ODDS ‘N’ BODS
Derek B has now officially signed to Club Records, with his own label Tuff Audio, for all future recordings while, in a related move, Streets Ahead has created a Changing Gears Remix of ‘Goodgroove’ (76⅚-0bpm off acetate), using Eddie Bo’s ‘Hook And Sling’ as a break beat with drop ins from Joe Tex’s ‘I Gotcha’…
rm next week – as you should know if you’ve been reading the adverts! – will be packaged with a solid vinyl 33⅓rpm seven inch single featuring DJ Richie Rich’s latest “scam”, a 106bpm ‘Richie Rich In Trouble’ scratch mix of Trouble Funk, flipped by Rob Manley’s 0-119½-117½-118-0bpm ‘My Boyfriend’s Private Party’, mixing together Wally Jump Jr & The Criminal Element’s ‘Lighten Up (I Just Can’t Stop Scratchin’)’ and ‘Private Party’ with a bit of LA Mix’s ‘Don’t Stop’ and Shanice Wilson’s ‘I Bet She’s Got A Boyfriend’ in real Hotrod style, well worth getting for what amounts to free!…
Keith Sweat’s ‘I Want Her’ has had its LP Version replaced by a bassily jolting 108½bpm Dance ‘Til Ya Sweat Mix on the B-side of new creatively marketed pressings (Elektra EKR 69TX)… Rick Astley’s ‘Together Forever’ is also due in a largely instrumental 0-115bpm jack track-type House Of Love Mix (RCA PT 41818R) by Pete Hammond with ‘Set It Off’ “pshta pshta” hi-hats and digital punctuations but not much of Rick… Coldcut gave this column a terrific plug on Capital Radio’s mid-evening “teenage” show, the presenters of which, Pat Sharp and Mick Brown, have been produced by Stock Aitken Waterman singing – or, at any rate, going “whoop whoop”! – a remake of the Michael Zager Band’s ‘Let’s All Chant’… MC Jammy Hammy makes a guest appearance on the dub of LA Mix’s follow-up (which will also include the German remix of ‘Don’t Stop (Jammin’)’… ’15 Minutes’, the acid house track due on limited white label from Stoneleigh’s Diamon Duel record shop this weekend, turns out to be produced by none other than Antonio Valesquez and Wolfgang Prinz, from Maplewood, New Jersey – where shop owner, Steve Crosby, has an obviously useful friend… UK releases of the Kane Gang’s ‘Don’t Look Any Further’ next week won’t include the Francois Kevorkian remixes, but will be a completely different Mantronik mix, plus his B-Boy Vocal Dub… CityBeat picked up Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock’s sizzling ‘It Takes Two’ rap smash and Kechia Jenkins’ ‘I Need Somebody’, plus new material by 3D and Cool C… MCA Records are holding an invitation-only DJ party at Holborn’s Brown’s this Tuesday lunchtime, during the International DJ Convention, in competition with Breakout’s party at Soho’s Gullivers… Martin Jaffier, known as MC Fresh J, was due to give our sister DJ monthly, Jocks, a big plug during his Shure Rapping Championship appearance (despite it being organised by the DMC!)… Tony Jenkins has another of his PA-packed Up West nights at London’s Hippodrome this Wednesday (March 9), with Nigel Wilton, Bill Griffin, Ralph Tee and Colin Line dishing out freebies as well as jocking… Kev Hill starts weekly house/funk/grooves at The Outer Limit next to Harlow Mill station (only £1, no dress restrictions)… Friday (11) the Special Branch crew of Pete Tong, Nicky Holloway and Chris Bangs hold a Googly-Do at St John’s Wood’s Lord’s Cricket Ground… Baz Fe Jazz has a new Saturday venue at 145-147 Church Street in Paddington (by Edgware Road tube), Night In Tunisia this Saturday (12) and then every fortnight being for rare jazz and Latin while other types of old but fresh music are featured on a monthly rota… Iain Black, most upfront on Saturdays, has