Author: Mike A

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

The Untouchables, also known as Two Guys A Drum Machine And A Trumpet, turn out to be none other than the Fine Young Cannibals in now their “house”-related hoodwink! …. Shakatak’s Manic Cuts scratcher is not in fact CJ Mackintosh, who it sounds like, but Shem McCauley – maybe better known as DJ StreetsAhead … Stock Aitken Waterman are taking M|A|R|R|S to court over their use of ‘Roadblock’ in a scratch – had they asked for permission it would have been given, but this test case (probably not heard until next year) is being brought to obtain a ruling about the whole use of samples and scratches, in the hope of clarifying the law … Kool Kat Records and Warriors Dance settled out of court for £500 with Stock Aitken Waterman for misleadingly printing the initials “SAW” on sleeves of the, at that stage uncredited, white label of ‘Jacques Theme’ – they still claim the initials stood for the slogan “Sinful And Wicked”, but the record’s artistes were only later revealed as being Bang The Party … Spoonie Gee’s ‘The Godfather’, the year’s longest enduring import hit, has finally been signed for UK release – not by a major label, but by the Jet Star distributed Sure Delight Records … DMC Records, ostensibly an outlet for commercial productions by the Disco Mix Club’s stable of mixers when set up a year ago, has been disbanded (for the time being) largely because its releases to date were so low in street credibility that the likes of Les Adams opted to take LA Mix to a major label, instead … Nigel Wilton is building a new DJ mailing list at Fourth & Broadway so send him full work details (phone numbers included) at Island Records, 22 St Peters Square, London W6 9NW … Virgin are restructuring their club promotion, Justin Lubbock being replaced as head disco plugger by Clare Shave, who, nevertheless, looks like maintaining her recently announced link with Erskine Thompson at independent promotion company Hot Licks … Serious Records have scooped DM/StreetSounds by snapping up for a ‘Hip Hop 87’ LP such hot hits as Eric B & Rakim, Kid ‘N Play, B-Fats, Spoonie Gee, Roxanne Shanté, Derek B, Salt-n-Pepa and more … Westside Records’ first fruit from their deal with DJ International Records will be a 21-track double album of largely unreleased or little known house tracks, ‘Jackmaster Vol 1’, creatively marketed insofar as once the double LP’s initial pressing runs out the set will become an 11-track single LP with the missing tracks unavailable in any other future form … Maze Records are reissuing from 1984 Harold Faltermeyer’s percussively augmented 0-117bpm London Mix of ‘Axel F’ (MCAT 949) to tie in with the new ‘Beverly Hills Cop II’ film … Paul James and Steve Roberts of Birkenhead’s Sir James Club funk a ferry ‘cross the Mersey this Thursday (October 8), aboard the MV Royal Iris … Jeff Thomas has started souling Thursdays at Aberavon Promenade’s Pharoahs in Port Talbot … Jonathon More, Bob Jones, Rob Day and guests have two floors of noise on Fridays at Meltdown in Tooley Street near London Bridge … Saturday (10) Simon Goffe’s guests at London’s Astoria are Longsy D and Cut Master MC, Jay Strongman, Nicky Holloway, CJ Carlos … Sunday (11) Jon Jules, Nic Wakefield and more are funking Southampton Mayfair’s 3-12pm alldayer, while Kev Ashton and more are similarly at Redruth Peventon Hotel’s 3.30-11.30pm event … Tony Norris, still souling Bexleyheath Drayman Fri/Sun, is at Erith Diana’s on Thursdays now, and on the weekend KSR (Kent Soul Radio) … Brian Connolly (Alvaston Beatbox Disco), pulling up his anorak hood, reports that Birmingham’s PCRL 103.55FM can be picked up as far away as Derby … Nick Halkes, back from his New York summer job at WBLS, reports that Chuck Chill appears to have left KISS-fm’s weekend hip hop shows, leaving Red Alert to take over alone … John Sachs is finding it harder to be a housewife’s choice than an after-school kids’ hero, his new boringly bland morning show on Capital Radio being no match for Tony Blackburn’s cheekily presented black pop on Radio London … Tony Blackburn, meanwhile, is becoming demented in his plugs for colleague Steve Walsh’s cover version of ‘I Found Lovin’’, which last week was overtaken quite convincingly by Fatback’s original in the national chart, not that he ever lets one know it! … Steve Walsh incidentally has a namesake, DJing at Liverpool’s Pen and Wig … Rick Astley obviously isn’t best pleased that Magnetic Dance have issued his duet with O’Chi Brown, off her album from last year, on which then the label didn’t give him any credit and for which now reputedly he receives no royalties – can the label expect any further productions from Stock Aitken Waterman following this? … Abigail Mead, co-creator of ‘Full Metal Jacket’’s backing track, is actually the film director Stanley Kubrick’s daughter … Janet Jackson’s next album will be a stop-gap “stocking filler” for Christmas, containing all her hits in remix form … Atlantic are launching Madame X here by sending clubs their video ahead of the single … Bruce Forest’s Street Groove mix, only available so far on import(US A&M SP 12238), of Thrashing Doves ‘Jesus On The Payroll’ is fast becoming the next ‘Chief Inspector’-like underground cult hit in London, a jitterily syncopated 0-96½bpm instrumental with nagging piano by David Cole of ‘Do It Properly’ fame – remember, you read it here first! … Chris Paul’s disappointingly dated ‘Back In My Arms’ will also be out in far better proper house remix, to match its fast tempo … Mixdoctor Les Adams, now better known as LA Mix, last week had people coming from Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire to see him mixing at Norbury’s Sussex Tavern, in South London (he’s there Tues/Thurs/Friday) … Matt Black did a set at the Doo At The Zoo, mixing and scratching up James Brown grooves just as good as on his Coldcut records … Terence Trent D’Arby ‘Dance Little Sister’, as suspected, is terrific mixed out of Wally Jump Jr ‘Tighten Up’ … Archie Bell & The Drells’ original ‘Tighten Up’ had a rhythm which I’ve already mentioned was revolutionary for its time (1968), while other equally innovatory rhythms from that era included the Jackson 5’s ‘I Want You Back’ (1969/70), Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Move On Up’ (1971), Isaac Hayes’ ‘Theme From Shaft’ (1971) and the O’Jays’ ‘Back Stabbers’ (1972) – far from an exhaustive list, of course, although ripples were felt from these for ages … Hi-NRG chart deadlines are later than this column’s, so there’s no knowing how the following have fared this week, but in the roadblock of stuff bubbling under last week were Jacqui Berne ‘Don’t Get Serious’ (Hi Hat), Desireless ‘Voyage Voyage’ (CBS), Evans & Fisher ‘You Set My Heart On Fire’ (Canadian Boulevard), Amanté ‘Give It To Me’ (US TSR), New Order, M|A|R|R|S, Pepsi & Shirlie, Chic, Edwin Starr, Sybil, Mandy ‘Positive Reaction’ (PWL) … Theo Loyla’s highest new entry in his latest chart was Michael Jackson – fair enough, but ‘Thriller’? (I kid you not!) … KEEP ON JAMMIN’!

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HOT VINYL

SIMON HARRIS featuring 3 BOOM MC’S ‘Bad On The Mike (The Bad Rap)’ (London LONX 162)
Although the man behind London’s Music Of Life hip hop label, scratch mix producer Harris has signed solo to London, debuting with an obviously timely 113⅓bpm rap (by the 3 Boom MC’s) based on Michael Jackson’s current hit plus some echoing words from his “bad self”, James Brown (in four mixes).

HEAVY D. and the BOYZ ‘Living Large’ LP (US MCA Records MCA-5986)
Possibly the strongest most consistently useable rap set ever, with the JB’s ‘Gimme Some More’/O’Jays ‘For The Love Of Money’-based 98⅙bpm ‘Moneyearnin’ Mount Vernon’, Jackson 5 ‘I Want You Back’/’ABC’-based (0-)97⅔bpm ‘Overweighter‘, 98½bpm ‘I’m Getting Paid‘, 0-92½bpm ‘I’m Gonna Make You Love Me‘, 0-96bpm ‘Dedicated‘, 0-101- 102½bpm ‘Here We Go‘, 96⅓bpm ‘Chunky But Funky (Remix)‘, 105⅔bpm ‘On The Dance Floor‘, 100⅔bpm ‘Mr Big Stuff (Remix)‘, 0-79⅔bpm ‘Nike‘, 96½bpm ‘Rock The Bass‘, 0-38⅛/77¼-0bpm ‘Don’t You Know‘. Hot stuff indeed, which makes MCA’s decision to repromote ‘Mr Big Stuff’ all the stranger.

BANANARAMA featuring Stock Aitken Waterman ‘Mr Sleaze (Rare Groove Remix)’ (London NANX R14)
The version that’s really worth getting, Bananarama’s vocals having been all but removed from this ‘Roadblock’-like (0-)101½bpm burbling instrumental funk groove with James Brown’s veteran trombonist Fred Wesley brought to the fore. Flip to the also remixed (although still vocal!) cheerfully cantering 117⅓bpm ‘Love In The First Degree (Eurobeat Style)’. Continue reading “October 10, 1987: Simon Harris featuring 3 Boom MC’s, Heavy D & The Boyz, Bananarama, Glen Goldsmith, Cameo”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

