June 13, 1987: Jackson Sisters, First Choice, The Beginning Of The End, Bobby Caldwell, Eric B. and Rakim

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

Now it can more or less be told, although it’s still pretty garbled: 2 Puerto Ricans are Robert Clivilis and David Morales, a Blackman is David Cole and a Dominican is Chep Nunez, who certainly assembled the current ‘Do It Properly’ and had a part to play in the originally available version too, although it was DJ Bruce Forest at New York’s Better Days who evidently first mixed up Adonis ‘No Way Back’ live in the club, using his keyboards and other jack tracks to create a mix (which either inspired or was inspired by an original demo cassette of ‘Do It Properly’ by the 2PRABAAD), Bruce’s mix then being recreated by some unnamed parties and bootlegged on Fierce Records under the name we know — and as the bootleg uses so many tracks already licensed by London, it can co-exist now to Adonis (featuring 2 Puerto Ricans A Blackman And A Dominican) alongside the totally original vocal recording which Cooltempo has rush released (see its review for more details) … I’m afraid gathering the threads of this story has taken so long that, although many BPMs are done, I haven’t time to complete the reviews this week of such currently hot albums as (on import) Regina Belle, The O’Jays, Nancy Wilson (the latter mainly for a great swinging version of Robert Brookins’ ‘If You Only Knew’), and (out here) Whitney Houston, LL Cool J, Schoolly-D, the Isley Brothers, and the latest ‘Rob Olson’s Chicago Jackbeat Vol Two‘ – check the chart as usual for Beats Per Minute of those that hit … ‘Hey Love’ by King Sun-D Moet (which turns out to be the name of two separate blokes, King Sun and D-Moet) has now been reacquired here by Flame Records for, in a one-off deal, full distribution by Priority/RCA to maximise its hit potential … MCA Records has reissued last autumn’s very soulfully sung mesmerically rolling 104pbm One Way ‘Don’t Think About It‘ (MCAT 1097), never as big as it should have been … Syncopate snapped up Lanier & Co ‘Dancing In The Night’ … Morgan Khan, undaunted by previous experiences, is preparing to launch a fortnightly hip hop newsletter called Rumors on subscription only to purchasers of the StreetSounds Hip Hop/Electro LP series, plus he’s mulling over renewed plans for a UK Fresh 87 show after all — while Morgan’s brother Henry Khan has formed his own Intouch label … Mike Rice’s previously mentioned local Bucks and Berks mixing competition at Downley’s Masters has had such a large number of cassettes entered since we published it that the date of the final has been put right back until September! … Les Adams and Pascal Gabriel have created an ‘election special’ 122bpm house record, The House Of Commons ‘Join The Party’, using samples of all the leading politicos plus various news readers and a vocal by Sharon Dee Clarke. Although played off tape on radio it was too late even for rush release, so will be updated and made more general with the inclusion of international figures like Ronald Reagan for commercial release … MCA’s compilation LP of oldies by the Whispers, Shalamar, Collage and Midnight Star, ‘The Solar System‘ (Solar MCG 3338) includes a bonus 12 inch with two Les Adams megamixes, as neat as ever … Lillo Thomas ‘I’m In Love’ is now in yet another snickety snapping 114¼bpm remix (Capitol 12CLX 450) with ‘Sexy Girl’ added to the flip, while other remixes include the 121¾bpm Kenny ‘Jammin’ Jason ‘Can U Dance’ (Champion CHAMPX 1241), impact lessening 111½bpm Black Britain ‘Funky Nassau’ (10 Records TENR 171), and the now wickedly Mel & Kim-sampling far more useful 120bpm Rick and Lisa ‘When You Gonna (The Borough Anarchy Mix)‘ (RCA RICK MEL 1) — the Borough in South London being where Pete Waterman’s studio is … Rose Royce did a live ‘playback’ gig at Swansea’s Martha’s Vineyard last week during Jeff Thomas’s Monday soul night, and to say the place was packed would be an understatement — had there been rafters they’d have been swinging from them, and in fact I saw the queue before I saw the club! — the soul policy now being extended to Fridays as well and Jeff being joined both nights by The Bean … Thomas & Taylor are in Swansea this coming Monday (15), and a bit further east the following night at Bridgend’s Astons for James Lewis’s Tuesday night —this new club, with a wine bar below (in which Gerald Holley spins listening soul) is reminiscent of Walkers in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, being owned by some business-minded local soul fans … Gerald Holley is also taking soul through the valleys on Wednesdays at Merthyr Tydfil’s Charbonniers and Saturdays at Aberdare’s Deckers … Alan Christo is now DJ/promotions manager and looking for PAs at Cardiff’s Jacksons (on 0443-740557) … lain Bruce’s Saturday soul show on Cardiff’s Red Dragon Radio since he took it over last July has increased its audience by 450 per cent to be double the weekly evening figures, and has extended as a consequence to three hours, 6-9pm — some minority interest programme, huh? … Martin Collins on the other hand, due to some misreading of the recent audience figures at Chiltern Radio, was in danger of having his weekday evening soul show replaced by pop until public outcry prompted a re-examination of the figures, which actually showed he had a massive 90 per cent of the available audience at that time! … Dave Treharne’s more esoteric That’s Why They Call It The Blues R&B show on DevonAir picked up figures and for the summer now runs 7-9pm on Thursdays … Nottingham’s def dude Graeme Park in fact is involved with a new black music label that’s about to be launched called Submission Records, and is building a mailing list at 22 Birkin Avenue, Nottingham NG7 5AF — he’s also back (with coach party details on 0602-476888) at Streatham’s Project at Zigis this Friday (June 12), and has started weekly on Mondays in Derby at the new 20th Century Club … Aurra have become Deja, produced by Monte Moir … Saché, whose groin-grinding ‘Help Me To Get Over The Hurt‘ (US Atlantic) sold quite well without hitting any DJs’ charts, turns out to be an actual group, a trio of rather attractive girls in the Expose-cum-Stacy Lattisaw mould … The Cover Girls ‘Show Me‘ has generated some interest as it was used in his mix at the Albert Hall by US champ Joe Rodriguez … Kid ‘N’ Play and Heavy D and the Boyz’ newies both namecheck BMW, obviously the B Boys’ favourite wheels (me myself, I’ve just bought a Nissan Silvia 1.8 Turbo — real acceleration at last!) … LAH DEE DAH DEE!

SERIOUS RECORDS’ head Mahesh Bajaj is on the lookout for homegrown black female singers to record (on 01-487 3008). The label has picked up not only First Choice ‘Let No Man Put Asunder’ but also Pleasure Pump ‘Fantasize Me’, and an upcoming ‘Best Of House Volume 1‘ LP will include such recent hits as Master C&J ‘Face It’, the House Master Boyz and The Rude Boy Of House ‘House Nation’, T-Coy ‘Carino’.

HOT VINYL

JACKSON SISTERS ‘I Believe In Miracles’ (Urban URBX 4)
Other than that somebody chose to bootleg it along with Maceo & The Macks, quite why this ‘Shaft’-influenced vocally Latin-flavoured spirited brassy jiggler from 1973 should now be considered a ‘rare groove’ is a mystery as it’s no better than many other forgotten tracks of similar vintage — which suddenly conjures up the vision of sharp London operators scouring American record stores and warehouses for all the oldies that their Northern Soul predecessors ignored! Horrors! Anyway, it’s certainly good, and probably fresher sounding now than it was then, Simon Harris having brilliantly re-edited a brand new 107⅓-107⅔-107-108-107⅓-107-108bpm Extended Mix which emphasises the previously rushed rhythm elements to bring out their soulful qualities (and a hidden James Brown flavour), for fascination comparison with the included 108-108⅔-109-108⅔bpm original 7” Version (the equally dated pleasant 72bpm ‘Why Can’t We Be More Than Just Friends‘ and Jackson 5/Honey Cone-type 99-97½-98bpm ‘Boy, You’re Dynamite‘ complete this package).

FIRST CHOICE ‘Let No Man Put Asunder (Special Dutch Mix)’ (Dutch Rams Horn RHR 3609)
Due here coupled with the Salsoul original on June 22 and already white-labelled by Serious Records, this Philadelphia-recorded disco oldie was a big influence on Chicago’s house music (compare the bass line with ‘Jack Your Body’!) although even in this disjointedly rambling 0-122-117½-118½-118- 121½-122½-122-119-121-0bpm new remix by Rutger ‘Rutti’ Kroese it’s still not exactly ‘house’ as we here know it. Gay jocks flirted with the new mix some months back, but the soul boys only just seem to have caught up with it! In the photo above, lead singer Roshelle Fleming (centre) will be visiting the UK this coming week.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END ‘Funky Nassau’ (Atlantic K10021T)
Promoed by WEA’s Fred Dove several years ago although only now out in logical competition with Black Britain’s remake, this 119-120⅔-121½-122-123bpm extended version of the classic brassy Bahamian soul kicker from 1971 has Wes Montgomery-ish guitar in the last half, and the original seven incher’s Parts 1 and 2 as flip. Always a party pleaser! Continue reading “June 13, 1987: Jackson Sisters, First Choice, The Beginning Of The End, Bobby Caldwell, Eric B. and Rakim”

June 6, 1987: Peggi Blu, Adonis, Jimmy Williams, Camelot II, Turntable Terror Trax

