Month: February 1991

BEATS & PIECES

NETWORK RECORDS, following last week’s lead story, have initially promoed True Faith featuring Final Cut’s ‘Take Me Away’ (NWKT 20) as a single sider in just their own more jerkily spurting remake of the bootleg Pin Up Girl Remix, original singer Bridgett Grace echoingly wailing through its by turns jangling, pounding, bubbling and shuffling amalgamation with Kaos’s ‘Definition Of Love’ piano (123-122bpm), this pressing being a bit of a collectors’ item as the mix on it will not be out commercially . . . Jay Mondi, no longer on Ten Records, is another to add to the growing list of those who have actually covered rather than bootlegged ‘Take Me Away’, her Chris Paul produced piano and organ pounded bounding treatment in Raw, Smooth, and Acappella Mixes (121½bpm) being already out on Raw Bass (12 R BASS 010) . . . Yvonne Elliman’s 1976 UK and US smash slinkily jogging ‘Love Me‘ (75¼-75bpm) has obviously now become a rare groove as its original seven-inch version is bootlegged —credited to Evon Elemen! — on a currently fast selling 12-inch (Midnight Music WCC 116), flipped perhaps more unexpectedly by Rupert Holmes’s lurching 1979 US Christmas number one ‘Escape (The Pina Colada Song)’ (70bpm) — spelt, this side with no artist credit, as ‘Pinacolladar’! . . . Jazzy Jason is launching a “real hardcore dance music” Pure Bhoomie label alongside the more hip hop orientated Blapps! Records, and is building a DJ mailing list for it on 0860 797652 (only apply if you and your crowd are truthfully tuff!) . . . Sony Music Entertainment UK (formerly CBS) has completely stopped manufacturing vinyl records in this country, all its vinyl coming from its Dutch pressing plant. Already in the US it’s almost impossible to find anything new other than dance releases (thankfully) on vinyl . . . Ten Records have packaged Inner City’s ‘Till We Meet Again’ in a limited edition gatefold sleeve, its two pockets however holding only one record (TENG 337), with Kevin ‘Master Reese’ Saunderson’s muted trumpet introed resonant bass bumped but strange very disjointedly surging Reese In Rio Mix (103¼bpm), better bassily loping trumpet rasped instrumental Places And Spaces Mix (102bpm) and self descriptive Almost Acappella Mix, the second pocket being to encourage purchase of the now also due separate stronger Remix (TENR 337), with Kevin’s sitar plinked solid jiggly chugging Reese In London Mix, sparser Reese In Detroit Mix and original far from compulsively danceable Reese In Rio Mix (all 103¼bpm) — the song is whinneyingly duetted by Paris Grey with fellow Chicagoan Byron Stingily from Ten City, except she recorded in Detroit and he recorded in New York two months later, and never the twain did meet! . . . Optimism Records/Arista have reissued Xpansions’ ‘Elevation’, yet another revived club hit from last year with sales then that didn’t reflect its floor support, now retitled as ‘Move Your Body (Elevation)‘ (613 683) . . . The Redmen’s ‘You’re My Way’, reviewed on import last week, is out here on Rumour Records in three weeks . . . DJ Atomico Herbie’s jerkily pounding D.J. H. featuring Stefy ‘Think About… (12″ Mix)‘ (119¾bpm) is here coupled by just its totally different wukka wukked then reedy organ jittered rattling sparse instrumental Crazy Mix (120bpm) . . . Flav-A-Flav-A-Flav presents Son Of Bazerk Featuring No Self Control And The Band (to give them their full name!) “change the style” of ‘Change The Style‘ from its basic James Brown groove (114bpm) with abrupt slow reggae (80bpm), sweet soul (38¼bpm), and heavy metal outro (117bpm) interruptions — these could come as a surprise, so do be warned! . . . March 1/2/3 in fact finds three weekenders at different Butlins camps, The Main Event at PwIlheli’s Starcoast World, the gay CAMP camp at Skegness’s Funcoast World, and the Scottish/North Of England Unity at Ayr’s Wonderwest World, this being apparently the first full scale weekender ever in Scotland, with DJs Carl Cox, Sasha, Fabio, Groove Rider, Nightmares On Wax (yes, dee-jaying), Jackie Morrison, Joe Deacon, Scot Gibson, Zamo and Harri, plus appearances by Caveman, N-Joi, Sindecut, Xpansions, K-Klass and more (£50 booking details on 0382 644003) . . . DJ Tat, DJ Clifton and Martin C have just started free admission weekly Chill Out Tuesdays 7-11pm in Chesterfield’s The Spires (next to the Regal), promising a musical cross section (but no visible Y-fronts!) . . . New York’s Shag club opens in London this Thursday (21) and then weekly at Wall Street in Mayfair’s Bruton Place, with Pulse DJs, Humanoid and Mental Cube supplying split level sounds . . . Ubiquity takes place at the Horizon Club on Kilburn High Road in London this Friday (22) featuring DJs Tim Simenon, Streets Ahead and Morgan with a PA by Chapter & The Verse . . . AS IT GROOVES!

