June 4, 1988: Will Downing, Glen Goldsmith, E.U., London Rhyme Syndicate, Kool G. Rap & D.J. Polo

BEATS & PIECES

TONY BLACKBURN was abruptly replaced by Andy Peebles last Thursday at Radio London, ahead of his planned departure date, which will leave him more time in which to check out America’s oldies radio stations prior to joining Capital Gold in July … Roger Scott in turn is quitting Capital Radio after all these years to take over the Saturday afternoon ‘Stereo Sequence’ on Radio 1 from Johnnie Walker, who is moving to the Radio Radio satellite service … Mick ‘Loadsamoney’ Brown may have knobbed me off on ‘Night Network’ but he’s made up for it since, possibly over using on Capital Radio my “oh get off/not again” Hammapella from LA Mix’s remix (it really is very strange driving around and suddenly hearing my own voice unexpectedly on the radio!) … Pete Waterman’s Saturday afternoon Radio City show is being networked across most ILR stations from July, when split frequency broadcasting becomes widespread … Tony and Christine Prince of the Disco Mix Club held their annual barbecue and tennis tournament two Sundays ago, with great food and good fun for all — see the photos to get the flavour! … The Mafia ‘ABC’ is possibly the best limited circulation white label mixer since Coldcut’s ‘Hey Kids What Time Is It?’ — created by an anonymous Torbay lad, it in similar 111-0-102-102⅔bpm style starts with Nina Simone ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’ and then blends the Jackson 5 ‘ABC’ with James Brown ‘Funky Drummer’ before combining Public Enemy’s “bass how low can you go” with Cheryl Lynn ‘Encore’ (with a monotonous piano looping 118½bpm ‘Gismo’ flip by JFK) … Eric B & Rakim’s brand new MCA Records debut on June 20 will be ‘Follow The Leader‘, a typically toned fast talking 110-0bpm densely rumbling strange swirler with dramatic slabs of “strings” in the backing —meanwhile, Fourth & Broadway’s rival release of the murkily meandering 0-92⅔-92¾-0bpm ‘As The Rhyme Goes On (Pumpin’ The Turbo — Chad Jay In Effect)‘ has Sefton The Terminator’s human beatbox and Chad Jackson’s transformer scratches but still sounds tired … GQ’s ‘Disco Nights (Rock Freak)’ from 1979 is the next retrospective remake, as the rap augmented 120½bpm Jazz & The Brothers Grimm ‘(Let’s All Go Back) Disco Nights‘ on Ensign … Ten City’s totally remade seven inch is indeed beefily concise, on the 120¼-120bpm ‘Right Back To You’ and especially the 0-104bpm ‘One Kiss Will Make It Better’ … Ellis, Beggs & Howard (whose ‘Big Bubbles, No Troubles’ was recently reviewed) turn out to be vocalist Austin Howard with ex-Kajagoogoo guitarist Nick Beggs, and keyboardist Simon Ellis … Tim Palmer at CityBeat has been badgering Sleeping Bag Records for over a year to remix Dinosaur L’s ‘Go Bang’ (which he released here), and is not entirely happy that the Todd Terry Project ‘Bango’ (on Sleeping Bag) amounts to that remix, so he’s rushing a UK remix of ‘Go Bang’ by Hard Times Productions instead … Byron Byrd of old US funk group Sun turns out to have produced Blaztzone, and owns Blip Blop Records plus a 24-track recording studio in Plumstead, South-East London! … B/Ware, the label that now has Pablo, is tying in with Crash Recordings to release The Funky Ginger ‘Slaughterhouse’ fully here on June 13 … Ian Levine is considering buying Soho’s liquidated Record Shack shop now that Bluebird have dropped their option … Morgan Khan’s ambitious plans for the UK Fresh 88 hip hop extravaganza seem to have scaled down in size, it now being held just on August 6 in a tent on Wormwood Scrubs in West London (mind you, the tent holds 10,000 — I hope security is good!) … South Eastern Disco Association has its annual SEDA 88 disco exhibition this Sunday (5) at Gravesend’s Woodville Halls, noon-6pm … Robbie Vincent starts weekly this Thursday (2) at Bagshot’s Pantiles (no T-shirts for some reason) … Friday (3) finds Eon Irving and DJ team Pleasure funking Vauxhall’s The Arch for a Pleasure Dome … Saturday (4) Paul Oakenfold and Manchester’s Mike Pickering (with T-Coy) kick off Trip, at London’s Charing Cross Road Astoria for the next five Saturdays … M-D-Emm actually list my review’s beats per minute on their label now, right down to the fractions — a first, and why not? … Les Adams has swapped his old 8 track sequencer for a 24 track computer sequencer, his latest studio equipment acquisition — ‘Check This Out’ in fact only cost £58 to record, the price of two reels of tape! … GET OFF!

DISCO MIX CLUB recently moved into a brand new purpose designed office building, just off the A3 to the west of Slough by Exit 7 of the M4, with three studios and warehousing downstairs and the office suites above — not that you’d know it looking at this! Tony Prince seems to have the whole building to himself, while DMC’s star mixers tower over him, (l to r) Ben Liebrand, Les Adams, Paul Dakeyne, plus new recruit John Cecchini (personality DJ of 1986/7, his role will be more administrative).

BEN LIEBRAND, Holland’s star remixer, has been busy beefing up the beats of two established pop classics. Now the B-side of Wouldn’t You Love To Love Me?’ on 12 inch, TAJA SEVELLE ‘Love Is Contagious (Ben Liebrand Remix)’ (Paisley Park Records W8127TX) becomes a brightly uptempo 111¼-0bpm canterer with the original slow waltz-type beats behind her delicate vocal filled in by S-Express-ish hissing hi-hat and tumbling percussion (the remix that first surfaced on the Disco Mix Club subscription service), while PHIL COLLINS ‘In The Air Tonight (Extended Version)’ (Virgin VST 102) is likewise filled in by a lazily chugging 0-94½-0bpm rhythm (flipped by Phil’s own more gently augmented 47¼/94½bpm ’88 Remix, and the old brassily lurching 106bpm ‘I Missed Again’). Taja in particular is causing a sensation, bringing the once sweet slow song a whole new lease of life as a much in demand dancer.

LES ADAMS has already remixed an alternative very different more loosely striding 119¼bpm L.A. MIX ‘Check This Out (The Salt Lake City Mix)’ (Breakout USAF 629) — so called because it incorporates noises from the Osmonds’ ‘Crazy Horses’! — this version, you may be relieved to hear, being without my “heckling”, although the 12 inch does include the Hammapella from which radio stations are already rather over-using MC Jammy Hammy’s isolated “get off”, “oh get off” and “oh not again” catch-phrases! There’s also a new Lyn Collins ‘Think’-sampling 117¼bpm Bonus Beats, plus the original 117-0bpm Fierce Vocal and Sweaty Cuban dub. Incidentally, the ultra-commercial 117½-0bpm seven inch version, which so catchily combines all the best bits with my own modest contributions (naturally I’m not biased!), is the one that’s turned it from a dance hit into a pop smash … and is not available in any even remotely similar form on either 12 inch.

JOLLEY HARRIS JOLLEY set out to rival Stock Aitken Waterman as a producing/writing/remixing team and seem to be fast achieving their aim. Matt Aitken was in fact a school chum of the two Jolleys and lived with them until early last year! Seen here as the latest faces behind the names on the labels, Brian Harris (left) owned the Music Machine dance record shop in Leeds before he started writing songs for Chappell Music, and then plugging for the Sonet label. Anna Jolley actually had a huge Continental hit around 1979/80, ‘Like They Do In The Movies‘, sung solo as Anna. Mark Jolley was a bassist, and sound engineer at Trident Studios (the Jolleys are no relation of onetime Imagination producer, Steve Jolley). The threesome united two years ago to form their production company Reproduction Ltd, which debuted with Exception’s ‘Slap You Back‘ (featuring Anna’s vocal) on CityBeat, since when they have steadily increased in reputation producing Patrick Boothe, Emma, Glen Goldsmith (their biggest success to date), Shirley Lewis and newcomers Reid, plus remixing material by Barry White, Chic, Mica Paris, Swimming With Sharks, and Brenda Russell (her upcoming ‘Gravity‘).

HOT VINYL

WILL DOWNING ‘In My Dreams (Club Remix)’ (Fourth & Broadway 12BRW 104)
His album’s tripping swayer remixed by Will in London to beef up the now more thudding 0-110⅘bpm beat, and emphasise the lovely lush wordless shimmering harmony surges which are its main attraction, reminding me of something from a Busby Berkley soundtrack of the Thirties (in three mixes). Continue reading “June 4, 1988: Will Downing, Glen Goldsmith, E.U., London Rhyme Syndicate, Kool G. Rap & D.J. Polo”

May 28, 1988: James Brown, Roxanne Shanté, Rick James, Rose Royce, Brass Construction

