April 14, 1984: The Emotions, Kenny G, Real To Reel, George Howard, The Kane Gang

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

SUDDENLY SPRING has sprung, and more to the point Easter deadlines loom — please send charts ‘n into NOW, before the weekend if possible! . . . Polydor’s Pete Tong makes the sending of charts to Record Mirror a qualifying requirement of his DJ mailing list (he must have a small list!): for him or any other label I’m always happy to supply corroboration about DJs who say they send charts when they don’t . . . Dean Cavedaschi (Wallington), unsure of what was wanted, listed “the disco records that are making my audiences move” — a perfect definition, ideally a Top 20 or more, sent regularly to arrive normally by Wednesday addressed to James Hamilton, Record Mirror, 40 Long Acre, London WC2E 9JT (please don’t divide your charts into “disco” and “pop” or whatever unless each section relates to totally different gigs) . . . Showstoppers soul weekender at Caister sounds like a good ‘un with all the jocks working so hard individually that there was little collusion over what was played, though biggies appear to have been the anticipated Detroit Spinners, Change, Jocelyn Brown, Matt Bianco, Don Wilkerson ‘Dem Tambourines‘ (Blue Note), Huey Piano Smith ‘Don’t You Just Know It‘ (Kent), other individual successes including Terry Callier ‘Ordinary Joe‘ (Elektra), Sivuca ‘Ain’t No Sunshine‘ (Brazilian obscurity), Natalie Cole ‘Lovers‘ (Capitol), but the big one-off finale blinder was a customised Caister video by Terri Wells of her imminent revival of ‘I’ll Be Around’! . . . Chris Brown (Camberley Frenchies/Ascot Belvedere) protests that his live Tom Jones ‘It’s Not Unusual/Land Of A 1000 Dances‘ is purely a fun record very popular in silly sessions, and he’s always first to campaign against the over-use of oldies as otherwise the scene will become like Northern Soul . . . Jeffrey Osborne’s Dominion support will now be local girl Julie Roberts, but if work permits allow it could be Ingram at Hammersmith Odeon (Barbara Mason can’t make it) . . . Julia & Co’s remix is now flip of the original, in selected specialist shops only . . . Streetwave’s £2.99 price tag on the AB’S classifies their 12in as an LP, so it’ll never hit the singles chart despite big sales — seems silly? . . . Tia Monae has now resurfaced on Carrere (CART 320) with the Dub Mix/Club Mix/Club Mix Instrumental (all 0-117bpm), but still no Dub Mix Instrumental! . . . Kool’s newie is 105½bpm . . . PRT on promo-only 12in edited together J. Blackfoot and Anne LeSear into a 66½-70-67bpm ‘Maxi-Taxi Cab Mix‘ to complete the saga (Anne’s 7in is out here next week) . . . Jive Afrika’s first promo from Hugh Masekela, ‘Don’t Go Lose It Baby‘, is a monotonously driving jiggly 120½bpm semi-instrumental with ‘Roots’-y chanting and surprise rap climax, due soon, as is EMI’s home grown Jaki Graham ‘What’s The Name Of Your Game‘, a stark 104½bpm example of the current “hot tempo” (ie ‘Ain’t Nobody’/’Plane Love’-penning Hawk Wolinski material crossed with Change/Cheryl Lynn/Gladys Knight/SOS Band-producing Terry Lewis & Jimmy Jam Harris — and guess what, Wolinski/Lewis/Harris have combined to produce Thelma Houston — will that be hot or what?!) . . . I never have room for such vital info as the fact that Kleeer ‘Tonight’ vari-synched exactly runs chord for chord night through Cameo ‘She’s Strange’, or that Brass Construction’s ‘Walkin’ The Line’ title line can be repeatedly dropped into Funk Deluxe ‘This Time’, or that Jocelyn Brown chops sensationally (right after the intro) out of the worth investigating Jo Jo ‘Jackson Rd‘, or that Collage/Dells/Dennis Edwards vari-synch into a beautiful smooth sequence . . . Nicky Holloway needs an enthusiastic MoR pop-soul jock midweek at Bermondsey’s Swan & Sugarloaf on 01-237 1862 . . . Brussels-based Station Independente Satellite 101.65FM has started an English service 7pm-3am and invites interested DJs to send demo tapes/CV details to Kevin Gover, Rue Vilain XIIII 40, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium . . . London’s entire population if they didn’t before must now know what Marvin Gaye sounded like . . . I forgot, that Brooklyn Fox show in ’64 also starred the Shangri-La’s amongst others! . . . Toni Smith is one helluva woman and did a great really horny PA at Mayfair’s Gullivers while recently in London — she’ll be back for fuller promotion soon . . . Top Of The Pops being off the screens last week could just result in soul hits moving up the chart in usual fashion, but it deprived us of a Chaka Khan video specially filmed at Stringfellows —where resident DJ Peter Anthony tells me Jeffrey Daniel has been wearing that old sailor suit again! . . . Kevin Antony Roberts is currently in the studio cutting two new Hi-NRG singles which are specially NOT at 129bpm! . . . Miquel Brown’s heart pacemaker is actually set at an ultra Lo-NRG 40bpm, and she’s battling to get Ian Geoffrey Levine to produce her down at around 120bpm for a change! . . . Disco Mix Club’s current mixes are a second bash at Shalamar and more Floorfillers by Alan Coulthard, who had a new toy for his birthday and it shows — Tony & Christine Prince gave him a digital delay unit! — while Sanny Xenokattas who staggered everyone with the same device at the Hippodrome convention has that event’s same sequence (though a different take) included, which loses out by being canned rather than vibrantly “live” . . . Alan Coulthard’s 7in edit of the Crusaders ‘MegaStreet’ is even punchier and more to the point than the 12in, being just ‘Street Life/Many Stops/Inherit The Wind/Dead End’ . . . Island sent DJs a pair of Malcolm X slipmats bearing the legend “we send the sounds … you cut the beat!” . . . Pete Richards & Big Phil Etgart’s “Western” night this Thursday (12) at Greenford Barbarellas has a mechanical bucking bronco . . . Slave extended their tour and now wind up at Frating Tartan House near Colchester on Friday (13), which’ll upset Essex Radio soul DJ Dave Gregory just along the road at Copford’s Windmill, while Chris Hill makes his debut at Peckham’s award-winning Kisses . . . Saturday (14) Kev Hill has a Caister reunion at Harlow Whispers, while at Mayfair’s Titanic (in Lansdowne Row just south of Berkely Square) the weekly scratching ‘n rapping hip hop challenge is between The Language Lab (Nick Jones, Danny, Mix In Machine, Jive Junior & Man Friday) versus The Island All Stars (Adrian Sykes, Julian Palmer, Papa Levi and more) — get down! . . . Cameo are top US Black single — their video always makes me think it should be of the Gap Band somehow . . . Michael Jackson’s success is certainly helping other uptempo black hits into the US pop chart, but with ‘Beat It’ he’s done a dis-service too as now seemingly every black album is lumbered with a horrid fast rock-disco clone . . . STAY FRESH!