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HOT VINYL
The week’s new club promos and remixes reviewed by James Hamilton and Paul Gotel

TOM TOM ‘Replay’
SPACETRAX (VOL. ONE) ‘Where Are You Now’
CLUBLAND ‘Pump That Sound (Like A Megablast) (Blow Your Mind Mix)’
DIGITAL BOY ‘OK! Alright’
DIGITALIS ‘Accepting’
BASS BUMPERS ‘Can’t Stop Dancing’

HERB ALPERT ‘North On South St.’ (US A&M 75021 2356 1)
The delicately tootling trumpeter’s hottest dance hit for years, on a massive seven track 12-inch (if you’re gonna use vinyl you might as well use it!), this starts out as a mumbling and giggling accompanied wriggly little jiggler in its LP Version (117¼bpm), before being remixed in Bobby Konders’s ambient effects backed whompingly striding lean Massive Sound 12″, Massive Sound 7″, and more sparsely smacking Late Night Massive Sound Remix treatments (all 117½bpm), flipped by Greg Smith’s 117.2bpm “c’mon let’s work” punctuated different funkily burbling Hip Housed Out 12″, Black Riot-type organ prodded pshta pshta-ing Deep Dub Version and similarly cantering Deep House Main Mix 12″ treatments (all 117¼bpm), the whole lot adding up to nearly 38 minutes. We’ll be lucky to get just three of these mixes on one piece of vinyl if it comes out here, thanks to UK chart rules.

FRIENDS OF MATTHEW ‘Out There’ (MCN 001, via Slammer)
A huge seller at Vinyl Zone already, this white labelled creation by three well known but, for the time being, anonymous club DJs from south of London is an ethereal choirboy-like “see me, feel me, hear me, love me, touch me” cooed and “is anybody out there” vocoder interspersed through a primarily instrumental thrumming frisky attractive electro shuffler, with some Kraftwerk ‘Autobahn’-type effects but no real bleeps, in Raw (125½bpm), “let’s go back to your childhood” introed Techno (125½bpm) and Garage (124bpm) Mixes, coupled also by the beefier leaping frequency oscillations and ‘TSOP’ brass combining ‘Obey‘ (126bpm), worth finding.

MC BUZZ B ‘Never Change’
JOHNNY PARKER ‘Love It Forever’
49ERS ‘How Long’
TARANTELLA ‘La Amor’
DEEP BLUE ‘Deep Blue’

L.A. MIX ‘Coming Back For More’ (A&M/PM 397 089-1)
Not quite as good an album for dancers as their variety-packed ‘On The Side’ debut set from 1989, Les & Emma Adams’ second LP is, however, more mature and designed to flow for consistent home listening, its two infectious floor-filling standouts being the already much mentioned Whispers’ ‘It’s A Love Thing’ title line adapting D. Marcus C. rapped jumpily chugging ‘Love Thang’ (109¼bpm), and the maddeningly catchy Pink Floyd meet Soul II Soul-type jittery swaying Angel C. chorussed ‘Live For Love’ (99bpm), not to be missed, while there are also of course the fruity sax farted and Leslie George souled slinkily rolling ‘Coming Back For More‘ (101¼bpm), Beverley Brown wailed and D. Marcus C. rapped current lovely ‘Mysteries Of Love‘ (101¼bpm), Juliet Roberts cooed pleasant shuffling ‘One Love One Touch‘ (104¼bpm), Juliet & Leslie duetted sinuously attractive (but what silly lyrics!) ‘We Shouldn’t Hold Hands In The Dark‘ (95¼bpm), Mike Stevens saxed jiggly instrumental ‘Slap‘ (105¼bpm), annoying acappella chant started Juliet sung (with a naturally held long note) gospel-ish undulating ‘Miss My Love‘ (103¼bpm), Juliet chanted jazz-funkily bounding deliberately dated ‘All Mine‘ (120¼bpm), and Zee (a strident girl) wailed repetitive slinky pop ‘Discover Reality‘ (111¼bpm). Continue reading “February 23, 1991: Herb Alpert, Friends Of Matthew, L.A. Mix, Asmo, The Born EP”