LONGSY D & CUT MASTER M.C. ‘Hip Hop Reggae’ has had “a lickle bit a’ remix” on one side, flipped far more essentially by a terrific 94bpm instrumental scratch mix showdown now credited as the Big One Crew featuring Cut Master MC ‘Reggae Got Soul‘ (Big One W BIGN 5), cutting in ‘Pump Up The Volume’, ‘Am I The Same Girl’, ‘You Know I Got Soul’ and much more … Dancin’ Danny D has “done it properly”, creating a piano jangled and sample spiked house-type instrumental ‘Bootleg Mix‘ of Living In A Box (I presume it’s what began as their ‘The Liam McCoy‘), 114½bpm on acetate, doubtless destined to be creatively marketed soon — it rocks! … Double Dee & Steinski are back together again, with a legal new cut-up due on Fourth & Broadway … Heavy D and the Boyz ‘Mr Big Stuff’ is being relaunched a year later in a remix by Simon Harris (who, despite having his own Music Of Life label, has signed as an artist to London) … Derek B has a harder US Sexist Mix due out, and has cut a Christmas track for Stateside release in a various artists seasonal hip hop album on Profile! … Les Adams’s beefier 0-112⅓bpm Under Attack Mix of Working Week ‘Surrender’ (Virgin VS 998-13) has at last improved the jittery jolter naggingly wailed by Julie Roberts … Freddie McGregor ‘That Girl (Groovy Situation)’ is now also in a more dubwise 88bpm Groucho Smykle remix (Polydor POSPA 884) … Chris Paul’s belated follow-up to his ‘Expansions’ remake will be out in just over a week on Syncopate, the rather frantic 0-120½bpm ‘Back In My Arms‘, like a jittery mixture of dated Britfunk vocal and Paul Hardcastle’s remixes of D Train (so not entirely October 1987?), while also due around then but already hitting on promo are the very slick jerkily 117⅔bpm Masterpiece ‘I Can’t Wait‘ (Serious Records) and pleasantly straightforward William DeVaughn reviving 99⅚bpm Oliver Cheatham ‘Be Thankful For What You’ve Got‘ (Champion) … I have so many reviews already written and piling up to be printed that the week’s really hot import LPs will have to wait until next issue, so check the Black Dance chart for BPMs to such sets as Heavy D and the Boyz (great “rare groove”-based raps), Mission, the Controllers, Angela Winbush … ‘Funky Like A Train’ was also recorded in a rare live version by the Equals on an LP called ‘Live At Marble Arch’ (the location of Phonogram’s studio, where the party atmosphere session took place) … John Cougar Mellencamp may be an unlikely source for an excellent faithful 116-0bpm remake of James Brown’s 1967 funk classic ‘Cold Sweat’, probably useful for rare groovers and hidden as 12 inch flip to his current ‘Paper In Fire’ (Mercury JCMX 8) … Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam ‘Lost In Emotion‘, at its most useful on 0-119⅓-0bpm seven inch (CBS 651036 7), is a Full Force-produced brilliant evocation of New York’s early-Sixties doo wop girlie groups, huge in the US and worth hearing by nostalgists… Chris Brown clarifies that Epee MD ‘It’s My Thing‘ in fact uses as its main backing the Whole Darn Family ‘Seven Minutes Of Funk‘, a 1976 LP and 12 inch track on US Soul International, earlier than Grandmaster Flash … Nicky Holloway points out a similarity of the bass riffs between Michael Jackson ‘Bad’ and Gary L ‘It’s Time To Party‘ (not that long ago on Champion) — so who heard which first? — plus Nicky’s also trying to trace (on 01-439 2628) a Dutch-released track a DJ was playing in Ibiza, Elkin & Nelson ‘Jibaro‘ … Steve Wiggins (Barry) hopes it was an rm reader who stole from his car a briefcase containing all his lists of BPMs, which, being useless to most people (except perhaps readers of this column?), he’d naturally like it returned to the address on the case … I try to cover in our sister DJ monthly Jocks every single dance record that’s currently happening, but unfortunately there were so many to cram into the current October issue that, as chance would have it, most of the actual pop chart hits got left out, and the Hi-NRG reviews didn’t fit at all — however, starting a regular monthly round-up in rm, the missing Hi-NRG column appears here this week (so tell your friends!) … Scottish jocks are helping make a likely pop hit out of the irritatingly catchy Tony Esposito ‘Papa Chico (Dance Mix)‘ (InDisc BLUT 1), a hauntingly atmospheric surging repetitive lethargically jaunty 99⅓bpm Eurobeat jiggler … Fashion’s one time leader De Harris has classily re-recorded the group’s 1982 pop club hit, ‘Love Shadow (Dance It)‘ (Arista RIST 32), a subduedly 107½bpm subtle surger … Walt Disney film classics are the theme at Northfleet Red Lion’s The Slammer this Saturday (Oct 3) with Pete Tong, Gilles Peterson, Chris Bangs, Nicky Holloway, Eddie Gordon, Maggot and more … Stamford’s Scotgate Inn starts a weekly Soul Cellar this Sunday (4) with Steve Allen and Mark Adrian … Les Cokell and Wayne Siddall jock at Manchester’s new gay Rockshots complex, with separate Hi-NRG and house/funk floors … Mike Shaft, three stone lighter, had to spend £600 on new clothes for his regular appearances on BBC 1’s daily morning ‘Open Air’ public access TV show … Tony Blackburn’s own recording of ‘I Found Lovin’’ is taking its time to come out on Creole … Mike Allen’s reference for years to his radio listeners as “troops” surely didn’t influence the new US hip hop slang replacement for “b boys”, now becoming known as “troopers” (which is, in fact, also the brand name of a new shoe)? … DON’T STOP JAMMIN’!

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This weekend it’s all change for legal radio’s soul output. In London, Capital Radio launches two new shows hosted (and compiled) by Peter Young, Friday 9pm-midnight (although just this week it starts at 8pm) and Saturday 1-3pm, followed on Saturday evening by Pete Tong 6-8pm, Jakki Bramble’s poppier ‘Dance Party’ 8-10pm and David Rodigan’s reggae 10pm-midnight. Chris Forbes then holds together the next four hours into Sunday morning, under the programme title ‘All Right All Night’, which for the first hour features Tim Westwood’s hip hop (Chris and Tim are seen here, above, discussing the arrangement), with the hour between 1-2am coming live from a different club each week — John Sachs will be broadcasting from the Limelight for the first show — followed by Alex George’s jazz 2-3am, and presumably Chris on his own until 4am. Meanwhile on national BBC Radio 1, Saturday finds Robbie Vincent moving forward a day for his 7.30-10pm show, newly extended, with Andy Peebles filling his old Sunday 9-11pm slot with a new “real soul”, while (not starting until October 9) Jeff Young begins a Friday 7-10pm “dance music” show which will feature pop as well as black music.

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HOT VINYL

HOTLINE ‘Hellhouse’ (Rhythm King LEFT 17T)
Much more like old fashioned “electro” than current house, this Huddersfield duo’s frantically spiky (0-)119½bpm jitterer has husky ‘In The Bottle’-type singing and jazzy brass, with a calmer more COD-like ‘House Of Hell’ flip (a subsequent remix will be flipped by a Heavy Vibes Mix of their earlier ‘Rock This House’).

MONTANA SEXTET ‘Heavy Vibes’ (Virgin VS 560-12)
Dynamite loping and swinging 114bpm vibes and percussion instrumental (114⅓bpm in Paul Simpson’s longer Club Mix), closely modelled on LA Mix ‘Don’t Stop (Philly Jazz)‘ and sure to be huge now as a mixer with it.

BB&Q ‘Riccochet (Club Mix)’ (Cooltempo COOLX 154)
Really snappy Dancin’ Danny D-remixed infectiously loping 117bpm jiggly trotter from their two-year-old (at least) last LP, from which Shep Pettibone’s 108⅔-0bpm ‘Dreamer’ remix and the 0- 101⅙bpm ‘Genie’ are on the flip, too. Continue reading “October 3, 1987: Hotline, Montana Sextet, BB&Q, Terence Trent D’Arby, Hi-NRG round-up”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

STOCK AITKEN WATERMAN had, as we went to press last week, taken out an injunction to prevent sales of the M|A|R|R|S remix because of its scratched-in use of a tiny bit from ‘Roadblock’, but later withdrew this before going to court (at that stage the remix was only available commercially as the seven-inch, the 12-inch now being out too) – it could have become a test case about the use of samples and scratches filched from other people’s records, so maybe it was dropped because it could also have become a case of the pot calling the kettle black? … Pete Waterman maintains that the use of ‘Pump Up The Volume’ in Sybil’s Red Ink Mix is something that M|A|R|R|S should have out with her label, Champion, rather than getting back at him through ‘Roadblock’ (especially as his involvement with the Red Ink Mix was, he claims, minimal) … US pressings of Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ 12-inch contain two extra versions, both merely edits, while his acappella mix synched over M|A|R|R|S apparently “runs and runs”, sounding brilliant! … PWL’s flirtation with Chic continues, Pete Waterman and Pete Hammond’s rush-released Sheer Chic Mix of ABC ‘The Night You Murdered Love’ (Club/Neutron NTXR 112) trotting along at a totally revamped 112bpm tempo through brief samples from ‘Le Freak’, ‘Good Times’ and much more, without any of Contessa Lady V’s rap now (and not a lot of Martin Fry) … LaToya Jackson’s single produced by Stock Aitken Waterman will be ‘(Ain’t Nobody Loves You) Like I Do‘, with a drum pattern similar to both ‘Casanova’ and ‘Lean On Me’ although based on Princess ‘After The Love Has Gone (Arresting Mix)’ … Bananarama’s new Stock Aitken Waterman-created cantering 119bpm Mel & Kim-ish ‘Love In The First Degree (Jailers Mix)‘ (London NANX 14) is flipped by the jiggly 100bpm ‘Mr Sleaze‘, a rare groove pastiche let down by lightweight vocals but featuring none other than Fred Wesley on sax, plus elements from ‘Cross The Track’ and ‘Roadblock’ … Hindsight ‘Lowdown’ is now also in a percussively altered smoothly pushing (0-)116bpm Uptown Remix plus a strong 116¼bpm Drumappella and rhythm-less Dream Mix (Circa Records YRTV 5), the flip’s funky ‘Everybody In The House’ on this pressing being 108⅓bpm … Luther Vandross’s reissued ‘Stop To Love’, a pleasant song but at a pop-orientated spiky fast tempo, has been given a more spacious, percussive 143¼-0bpm remix on 10-inch (Epic LUTH QT2), flipped by his all-time classic 108½-110-109½bpm ‘Never Too Much’ — in his current video, he seems to be copying ‘America’s Top 10’ presenter Casey Casem’s gesticulating arm movements! … Magnetic Dance assembled three British guys to be the House Master Boyz, even making up a group history for them, which means we won’t see the staff of Serious Records (who actually own the track here) pretending to be them on TV! … Fatback’s ‘I Found Lovin’’, before its renewed chart surge, had already sold over 120,000 copies here over the last three years, Rayners Lane’s Record & Disco Centre alone selling 500, for instance … Erskine Thompson and Clare Shave have combined to reactivate the Hot Licks club promotion service on 01-486 8794 … Swansea Sound has finally started a soul show, hosted by Kevin King for just one hour on Sundays, 4-5pm … Philadelphian rapper Shawnie G was stabbed to death on a train, evidently just for his leather-covered sunglasses, and left to be found three days later lying by the lines … DJ Coldcut and Matt Black have created a total remix of Eric B & Rakim’s ‘Paid In Full’, using an old stereo sampler LP’s “this is a journey into sound” introduction and lots more Double Dee & Steinski-type bits all through it — could this lead to a DJ clash when Eric visits London for the LL Cool J gigs in five weeks’ time? … ‘I Need Love’ has a female answer version by young-sounding Frosty, ‘I Need LLove Now‘ (US Tommy Boy), while LL Cool J’s album track ‘Go Cut Creator Go‘ remains much played rather noticeably in Liverpool … Cookie Crew ‘Females‘ has been delayed now until October 19, while they’re fiddling with the sleeve … Soho goes to Brighton for a jazzy weekend, with Baz Fe Jazz and Russ Dewbury plus the Tommy Chase Quartet live and the IDJ dancers at the Royal Escape Club this Friday and Churchill Palace Hotel Saturday (September 25/26), London-Brighton coach details on 0273-739309 … Brighton’s Paul Clark joins Danny Smith and Bob Masters at Great Yarmouth’s Scruples for some serious soul this Saturday (26), Paul’s Sundays at Hove’s Palmiera with Carl Cox now starting earlier at 7.30pm … Saturday (26) also sees another highly recommended Doo At The Zoo in London’s Regents Park, with much the usual DJ crew, advance tickets only as usual on 01-439 2628 … Desa, Kenni James, James Klaas and Pete ‘Seven Inch’ Haigh are funk-house-grooving The Defhouse Six on Monday (28) at Birkenhead’s Atmosphere… Paul Morrissey joins Steve Aspey for a jazzy night at Oxford’s Parkers on Tuesday (29) … James Lewis has left Bridgend’s Astons, being replaced on the Tuesday soul night for a four week trial by his very good friend Jeff Thomas … John ‘Nick’ Osborne, DJ and entertainment/promotions manager at Purley’s Cinderellas Rockerfellas, has started 50p drinks/50p admission on Wednesdays … Radio London’s Soul Night Out returns in a new season next Thursday, October 1, for the first time at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road —until recently the venue for Delirium amongst other trendy one-nighters, this is also being taken over on Fridays by Shake ‘N’ Fingerpop featuring Norman Jay and on Saturdays by Simon Goffe for the presentation of live international dance music acts, starting next weekend (Oct 2/3) with Gwen McCrae, to be followed soon by Chuck Brown, Slave, and Ronnie McNeir … Eon Irving is back from a break in New York (where he saw the Fat Boys film ‘Disorderlies’, like a hip version of the Three Stooges with lots of “fat” jokes), and has returned to London’s Munkberrys in Swallow Street on Saturday nights … Jon Wilde has become resident mixing jock with Peter Martine at Nottingham’s The Club, open Thur/Fri/Sat for commercial disco with gay nights the second Monday of every month … I wonder whether the timing of the Ritzy’s star-studded first birthday party was influenced in any way by the opening that very same night in Nottingham of the brand new New York, New York?! … Paul Reddington, photographer for Nottingham’s The Recorder and Evening Post, used to be a mobile DJ and avid rm reader… Dave Lee of Rough Trade reckons that Ten City ‘Devotion’ borrows the line from Azymuth ‘Jazz Carnival’, and Epee MD ‘It’s My Thing’ from Grandmaster Flash ‘Superappin’’ … Grandmaster Flash and the original Furious Five look like reuniting for an album on Elektra, incidentally … Paul Simpson is yet another New York producer/mixer planning to visit London soon … L.A. Mix leader Les Adams tracked down and is buying the car registration number LAM 1X … DON’T STOP (JAMMIN’)!