BEATS & PIECES

NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN himself says that Narada is pronounced to rhyme with “Florida”, which we always knew — and makes a nonsense of those “NAR-da” instructions that accompany his current hit!… Glen Goldsmith’s follow-up is the Jolley Harris Jolley-created fast 119½bpm nervily churning ‘What You See Is What You Get‘, already promoed… The Jets’ US smash coolly syncopated jaunty “purple” ‘Rocket 2 U‘ has taken its time to appear here on 12 inch, the seven inch being 121½-0bpm… Coldcut are soon releasing a twin 12 inch compilation “album” of their past productions, plus remixes and newies, comprising material released on their own label, called ‘Out To Lunch With Ahead Of Our Time‘ – which, however, has been preceded by a limited 200 copies ‘Hotplate 3‘ 12 inch with the ‘Set It Off’-ish “pshta pshta” hi-hatted (0-)116½bpm God And The Prophets ‘Work Me‘ and remixed meandering funky drummered 0-102½-0bpm Floormaster Squeeze ‘Kick Out The James (Again)‘, both with beats plus separate samples… WEA are jumping onto the brand new purpose built “rare groove” bandwagon with the Sheffield recorded ‘Funky Worm‘, nothing to do with the Ohio Players’ oldie, being a Manu Dibango plays ‘Spanish Hustle’-style Seventies jazz-funk type tune by a girl led group who also are called Funky Worm!… Island meanwhile are launching a new Mango Street logo aimed obviously at the same pirate radio DJs who seem to break all this “new” rare groove stuff, with Overlord X’s 0- 107⅔bpm ‘The Earth Is Moving‘, a London rap scratching jittery old Donald Byrd grooves… DJ Master Scratch has created what’s promised is the accurately titled T-Cut-F ‘House Reaction (The Final Mixdown)’ (10 Records TENR226), a good bounding 125-0bpm remix adding LL Cool J’s bit from House Gang’s ‘Cool J Trax’, Reese & Santonio’s ‘Bounce Your Body To The Box’, the “can you dig it?” from Larry Williams & Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson’s old Northern Soul hit ‘Too Late’, and more… Whitney Houston’s ‘Love Will Save The Day‘ has already had lots of radio play in anticipation of its singles release, but approval is still awaited for a new remix before it actually appears on 12 inch — which didn’t stop it somehow being included in Capital Radio’s supposedly sales based London Dance Chart lost week!… Chad Jackson and Sefton The Terminator are remixing Eric B & Rakim’s old ‘As The Rhyme Goes On’ to help enable Fourth & Broadway grab a bit of belated action…  Midlands house label Kool Kat has picked up the Terry Baldwin (Housemaster) featuring Bud Latour acid four-tracker, possibly to launch a new offshoot logo, there evidently now being new rap and deep house vocal remixes of ‘Delta House’ about… Marie Birch has licensed Smith & Mighty’s ‘Anyone’ to try and give it further mileage on her own Beatmaster Records… Ten City’s US seven inch versions are all new re-recordings as the 12 inch mixes keep developing so much that that they are virtually impossible to edit — as Fred Dove discovered, although edit them he has had to for UK 12 inch release, ‘One Kiss Will Make It Better’ being most drastically shortened, from 10:21 to just 4:37 … Tim Smith, after my recent comments, has managed to swing not only a soul show, but a daytime soul show onto Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s Metro Radio, every Sunday afternoon 2-4pm, called ‘Essential Rhythm’… Louil Silas Jr and Timmy Regisford didn’t end up with time to do a London gig last week after all, but will be back in August when it’s promised that a four-handed mixing night will be properly planned!… Todd Terry Project’s ‘Back To The Beat’ is 120½bpm, last week’s review somehow omitted, Teddy Pendergrass ‘Joy’ is 103⅔bpm on UK 12 inch, the dub and instrumental being 103½bpm, while it’s Blaztzone (rather than Blaztone) who do ‘Blast The Walls Out’… ‘Tribute (Right On)‘ by the Pasadenas having been played so much on radio in its more vocal seven inch edit, I now realise that it’s not so much jazz-funk as Philly soul in (Archie Bell-ish) style… Soul II Soul’s female singer appears to be Rose Windross rather than Windrush as the promos spelt her… London group Sahara have changed their name to Intimate Connection for US releases… ‘Tune In (Turn On The Acid House)’ despite a colourful label crediting it to Superman on the DC Records Inc logo (highly unlikely!), turns out apparently to be by Psychic TV – more indie boys getting into acid (and confusing rm’s readers even further?)… Cooltempo emphasise that the Taurus Boyz consist of Dancin’ Danny D and (the Adventures’ producer) Gary Bell, while Kevin Henry is merely guest vocalist… Blow consists of trumpeter Gordon Mathewman and keyboardist/programmer Adam Routh… Nigel ‘Nick’ Halkes, a regular correspondent for seven years since he set up a mobile disco in Bristol as a 13-year-old, is a big boy now and muscling into the music business with strong New York contacts, his first deal being the US release on Easy Street of The Funky Ginger’s already reviewed ‘Slaughterhouse‘, a UK production that was only ever on obscure white label here last year… Joe Field, another correspondent from an early age, still busy around Milton Keynes/Hemel Hempstead/Watford, now also handles Thursdays at Soho’s Gullivers in Ganton Street — and has started a Voice Box service on 0442-216605 which supplies a number of famous voice impersonations for answering machine messages (WEA Promotions already have a “Ronald Reagan“)… Tony Hodges has set up a High Wycombe-based mobile catering company called Col. P’Funk Catering Corps (0494-449855), covering the area west of London, each van carrying its own SL1200s equipped disco unit and a DJ as driver, serving up food and funk!… Ray Keith joins Dave Malone, Guy Palmer and Turbo to funk/rare groove Sudbury’s Jades on the A134 this Thursday (26), then they’re all joined by Radio Orwell DJ Busta Brooker at Colchester’s LAristos on Monday (30)… Saturday (28) finds Simon Goffe, Steve Wolfe, Danny Smith and Jamie Trundle souling Gt Yarmouth’s Scruples, and Gwen McCrae appearing live with Martin Collins, Steve ‘Jammin’’ Jason and Chris ‘Charlie’ Brown at Peterborough’s Wirrina Centre… Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley is live in concert this Saturday (28) at the Sweat Box in Harlow’s HighWire, where on Bank Holiday Monday (30), Gwen McCrae then likewise appears at a noon-2am alldayer with Pete Tong, Jeff Young, Kev Hill, Gilles Peterson, Bob Jones, Nicky Holloway, Eddie Gordon, Les Knott and more, plus PAs by Will Downing, Wee Papa Girl Rappers, Soul II Soul and Mac Thornhill (all for £7!)… Sunday (29) sees Martin Collins, Chris ‘Charlie’ Brown, Stu Banks, Dave Malone, Rayon & Owen, and Ray Keith (some of these guys is busy!) at an undergraduate do in Cambridge’s Ronnelles… Bank Holiday Monday (30) also features the noon-1am Pres Jam alldayer at Gt Yarmouth’s Tiffanys with Chris Hill, Robbie Vincent, Jeff Young, Froggy, Ian Reading, Johnny Walker, plus PAs by the CCR Crew and Unit B3 and another doubtless more rare groove-ish non-midnight alldayer at Putney’s Micawbers with Jasper the Vinyl Junkie, Jazzy M, Ray Stevens, Nigel Wilton, Keith Diamond and Steve R… Simon Dunmore and Jon Jules are joined by Jay Strongman at Greenford’s Greenford Hotel on Tuesday (31) for their more or less fortnightly Soul City night, held the second and last Tuesday of each month (next on June 14)… Jon Jules, John Matthews, Phil Edgart and Mixer B funk the under-19s Bass Bin every Saturday lunchtime at South Harrow’s The Avenue… Nottingham DJ Graeme Park’s only regular weekly gig these days is actually in Sheffield, on Wednesdays at the Leadmill, now that Derby’s 20th Century has closed!… Andrew Holmes, the “original” Madhatter DJ, spins upfront stuff at Big Beat Sundays in Royton’s Scandals… Gordon ‘Fizz’ Phillips has swapped several of his Kent gigs to move to Ashford’s Dustys on Wed/Sat/Sundays… Mica Paris next month supports Will Downing at the Bottom Line club in New York before both fly back to London, Mica going on to Paris as support for Ray Charles at a jazz festival while Will plays July 2/3 at the Dominion with his own band (which includes Brian Jackson)… I still think James Brown says “get offa my chip” at the start of the US version of ‘I’m Real’, even if the current hip hop expression is “my own tip” (chip surely meaning microchip, alluding possibly to sampling?)… Mick Brahn, considering all the namechecks I’ve given Mick & Pat recently, might at least have waited until my two seconds’ appearance before “knobbing off” the LA Mix video on Night Network — but then, despite his Bass Weejuns collecting “Mr Supercool” image, he obviously had no real knowledge of ‘Check This Out’ and its send-up nature, as his denigrating comment about it being “yet another record that features ‘this is a journey into sound'” proved (yup, it had got that close to my cameo “heckle”!)… GET OFF!

GARY TAYLOR, the suave Californian soulster in somewhat Michael McDonald style, recently had his classy new largely downtempo listening LP reviewed in full on import, and now it’s out here — ‘Compassion’ (10 Records DIX 77) — together with a jarringly inappropriate juddering 0-108¾-108⅙-0bpm Club Remix of the rolling title track, ‘Compassion’ (10 Records TEN X 232), more techno-flash than song like this (in three mixes, plus the dead slow ‘Follow’, not on LP).

HINDSIGHT recently visited the US to promote their debut single there, and while being interviewed on Stevie Wonder’s radio station KJLH were overheard by TV presenter Don Cornelius saying that their biggest ambition was to appear on his show, ‘Soul Train’ (a weekly black music dance party with a few lip-synched PAs). “Find those guys!”, legend (and the press release) would have us believe Cornelius shouted, and the upshot was that they did indeed appear on the May 21st edition, coast to coast across the States. Henri Defoe and Camelle Hinds ore here seen looking happy with Don Cornelius to prove it!

MIKE ‘HITMAN’ WILSON, resuming our faces behind the names on the labels section, is the often credited Chicago house master who most recently, together with buddy Mr Lee, has been behind the House Gang on his own International House Records label — their ‘Hittrax II’ four-tracker, incidentally, will soon be out here on Kool Kat while its hottest track, the LL Cool J-scratching ‘Cool J Trax‘, will also be on the upcoming GRC double LP ‘House Music Vol 1’.

 

HOT VINYL

JAMES BROWN ‘I’m Real (F.F. Hyped Up Mix)’ (Scotti Bros JSBX 1)
For some reason his Full Force-produced jerky funk jitterer is only here in this impetus losing 105⅚-0bpm joltingly abrupt US B-side version, which may sound more “modern” but then that is hardly the point considering everyone wants Mr Brown to sound like his classic oldies again – which indeed he does on the UK-only flip’s far more traditional excellent 108-0bpm ‘Keep Keepin’‘, featuring Maceo Parker on sax and in a comedy finale, the side that’s been selling it on pre-release.

ROXANNE SHANTÉ ‘Go On Girl’ (Breakout USAT 633)
So impatiently awaited that it was by a huge margin the biggest seller on pre-release in last week’s Club Chart, this Marley Marl-produced distinctively pitched frenetic 115⅔bpm jiggler (Dub too) is extremely like Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock as both make the same use of Lyn Collins’s ‘Think (About It)’, the sparser bumping and scratching Sparse Instrumental and Rapid Radio Vocal being 115bpm.

RICK JAMES ‘Loosey’s Rap’ (Warner Bros W7885T)
Much plugged by the likes of Robbie Vincent but not out fully until June 6, this mesmeric chunkily rolling jogger is a salacious lips licking song of praise to a young lovin’ machine, who then answers in the distinctively rapping shape of Roxanne Shanté, at 100⅓bpm in Rix Mix and its Instrumental, with a denser 99⅓bpm Marley Marl Mix and Big Daddy Kane/Roxanne-rapped version, plus a drily thundering 0-119½bpm stuttery Loosey’s House Of Trix Mix, terrific! Continue reading “May 28, 1988: James Brown, Roxanne Shanté, Rick James, Rose Royce, Brass Construction”

May 21, 1988: “Detroit’s own brand of acid house is more correctly called techno”