HOT VINYL

THE EMOTIONS: ‘You’re The Best’ (LP ‘Sincerely’ US Red Label RLLP-001 -1)
Generally downtempo set only really sparked for dancers by their now extended current 7in, a swaying 105bpm “hot tempo” jogger quite blatantly inspired by ‘Ain’t Nobody’ but less vocally biting (so better mixed out of Jocelyn Brown rather than Chaka Khan to give it more contrast). Useful, though expansive like this!

KENNY G: ‘Hi, How Ya Doin? (Gravity Mix)’ (Arista ARIST 12-561)
So well established on LP already that it’s sure now to be a text book crossover hit, this brightly remixed 113bpm swaying electro lurcher has a dangerously catchy “hi, how ya doin’, hey, what’s happenin’ baby?” hookline that’s burrowed into every soul fan’s brain and should make it an equally deadly pop monster. Gullivers Graham Gold does a dynamite doubling-up megamix using the 7in instrumental flip repeatedly echoing the intro acappella hookline, switching and swapping between versions back and forth . . . oddly though the 12in flip’s labelled instrumental is in fact the original LP vocal, with the similarly pleasant jazzier 107bpm ‘Tribeca‘.

REAL TO REEL: ‘Love Me Like This’ (Arista ARIST 12565)
Busy producer Leon F Sylvers III gives the brothers — Leslie, Matthew, Dominic and Peter — a terrific slinkily jogging chunky 105bpm soul wailer with excellent vocal interplay and great chatter bits, rightly huge on import. Get it! Continue reading “April 14, 1984: The Emotions, Kenny G, Real To Reel, George Howard, The Kane Gang”

April 7, 1984: Marvin Gaye obituary, Change, Detroit Spinners, Stanley Clarke, Kool & The Gang, Bobby King

MARVIN GAYE
2nd April 1939-1st April 1984

THE NEWS echoed the shooting of Sam Cooke in 1964, but the circumstances had the ring of true Greek tragedy: Marvin Gaye was shot on the eve of his 45th birthday “in self defence” by his own father, the Reverend Marvin Gaye Sr… the father in whose Washington DC church the young Marvin had gained his early musical grounding.