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RITZY ROADBLOCK!

It really was a ‘Roadblock’ when the Stock Aitken Waterman bus battled through London’s Friday evening traffic, taking five hours to reach Nottingham for the first birthday party of the Ritzy. This is a Mecca disco, and in an earlier less lavishly decorated version it was one of the venues where, as he suddenly realised, Pete Waterman actually used to DJ! Now the music policy revolves very much around the PWL sound, so it made sense for the club to invite the sound’s creators to join the celebration. Amongst those along for the ride, and seen here, were (top right) chart-topping bus conductor RICK ASTLEY (“Hold very tight please!”), (bottom right) ex-Toto Coelo and now SAW-produced Body Band member LACEY BOND (emergency from the bus’s smallest room), (top left) PETE WATERMAN, MANDY SMITH, MATT AITKEN and SINITTA, and (bottom left) rm’s own JAMES HAMILTON with friends. Also making his presence felt was the Sunday Sport’s tired and emotional cub reporter Damon Cheesedip, while rm’s well behaved Alan Jones let loose for an hour on the dancefloor. A hot time was had by all, and the crowd seemed to enjoy it too, even the Mayor and his Lady in their chains of office.

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THE EXTRA BEAT BOYS are PWL Studios tape operators Yoyo (left) and Jamie — it was the latter who came up with the expression ‘Showing Out’ for Mel & Kim — making a name for themselves now as remixers following their debut on Deja’s ‘Serious’. Although Pete Hammond is responsible for the more starkly rhythmic and less vocal 113bpm Escape From Newton Mix A-side of the remixed RICK ASTLEY ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ (RCA PT1448R), it’s the Extra Beat Boys’ even more radically altered 113bpm Escape To New York Mix flip with new percussion and bass that’s causing most excitement.

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HOT VINYL

MATT BLACK + THE COLDCUT CREW ‘That Greedy Beat’ (Ahead Of Our Time Records AHED 1202)
Fast selling excellent chugging (0-)106-105½-105⅓-105½bpm scratch mix using James Brown and much more but based on the recently reviewed Dub Specialists’ ‘Gready G‘ dub of ‘Get On The Good Foot’, coupled with (the numbering suggests it’s side one) the equally good though jerkier JB-cutting 0-101⅓-101bpm ‘The Music Maker’. Hit me!

THE CHAMPS ‘Tequila’ (Cooltempo COOLX 152)
Preceding Ritchie Valens in 1958 as a Tex-Mex crossover smash, this still floor-packing sax rasped chinkily jumping 178-173½-176½-174-0bpm instrumental classic has been newly extended, and flipped by last year’s hip hop rap adaptation of the tune (now tying in with the film ‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure’), the 0- 90½bpm JOESKI LOVE ‘Pee Wee’s Dance‘. Continue reading “September 26, 1987: Matt Black + The Coldcut Crew, The Champs, Freddie McGregor, Shanice Wilson, Blaze”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

LaTOYA JACKSON is being produced here in London by Stock Aitken Waterman, and her brother Michael rang up offering to help if they got into a jam! … Pete Waterman hasn’t had time to create a complete jingles package for Capital Radio, just doing ones for the new Pete Tong show, but he’s already been approached by a thoroughly jealous Radio 1, wanting jingles too after reading this column! … Jellybean took me out for dinner on his last night in London, during the course of which we naturally discussed his appearance at Delirium, which turns out to have been the very first “exhibition mix” on stage that he’d ever had to do, using equipment totally alien to him: all the major New York venues he works at, as a regular club DJ just keeping the people dancing, are equipped with UREI mixers with rotary “pots” rather than faders (only the hip hop jocks use GLI mixers with faders), the decks at the Funhouse being three Technics SL1200’s (the old ones, not Mk II) and at the Paradise Garage they’re even older Thorens turntables — if he does any more live jocking here he’d want his own system of three decks side by side, mixer in front, and monitors … Jellybean’s current import LP, ‘Just Visiting This Planet’ (US Chrysalis BFV 41569), is full of US-orientated female pop, only his ‘Space Bass’-flavoured 120⅔bpm treatment of the classic ‘Jingo‘ being of probable interest here … Freddy Bastone, fresh from his Temptations remix, will be in London during October doing freelance studio work … Fourth & Broadway’s new club plugger will be Nigel Wilton, yet another recruit to the record business from Holborn’s City Sounds record shop … Ian Dewhirst is back as a consultant doing research for Serious Records — whose ‘Upfront’ compilation LP series is reverting to double album format … ‘Top Of The Pops’ appearances by the House Master Boyz could reveal a seriously unlikely line-up! … Stu Allan, despite the “blue” lyrics, has been playing Derek B ‘Get Down’ on Manchester’s Piccadilly Radio, where he’s just started a new Sunday 10-11pm hip hop show, followed until 2am by his regular soul show — he must be knackered by the end, as earlier that morning he’s also on all night 1-6am, making nine hours of black music in just 25 hours of airtime … Steve Allen (no relation) has changed time slots with a new revamped weekly soul show on Peterborough’s Hereward Radio starting this Saturday 5-8pm … Greg Edwards in his last weeks on Capital Radio has adopted L.A. Mix’s oldies-crammed ‘Don’t Stop (Jammin)’ as a nostalgic tribute to his ‘Soul Spectrum’ show … Lee Guest of the Bovver Boys did a mixing course with Les Adams … Bobby Byrd and James Brown are apparently claiming royalties from Eric B & Rakim for ‘I Know You Got Soul’ … LPs previously reviewed on import and now out here include Eric B & Rakim ‘Paid In Full’ (Fourth & Broadway BRLP 514), Colonel Abrams ‘You And Me Equals Us’ (MCA Records MCF 3388), James Robinson ‘Guilty’ (Tabu 460091 1) … Sherrick’s follow-up single will be ‘Let’s Be Lovers Tonight‘, Alexander O’Neal’s disastrously ‘Criticize‘ (the only album track not to chart here!), Levert will reissue ‘Pop Pop Pop Pop Goes My Mind‘, while apparently ‘Girls’ will now be double A-sided with ‘She’s Crafty’ as the Beastie Boys’ follow-up (maybe someone at CBS does read this column!) … ‘JC’ Reid funks Fri/Saturdays at Brighton’s Club Savannah with Tim Westwood and the London Posse there this Friday (Sept 18), and is looking for other future PAs on 0273-603548 … Adonis stars with Stu Allan at Bolton’s Ritzy house party next Monday (21), Radio London’s NITE-fm presenters Dave ‘First Class’ Pearce and Roger Johnson hip hop London’s Wag (22), while Bob Masters, Johnny Walker and Steve Aspey run from rare groove, rap and house to jazz and soul at Oxford’s Boodles on Wednesday (23) … Graeme ‘Def Dude’ Park funks the Urban Beat Club every Thursday now at Nottingham’s The Club … ‘JD’ Digweed gets Serious Saturdays at Saturdays in Hasting! … Kev Edwards (the Essex-based one, currently at Harlow Cheeks) is moving across the river to Kent and wants offers of gigs there on 0795-78182 …  Ashley Hooper now joins resident DJ Adrian Dunbar on Thursdays/Saturdays at Poole’s Mariners’ Wharf — Adrian, incidentally, without knowing how spot-on he is, criticises Bullet Club Promotions chief Theo Loyla for wanting to see obvious pop hits reflected in a Pop Dance chart, Theo’s own latest chart return as a DJ having Whitney Houston ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ and the Pet Shop Boys ‘It’s A Sin’ as the fastest risers and the Communards ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ as a new entry, which may be sincere but doesn’t exactly advance the cause of new records (er, Theo, I hear Bill Haley has a hot floor-filler out called ‘Rock Around The Clock’) … Steve Hills is bucking the James Brown trend by reviving Brick ‘Dazz‘ as a rare groove at Leytonstone’s The Cube … Norman Scott (London/Luton Bolts) is raving about his discovery Tony Lee, a young white boy from Hackney who sings like Luther Vandross, signed up by Record Shack … Andy Stinton, legendary disco plugger and DJ at London’s old Sundown in the Seventies, returned from Canada for the PLASA Sound & Light Show ’87 – based in Mississauga, Ontario, at Gemini Sound & Light Design Inc, he now designs and installs the disco sound systems in all the Holiday Inns throughout North America … Zero 88 at the PLASA show sold 300 of their FX1.0 one channel lighting controllers at £75 each, a bit of a scam as it amounts to a simple on/off light switch! … Les Adams, Emma Freilich, Aniela and I went for a meal before going to last Tuesday’s Jocks party at Shepherds Bush Silks and then the big Turbo Sound/DMC bash at Uxbridge Regals, not realising that at both there were going to be groaning buffet tables of delicious grub for free! … Rick Astley, Donny Osmond, Edwin Starr, Steve Walsh and the Stock Aitken Waterman team were amongst the stars on stage at Regals (where it’s a pity the air conditioning didn’t reach the sweltering balcony), Rick Astley and Pete Waterman then being bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7.50 the very next morning on TV-am … Donny Osmond paid back Tony Prince for a trick played on his 16th birthday, by pushing a custard pie in his face! … Radio Manchester soul DJ Mike Shaft has followed his idol Luther Vandross’s example and lost a lot of weight … Damon Rochefort has graduated to his own pop scandal column in the Sunday Sport … Mandy Smith reckons that she and I could be starting a fashion trend for red and white spotted handkerchiefs, she wearing hers tied around her arm whereas I wear mine around my neck … Steve Walsh, whose hairstyle seems to be slipping further forward over his forehead these days, says that the stories about the vandalisation of his Rolls Royce were exaggerated, a passing drunk merely put something on the bonnet and left a four-inch scratch … Hot Vinyl reviews may not be completely up to date as I’ve a bus to catch (to Nottingham for the Ritzy party), so check the Black Dance chart for new entry BPMs, as always … ‘Librarian Girl’ and ‘Roadworks’ seem to be two currently hot requests! … DON’T STOP JAMMIN’!