Total Contrast appearing at Colchester’s well equipped Tartan House this Sunday (13)… Paul James, resident every night, is funkiest on Tuesdays at St Helen’s Banana Republic (pub hours)… Richard Short souls Rayners Lane’s Bugsy’s Tuesdays and Harrow’s Mirrabeau Wednesdays, both wine bars and both free… Paul Major has returned to jocking in scratch mix style now, with three SL 1200s, at Leicester’s Leicester Studio Thur/Fri/Sat… Torquay’s Lasers in Coral Island has a new Saturday Power House night with TT Masters cutting up house/funk/soul/jazz… Tim Smith is after good PAs (on 091 285 8234) for Sunderland’s new but already heaving Blue Monkey, as is Dave Gregory (on 01-546 9044) Tue/Thurs office hours) for Kingston on Thames’s soulful Hoofers… Radio Aire’s weekday mid-evening and Saturday 6-8pm soul man, Carl Kingston (on 0532 687886) wants more regular club gigs within 50 miles of Leeds… Capital Radio has followed up my continued belief in Supertramp ‘I’m Beggin’ You’ by putting it on the “A” list (for maximum airplay rotation) even though in fact the actual single was released with little promotion last October and has already been superseded by another – a triumph of good music over bad marketing!… Andy Douglas – at Pzazz, 23 Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow G41 – offers money for a desperately needed copy of Alexander O’Neal’s ‘What’s Missing’ remix… Adrian John tips from Telford’s Cascades that Barbara Fowler’s old ‘Come And Get My Loving’ is doing well again in the wake of Joyce Sims and Terry Billy… Joyce Sims’ follow-up, due around Easter, will be a Robert Clivilles and David Cole remix of ‘Walk Away’… Pebbles ‘Girlfriend’, reviewed on import last week, is now due out here (MCA Records MCAX 1233)… Lou ‘Rookies Revenge’ is 94bpm, as chart checkers would have noticed, my review last week forgetting it… US newies that I unfortunately had no time to review this week include Kashif ‘Love Me All Over’ (Arista, breathy tender slow jolter flipped by the new gentle piano instrumental ‘Kathryn’), Mark Imperial & Co featuring Jack N House ‘The Love I Lost’ (House Nation, mournfully moaning slick house bounder), Joe Church ‘I Can’t Wait Too Long’ (Sleeping Bag Records, frantically flying Colonel Abrams-ishly soulful over-busy but adventurous house), Twat Sisters featuring House Master Baldwin ‘Eat My Pussy’ (Future Sound Records, tongue in cheek – or something! – frantic acid house), Kev-E-Kev & AK-B ‘Listen To The Man’ (DNA International, jumbled jerky rap scratching up ‘The Champ’ and much more), Sha-Rock & Inf ‘Wait Stop Start The Clock’ (Young’s Recording Co, another rap set to ‘Clean Up Woman’)… PUMP THAT BASS!
CA$H MONEY actually travelled right across the States from New York to San Diego just to compete in – and win! – the US finals of the Technics DJ Mixing Championships, beating Chicago’s Bad Boy Bill, which means that he’ll probably be the most eagerly awaited competitor tonight (Tuesday, March 8) in the World finals at the Royal Albert Hall! First of all, though, he and the other 18 finalists will have had to win one of the eight places in a preliminary round on Monday in order to meet the defending 1987 runner-up at the Albert Hall, Joe Rodriguez (also from the USA), who of course qualifies automatically, so it can be by no means certain that either Cash Money or the new 1988 UK champ, Cutmaster Swift, make it into the grand final. Disasters can happen, especially in such a volatile art as mixing (mind you, there’ll probably be a riot if they don’t make it!). The other international