James Hamilton’s BEATS & PIECES
The column that DJs read

NETWORK RECORDS are rush releasing here the suddenly much talked about True Faith featuring Final Cut’s ‘Take Me Away’ (in three versions, its original 1989 mix from Detroit’s Paragon Records plus not only a remake of the current bootleg remix that incorporates Kaos’s ‘Definition Of Love’, to which Network conveniently has the rights as well, but also a brand new remix by Nexus 21), this logical looking successor to The Source featuring Candi Staton being the track that amongst other treatments was remade by The Mix Master (an alter ego of DJ Lelewel) as the Italian flip to ‘Grand Piano’, his adaptation being then bootlegged a year ago as part of the ‘Take Sting Away On Acid EP’ and now remixed on the Pin Up Girls label, while a cover version by Sweet Mercy featuring Natasha has already been about on Blip and another by the Awesome 3 is due soon on A&M:PM! . . . The DJ Mixing Championships UK Final is being held at Chippenham’s Golddiggers on Wednesday, March 6, while the World Final will presumably again take place as part of the International DJ Convention, due to run through the first weekend in April (venues and precise dates unspecified so far) . . . Ashley Waring has been joined at Island doing club and radio promotion for 4th + B’way by musical “know it all” Gavin Wright, previously at Balham’s Record Corner shop — 4+B incidentally have picked up the CFM Band’s enduring import hit ‘Jazz It Up’ for UK release in a fortnight, and are re-releasing Wally Badarou’s ultra influential old ‘Chief Inspector’ from 1985 (source of countless riffs and rhythm tracks since!) in a brand new remix by Nomad Soul . . . Under Cover Movement’s ‘Moonstompin” is being fully distributed via Pinnacle from the end of this week, its creator Mark Ryder (re the review two issues ago) clarifying that he started out by always etching messages into the vinyl of his Strictly Underground logo’s releases (which last summer, of course, included an otherwise totally label-less black pressing of TTO) and it was actually he who gave to his old mate and near neighbour André Jacobs this and other of the ideas used now also by the latter for D-Zone Records! . . . Mark meanwhile is launching another logo strictly for techno releases, Dance Movement Records, which will include “the ultimate bleep record” called just ‘The Bleep‘ plus ‘Crazy Techno‘, both by as yet un-named spin-offs of Under Cover Movement . . . York’s Ziggys this Thursday (14) again becomes The Sweat Box, with DJs Bri G, Rockee and Chris Sweet’s fast stuff downstairs plus Soul Pete and Bry Walker’s soothing soul upstairs . . . One World’s Beano this Saturday (16) at Belfast Art College has hypnotizin’ Hibrid playing live plus DJs Keith Connolly, Alan Ferris, Dee O’Grady & Paul McCourt . . . Euphoria ’91 Thursdays in Southampton currently see Gary G spinning sweet soul and swingbeat in the Moscow Bar 8.30-11 pm (£2 admission but cheap vodka and Fosters), with free entry from there before 10.30pm into the neighbouring Escape Club for Mark’O, DJ Sweet, DJ Ramos & Simon A’s hardcore house, rap ‘n’ ragga until 2am . . . Phil Jay’s Fridays at The Villagers in Blackheath, hidden in the woods south east of Guildford between Wonersh and Albury, are now into their fifth successful year and he has hopes of his restarted Tuesdays there being just as hot too . . . Howard Platt, the popular owner of Gt. Yarmouth’s Tiffanys, had a heart attack and died two weekends ago . . . The Main Event weekender’s guest acts at Pwllheli Starcoast World over March 1/2/3 now include Main Source, Gang Starr, Dream Warriors, Outlaw Posse, Daddy Freddy, Nomad, Nexus 21, Rhythmatic, LFO, Dream Frequency, Light Of The World, Brand New Heavies, James Taylor Quartet, Galliano, The Tyrrel Corporation and Donna Gardier, with more to be added — booking details from LiveWire on 081-364 1212 . . . Kaos 4 over the weekend of April 19/20/21, this the latest in a sellout series being now at Camber Sands Pontins, will feature DJs Danny Rampling, Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong, Nicky Holloway, Andy Weatherall, Terry Farley, Phil Perry, Fat Tony, Fabio, Groove Rider, Jazzy M, Glen Gunner, Johnny Walker, Carl Cox, Rocky & Diesel, Nancy Noise, DJ Face, Steve Lee, Ray Keith, Darren Emerson, Marvin Connor plus appropriate live acts and PAs — booking details from LiveWire on 081-364 1666 or general enquiries from The Incredible Organization on 081-392 2922 . . . Capital FM DJs Pat & Mick’s fourth Stock Aitken Waterman produced annual Help A London Child charity single will be a revival of Jimmy Bo Home’s ‘Gimme Some’ . . . Tracy Ackerman, having impersonated Minnie Riperton for Massivo’s revival of ‘Loving You’, also supplied the Kylie style choruses for Rico’s ‘Mix Back In Time’ . . . Inner City have used for their video of ‘Till We Meet Again’ the choreographer Madonna used for her vid of ‘Vogue’, which may or may not be a coincidence as they reckon ‘Vogue’ borrowed a bit from their old hit, ‘Ain’t Nobody Better’! . . . AS IT GROOVES!