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CATHERINE BUCHANAN was the Madonna-supported actual lead singer of Jellybean’s earlier hit, ‘Sidewalk Talk‘, and it’s her operatic singing that starts off the current Jack E Makossa ‘The Opera House‘. However, tough luck on her (she is getting a British TV show devoted to her soon, which ought to compensate), all the “opera” element has been scrapped from the brand new excitingly pounding Phil Harding and Yo Yo-remixed 119¾bpm Blue Ink Mix of ‘The Opera House’ (Champion CHAMPR 12 50), now seemingly based more on the original flip’s ‘African Mix‘ and devoid of gimmicks.

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Natasha Brice from Upper Norwood deservedly won last week’s competition to find ‘Miss Gullivers 1987’, and was immediately congratulated by (left to right) Nat Augustin, Patrick Boothe, Rick Clarke and Everton McCalla. Gullivers will in fact be moving to brand new Soho premises just off Regent Street in a month’s time, but right up until the night before the change will be open as usual at its legendary site of 17 years, in Mayfair’s Down Street.

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LES ADAMS went over to say goodbye to resident jocks Nic Wakefield and Jon Jules, and to thank them for playing L.A. Mix ‘Don’t Stop (Jammin)’, at Uxbridge’s Regals during the Turbo Sound/DMC party last Tuesday — but he wasn’t allowed to leave until he’d done a quick and fierce scratch mix session!

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One item that caught my eye at PLASA’s Light & Sound Show ’87 was Harrison Information Technology of Cambridge’s SP12 stereo mixer, which includes two crossfades, stereo emphasising image controls and other useful functions (as it should for £781.48), including a built-in beats per minute counter (top right corner). How accurate this is, of course, remains to be seen, as I’ve yet to encounter one that’s totally satisfactory.

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HOT VINYL

MICHAEL JACKSON ‘Bad (Dance Extended Mix)’ (Epic 651155 6)
Already massive on dancefloors in its LP version, his urgently jittering smacker is now in a much extended 114⅓bpm Bruce Swedien remix that dips down into a false fade three-quarters of the way through, before bursting back on the beat (dub/acappella flip).

TEN CITY ‘Devotion’ (US Atlantic 0-86652)
Marshall Jefferson-produced excellent smoothly hustling 120-0bpm house-style bounder, but a proper song in traditional disco style with whinnying Sylvester-like soaring vocal, sawing strings, schlurping cymbals (more dubwise 120¼-0bpm Bam Bam’s House Mix flip, and 120¼bpm Bonus Beats).

MISSION ‘Show A Little Love’ (US Columbia 44 06836)
Nick Martinelli-produced terrific bouncily buoyant ‘Casanova’-ish gently grooving 95⅓bpm jiggly jogger, lushly harmonised to breezy brass by a group-backed soulfully agonised fellah (edit too), with possibly a more mature member leading the flip’s similarly syncopated more upbeat 104⅓bpm ‘Sensuous Mood’. Continue reading “September 19, 1987: Michael Jackson, Ten City, Mission, Cameo, Tony Terry”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

M|A|R|R|S’ exciting 113bpm ‘Pump Up The Volume (Remix)’ (4AD BAD 707R) actually starts with less impact but has far more stuff scratched and sampled over it, including digital repetition of just part of Tom Browne’s ‘Funkin’ For Jamaica’ high note, and some bizarre Eastern singing … Dancin’ Danny D has given the bland Total Contrast ‘Jody’ a beefily juddering and hi-hat schlurped 119bpm Yardie Remix (London LONXR 142), with an instrumental too and an even tougher dubwise ‘That’s My Man Throwin’ Down’ Mix, full of fresh goodies … Danny D was about to spend a fortune on James Brown oldies until his father said, “Don’t do that — go and look in the attic, I’ve got them all up there” … that’s my man throwin’ up … Les Adams has created another excellent Cameo megamix for the B-side of their upcoming ‘She’s Mine’ … Supreme Records are starting their own club promotion mailing list, DJs’ application forms from Martin Shaw at Supreme, The Works, 105A Torriano Mews, off Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town, London NWS 2RX … ‘Roadblock’ is the only overground hit on the roots-reverting new ‘Street Sounds ’87 – 2‘ (Dance Music/StreetSounds STSND 87-2), otherwise full of obscure album tracks and imports including the terrific soulfully tugging Timmy Thomas-ish 106½bpm My Forté ‘Sometime Lover‘, a devil to trace on single despite several DJs charting it … Hindsight’s commercial pressings of ‘Lowdown’ include the party atmosphere lurching funky 108⅔bpm ‘Everybody In The House’, rather good … Bang The Party should have been the name of the act credited last week as S.A.W., these initials stamped onto the white label’s sleeve apparently standing for the deliberately misleading slogan “Sinful And Wicked” — oh, yes? … Jellybean has been remixing Whitney Houston’s ‘So Emotional’ (and a Frontline Mix of his own ‘The Real Thing’), producing Man Friday (with Larry Levan on lead vocals) and Anthony & The Camp (he, Marcus Miller, Nick Martinelli and Eumir Deodato each producing two tracks) – but his big exclusive revelation for rm was full details of the next Madonna album, a dance compilation called ‘You Can Dance’, that he has continuously segued using new remixes, Shep Pettibone’s of ‘Into The Groove‘ and ‘Where’s The Party‘, Bruce Forest’s of ‘Everybody‘, his own of ‘Holiday‘ and ‘Spotlight‘, and Steve Thompson’s of ‘Over And Over‘, the CD version also containing three bonus dubs … Shep Pettibone’s jumpily bounding 119½bpm Silver Screen Mix and more percussive 120bpm Movie House Mix of Madonna ‘Causing A Commotion’ (Sire W8224T) meanwhile give her the tightest groove she’s had in ages … Pepsi & Shirlie’s tritely chugging 135bpm ‘Can’t Give Me Love‘ (Polydor POSPX 885) has no connection with Stock Aitken Waterman, who do, however, appear to be behind the ‘Living In A Box’-tempoed (0-)108⅓bpm tapping jittery “white boy funk” pusher, Paul Barry ‘Complicated (Dance Mix)‘ (MCA Records COMT 1) … Living In A Box, meanwhile, are returning on the similarly tempoed purposefully jittering 101-0bpm ‘So The Story Goes‘ (Chrysalis LIBX 3), with some vocal interjections by Bobby Womack himself, in a Bruce Forest Dynamite Club Mix and bare Hip And Hop Dub Mix (flipped by a ponderously thrashed 114¾bpm house effort called ‘The Liam McCoy‘) … The Bootleggers’ 118¾bpm ‘Hot Mix 2‘ (Polo POLO 12-44), even more clumsily than their first one, mixes up remakes of many current pop disco hits without anything like the finesse of Mirage … Steve Walsh’s version of ‘I Found Lovin’’ has probably returned to the pop chart because it’s just about the summer’s biggest holiday hit in Spain! … Nottingham Ritzy celebrates its first birthday this Friday (September 11) and is sending a bus to collect, as special guests for the night, Stock Aitken Waterman, several of their star acts and myself – so see you there! … Tony Jenkins has an Up West night this Friday at Northolt’s C&L Country Club, with Ralph Tee, Barry Jeffrey, Bill Griffin and more, plus PAs … Saturday (12), Nicky Holloway and his Special Branch guests funk Great Shelford’s DeFreville Arms in Cambridgeshire, while his next Three Day Doo at Rockley Sands near Poole is set for October 16-18, with such as Pete Tong, Gilles Peterson, Bob Jones, Chris Brown, Chris Bangs, Johnny Walker, Paul Oakenfold (£40 tickets on 01-439 2628) … Camber Sands Pontins near Rye on that same October 16-18 weekend has Soul Brothers Promotions’ funk-to-reggae three-dayer (£41 ticket details on 0772-700282), followed there on November 6-8 by Kent Soul Festival’s weekender (£35 tickets on 0233-33652) … SEDA (South Eastern Disco Association) actually got its newsletter to me in time to plug the next meeting, this Sunday (Sept 13) at 7.30pm in Wrotham Heath’s Royal Oak … UK Mixing Champ 1985, Roger Johnson, now goes it alone presenting Friday’s 10pm NITE-fm slot on Radio London … Les Adams’ hot tip for a running mix that works for at least a minute is Prime Time ‘He’s Def‘ out of Joyce Sims ‘Lifetime Love (Def Beat Mix)‘, while Graham Gold tips Newcleus ‘The Huxtables (Dub)’, synched under Levert ‘Casanova’ … Aniela, the recently photographed female mixing jock, is leaving Cricklewood’s Ashtons in a month to follow Alan Coulthard’s route in reverse, going to Cardiff to study law at university (and possibly DJ there) … Siedah Garrett, as co-writer of ‘Man In The Mirror‘ on Michael Jackson’s new LP, is likely to be a millionairess by Christmas! … DON’T STOP JAMMIN’!

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L.A. MIX, it has to be revealed as others have started to give the game away, are in fact none other than the Mixdoctor LES ADAMS and keyboardist EMMA ‘E FORCE’ FREILICH, their hot white labelled ‘Don’t Stop (Jammin)‘ being due commercially at the end of the month on Breakout (USAT 615), although proper promo copies should be about this week. The record was totally created in Les’s equipment-packed home studio, a converted bedroom only about eight feet by five (even smaller as all the walls are clad at least 12 inches thick with records!) and despite Les’s prowess as a mixer with vinyl the track’s multitude of bits from past hits were all added as electronically triggered digital samples.

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Jellybean in live mixing action at Delirium last week was, to ears now tuned to the fast cut ‘n scratch of modem mixing styles, surprisingly slow and unadventurous, all has painstakingly accurate traditional running mixes seeming an age in coming as he played nearly all of each record. Realising that the uptempo US-orientated female pop that he’d begun with wasn’t going over that well, he did finally catch a groove when he ran through Manu Dibango ‘Soul Makossa’, Fred Wesley & The JB’s ‘Everybody Got Soul’, Criminal Element Orchestra ‘Put The Needle To The Record’, Nitro Deluxe ‘The Brutal House’ and his own version of ‘Jingo’.

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John Robie, New York producer and mixer of much electro-hip hop material in the past but not so often name-checked these days, is currently ensconced at the Advision Studio here in London mixing Boy George and producing a brand new session with Afrika Bambaataa, while back in New York amongst his other projects due for release is new product from C-Bank.

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HOT VINYL

MICHAEL JACKSON ‘Bad’ LP (Epic 450290 1)
Maybe not as smooth for sustained listening as a whole album in comparison with his last one, the set’s main dance tracks are the ‘Thriller’-ish juddery jittering (0-)114bpm title track with Jimmy Smith organ, infectiously lurching and churning (0-)112⅔bpm ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’, forcefully jiggling and surging (0-)106bpm ‘Another Part Of Me’, ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’’-ish (0-)118¼bpm ‘Smooth Criminal’ and rather dated Stevie Wonder-duetted spikily snapping 118¾bpm ‘Just Good Friends’, while a lot less floor-orientated are the jittery half-stepping 99bpm ‘Speed Demon’, moodily swaying 0-52½/105bpm ‘Liberian Girl’, heavy metal 0-65½-0bpm ‘Dirty Diana’, trickily unfurling 0-50-100-0bpm ‘Man In The Mirror’, already released 0-50/100bpm ‘I Just Can’t Stop Loving You’.