For two years from 1955 Marvin was in the Don Covay-led local doo-wop group The Rainbows, who scored a regional hit with ‘Mary Lee‘ (Red Robin/Pilgrim), before forming a splinter group The Marquees who recorded on OKeh (as a result of fellow former Rainbow Billy Stewart’s involvement with Bo Diddley on the label).

In 1959 Harvey Fuqua, who had been a judge when Marvin won a high school singing contest, recruited the Marquees to become his reformed Moonglows — Marvin singing lead on ‘Mama Loocie‘ (Chess). Settling in Detroit, Harvey married Gwen Gordy (whose Anna label pre-dated Motown) and Marvin married Anna Gordy, so it’s not too surprising to find the fortunes of Harvey and Marvin becoming closely entwined with those of big brother Berry Gordy Jr!

Although his solo debut in 1961 was an album of standards, ‘The Soulful Moods Of Marvin Gaye’, in an attempt by Berry to diversify the still fledgling Tamla label, Marvin finally started his hit singles streak in the autumn of 1962 with the then typically percussive ‘Stubborn Kind Of Fellow‘, produced by William Stevenson and backed (in their own vinyl debut) by Martha & The Vandellas.

Only this last Saturday on Radio 1’s ‘Hitsville USA’ series, Marvin observed that he had worked with everyone in the Motown family (“except perhaps the Elgins”), and indeed in true family spirit his chief role early on had been that of drummer on many sessions with the Miracles and others! To move on apace he was of course also used as the (not entirely willing?) partner of first Mary Wells and then Kim Weston, Tammi Terrell and Diana Ross in a series of successful duets which, in this country especially, did much to undermine his own identity.

Also, with William Stevenson he wrote and produced for such “outside” acts as the Artistics (on OKeh — an earlier loyalty?), while for Motown’s subsidiary Soul label his finest production in 1969 was the Originals sublime smoocher ‘Baby I’m For Real‘.

In the meantime as a gospel influenced soul singer with an intimately caressing vocal style, his biggest US hits had been ‘Pride And Joy‘ (summer ’63), ‘How Sweet It Is’ (Xmas ’64) and ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ (Xmas ’68) … this latter unreleased for many months after its recording in a disagreement probably over Marvin’s unhappiness at the emphasis then placed on his duet hits. However, once finally out, ‘Grapevine’ became the Motown company’s biggest ever hit at that time and paved the way for Marvin to take greater control of his own recording destiny.

The result was a watershed not only for Marvin or Motown but for soul as a whole, the moody introspective self-produced concept album ‘What’s Going On’ and its spring ’71 title track smash, built up from layers of gently drifting amorphous sound. This approach continued through the sexual ‘Let’s Get It On’ (summer ’73), rhythmic ‘Got To Give It Up’ (spring ’77) and was triumphantly re-orchestrated for electronic instruments on autumn 1982’s climactic ‘Sexual Healing’.

However, between times, Marvin’s personal life had driven him to depression, and he had finally split with Motown to record for CBS. Working with Harvey Fuqua as advisor and recording in Belgium, Marvin Gaye’s bold experiment with ‘Sexual Healing’ had given his career a much needed boost. Now in a sad full circle of fate, his life has been taken away by the man who gave it. The joy he gave others will live on…