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

2 PUERTO RICANS A BLACKMAN AND A DOMINICAN ‘Do It Properly!’ always was a bootleg, but apparently the version that has so far been available here (now as the Adonis flip) is itself a bootleg, even down to the ‘group’ name, of a different evidently superior original — if this seems garbled, watch this space for clarification … Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys, with Davy D and Chris ‘CJ’ Mackintosh on the wheels of steel too, blew the Limelight apart performing lengthy live guest sets at the Music Of Life label’s first birthday party, the hip hop gig of the year so far … George Michael’s cousin, who used to work at Streetwave and had his own Hardback label there, Andros Georgiou is being philosophical about Morgan Khan’s use of the similar name Hardcore for one of his new labels, Andros’ company now getting into specialist club and radio promotion too (on 01-493 3064) … Marie Birch is yet again updating her DJ mailing list at Sound Promotions on 01-960 6999 … Motown has reissued 1984’s enduring Dennis Edwards featuring Siedah Garrett ‘Don’t Look Any Further‘ (Gordy TMGT 1334), the jogging 95bpm soul duet that — along with ‘I Found Lovin’’, ‘Encore’, ‘Rising To The Top’ and about two others! — remains one of Steve Walsh’s chief floor-fillers, and black London’s much loved anthems … Bluebird is reissuing the stunningly soulful hesitant delicately pent-up 43-84-82⅓-83bpm Paris ‘I Choose You‘ (Bluebird BRT 38), from several years back … George Michael is sure to be a pop disco pleaser with his Prince-inspired, controversially worded, jogging ‘I Want Your Sex’ — the Rhythm 1 Lust mix being 97⅚-0bpm on the rather quietly pressed seven inch which is all that I have so far … Luther Vandross’s involvement with Diana Ross’s current single was evidently much exaggerated by the press handout that accompanied its white label promo — he had nothing to do with it! … Saturday (June 6) sees Steve Aspey’s first Sweat Box night, which he hopes will become monthly at Knights in Cowley’s Temple Club, Oxford … Chris Paul and Dave Rawlings have carried their successful Chris & Dave partnership from Ealing’s Broadway Boulevard to Wednesdays at Kensington’s The Park — Dave alone also doing Fridays now at Croydon’s Easy Street … Jameel, after five years funking southern England, is now spreading the word in Belfast with a Soul Shakedown on Wednesdays at the Abercorn — Top Of The House … Paul Morrissey plus guests jazz, soul and rare groove funk Thursdays at Bristol’s plush Colosseum … Roger ‘Twiggy’ Day guests next Thursday (June 11) at Theo Loyla’s weekly general oldies night in Upstreet’s Ship Inn, near Canterbury (election night notwithstanding) … Disco Aid day (or night, if you like) will be November 21 this year … Steve Walsh’s management, Martyn Levett & Company (01-607 8311) now offer a complete back-up service for his guest appearances, with a merchandise range and customisable posters available to clubs and promoters at favourable rates — seems businesslike … Steve Watt is leaving Bluebird Records this month and would appreciate offers of promotion/PR or A&R work on 07375-52110 (who wouldn’t?) … John Sachs’ weekday afternoon listening figures have gone back up on Capital Radio … LAH DE DAH DEE!

PEGGI BLU at last has her stunning album released here, ‘Blu Blowin’’ (Capitol ESTV 2033). The sanctified sounding multi-winner of US TV’s ‘Star Search’ sears through the Nick Martinelli-produced sophisticated jiggly offbeat 91⅙bpm ‘Tender Moments‘, Isleys-penned attractive 83¾bpm ‘Once Had Your Love‘, Bert Robinson-duetted gospel-ish 58⅓bpm ‘All The Way With You‘, smoothly jittering 107bpm ‘Two Can Play At That Game’, Janet Jackson-ish lurching 119⅔bpm ‘Mesmorize Me’, datedly cantering 113¼bpm ‘Love’s Just A Mystery’ and 61-122bpm ‘Over And Over’. Not fantastically floor-filling maybe, but well worth hearing.

HOT VINYL

ADONIS ‘No Way Back’ (London LONX 136)
Although this simple cleanly bounding 125¾bpm jack track (instrumental too) from a year ago is nominally 12 inch A-side in its original version, the AA-side (and seven inch plugside) is far hotter and more exciting, being the current hugely popular 0-124bpm import bootleg treatment — now officially credited as ADONIS (featuring 2 PUERTO RICANS A BLACKMAN AND A DOMINICAN) ‘Do It Properly (No Way Back)’ – which uses the backing rhythm as the basis for terrific rippling and romping keyboards with bits of ‘Jack Your Body’ and other house hit samples mixed in, to frenzy whipping effect!

JIMMY WILLIAMS ‘Do You Really Want To Wait’ (Hardcore HAKT 3, via PRT)
David ‘Pic’ Conley (of Surface)-produced excellent striding and surging catchy 116½bpm canterer (in three mixes) by the expressively soulful lead voice of Double Exposure’s Seventies classic ‘Ten Per Cent’, here soloing although these days he fronts the Trammps.

CAMELOT II ‘Happy (Club Version)’ (US Jam-Kru JK-1719)
Created apparently by George Clinton, this sparse dense 101bpm revamp seems at first to be slower (yet is 3bpm faster) than Surface’s original, weaving through a soulfully wailing girl and gently rapping MC’s (in three versions). Continue reading “June 6, 1987: Peggi Blu, Adonis, Jimmy Williams, Camelot II, Turntable Terror Trax”

May 30, 1987: T La Rock, Joyce Sims, David Sanborn, Faze One, Sweet Heat

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

WHITNEY HOUSTON may be flavour of the moment in the pop charts, but did you know, prior to her Arista debut, she contributed the Bill Laswell-produced ‘Memories‘ on a Material album about four years ago on CellulOid … Disco Mix Club have released a full two hour long VHS video of the Royal Albert Hall 1987 Technics World DJ Mixing Championship Finals (£29 from DMC Ltd, PO Box 89, Slough SL1 8NA, England), showing every competitor in colourful close-up for armchair critics to judge for themselves, plus the Janet Jackson, Alexander O’Neal, Jam & Lewis all-star awards presentation. It’s a professional production which cost £15,000 to make, and is worth seeing even if you were there … Herb Alpert has followed his tightrope-walking video with another brilliant one for ‘Diamonds’, with an hilarious comedy prologue in which buck-toothed disco DJ “Bucky” is finally persuaded by a plugger to play the record — a situation every jock will enjoy! … New York’s New Music Seminar looks likely to include a special British Dance Night showcase at one of the city’s top nightclubs, probably the Palladium, featuring 15 UK acts … Cooltempo managed to grab the UK singles rights for Eric B and Rakim’s ‘I Know You Got Soul’, following an earlier deal with the act, although their current US label Fourth & Broadway will have their upcoming LP here … Mirage, apparently selling well in the pop chart although still has much to do in the DJ charts, now has yet another 124bpm ‘Jack Mix III‘ (Debut DEBTR 3022) featuring this time ‘Living In A Box/Can U Dance/Jack Your Body/Showing Out/Respectable/Axel F/Jackin’/Do It Properly/Male Stripper/House Nation/Underwater/Let Yourself Go’ — provided they keep updating it with current hits, is there any reason why the idea shouldn’t run and run, for years on end? … Man To Man’s official ‘Male Stripper’ follow-up, already on a white label, here couples as double A-side the crass 129½bpm ‘Energy Is Eurobeat‘ with Paul Zone & Man Parrish’s current zingily racing 130-0bpm ‘I Need A Man‘ (Bolts BOLTS 5-12), the latter of course a now much altered Grace Jones oldie … MCA Records’ latest Solar oldie four-tracker is of Shalamar (SHALT 5), whose material has been reissued recently already, containing the classic sinuous 108⅓bpm ‘A Night To Remember’, lurching 102½-102¾bpm ‘There It Is’, dated 117bpm ‘Take That To The Bank’ and 127bpm ‘Uptown Festival’ … Capitol have reissued last October’s soulfully worried pent-up slow 0-38½/77bpm Freddie Jackson & Melba Moore ‘A Little Bit More‘ (12CL 446), following both singers’ sustained US success … US LPs recently reviewed in full on import and now out here are The Whispers ‘Just Gets Better With Time’ (Solar MCF 3381) and Norwood ‘Can’t Let You Go’ (MCA Records MCF 3381), both excellent soul sets … Donna Allen ‘Serious’ has now been marketed in a dubbier 0-110¼bpm Delirious Mix (Portrait 650744 8) … Herbie Laidly has added a bassier 119½-0bpm beat to make Company B ‘Fascinated (Mastermind Herbie Remix)‘ (Bluebird BRTX 35) a little bit more house than Miami … 10 Records have promoted T La Rock’s LP with a strictly promo-only 12 inch sampler containing the now 89-0bpm ‘Lyrical King‘, 100⅓bpm ‘This Beat Kicks‘, 104¾bpm ‘It’s Time To Chill‘, 89⅚-0bpm ‘Big Beat In London‘, serviced to mailing list DJs which may influence any subsequent chart action, diverting attention from the actual album … North Wales’s veteran jock Alan Taylor has opened his own record shop, Right Trax Records in Rhyl’s, Piazza Centre, offering discounts to DJs … Nottingham’s def dude Graeme Park has a recording project called Submission he keeps playing off successive tapes — so when’s it going to reach vinyl, then? — and no doubt he’ll be debuting ‘Submission 8′ (or whatever number it’s up to) this Friday (May 29) when he, Winston Hazel, Ping Pong, Parrot, Jass AB plus guest PAs funk ‘n’ jazz Sheffield City Hall 10pm-2am … Monday (June 1) Dave Pearce — no longer souling the afternoon now that Susie Barnes is back — presents Radio London’s 10pm A Fresh Start To The Week live from Camden Palace with hip hoppers Faze One, Derek B, Three Wise Men, Roger Johnson … Charing Cross Heaven next Friday (June 5), for its first Motown night in four years, presents the original Velvelettes, Martha Reeves and the reformed Vandellas, and Marv Johnson! … Le Palais, Hammersmith, reopens to the general public next Saturday (June 6) following two VIP nights, with Dave Munday as resident DJ/promotions manager … Brighton Montis XXI in Montpelier Road has funk/house/rap/go-go every Monday with Mick Fuller, plus jazz/Latin upstairs … Glen Gunner has started two weekly clubs, Blow Your Head at Soho’s Paramount City in Great Windmill Street every Tuesday with guest DJs (and rappers/scratchers invited on 01-578 3673), plus Blow Your Head (Again) on Thursday in jazz jock Paul Murphy’s new venue The Cat at  307 Finchley Road (corner Lithos Road) London, the fare at both being rare groove, rap, house, Sixties soul … Ian Reading has turned Thursday at Southend Zero 6 into hip hop night, but seems a bit confused calling hip hop “a new trend flooding New York at the moment” and then saying the evening will feature house and go-go, too! … Simon Dunmore and Ivor Jones play rare and real soul at Hayes’ Keats Winebar Sundays, the Rhythm Zone night having become a regular fixture the first Thursday every month at Northolt’s C&L Country Club … Ken ‘B’ Brudenell, having left his Mecca promotions post, has returned to jocking Thursday/Fridays at Luton Coliseum … Lowestoft Ziggies has added a seafront ‘real music’ bar called Rumours, playing mainly soul, funk, house and some MoR (eh?) with Paul Allen from the disco upstairs its frequent DJ … Steve Day has moved to Milton Keynes where he spins house/jazz/soul Sundays 6-7.30pm on the local CRMK 90.6FM, and seems to be gigging at just about every disco in the area … Jerry Hipkiss for the summer season now souls Severn Sound 102.4FM from 7-9pm Saturdays, followed 9-11pm by Ivanhoe Campbell’s reggae … US rap LPs of so-so specialist interest include the latest from the Fat Boys, with a track actually featuring the Beach Boys that combines the old ‘Papa Oom Mow Mow’ and ‘Wipeout’ (its title)! … Norwood’s UK follow-up will be the Colonel Abrams-ish ‘Give It Up‘ rather than the slower US choice — and, speaking of Colonel, where’s he been for the last year? … Judge Dread is resurfacing with one of his periodical send-ups, turning ‘Jack Your Body’ into the probably fairly dubious ‘Jerk Your Body‘ … Tina Charles ‘I Love To Love’ in its DMC Records remix by Sanny X has sold over 600,000 copies in Europe … John Sinclair (Loughborough Sammys) and Gary Hickson (Blackburn Kaleidoscope/Peppermint Place) both tip that One Way and Cameo synch superbly together, Kev Ashton (Newquay Frizzbys) similarly tips Lillo Thomas ‘I’m In Love’ blends imperceptibly with Herb Alpert ‘Keep Your Eye On Me’, and Graham Gold (Mayfair Gullivers) runs Joyce Sims with Black Britain … Def Jam’s recently touring Tashan, Chuck Stanley and Oran ‘Juice’ Jones have done noticeably worse with their current singles than Mason, for whom exposure to the crowd at Livewire’s Prestatyn weekender was not considered a waste of time – and Prestatyn probably didn’t hurt Maceo & The Macks, either! … LAH DE DAH DE!