CHIC ‘Jack Le Freak’ (Atlantic A9198T)
Phil Harding’s Two Grooves Under One Nation remix of ‘FLM’ incorporated lots of jack track elements in ‘Do It Properly’ style before ending with Chic’s ‘Le Freak’, and now he’s used all those same jack track elements (plus some Mel & Kim!) to create a similarly styled total 120⅓-120-120¾-121-120¾bpm remix of ‘Le Freak’ itself, great fun (flipped by the 71-70⅓bpm ‘Savoir Faire’ jazz guitar instrumental).

LOOP ‘Keep On Moving’ (Rock The House 001T, via Jet Star)
Ignore the misleading label name, this is an absolutely excellent really soulfully sung and teased jiggly buoyant 99bpm jogger with a gentle go-go-ish rhythm, something like ‘Casanova’ without in any way being a copy, produced by Rodney Secret and Peter Hines (dub flip). So satisfying! Continue reading “September 12, 1987: Michael Jackson, Chic, Loop, Ray Parker Jr., Gwen McRae”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

The Extra Beat Boys are Jamie and Yoyo, two tape operators at Pete Waterman’s studio, and NOT the actual Stock Aitken Waterman team who were mistakenly advertised as creators of the Deja ‘Serious’ remix: however, the two Beat Boys have also just done a percussive Escape To New York Mix of Rick Astley’s smash, 113bpm as pressed on a special four-track PWL Records promo given to guests at the Stock Aitken Waterman party, which includes too the brand new galloping 119½bpm Edwin Starr ‘Whatever Makes Our Love Grow’, “guilty” verdict-introed (0-)117⅓bpm Bananarama ‘Love In The First Degree’ and shrill Sinitta-ish 122bpm Mandy Smith (now called A Man Das) ‘Positive Reaction (Miami Mix)’, latest product from the hit factory … Rick Astley had to sing the Temptations’ ‘Ain’t Too Proud To Beg’ live at the party just to disprove Damon Rochefort’s silly wind-up in The Sun that Luther Vandross was the real singer of his hit! … Scott La Rock has been shot dead, twice in the head, after walking into someone else’s gangland fight in the South Bronx … PLASA’s equipment exhibition, Light & Sound Show ’87, is at Hammersmith’s Novotel in West London this coming Sunday-Wednesday (September 6-9) – if not at other times, I’ll certainly be there on Tuesday afternoon … Jellybean will be jocking this Thursday (Sept 3) at Delirium, in Charing Cross’s Heaven, following a Steven Danté PA … Champion Records are after yet more DJs for their mailing list – write to Lyndon T and Rick Davis there, at 181 High Street, Harlesden, London NW10 – and have already hit our chart with a much tidied up new 111⅓bpm PWL Remix of the old Advance ‘Take It To The Top’, which isn’t properly out for over three weeks (incidentally, I hear that Colourbox plan to pay back the Sybil Red Ink Mix by “borrowing” something off the label for their M|A|R|R|S follow-up! … Kenny G’s contribution much improves the 82bpm Cool Sax Remix of Imagination ‘The Last Time’ (RCA PT 41472R) … Les Adams has created a neat 117-118¼bpm ‘Megamix’ out of ‘Trapped/I’m Not Gonna Let You/How Soon We Forget’ as a new B-side for Colonel Abrams (MCA Records MCAX 1179) … Polydor are being coy about the fact it’s Shakatak on white labels of the juddering jittery go-go-ish densely rolling 99¾bpm ‘Mr Manic & Sister Cool’ (MANIX 1), but there’s no disguising the bursts of female vocal and piano between its angrier vocoder … Level 42’s newie for pop jocks, ‘It’s Over (Remix)’ (Polydor POSPX 900) is a lovely lushly atmospheric undulating 63⅕-0bpm slow moody swayer with pedal steel guitar, harmonic and an ‘I’m Not In Love’-like resonance … Phil Harding’s ‘Jack Le Freak’ remix of Chic will be released in a fortnight … Julian Palmer’s scratched-up remix of Bros was created several months back, before the current spate of similar scratchers, and is only in a promo pressing of 500 unless copyrights can be cleared for full release … ‘Special F/X’ and ‘Rock Steady’ are now back-to-back on the Whispers’ 12 inch (Solar MCAZ 1178) … Atlantic have had to press promo copies that speed up Levert’s ‘Casanova’ to 98⅓bpm from 92⅔bpm, and The System’s ‘Don’t Disturb This Groove’ to 88⅔bpm from 80¼bpm, as some provincial DJs and dancers couldn’t handle the slow tempos (well, they aren’t house, are they?)! .. Gil De La Paz’s Latin House Mix of ‘Casa’ should have been printed as 0-122½bpm … Jimmy Spicer’s old ‘Money (Dollar Bill Y’All)’ is now due to turn up here on Wax Records … Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ LP wasn’t even being released to the press until September 1, so you’ll have to wait a week for the review … Madonna’s opening act on her European tour has been the Force MD’s, personally chosen by her after they’d sung an acappella version of ‘Who’s That Girl’ at her New York movie premiere party … World Mixing champ Chad Jackson and runner-up Joe Rodriguez found that their mixing Tour de France was hell on wheels, driving every day from one end of the country to the other for their badly routed gigs … Steve Walsh (whose Rolls Royce was recently vandalised) and Total Contrast join Les Adams at Norbury’s Sussex Tavern this Friday (Sept 4), when Simon Dunmore and Les Fisher are joined by Chris Brown at the monthly Rhythm Zone in Northolt’s C&L Country Club … Chris Hill and Tony Fernandez soul this Saturday (5) at Great Shelford’s DeFreville Arms near Cambridge … Gillingham’s Joanna’s, after a rapid total refit, has reopened as Catch 22 … Jeff Thomas’s soul policy at Swansea Martha’s Vineyard seems to be slipping, suddenly he’s playing Spagna, Pseudo Echo and Sinitta … London’s Across The Tracks and Manchester’s Nude Night take turns visiting each other’s venues next week to compare styles, at Camden Town’s Dingwalls on Thursday (Sept 10) and Manchester’s Hacienda on Friday (11) – could there be a roadblock on the M6? … Steve Roberts sent a card to Greg Edwards to get a plug on Capital Radio for his free admission Thursday soul ‘n jazz wine bar gig at Putney’s Mr Micawber’s, but Greg read out the place’s name as “Mr Michael Webb’s”! … Greg Edwards, in the short term, is going into the condominium business with his uncle, but Capital hope he may one day return … Pete Waterman is strongly tipped to have produced Capital Radio’s as yet unheard new jingle package, “the best the UK has ever had” (to quote Richard Park) … Franklin Sinclair reckons that in the Manchester area only 14-year-olds are into rap, and he gets no demand for it – whereas down around London (now Rap City UK!), it’s huge with all the older serious clubbers … DJs returning charts to us, please try to specify which mix you mean when there’s a multiple choice (as with, currently, Sherrick, Sybil, Deja, T-Coy, Vivian Vee, Spagna, Taffy, Splash, Rose Laurens), and – especially Hi-NRG contributors – please list the labels of anything not already charted … Hi-NRG breakers this week include Mel & Kim ‘FLM (Two Grooves Remix)’, EDB featuring Pat Marano ‘Love Disco Style’ (US NRG), Rose Laurens ‘American Love (Remix)’ (Italian Limited Edition), Mandarine ‘On Fire’ (Canadian Unidisc), Exposé ‘Point Of No Return (PWL Remix)’ (Arista), Kevin Power ‘In Search Of Love’ (Fantasia), Colby ‘From Here To Eternity’ (Italian Technology) … Archie Bell & The Drells’ ‘Tighten Up’, now revived by Wally Jump Jr, remains one of my all-time favourite records – the first time I heard it in 1968, my chum Sparrow Harrison had recorded it off Emperor Rosko’s show and I spent an entire afternoon sitting in his car repeatedly running the cassette back for the one song, and beating out its then revolutionary rhythm on the steering wheel! … HI, EVERYBODY!

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Bjorn Borg, the tennis champ, turns out to be a fan of Stock Aitken Waterman, and at their celebratory party at Stringfellows last week handed over the silver disc for ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ to Rick Astley (centre) and the lads!

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By now everyone who’s really keen will have seen the Martin Scorcese-directed video for Michael Jackson’s new single and album title track, ‘Bad’, when it was premiered by Channel 4 on Tuesday night. They may also have been disappointed. Filmed mainly in monochrome, it finds Michael (his face now a near fleshless skull) playing the part of a kid returning from a rather posh school to his home in the ghetto, where his hoodlum chums dare him to be “bad”. Michael’s conscience causes him to warn an old man who they’re about to mug in a subway, and then, as at last the screen becomes coloured, he answers his friends’ taunts by showing them who’s really bad in a fantasy dance sequence reminiscent of ‘Beat It’, surrounded by evil looking accomplices while he himself is in his now probably familiar new leather bondage gear. The moral, however, is that it’s bad to be bad.

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It’s soon to be all change on radio. Jeff Young (seen above signing off from Radio London), although on the verge of accepting a show on Capital Radio in London, had a last minute offer he couldn’t refuse from BBC Radio One to host a Friday evening dance music programme (playing pop as well as soul), while on Radio One Robbie Vincent is moving to Saturday night and Andy Peebles is starting a specialist “real soul” show on Sunday. The big news however was exclusively revealed to rm by Richard Park, head of music at Capital Radio, where the Saturday 6-8pm replacement for the departing Greg Edwards will be — wait for it! — Pete Tong (who’s currently Jeff Young’s temporary replacement on Radio London’s Saturday breakfast soul show). Also coming to Capital are (as hinted last week) Tim Westwood, plus Alex George, Saturday night-time becoming a soul “magazine”-type programme featuring these with Chris Forbes remaining as anchor man, one hour each week being relayed live from a different club. This begins at the end of the month. Meanwhile, John Sachs will be moved to the mornings, up against Tony Blackburn on Radio London, David ‘Kid’ Jensen will handle the evening “drive time” and inaugurate a weekly London black music sales chart, Peter Young will revive his popular ‘Soul Cellar’ oldies show under the new title ‘Soul Circle’ on Friday evenings 10pm to midnight (and do soulful Saturday lunch and, on the split frequency CFM service, Sunday brunch-time shows). And this is just the start!

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HOT VINYL

L.A. MIX ‘Don’t Stop (Jammin)’ (white label)
The latest white label scam, a DJ delighting real sizzler, sneakily samples many disco faves from the late Seventies/early Eighties (notably the chorus refrain from Dayton ‘The Sound Of Music’) over a Montana-ish 114¾bpm loping and swinging riff inspired by ‘Heavy Vibes’ and ‘Love Is The Message’, the flip’s 114½bpm Philly Jazz mix being straightforwardly this without the samples, while the 0-114⅓-0bpm overdubbing mix lays on even more gimmicky bits. Find it while you can!

JELLYBEAN ‘The Real Thing (West 26th Street Mix) (Chrysalis CHS 12-3167)
The record-producing New York DJ’s previous Madonna-type ‘Who Found Who’ US A-side has rapidly been replaced (even in the States) after it was eclipsed by its flip, the instrumental version of this ominous yet infectious churning and chugging 113⅓bpm powerful house-ish pusher, which, now we have the vocal version, turns out to be sung in moaning Colonel Abrams-style by none other than Britain’s Steven Danté – with the 114¼bpm Part II (Instrumental) again as flip, plus a 113¼bpm drumappella. Another ‘Brutal House’?

