy Awards will appear in the first Record Mirror of the new decade, there being too many outstanding reviews still to fit this issue, so until then, with thanks for all your cards and kind wishes, have a Merry Christmas … IT’S SUCH A GOOD VIBRATION!
HOT VINYL
J.T. AND THE BIG FAMILY ‘Moments In Soul’ (Italian BHF Production 8620927-2)
Instantly massive, this Max Art of D.J. Co mixed chunkily jogging swayer is woven from the Soul II Soul ‘Back To Life’ beat, Art Of Noise ‘Moments In Love’ melody, O’Jays ‘For The Love Of Money’ bass, and some Led Zeppelin drums amongst other elements, the ways and order in which they’re combined varying between the (0-)102⅓-102⅝-0bpm side A and 102⅓-102½-0bpm side AA versions, a particularly wide stereo image causing the tapping percussion to come at you from all angles with disconcerting realism (especially from the far left of the left channel!). Duck!
BIG DADDY KANE ‘Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now’ (Cold Chillin’/Warner Bros W2635T)
Due on January 2, this McFadden & Whitehead soul anthem based 113bpm wriggly trotting rap is now enveloped by familiar old jazz-funk era synth sounds in its grumbling bass burbled new Brixton Bass Mix, the flip’s LP Version staying closer to the 1979 original with more of its chorus cutting through, while the actual rap dominates the percussively thumping ‘hip hop’ style UPSO Mix.
THE HOMEBOY ‘Control Yourself Cousin’ (Cheque This Records CTT6, via 01-229 7329)
‘Funky Drummer’ and other similarly percussive beats and riffs driven, ‘Street Life’ brass stabbed, cartoon characters punctuated, Eddie Harris-type sax squealed, excellent simple clean 112¼-0bpm white labelled mixer, flipped by an also funky drummered 108…0bpm untitled variation that spurts up briefly in tempo early on and then accelerates steadily into its guffawing finish. Continue reading “December 23, 1989: Year End Chart, J.T. and the Big Family, Big Daddy Kane, The Homeboy, Olimax & DJ Shapps”
DANCE AID TRUST, the disco biz supported charity fund raisers, organised another national Dance Aid Week back in October during which just £300 was the largest amount to be raised by a DJ from any single event, a sum that should be easy enough to top before New Year’s Eve, when the 1989 charity drive ends – and, as a bit of encouragement, the DJ raising the largest amount by then will win a trip to the New Music Seminar in New York next July (money already raised will qualify if sent by January 9 to Dance Aid Trust, c/o Stage 3 Promotions, Hook Norton, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 5NT, where you can contact the Trust’s secretary Tony Hickman if interested in organising an event) … Eternal is now confirmed as the official name of the new Warner Bros partnered label set up by Pete Edge, who has working with him here Cynthia Cherry, previously of New York’s Jump Street Records – whose act The Basement Boys she thus brought to the attention of WEA in their current role as producers of Ultra Naté … Lena Williams is expanding and updating the DJ mailing list for JetStar and distributed labels, like Sure Delight and WA, amongst many: send full work details to her at JetStar, 155 Acton Lane, Park Royal, London NW10 7NJ (although they specialise in ‘street soul’ and other funky stuff these days, the business was built on reggae, so it’s worth specifying if you truthfully can promote that at your gigs) … De La Soul’s commercial 