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HOT VINYL
The week’s new club promos and remixes reviewed by James Hamilton and Graeme Park

URBAN SOUL ‘Alright’
TRIBAL HOUSE ‘Mainline’
GRACE FEATURING LORRAINE SCOTT ‘Ecstasy’ (Garage Mix/Hypnotech Mix/Crypt Mix/Original Mix)
THE BROTHERS OF THE HEAD ‘Brother Man’
CARMEL ‘And I Take It For Granted’ (Brian Eno 12 inch remix)
INNER CITY ‘Till We Meet Again’ (Reese In Rio Mix/Places And Spaces Mix)
ZZONE INC ‘Cosmic Dance’
EVILROY ‘Ecstasy (I Need Your Body)’
FIRE ‘My Love Is’ (DJ Pierre’s House Instrumental UK Edit/DJ Pierre’s In De House Mix) [Fire was a pseudonym for Donny Osmond]
LAND OF FUN FEATURING CAROL HALL ‘In The Basement’ (Deep Joy Remix/Original)
SLAM SLAM ‘Move (Dance All Night)’ (Slammin’/Red Zone Mixes/Original)
DREAMHOUSE FEATURING CAESAR ‘Jump And Prance’ (Club Mix/Dream Mix)

DEEE-LITE ‘How Do You Say . . . Love?’ (Elektra EKR118T)
Apparently rush released right now although only just promoed, this breezy sometimes bleeping but specialist strider has been serviced to DJs in merely its simple sparse drum tapped and jazzily chording keyboards driven bounding A Delicious Pal Joey Dub (121¾bpm), with Lady Miss Kier’s whispered repetition of its title line its only lyric (making a groove rather than a song, surely out in a more commercial mix too?), flipped by a Bootsy Collins conversational comments augmented ‘Groove Is In The Heart (Bootsified to the Nth Degree)‘ (121½bpm) remix of their earlier hit.

DREAM WARRIORS ‘Ludi’ (4th + B’way 12 BRW 206)
More straightforward without any speeded up double tempo this time (specially so King Lou Robinson’s mother, to whom it’s dedicated, can dance to it!), the Toronto rappers’ pleasant recreation of the cool harmony backed rolling ‘Rudi’ style of rock steady that preceded reggae during the late Sixties is in a Double Trouble Club Mix (92¼bpm) or penny whistle tones piped Original and Drop Out Mixes (91½bpm), coupled also with the staccato wordy ‘Very Easy To Assemble But Hard To Take Apart (Generation Gap Mix)‘ (108bpm) featuring rap and piano by Slim ‘Jazz Legend’ Gaillard (as they call the enigmatic 1930s veteran).