WALLY JUMP JR. & THE CRIMINAL ELEMENT ‘Don’t Push Your Luck’ LP (US Criminal Records CRLP 101)
Arthur Baker and the boys’ vigorous house-inspired set has a terrific (0-)116bpm mixed up medley revival of Archie Bell & The Drells’ ‘Tighten Up/I Just Can’t Stop Dancin’’, which does a running mix on into the less crucial 114-0bpm ‘Sworn To Fun’, and a beefy ‘I Love Music’-like 122bpm ‘Private Party’ that’s rooted in Philly soul, Otherwise, the 117⅕bpm title track and 117½-0bpm ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ are more routine, while a 0-118⅓bpm remix of ‘Turn Me Loose’ joins (in fairly brief form) their even earlier (0-)114½bpm ‘Jump Back’ and 0-110⅓bpm ‘Ain’t Gonna Pay One Red Cent’ hits. Continue reading “September 5, 1987: L.A. Mix, Jellybean, Wally Jump Jr., Ernesta Dunbar, Stephanie Mills”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

Stock Aitken Waterman are calling themselves The Extra Beat Boys for their latest custom remix, the cantering 119½bpm Deja ‘Serious (Extra Beat Boys Remix)’ (10 Records TENP 132), and they’ve also produced a galloping 124½(intro)-126¾-127¼-128½-126¾(break)-128¾-129bpm Hi-NRG/pop-aimed remake of 1980’s Nick Straker ‘Walk In The Park’ (Sedition EDITL 3333), due next week … Pete Waterman, no less, was in fact the first person to publish Beats Per Minute in this country, calculating them (rather inaccurately, as one now realises) by synchronising an electronic metronome with the record and reading off the tempo, the results being oriented by defunct trade paper Record Business in the disco sales chart that Pete has also initiated … Morgan Khan’s label Westside has signed Chicago’s DJ International Records for the UK, including its Underground and Fierce subsidiaries, covering all existing and future product but not current deals already in the pipeline, with a UK tour by such as Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk, Full House, Frankie Knuckles, Darryl Pandy and Chip E being planned for the autumn … EMI America apparently withdrew it before release in the States, but by mistake there are some eagerly snapped up Dutch pressings circulating of the Valentine Brothers’ latest LP, ‘Picture This’ (Dutch EMI America 064-24 0829 1), containing the ‘Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)’-type 112bpm ‘Cutbacks’ – get it while you can! … Charly Records are issuing a budget priced LP of rare grooves on September 14, containing such as Reuben Wilson ‘Got To Get Your Own’ (the album’s title track), African Music Machine ‘Black Water Gold’, Ripple ‘I Don’t Know What It Is But It Sure Is Funky’ – which should give Urban’s similar compilation a run for its money … Randy Brown’s cult collectors’ item album from 1978 has just been reissued through Charly too, ‘Welcome To My Room’ (Threeway Records WAY LP1), Philly-type soul although produced by Memphis’s Homer Banks and Carl Hampton … Loose Ends’s newie is the Nick Martinelli-remixed (0-)115¼bpm tapping wriggly ‘Ooh, You Make Me Feel’ from their last album, due in a week … MCA Records have taken to sending out import pressings as promos and then not following up with the UK pressings, so as I’m unable to recheck their bpms I will merely note that now out here evidently are Stephanie Mills ‘(You’re Puttin’) A Rush On Me’ (MCAT 1187), Heavy D and the Boyz ‘Chunky But Funky’ (MCAT 1173), Norwood ‘Should Have Been Us Together’ (MCAT 1180) … Tom Hodges may be amazed but Tony Blackburn has actually called his bluff and played Eddie Peters’ ‘Jock Mix 1’ (Rhino RNO 9), wickedly amusing impersonations of Blackburn, Alan Freeman, Jimmy Savile, Alan Whicker, Hughie Green and Robbie Vincent set to a not very danceable 0-132¾-0bpm backing track medley … Tim Westwood was spotted dropping off an audition tape at Capital Radio … Herb Alpert’s new ‘Making Love In The Rain’ single was always credited to Janet Jackson as co-lead singer when an album track, but now the sleeve rather pointedly just lists Lisa Keith … ‘Never Knew Love Like This’, the Alexander O’Neal & Cherrelle duet that’s obviously a smash that’s waiting to be unleashed, will remain an album track for quite some time to come, to encourage LP sales … Intrigue’s correct new spelling is Intrique, and last week’s review credited to ‘Colcut’ should have read Coldcut … Motown will be giving soul fans a welcome surprise with the imminent album by Garry Glenn … Sybil does her own version of Aurra’s ‘U And Me 2 Nite’ (as it’s now spelt), plus two treatments of Dionne Warwick’s ‘Don’t Make Me Over’, on her upcoming LP … CBS are presenting a silver disc as the prize for the first Milton Keynes Mixing Championship (entry submissions on tape must be in by the end of August, so hurry!) at Kincaid’s Queensway, Bletchley, Milton Keynes … Saturday (29) finds Simon Goffe recreating the Secret Rendezvous for a reunion party with CJ Carlos, Lyndon T and Gordon Mac at Dalston’s Oasis, while the SOS Band, Dazz Band, Robbie Vincent, Chris Hill, Pete Tong, Jeff Young and Froggy are in a tent on Finsbury Park in North London from 2pm … Sunday (30) similarly sees such as Freddie McGregor, Maxi Priest and Misty In Roots under a big top on Wormwood Scrubs as part of Notting Hill Carnival’s Music Festival from noon … Bank Holiday Monday alldayers include Steve Walsh, Colin Hudd, Paul Brady, Alan Matthews, Adrian Dunbar and more at Bournemouth’s Lucy’s/Madison Joe from noon, Bristol’s champion mixer Dennis ‘Dirty Den’ Murray and others at Bournemouth’s Co-Co’s from 1pm, Colin Curtis, Mike Shaft, Hutchy, Holcott Foster and more at Leeds’ The News from 4pm, Gary Meo, Paul Williams, James Lewis, Alan Coles, Michael Knight, Carl Bassett and others from the Taffia Mafia (like it) at Merthyr Tydfil’s Charbonnier’s from 5.30pm (Paul Williams plus guest being soulful there every Monday, normally) … Geoff Carr runs a black music room Thur/Fri/Saturdays at Sunderland’s Bentleys, in competition with the main pop room’s party DJ Paul Davidson … Mike Page has moved from Shrewsbury’s Park Lane to Walsall’s brand new and rather swish sounding The 5th … Steve Wiggins has added to his circuit Tuesdays at Barry Island’s Atlantic Wine Bar, where, incidentally, Alan Coulthard began his mixing career … South Wales surely is big enough for both Jeff Thomas and James Lewis (the latter of whose soul venues, past and present, I can vouch for) … Andy Douglas, rising to my bait at Glasgow’s Pzazz, seems to think that (despite my Scottish name) my knowledge of Scotland is lacking: the only mainland town in the entire country that I haven’t visited is Mallaig, otherwise there’s hardly an inch of the place I don’t know, something I’ll wager Andy can’t claim … Tony Blackburn’s favourite television show of the moment is TV-am’s kids’ programme, ‘Wide Awake Club’ – ‘nuff said? … LAH DEE DAH DEE!

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Sherrick has consolidated his position as the brightest new soul star with a strong eponymous album, ‘Sherrick’ (Warner Bros WX 118), containing the jiggly rolling go-go-ish 106bpm ‘Send For Me’, attractive swirling 112bpm ‘Let’s Be Lovers Tonight’, chunkily jiggling 115¼bpm ‘This Must Be Love’, spikily jittering 103⅓bpm ‘Tell Me What It Is’, jerkily trotting 116¾bpm ‘Do You Baby’, romantic 82bpm ‘Lady You Are’, lush 64⅔bpm ‘All Because Of You’, a wailing 55bpm revival of the Originals’ ‘Baby I’m For Real’ and , of course, his current 111⅚bpm ‘Just Call’ smash.

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HOT VINYL

LL COOL J ‘I Need Love’ (Def Jam 651101 6)
The pace-changing tranquil haunting semi-spoken slow 88bpm rap ballad from his ‘BAD’ album is rapidly becoming a massive crossover smash, with the flavour of another Force MD’s ‘Tender Love’ except neither sung nor so soppy, flipped by the properly rapped heroically worded jolting 102½bpm ‘My Rhyme Ain’t Done’.

CRIMINAL ELEMENT ORCHESTRA ‘Put The Needle To The Record’ (Cooltempo COOLX 150)
As we suspected all along it would be, this import released but here supposedly “LP only” dancefloor smash is at last on a commercial UK single! It’s a Wally Jump Jr-created thrashingly drummed and excitingly scratched ‘n sampled 116½bpm dated funk groove (in three mixes), the inspiration for M|A|R|R|S already and doubtless more to come.

DEREK B ‘Get Down’ (Music Of Life NOTE 007, via Pinnacle)
London DJ Derek Boland leaves the rapping this time to Easy Q while he concentrates on cutting Messrs Brown and Byrd into a funkily jiggling 101⅚bpm mix-up of thrashing rare groove drumbeat plus the piano from the Jackson Five’s ‘I Want You Back’ (in four mixes), the interestingly worded rap unfortunately getting too blue for airplay when Q gets down on it with a young lady! Continue reading “August 29, 1987: Sherrick, LL Cool J, Criminal Element Orchestra, Derek B, Joey Washington”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