winners who will have been battling again for five minutes each on Monday to win one of the eight Grand Final places are Australia’s Andrew Muirhead, Austria’s Stefan Beidermann, Belgium’s Phil Watts, Denmark’s Mick ‘Cutfather’ Hansen (a 1986 finalist), Finland’s Kari Vesala, France’s Dee Nasty (a 1987 finalist), Germany’s Romeo Maramigi, Holland’s Juan Elmroom, Hong Kong’s Simon Choi, Israel’s Yoram Vazana, Italy’s Lorenzo Bossina, Norway’s DJ Fresh, Portugal’s Joao Canada, Singapore’s Gabriel Chong, Spain’s Mias Earbajo, Sweden’s Robert Watz, and Switzerland’s KZ. A full 20 competitors one after another at the Albert Hall would obviously have been far too many, especially as there’s no guarantee of the standard of some of the international winners, so that the preliminary weeding out is necessary and should ensure there’s no repetition of last year’s fiasco, when the Singapore finalist spent his entire time slot supposedly “mixing” just two records with a shoe! As well as the “mega” stars promised as winners of the Disco Mix Club members-voted annual Stanton awards, Tuesday night’s World final will also feature stage performances by the likes of Keith Sweat, Taja Sevelle, Derek B, Terry Billy, Shanice Wilson and Boy George – so it should be quite a night! The opening party of the 1988 International DJ Convention on Sunday at the Hippodrome will have already featured PAs by such as Bomb The Bass, Wee Papa Girl Rappers, Fingers Inc, Sheik Fawaz, Déja, Hazell Dean, Glen Goldsmith, Black Britain, Pebbles, Scratchmo, Robe, Asher D & Daddy Freddy, Chris Andrews, plus exhibition mixes by Disco Mix Club stars like Les Adams, Paul Dakeyne, Ben Liebrand, Mike Gray, and of course the Shure UK Rapping Championship finals, while the Monday seminar discussion sessions at the Astoria – including debates on radio, and (with Pete Waterman an important speaker!) sampling – will have been interspersed by PAs from Bam Bam, Roger, Maxi Priest, T-Cut-F, 52nd Street, Dee Dee Wilde and Wayne Hernandez. Full details next week about the winners, and what happened!
HOT VINYL
AL B. SURE! ‘Nite And Day’ (US Warner Bros/Uptown 0-20782)
Superb atmosphere drenched amorphous sweetly swaying 0-91½-0bpm drifter like Leee John singing Janet Jackson’s ‘Funny How Time Flies’ with some Marvin Gaye whoops and Isaac Hayes ‘Hot Buttered Soul’ guitar (in six mixes, the 0-91⅓-0bpm flip’s translated and sung in French as ‘Nuit Et Jour‘). Cool, for sure!
WILL DOWNING ‘Will Downing’ (Fourth & Broadway BRLP 518)
The huskily teasing Luther Vandross/Colonel Abrams-ish singer from Wally Jump Jr & The Criminal Element has made an excellent soulful essentially self-produced debut LP, with the loping 0-111¾bpm ‘In My Dreams’, jogging 0-106bpm ‘Do You?’, jerkily leaping 120½bpm ‘Set Me Free’ (with Mike Manieri’s vibes), swaying 105½bpm ‘Sending Out An SOS’, drifting 86bpm ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’, rolling 105⅚bpm ‘Security’, slushy 0-32⅔-0bpm ‘Do You Remember Love?’, Deniece Williams’ 0-94⅓bpm ‘Free’, and – the set’s standout – a fantastic lushly cantering 0-120⅔bpm treatment of late jazz great John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’, full of beautiful resonances, tootled by Stanley Turrentine, tinkled by David Cole and moaned by Will with Lew Kirton. Already on import, the album is out here on March 14, while – wait for it! – Arthur Baker’s “pshta pshta” hi-hat hissed more densely chugging 0-119½bpm ‘A Love Supreme (Jazz In The House Remix)’ (12BRW 90) is on promo now and out on March 21. Essential tackle, as some would say!