BEATS & PIECES

Ben Liebrand’s beat augmenting ‘Love Is Contagious’ remix, created originally just for Disco Mix Club release, has proved so popular (as reflected in The Club Chart) that it will soon be added to Taja Sevelle’s current ‘Wouldn’t You Love To Love Me?’ B-side… James Brown’s UK release of ‘I’m Real’ next week will oddly feature just the import’s 105⅚-0bpm ‘Real (F.F. Hyped-Up Mix)’ B-side as the main A-side here, flipped however by the Maceo Parker-saxed strong 108-0bpm ‘Keep Keepin’’… Tony Blackburn, in impending drastic changes at BBC Radio London, is actually quitting to move to arch rival Capital Radio, presenting the new Saturday/Sunday 7-10am breakfast show on Medium Wave for the split frequency Capital Gold oldies service when it starts on July 2 – this may seem like a climb down from his five days a week mid-morning soul show but reputedly will earn him three times as much (it’ll be interesting if his programme is followed by Roger Scott, as they’ve always professed to be the best of enemies!)… ILR stations permitted to run concurrent split frequency programming on FM and AM do seem to be using medium wave for golden oldies… Peter Waterman, Peter Stringfellow and Music Week editor David Dalton are amongst the guest speakers at the Dance Aid Trust’s gala luncheon next Thursday (May 26) at London’s Metropole Hotel (£45 ticket details on 01-607 8311)… GEE st Records have promoed a few white labels of the James Brown/Bobby Byrd/Public Enemy-type samples crammed new unpretentiously chugging 111½-0bpm Richie Rich ‘Turn It Up’, a likely crossover hit which in fact will be out commercially in early June on Club… Brand New Heavies ‘Got To Give’ is a deliberately rare groove-styled girl sung meandering specialist 90½bpm wriggler building to a predictable buzz on Cooltempo white label, while the original cold-cutting Steinski & Mass Media returns soon on Fourth & Broadway with the rumbling jittery strange 0-110-0bpm ‘Let’s Play It Cool’… Pedro, who turns out to be the barman at Soho’s Gossips, was inspired by my review of the ultra rare Beat Freaks 12 inch to track down a copy and then he did indeed recreate its bootlegged James Brown B-side’s Sly & Robbie backing track, with the ska group Maroon Town, to make his own ‘Goodfootin’’ – which is now out commercially on Beware (UM 001)… I had no time to BPM the excellent import soul LP from By All Means, the oddly named group consisting of Jimmy Varner with Lynn Roderick and Billy Shephard, so check The Club Chart… George Pettus is currently supporting Whitney Houston’s concerts, so his old ‘My Night For Love’ has been re-issued here, as has Angela Winbush’s ‘Angel’… Charly have picked up from MCA Records the nine year old rare groove album by Jeffree (Charly R&B 1178), reviewed a year or two back when it came around again on revived import… Visions’ album is due here next week on Urban (URBLP12)… GRC’s first ‘House Music Vol 1’ double album compilation, out next week, will include one side of various house rhythms which buyers can use as the basis for their own house creations in a competition… Cooltempo’s latest predictable ‘Fierce II’ compilation (CTLP 5) includes the unreleased relentlessly jittering dull instrumental 115½bpm No Smoke featuring The Addis Possi ‘Abele’s Dance’, and Dancin’ Danny D’s gospel girl nagged house-ified 115½-0bpm remix of Fun Boy 3 ‘Faith, Hope And Charity’… Champion have picked up Royal House ‘Can You Party’ (123bpm here, with 121½bpm Original Mix) and Orange Lemon ‘The Texican’ (117bpm), although the latter’s A-side here will be ‘Dreams Of Santa Anna’ (115⅔-115⅓-0), both doubtless destined to be on white label promo for months in Champion’s usual style… Club’s white label pressing of Click ‘Freq Jam’ mistakenly features the secondary 122½-0bpm Varda The Drums Girl mix twice instead of the main Straight To The Phreek mix!… Sade’s album has had ‘Paradise’/’Turn My Back On You’/’Keep Looking’/’Give It Up’ coupled on a club promo-only 12 inch… Joyce Sims’ remake of Barbara Acklin’s classic ‘Love Makes A Woman’, her current US single, seems likely to be re-recorded before it’s released here – possibly by PWL… Kylie Minogue’s original Australian version of ‘The Locomotion’ is apparently not considered good enough for her upcoming UK LP, and will be remade by Stock Aitken Waterman… Timmy Regisford and Louil Silas Jr are in London this week, and could well be doing a special invitation-only night behind the turntables at a central club!… Glen Goldsmith joins Warren Aylward at Southsea’s 5th Avenue Wednesday (18), and Jammin’ Steve Jason at Cambridge’s Ronelles Friday (20)… Hazell Dean return to Luton Bolts on Sunday (22)… Tim Westwood and Jules start hip hopping South Harrow Bogarts weekly from this Sunday… Detroit’s own brand of “acid” house is more correctly called “techno”, and – just as with house itself in Chicago, go-go in Washington DC, and even reggae in Jamaica – it’s another world force in music that has a hard time getting radio recognition in its own home town!… ‘Hittrax II’ by House Gang, reviewed last month, is proving hard to find on import although the LL Cool J-cutting ‘Cool J Trax’ acid hip hop mix is huge for those few who have it… Fourplay’s label (on their import reviewed this issue) bears the warning “Unauthorized reproduction will result in injury by the Original Gangsters Of Freestyle”!… ITV’s Tuesday evening series ‘King & Castle’ is largely filmed (the debt collectors’ office location) just a couple of corners from where I live, not necessarily a recommendation for the backwaters between Harlesden and Willesden although the neighbourhood is getting yuppified!… GET OFF!

Mr. Magic, the pioneering New York hip hop jock whose ‘Rap Attack’ radio show on WBLS was immortalised six years ago by Whodini in ‘Magic’s Wand’, is the presenter of a special promo-only cassette package that’s currently number one in every b boy’s wants list, ‘The Cold Chillin’ Power Hour‘. Housed with biographies and photos in a customised little folder, this features the Cold Chillin’ label’s artistes Biz Markie, Roxanne Shanté, Kool G Rapp, Big Daddy Kane, MC Shan and Marley Marl in a radio style presentation on one side, and neatly segued on the other. Strictly promotional, from the States!

PERRY DANIELS, the South London DJ responsible for Natalie Cole’s Motorway Mixes, has now similarly remixed Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King using records rather than master tapes (see REMIXES). He and producer partner King Enri do have full studio facilities, but — plug plug! — are available for further budget jobs on 01-690 6875. Perry can be caught mixing live at Westerham’s Grasshopper on Fridays and Sidcup’s Danielles on Saturdays … and if he still has the same female helper from his Technics UK Mixing appearance, it should be quite a show!

HOT VINYL

BRASS CONSTRUCTION ‘Movin’ 1988 (Extended Mix)’ (Syncopate 12SY 11)
Brilliantly remixed by Phil Harding, Randy Muller’s 12-year-oid classic demo disco groove is still jaggedly pushing but beefier and now as near as possible to steadily tempoed, at a fractionally fluctuating 0-121½-0bpm, flipped by a “whoa-oh whoa-oh” overdubbed 121⅔bpm Let’s All Chant Mix (nothing to do with Mick & Pat!). Sizzlin’.

THE TODD TERRY PROJECT ‘Bango (To The Batmobile)’ (Sleeping Bag Records HAKT 16, via Westside Records Ltd)
Huge on import, the Dinosaur L ‘Go Bang’-based girls chanted and giggled nervily skittering here 122⅔-0bpm house-ish racer (122⅓-0bpm Bonus Bang) is flipped by the controversial similar but easier ‘Back To The Beat‘, which samples and scratches all sorts of stuff through the washing machine beat of Reese & Santonio’s ‘The Sound’.

REESE & SANTONIO ‘Back To The Beat (with ‘The Sound’)’ (ffrr FFRX 7)
Setting the scene for another confusing sales split, in 2 Puerto Ricans ‘Do It Properly’ style, this Detroit techno team reply to the Todd Terry Project’s use of their ‘The Sound’ through ‘Back To The Beat’ by now recreating ‘Back To The Beat’ through Kevin (Reese) Saunderson’s ‘The Sound (Power Remix)’, a nervily bubbling 122¼-125-122¾bpm acid jitterer full of the same samples (flipped by Derrick May’s recent 123¼bpm ‘The Sound (Acid Remix)‘, from their ‘Bounce Your Body To The Box’ import B-side, and the brand new 0-122bpm ‘Rock To The Beat‘, like an effete Kraftwerk). Confused? Continue reading “May 21, 1988: “Detroit’s own brand of acid house is more correctly called techno””

May 14, 1988: M-D-Emm, James Brown, The Pasadenas, By All Means, Animal Nightlife

BEATS & PIECES

Due commercially on May 23, the freshly re-EQed full length soundtrack LP version of Rose Royce ‘Car Wash’ is 108(intro)-113-114-116-114½-115⅔-118-119-122(break)-120-123bpm, and the flip’s S-Express-like ‘Is It love You’re After’ 116-118-120-121⅓-121-116-120-121bpm (not a major news item in itself, but, what with telephone interruptions, that info took three quarters of on hour to calculate — so be grateful, people!)… Disco Mix Club’s subscription service mixes have always been eligible for our dance charts, given enough DJ support, but the first ever actually to hit The Club Chart are both from the ‘April 88 Mixes 1’ LP, Paul Dakeyne’s alternative 98-97⅚bpm remix of the Jackson 5’s ‘I Want You Back’, and Ben Liebrand’s rhythmically augmented 111⅓-0bpm Taja Sevelle ‘Love Is Contagious’ (emphasising the waltz tempo’s triple time beat) — subscription details for bona fide DJs on 06286-67276… Coldcut have produced their ‘Doctorin’ The House’ singer in her own right on the upcoming Yazz & The Planet Squeeze ‘Only Way Is Up‘… WEA’s man of the year has been winding up DJs with a white labelled ‘Illeagle Mix‘ that’s actually Nick Kamen’s ‘Tell Me’ given a juddering (0-)108-114-108⅓-107⅔-108-108⅓-108bpm bass bombing megamix by Camberley DJ Dave Roarty, sampling such as Dave & Ansell Collins, James Brown, Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Janet and Michael Jackson… T.U.F.F. (T.ested U.nder F.ull F.orce) ‘We’ve Got A Hot One For You‘, on Sonoscope promo, is yet another “Lady Penelope” started totally unoriginal ‘Thunderbirds’ scratching 0-120½-0bpm volume pumper — when will they ever end?… MC Jammy Hammy’s cries of “get off” and “not again”, as heard on LA Mix’s ‘Check This Out’, stem from the UK heats of the Technics Mixing Championships, when a certain degree of impatient intolerance on my part as a judge led to the coining of these catchphrases every time some unsuspecting DJ decided to scratch mix “this is a journey into sound”!… Les Adams’ ‘Luther In Love’ megamix, the side that’s been selling it, is evidently left off the flip of Luther Vandross’s new ‘I Gave It Up’ remix – likewise, ‘PO Box 2000’ is being left off the Brothers Johnson 12 inch here (to be replaced by their old ‘Ain’t We Funkin’ Now’)… Will Downing, whose current US single is the album version of ‘Sending Out An SOS‘, has totally remixed ‘In My Dreams’ as his UK follow-up… Guy’s members, as well as producer Teddy Riley, are lead singer Aaron Hall III and bass guitarist Timmy Gatling… RCA’s 12 inch club promos will soon have a new generic sleeve featuring a vertical list of Beats Per Minute figures, the appropriate one for the enclosed record being underlined (somehow in a tie-in with Technics turntables)… Club have picked up the underrated Click ‘Freq. Jam‘, one of the UK’s better acid trax… May Day bank holidays left me no time to BPM new LPs by the provocatively posing naked (and sex obsessed) Prince, back on romantic form Teddy Pendergrass, typically sophisticated Sade, and (on import) US radio-aimed Randy Hall, disappointingly downtempo Johnny Kemp… Dave Prater, the one time partner of Sam Moore in Sixties soul duo Sam & Dave, died last month in a car crash… New York’s B Boy Records has signed here to Westside Records, one of the first UK releases being a double LP distillation of three old Boogie Down Productions albums… Meli’sa Morgan’s June 18/19 London debut at the Hammersmith Odeon will be supported by saxist Najee… The Pasadenas follow an invitation-only preview this Thursday at London’s Ronnie Scott’s with a short tour around Wakefield’s Roof Top Saturday (May 14), Bristol’s Papillon Monday (16), Glasgow’s Cotton Club Friday (20), and Liverpool’s Quadrant Park Saturday (21)… DJs Brian G, Pete Funnel! and Rockie house/soul/rap/funk York’s hard and crucial Sweatbox every two weeks, this Saturday (and the second Saturday in each month) at the Windmill, followed on the last Friday of each month (starting May 27) at Keatons… Sunday (15), DJs Fat Tony, Dave Dorrell, Tim Westwood and more man a noon to midnight dance marathon of Hammersmith’s Le Palais to raise money for on AIDS hospice… Dartford’s Flicks raised £2,700 at its most recent charity allniter, all for local good causes… Tony Masters and Paul The Soul Man, plus guests, have a Sixties and Northern Soul alldayer at Torquay’s Coral Island Showbar this Sunday (15), noon-10.30pm… Chris Dinnis returns next Wednesday (18) to Boxes on Exeter’s Quay with Bob Smith for a “real soul” Humdinger 1 (£1 advance tickets on 0392-39477, after 5pm)… Mick Fuller funks upfront Mondays at Brighton’s Swifts, and Sundays at Hove’s Palmeira (pub hours)… Simon Dunmore, Jon Jules and Paul Warren are hard ‘n’ upfront weekly at the Tuesday Soul City in Greenford’s Greenford Hotel, on Uxbridge Road… Paul McBride souls and funks Belfast’s Wellington Park on Wednesdays, saying “We need as much plugging as possible for soul here in Belfast”… Portsmouth mixer Warren Aylward hosts a weekly Wednesday Goodgroove soul night at Southsea’s 5th Avenue… Jeff Thomas, of Swansea’s Martha’s Vineyard fame, also souls Thursdays at Merthyr Tydfil’s revamped The Kooler (formerly the Kirkhouse)… Martin Jay counts down The Club Chart from rm every Thursday at Lewisham’s Mid Kent Tavern… Tim Smith only ever seems able to slip soul records onto the air at Metro Radio over bank holidays, but at Newcastle upon Tyne’s Blue Monkey he has added a Klassix night on Thursday for oldies and rare grooves… Steve Cochrane, already ramming “Rick Astley and Madonna-free” Freestyle Mondays, has taken over Fridays as well at Harlow’s Highwire, with Rose Royce guesting this week (13)… Nick Power funks up Fridays at Braintree’s “wild style” Ice Club in the Essex Barn, and is slightly more commercial on Saturdays at Hatfield’s Partners… Mike Knight funks and hip hops Sundays at Aberdare’s Baverstocks Hotel… Damon Jay has moved from London’s Gullivers to join John Mayoh jocking at Wakefield’s Casanovas, mixing acid, funk, and soul Fri/Sat/Mon, and especially Wednesdays… Martin McSweeney, back in a club as resident jock at Rotherham’s Harveys Nightspot, is also busy producing a “jazz house” project… Disco Dave Singleton, still at Eccles The Rainbow after 11 years, has started an agency and (on 09252-6018) is after a pair of Manchester/Merseyside girls for a kiss-o-gram and go-go dancing work… South Wales DJ Steve Wiggins has his own Up-Front music column in the Barry & District News now… London’s Evening Standard last week ran a competition, “The Garage club was credited was being the birthplace of house music, in which American city?” — ignoring the fact that house was born at and named for the Warehouse in Chicago, one assumes they meant the Paradise Garage in New York!… I seem to be joined by many other readers in rating ‘Hooperman’ as the best new thing on TV: another creation of Stephen Bochco (of ‘Hill Street Blues’) with Terry Louise Fisher, the Sunday evening half hour series stars John Ritter (of ‘Three’s Company’) as a San Francisco police inspector and the delightful Debrah Farentino as his apartment block’s janitor, plus an enchanting little dog called Bijou… Chester Browton, from Selsey, suggests I might contribute to the rare groove craze by listing what I consider to be the best Seventies funk records never to break commercially — the trouble is, I really don’t remember the Seventies, they passed in a blur (however, if you want to know about the Sixties…!)… GET OFF!