12-inch turns out to include, in place of the T.Ski Valley ‘Catch The Beat!’ bass-ed ‘Buddy’ instrumental, the similarly jolting Bob James ‘Take Me To The Mardi Gras’ bass-ed 105⅝bpm ‘Ghetto Thang (Ghetto Ximer Mix)’ (sic!) … Queen Latifah & Monie Love’s ‘Ladies First’ remix, billed on white label as ‘US Version’, on finished pressings is instead confusingly now called ‘Extended ’45 King’ Mix’ – not much to differentiate it from the original 12-inch version’s ’45 King Mix’ … Raze featuring Lady J & The Secretary of Ent. ‘All For Love’ (Champion CHAMP 12-228) came storming into The Club Chart last week purely on mailing list promo response, not even pre-releases being due in the shops until January of this rapping overlaid 119⅞bpm ‘Break 4 Love 1990’ revamp (as its subtitle reads) … Ruby Turner’s brilliant ‘It’s Gonna Be Alright’ is gonna be out commercially at last in January, but has already been preceded by another promo pressing with a couple of Blacksmith remixes … ‘What U Waiting 4’, rather than the already established import hit ‘Beyond This World’, will be the Jungle Brothers’ UK 12-inch towards the end of January … PWL associated Lisson Records don’t release Sybil’s ‘Walk On By’ here until January 8, and her album until January 29 … Frankie ‘Bones’ proved so popular a draw that the venue wasn’t big enough for the guest list when he DJed in London last week at a reception to launch de/Construction Records’ album compilation of previous import singles produced by him and Tommy Musto, ‘Dance Madness And The Brooklyn Groove’, from with a four-track 12-inch promo sampler features Stacey Parris’s plaintive Latin hip hop-ish 120-0bpm ‘Feel It In My Heart (UK House Mix)’, The Break Boys’ episodic funky beats jiggled 121¾-0bpm ‘Listen To The Rhythm Flow (Notice The 808 Bass Mix)’, Eden Paradise’s only recently reviewed girl whispered juddery rumbling 119¾bpm ‘This Is The Dance (The Paradise Mix)’, and Frankie ‘Bones’’ own old oddly Belgian new beat-like (despite the title) 119¾-0bpm ‘Call It Techno (Technocolour Dub)’ … Glasgow’s £1½ million refurbished Tin Pan Alley this Saturday (16) starts a new ‘Unlimited Freak Out’ night on both floors with music to match by upfront DJs Lars, Orde, Harry, and (from the Hacienda in Manchester) Jon DaSilva, the latter filled in for once a month by Stuart McMillan from this concept’s forerunner, Slam … Jazzy Jason & The Dynamic Guv’nors are putting on a mini stage show this Saturday (17) for house spinning Doug Hughes at Welling Station (situated guess where!) … Gary Oldis and Ian Wright, not exactly lagging behind in what they play themselves, actually need an even more upfront jock to join them at Sunderland’s Chambers – contact club manager John Banwell on 091-565 1900 … University Of Sussex student Sev Burden, following in recent graduate DJ StreetsAhead’s footsteps, jocks three nights a week at the on-campus The Crypt (where Jackie Becker is after guest DJs on 0273-727681/604136) and has also ventured into Brighton itself to present Basshead Tuesdays at the Underground Club, mixing reggae, P’funk, deep soul with a smattering of bass-heavy house and hip hop – you can tell he’s into the heartbeat ryddim of the bass and drum! … Rob Faria, a keen bedroom mixer, recently arrived at Brighton’s Polytechnic to find he’d landed digs in a house full of dance fans – and already they’ve started promoting their own ‘Armageddon’ parties with guest DJs around