MC HAMMER ‘Here Comes The Hammer’ (124½bpm) (Capitol 12CL 610)
Driven at a lickety spit by blatantly exciting samples from James Brown’s ‘Super Bad’, a beat that cooler rappers haven’t considered hip to the hop for years, this therefore unsubtle but obviously very commercial frantic jerky leaper revolves around the title line slogan from Hammer’s TV commercial for Pepsi, promoed in 12-inch Remix and more percussive jittery frenetic Uh-Oh Here Comes The Hammer versions, apparently an instrumental version being due too on the released 12-inch along possibly with the old ‘U Can’t Touch This (LP Version)’ (133bpm) that alone couples the 7-inch Edit. Continue reading “February 16, 1991: Deee-Lite, Dream Warriors, MC Hammer, Caveman, George Michael”

BEATS & PIECES

MANCHESTER’S HACIENDA club, despite now having resolved the renewal of its licence, in a shock move reluctantly closed last Wednesday in order “to protect employees and members”, its management being “quite simply sick and tired of dealing with instances of personal violence”, the hope being that it will be able to re-open “in a better climate” (see News Plus for more details). That same city’s Precinct 13 re-opens from March 21, incidentally, still with a bleep-free black music policy . . . Backstreet Promotions (081 459 5545) are looking for another 800 DJs for their mailing list — most dance records these days don’t even sell that many! . . . Betty Boo, Lindy Layton and LA Mix are among the chart acts who have fared less well than usually expected with their most recent singles after releasing classy ‘sophisticated’ material — obviously, the kids don’t want class! . . . LA Mix however are persevering with the release of their Chimes-style remixed ‘We Shouldn’t Hold Hands In The Dark‘ ballad in order to build a more mature audience base for their imminent album, which for the time being it’ll be necessary to buy for the previously mentioned Whispers adapting dynamite rap, ‘Love Thang‘! . . . Frank “K” featuring Wiston Office’s elusive “everybody, let somebody love” hook line originated in Joe Church’s ‘I Can’t Wait (Too Long)‘ on US Sleeping Bag Records, according to the ever dependable Dave Lee — who ought to know, as he included the Church track on his own RePublic label’s first ‘The Garage Sound Of Deepest New York’ LP! . . . Ben Liebrand’s Re-Mix of Hall & Oates’ I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)’ has indeed proved so much more popular than the duo’s new tracks that Arista has now made a Single Edit the double A-side on 7-inch, which it previously wasn’t on at all . . . New Life’s ‘Keep Your Love’ on commercial 12-inch is in only its Cherry Pie (now nearer 119½bpm) and Donut Mixes, its promoed Maraschino Mix being replaced by a vigorously stirred Cappuccino Mix of their old ‘Got 2 Be Free’ (122¾bpm) . . . The Mixmasters’ ‘The Night Fever Megamix’ is being revamped with a more easily mixable extended ‘Disco Inferno’ outro . . . Cameroon’s crowd pleasing soccer side plays England at Wembley this Wednesday, and to celebrate, on Saturday (Feb 9), the Hackney Empire presents the current Cameroonian king of modern Makossa, Moni-Bilé, supported by the Sierra Leonean Abdul Tee-Jay’s Rokoto — there’ll be high life in Hackney that night, for sure! — while Cameroon’s here better known Manu Dibango teams up with Working Week at Kentish Town’s Town & Country Club on the same night, also likely to be a big blow! . . . Andrew ‘DJ Madhatter’ Holmes this Thursday (Feb 7) hosts the first of a monthly soul/funk/oldies night at Manchester’s Richfields, with a large hired sound system . . . DJs Kevin Bird and Russell People —known simply as Bird & People — are building an upfront house/Euro/techno/garage Saturday at Bournemouth’s Madisons . . . Kiss 100 fm’s regular London club nights, which include Paul ‘Trouble’ Anderson’s Saturday 2nd Base at Camden Lock’s Dingwalls with a guest jock every week (Colin Faver this week), are joined by the return of the Upfront Club this Thursday (Feb 7) to the Borderline (off Charing Cross Road next to Foyles) with Gordon Mac and Trevor Madhatters spinning classics and upfront newies, and the return of Richie Rich and his Rap Review this Saturday (9) to Dingwalls with Max LX & Dave VJ . . . Active 3 next Monday (11) present Frenzy at St Albans’ Kiss Nitespot (no connection) with DJs K.C. & M.D., DJ Stumpy from the Boneshakers, Jazzie Q from Soul II Soul, and in fact Trevor Madhatters from Kiss 100 fm . . . Tony Dunne has just started an 8.30-11.30pm Ambidance pre-club venue every Thursday, as a meeting place where you can dance although the music’s mainly for listening, at Beshoff in London’s Trocadero Centre, Shaftesbury Avenue . . . BBC1-tv’s Tuesday 7.05pm ‘Holiday 91’ programme last week annoyingly postponed a feature about Butlin’s Starcoast World at Pwllheli, which hopefully will be rescheduled soon before The Main Event weekender takes place there on March 1/2/3 (details 081-364 1212) — the same date and number for details, coincidentally, as “the first ever UK gay weekender”, CAMP camp at Skegness in Butlin’s Funcoast World with live stars like Eartha Kitt, Dr Evadne Hinge and the Bay City Rollers! . . . Pwllheli’s live acts meanwhile, with more to be added, look like including Main Source, Gang Starr, Outlaw Posse, LFO, Nexus 21, Rhythmatic, Brand New Heavies and others . . . AS IT GROOVES!