HOT VINYL

M-D-EMM ‘Get Busy (It’s Partytime!)’ (Republic Records MDM001T, via Rough Trade)
From much the same stable as ‘Beat Dis’ and ‘S-Express’, this must be one of the next volume pumping crossover hits. Created primarily by Rough Trade’s Dave Lee (second left), DJ Mark Ryder (kneeling) and Mike Chill (right), with Lincoln Anderson and Caffy, it’s in three very different mixes, the Peoples Choice ‘Do It Any Way Ya Wanna’-ish chunkily routine 0-118¾bpm Club Mix (inspired also by Loleatta Holloway ‘Hit ‘N’ Run’, MFSB ‘Love Is The Message’ and the Salsoul Orchestra ‘You’re Just The Right Size’, without sampling any of them), the jazzier cool house 120¼-0bpm Busy House Mix (speeding up an old Black Heat riff), and —biggest in London — the rare grooves-like S-Express-ish 117¼bpm Body Action Mix, sampling phrases from the likes of Joeski Love, Cameo, Micronauts, Soul Sonic Force, Fatback Band, JR Funk, Jammers, B Boys, Trouble Funk, Sweet Tee, Johnny Dynell and MFSB (all the horns though being original, merely typifying the flavour of the period).

JAMES BROWN ‘I’m Real’ (US Scotti Bros 4Z9 07805)
“All you copycats out there get offa my chip”, shouts Mr Brown as he kicks into the first single from his eagerly awaited Full Force-produced LP, a deliberately archetypal 0-105½bpm jerky funk jitterer given modern transformer scratches and juddery edits (especially in the really fierce 105⅚-0bpm ‘Real (F.F. Hyped-Up Mix)‘ flip) while remaining basically the same old James Brown that all the copycats have so long admired.

THE PASADENAS ‘Tribute (Right On) (The Q Street Mix)’ (CBS PASA T1)
Pete Wingfield produced, Richie Rich remixed, terrific mushy hi-hat shushed Seventies style 0-107bpm jazz-funk jiggler with music history tracing vocals, by the old Finesse disco dance troupe, right on target for the latest retrogressing trend. Continue reading “May 14, 1988: M-D-Emm, James Brown, The Pasadenas, By All Means, Animal Nightlife”

May 7, 1988: James Brown, Emilio Pasquez, Guy, Whodini, L.A. Mix featuring MC Jammy Hammy

BEATS & PIECES

 PHIL HARDING’S 1988 remix of Brass Construction’s ‘Movin’’ is now promoed on Syncopate ahead of May 23 release — beefily evened out of a fractionally fluctuating 0-121½-0bpm, it’s flipped by a “whoa-oh, whoa-oh” punctuated 121⅔bpm Let’s All Chant Mix (nothing to do with Mick & Pat!)… Roxanne Shanté’s eagerly awaited Lyn Collins ‘Think’ (and thus ‘It Takes Two’) based 115⅔bpm ‘Go On Girl‘ has likewise been promoed by Breakout ahead of May 30 release, but is now available on the ‘Colors’ soundtrack LP (Warner Bros 925 713-1), full of sombre raps from which Salt-n-Pepa’s 0-97⅙bpm ‘Let The Rhythm Run‘ is the other liveliest newie… Jive have white labelled the Wee Papa Girl Rappers’ upcoming ‘Heat It Up‘, a jauntily jittering 0-115bpm chugger with a catchy “It’s like that, yeah, so heat it up” chorus… DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince’s excellent ‘He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper’ double LP is now out here, with a proper gatefold sleeve unlike in the States (Jive HIP 61), fully BPM-ed on import… ffrr’s version of ‘The Sound (Power Remix)’ will be credited to Reese & Santonio rather than Kevin Saunderson, and called ‘Back To The Beat’ (this line got left out last week) — meanwhile, the label has already serviced DJs with Kool Kat’s pressing of the Power Remix plus ‘The Groove That Won’t Stop’, flipped by the Exclusive Motor City Remix and Original Version of ‘The Sound’, just to add to the confusion!… DMC are offering three videos covering all the Technics mixing finals, UK (plus rapping) on Tape 1, World elimination heat on 2, and the Royal Albert Hall World final plus star-studded awards on 3 — details from 06286-67276… Steve Mason is updating the house and hip hop DJ mailing list at Club Preview UK, 6-9 Salisbury Promenade, Green Lanes, London N8 0RX (01-809 1460)… Ian Taylor’s new Eurobeat/Hi-NRG label is starting a DJ mailing list, Chartflow (UK), Mail Out Service, PO Box 29, London E2 9EX… Baad! Records owner DJ ‘Evil’ Eddie Richards has been promoting weekend PA’s by UK acts in Milan’s top clubs, which he finds to be very upfront with excellent scratch mix DJs — and in fact the best club there needs a UK mixing jock to work for six months (send Eddie a cassette of your live mixing for consideration, at 49 Drayton Road, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK2 3EL, or call 0908-647632 for further info)… Eddie, incidentally, has spotted that both the Jungle Brothers ‘Because I Got It like That‘ (picked up here by Ton Son Ton) and his own label’s Sindecut ‘Sindecuts Kickin Yeah!‘ (recorded last November) both use Sly & The Family Stone’s old ‘You Can Make It If You Try‘… Aldeoni E Dos Santos’ refreshingly different Brazilian house ‘How Many Sugars‘ has sadly been turned into a routine samples crammed 123¾-123⅔-122⅓bpm scratching jacker by Kevin Ford, due on May 23 as Dr K ‘T.D A. (How Many Sugars)‘ (still on IMW), remixed by Leigh Guest of Double Trouble with the ubiquitous Simon Goffe… ‘Tune In (Turn On The Acid House)‘ is yet another 0-128¾bpm UK acid effort that’s credited to Superman and promoed on DC Records Inc (oh yeah?) — but vinyl-etched references to the Greedy Beat Syndicate and Fon Force provide further clues! — with samples crammed 0-125bpm and muttering 0-126½bpm ‘Jack The Tab‘ B-side trax… Royal House’s new ‘Can You Party’ is of course basically a revamp of their earlier ‘Party People’… Mica Paris is already due this week for a Jolley Harris Jolley remix… Al B Sure! has followed ‘Nuit Et Jour’ by now recording a Spanish language version of ‘Nite And Day’, while Raze ‘Break 4 Love’ is for some strange reason also out here with Spanish, French and Italian language mixes (Champion CHAMP X12-67)!… Prince’s sister Tyka Nelson is making her recording debut on Cooltempo… Kool & The Gang’s lead singer on their big UK hits, James ‘JT’ Taylor is going solo… Alexander O’Neal’s US newie is a remixed ‘The Lovers’… Virgin have had promotional slipmats made plugging Well Red… “London’s top dance music store”, City Sounds about to be moving… Glenn Gunner from Camden Town’s Electric Ballroom (and Rayners Lane’s Record Centre) funks Brixton’s Fridge this Friday (May 6), when Hereward Radio soul presenter Steve Allen and Nick Graham start a weekly ‘credible’ dance night at Peterborough’s Millionaire Club… Derek B and Angie Winbush join Simon Goffe and Jasper next Wednesday (11) for a Fools Paradise special at Uxbridge Regals, filmed by BBC2’s new ‘Behind The Beat’ dance music series (which will have been featuring Mahesh Bajaj and Serious Records this coming Monday (9) at 7pm)… Netphase’s latest Caister Soul Weekender (the 21st under that name although with neither the same venue nor DJ team now) is next weekend, May 13/14/15, a few last minute places possibly being available on 01-367 9118 — so late on in the spring, this one could actually be quite summery!… Paul Williams and other South Wales ‘Taffia Mafia’ jocks put on a benefit night in Merthyr Tydfil’s Charbonnier’s this last Bank Holiday, to raise further money for the Christian Lewis Neuroblastoma Fund…

DANNY POKU — this week’s face behind the name on the label — is better known as Dancin’ Danny D, one of the UK’s major remixers. A big Leroy Burgess fan and one of the first to get into rare groove, Danny began jocking just over four years ago at Earls Court’s La Vie En Rose in London and often did nights at Gullivers too. As a remixer his best known label credits are for Loose Ends’ ‘Gonna Make You Mine’/’Slow Down’/’Nights Of Pleasure’, Gwen Guthrie’s ‘Rent’, Timex Social Club’s ‘Rumors’, Nitro Deluxe’s ‘This Brutal House’, Total Contrast’s ‘Jody’, Living In A Box’s ‘Bootleg Mix’/’Love Is The Art’, Kid’N Play’s ‘Do This My Way’ and Eric B & Rakim’s ‘I Know You Got Soul’, while as a producer he was behind DSM’s ‘Warrior Groove’ and the current Taurus Boyz. Having been its club plugger for a while, he’s now UK label manager of Cooltempo — nice work if you can get it!

HOT VINYL

JAMES BROWN ‘Payback (The Final Mixdown)’ (Urban URBA 17)
Norman Cook and Streets Ahead’s brilliant totally new 0-110⅙-0bpm megamix is even more compulsively danceable, ironing out the rough spots as it smoothly integrates all that it uses to a continuous ‘Funky Drummer’ beat — without any boring ‘Sex Machine’, too! This is soul power! Norman’s older Funky Drummer Remix of ‘She’s The One’ also replaces ‘Stone To The Bone’ on the flip.

EMILIO PASQUEZ ‘Sounds From The Pink Sandbox (Batman)’ (WEA YZ180T)
Previously reviewed as a presumed bootleg, this ‘Bango (To The Batmobile)’-ish ‘Batman’ soundtrack quoting lively simple scratching 120-0bpm bass bombed chugger (acid instrumental ‘Do It Again Emilio‘ flip) turns out to be — as exclusively revealed last week — the secret work of Bomb The Bass and S-Express co-producer, Gabriel Pascal!