the town’s clubs … Leon Roberts, jocking with Cineman at Manchester Poly’s Black Rhythms Wednesdays, is desperate to find someone who can sell him the Dancin’ Danny D remixed Cooltempo promo of Kid ‘N Play ‘2 Hype’ containing its House Instrumental (not on the phone, he’s at 10 Booth Avenue, Fallowfield, M14 6RB) … Hereward Radio Sunday afternoon dance jock Steve Jason, still packing Peterborough’s Gables pub on Tuesdays, amongst other gigs, has returned on Thursdays to the Jenyns Arms near Downham Market at picturesque sounding Denver Sluice (named after a feature of the Fenland drainage system!) … ‘Woody’ Woodruffe’s funky gigs include (as somehow only seems right!) the Woodpecker in Mansfield every Wednesday now … Edzy has got in early to point out that Unique 3’s next Sunday Soundyard nites at Bradford’s Club Rio just happen to be Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, 9.30pm-2.30am – good timing, guys, know what I mean?! … Joe Field is starting a new Sunday Arena night, with relaxed dress and what he hopes will be a “real” club atmosphere, next month at The Point in Milton Keynes, where he currently jocks downstairs Thurs/Saturdays (and at Watford’s Mirrabeau Mon/Fridays) … KISS-fm main man, Gordon Mac presents otherwise all female guest DJs at his Foot Loose Thursdays at Soho’s Gulliver’s, drawing on a roster that includes Mother Popcorn, Heddi, Mags, Sez, Chanelle and DJ Lizzy … Mark One, something of an ornithological expert who even calls himself ‘The Bird Man’ (he also gigs at Belfast’s Robinsons Thurs/Saturdays), has kindly and at last cleared up just what that pesky bird is that warbles all over the likes of ‘Sueno Latino’ and ‘Pacific State’ – he reckons it’s an American whippoorwill, or just possibly a slowed down sample of a loon (an American diving bird too, honest!) … IT’S SUCH A GOOD VIBRATION!
HOT VINYL
MANTRONIX (featuring Wondress) ‘Got To Have Your Love’ (US Capitol V-15521)
At last something fresh (and instantly huge!) from Curtis Mantronik, featuring his new lisping rapper Bryce Luvah but mainly cooed by wailing Wondress (a girl), this funky drummer chugged tugging jiggler is in Soul II Soul-ish street soul/new jack swing rather than hip hop style, with chunkily percussive 106bpm Club With Bonus Beats, Hard To Get Rap and 106⅛bpm Luv Dub, or the flip’s more smoothly homogenised 106⅝bpm Club Edit, Instrumental and Radio Edit mixes. Due soon after Christmas, the already promoed UK pressing (Capitol 12CL 559) contains just the three A-side versions (Luv Dub somehow here becoming 105¾bpm).
808 STATE ‘90’ (ZTT ZTT2, via WEA)
Also continuously flowing, more or less, and largely instrumental, but far more creative than the Adamski set that might be seen as its rival, this destined to be massive Manchester album has the ‘Hustle’ flavoured fiercely throbbing and thrashing Terry Riley-ish synth sizzled 120¼bpm ‘Cobra Bora’, remorselessly driven twittery gurgling and thumping 0-116⅝-0bpm ‘808080808’, “L-O-V-E, love” spelling juddery dated electro hip hop-type scratching 107bpm ‘Anaconda’ (beware the false finish then abrupt segue), glum girl muttered tinkling twittery burbling 120¼-0bpm ‘Magical Dream’, frantically skittering 135⅔-0bpm ‘Donkey Doctor’, already familiar fast though still atmospheric ‘new age house’ (0-)128¼-0bpm ‘Pacific 202’, and gradually unfurled atmospheric loping tinkly 0-115¼-0bpm ‘Sunrise’ (a sort of second class ‘Pacific State’).