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HOT VINYL
Reviewed by Chris Mellor and James Hamilton

SWEET MERCY featuring Natasha ‘Take Me Away’
RJ AND THE FAMILY ‘Gloria’
DATA BASS ‘A Piano In The Night’ / ‘A Trip In The Night’
LOS CHUNGUITOS ‘Corazon De Rubi’
A.S.H.A. ‘JJ Tribute’ (Space/?/ Primitive versions)
UMOSIA ‘We Are Unity’
THE COVER GIRLS ‘Funk Boutique’ (12-inch Remix/Dub Version)
THE CREATIONS featuring Debbie Sharpe ‘Pay The Price’
DJ PROFESSOR ‘Life Is Life’

ULTRA NATÉ ‘Is It Love?’ (111¾bpm) (Eternal YZ509T, via WEA)
The anguishedly pitched Baltimore, Maryland, soulstress sounds rather like Carla Thomas as she repeatedly asks the title line question through this apparently Danny Madden produced, piano started then beefily churning jumpy jiggler, another that has an LA Mix ‘Coming Back For More’/Marva Whitney ‘Unwind Yourself’-style sax breezily farting at times in its Club and instrumental Hump Mixes, coupled by the already separately promoed sparsely bounding jaunty garage ‘Scandal (Club Mix)‘ (119¼bpm), with a realistically ringing telephone to cause confusion!

CARLTON ‘Love And Pain’ (Three Stripe Productions Ltd/ffrr SNMXR 4)
Produced and co-written by Smith & Mighty, this stratospherically wailing semi-falsetto strange slow lurcher sounds as if it’s probably intended to take on Seal in the pop stakes, with swirling strings and an Andy Williams ‘Can’t Get Used To Losing You’ flavour in its Boilerhouse remixed 7 Inch Version (93¾bpm) or a spasmodically rumbling and tapping Drum & Bass Mix (94bpm), while the interestingly different although more routinely danceable flip was initially promoed alone on white label as a single-sider, the rave siren started whinneyingly moaned and chanted, jauntily churning and stomping Bristol house-style ‘Please Leave’ (117bpm), in Steve Jervier’s Good Groove Mix with a stuttery breakdown towards the end and more jokingly chugging Jerv’s Dub. The kids in Bristol are sharp as a pistol, they all do the Bristol Stomp!

THE SOURCE featuring CANDI STATON ‘You Got The Love’ (TRuelove TLOVE 1, via Total/BMG)
As warned it would be when the initially circulated D.J. L.T.D. promo pressing was reviewed, this the commercial version is very different, having only the blander although admittedly neater, Jamie Principle groans lacking more ponderously thumping less brightly plinky plunking Jolly James Remix (112½bpm, now no longer with its speaking clock intro) of the original Erens Bootleg Mix, which it does not really resemble despite being labelled as that still, freshly flipped by Olimax’s totally different quietly starting then increasingly beefily chugging Morning Time Mix (110bpm) with washing squeaky synth and an overdubbed Martin Luther King “it’s morning time” climax. Continue reading “February 9, 1991: Ultra Naté, Carlton, The Source/Candi Staton, FPI Project, The Ragga Twins”