GUY ‘Groove Me’ (US Uptown Records MCA-23852)
Hot producer Teddy Riley’s own group debuts in superb Keith Sweat style, cutting the organ from ‘The Champ’ to a mellow 0-108bpm slinky soul vocal jiggler (in four mixes). The song is brand new, nothing to do with King Floyd (or Fern Kinney)! Continue reading “May 7, 1988: James Brown, Emilio Pasquez, Guy, Whodini, L.A. Mix featuring MC Jammy Hammy”

April 30, 1988: Ten City, True Mathematics, Prince, Soul II Soul, Royal House

BEATS & PIECES

EMILIO PASQUEZ turns out to be the creator of that ‘Batman’-based ‘Sounds From The Pink Sand Box (Volume 3)‘ mystery “yellow label”, due now for full release on WEA credited to Emilio — but in reality (as ‘Beat Dis’ label copy readers might by now have guessed!) this is the pseudonym of Bomb The Bass producer and S-Express member, studio engineer Pascal Gabriel… Jon Williams is moving from Jive in three weeks to run the Club label at Phonogram — meanwhile, his limited edition white label Wee Papa Girl Rappers ‘Faith 1’ remix, incorporating George Michael, has been changing hands for £50 as if it was a bootleg, demand is so intense, although his latest white label remix will eventually get full release, the 0-112½-0bpm ‘Play It Again Sam‘ (Jive JP 1) being in fact Samantha Fox’s current Full Force produced ‘Naughty Girls Need Love Too’ US hit with her vocals stripped off and volume pumping samples added!… E.U. ‘Da’Butt’ has also been in great demand (catching importers on the hop) following Chris Hill’s success with it at Prestatyn, and isn’t out here until the end of May… MCA have acquired Rose Royce ‘Is It Love You’re After’ (S-Express’s inspiration) from the old Whitfield label to be the flip of ‘Car Wash’, merely re-EQed rather than remixed… Break Boys ‘And The Break Goes On’ is being rushed here next week on Hardcore, while Todd Terry Project ‘Bango (To The Batmobile)’ will finally be on Morgan Khan’s new US-licensed Fresh/Sleeping Bag Records logo — however, this latter may not be without problems, as previously reported, because the flip’s ‘Back To The Beat’ borrowed ‘The Sound’ and now London will be issuing Kevin (Reese) Saunderson’s tit-for-tat ‘The Sound (Power Remix)‘ and ‘Rock The Beat’!… Do It Properly?… Leigh Guest, sole remaining member of the Double Trouble remixing team, has signed exclusively to Serious Records as a megamixer, while ex-partners Damon Rochefort and Mike Morrison are starting their own GRC (General Recording Company) label along the lines of Serious with a ‘House Music Vol 1‘ compilation its first release… Taurus Boyz has apparently been totally revamped by Dancin’ Danny D… Tyree ‘Acid Over’, the only real “acid track” on ffrr’s ‘Acid Tracks’ compilation, is due at last as a remixed white label… Essex mixer Mark Ryder, as tipped months ago, has teamed with Rough Trade’s music expert Dave Lee and partner Mike Chill to create M-D-Emm ‘Get Busy (It’s Partytime)’, due fully on May 9, another volume pumping bass bomber but in three very different versions, the routine 0-118¾bpm Club Mix, cooler 120¼-0bpm Busy House Mix, and rare grooves jammed more ‘S-Express’-style 117¼bpm Body Action Mix (the one that’s biggest in London)… Limelight DJ Hamish MacDonald is masquerading as ZPL on the very S-Express-type bass bombing 0-112¼-0bpm ‘Disco’, promoed now but not due on Jive until June… Pebbles’ follow-up has already been promoed, ‘Mercedes Boy‘, a jittery lurching 114⅔bpm canterer that I still consider is Madonna-pitched pop… Georgio’s as yet unscheduled follow-up is the hi-hat hissed simple striding wriggly 116¾bpm ‘Bedrock‘, with scratchy brass… I got the spelling wrong in my warning, but in case you still don’t realise, the ponderously chugging juddery (0-)103⅚bpm Myk ‘Mr Heartache’ is in reality Kim Wilde with Junior… Annette Taylor ‘It Must Be Right’, new last week on import, is already promoed here on Cooltempo… The JAMs’ newie is now credited instead to The KLF, and called ‘Burn The Beat‘ (club side) with ‘Burn The Bastards‘ the Scottish accented ‘Dance To The Music’ side, both still 0-120½-0bpm… New York’s black radio DJ Hal Jackson (see the Robbie Vincent caption) was already a veteran star of WWRL when in 1964 I went to his testimonial all-dayer at Harlem’s Rockland Palace Ballroom where amongst others I met Dizzy Gillespie, Arthur Prysock, Tony Bennett, Babs Gonales, Eddie Jefferson, the Four Seasons… Brook Benton, the chocolate voiced soulster best remembered for his Fifties and Sixties hits, sadly died earlier this month… James Brown was probably generalising when he said he’d influenced the Beatles amongst other unlikely UK groups, but even so his egocentric appearance on Robbie Vincent’s excellent Radio 1 soul show from New York seems to have hurt his credibility, younger listeners, finding him out of touch… Tony Blackburn is sampled saying ‘OK gang, what do you think, is this a load of garbage?’ on the M|A|R|R|S/Bomb The Bass sending up 0-109⅔bpm Star Turn On 45 Pints ‘Pump Up The Bitter (Brutal Mix)‘ (Pacific DRINK 1)… Mick & Pat’s video features, in the background, Mike Stock on keyboards, Matt Aitken on bass and Pete Waterman – or is that A Linn? – on drums (however, I think another more fully produced alternative video may have replaced this by now)… Portsmouth label Domino Records have stickered last year’s weedy 121¾bpm remake of The Michael Zager Band ‘Let’s All Chant’ (DOM 6T) as the “original hit version” — which it isn’t, so be warned… WEA’s man of the year has sent jocks an import 12 inch of John White ‘Victim‘ (US Geffen Records 0-20798), on Alexander O’Neal-type jolting jogger still in its old 102¾bpm LP Version… Ray Keith, Dave Malone, Guy Palmer and Turbo get def/rare/soulful at Sudbury (Suffolk) Jades this Thursday (April 28)… Friday (29) finds Stu Banks and Max Rees bombing the house at Harston Village Hall in Cambridgeshire, and Gilles Peterson guesting with Steve Wren and Les Knott at Harlow Monroes’ weekly Toejammer… Mike Allin is joined at Milton Keynes’ The Point by Wee Papa Girl Rappers on Saturday (30), when Nicky Holloway’s threatened last “Doo” ever is at Streatham Ice Rink with Pete Tong, Gilles Peterson and the usual crew… Gt Yarmouth Tiffanys’ Sunday (May 1) 6-12pm Beach Ball stars Chris Hill, Pete Tong, Gilles Peterson, Chrissie Jackson, Nicky Holloway, Eddie Gordon, Paul Dakeyne, Bob Jones, Danny Smith, Craig & Marcus… Bank Holiday Monday (2) then finds Chris Hill, Pete Tong, Jeff Young, Chris Brown, Kev Hill and Froggy at Portsmouth Ritzy’s all-dayer, Liverpool Mardi Gras Club having its fifth monthly No Sell Out up-front funk-up, Clinton Cambridge spinning compact disc soul at Uxbridge’s free admission The Villa Venue Bar and Tim Westwood, Graeme Park, Simon Goffe, Tony Dortie, Paul French at Gillingham The Avenue’s Soul Stew (publicity for which was sent me actually stuck around a can of Campbell’s Chicken Stew — delicious, if a bit runny!)… Tony Jenkins still needs a few more PAs (on 0895-73486) to help ram jam another Up West night at London’s Hippodrome next Wednesday (4)… Graeme Park wants to be known as a Nottingham DJ, which is where he lives, but as the only regular gig amidst his globe-trotting seems to be in Derby, a “Derby DJ” he’ll remain until he can prove otherwise!… GET OFF!

ROBBIE VINCENT, sitting in for Jeff Young this Friday (April 29) on Radio 1’s 7-10pm dance show (with Les Adams creating a special megamix), so impressed the locals during his own recent live broadcast from New York that Hal Jackson, the veteran black radio jock there and current owner of the Apollo, has invited him to do a show live at that world famous Harlem theatre!

TIMMY REGISFORD —returning to the faces behind the names on the labels — was born in Trinidad but has lived longer now in New York, where he’s had a Saturday night show on WBLS since 1983 while becoming famous internationally as a remixer of countless dance hits, and producer of such as Colonel Abrams (partnered initially by Boyd Jarvis, with whom he shared the short lived Fleetwood label). Having worked also for Atlantic, he currently heads MCA Records’ New York A&R department.

HOT VINYL

TEN CITY ‘Right Back To You’ (US Atlantic 0-86574)
The fastest selling import in a while (on the heels of the enduring ‘Devotion’, this Marshall Jefferson and Byron Stingily-created surging episodic bounder has Sylvester-style vocals in Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley’s 120bpm Extended Mix or is instrumental in Marshall Jefferson’s trumpet led excellent 119¾bpm NY Mix, while as an even longer and equally good coupling there’s the Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk mixed rollingly pattering jittery 104bpm ‘One Kiss Will Make It Better (House Mix)‘ – not that the latter soul track is “house” at all. With over 27 minutes of music on the import 12 inch, WEA’s problem here will be what to include on the UK pressing, limited by chart rules to just 20 minutes. You’ll get it all if you buy this now!

TRUE MATHEMATICS ‘K.A.O.S.S.’ (Champion CHAMP 12-76)
On UK promo for some time but pipped to the post in sales terms last week by the import pressing on Select (which ought to teach Champion, who always promo things too long!), this Hank Shocklee co-produced obviously Public Enemy-ish KC & The Sunshine Band ‘That’s The Way (I Like It)’-cutting 104bpm busily juddering jittery rap is double AA-sided (instrumentals too) with the electronically compressed “telephone call”-like rapped lethargically jiggling 99bpm ‘For The Money‘, set to a James Brown sampling variation on the old ‘Bo Diddley’ beat.

PRINCE ‘Alphabet St. (Album Version)’ (Paisley Park Records W7900T)
Idiosyncratic as ever though funkier than usual, the purple prancer’s latest is a starkly percussive jerky rambling 104⅔bpm choppy jitterer, with a psychedelically expanded 0-104⅔bpm This Is Not Music, This Is A Trip dub. Continue reading “April 30, 1988: Ten City, True Mathematics, Prince, Soul II Soul, Royal House”

April 23, 1988: The dance charts explained, James Brown, Run-D.M.C., Derek B, Grandmaster Flash, Coco Steel And Lovebomb