JEAN CARNE ‘You’re A Part Of Me’ (RCA PL71624)
Still a disappointment live and always (to my mind, anyway) in danger of going tiresomely over the top with her swooping and gurgling vocal style, Jean has, however, in this LP managed to make a consistently excellent real soul set that rightly is selling fast (out here ahead of imports!). Kept in check by such various producers as Grover Washington Jr, Bobby Eli and Nick Martinelli, every track is a gem, especially for listening maybe more than dancing, the only relatively uptempo songs being the superb sultrily jogging 90bpm ‘Heartache’, and wriggly 103⅙bpm ‘Givin’ Up On Love’ and 112⅙bpm ‘Let Me Be The One’, while slowies are the Booker Newberry-duetted 62-0bpm ‘Closer To You’, 62bpm ‘You’re A Part Of Me’, 61¼bpm ‘Walking The Line’, 60⅓bpm ‘Early Morning Love’, 71⅙bpm ‘Don’t Want To Love Anymore’, and Aretha Franklin’s old wailing 44-43bpm ‘Ain’t No Way’. Anita Baker comes to mind, the set’s so good. Continue reading “March 12, 1988: Al B. Sure!, Will Downing, Jean Carne, T.Jam, Apollo 11”
The 1988 Technics UK DJ Mixing Championships’ grand final is at London’s Hippodrome tonight (Tuesday, February 16), the last two competitors to qualify being found in the semi-final at Ealing’s Broadway Boulevard (where oddly the audience atmosphere was even deader than in Birmingham). First, the winning rappers were South London’s Einstein and Wolverhampton’s sassy miss Jazzy P, while the only outstanding mixer was indeed the widely tipped DJ Pogo, whose unique scratching style made him a clear winner. Voted a qualifying second was Des Mitchell from Birmingham (via Tenerife), although at Ealing he seemed pedestrian and off form. Disappointed losers were Portsmouth’s Warren Aylward (who shaved during a mix!), Brighton’s Carl Cox (adventurous long running synchs), Doctor K (emotionless fast cuts), and Southend’s Mark Ryder (who couldn’t cut it after headphone problems). As well as Pogo and Des, the battle is between Cutmaster Swift, Owen D, Scratch Professor, Hutchy, and DJ Haze. The fight should be intense! Results next week!
Equal second with exactly the same marks (so both qualify for the semi-finals) were Phil Docherty from Birmingham’s Stocks, who proved by going on first that this is not necessarily a jinxed position to draw in the evening’s running order, and London’s amazingly calm and collected 14-year-old Scratch Professor (see caption). In Northern Ireland, at Portrush’s Traks (packed by enthusiastic dancers), the standard was not so high, with no scratching, but Rob Nelson from Bangor’s JJ’s came a semi-finals qualifying first mixing perfectly synchronised beats, while equal second were Billy Greer from Bangor’s Matinee and Ken Burrell from Belfast’s Soul City, with Strabane’s Ian Robb third.
In Leeds the standard was by far the highest to be encountered anywhere so far, and it was a really tough fight, only one mark separating the eventual winner and runner-up. Again it was the last man on who had the winning advantage, Hutchy from Leeds’ The News, who actually won the same North Midlands heat last year and in the UK finals did a routine in white tie and tails. This time he came on like a city slicker with bowler hat and furled umbrella, using the latter to scratch his first record … which stuck to the Blue Tac on the umbrella and lifted off the turntable! This could even have been intentionally satirical, because Hutchy is such an entertainer that not only did he then mix and scratch up a storm, he (as pictured) ended by doing a brilliant transformer scratch using a baby bicycle, moving the wheel on the record with his hand on the pedal! His close runner-up was the fast ‘n’ funky Mike Clarke from Birkenhead’s Atmosphere, excellent except he didn’t always hold beats together.
Third was the loud and untidy (but he didn’t use headphones) Angus Kemp from Maidenhead’s Studio Valbonne, while I personally rated Brian Hope, the Kilmarnock “bedroom mixer” who’d come third in Scotland and this time used much brighter records to prove that he could have a real future as an actual remixer of records (even if the acappella of Colonel Abrams ‘Trapped’ did clash keys with Rick Astley!). Remember, the new regional semi-finals are going to see all the first and second placed winners competing again to see which two will be going forward from each into the six places at the UK final, so they should be really fierce! The semi-finals are next Tuesday (Feb 2) at Warrington’s Mr Smith’s, Thursday (4) at Birmingham’s The Dome, and the following Wednesday (10) at Ealing’s Broadway Boulevard. Be there!
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