ALAN JONES had done the chart, I had left the space, nobody else knew anything about it — consequently, the Pop Dance chart did not make its debut here last week, although right now it should be along with the Black Dance and Hi-NRG ones in the main charts section! … Phil Harding did the PWL Mix of Sybil ‘My Love Is Guaranteed’, but he and Pete Waterman have already created yet another totally different 118⅓bpm Red Ink Mix (Champion CHAMPR 1255), based unbelievably — in the most brazen scam to date — on the only just released M|A|R|R|S ‘Pump Up The Volume’, copying its beefy bounce and with a more houseified instrumental Part 2 … Phil Harding, having also turned the Two Grooves Under One Nation Remix of Mel & Kim ‘FLM’ into a mixture of ‘Jack Your Body/Do It Properly’ and ‘Le Freak’ (the flip’s a useful 121¾bpm instrumental dub of the remix, incidentally), has now given the same treatment actually to Chic ‘Le Freak’, making a 120⅓-120-120¼-121-120¾bpm ‘Jack Le Freak’ mix that includes some Mel & Kim and unfortunately is only on WEA promo! … Mike Allen has turned up at London’s “talk” station, LBC, hosting a weeknight phone-in plus (now that the station has a music licence) a Sunday 3-5pm hip hop show which will regularly feature world mixing champion Chad Jackson – meanwhile, another long established black music presenter at Capital Radio seems likely to be moving on, as well … Jeff Young is indeed moving to bigger (and, hopefully, better) radio employment … BBC Radio 1 apparently is planning to increase its coverage of “dance music”, with programmes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from next month, prior to the October start of full FM transmission (at first just in the South and Scotland, other areas following as wavelengths are allocated) … Chris Hill has a weekly Saturday 8-11pm show on the new Radio 107 – in Hamburg, Germany! – flying over every fortnight to record the shows, on which he plays all the brand new black stuff in similar style to New York’s WBLS, talking in English … Nick Halkes, most recently jocking at London’s Maximus, has had a dream holiday job on student exchange in New York, working actually at WBLS in the programming department, compiling charts, filing records and dealing with pluggers: he suggests that UK record companies wanting to build a buzz on their material ahead of US release should sent it to his boss, Bobby Konders, Programming, WBLS Radio, 801 2nd Avenue, NYC, NY 10017 – recent UK soul hits playlisted like this on import have included Black Britain, Kenni Stevens and, of course, Stock Aitken Waterman (which will be on A&M in the US too) … Marley Marl, who does a daily lunchtime megamix  on ‘BLS’ has been producing house music with Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk … Fourth & Broadway, with Julian Palmer at the helm, will need a new young club promotions person – call Sue Hyams on 01-741 1511 after September 1 … Lyndon T has replaced Paul Oakenfold as plugger at Champion … Matt Black and Jonathan More have set up Ahead Of Our Time Records for their own cold cuts and other hot hip hop creations … Sherrick and Colonel Abrams have hot LPs in now, check the Black Dance chart for BPMs … Kenny G’s success has inspired the reissue of last year’s 93bpm sinuous sax instrumental, Direct Drive featuring Stan Stultzman ‘Oh Yeah’ (DDR GOT 1, via PRT) … Whitney Houston’s newie is the dead slow starting slushy 0-32-65¼-obpm ‘Didn’t We Almost Have It All’, nothing about the package being vital for discos … Colonel Abrams ‘How Soon We Forget’ would appear to be out here, but as the UK pressing was not serviced for review one must assume that it too is (0-)117½bpm … Nitro Deluxe’s ‘Let’s Get Brutal (Mega Mix)’ oddly appears to be only a promo … Tonya Wynne, recently featured singer with Stardom Groove, is now less well publicised as vocalist on 2 Puerto Ricans A Blackman And A Dominican … Birmingham scratcher Scooby Swift’s latest 2 Brummies A Cockney And A Mancunian remix of Denise Motto’s ‘IMNXTC’ could well be the first UK house mix released by a Chicago label, Play House Records releasing it there as the Union Jack Mix (like it!) … Thursday (Aug 20) Ian Reading previews Southend’s revamped and slightly renamed Zero Discotheque (previously Zero Six) … Nicky Holloway has another of his highly recommended Doo At The Zoo nights in London’s Regent Park this Saturday (Aug 22), with Pete Tong, Gilles Peterson, Chris Brown, Bob Jones, Chris Bangs, and a great atmosphere – advance tickets only, on 01-439 2628 (the number also for the Boscombe Weekender over August 29-31) … Kev Ashton, DJ Danny, Butch Robertson and more are funking the charity Redruth soul alldayer at the Peventon Hotel this Sunday (Aug 23), 3.30-11.30pm … Cardiff’s Red Dragon Radio soul presenter Ian Bruce now spins the soul downstairs in the wine bar while James Lewis is funkin’ upstairs on Tuesdays at Bridgend’s Astons … British Phonographic Industry sleuths apparently are deciding just which record shops to bust in their clampdown on the “rare groove”-encouraged soul bootleg industry … rm has the Beats Per Minute you can trust, to be consistent, correct, and “updated” for every different mix … LAH DEE DAH DEE!

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Aniela, a hot mixer who took a course at Les Adams’ studio and trained with Marie Thompson at Stringfellows, these days jocks alongside Brian Mason at Cricklewood’s Ashtons every Friday – and this Friday, you won’t only see her but also a heat of the National Miss Wet T-Shirt contest at the club. Reason enough for going?

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HOT VINYL

PRIVATE PARTY ‘Tennents’ (IMW 1201, via Red Rhino/Cartel)
Londoners PJ Tickle and Smiley C rap the praises of their favourite brew with such as the Seven Dwarfs scratched into the 98⅓bpm jitter by Scratch Master Dr K (centre, below), while Thunderbirds and Muppets make the 107⅚bpm ‘Puppet Capers‘ flip even more fun, for a wide audience (though maybe not so much for the floor). This is the first release from Islington Music Workshop’s co-operative community label. They seem to mean business!

FRESH GORDON ‘Feelin’ James’ (US Tommy Boy TB 901)
An American ‘Roadblock’, this sinuously jiggly 97bpm funk half-stepper continuously cuts in sampled grunts and phrases by James Brown, and “you got it” from Bobby Byrd’s ‘I Know You Got Soul’ (edit too), flipped by the more routinely rapped ‘n scratched jittery 96½bpm ‘I Believe In Music’ with ‘The Champ’ amongst its beats.

LONGSY D. AND CUT MASTER M.C. ‘Hip Hop Reggae’ (Big One VV Big 5)
Taking over as the definitive hip hop reggae fusion and fun enough to be a crossover smash too, this jerkily jumping 90½-90⅓bpm delight combines rapping, toasting, scratching, rare grooves, Bobby Byrd, The Mohawks, and an ace Delroy Wilson rhythm (instrumental 90⅓bpm PA Version, emptier 90bpm Original, sparse 90⅙bpm Beats). Continue reading “August 22, 1987: Private Party, Fresh Gordon, Longsy D. & Cut Master M.C., M|A|R|R|S, Coldcut”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

As hinted, we have at last found room to reinstate the pop venues-compiled Nightclub chart, now more accurately retitled Pop Dance (to complement the Disco chart’s equally accurate renaming as Black Dance), this new top 50 being within this column to draw your attention to it before moving to its permanent home within the reorganised chart pages (statisticians should note that the Pop and Black charts combined make up the top 100 published monthly in Jocks) – so, is everybody happy? … ‘Bad Meaning Good’, a film by Tim Westwood (the “auteur” syndrome, yet!) shown on BBC2 last week, gave a revealing insight for outsiders into London’s massively flourishing black street scene, the rap acts making proper stage appearances actually coming across less well than the more casually caught acappella performance in the back of a car by Sipho and Bionic of the London Posse, the well reasoned political rap under the Westway motorway arches by Daddy Speedo and Flyboy D from the Hip Hop Alliance, and the bedroom fast-cutting practice session by DJ Fingers (whose rapper MC Crazy Noddy also impressed) … Julian Palmer is returning from CBS to head the Fourth & Broadway label next month … Paul Oakenfold has left Champion and will be working for Profile when the label opens a London office … Housemartins bassist Norman Housemartin is hotly tipped to be behind the always fishy seeming DJ Mega-Mix Vol 1 ‘The Finest Ingredients’, which I had a hunch was British … M|A|R|R|S ‘Pump Up The Volume’ could be due for one of Jonathon More’s “cold cuts” remixes, especially as much of CJ Mackintosh and Dave Dorrell’s original scratching was left off the finished master because Colourbox felt it obscured the actual music … Bobby Byrd goes “yeah” throughout the Lyn Collins ‘Think’-based sizzling 107⅙bpm Cookie Crew ‘Females (Get On Up)‘, not due commercially for six weeks (if you can wait?), while Gwen McCrae (misspelt on label and sleeve as McRae!) has a mechanically bumped but quite good 101⅙bpm total re-recording of her old ‘Funky Sensation’ due here, also on Rhythm King, commercially in four weeks … Steve Proctor has compiled an ‘Urban Classics‘ album for late August release on Urban, containing rare groove funk, some more commercial oldies, stuff like the Luther Vandross featuring Greg Diamond’s Bionic Boogie ‘Hot Butterfly‘, Chakachas ‘Jungle Fever’, African Music Machine ‘Black Water Gold‘ … Roy Ayers ‘Can’t You See Me‘ will be on Urban 12 inch at the end of the month too, flipped by ‘Love Will Bring Us Back Together’/’Sweet Tears’ .. Sybil ‘My Love Is Guaranteed’, selling initially on import in the absence of UK pressings, has already been white labelled yet again in a second, far superior 118͕⅓bpm PWL Mix (Champion CHAMPX 1255), presumably from the Stock Aitken Waterman stable, much smoother although still quite Hi-NRG in a Mel & Kim-ish way … Natalie Cole ‘Jump Start’ is not necessarily improved by a boringly bashing 121¾bpm Deluxe Dub Mix (Manhattan 12MTX 22), with a similarly vigorous but more usefully vocal 121½bpm Car Mix flip … Fernand Fidore, DJ at London’s Xenon, has created a rather disastrously over-late 123½bpm remix of the House Master Boyz ‘House Nation’ (Magnetic Dance MAGDT 1R), still not actually out until next week … Hotline ‘Rock This House’ has been remixed to be B-side of its follow-up, incorporating now the break from Montana ‘Heavy Vibes’ – could this be a coming trend? … Germany’s BCM label has now compiled ‘The Very Best of Easy Street‘ (BC 33-2036-60), the LP twin-packed with a c.118bpm bonus 12 inch ‘Mic Mac’ Meyers mix of Hot Streak ‘Body Work’, Monyaka, World Premiere and other of the New York label’s oldies … Alexander O’Neal headlines at Live Wire’s October 30-November 1 Prestatyn Soul Weekend II, again at Pontins Holiday Centre, with DJs Chris Hill, Robbie Vincent, Jeff Young, Pete Tong, Tim Westwood, Paul Oakenfold, Nicky Holloway, Gilles Peterson, Sean French, Chris Brown, Froggy, Chris Forbes, Kev Hill, Johnny Walker, Ian Reading, Eddie Gordon (£42.50 ticket details on 01-364 1212) … Netphase’s rival October 23-25 Caister Soul & Jazz Weekend No 20 moves for the first time to Great Yarmouth’s Vauxhall Holiday Park, with the likes of Martin Collins, Bob Jones, Graham Gold, Colin Hudd, Jonathon More, Disco John Leech, Joe Field, Paul Clark, Danny Smith, Chris Bangs and SOLAR-fm (£39.50 ticket details on 01-367 9118) … Upnorth Promotions are running the North and Scotland’s first Berwick Soul Weekend at Berwick-on-Tweed’s Berwick Holiday Centre at the same time as Caster, October 23-25, which means that double-billed Martin Collins and Bob Jones will be alternating at both events (I don’t envy their car trips!), joining up north such as Colin Curtis, Richard Searling, Mike Shaft, Pete Haigh, Alex Lowes, Billy Davidson, Hutchy, Mervyn Anthony and special guests (£35 ticket details on 091-389 0317) … Johnny Walker guests this Friday (Aug 14) at Streatham Project at Zigi’s Scallywag Jazz Night, and Saturday (15) with Nicky Holloway and Gilles Peterson at London’s Farringdon Road Metropolitan … Sunday (Aug l6), DJ Elayne, Simon Goffe, Johnny S, Clarity Roadshow and Rapattack funk a 2pm alldayer at Caxton House in London N19’s St John’s Way … Monday (Aug 17) Phil Fearon is at Swansea Martha’s Vineyard … Colin Hudd and Keb Hill (although Kev may be away just now) are funking Thursdays at Basildon Raquels… Ken ‘B’ Brudenell has left Luton to open at Jersey’s newly refurbished Heroes in St Helier’s Inn On The Park … Tricky Dicky Scanes has joined forces with Bolts to promote gay nights at the Flowerpot in Seven Sisters’ St Anne’s Road, North London. Norman Scott jocking there Fri/Sat/Mondays (he’s still at Luton Ronelles every Sunday, his old bolt hole at Haringey Lazers having become a banqueting suite) … Desa seems upset at the lack of outside interest paid to Merseyside’s still funkin’ soul scene, citing the last Defhouse night at Birkenhead’s Atmosphere as a total roadblock (the next one is Monday week, August 24) … Alan Maskell, jocking at Legend and DeVilles, finds Manchester a bit restrictive and would appreciate offers from alternative/funk/indie/hip hop-type venues in surrounding Lancs/Mersey/Cheshire areas (on 061-236 1718, days) … Darryl Pandy & Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk are set to return with a revival of Southroad Connection’s ‘Free Man‘ … ‘Two Can Play At That Game‘ in a Godwin Logie remix will be Peggi Blu’s new single here … Michael Jackson’s 16 minute ‘Bad’ video, directed by Martin Scorcese, gets its exclusive TV premiere (along with some older material) on Channel 4 at 10.50pm on September 1, release date for his album of the same name – I don’t suppose many clubs will have their recorders running, will they? … LAH DEE DAH DEE!