TOM WILSON every Saturday at 6.30pm on Radio Forth broadcasts the Scottish Dance Chart, compiled from 100 disco jocks’ returns by First Class Radio & Club Promotions, whose Bill Grainger then repeats it during his Sunday wee small hours Hi-NRG show at 3am on Radio Clyde. As Scotland’s jocks are a law unto themselves, this makes immense good sense!

HOT VINYL

T LA ROCK ‘Lyrical King (From The Boogie Down Bronx)’ LP (10 Records DIX 52)
On this ponderously heavy specialist rap set, Mantronik only produces the old 98bpm ‘Back To Burn’ and helps on the break beat-cutting 100½bpm ‘This Beat Kicks‘, T LA and Louie Lou being joined by human beat box Greg Nice for the 89½-0bpm title track, amusing 0-86⅔-0bpm ‘Tudy Fruity Judy‘, 10 minute chattering hip hop hoedown 0-110-113-116-0bpm ‘Live Drummin’ With The Country Boy‘, 93⅙-0bpm ‘Bust These Lyrics‘, 90-0bpm ‘Big Beat In London’, 105bpm ‘It’s Time To Chill’, plus the totally human ‘Having Fun/Three Minutes Of Beat Box‘.

JOYCE SIMS ‘Lifetime Love’ (London LONX 137)
Already massive in soul clubs thanks to a mixture of advance promos and import copies, this Mantronik-produced plaintively small voiced haunting subtle 107½bpm monotonous ticking jitterer has had its six US mixes here reversed and reduced so that Soft Club is now the main A-side Jazzy Beat, Hard Dub 2 the Jazzy Dub, Hard Club (America’s A-side) the Def Beat, and Hard Dub and Def Dub.

DAVID SANBORN ‘Chicago Song (Extended Version)’ (Warner Bros W8392T)
Writer/producer Marcus Miller’s tighter 104bpm remix of the saxist’s bluesily jogging jazz-funk instrumental is so sneakily catchy that it could easily be a crossover hit here. I hope so! Continue reading “May 30, 1987: T La Rock, Joyce Sims, David Sanborn, Faze One, Sweet Heat”

May 23, 1987: “‘Rare Grooves’ is an obvious marketing concept under which labels can repackage any old material”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

MORGAN KHAN, “Britain’s Berry Gordy” still looking for “Britain’s Michael Jackson”, offers aspiring black music acts an instant talent assessment and the chance of cost-price use of Westside Records’ recording studio (if not an actual contract) if they turn up between 6-7pm any Mon/Wed/Friday at his new Ealing office in Springbridge Mews (just around the corner off Haven Green from the old Streetwave office): incidentally, Westside is indeed the outlet for his own artistes — debuting on June 1 with Faze One’s lispingly spoken sinuous bubbly 89⅔bpm ‘Good Friends‘ — but in fact his first singles, including Cultural Vibe, are out next week on the Hardcore label, the outlet for licensed product … Bobby Womack would appear now actually to have covered Living In A Box for US release anyway … BBC Radio Bristol’s previously announced 1987 West Of England Rapping & Mixing Contest is now on June 18 so as not to clash with election day, hosted by Tristan Bolitho at Bristol’s Studio in Frogmore Street with prizes of equipment and appearances — to enter, send in the application form that’s widely available at the area’s record shops and BBC local stations, then turn up for preliminary heats at 2pm that afternoon, DJs with their records for a seven minute set, rappers with a backing cassette for a three minute session … Mike Rice and Andy Rolfe’s habit of playing local mix fans’ home-produced megamix tapes on their Friday nights at Downley’s Masters has grown into a proper Mastermix ’87 contest to find the best mixer in Bucks and Berks — get your eight minute mix tapes to Mike at The Masters, Belfield Shopping Parade, Downley, nr High Wycombe, Bucks, so that over the next few Fridays they can be whittled down to Just four for the finals on Wednesday June 24, when the finalists will be judged live as well as on tape for a first prize gold disc donated by Nine O Nine (Mike himself hopes then to beat the current record of mixing 16 song titles in two minutes) … Portrait’s subsidiary dance label Up Beat, although used already on some promos, will actually be launched in July with a reissue of the O’Jays’ ‘My Favourite Person’ rare groove … ‘Rare Grooves’ is an obvious marketing concept under which labels can repackage any old material, and Jam Today has done just that with a six-track unremixed album of old Elite singles (CHIL LP 1), including Atmosfear of course, the only one actually attracting interest being Touch’s 126¾bpm bounding synth instrumental ‘Keep On‘ and Dave Chambers’ 102⅚bpm jazz saxing of Jean Carn’s ‘Don’t Let it Go To Your Head’ … Arista are reissuing Tom Browne ‘Funkin’ For Jamaica’ to meet demand … Jesse James, who back in the Seventies had soul hits like ‘Believe In Me Baby‘ on 20th Century Fox, is the singer and not Harvey Scales on ‘I Can Do Bad By Myself’ (reviewed last week) … Maxx Kidd tells me Trouble Funk have done vocals for Bootsy Collins on a “computerised funk” record, not go go … Jonathon More cold cuts KISS-fm’s Saturday afternoon ‘Meltdown Party’ show, and this Saturday (23) Meltdown meets Shake & Fingerpop with special Northern guests Colin Curtis and Pete Haigh in Brixton’s St Matthew’s church crypt from 11pm … Sunday (24) The Stammer at Northfleet’s Red Lion has a 6pm funk ‘n’ jazz barbecue with such as Pete Tong, Nicky Holloway, Eddie Gordon, Gilles Peterson … Bank Holiday Monday (25) New Brighton RJ’s hold a noon-2am charity soul all-dayer with Pez Tellett, Jon Jessop, Desa, Steve Proctor, Greg Wilson and more, while a bit later Livewire’s 5pm-1am ‘long-dayer’ at Great Yarmouth Tiffanys stars Chris Hill, Robbie Vincent, Froggy, Pete Tong, Jeff Young, Kev Hill, Trevor Fung – is this a “Caister reunion”?! … Monday also actually sees an up-to-date Caister reunion at St Ives Recreation Centre in Bedfordshire with Graham Gold, Bob Masters, Chris ‘Charlie’ Brown and more … Monday too, Keith Williams’ fortnightly Soul Spectrum covers the past 25 years’ black music at Nantwich Cheshire Cat … Tuesday (26) Brian Davies hosts a house party at the heart of house nation, Stourport-on-Severn Plato’s … Chris Hill, in a low key way, returns with Kev Hill to Canvey Island’s Goldmine on June 12 to start a Friday soul season … Croydon’s ex-Skyline Radio DJ Nik Love is now successfully souling in South Wales at Blaenavon’s Imperial Club (normally known as Imps) Hammersmith Palais when it reopens after a £2½m refit will be known, very posh, as Le Palais, Hammersmith (or should that be ‘Ammearsmeeth?) … East Anglia has its own ‘Groove Weekly’-like soul fanzine, complete with spelling mistakes, the monthly issued ‘The Gap’ by post from 225 Queen Ediths Way. Cambridge CB1 4NJ), May’s copy including interesting observations about rare grooves, and a visit to Cleveland, Ohio … Ray Young (Great Barr) is among many who always want to know how to find record company addresses: easy, buy the Music Week Directory 87, available for £12.50 (payable to Music Week) from Sylvia Calver, Morgan-Grampian plc, Royal Sovereign House, 40 Beresford Street, London SE18 6BQ … Capital Radio’s evening drive time man Peter Young joins me in suggesting again to A&M that a reissue of Chris Montez ‘The More I See You‘ could “do a Tom Jones” … LAH DE DAH DE!

HOT VINYL

ALEXANDER O’NEAL ‘Fake’ (Tabu 650891 6)
Jam & Lewis stir together their current production tricks, season them with a hefty dose of purple pepper and then pour them into a mould that was originally cast 30 years ago by the 5 Royales’ equally emphatic ‘Think‘ (better known by James Brown). The result is a dynamically burbling jittery 111½bpm chugging lurcher (in five mixes), a jauntily driving groove but with too monotonous a muttered, moaned and roared vocal line to have real crossover penetration — except that, as every O’Neal fan is going to be buying this brand new fresh biscuit as soon as it hits the shops on May 26, it’ll probably be one of those unexpected instant top 20 entries that takes Radio 1 by surprise!