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

SUNDAY NIGHT found London’s Horizon Radio responding to the news with continuous Marvin Gaye music while Radio Invicta prattled on in obvious ignorance until they managed to slot a brief tribute into their schedule: however, given a few hours preparation, it was Capital’s Roger Scott on Monday afternoon who played a neatly edited virtually chronological 25 minute medley of all Marvin’s milestone records . . . I only met Marvin Gaye once, when Smokey Robinson introduced us backstage at the Brooklyn Fox during a Murray The K show in ’64: on the same bill were the Supremes, Temptations, Ronettes, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Millie Small, Dusty Springfield, Searchers and a whole host more Merseybeat groups, plus a full feature movie, all in rotation four shows a day for a week — ah, memories! . . . Capital’s Saturday night soul DJ Phil Allen is about to upset his most loyal listener, but Tony Monson does an expanded disco sales chart show Sundays 8- 10pm on Horizon Radio stereo 102.5FM, now going daily 7am-1am (more at weekends) . . . Oscar J Jennings has left Skyline for weekday evenings 6-8pm drive time on London Weekend Radio 92.5FM — or LWR as it’s known, being on air 7 days a week! . . . Chris Hill, Carol and myself had a great trip to Cumbria, gorging again at the world famous Sharrow Bay Hotel on Ullswater, but it was a pity the crowd at Ernie & Kathleen Priestman’s lavishly lit Old Hall in Egremont hadn’t been kept more up to date musically — however, the night got really good, the lighting (including four flying saucers on tracks and a £21,000 laser) would rival anything bar the Hippodrome, and Judy Hutchinson made a lovely tall dancing partner! . . . Chris Paul (South Harrow Bogarts) has been using The Champs ‘Tequila‘ as a crowd wind-up for years and keeps having to buy replacements as he sells his copies — I wonder, did Chris Hill get one off him?! . . . Chris Brown is threatening to play a live Tom Jones medley of ’60s Wilson Picket-type things at Caister, this weekend (I told you it was getting like Northern Soul!), which may be what scared punters off from the now cancelled Showstoppers trip to Jersey . . . Jeffrey Osborne has added an extra London date at Hammersmith Odeon on April 27 . . . Slave wind up their UK tour Sunday (8) at Glasgow Zanzibar’s monster funk all-dayer, Monday (9) at Bradford Caesar’s Palace — meanwhile Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five and Davy DMX cut it up Sun/Mon (8/9) at London’s Venue before heading next weekend to Nottingham’s Rock City (Fri 13), Aylesbury Friars (Sat 14) . . . Motown again got Bobby Womack for Britain, while London have the Philly World label from which first product (already promo-ed ahead even of US release) in two weeks will be Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes ‘Don’t Give Me Up‘, a blandly predictable 119bpm “soul” swayer over bumping M&M-mixed Nick Martinelli electronics, and a revival by Terri Wells of the mafia’s fave D. Spinners oldie! . . . Collage’s ‘Get In Touch’ LP is available here (Solar 96-0240-1), if you can’t find their 12in original . . . Gary Crowley’s front door to your living room, Channel 4’s ‘Earsay’ has theme music by Ian Levine & Fiachra Trench which as ‘Frantic Love‘ by Eastbound Expressway is due soon on guess which boys town label . . . I wonder what would happen if the HI-NRG chart didn’t mention anything until it was on full commercial release? . . . Earlene Bentley Saturday (7) plays Edinburgh Fire Island, where Laura Pallas will be lucky ever to have a hit . . . Southampton’s Warehouse has metamorphosed into the hi-tech Raffles featuring general music, though Adrian Dunbar makes Saturday a non-stop dance night and as from Monday April 16 starts a new weekly branch of Bolts for the boys . . . LWR’s Sunday noon-2pm jazz doc, Bob Jones souls Royston’s The Bull Thursday (5) . . . Invicta’s Darren Fogel & Skyline’s Patrick French soul West Norwood’s Norwood Suite Fridays (£1 off if you show this mention!) . . . Horizon’s Gilles Peterson joins Paul Oakenfold Fridays to funk under-18s at Wallington Public Hall’s Candy Box, and Peter Smedley Sundays to jazz-samba Sutton Christie’s wine bar (Surrey) . . . Essex Radio’s soul DJ Dave Gregory funks Southend’s re-vamped and laser-lit TOTS Tuesdays . . . hip HOP!