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JEFF YOUNG, with possibly something bigger up his sleeve, has as of last Saturday already left his highly popular Radio London soul show, which has been taken over by a suitably startled looking PETE TONG (above!) on a temporary basis in its 8-10am breakfast time slot, with a view to taking over permanently if, as seems now very possible, it should revert to its old much more civilised brunch time slot. Both DJs do, of course, hold down important day jobs at Phonogram/London, the early hours of the present show naturally being a strain especially when they’re jocking in clubs as well, although apparently it’s not the hours that have prompted Jeff’s sudden decision to quit, git and split. Pete only recently stopped presenting a weekly soul show on Invicta Radio, and is already on Radio London’s roster of NITE-fm presenters during weekday evenings, so he should make a worthy (and inevitable?) replacement.

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HOT VINYL

FAT BOYS ‘Wipeout (Wave 1 Version)’ (Urban URBX 5)
Those stars of ‘Miami Vice’ are shaping up for a pop hit with this quite amusing 0-126½-0bpm revival of the Surfaris’ once instrumental surf classic, now with guest vocals by the Beach Boys around bursts of Beasties-type rap, much more accessible for middle-aged radio DJs to treat as a gimmick instead of that dangerous street rap that’s really happenin’!

BOBBY BYRD ‘I Know You Got Soul’ (Urban URBX 8)
Bobby was with James Brown right from the start as the longest enduring of his Famous Flames vocal backing trio, ending up his solitary vocal foil on both stage and (often) record, which is why it’s Bobby whose “get on up” has become the most over-scratched phrase of the moment despite that being on the actually James Brown-credited ‘Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved‘. He’s also had several solo hits over the years, from 1971 coming a timely 12 inch coupling of quintessential urgently jittering JB grooves, this (0-)114-112½-112-113-112½bpm original inspiration for Eric B And Rakim’s current rap ‘n’ scratch, the 118½-118-117½-117-118-118¾bpm ‘If You Don’t Work, You Can’t Eat‘, the 113-112bpm ‘Hot Pants…I’m Coming, Coming, I’m Coming‘, and an instrumental 112⅔-112bpm Bonus Beats of the latter specially created by Timmy Rogers so that UK mixers could have a new ‘Funky Drummer’ rhythm to use.

Meanwhile on import (check the Black Dance chart for BPMs), FRESH GORDON ‘Feelin’ James‘ (US Tommy Boy TB901) is the latest hot rap ‘n scratch to use James Brown plus in fact Bobby’s “you got it”, this time, from ‘I Know You Got Soul’, BIG DADDY KANE ‘Get Into It‘ (US Prism PS 2011) is another Eric B And Rakim-inspired Bobby Byrd rap ‘n scratch, KAY GEE THE ALL Featuring D.J. DREW ‘My Record Is Hot‘ (US B Boy Records BB 600) is a tricky cut ‘n scratch using a JB riff, SPANISH PRINCE ‘Dance Everybody Dance‘ (US 4th + B’way BWAY-422) bucks the trend by using “whoa-oh” chants and cutting in the Jackson Five’s currently rare groove-revived ‘I Want You Back’, PRIME TIME ‘He’s Def‘ (US Sun Town STPT 712) uses ‘Funkin’ For Jamaica’, all for proper review next week.

B-FATS ‘The B-Fats’ (US Rooftop Records RT 005)
The hottest hip-hopper of the past fortnight has in fact been this tight jittery subtly rhythmic 0-101⅓bpm go-go-cum-rare groove-ish rap about a new, self-titled, dancestep that’s a combination of the Whop and the Boogaloo (instrumental/edit flip). Continue reading “August 15, 1987: Fat Boys, Bobby Byrd, B-Fats, CJ Mackintosh & Einstein, UTFO”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

Rather irritatingly late in the day, the 121⅔bpm ‘Two Grooves Under One Nation Remix’ of Mel & Kim ‘FLM’ (Supreme Records SUPETX 113) has been hardened up with more of ‘Jack Your Body’ than their vocals, before suddenly becoming a remake of ‘Le Freak’! … Colourbox, augmented by scratchers CJ Mackintosh and Dave Dorrell, are the actual artistes cunningly disguised on “interesting” looking white labels of MARRS ‘Pump Up The Volume’ (4AD BAD 707), a vigorously pounding jittery 113bpm doom-laden instrumental in ‘Put The Needle To The Record’ style, the scam being blown by its undisguised matrix number (the one that’s engraved on every record in the run-out groove area, in this country usually the same as the actual catalogue number), which doesn’t stop it being a hot one! … PLASA, the Professional Lighting And Sound Association’s Light & Sound Show 87 is again at Hammersmith’s Novotel between Sunday-Wednesday September 6-9, entrance being free provided you return the official registration form before August 17 (otherwise £3 on the door): to get a form, apply (detailing your company or other professional capacity) to PLASA, 7 Highlight House, St Leonards Road, Eastbourne, Sussex BN21 3UH … Alexander O’Neal’s sizzling new album has been so long in coming because evidently earlier attempts were rejected by the label … Maceo & The Macks ‘Cross The Track’ apparently was withdrawn from release several weeks ago so that Urban could relaunch it (not that it isn’t still available on Serious Records’ ‘Dance Mania‘ compilation LP) … David ‘Pic’ Conley’s reissued remix was no sooner mentioned last week than yet another brand new very sparsely tapping tender dub-style 0-98bpm Love Mix also arrived of Surface ‘Happy’ (CBS 650393 9), trickier to use … Natalie Cole’s commercial pressing of ‘Jump Start’ turns out to be 0-122¾bpm, with ‘More Than The Stars’ 78¾bpm … Zuice keep trying with commercial dance product, returning later in the month on the 115¼bpm ‘I’m A Survivor‘ (115bpm US Mix), when surely a slower strong song would serve them better? … 10 Records have got around again to their annual reissue of Lonnie Hill ‘Galveston Bay‘ (TEN 111-12), the lovely mellow MoR swayer in its old 96⅔-97½bpm extended re-edit and 96½-97⅙ LP versions, as before … Andros Georgiou’s secretive Bee Gees pop revival, the 102bpm Boogie Box High ‘Jive Talkin’‘ (Hardback BOSS 4), as several jocks have discovered is flipped by a whistle-blowing percussive 115⅔bpm house-ish ‘Rhythm Talkin’ (Part 1)‘ instrumental that bears no relation to the top side … Fourth & Broadway has lost not only Ian Dewhirst but also Jon Williams, the Latter to Jive as an A&R man … Southern Sound Radio’s charity appeal Light-A-Laser has a star studded night this Thursday (August 6) at Worthing’s Carioca Club, co-hosted by resident jock Andy Heryet … Simon Dunmore and Dean Thatcher’s funk ‘n soul Rhythm Zone night, this one with guest Gilles Peterson, is as usual at Northolt’s C&L Country Club but now the first Friday of every month (thus this Friday, Aug 7) … Neil Rushton combines upfront soul and house with quality oldies this Friday and Saturday (Aug 7/8) at Burntwood No 7’s, in the Walsall/Cannock area … Shaun Williams turns it up Tuesdays from 10.15pm (only pre-paid ticket admission after 11pm) playing hard grooves, house and rap at Worcester’s The Pavilion, where promotions manager Andy King is always after PA’s on 0905-612428 … James Lewis’s Tuesday soul nights at Bridgend Astons go from strength to strength: last week he had not only Nat Augustin but also Rick Clarke & Emma there – a pity though the club bars people in jeans, no matter whom, which means that on a spur of the moment visit I didn’t get in! … Swansea Martha’s Vineyard now has giant screen video installed, resident soul DJ Jeff Thomas however being restricted by a shortage of black music videos to show (a common complaint) … Steve Wiggins (Barry), another of the few DJs in South Wales who do break new music (as I can vouch, since the Seventies), wonders what it takes to get through to some DJ mailing list operators … lain Norman is delighted to find his new Wednesday funk ‘n soul venue, Ipswich’s classy La Dolce Vita, is equipped with SL1200 turntables (the mixing DJ’s fave) … John Stapleton,the hip hop/rare groove-playing Dr Jam of Defcon 2, joins funk/house-spinning Chris Carrad on Wednesdays at Bristol’s Hollywood … Graeme Park, the def dude, is now hard ‘n heavy most Saturdays at Derby’s 20th Century Complex, only doing the odd night still at Nottingham’s Barracuda as he’s getting so many one night guest slots around the nation … Dennis Edwards chose a good time to rejoin the Temptations … The Surfaris’ classic ‘Wipeout’ has been revived not only by the Fat Boys, but also by Herbie Hancock for an Annette Funicello/Frankie Avalon comeback bikini beach party movie, ‘Back To The Beach’! … David Grant’s review, the top one in an old batch of unprinted overmatter, finally ended up being printed by mistake as lead review in this column, following which his record made its first showing in the national Top 100 (and then our Disco chart) — could there be any connection?! … Theo Loyla (no unfriendly attack intended) is as usual whingeing on about our black music chart not reflecting the music played in pop clubs, his undeclared main beef, of course, being that the records he plugs for Bullet Disco/Club Promotion are in the main unlikely to appear in it because they tend to be pop records (and Theo does love to list all the charts his “hits” appear in, no matter from what country)! … LAH DEE DAH DEE!

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HOT VINYL

WEST PHILLIPS ‘Tell Me’ (Kool Kat KOOL T7, via PRT)
Recently on hard to find import, this galloping jack track is here in a UK-only violently frantic 122¾bpm instrumental Crucial Mix, which accentuates the clichés, a good 122bpm Dub Mix, exciting simple 121⅓-0bpm vocal (inexplicably called Eurobeat) and 121bpm Bonus Beats. Basic raw stuff, to jack your body not your mind.

THE TEMPTATIONS ‘Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone’ (1987 Remix)’ (Motown ZT 41432)
First fruit from apparently a whole album’s worth of Motown classics completely revamped by young New York remixer Freddy Bastone, this 121bpm restructuring retains just some of the original vocal and bits of instrumental over a remade (but actually not that modern) rhythm track, easier to use than the interminably introed 1972 original (Dub Remix flip, and 1966’s original short 120-119-117½bpm ‘Ain’t Too Proud To Beg’, the song currently featured in a TV commercial).

ANQUETTE ‘Ghetto Style’ (US Luke Skyywalker GR 107)
Roxanne Shanté style, more like, this 108bpm female rap strongly scratches in all the usual current rare grooves to make it a perfect fit for now without being one of the actual innovators (instrumental too), the flip’s frantic 113-132½bpm ‘Shake It (Do The 61st)‘ being full of Bobby Byrd “getting on up”. Continue reading “August 8, 1987: West Phillips, The Temptations, Anquette, Imagination, Tony Cofi”