DEREK B ‘Rock The Beat’ (Music Of Life NOTE 3)
In the UK’s most credible hip hop effort to date, London DJ Derek Boland cuts up James Brown beats into an infectious jiggly 101bpm rap – and all the rapping is by him too, multi-tracked! — that’s right in there now with his confusingly near namesake Eric B (three dubs too). FFFFurrresh!

LL COOL J ‘I’m Bad’ (Def Jam 650856 8)
Borrowing some ‘Shaft’ and ‘Dragnet’ resonances complete with cop car radio effects (and a “mother” that radio will never play!), this aggressively rapped scratching violent dense 0-89½bpm bass pusher is a sonic whirlwind of excitement, flipped by the live frantic 101 bpm ‘Get Down‘ and older emptily jittering 89½bpm ‘Dangerous‘. Baaaad! Continue reading “May 23, 1987: “‘Rare Grooves’ is an obvious marketing concept under which labels can repackage any old material””

May 16, 1987: Donna Allen, The Whispers, Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, Herb Alpert, Joyce Sims

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

INVICTA RADIO, having lost Pete Tong from the Sunday soul show, is still getting taped programmes from its other soul DJ, The Dude — sent from New York City, where he’s currently on WBLS following the expiry of his UK work permit! … Alexander O’Neal’s upcoming ‘Fake‘ single has some more of that Jam & Lewis gospel organ and a mellow ‘Love Bizarre’ purple funk groove driven by chugging Timmy Thomas-ish rhythm, excitingly insistent more than a song … Shep Pettibone has remixed Janet Jackson ‘The Pleasure Principle’ … Cooltempo snapped up the Rappin’ Reverend here, and Champion has Sweet Heat … Cultural Vibe ‘Power‘ will be amongst the imminent first releases on Morgan Khan’s new Westside label, while Dance Music turns out to be the actual name of the label that is about to continue the ‘Streetsounds’ LP series … Serious Records’ ‘Upfront 6‘ compilation includes current hits by Sybil, Eleanore Mills, Mel & Kim, Kenny ‘Jammin’ Jason, Zushii, TC Curtis, Full House, On The House plus LP cuts by Millie Scott and Keni Stevens — hot or what? … Chris ‘CJ’ Mackintosh’s previously promoed ‘CJ Scratch’ mix of ‘Boops’ is now commercially available as B-side to the Sly & Robbie 12 inch (4th + B’way 12BRWX 61), while Les Adams’ ‘Throwdown Medley’ has cropped up again as a Kool & The Gang flip, this time to try and sell ‘Stone Love’ … Diana Ross’s percussively tapping breathy swaying ‘Dirty Looks‘ (108⅔bpm off acetate) may be too ramblingly disjointed a song for huge pop success but could help restore her soul credibility when it’s on EMI here soon … Miles Davis’s recent ‘Tutu’ LP’s Marcus Miller-created ‘Full Nelson‘ has been given a Herb Alpert-inspired snappily jolting 110¼bpm industrial funk remix, on US Warner Bros promo … Club Nouveau’s follow-up is merely a straight reissue of their ‘Rumors’-answering (0-)110bpm ‘Jealousy‘ (Warner Bros W8551T), too late surely to mean much now? … Pepsi & Shirlie haven’t figured much in this column before, but a more house-style 123bpm Dot & Daisy’s Club Remix of their ‘Heartache’ hit has been promoed ahead of it being B-side to the follow-up (well, if Mel & Kim can fit!) … Gloria Gaynor ‘Be Soft With Me Tonight‘ never meant much in its original mix and now is in a new more tightly compressed 88bpm Stock Aitken Waterman remix (still on Fanfare 12FAN 11, merely over-stickered) … Andy Carroll and ‘Rare Grooves Master’ Mike Knowler joke that although ‘Urban Guerrilla’ Steve Proctor may have left to join Polydor, they’re still holding the fort at Liverpool’s The State (where some of ‘Letter To Brezhnev’ was filmed) … Tony Jenkins souls Mondays at Covent Garden’s ultra-trendy Browns … Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis will be producing Patti LaBelle on a song called ‘Just The Facts‘ from a new ‘Dragnet’ movie … Big Al Butler, the huge but gentle Washington DC-a go go security guy photographed two years ago dancin’ the Happy Feet with Steve Walsh, was recently killed while capturing a supermarket robber … Prince ‘Sign ‘O’ The Times’ topped US 12 Inch Sales and Kissing The Pink ‘Certain Things Are Likely’ topped Club Play in Billboard … Georgio, whose ‘Sex Appeal‘ failed to appeal here but is big in the US, was picked up by Motown from the independent Macola label … I spent the last bank holiday weekend in a North Wales houseparty with Matt Johnson of The The – the thing is, so did my father, and you could call it a culture clash! … I wonder which of today’s unplayed newies will be the rare grooves of tomorrow? … LAH DE DAH DE!

TRISTAN BOLITHO now mixes it up at Bristol’s brand new Parkside Club, in Bath Road’s Amos Court, and also has a little featurette on BBC Radio Bristol’s ‘Close Up’ programme, relaying the area’s club news. For this, he’d like to hear about any mixing and scratching-type gigs, which he’ll plug (write to him at ‘Close Up’, BBC Radio Bristol, PO Box 194, Bristol). The station is also running a West Of England mixing and rapping contest on June 11, details to follow.

HOT VINYL

DONNA ALLEN ‘Perfect Timing’ LP (Portrait 450888 1)
My original faith in (the obviously included 110⅕bpm) ‘Serious‘ seems at least to have been justified, powerfully wailing Donna being even more soulful on the impassioned cool rolling 116⅕bpm ‘Satisfied’ (now on import 12 inch too), bubbling (0-)113⅕bpm ‘Sweet Somebody‘, Howard Johnson-duetted drifting 94bpm ‘Perfect Timing‘, tortuous 70bpm ‘Daydreams‘, trotting 122bpm ‘Another Affair‘, jerky 108⅕bpm ‘Bit By Bit’, murky 109½bpm ‘Wild Nights’, and her jolting 116⅕bpm ‘Bad Love’ B-side.

THE WHISPERS ‘Rock Steady’ (MCA Records MCAT 1152)
Excellent typical catchily trotting 116⅓bpm singalong swayer with clipped choruses in vintage style (instrumental flip, plus 1984’s lovely Philly-style 66¼bpm ‘Are You Going My Way‘). A smash!

JAZZY JEFF & FRESH PRINCE ‘A Touch Of Jazz’ (Champion CHAMP 12-47)
As well as their LP’s original jazz-funk scratch medley, there are three dynamite much re-scratched and extended remixes, at 103⅓bpm here apart from the 103⅙ Collapsed In The Street Mix, which is the most altered of all with added rap. The shape of things to come? Continue reading “May 16, 1987: Donna Allen, The Whispers, Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, Herb Alpert, Joyce Sims”

May 9, 1987: Maceo & The Macks, Lillo Thomas, Voices In The Dark, Norwood, The Whispers