ADAMSKI ‘LIVEANDIRECT’ (MCA Records MCL 1900)
The full album by this acid house instrumentalist, who has built a reputation playing live and alone at orbital and warehouse type parties, keeps the spirit of 1988 alive in a supposedly live acieed session that flows continuously through the twittery spurting and thumping 0-120¼bpm ‘N-R-G (Parts 1 & 2)’, tuneful piano pumped 122¼bpm ‘I Dream Of You’, less good frantic hollow 126bpm ‘Tenko Krishna’, keyboards piped and jangled throbbing frisky 124bpm ‘The Bassline Changed My Life’, briskly chugging electro 126bpm ‘In Your Face’, disjointed 124-124¼-0bpm ‘Magic Piano’, synth swirled and piano pounded 126⅓bpm ‘You, Me, House’, twittery lurching 123¼bpm ‘A Brand New World’, piano and squidgy bass driven good teasingly titled 121⅓bpm ‘M25’, techno-ish sparse percussive 0-124¼bpm ‘I Love Teknology (Part 1)’, piano plonked twirling 120⅓bpm ‘Rap You In Sound’, Mike Oldfield goes acieed-ish tinkly chugging 124⅓bpm ‘Into Orbit’, and the somehow style encapsulating, frantically speeding up at the end, final 123⅓-0bpm ‘Love And Life’. Continue reading “December 16, 1989: Mantronix (featuring Wondress), 808 State, Adamski, Lil Louis & The World, D Mob”
DOCTOR K, well known for his recordings on I.M.W and as a finalist at other previous contests, had deliberately held back in the preliminary rounds but then let loose to win the scratch mixing category in last week’s grand final of the London Mix Competition, with Ross Emins as runner up, while (ironically adding a really fresh dimension to the mixing competition format) the “straight” club mixing category was won by Mike Lloyd (using some Kylie Minogue as a crowd wind-up!), with Steven Verity as runner up. Promoter Wayne Nevers of New Cross’s Bad Company Soul Syndicate plans definitely to hold a second competition next year, possibly earlier in the summer … Ontario based Bigshot Records’ founder Jerry Fumo is hosting what’s described as a “label awareness bash” next Tuesday (12) at London’s Café De Paris, for which a limited number of £8 public tickets are available on 01-439 6194 … CityBeat and associated label XL Recordings are recruiting club DJs to act as regional representatives, promoting new releases and talent scouting for future signings – call Nick Hawkes on 01-870 7511 if interested … Arthur Baker, riding high as composer of Taylor Dayne’s current US smash, has been chosen by the film’s subject to score a documentary about the career of Quincy Jones, and is also looking forward to leading the band when Al Green promotes ‘The Message Is Love’ live on Johnny Carson’s top rated ‘Tonight’ show (rivalled now however on US TV by a “hipper” chat show hosted by Arsenio Hall) … Eddie Murphy has disappointed fans with his self written and directed new film ‘Harlem Nights’, a gratuitously foul-mouthed tale of nightclubs and gangsters set in 1938 which is never less than interesting but, despite co-starring Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, Della Reese, Arsenio Hall and a vampish Jasmine Guy, fatally just is not funny … Fred Parris & The 5 Satins’ 1956 doo wop classic, ‘(I’ll Remember) In The Still Of The Nite’ as usual came top of New York oldies station WCBS-fm’s annual listeners-voted Top 500, broadcast repeatedly throughout Thanksgiving, which was typically dominated by doo wop despite 23 entries by Elvis Presley and even the incongruous inclusion of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’! … Tim Rudling and Lisa Horan, previously together in EMI’s dance music team, have reunited to form The Dance Corporation handling all kinds of promotion (on 01-878 5022) … Welsh studio mixing wiz Alan Coulthard has been rushed off his feet since going independent, just in the first six weeks creating commercial