BEATS & PIECES

ANDY PHIPPEN, it can now be revealed, has bought and already moved into the old Summit Records shop, newly renamed Rhythm Inn, at 79 Praed Street by London s Paddington Station, his Rayners Lane assistant (and star DJ in his own right) Jerry Green moving there too… Soho, meanwhile, is fast becoming a battleground between rival dance music record shops, the latest to open there (at 47 Beak Street) being a larger branch of Jim Milton’s Brixton-based Red Records… Tim Simenon is starting his own Bubble Bunch label, primarily for DJ pressings in the manner of Coldcut’s original Ahead Of Our Time concept, although it will also release his Bomb The Bass follow-up, ‘Megablast‘ (based on ‘Bambaataa’s Theme‘)… Pressure as a label name has already been used here, so MCA Dance will now be the self explanatory new name of Adrian Sykes’ operation… London’s GEE st Records, and indeed G Records, are maybe surprisingly named after an actual Gee Street where the labels and their studio are based, only a block away from rm’s typesetters near the Barbican… Serious Records have rush released Trax Records’ Various Artists ‘Acid Tracks‘ LP (DRUG 1), the semi-compilation with Mr Lee, Armando, Townsell and Phuture Pfantasy Club on one side and Jack Frost And The Circle Jerks on the other — reputedly, Jack Frost’s side (four tracks in all) only took one hour to record, which doesn’t sound unreasonable considering that Ca Sa’s ’15 Minutes’ is apparently titled after the time it took to create!… Les Adams has remixed Penthouse 4 with a modern beefier house sound, and Phil Harding’s remix of Brass Construction ‘Movin’’ shouldn’t upset purists, beefing up the beat considerably while maintaining the original groove… Streets Ahead has already remixed Roxanne Shanté’s ‘Go On Girl’, although the original mix isn’t due here on Breakout until May 16 (the similarity to Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock ‘It Takes Two’ is remarkable, but both do use Lyn Collins’ ‘Think (About It)’ as their basis)… Alan Coulthard, amongst the April 88 Mixes on Disco Mix Club, created an excellent megamix of S-Express with — not surprisingly! — Rose Royce ‘Is It Love You’re After’ and ‘RR Express’… ‘Theme From S-Express’ reminds WEA’s man of the year, Fred Dove, also of an old US hit which was promoed here on Atlantic but never released, Spin ‘We Sacrifice‘, but Mark Moore tells me that although he knows somewhere he must have the record, he can’t remember it and is not conscious of any similarities… Pedro ‘Goodfootin’’ is indeed English, will be distributed here in five or so weeks by Rough Trade and does use the Sly & Robbie-created unreleased James Brown backing track that briefly turned up as a Beat Freaks B-side!… PP Arnold sings lead on the Beatmasters’ upcoming ‘Burn It Up‘… Steve Walsh lookalike, DJ Shuggy Jock Master Scratch from Edinburgh’s Zenatec, now has a weekly Saturday 8-9pm Dance Music Chart Show on Radio Forth — you may remember my detailing his earlier megamix use of the Scottish country dance track, ‘Trio’, from an Andrew Rankine & His Band LP on Emerald/Gem, which he now finds fits exactly into the break of Rick Astley’s ‘Together Forever’, after which ‘Marie’s Wedding’ from the some LP then goes over the break of Rick’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ — hoots mon!… Mike Shaft’s official audience figures for his Saturday 8-11pm on BBC Radio Manchester beat commercial rival Piccadilly Radio three to one during the same slot… Glenn Gunner is yet another London club DJ, together with partner Jagz, to create a typically simple — and, in this case, US-style — acid house track, Trance ‘Sound Of The Future’… Glenn Gunner plus Andy Collins and Lee Drummond party hardy at Ealing’s Broadway Boulevard this Thursday when Carl Cox and the Rhino Boys — or could that be rm’s own Rhino Bros? — start funking and scratching Brighton’s Night Fever… James King, here for Up North Promotions’ April 22/23/24 Blackpool Soul Weekend (last minute enquiries on 091-389 0317), is also singing his soul at Birtley’s Liberty’s this Friday (22), Gt Yarmouth’s Macmillans Club Sunday (24)… Saturday (23) the Harlow DJ All Stars – Tony Poole, Terry Munro, Les Knott, Ashley Tyrell, Richard Hookham, Mark Jones – jazz-soul a charity Funk De Mambo night at Harlow’s Kingsmoor Recreation Centre in Paringdon Road… Defhouse Sixteen is a first anniversary bash at Birkenhead’s Atmosphere on Monday (25), with Desa, Kenni James and Dave Ralph introducing T-Cut-F, 52nd Street, Twin-Beat and Wee Papa Girl Rappers – meanwhile, Defhouse Seventeen is already set for Bank Holiday Monday, May 2… Cooltempo’s ‘Fierce Tour’ with Kid’N Play, NT Gang, Taurus Boyz and Julian Jonah collides with Jeff Thomas on Monday (25) at Swansea’s Martha’s Vineyard… Greg Wilson is returning to his 1982-84 haunt, Manchester’s Legend, for a one-off nostalgic electrophonic phunk revival next Wednesday (27), playing Peech Boys, Sinnamon, Soul Sonic Force, and indeed all the stuff that I too enjoyed playing during the same era in London at Gullivers… Charly has gained UK rights to such US salsa labels as Fania, Tico, Vaya and Cotique, so you can expect lots of Latin compilations… Nini ‘Instant Attitude’, the Janet-ish cranker reviewed on import last week, is here 115bpm on Move & Groove Records (12GMT 5)… Jackie Jackson of Smith & Mighty used to sing backing sessions for Peter Gabriel… Manchester DJ George Andrew’s distinctive writing has been missing from our chart returns since last summer, with good reason as he’s now in Canada, jocking on top of Toronto’s CN Tower in Sparkles, the highest nightclub in the world!… Breakout will at last soon be releasing here, back to back, the Stock Aitken Waterman-produced old Hi-NRG hits, EG Daily’s ‘Love In The Shadows’/’Mind Over Matter’… I find it strange, considering rm prints a Hi-NRG Top 50 now, that I am still not sent for review some of the Hi-NRG “hits” that do come out here – don’t the little record companies concerned want proper coverage and the chance to expand their market, especially in the current national Top 20 climate?… GET OFF!

EMBARRASSING MOMENTS at Prestatyn, Number Two! During the last day’s grand finale it was suddenly thought that a good idea would be, after all this time, to revive McFadden & WhItehead’s ‘Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now’ — but nobody had a copy until Radio 1’s dance music DJ JEFF YOUNG dipped into his record box and pulled out the entire series of DM/StreetSounds’ ‘Anthems’ albums (which of course contain it and all the other great weekender clichés)! I wonder what this photo’s worth to label owner, Morgan Khan?

SIMON HARRIS gets small y’all, in front of the London scratch mix posse of (l to r) DJ POGO, CUTMASTER SWIFT and STREETS AHEAD, in the house at Prestatyn.

MARK KAMINS, the legendary New York DJ who really discovered Madonna, is in fact SHEIK FAWAZ, whose ‘Mohamed’s House’ hit contains samples of the now dead female Egyptian singing star Sabba, amongst others, that he used to play for atmospheric effect of Harem.

DANCE CHARTS

Some explanation of the way in which rm’s dance charts are compiled is possibly in order, to satisfy the enquiries of several readers.

All are based on DJ’s chart returns, which are meant to reflect perceived floor reaction, but, as we realise that it’s obviously impossible to categorise exactly in a ranked order just how big each record is on the floor, we interpret the DJ’s chart positions into general bands of acceptance by way of a points system. We give seven points for number one, six for Top Five, five for Top 10, four for Top 15, and three for anything lower than that — this being because a conventional inverse points rating would be impractical as we get chart returns ranging from a Top 10 to a Top 50 or more, 20 or 30 positions however being the preferred norm.

Once all this is worked out, a very carefully (and secretly!) formulated sales factor is added to The Club Chart, to ensure that the most recent weekend’s big sellers are included, on the reasonable supposition that, if so many DJs have bought them, the records are likely to have been played as well! In practice, though, it really is only the biggest sellers that enter the chart in this way, by far the major contribution to chart movement overall being DJs’ input — however, thanks to the inevitable time lag caused by mail and compilation delays, the DJs’ reactions obviously relate to club plays at the very least a week before The Club Chart is printed, and sales input is needed to “sweeten” the finished result, keeping it up to date.

The formula is consistently shown to work (it’s uncanny the number of times that DJs’ points have matched previous, first, week’s sales points to the exact number!), my only regret that, as the chart is so scrupulously honest in its compilation, it often seems slow moving (especially in comparison with such ‘playlist’-style listings as Tim Jeffery’s Cool Cuts). One reason why the chart is a Top 100 is to give all the records that are happening a chance to show up somewhere, though, frustratingly at the moment, a number of actual sellers are often kept out even of the 100 by non-selling promos that have merely been serviced to chart-returning DJs for free. Still, just because DJs are buying a record it isn’t necessarily going to prove a floor-filler when they play it, so I reckon everything works out fairly.

The Pop Dance, Scottish Dance and Hi-NRG charts are compiled in same way, but without any sales and to an earlier deadline, by just Alan Jones (who does the preliminary work on The Club Chart, which I complete over the weekend). DJs returning to us should note that we need your charts by Wednesday every week, so please post them if possible no later than Monday, to James Hamilton/Alan Jones, RM, Spotlight Publications, Greater London House, Hampstead Road, London NW1 7QZ. We ourselves do not supply printed chart forms, so use your own paper — and, please, be honest in assessing floor reaction.

HOT VINYL

JAMES BROWN ‘The Payback Mix — Keep On Doing What You’re Doing But Make It Funky’ (Urban URBX 17)
Originally titled on promo as ‘Coldcut Meets The Godfather’ but finally out commercially with all mention of Coldcut totally removed, Matt Black and Jonathan More instead being credited just on the sleeve as its mixers, this brilliant 0-110⅙(most of it)-109(final ‘Sex Machine’)-113-110½-0bpm megamix of Mr Brown and associated acts is already a massive dancefloor smash, coupled now with 1973’s sinuously jiggling 101-100½-99½-98⅓bpm ‘Stone To The Bone’, 1969’s relentlessly thrashing and screaming 117-115⅔-114-115⅔-114⅔-113⅔-116-114bpm ‘Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose’ (in a remix), and 1967’s classic brassily chugging 111⅔-113-111⅔-113-112⅓-113bpm ‘Cold Sweat‘ (which’ll always remind me of driving through the Texas desert with it blaring from the radio, as “the brand new sound of Brown in our town, mama, layin’ it down pound by pound — my, my, my!”). Norman Cook and Streets Ahead’s ‘The Final Mixdown‘ revamp of the A-side is also apparently due this week, though surely seems unlikely quite so soon?

RUN-D.M.C. ‘Run’s House’ (London LONX 177)
Worth the wait as more def and fresh than their latterday pop output, this rebellious 0-99⅙bpm angry shouter is coupled with the much more excitingly scratched 103bpm ‘Beats To The Rhyme‘ (instrumentals too), though both may of course prove too juddery and hard for their pop fans. Tough!

DEREK B ‘Bad Young Brother (Billy Beat Remix)’ (Tuff Audio DRKB 112)
Really fiercely scratched hard and heavy 100⅔bpm rap judderer, bowing in his own Phonogram-distributed label, another that’s concerned more with regaining street credibility among the b boy rebels rather than pop fans (excellent Bad Young Dub, and a 99⅚-0bpm remix by Steve Ett too, all at 33⅓pm). Continue reading “April 23, 1988: The dance charts explained, James Brown, Run-D.M.C., Derek B, Grandmaster Flash, Coco Steel And Lovebomb”

April 16, 1988: Prestatyn ‘Pres Jam’ report, The Break Boys, Narada, Pedro, E.U., DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