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

2 PUERTO RICANS, A BLACKMAN AND A DOMINICAN have created quite a rumpus as their ‘Do It Properly!’ slots samples from other house hits into what’s basically Adonis ‘No Way Back’ — and that latter will soon be released here commercially by London with their version on the legal flip, but here called ‘The Adonis Bootleg’ … Steve Walsh has reassembled all the original members of Freeez, apart from John Rocca, to remake ‘Southern Freeez 87’ for his Total Control Records, now with four new “freeze” pauses prompted vocally by Steve himself on the flip’s Avenger Mix in an attempt to make the old Rodney Franklin-started dance craze a summer hit again … Sybil ‘Let Yourself Go’ (actually rather reminiscent of ‘Southern Freeez’, isn’t it?) is being creatively marketed as a remixed 120½bpm Champion Mix (Champion CHAMPX 12-42), with conversational chat at the start followed by almost more digital chipmunks than proper singing … Swing Out Sister’s ‘Twilight World’, bouncing back into our Disco chart, is also in a new 0-113bpm Outer Limits Mix (Mercury SWING 422), with a dialogue-like diatribe break usefully early on, while Dancin’ Danny D’s 119¾-0bpm Observation Mix of Patrice Rushen ‘Watch Out’ (Arista RIST 12R), as warned, adds clodhopping almost Hi-NRG percussion to destroy the original’s delightful airiness, and Frankie Knuckles ‘You Can’t Hide From Yourself’ (here given its proper full title) is also in the dubbier chugging 121-0bpm Chip E’s House Remix (Portrait PARTY Q1) … Peggi Blu actually had a theatrical training, appearing as a child in ‘The Wiz’, and recorded a disco album on MCA Records in 1980, although currently her success in the States is as a multi-winner of TV’s ‘Star Search’ talent contest, like Durrell Coleman and Sam Harris — let’s hope her fame is less meteoric than theirs … Susie Barnes may find she has a hard act to follow on her return from an around the world trip, as in her absence Dave Pearce has been turning Radio London’s weekday afternoons into the best and most crucial daily soul show on radio … ‘Solid Soul’ has begun taping its new season of 18 shows for Channel 4, ultra smart dancers (who said posers?) being able to apply for tickets in person at Concorde House, 1 Barb Mews, Brook Green, Hammersmith … Robbie Dee is still taking entries at Southend-on-Sea’s Rain Discotheque (0702-333277) for the remaining Wednesday heats of a Disco Dance Competition 1987, the £250 first prize final being on May 20 … Concorde Artistes are promising a cleaner Miss Wet T-Shirt Contest for this its tenth year of touring UK clubs, with less female flesh and more T-shirt on show under the shower, huge new video monitors allegedly making up for this! … Thursday (7), def dude Graeme Park starts the weekly Sweat Box at Derby’s Blue Note, while Simon Dunmore, Dean Thatcher, Steve Saunders and Les Fisher soul (and rare groove) the Rhythm Zone at Northolt’s C&L Country Club … Neil McKenzie and Warren Thompson are most upfront ‘n’ funky on Thurs/Fridays at Dunfermline Johnsons, having weaned their receptive crowd away from the area’s still otherwise prevalent Hi-NRG, and in fact they launch a really hard crucial weekly Def Club there this Sunday (10) … Monday (11) Chad Jackson cuts it up at Jeff Thomas’s weekly soul night in Swansea’s Martha’s Vineyard, while 30 miles away on Tuesday (12), Bridgend’s brand new Aston’s launches a weekly soul night with James Lewis and special guest Robbie Vincent (first of many regular attractions) … Georgie Fame plays Dagenham’s Beacon Leisure Centre with Steve Wren next Friday (15), advance tickets on 01-593 5000 … Franklin Sinclair, fairly funky at Accrington Maximillians on Wednesdays, was persuaded with the promise of some Technics SL 1200 decks to stay on at Manchester’s Richfields instead of moving as previously announced (threatened?) to the new Applejacks — power to the DJ! … Catterick’s increasingly funky Kim Jacques now jocks at Darlington’s revamped Walking Cane … TKO DJs Roberto and Toni Forzoni run the Italians disco on Sundays at Clerkenwell Turnmills … Gaz Anderson has moved to London’s Regines after four years at Bootleggers … Terry Adams is promotions manager at Kingston-upon-Thames Cinderella’s Rockerfella’s, where he’s after class PAs on 01-541 1515 (Tues/Thurs afternoons) … Mike Shawe (0272-554246 days), one of Bristol’s few funk DJs at the city centre Hollywood, is desperate for Cloud One ‘Flying High‘ (US Heavenly Star) and will swap such as Oneness Of Juju … Ripple ‘I Don’t Know What It is But Is Sure Is Funky‘ (US GRC seven inch) seems to be building into a “rare groove” hit — four DJs were charting it this week … Vaneese Thomas, daughter of Memphis R&B veteran Rufus Thomas and sister of Sixties soul queen Carla Thomas, has been signed by Geffen Records from Hush Productions … Eddie Kidd ran into a real life enactment of his Levi 501’s commercial when a bouncer barred him from Romford’s plush new Hollywood because, you guessed it, he was wearing jeans — even when Eddie said who he was the bouncer replied, “Yeah, and l’m Peter Stringfellow” (the club made up for this boob by booking him for a PA the very next night)! … Jody Watley topped US 12 Inch Sales, Club Nouveau and then Kraftwerk ‘The Telephone Call (Remix)‘ having topped Club Play in Billboard … Steve Hodge has done a stuttery-started 111¼bpm remix of Herb Alpert ‘Diamonds’, due here in a fortnight, which despite Janet Jackson’s vocal contribution is still pretty pedestrian … Loose Ends’ latest US hit is the two and a half years old ballad, ‘You Can’t Stop The Rain‘ … MCA Records in the States have signed Sahara (remember ‘Love So Fine’?), Timmy Regisford remixing their ‘How Long’ US debut … Gigolo Tony’s rap version of the Hokey Cokey, ‘Hoki Poki‘ (US 4-Sight) surprisingly failed to intrigue DJs here but is selling in the States … Champion Records are now distributed by RCA/Ariola … Hi-NRG chart contributors, it would help immensely if you could include label details of anything new in your charts each week, as they’re often not known to us… Rhythm King’s upcoming ‘Rob Olson’s Chicago Jack Beat Volume II‘ compilation LP will include Duane & Co ‘Hard Core (On The One)’, MG² ‘My House Is Bigger Than Your House’, Matt Warren ‘Bang The Box (Remix)’, Kevin Irving ‘Ride The Rhythm (Remix)’ and Denise Motto ‘Tell Jack’ … Sheila E’s next single will be ‘Koo Koo‘, rather than one of her LP’s dance tracks, while The System’s now finally happening ‘Don’t Disturb This Groove‘ is set for UK release in four weeks … Bobby Womack was apparently flattered to find Living In A Box using his vocal style, which makes one wonder if Bobby himself would be more likely to hit the top 10 if he recorded something with a more modern beat … LAH DE DAH DE!

PETE TONG has already quit the Sunday soul show on Kent’s Invicta Radio so that he can increase his radio profile in London, where most of his club work now lies — and indeed he has made his debut as special guest presenter the last Friday of the month on Radio London’s 10pm-midnight NITE FM slot.

CHRIS BROWN, contrary to rumours, is still spinning his inimitable soul and jazz at Ascot’s Belvedere, but on Wednesday nights rather than at Sunday lunchtimes, which are the popular sessions that had to be discontinued due to their very popularity … the neighbours were complaining about all the illegal parking!

HOT VINYL

MACEO & THE MACKS ‘Cross The Track (We Better Go Back)’ (Urban URBX 1, via Polydor)
At last legally available, in an extended Simon Harris re-edit to boot, the James Brown-produced saxist and his band’s extremely nagging see-sawing jiggly old funker has a mind numbing repetitive piping siren-like tone and girls ‘n’ guys-alternated chants, making it by far the biggest record at Prestatyn as well as of course (in its also included basically 101⅓-103½-102¾-102⅓-102⅔bpm original seven inch version) the hottest “rare groove” bootleg for the last few months. In monitoring the extended version I actually logged 28 shifts in the Beats Per Minutes, fluctuating around 100¼-103¾bpm at both extremes but which I averaged at 100⅘bpm (not that it’s ever exactly that)! In addition the 12 inch includes the “parrty”-chanting wicky wacky 106-104½-105bpm ‘Soul Power 74‘ sax instrumental and, likewise from 1973, the title-chanting burbling afro-flavoured steady 114bpm ‘Parrty – Part 1‘. Party hardy, y’all!

LILLO THOMAS ‘I’m In Love (Longer Love Mix)’ (Capitol 12CL 450)
Considerably beefed up from his hot LP version with overdubbed rhythmic human bass and a tabla break — to the regret of some although I think it’s really bright now — this rolling and soaring 114-0bpm chugger (in three mixes) isn’t due fully for over a week but is too big a secret to keep until then!

VOICES IN THE DARK ‘Keep It Warm (Remix)’ (Champion CHAMP 12-46)
Gradually unfurling through chipmunk effects, remixed specially for the UK from the less good import, this shrilly nagging girls sung and sax squalled, chiming 115½-114¾bpm shuffling strider has the simple dated appeal of a ‘Ring My Bell’ and could easily now cross over (Edit/lnstrub flip). Continue reading “May 9, 1987: Maceo & The Macks, Lillo Thomas, Voices In The Dark, Norwood, The Whispers”

May 2, 1987: Prestatyn Easter Weekender, DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, Eric B & Rakim, Duane & Co, Black Britain, The O’Jays

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

LIVE WIRE’s Easter weekender at Prestatyn Pontins seems to have been an unqualified success, a bit long at four days (a sense of routine sets in), with the superior camp site already booked for a three day return weekender on October 30-November 1 — but before then there’s a 5pm alldayer on Bank Holiday Monday, May 25, at Great Yarmouth Tiffanys with the usual “mafia” stars … OK, so it was Exit 20 on the M6 after all (three separate maps said Exit 9), but otherwise my route directions for finding Prestatyn seemed much appreciated by all except Tim Westwood, who couldn’t handle the duckpond details! … Prestatyn apparently wasn’t considered “credible” enough an audience for the Tashan/Chuck Stanley/Oran ‘Juice’ Jones tour, after all, although Bobby Womack came specially as a surprise guest to play to the 4,000 soul fans (who, as promised, kept shaving foam and water fights to a minimum this time) … Robbie Vincent’s live show on Radio 1 unfortunately helped perpetuate the old ‘soul boy’ image, the crowd chanting and whistle-blowing along (they booed the News!) … Chad Jackson (repeating his snooker cue stunt) and Chris ‘CJ’ Mackintosh were star turns in the hip hop-orientated Warehouse venue (all halls being in the same smart building), while the Jazz Village was a haven of Sixties jazz and soul … I hear that Bob Masters’ Bournemouth weekender went well, too … Mason’s dad looks so like Chuck Brown that that’s who I thought he was at first — their album was actually completed two years ago … Tom Jones’ ‘It’s Not Unusual’ is being reissued as an extended mix flipped by his live medley of it with ‘Land Of 1000 Dances’, always huge at jazz gigs (like ‘Bossa Nova Baby’) for the likes of Chris Brown! … Germany’s BCM label has been at it again, compiling a 10 track CD ‘Chicago Trax — Volume 1‘ (BCM T.X. 50-5001-44) from its (and London’s here retitled) Trax Records double LP, with the addition of Farmboy’s ‘Jackin’ Me Around’, while on vinyl their again confusingly retitled version of the US ‘The House Sound Of Chicago — Volume 2‘ (BCM/DJ International Records DJ 33-3003-43) substitutes Darryl Pandy s storming 122-0bpm ‘Work Your Body’ for the Frankie Knuckles track … TC Curtis’s widely promoed next single, not due for over a fortnight and oddly not on his new LP, is the drily pattering go go-ish repetitive 0-103⅔bpm ‘Love Got Me On A Merry-Go-Round’ … Club Nouveau ‘Lean On Me’ is being creatively marketed as a (0-)90½bpm Club Edit Nouveau (Warner Brothers W8430TX), which seems rhythmically cleaner … Level 42 ‘To Be With You Again’ has already been trickily remixed by David ‘O’ Ogrin as the 114¾bpm A.D.S.C. Mix (Polydor POSPA 855), with a dub replacing the flip’s ‘Lessons In Love’ remix to make the whole exercise fairly pointless … One Way’s commercial B-side appears to be the (0-)75¼bpm ‘Oh Girl’ … Lee Prentiss, whose UK recorded 114½bpm cover version of Rainy Davis’ US hit sleeper ‘Sweetheart‘ is out on May 11, is currently midway in a marathon 17 date PA tour mainly of Scotland and the North … Isley Jasper Isley’s datedly Steely Dan-ish 130½/132bpm ‘8th Wonder Of The World‘ seems only to be on seven inch (Epic 650750 7) … I came back from Prestatyn with a streaming cold, so recuperative sleep filled some of the time in which I would normally have BPMed the Sly & Robbie LP, strong sets by the Whispers and Norwood, plus the trickily varying four-track 12 inchers of (THE Prestatyn smash!) Maceo & The Macks ‘Cross The Track‘ (Urban URBX 1) and War ‘Low Rider (Remixes)’ (LA International XLAX 100, via PRT) – as usual, check the Disco chart in case they hit … Simon Harris is doing a weekly half-hour megamix between 1-1.30am on Chris ‘Trog’ Forbes’ Saturday night-Sunday morning Capital Radio soul show, and will be following his War ‘Low Rider’ B-side mix (Arthur Baker did the A-side) with a house mix of ‘Galaxy’ … CBS tried unsuccessfully to jam Music Of Life Records’ ‘Def Beats 1’, album, claiming the name could be confused with the Def Jam label, little realising that the word “def” is in such common usage that it’s listed in Collins English Dictionary — and what about Def Leppard?! … Graeme Park, who packs out Nottingham’s Barracuda on Saturdays following his photo appearing in rm, is now featuring oldies (Sixties/Seventies soul, Seventies disco-funk) every second Friday there, May 1 being next … Sunday (3) lain Norman and Def Stef soul-funk-rap-jazz Stowmarket’s Stag Tavern, weekly if this one’s a success … Polygram in the US has revised the Wing label, with such dance artistes as Atlantic Starr’s former vocalist Sharon Bryant … LL Cool J’s new album uses rock ‘n’ roll breaks by Bill Haley … LAH DE DAH DE!