megamixes for Inner City, Mel & Kim, Raze, ‘The Champion Story’, and the Gibson Brothers (the latter commission including six separate remixes too) … Ben Liebrand Remix ‘The Eve Of The War’ originally stormed the pop chart while still on its previously reviewed German 12 inch pressing (CBS 655126 6) … Dave Dorrell & CJ Mackintosh have remixed the Roxanne Shanté album’s ‘Independent Woman’ for UK release next month … DJ ‘Kid Smurf’ wants strictly ravers only to turn up for his new Move Groove night starting this Thursday (7) at the Bear Cage in Leicester, where his Helsinki Bar gig has switched from Saturdays to Fridays … Gary Marson mixes up mainly house, lightweight rap and new soul on Fridays also at Leicester’s Bear Cage, and Saturdays at Nottingham’s Hippo … Matthew Roberts finds that, as many of his crowd go raving on Fridays at Manchester’s Hacienda, they dictate the upfront black sounds he spins with fellow ‘Blast’ jocks Gary Jones (tipped as a name to watch) and John Locke on Saturdays at Chester’s “heaving” High Society, and with Andy Baker on Thursdays at Wrexham’s Mr C’s … Jason Bushby’s soul/house/garage/hip hop Fridays at Saltburn’s Philmore Discotheque have been truly “heaving” ever since we last mentioned them, with guest DJs and PAs every week, more live acts always being needed – talk to him or Chris Farrell at the club on 0287-22202 if you’re interested in playing to the North-East Posse! … Al Charles, just to be contrary, reports an average 500 funksters “kickin’ and firin’” at his totally upfront Vienna Sundays, 8-11pm in Bury St Edmunds’ Devonshire House! … Nick Power (Kingston Upon Thames) rightly points out that of course it isn’t Faith, Hope & Charity but the other girl group with a similar name, Ecstasy, Passion & Pain whose ‘Touch And Go’ from 1976 sounds similar to ‘Just Wanna Touch Me’ by Italy’s Fidelfatti with Ronnette (of which an improved Norman Cook remix is out now) … Leon Roberts, of Manchester’s Black Rhythms at The Poly, says “Never mind a Loleatta Holloway compilation LP (all the classics are on Dutch Rams Horn 12 inch anyway), isn’t it about time someone bootlegged the acappella of ‘Love Sensation’ to make every house mixer in the country happy?” … IT’S SUCH A GOOD VIBRATION!
HOT VINYL
TASHAN ‘On The Horizon’ (OBR 465521 1, via CBS)
Deliberately inspired by Marvin Gaye’s socially conscious ‘What’s Going On’ style, with touches of Curtis Mayfield and Frankie Beverly too, this excellent gentle soul album combines messages of philosophy and love, even sampling a credited Marvin on the jerkily jogging 96bpm ‘Great Feeling’, and although not necessarily an essential floorfiller has excited instant interest, having also the wriggly undulating 93bpm ‘Black Man’, jiggly muffled swingbeat-ish 108⅛bpm ‘On The Horizon’, hesitantly jittering 95bpm ‘Think About You’, tuggingly swaying (0-)95¾bpm ‘Keep Moving On’, delicately funky 0-106-0bpm ‘All The Time Lovin’’, fatalistic swaying 81⅓-0bpm ‘Changes’, joltingly pattering (0-)107¼bpm ‘How Ya Livin’’, “mother, mother” started drifting 106¼bpm ‘Save The Family’, doodling (0-)92-0bpm ‘Heaven’, meandering 32½bpm ‘Tears Of Joy’, Alyson Williams duetted live 0-72-71⅓-72-71⅔-0bpm ‘Do You Wanna Know’.
D.J. LELEWEL ‘Magic Atto II°’ (BCM Records BCM 355 X)
Finally out here, and charging up The Club Chart as a result, is this typically exciting bounding pounder created by the man behind Black Box, The Mix Master and Starlight (to name just three of the very biggest Italo house hits!), Daniele ‘DJ Lelewel’ Davoli. Once again there’s a Loleatta Holloway-sounding “don’t hold back the feeling”, especially through the flip’s superior here 117⅓bpm The Deep, some corny Euro rap spoiling the A-side’s 117⅓-0bpm The House, as the two different versions are called.