BEATS & PIECES

Streets Ahead and Norman Cook will be following Coldcut’s ‘Payback Mix’ with a James Brown mix of their own… Rose Royce trendily much revived ‘Car Wash’ is being reissued in a new, slightly augmented, re-edit… Germany based Brian Carter’s latest box set is, unbelievably, a five LP/bonus 12 inch, 41 track compilation of the ultra-rude Blowfly ‘X-Rated’ (BCM Records BC 70-20 69-49, also available as a CD three-pack, BC 50-20 69-42), with a T-shirt included too, the point about the “Blowfly” alter ego of soul singer Clarence Reid being that he puts totally obscene new lyrics to well known hits!… Robbie Vincent’s 7.30-10pm soul show on Radio 1 this Saturday (April 16) comes live from New York City, with James Brown, Randy Muller, Timmy Regisford and other superstar guests promised!… BBC2-TV’s music investigating ‘Behind The Beat’ series, starting later this month, filmed some strangely chosen bits of the Prestatyn weekender, just on the opening night… Nitro Deluxe’s name was printed in the Prestatyn programme as ‘Intro Deluxe’, which actually sounds quite good, doesn’t it?… Jimmy Castor’s unexpected appearance at Prestatyn was a big thrill for me — I was able to meet him at last, and tell him that 21 years ago (as a fan of his first ‘Hey Leroy‘ hit) I had actually rung his door bell in the Bronx, but he was out!… Cutmaster Swift and DJ Pogo (both of Technics mixing fame) made sure they were standing dead centre of the stage front to watch the Cold Chillin’ acts at Prestatyn… Steve Walsh, a first time visitor to any LiveWire weekender, was well impressed during his brief Saturday night stay, but evidently couldn’t take the pace and passed out cold in a chair, this year’s prime “zonked on house” victim!… Steve, incidentally, turns out to be the producer of Julian Jonah, and behind the UK release of Cappella… I must admit to not originally being bowled over by LA Mix’s upcoming samples-crammed 117⅓-0bpm ‘Check This Out‘ (despite being sampled myself on the flip!), but it really was one of the few newies that cut through the crowd at Prestatyn, thanks in large part to its Serious Intention ‘You Don’t Know’-derived hookline… Peterborough’s jammin’ Steve Jason has started a Friday 6.35-10pm dance music show on Hereward Radio 102.7fm, reflecting rm’s various club charts… Tim Westwood heads up the weekly Sunday 3-8pm Illin for under-18s at Brixton’s Fridge… Motown’s upcoming new Hits Of Gold seven inch back-to-back reissue series will include the Jackson 5 ‘ABC’/’The love You Save’, and a useful coupling of the vintage Contours ‘Do You Love Me’ (one of the all-time party stormers) with Barrett Strong ‘Money’ (the hit that kicked off Motown)… TV’s ‘Falcon Crest’ last week featured ‘Twist And Shout’ during a party scene, using an ancient LP version by the Miracles!… Mahesh Bajaj, amidst making staff changes at Serious Records (could future remixes be by Single Trouble?), had all his business files stolen from his car while parked outside the Wag Club — so bear with him if there’s a hiccup in communications… Gregg Diamond & Bionic Boogie’s ‘Fess Up To The Boogie’ B-side isn’t quite as fast as printed, only 117bpm!… Capital Radio’s chanting Mick Brown made his UK Top 100 debut as part of the Monty MCs ‘Holiday Rap (With A Capital C)’… Kim Wilde is masquerading on a current clubs-mailed promo as “Mick” (another whistle blown!)… Stock Aitken Waterman won a staggering 11 Ivor Novello Awards at last week’s luncheon… Dance Aid launches its 1988 charity appeal in a businesslike way with a gala luncheon of its own on May 26 (Thursday) at London’s Metropole Hotel, with guest speakers from the disco music industry (£45 ticket info on 01-607 8311)… World Class Wreckin Cru ‘Turn Off The Lights‘, here the B-side to Sargent Tucker, is the first US Hot 100 hit ever to chart in Billboard as only a 12 inch, with no seven inch available… Salt-n-Pepa ‘Push It’ has won a gold disc in the US, the first single to do so this year despite peaking at only number 19 in Billboard’s radio playlist (rather than sales) orientated Hot 100, yet more proof of how false a picture that chart gives — because of the tune’s essentially instrumental nature, easy to talk over, it received far more radio airplay than was reported… GET OFF!

LIVEWIRE’s Prestatyn team were (L to R) Kev Hill, Johnny Walker, Chrissie Jackson, Chris Brown, Nicky Holloway, Paul Oakenfold, WEA’s Fred Dove, Ian Redding, Froggy, Jeff Young, Chris Hill, Robbie Vincent, LiveWire boss Adrian Webb, Cooltempo’s Steve Wolfe, Maggot, Pete Tong and (front) Chris Forbes, while Gilles Peterson, Eddie Gordon and Tim Westwood somehow missed the photocall!

PRES JAM, as LiveWire’s Prestatyn soul weekender seems now to be called, went without a hitch over Easter on its third visit to the North Wales Pontins holiday camp. If the DJs’ choice of hip hop, house, Seventies oldies, jazz and (mainly on the closed circuit radio/TV) soul seemed predictably safe and rather low key, this appeared not to disappoint the crowd, who apparently never grew tired of ‘I Want You Back’ whether it was by Jackson 5 or Eric B & Rakim! Sadly, though, this weekender has become a time of musical entrenchment rather than experimentation, maybe because, thanks to current recording techniques, not many unknown newies have the power to cut through on first hearing in a large room.

Amongst the many star PAs, I really felt for Nitro Deluxe, who only has 10 per cent sight and was led on stage for what should have been a three minute slot, which he kept lengthening because — who can blame him — he probably had the greatest audience response he’ll ever have in his life. Terry Billy so enjoyed herself that she spent the entire weekend, up all night with the best of ’em! Wee Papa Girl Rappers were hanging out, too, but Simon Harris was crestfallen at being booed on stage, mainly, he thinks, because his record kept jumping. At least he was working live, whereas everyone else used a cassette — and, anyway, surely his friendship with Public Enemy gives him credibility even if he is in the top 20?

Capital Radio’s Tim Westwood made the journey just to introduce (in impressively full effect) the disappointingly rather ragged Cold Chillin’ crew of scolding shrill Roxanne Shanté, boringly striding and shouting MC Shan and Big Daddy Kane and — easily the standout — Biz Markie. His opening human beatbox demonstration, impersonating Doug E Fresh and the Fat Boys before putting the mic against his neck and even the top of his head to amplify his own style, was terrifically exciting, capped by the appearance of TJ Swan to rap ‘Make The Music With Your Mouth, Biz’.

Chubby young Al B. Sure! put on a squirming performance before the main Easter Sunday event, Joyce Sims’ first ever live gig anywhere with a backing band, which proved to be interesting as, when you consider she pits her distinctively plaintive vocal pitch against Mantronik’s electronic rhythms when recording, the live percussion turned ‘All And All’ into a Latin tune!

Her new US single, the revival of Barbara Acklin’s swinging ‘Love Makes A Woman’, as it does on record, featured the surprise guest appearance of Jimmy Castor (‘The Everything Man’) on sax, a highlight for those who knew what was happening. Pres Jam 4 is over the Guy Fawkes weekend of November 4/5/6 (booking details on 01-364 1212), so fireworks are a foregone conclusion, while heavily hinted as the star live attraction is — wait for it — Frankie Beverly and Maze! Whoosh!

HOT VINYL

THE BREAK BOYS ‘And The Break Goes On (The Original Freestyle Groove)’ (US Fourth Floor Records FF 1090)
Tommy Musto co-created terrific frantically exciting 119bpm percussive ‘Set It Off’-ish throbber based heavily on George Kranz’s ‘Din Daa Daa’, but a real journey into sound too, in six mixes (118¾bpm And The Dub Goes On), sure to be huge!

NARADA ‘Divine Emotions (Remix)’ (Reprise W7967T)
Pronounced now as “NAR-da”, Michael Walden returns in his own right with a great loose limbed 117⅓pm smacking strider like an updated cross between D Train and his old ‘Tonight I’m Alright’ style (Single Mix, and tightly lurching 111½bpm ‘Tighter‘ too, the good 117⅙-0bpm Dub Mix being due here on later pressings).

PEDRO ‘Goodfootin’’ (B.U.M. UM 001)
Nothing to do with either of the possible Pedros, Waterman and Tong, the latest bootleg styled, though doubtless later to be proved legal, “scam” is an infectious jerkily chugging 0-109⅓bpm shuffler sampling James Brown’s voice – to what could possibly be the Sly & Robbie backing track to the unreleased JB session that you may remember snuck out briefly as an ultra-rare ‘Beat Freaks’ B-side (Dub Mix flip), rather good.

E.U. ‘Da’Butt’ (US EMI-Manhattan 56083)
A massive US black hit (from Spike Lee’s ‘School Daze’ movie) but largely unknown here until Chris Hill brought a copy home from the States, this Marcus Miller-produced jauntily bumping go go jiggler proved to be one of the few newies that really cut through the crowd at Prestatyn, thanks to its “when you feel that notion put your backfield in motion” and “sexy sexy” chants, in 97bpm Extended Soundtrack, 97⅙-97½bpm Radio, and jerkily edited dubwise 96⅓-97½bpm B-Boy Mixes (Radio Edit too). Continue reading “April 16, 1988: Prestatyn ‘Pres Jam’ report, The Break Boys, Narada, Pedro, E.U., DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince”

April 9, 1988: Gregg Diamond & Bionic Boogie, Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, J.V.C.F.O.R.C.E., Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Al B. Sure!

BEATS & PIECES

1987 UK mixing champ, M|A|R|R|S member CJ Mackintosh has also transformer scratched on Nasty Rox Inc’s bass pumping jiggly go-go-tempoed 0-100bpm ‘Escape From New York’, using Chuck Brown’s ‘I Need Some Money’, promoed now and due commercially (in a different mix) on ZTT at the end of the month… Jay Strongman, scratching with Gene And Jim Are Into Shakes, has been jocking at a warehouse party in, of all places, Moscow – using one deck, a cassette machine, and the 20 records he was allowed through customs!… Capital Radio’s Help A London Child charity-boosting DJ Duo, chanting Mick Brown and Pat Sharp, are pleased to be in any chart, but somehow hadn’t anticipated that the first one they’d hit would be Hi-NRG!… Rick Astley’s original recording partner, Lisa Fabien (remember their ‘Where You Gonna?’ as Rick & Lisa?) is due to make her own solo debut with the Stock Aitken Waterman-produced ‘Better Than Ever’… Rayners Lane’s Andy Phippen made a premature announcement of his retirement from record retailing, as in a swift turn of events he’s about to set up shop in a bigger way than ever at an already established more central London location, about which my lips are temporarily sealed!… DJ Jazzy Jeff & The French Prince’s new import ‘He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper’ double LP, which I’ve had no time to review yet so check The Club Chart for BPMs, includes a “bonus scratch album” of live jams… Kool Moe Dee’s newie, due next week, is the Cameo-style rolling slinky 0-93-0bpm ‘Wild Wild West’, complete with spaghetti western whistling… Derek B’s follow-up, on his own Tuff Audio label through Phonogram on April 18, is the fiercely scratching much harder ‘Bad Young Brother (Billy Beat Mix)’, 100⅓bpm on acetate… “Turntable Terroriser” (and smartarse!) Ernie Hartley from Shropshire reckons, Jackson 5 apart, the bassline through ‘Goodgroove’ is from 1979’s ‘The Walk’ by The Inmates – which I remember as being rather fast, so is it syncopated at half speed?… Network Press, the German DJ mag (their equivalent of Jocks) for which I write as well, has suddenly crossed over to general consumers following massive TV and radio coverage, as it was the only publication there to review the unreleased “black album” by Prince – remarkable to think this fact could generate so much interest (just one thing, if you want to subscribe, it is all written in German, my stuff too!)… Tony Jenkins, Nigel Wilton, Bill Griffin, Ralph Tee and Colin Line have another ram jammed Up West night this Wednesday (6) at London’s Hippodrome… Gilles Peterson, Chris Brown, Eddie Gordon, Craig & Marcus jazz-soul Sleeze! This Thursday (7) in Gillingham, above Catch 22… Sunday (10), Tony Poole and Terry Munro are joined by Rob Cosby jazzing Old Harlow’s Cheeks… Jeff Thomas, saying “It takes two to bango, y’all” (like it!), has added a free admission, no dress restriction, quality soul and jazz Sunday Club Soul Nite at Swansea’s already heaving soul oasis, Martha’s Vineyard… Phil Harding didn’t do the Bunker Kru’s better Pink Ink Mix, it was the creation of Cardiff-based “bedroom mixers” Steve Teear and Ian Gallivan, the Noise Boyz – who seem to be the duo behind that TWC “mixer” reviewed last week (it, or something else by them called ‘Who Gizza 4 X’ is due soon legally on Jam Today)… Utopia appears to be the act’s name credited with that ‘Walk On The Wild Side’-based “mixer” which I reckoned might be titled ‘Girl (You Rock My World)’, while the acid track by Click is correctly titled ‘Freq Jam (Straight To The Phreeek)’, with further Varda The Drums Girl, Acid Deluxe, and Trip Out Sister mixes (in that order)… Joyce Sims’ correct catalogue number for ‘Walk Away’ is LONX 176… Narada’s good dub mix will be missing from his 12 inch on initial UK pressings next week, but will be added later… EMI’s ‘Best Of Brass Construction’ compilation will include a remix of ‘Movin’’ by – shock, horror! – Phil Harding… Les Adams’ new Yamaha unit is actually a synthesiser, but his now even newer Roland TR-909 is a drum machine (for only another £185 second hand, although he had to drive to Stockport to get it!)… Graeme Park had better hurry up with Groove’s revival of ‘Hijack’, as the title has been hijacked by new rap group Hijack, on Music Of Life… Tony Blackburn gets thanked (amongst many) on the sleeve of Grandmaster Flash’s new LP!… Frankie Beverly is still with Maze, despite some people’s scepticism, now they’ve signed to Warner Bros… Loose Ends have 16 new recordings which they’re now weeding down to an album’s worth… Prestatyn photos and story next week… GET OFF!