Jeff Young was the roving reporter, out in the crowd with a mike, during Robbie Vincent’s live Radio 1 soul show from Prestatyn.

Bobby Womack’s appearance on the first, Friday, night at Prestatyn was such a well kept secret that nobody in the much teased crowd knew who the mystery guest was going to be until he actually hit the stage for a full live set!

Chris Forbes’ main appearance at Prestatyn was in a double-header with Chris Hill on the Friday night, but he was so keen that after returning to London for his Saturday night show on Capital Radio, he came right back to North Wales just for the finale!

Chillin’ at Prestatyn were the Soul Splash crew, who’ve been known to promote their own alldayers and similar events too, with ambitious plans for the future.

Live Wire Television, the special close circuit channel at Prestatyn, on the Sunday night was hosted by Robbie Vincent (centre), with his assistant Cathy O’Brien and the omnipresent ‘Dr Ruth’ Maggot, who gave sexual advice about the use of condoms and other such timely contraptions.

ROY AYERS played two full live concerts at Prestatyn, the climax of each being a breakneck challenge on the vibes by his percussionist Unfortunately, during Sunday’s simultaneous Radio 1 broadcast, he got bogged down on some new unfamiliar instrumentals and only played such hits as ‘Poo Poo La La’ after he’d gone off air.

HOT VINYL

DJ JAZZY JEFF & FRESH PRINCE ‘A Touch Of Jazz’ (US Jive 1040-1-JD)
Much rescratched and extended with a title line vocal drop-in, Jazzy Jeff’s 103⅙bpm vintage jazz-funk medley of Marvin Gaye ‘T Plays It Cool’, Bob James ‘Westchester Lady’, Donald Byrd ‘Change’ (and now ‘Places And Spaces’), Bobbi Humphrey ‘Harlem River Drive’, Grover Washington Jr ‘Mr Magic’ is in three new mixes (the flip’s with added rap and some Chic ‘Good Times’) plus the LP’s original, beautifully packaged.

ERIC B AND RAKIM ‘I Know You Got Soul’ (US 4th + B’way BWAY-438)
Casually though insistently chatted jiggly 104bpm rap ‘n’ scratch set to Bobby Byrd’s 1971 soul hit of the same name (in three mixes), so naturally massive already in this “rare groove” era. Considering somewhere I’ve got the complete recorded works of James Brown and all his associated acts up to the mid-Seventies, I wonder what they’re worth now?

DUANE & CO ‘Hard Core (On The One)’ (US Dance Mania Records DM 004)
Marshall Jefferson programmed drums with presumably Jesse Saunders cutting in James Brown to blatantly commercial effect, as before, on the new 121bpm ‘J.B. In Heat’, 121bpm ‘J.B. Traxx II‘, 118¾bpm ‘Lowdown ‘N’ Funky‘, 118⅔bpm ‘At The Organ‘ variations on the rare groove goes house theme. Continue reading “May 2, 1987: Prestatyn Easter Weekender, DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, Eric B & Rakim, Duane & Co, Black Britain, The O’Jays”

April 25, 1987: 2 Puerto Ricans A Blackman And A Dominican, Ultra Magnetic MC’s, Whispers, Kinkina, Eleanore Mills

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

DISCO AID may only have raised £50,000 from its co-ordinated national charity night last November, but now a Disco Aid Trust is being set up as the disco industry’s charitable organisation to run further events, hopefully with even greater success and public awareness … Somerset Sound & Light are promoting the Disco West 87 equipment exhibition this Sunday (26), 11am-6pm, at Glastonbury’s Tor Sport & Leisure Centre on the A39 … Phyllis Hyman’s new 96bpm US remix of the Loose Ends-penned, Julie Roberts-originated sultry ‘Ain’t You Had Enough Love’ has been white labelled here and will be twin-packed with her ‘Screaming At The Moon‘ 12 inch (to which the LP version is flip. anyway), this new mix being even more exaggeratedly typical of Nick Martinelli’s production style … Prince’s follow-up will be the sexily muttered sinuous squeaky 96bpm ‘If I Was Your Girlfriend‘, which in my rush I missed from his LP review (presumably the end will be faded as it’s too hot for radio!) … Debut picked up The Movement ‘Magic’, and are putting out a ‘Jack Mix II‘ remake (rather than remix) of Mirage ‘Jack Mix’ … Keni Stevens’ LP appears to be selling most strongly to the slow slinky “heartbeat” tempo loving black market as there’s nothing fast enough on it for white dancers … Five Star’s house tempoed newie, although it hit nationally quite high, is proving to be too “hard” for the kids and the wrong group for DJs to buy … Paul Lekakis’ suggestively worded frantic Hi-NRG 129¾bpm ‘Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room)‘ (Champion CHAMP 12-43), a long established Euro smash now climbing fast in the US, could well be the next ‘Male Stripper’ if you’re into that type of thing … Sheffield vintage soul purist Mike Ward and industry veteran Alan Bellman have set up the Timeless Records label dedicated to hard core soul, launched with brand new albums by Ike Noble, Barrett Strong, The Controllers, Frederick Knight, Tyrone Davis, plus Anita Ward, C L Blast, Tommy Tate, Lynn White to follow … Nick Ratcliffe’s Dance Show has been discontinued in County Sound Radio’s spring schedules, but he’ll be hosting another new show in the future … BBC Radio Merseyside soul DJ Kenni James and Hott Waxx Records shop owner Kev Edwards joined Alan Gaskell in St Helens recently for a soul night to raise money for Mark Eccleston, hospitalised with spinal injuries that’ll leave him paralysed for life — that seems a far more worthy exercise than any number of Sun-glorifying charity singles … Tricky Dick Scanes runs his own gay discos around London and has no connection with Bolts, other than in his knee, currently held together by bolts and a plate following a skiing prang … Ben Liebrand’s sister Rita is a mixer too, jocking in Germany at Essen’s Librium, and has been asked by CBS there to create a continuously mixed album … Friday (24) Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince (if they bother to turn up) should be with Pete Tong and “Beastie Boyz” Tony Wilson, Trevor Fung and Paul Oakenfold at the Project Club in Streatham’s Zigis, where next Friday (1) its Jeff Young’s turn … Saturday (25) Chris Hill heads a Prestatyn reunion (what else?) with Kev Hill and Maggot at Harlow Whispers’ weekly Sweat Box (the club’s half million pound refit isn’t now due until mid-summer), the next few weeks’ guests being Bob Jones (2), Froggy (9), Jeff Young (16) … Monday (27) Desa starts a weekly upfront night at Liverpool Atmosphere’s with Damon Rochefort and Sharon Dee Clarke as special guests … Belfast’s burgeoning Soul In The City Saturday club in Robinson’s Top Floor Bar is running a mystery tour on Sunday May 3, taking 200 soul fans to an undisclosed special nightclub booked for their exclusive use, buffet and transport included for the £8.50 non-members’ price — call Belfast 661761 after 6pm to see if any tickets are left … Northern Ireland’s Traks in Portrush sponsors the International North-West 200 motorcycle race on Saturday, May 9, which every year draws 180,000 people from around the world — and, to DJ Brian Moore’s delight, the track is right on Traks’ doorstep … Gary Hickson funks Tuesdays at Blackpool’s newly refurbished Adam & Eve, using the sound and light system that he was contracted to install as well … Steve Wren and Big Al Parker house ‘n’ funk Dagenham’s Beacon Leisure Soul Club in Raynham Road South on Friday evenings, buffet included, and Steve also has a Sunday house party at Walthamstow’s Racers Chingford Road … Scottish PA circuit organiser Tony Cochrane is now manager of Dundee’s brand new Tokyo Joe’s, with Ian Robertson as DJ … Andy Baker (Rhyl Downtown/Octagon) finds with a bit of vari-speed that Living In A Box synchs forever with ‘Set It Off’ … Steve Ogley (Oulton Broad Chequers) wonders whether, in JMO ‘Jack Is The Message’, the constant dog bark featured throughout is by a “Jack” Russell! … LAH DE DAH DE!

SIMON HARRIS has launched a new hip hop compilation LP series on his label with ‘Def Beats 1‘ (Music Of Life Records MODEF 1, via Pinnacle), continuously edited rather than mega-mixed — although, in his alter ego of NOMIS SIRRAH, he climaxes it with a 0-93-0bpm ‘Powerplay Megamix‘. London’s Derek Boland contributes a viable UK answer to Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince in the James Brown break-cutting 99bpm DEREK B ‘Rock The Beat‘, and also previously unreleased anywhere are the beat-cutting female rap 91bpm SPARKY D ‘Sparky’s In The Place‘, fast-talking youthful 93⅓bpm FATHER MC ‘My Beat‘, rock-guitared 0-83½-0bpm BEWARE AFFAIR ‘Def Beat‘, MC-popping 95bpm BLUZ BROS ‘Bluz Bros‘, while already known are the story song 0-91 bpm DANA DANE ‘Delancey Street’, scratching 86½bpm SPYDER D ‘My Whole Life Flashed’, US original 102½bpm VICIOUS RUMOR CLUB ‘Whole Lotta Love’, 90⅔bpm THE MICROPHONE PRINCE ‘Who’s The Captain’.