BEATS & PIECES

KISS 100 FM, London’s black and dance music incremental station, can already boast a weekly audience figure of 1,078,000 listeners six months ahead of its anticipated target date, according to research conducted during October-December 1990 by RSGB on behalf of JICRAR, this figure representing a weekly reach of 27 per cent of London’s 15-24 year olds and 10 per cent of 25-34 year olds, two thirds of the total being male . . . Gulf War caused oil shortages, should they occur, could put up the price of vinyl so much that record companies would accelerate their shift to just CD and cassette formats virtually overnight – where would that leave DJs? . . . The S*n last Wednesday exposed (shock! horror!) the creative marketing practice of record companies rewarding certain shops with free product to sell it at an audience attracting cheap price in return for help in logging sales on chart computers – who would have believed such wicked things could go on? . . . Big Wave Records is the latest label to shut down, faced with rising costs . . . Cleveland Anderson has left Production House Records and set up his own The Tom Tom Club label, on 081-992 5792 . . . Chad Jackson and Jon Jules this weekend start a series of Antipodean gigs together, DJing around Australia in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne before heading north across the Pacific to Guam and then Hong Kong . . . Simon Dunmore’s eagerly awaited remix (not due commercially for another six weeks) of Monie Love’s ‘Ring My Bell’, only connected by its title line with Anita Ward’s oldie, replaces original duettist Ultra Naté with Adeva and uses the Madonna ‘Vogue’ rhythm . . . The Grid’s dub remix of Jesus Loves You’s upcoming ‘Bow Down Mister’, chunkily chugging along with some Indian wailing like the soundtrack for a hip tandoori restaurant, appears now not to be due for release – making the few cassettes circulated by Richard Norris into instant collector’s items? . . . The Beatmasters’ self composed new but naggingly familiar seeming rare groove style ‘Dunno What It Is (About You)’ (Rhythm King LEFT 44), an excellent urgently lurching jiggly dated pastiche strongly performed by soulfully wailing girls, has been promoed in two X and Y side mixes ahead of February 11 release, gradually winding up through Seventies strings in the wriggly surging X side’s mix featuring Elaine Vassell (102-101¾bpm) – the ‘Yes We Can Can’ Pointer Sisters soul side, if you like – while Simon Law’s The Funky Ginger Mix (100¾-100½bpm) on the Y side strips down to rumbling less cluttered percussion, making it more the Sister Sledge disco side . . . Ben Liebrand’s vibes tinkled although otherwise not noticeably drastic Re-Mix (110½bpm) of Hall & Oates’ distinctively plopping ‘Billie Jean’-ish classic ‘I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)’ (Arista 613 980) was actually only promoed as a single sider and is exclusive just to the 12-inch commercial pressing as flip to Daryl & John’s pop aimed new gloomily lurching ‘Everywhere I Look’ (93bpm) and gentler acoustic ‘Sometimes A Mind Changes’ (98¾/49¼bpm), but is by far the hottest track for which they’re selling anyway . . . Hans Valentin’s throbbingly jogging remake of Stephanie Mills’ oldie, Technomania featuring Emma Haywoode’s ‘(You’re Puttin’) A Rush On Me (Embrace The Bass Mix)’ (105½bpm) (Rumour Records RUMAT 28) features Sharon Haywoode’s strainingly wailing sister with a couple of brief rap breaks by South London’s 2 Brains Inc. and some nice tinkling vibes, coupled with its appropriately bassier ‘Embrace The Bass (Original Version)’ (106pm) basic instrumental rhythm track . . . Bomb The Bass’s (or should that be Tim Simenon’s –see page 27) slinkily swaying Soul II Soul-ish street soul ‘Love So True’ (90bpm) (Rhythm King DOOD 4T), sweetly breathed by nasally crooning Loretta Heywood, was labelled in the wrong order on promo but is flipped by the samples woven 1988-style jittery flurrying ‘You See Me In 3D’ (119½bpm) and raw funky drum jiggled gruff guy rapped ‘Understand This’ (111½bpm) . . . Richard Rogers’ steadily snicking urgent wriggly ‘Spread A Little Love (Club Version)’ (119¾bpm) (BCM Records BCM 489) is huskily soulful like a less exaggeratedly swooping Darryl Pandy, flipped by its similar Spread Your Love Dub plus the unconnected funkily bumping slow ‘RR Beats’ (88bpm) with “annihilating rhythm” repetition . . . Ray Lock (081-641 5340), every Saturday at Purley’s Temptations wine bar, had his cherished seven-years-old GLI PMX 9000 mixer (plus a pair of Technics SL 1210 turntables) stolen at a Christmas Eve gig in Croydon, and is offering a £200 reward for information leading to its recovery . . . DJs Phil C, Prone, Jazz T, C.J. and Bucks, having had a success with their first “intelligent” rap/ragga/swing night, present Intelligence (Part 2) this Friday (Feb 1) at Farnborough Recreation Centre (off the A325, two roundabouts south of Farnborough station), on Meudon Road then right on Westmead . . . Kiss 100 fm breakfast show co-presenter, Graham Gold spins house/rap/swingbeat/soul/classics this and every Friday through February at Grays’ Pzaz in the Queensgate Centre, and likewise this and every Sunday at Chalfont St Peter’s Chalfont Heights Country Club (formerly Winkers Farm) in Denham Lane, at the end of Joiners Lane off the A413 . . . Mr Clubman next Wednesday (Feb 6) presents a free admission/no dress restriction Damn Fine night, at Peterborough’s Shanghai Sam’s, with hot local act Shades Of Rhythm as star DJs amongst other guests – if this one’s a success, the next night in March will add Detroit’s States Of Mind to the DJ line-up . . . Frances Nero’s ‘Footsteps Following Me’ (Motorcity) is still number one for Uxbridge’s Dean Thatcher at all his trendy gigs, if proof be needed of the enduring underground appeal of this ‘Thinking Of You’-ish soul monster . . . AS IT GROOVES!