ADAMSKI ‘LIVE AND DIRECT’ (MCA Records MCAX 6702)
This promo six-tracker, comprising in two parts the whole of side one of the now released parent LP (MCL 1900), has proved that last year’s acid house sound is still alive and well and actually being played live in aeroplane hangars (where much of this was recorded) by a sort of one man band, who lays down beats and keyboard lines in a continuous acieed session through the twittery thumping 0-120¼bpm ‘N-R-G’, piano pumped 122¼bpm ‘I Dream Of You‘, less good frantic hollow 126bpm ‘Tenko Krishna‘, piping and jangling frisky 124bpm ‘The Bassline Changed My Life‘, briskly chugging electro 126bpm ‘In Your Face‘, and dispirited twittery 124-124¼-0bpm ‘Magik Piano‘. Continue reading “December 9, 1989: Tashan, D.J. Lelewel, Adamski, Adeva, De La Soul”
MARK RYDER and Dave Lee have made no secret of recording on RePublic Records as the acts M-D-Emm and Mystique but now confess to having been not only Raven Maize all along (in a supremely successful scam which saw ‘Forever Together’ appearing first as a US Quark import!) but also the currently hot Masters Of The Universe, the latter on Strictly Underground (a separate label which Mark will be running for strictly limited 5,000 only pressing runs). What’s more, they now have a vocal re-recording of the Masters’ ‘Check It Out’ ready for licensing to any interested major labels, while ‘Do You Want Me’ has just appeared in four different mixes now credited as being by Skeletor on US Easy Street! … 10 mixing jocks (five scratch and five club style) compete tonight (Tuesday 28) in the final of the London Mix Competition at Bethnal Green’s Tantrums in the Hackney Road, starting 8.30pm — full winner details next week … Sharon Dee Clarke has been flown out to Italy to add a vocal for radio purposes to FPI Project present Rich In Paradise’s fast Club Chart climbing version of ‘Going Back To My Roots’ … Ben Liebrand’s Hip Hop Remix of the Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rappers Revenge’ is also out here at last (Castle Communications SHRD0012) … Tyree featuring J.M.D. ‘Move Your Body’, reviewed only last week on import, now that it’s out here (DJ International Records 655470 6), somehow slows the LP Version – Tyree Mix (here the A-side’s first track) to a slower 123⅔bpm while the rest speed up to make the Julian ‘Jumpin’ Perez Mix 125½-125-125¼-0bpm, Boogie Man (Boggie Mix) 0-126-125⅞bpm, and Tyree (Lost His Vocal) Tyree Mix 125¾bpm … XL Recordings have released not only ‘Just As Long As I Got You’ on its own remixed single but also its whole parent EP, exactly as on import, Frankie “Bones”/Lenny “Dee” present Looney Tunes Volume One (XLEP 102), from which the 0-120-0bpm ‘Another Place Another Time (Club Mix)‘ still remains the only other DJ chart-returned track … Kym Mazelle’s next single, on December 27, will be her reading of Jean Carn’s classic ‘Was That All It Was‘, to be creatively marketed in remixes by David Morales, Les Adams and Judge Jules … Loose Ends manager Tony Hall is representing the hot Ontario based Bigshot Records here (on 01-437 1958) … Tony Jenkins. the club entrepreneur whose Funktion helped start nearly 10 years ago the whole moveable venue one-niter club scene, now not only is linking up with brewers Bass-Charrington to launch a planned chain of ‘music specialist’ wine bars (featuring live DJs every night. with the aim of being either ideal pre-club meeting places or even, on areas where the night life is found to be wanting, actual alternatives to clubs, the first Middlesex venue opening soon as Up West), but also is part owner of North-East London’s new Blenheim studio complex … Luton’s burgeoning entrepreneur Tim Raidl not only is setting up his own DJ 4 DJ record label as an outlet for the Mix Connection DJ team, but also is separately a partner (on the production/A&R side) in the local Soul Sense record shop’s label of the same name – the latter is looking for house and street groove (rather than rap) demos at Soul Sense Records, 16 Stuart Street, Luton, Bedfordshire LU1 2SL … Brian Wolland has taken