LOUR SILAS JR is the name you’ll see, more likely than not, as remixer of any American releases on MCA Records. He, too, began his career as a disco DJ, jocking in such clubs as Contempos, Disco 9000 and Moody’s, as well as mobile, in Los Angeles from 1976 to 1983. More faces behind the names on the labels, soon!

HOT VINYL

GREGG DIAMOND & BIONIC BOOGIE ‘Hot Butterfly’ (Urban URBX 16)
Marvin Gaye-influenced attractively swaying 87(intro?)-89½-89-89⅓-89⅔-91⅓-91bpm jogger with French phrases, sung in typically distinctive style by Luther Vandross (during his session singing days), a rare groove from 1978, flipped more mundanely by the dated “disco” 177bpm [sic] ‘Fess Up To The Boogie‘ and 145½bpm ‘When The Shit Hits The Fan‘ (neither led by Luther).

ROB BASE & DJ E-Z ROCK ‘It Takes Two’ (CityBeat CBE 1244)
Infectious jumpy (0-)111¼bpm rap duet set to Lyn Collin’s ‘Think’ (semi-instrumental flip), massive on import for ages, and still likely to do well now that it’s finally out here.

J.V.C.F.O.R.C.E. ‘Strong Island’ (Hardcore/B Boy Records HAKT 11)
Deadpan 96¼bpm rap jogger (about the trio’s native Long Island) with a Freda Payne fuzz guitar riff, big on import for a while, now flipped by the disjointedly starting dreary 90⅔-0bpm LEVI 167 ‘Something Fresh To Swing To‘ (Instrumentals too). Continue reading “April 9, 1988: Gregg Diamond & Bionic Boogie, Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, J.V.C.F.O.R.C.E., Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Al B. Sure!”

April 2, 1988: “It’s impossible to keep up with the deluge of disco dross that record companies are now pouring out”

BEATS & PIECES

Norman Cook and Dancin’ Danny D have reverted to their Troublesome Twosome nickname to prevent confusion with the longer established Double Trouble remix team of Leigh Guest, Mike Morrison and Damon Rochefort (whose prior claim I have upheld by referring to the newcomers as Norman C & DJ D)… Coldcut’s 0-110-109(Sex Machine)-113-110½-0bpm ‘Payback Mix’ of James Brown tracks is on single-sided promo as ‘Coldcut Meets The Godfather’ ahead of April 11 release, when it’ll be flipped by ‘Stone To The Bone’, ‘Give It Up Or Turn It Loose (Remix)’, and ‘Cold Sweat’, while Urban next Tuesday release Gregg Diamond & Bionic Boogie ‘Hot Butterfly’, a Marvin Gaye-influenced but actually Luther Vandross-sung (in his session singing days) 87(intro?)-89½-89-89⅓-89⅔-91⅓-91bpm swaying disco jogger from 1978… Phil Harding and Ian Curnow have created a radically different remix of ‘I Want You Back’ by the Jackson 5 for release on Motown!… ’15 Minutes’, the Antonio Valesquez & Wolfgang Prinz-created acid house track, turns out to be credited to Ca Sa as artists, on Diamond Duel (DISC T2), but still as a white label… Mantronix’s already reviewed ‘In Full Effect’ LP is now out here on 10 Records (DIX 74)… Fourth & Broadway have shrink-wrapped the old Eric B & Rakim ‘Paid In Full’ album with a bonus LP containing the known remixes by Coldcut, Derek B, Democratic 3 and the Wild Bunch, plus a brand new volume pumping Richie Rich remix of ‘I Know You Got Soul’ that won’t be out in any other way… Walter Beasley’s album track ‘On The Edge’, mentioned last week, is a new US 12 inch (Polydor 887 413-1)… Ceejay ‘A Little Love’, the Bananarama-like Dutch canterer, is 119¾bpm… Hazell Dean ‘Who’s Leaving Who’ on commercial 12 inch is in a smoothly bounding new 119½bpm Bob’s Tambourine Mix (mixed in fact by Pete Hammond!)… Critical Mass, whose ‘No Nonsense’ I said was by Two Guys A Drum Machine And A Trumpet, are – to be picky – drummer Martin Parry of Fine Young Cannibals and trumpeter Graeme Hamilton of both TGADMAAT and his own Birmingham band, End Of Chat… Cappella ‘Push The Beat/Bauhaus’ is also about on a bootleg as DJ Megamix Vol 2 ‘Very Interesting’ – be warned… Run-DMC ‘Run’s House’/’Beats To The Rhyme’ will be rushed on white label ahead of April 25 UK release… S-Express is now due commercially next Tuesday (April 5) but Gwen McCrae goes back to April 18… US Capitol have signed Smith & Mighty and S-Express, while 4th + B’way picked up Bomb The Bass Stateside… Champion have the Basement Boys and Black Riot here… Wally Jump Jr ‘Private Party’ is due in a Simon Harris acid house mix and then another Les Adams remix… James Horrocks has left Rhythm King on a hot streak to start his own label… DJ Jon Jules takes over ownership of Rayners Lane’s Record Centre this week, Andy Phippen retiring from record retailing to set up a studio and label (doubtless starring Chris Paul?)… Bluebird have bought Soho’s Record Shack shop, to expand their ever growing chain… Samantha Fox has been produced in the US by Full Force, with a remix to come by Derek B, while Mantronik has produced Amazulu… Les McKeown of the old Bay City Rollers is currently producing acid house (which must take all of 15 minutes!)… Jim Cotter, following last week’s mention, is still after a talking gig but meanwhile is mixing again at Soho’s Jaqueline’s… Nicky ‘Nosejob’ Holloway’s Easter Doo at London’s Astoria has Pete Tong, Derek B, Gilles Peterson and Chris Bangs this Thursday (31), when Steve Jervier, Horace and Chris Brown rock Soho’s Wag… Saturday (2) sees Wag DJs Paul Guntrip, Brother Marco, Dave Henley and Justin Langlands, plus a mechanical bronco and visuals on an Inter City Hustle at Brighton’s Corn Exchange (next to the Dome), while Aadil, Paul French, Simon Goffe, Mark Ryder, Kev Edwards and Disco Gary VanDenBussche throw down the Easter Big Beat at Maidstone’s Kent Hall… Easter Day finds the Wag taken over by such Groove Gladiators as Jay Strongman, Richie Rich, Colin Faver, Gordon Mac, Steve Jervier, Danny Ramplin [sic], Madhatter Trevor and DJ Tee… Roxanne Shanté, Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, MC Shan and the Cold Chillin’ roadshow are not only at Prestatyn on Saturday, but also Nottingham Rock City Sunday (3) and Brixton Academy Monday (4)… Bank Holiday Monday also sees Defhouse Fifteen at Birkenhead’s Atmosphere with Desa, Kenni James and guests, Steve Allen heading a Shindig at Peterborough’s The Millionaire Club with the instruction “dress to sweat”, Nitro Deluxe at Swansea’s Martha’s Vineyard, and the Bratt Pac’s upfront evening at Colnbrook’s Queens in aid of Capital Radio’s Help A London Child appeal… ‘Let’s All Chant’ is not Capital jock (and sometime ‘Roxy’ TV presenter) Pat Sharp’s recording debut, he had a Norwegian number two partnering Amanda Redington on ‘Catch 22’!… Hamburg radio star Chris Hill recently presented on UK TV one of Night Network’s ‘N-Sign Radio’ segments (by coincidence he owns the Ensign label!), showing the Al B Sure! video which he’d been given in Germany – before WEA UK’s “man of the year” Fred Dove even knew it existed… BBC2-TV’s Sunday evening ‘Showtime At The Apollo’ series is well worth seeing, despite Eartha Kitt’s embarrassing links, and so many of the acts filmed around 1954/5 at the Harlem theatre being “tastefully” staid… ‘Internationally Known’ is another volume pumping bootleg-ish megamix circulated on mysteriously uncredited cassette, doubtless as a scam, but Carl Kingston has been followed by Paul Stead and James Whale in playing it so much on Radio Aire that their Leeds listeners are clamouring to know who it’s by, and nobody does know!… Scratchmo’s funky scatter is Satch, the resident chauffeur at Island Records… Les Adams, who synchs S-Express from halfway through Cappella to get perfect echoed effects, has added a £1,400 Yamaha TX 802 (the drum unit used by Stock Aitken Waterman) to take his home studio’s equipment up to £72,500… The Club Chart last week missed the beats per minute from some new entries that had been reviewed but unexpectedly didn’t fit – in fact, it’s impossible to keep up with the deluge of disco dross that record companies are now pouring out, like in the late Seventies “disco boom”, so, bird in the hand style, it’s the reviews that I’ve already done that (if they fit) get printed first… GET OFF!

GAIL ‘SKY’ KING — in our increasing quest to bring you the faces behind the names on the labels —started her career as assistant studio engineer for Arthur Baker before learning to edit with the Latin Rascals. Her first label credit was for the edit of Vinnie Monaco’s ‘Rappin’ Rocky’ (US Powerhouse Records) and her first major success, back with Arthur, was Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Big Love’ remix. Her other hits include Russ Brown ‘Gotta Find A Way’, Temptations ‘Look What You Started’, Criminal Element Orchestra ‘Put The Needle To The Record’, Prince ‘Sign ‘O’ The Times’, Club Nouveau ‘Lean On Me’ and Wally Jump Jr ‘Tighten Up’, latterly as producer too. You have to realise that in the States, the “remixer” often deals in broad concepts while it’s the “editor” who does the work!

HOT VINYL

TAJA SEVELLE ‘Wouldn’t You Love To Love Me?’ (US Paisley Park Records 0-20826)
A lot funkier than her current UK smash, this wriggly jittering chunky lurcher is 12-inched as a 105⅓-105⅙bpm Jellybean Vocal Remix which suddenly surges brightly into its last half, with his percussive 105⅓-105⅙bpm Dub too, plus a jerkier violent 105⅓bpm Paisley Park Mix and jigglier chugging 105⅓-0bpm Joe Blaney Mix. The Bean’s is best.

NARADA ‘Divine Emotions (Remix)’ (US Reprise 0-20874)
Always a bigger name here during his own hit-making heyday around eight years ago, Narada Michael Walden is now mostly known in the US as the hot producer behind such as Whitney Houston, but blazes back at last in his own right with a dynamite loose limbed 117⅓bpm smacking strider like an updated cross between D Train and his old ‘I Shoulda Loved Ya’ style, with chording synth and piano jangled percussion remixed by Shep Pettibone (Single Mix and 117⅙-0bpm Dub Mix too, plus the tightly lurching 111½-0bpm ‘Tighter’).

JOHNNY KEMP ‘Just Got Paid’ (US Columbia 44 07588)
Teddy Riley co-produced trickily introed but then snappily strutting strong 116½-0bpm infectiously building jerky funk canterer with all the class of his Keith Sweat work (in four mixes). Say ho! Ho ho ho. Continue reading “April 2, 1988: “It’s impossible to keep up with the deluge of disco dross that record companies are now pouring out””