HOT VINYL

2 PUERTO RICANS, A BLACKMAN AND A DOMINICAN ‘Do It Properly!’ (US Fierce Records FR 1000)
Really, that’s the name on the label! Their speedily snicking 124¼bpm jack track kicks off with terrifying rippling and romping piano, the same player then pumping an organ before “jack your body” gets sampled and things keep getting crazier — very exciting (the same track repeats as flip).

ULTRA MAGNETIC MC’s ‘Traveling At The Speed Of Thought’ (US Next Plateau NP5008)
Excellent singsong chanting and scratching 111bpm jaunty sparse rap which keeps cutting the Kingsmen’s ‘Louie Louie’ into its ‘Honky Tonk Woman’-type tempo, great fun and sure to be big (dub too, plus the disjointed jittery 0- 104⅓-0bpm ‘MC’s Ultra (Part II)‘ and break beat-cutting short 106⅓bpm ‘B-Boy Bonus Break’).

WHISPERS ‘Rock Steady’ (US Solar V-71153)
A much used title over the years, although here a new song, this jauntily trotting 116⅓bpm singalong swayer is vintage Whispers, with clipped choruses and a lean arrangement so immediately recognisable as their timeless style that, cleaner recording apart, it sounds little different from their revived oldies (inst flip, and 1984’s lovely Philly-ish 66¼bpm ‘Are You Going My Way’). Continue reading “April 25, 1987: 2 Puerto Ricans A Blackman And A Dominican, Ultra Magnetic MC’s, Whispers, Kinkina, Eleanore Mills”

April 18, 1987: Jim Bennett & His Bumpin Crew, Carey Johnson, True Mathematics, Benetta & Kevin, Wired

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

POLYDOR are starting a new dance label called Urban as a replacement for, and expansion of, Boiling Point — first release at the end of April will be Maceo & The Macks, followed by Cindy Valentine, Jackson Sisters ‘I Believe In Miracles’, Manu Dibango ‘Makossa 87‘ … Circa Records have circulated key shops with pre-release copies of the instantly strong-selling Hindsight ‘Heaven’s Just A Breath Away (The Bliss Mix)‘, a gentle jiggly 105½bpm tugging swayer due commercially in a different format on April 27, without the pre’s 104⅚bpm Paradise Lost dub mix flip … London are promoting their ‘The House Sound Of Chicago Volume 2’ double LP with a strictly promo-only 33⅓rpm four-track 12 inch containing two 126bpm mixes of last summer’s Adonis ‘No Way Back’, the 0-120bpm Hercules ‘7 Ways’ (here retitled ‘7 Ways To Jack’), and the slowed down 114⅔bpm Mr Fingers ‘Can You Feel It’ … Ben Liebrand’s more meatily altered 107bpm Extended Groove Mix of Hot Chocolate ‘Every l’s A Winner’ (EMI 12EMIX 5607) seems to be the better seller with DJs now it’s on 12 inch, and includes its own new powerfully lurching Bonus Beats … Shep Pettibone’s 113bpm remix of ‘Lessons In Love’ is, as warned, now on the B-side of the typical wordily jittering 114¾bpm Level 42 ‘To Be With You Again‘ (Polydor POSPX 855), maybe slightly more relevant to soul clubs than their last one, although I still don’t see why soul DJs continue to chart stuff like this yet ignore Dire Straits … Les Adams has given Jaki Graham a 0-79¼-83⅐-73¼bpm Megamix (EMI 12JAKI X10) that’s probably too late to salvage ‘Still In Love’, sandwiching it briefly between the Derek Bramble-duetted more soulful ‘Let’s Get Blue’, and ‘Love Under Moonlight’ … Dancin’ Danny D might have blown it this time by making his upcoming Patrice Rushen remix clodhoppingly Hi-NRG, while his Chinese-flavoured lurching 116¼-0bpm Radical Remix of the Taurus Boyz ‘Looking For A Lover’ (Cooltempo COOLS 141) is, unusually, a 33⅓rpm seven inch — too unusually, as DJs are reluctant to buy it so far … Epic look like creatively marketing Luther Vandross with Les Adams’ megamix from the Disco Mix Club … Patrice Rushen’s ‘Watch Out!’ LP is now out here (Arista 207 831), and Jody Watley’s US hit ‘Looking For A New Love‘ is finally due too, months after finished UK copes were originally circulated … Robert Brookins’ excellent value three-track UK 12 inch turns out to be only a promotional sampler, from which just ‘If I Only Knew‘ is scheduled as a future commercial A-side — MCA do it again! … Serious Records are starting another label called Needle Records, to carry a new ‘Dance Mania‘ compilation LP series, as a supplement to the ‘Upfront’ series, plus they’re releasing a beefed-up US revamp of ‘Rock The House (Medley)’, which in their version will no longer be credited to Mr K Mix by Special K … Morgan Khan actually had to buy a copy of his own original StreetSounds label’s limited-release ‘Jazz Juice 4′ LP for reference purposes, in readiness for its reappearance on his new label of the same name, all copies held in stock by the original label now of course being tied up by the bankruptcy proceedings of its parent company, Brazendown Ltd — hopefully this doesn’t mean the new pressing will be dubbed from disc? … Elite, with the release of Keni Stevens’ LP, is metamorphosing with a label name change into Jam Today … Phyllis Hyman, during a sequence of songs from her starring role in ‘Sophisticated Ladies’, at her London concerts suddenly went into a whistling solo, soon followed by a harmonica solo — only this latter turned out to be actually by one of her sound men, harping away at the control console in the middle of the auditorium while she was miming at the mike! … Epping Forest Country Club had its disco burnt out by an electrical fire, only the function suite being left operational at the moment … Roy Ayers’ second show will be broadcast live from Prestatyn on Radio 1 as part of Robbie Vincent’s extended programme this Sunday, the other live act at the soul weekender being the good-time R&B Boogie Brothers Band during Saturday lunchtime, while PAs will include Mason, Chuck Stanley, Tashan, Oran ‘Juice’ Jones, Cheryl Glasgow, David Grant — the largest ever DJ team promises plenty of new music will be played, with a minimum of shaving foam, while instead of the usual radio service this time there will be live on-site studio shows, videos and movies relayed to every chalet’s colour TV set by LWT (this one being Live Wire Television!) … I see that even some of the DJs appearing there think that Prestatyn is in South Wales, so it was just as well we did print my directions last week for finding it (in North Wales!) … Lillo Thomas and Phyllis Hyman were the latest stars to be spotted grooving at Gullivers, which finally moves from Mayfair in July to even more central London premises, where Graham Gold will still DJ at the weekends — plus he’ll be doing PR for the club by day, and is looking for other possible users of his many contacts (on 0923-42983, office hours), should any plugging-type people be interested … Tilly Rutherford, working now on acts like Hazell Dean out of Pete Waterman’s studio, is setting up a DJ mailing list to be run by ‘Aitch’, at PWL Empire, 4/7 The Vineyard, Sanctuary Street, London SE1 1QL … Paul Quinton is starting a mailing list for Hi-NRG/house-type DJs at Big Top Music, 66 Mollison Road, Meir, Stoke-On-Trent ST3 7AG … Jeff Thomas, the soul man at Swansea’s Martha’s Vineyard even on Mondays, has started a Wednesday Hi-NRG night and is after the right sort of guest DJs (good looking mixers) and PAs for it on 0792-702034 … Chris ‘Connie’ Crooks now Hi-NRGises Derby’s gay Rising Sun Fri/Sat/Sun/Wed, and Dimensions at Derby’s Fifth Dimension the third Monday of every month (I presume Bank Holiday makes no difference?) … Ian Levine’s various artists Hi-NRG compilation LP ‘That Nightmare Sound Volume 1‘ (Nightmare MARELP 1) confusingly shares not only some artists but also almost exactly the same sleeve design as ZYX Records’ US-issued ‘The Best Of Eurobeat Volume 1‘ … Sharon Redd’s kid sister Pennye Ford has replaced Mary Davis as lead singer in the SOS Band … Club Nouveau topped Billboard’s US 12 Inch Sales … Maze broke ZZ Top’s T-shirt sales record at Wembley Arena … Brighton’s Rhino reopens this Friday (17) in the seafront’s West Beach Hotel, def beats being spun by Steve Clancy, Warrick McGinty and rm’s own ace design editor Graham ‘Beastie’ Black (the Rhino Bro’ himself!) … Easter Day (19) Bolts returns to Boscombe’s Academy for a one-off special with Adrian Dunbar, while down the road on Bank Holiday Monday (20) at Bournemouth’s CoCo’s noon alldayer, Chris Dinnis heads the jazz ‘n’ soul DJ line-up … Monday lunchtime also finds Rick Robinson with a jazz and R&B session at Chertsey Bridge Cricketers — where Chris Brown does Sunday lunchtimes (when not at Prestatyn) now that Ascot’s Belvedere Arms has lost its music licence … Sly & Robbie are at Nottingham Rock City’s Easter Day alldayer, Birmingham Millionaires on Easter Monday, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Walkers Wed (22), Leeds Warehouse Thur (23), Manchester Hacienda (24), Brixton Fridge Sat (25) … LWR’s Gary Smith and Angela have named their baby James, and even considered asking my permission … LAH DE DAH DE!

PHYLLIS HYMAN had the dubious pleasure of my company at dinner, during which the stunning six-foot soulstress proved a messy and enthusiastic eater who really likes upmarket UK cooking — she actually took up smoking last month just to lose weight, which seems a bit drastic! When the subject of her historic unrobing in ‘Oui’ magazine was raised, she ripped open her cleavage and declared, “I have great boobs, I’m not ashamed of what I did! They only showed my top half, and backside, and ran nine pages of photographs together with nine pages of interview, something which they never normally do.” (Mel & Kim, eat your hearts out!) These enjoyable aspects of the meal apart, she also revealed that she’ll be singing in Spike Lee’s next movie ‘School Days’, she was meant to have recorded (and still wants to do) ‘Passion And Pain’ with producer Nick Martinelli, she confessed to her original mentor Norman Connors that she thinks he’s a terrible drummer (but a better producer), she wants to record in different foreign languages, and do a one woman show like her friend Dee Dee Bridgewater (who took over her role in the Duke Ellington musical ‘Sophisticated Ladies’). Quite a lady.