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HOT VINYL
Reviewed by Norman Cook and James Hamilton

STETSASONIC ‘No B S Allowed’
YOUNG DISCIPLES ‘Apparently Nothin’’
SOHO ‘Hippychick (Rhythm Stick Remix)’
REACH ‘That’s The Way Life Is’
BLVD MOSSE ‘U Can’t Escape The Hypeness’
KOCHI/REALITY ‘We Are Family’
GANG STARR ‘Take A Rest’ (Work, Rest And Play Mix/Take Five Mix)
PAUL HAIG ‘Flight X (School Mix)’
PROPAGANDA ‘Your Wildlife (Wet ‘N’ Wildlife Mix)’
FRAZIER CHORUS ‘Walking On Air (Youth Mix)’
2 MAD ‘Thinkin’ About Your Body (Chocolate Mix)’ / ‘Boogaloo’ / ‘Bonus Beats’

BLACK BOX ‘Bright On Time’ (123½bpm) (Italian Groove Groove Melody GGM 9018)
Yes, you read that right, it’s ‘Bright’ – a brand new blazing revamp of ‘Ride On Time’ that sets its ‘Love Sensation’ vocal to a breezily bounding blues riff in ‘Crosscut Saw’ style, like a 1967 Stax treatment of the ‘Tramp’ rhythm, unfortunately flipped for poor value here by Graeme Park’s UK hit ‘The Total Mix’ (118½-102¼bpm) of ‘I Don’t Know Anybody Else/Everybody Everybody/Ride On Time/Fantasy’. That apart, dy-no-mite!

OVAL EMOTION ‘Go Go’ (Canadian Hi-Bias Records HB-002)
The second hot release from “the DJ’s label”, this girl crooned and piano chorded Nick Anthony Fiorucci/Cissy Goodridge/Kenny Moran creation is in simple breezy disco Killer Club Mix (123bpm), terrific late Seventies style Classic Airwaves Mix (123¼bpm), chunkier instrumental Groovey MO-Mix (121bpm), and jerkily scratched Deep Destruction Dub (123bpm) treatments, coupled with the attractive vocally RAH Band-ish jazzily doodling ‘Lies’ (105bpm) in synthetic strings swamped gently burbling Classic Club Mix, acappella introed more sinewy Jammin D.J. Dub, and largely beat-less Deadly Intro Pianopella Boom Mix versions.

ALEXANDER O’NEAL ‘All True Man (Classic Club Mix)’ (104½bpm) (Tabu 656571 8)
Now selling even faster than the original, this superb tight-harmonies introed and underpinned, stark bass bomped cool chunkily jiggling Frankie Knuckles remix is flipped with terrific value by Frankie’s alternative even sparser, organ prodded languidly ticking Big House Mix and piano plinked attractive Big House Instrumental, essential for all who have an ear for class. Continue reading “February 2, 1991: Black Box, Oval Emotion, Alexander O’Neal, Johnny Gill, Lalah Hathaway”