over as club promotions manager – and is expanding the DJ mailing list – at International Radio Promotions, 112 Talbot Road, London W11 1JR (01-727 3458), who since the spring have plugged for such as Mistri, LaKim Shabazz, The Dismasters, Cybotron, Omar and Kelly Charles … DJ/promotions manager Danny Lee of Upminster based Academy Teenage Nightclubs, travelling around council owned venues playing to a total membership of 12,000 under-18’s (a significant slice of the singles buying market), offers recording artistes an unusual and cheap method of personally plugging their music, or putting over any other message they want (like “Hey kids, stay cool, stay off drugs”), all for the price of just two telephone calls – call him first on 04022-21536 and he will give you the ’01-‘ number of an answering machine on which to record whatever you wish to say, which will then be turned into a jingle, edited and sampled as appropriate, to accompany your latest release at all the club gigs … John ‘Nick’ Osborne, who jocks at Purley’s Cinderellas Rockerfellas, is also promoting the upfront new Dancefloor Records shop at 463 Streatham High Road (right opposite Les Adams’ old venue, The Sussex), where he’s starting a 15 per cent DJ discount service for card holding regular customers, and a mail order services (details of both schemes on 01-679 5579) … DJ Paul Oakenfold, as well as being the driving force behind the group Electra, launches his own PerfectO Records label with the re-release of Izit ‘Stories’ here, and confirms that, as the hot Italian remix was in fact unauthorised and not very well recorded, the new punningly titled ‘I’ve A Novella Mix’ is indeed a UK re-recording – but the Italian version is on the flip anyway, as the Stories Mix … Paul Oakenfold it was, with Nancy Noise, who sowed the seeds of the Balearic movement (and the current ‘whitening’ of dance music) nearly three years ago at Streatham’s The Project at Zigi’s, before moving two years and one month ago to Future at Charing Cross’s Heaven, where, with Terry Farley too, on Thursday (30) they mark this oddly lopsided anniversary by way of a mid-evening private party … Trevor Fung and Ian B specialise in Belgian ‘hardbeat’ on Evolution Tuesdays at London Leicester Square’s Maximus … Digger Elias and colleagues, on the other hand, present swing beat (plus purple and hip hop) on Bounced Wednesdays at Mayfair’s Legends … New Age Dance has a future sounds policy with New York DJ Dave Piccioni, raver G.G. Rider and MC Noise on D.A.T. (Digital Audio Transmission) Thursdays at 53 Berwick Street in Soho … DJ Pretty Cool spins nothin’ but the best dance music every Wednesday at Warrington’s Olivers, in the city centre there. IT’S SUCH A GOOD VIBRATION!
HOT VINYL
LISA STANSFIELD ‘Affection’ (Arista 210 379)
The Rochdale soulstress’s superb solo album is still very much a Blue Zone recording, being co-created and produced by her colleagues Ian Devaney and Andy Morris, apart from the Coldcut produced old joyfully cantering 0-123¼bpm ‘This Is The Right Time’, the set’s standout being widely acclaimed as the sweetly crooned steadily jogging 96bpm ‘Sincerity’, but also extremely classy are the Marvin Gaye ‘What’s Going On’-style 111bpm ‘Live Together‘, briskly bounding 125bpm ‘What Did I Do To You?‘, swaying jiggly wailing 100bpm ‘You Can’t Deny It‘, lushly weaving 95⅛bpm ‘When Are You Coming Back?‘, chunkily jolting 0-104bpm ‘Mighty Love‘, wriggly shuffling 120bpm ‘The Love In Me‘, snappily lurching 104bpm ‘Poison‘, plus of course the chart topping sultry 100½bpm ‘All Around The World’.
ALYSON WILLIAMS ‘I Second That Emotion’ (Def Jam 655456 6)
Received rather late, this superb searingly wailed Smokey Robinson & The Miracles classic reviving jogger is duetted by Chuck Stanley, not that he’s easy to spot, the 0-91bpm J&M Emotional Club Remix, 90⅔bpm Gota 12” Remix and 91bpm J&M Instrumental Remix all jogging sultrily to Soul II Soul-type tempos. Continue reading “December 2, 1989: Lisa Stansfield, Alyson Williams, Record Mirror DJs survey”
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