C.J. CARLOS – London’s original “CJ” – is back in the West End, on Tuesdays at Hombres and Thursdays at Le Beat Route, but he still rocks the house Saturdays at Norwood’s Limelight, and Fri/Sundays at his legendary venue, Dalston’s Oasis.

Is this man the UK’s answer to Freddie Jackson? Taking the brave step of creating a soul album on which everything is delicately sinuous, with nothing raising a sweat, the somewhat Phil Fearon-ish toned KENI STEVENS ‘Blue Moods’ (Jam Today KENI LP1, via PRT) has the (0-)94bpm title track, 66bpm ‘Spend The Night’, 108⅕bpm ‘Night Moves’, 100bpm ‘Too Much Too Soon’, 91⅙bpm ‘Passionate’, 38⅝/77¼bpm ‘Shine’, 87bpm ‘Cannot Live Without Your Love’. Move over Alexander, tell Chuck Stanley the news!

HOT VINYL

JIM BENNETT & HIS BUMPIN CREW ‘Bump & Roll (Give Up The Funk)’ (Bluebird BRT 36)
Apparently due for rush release in competition with Go Go Lorenzo & The Davis/Pinckney Project’s disappointing follow-up, this similarly styled though far superior 102⅚bpm go go bubbler is really infectious and quietly commercial in the same well arranged mellow way as ‘You Can Dance (If You Want To)’, with simple catchy synth, nice piano, swaying jiggly beats, and rhythmically rambling Chuck Brown-style exhortations (inst flip).

CAREY JOHNSON ‘Real Fashion (Reggae Style)’ (10 Records TENT 170)
From Charlie Gillet’s Oval imprint, this fabulous happy calypso style (0-)95bpm dated reggae chugger can’t help but make all who hear it feel good, and is already hot on London’s radio (dub flip), a possible smash.

TRUE MATHEMATICS and the Invisible Empire ‘After Dark’ (Champion CHAMP 12-44)
Rapping Mr Mathematics (but to you, True) casually chats about the night people on a hauntingly weaving 95-94⅔bpm swayer with a tugging beat that surges through scratched-in go go percussion and bursts of siren-like synth — on its less gimmicky way almost another ‘Amityville’ – flipped by the more urgently jolting 96⅓bpm ‘Greeks In The House‘ (dubs too). Fresh! Continue reading “April 18, 1987: Jim Bennett & His Bumpin Crew, Carey Johnson, True Mathematics, Benetta & Kevin, Wired”

April 11, 1987: Junior Gee & The ‘A’ Team, Sybil, Prince, Swing Out Sister, Jason

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

MORGAN KHAN has retained the label name StreetSounds (its parent company Brazendown Ltd being what filed for bankruptcy), and with new backing and a distribution deal via PRT intends to continue the label’s previous activities as of the end of this month, re-launching ‘Jazz Juice 4‘, ‘Hip Hop 16‘, another in the ‘Anthems’ series, and a new limited edition ‘StreetSounds Preview‘ series containing unreleased US masters, the new sister label equivalent of Streetwave being called (as hinted last week) Westside, although no releases are scheduled for that yet — his entire operation will be scaled down and starting as if from scratch, out of new smaller Ealing premises (which include a studio though), and so as not to dissipate his money and talent he has had to cancel the live rap festival UK Fresh ’87 after all … Germany’s BCM label has released a house Maxi-CD, ‘House Sound Of Chicago (CD Jack Attack)‘ (German DJ International Records D.J. 50-1007-44), containing Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley ‘Jack Your Body (Monty Remix)’, Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk & Jesse Saunders featuring Darryl Pandy ‘Love Can’t Turn Around (Farley Remix 2)’, Raze ‘Jack The Groove’, and the Mic Mac Meyers-mixed ‘The House Sound Of Chicago Megamix (Latin Mix)’ … LPs now out here include, from the same German source and here confusingly re-titled, the Trax Records double album compilation ‘The House Sound Of Chicago Volume 2 (Chicago Trax)‘ (London LON DP 32), plus the recently reviewed Lillo Thomas ‘Lillo’ (Capitol TC-EST 2031), Full Circle’s re-named First Circle ‘Boys’ Night Out’ (EMI America TC-AML 3118), Juicy ‘Spread The Love’ (Epic 450480 1) … Champion won’t now be releasing Kinkina ‘Jungle Fever’ until next month, although enough white labels have escaped to the right people to chart it, the Chakachas-originated (theirs is still available on Old Gold) throbbing panter being in a Phil Harding & Pete Waterman-remixed new 100bpm Megamix, a DJ StreetsAhead-scratched fresh 100bpm Skratch Fever version, plus the 99⅔bpm Original from around four years ago … Mel & Kim ‘Respectable’ has been out for nearly a fortnight in yet another Phil Harding-remixed 122½-122-122½bpm Shop Mix (Supreme Records SUPETZ 111), beat switching and frantic without improving on the main hit version, which this remix more closely resembles … Lola’s complete US 12 inch mixes are at last out here (Syncopate 12SYX 1), always better to my mind than the UK concoctions … Shep Pettibone’s currently imported 113bpm remix of ‘Lessons In Love’ will be on the B-side of Level 42’s UK follow-up next week … Norman Harris, guitarist/arranger/producer and one of the main creators of the mid-Seventies Philly Sound (he was a member of MFSB), died of heart failure in Philadelphia on March 20 … Radio London, wanting to contribute more to London’s oldies-swamped night-life than yet more repetition of ‘I Found Lovin’’ at their Soul Night Out, start a Nite FM Club Night at Kentish Town’s Town & Country Club this Saturday (11), with Dave Pearce, Pete Tong, Nicky Holloway, Gilles Peterson, Roger Johnson, Julian Palmer and Gary Crowley spinning crucial upfront rather than rare grooves – on a more sombre note, their Soul Night Out last Thursday at Leicester Square’s Empire Ballroom had a stabbing fatality … North Sea-based Laser will be back by the end of the month on 576AM, with a daytime black station WEZE starting in June on both AM and 10 kilowatt stereo FM, which should reach East London, Kent, and through East Anglia in stereo with the AM (Medium Wave) signal obviously getting far further … Yomi presents a one hour non-stop mix party Saturdays at 11pm on LWR … Graeme Park, the def dude, has one of his funky Glint nights at Derby’s Blue Note this very Thursday (9) … Romford’s glittery Hollywood nightclub opens Friday (10), with resident jocks Gary Sutton, John Tingley and Cosmic … Simon Dunmore spins real soul (fairly rare) at Hayes’ Keats winebar Sundays and at Uxbridge’s Abrook Arms fortnightly Fridays (this week) … Jody Watley (still not out here) replaced Company B ‘Fascinated’ atop Billboard’s US Club Play chart, last week’s highest new entry being Kissing The Pink’s house tempoed ‘Certain Things Are Likely‘, which should have done more here … Larry Blackmon didn’t only produce Bobby Brown’s ‘Girl Next Door’, he’s also directed its video … The Soul Club ‘I Want Your Guy‘ sounds like Jocelyn Brown ‘Somebody Else’s Guy’ with reason: now it’s no longer just on white label, I see it too was prod/penned by Allen George & Fred McFarlane (while in the US, on MCA, it’s already been remixed by Timmy Regisford) … Champion picked up True Mathematics, and – rather than their pop label, Polo – the blatantly Hi-NRG Paul Lekakis … TV-am’s daily play behind Mad Lizzy’s workouts would appear to have helped Judy Boucher’s chart climb, which proves it’s an MoR hit … Rough Trade will be reissuing next month CeIlulOid’s old catalogue, including the Fab 5 Freddy source of that much-scratched “fresh” … Kool & The Gang appear to be the Hot Chocolate of the Eighties (think about it!) … LAH DE DAH DE!

HOT VINYL

JUNIOR GEE & THE ‘A’ TEAM ‘The Terminator (Remix)’ (Fourth & Broadway 12BRWX 63)
Damon Rochefort’s reproduction of ‘The Terminator’ movie soundtrack is cut right down (minus all the amusing bits) in this UK rap’s rather brittle 96⅓bpm remix, with a spikily jittering new rhythm track and increased attention paid to Sharon Dee Clark’s ‘Mind Blowing Decisions’ hookline, plus some scratching by Chris Mackintosh, but for me its main appeal is now missing — even if it is allegedly better for dancefloors like this.

SYBIL ‘Let Yourself Go’ (Champion CHAMP 12-42)
Due here whenever Champion decide to switch from white label to full commercial availability, something they often delay for weeks if not months, this massive import smash is a haunting smoothly skittering and skipping soulfully warbled easily flowing flier in 121-120½-121¼-120½-120¼bpm Club and much more even 120¼bpm alternative Paradise Mixes, joined here by an 112½bpm remix of her older ‘Falling In Love’ hit.

PRINCE ‘Sign ‘O’ The Times’ LP (Paisley Park WX 88)
Still idiosyncratic though far more accessible than of late, this double LP’s dance tracks are the Paris-recorded live joyously bounding 114¾-114⅔-113-112-114-113⅔-113-113⅓bpm ‘It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night’ stomper, jauntily jumping 115¾-0bpm ‘Housequake‘ (actually led by someone called Camille with James Brown brass and paartaying background), lovely lazily swaying 63½-62½bpm ‘Slow Love‘, slinky chanting funk 109-108½bpm ‘Hot Thing‘, bouncily thudding 95½bpm ‘Strange Relationship‘, hoarsely strained tapping 120-0bpm ‘It‘, wailing vintage sweet soul-style 32-32¼/64½-0bpm ‘Adore‘, shuffling gently jogging Isleys-ish 102½bpm ‘The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker‘ (with wowing tones), fast striding rock (0-)122¼bpm ‘U Got The Look‘, and typically frantic (0-)197½-98¾-0bpm ‘Play In The Sunshine‘. Continue reading “April 11, 1987: Junior Gee & The ‘A’ Team, Sybil, Prince, Swing Out Sister, Jason”