TWENTY YEARS ON…

THIS WEEK in 1964 The Beatles achieved the still unequalled feat of having the top five singles in the Billboard US Hot 100 (‘Can’t Buy Me Love’/’Twist And Shout’/’She Loves You’/I Want To Hold Your Hand’/ ‘Please Please Me’). However, of far greater significance to black music fans were all the soul hits which in those days crossed over as a matter of course into the US pop chart — a subject I keep going on about! — but if you need convincing just check through these, from w/e April 4, 1964: Betty Everett ‘Shoop Shoop Song’, Temptations ‘The Way You Do The Things You Do’, Marvin Gaye ‘You’re A Wonderful One’, Tommy Tucker ‘Hi-Heel Sneakers’, Bobby Bland ‘Ain’t Nothing You Can Do’, Chuck Berry ‘Nadine’, Dean & Jean ‘Hey Jean Hey Dean’, Chubby Checker ‘Hey Bobba Needle’, Ray Charles ‘My Heart Cries For You’, Lenny Welch ‘Ebb Tide’, Ray Charles ‘Baby Don’t You Cry’, Mary Wells ‘My Guy’ (its chart debut at 50), Major Lance ‘The Matador’, Soul Sisters ‘I Can’t Stand It’, Marvelettes ‘He’s A Good Guy’, Little Stevie Wonder ‘Castles In The Sand’, Miracles ‘The Man In You’, Impressions ‘I’m So Proud’, Shirelles ‘Sha La La’, Vibrations ‘My Girl Sloopy’, Anna King & Bobby Byrd ‘Baby Baby Baby’, Irma Thomas ‘Wish Someone Would Care’, Jerry Butler ‘Giving Up On Love’, Ruby & The Romantics ‘Our Everlasting Love’, Coasters ‘T’ Ain’t Nothin’ To Me’, Tymes ‘To Each His Own’, Tams ‘You Lied To Your Daddy’, Gloria Lynne ‘I Should Care’, Freddie Scott ‘Where Does Love Go’, Contours ‘Can You Do It’, King Curtis ‘Soul Serenade’, Tams ‘It’s All Right’, Ben E King ‘That’s When It Hurts’, Otis Redding ‘Come To Me’, Baby Washington ‘I Can’t Wait Until I See My Baby’s Face’, Gloria Lynne ‘Be Anything (But Be Mine)’, Chuck Jackson ‘Hand It Over’, BB King ‘How Blue Can You Get’, Ronettes ‘(The Best Part Of) Breakin’ Up’ . . . fair makes your mouth water, huh? Those were the ones that I marked at the time as having a soul sensibility (they were also the ones that I got), but they omit Louis Armstrong ‘Hello Dolly’ and Danny Williams ‘White On White’! The ‘British Invasion’ opened the US chart to black acts as white Americans were thrown into confusion, but under not dissimilar circumstances the US Hot 100 of w/e March 31 1984 could only field 21 black crossovers to 1964’s impressive 39.

HOT VINYL

CHANGE: ‘Change Of Heart’ LP (US Atlantic/RFC 80151-1)
Sure to top the disco chart in double quick time, the dynamite ultra-nagging 107½bpm title track jitterer is like Yarbrough & Peoples singing ‘She’s Strange’, produced by masters of the current hot tempo Jimmy Jam Harris & Terry Lewis, and the last part is true, fact! HOT! Rarely has a record excited me and my dancers so much (though on current form even if out here it probably wouldn’t cross over until Christmas, snigger snigger!). Other toned down Jimmy Jam tracks are the 110bpm ‘You Are My Melody‘, 109bpm ‘Warm‘, slow 72/36bpm ‘Say You Love Me Again’, current group leader Timmy Allen handling the Kashif-ish 113bpm ‘Lovely Lady’ slowed-down ‘Searching’-like 107bpm ‘True Love’ (144½bpm at 45rpm!), more mundane 122bpm ‘Got My Eyes On You’, 111bpm ‘It Burns Me Up’.

DETROIT SPINNERS: ‘Love Is In Season’ (LP ‘Cross Fire’ Atlantic 780150-1)
Already creating a Cameo-sized buzz on advance 7in (where unbelievably it’s only on the B-side), this Leon Sylvers III-produced gorgeous gently swaying 101½bpm soul satisfying vocal delight will obviously be massive at Caister this weekend and could revive the Harvey Fuqua-founded veteran group’s fortunes yet again. The 7in A-side’s rolling 114bpm ‘Right Or Wrong‘ with its old (‘Twine Time’?) bassline, lushly pushing 112bpm ‘Two Of A Kind‘, chunkily current 111bpm ‘Not Just Another Lover‘ are other good dancers, along with the 122bpm ‘Keep On Keepin’ On’, 0-108bpm ‘All Your Love’, 65½bpm ‘Secrets’, 65bpm ‘Our Time For Love’, and now mandatory fast ugly 144bpm title track — but this is the season for ‘Love Is In Season’!

STANLEY CLARKE: ‘Heaven Sent You’ (LP ‘Time Exposure’ Dutch Epic 25486)
Much of the set is listenable but undanceable dexterity ‘n flash from the bassist/synthesist, who luckily for this one truly terrific soulful mellow (0-)102bpm swaying jogger has recruited as vocalist Shalamar main man Howard Hewett, who’s never sounded so convincing. A must! The recently 12-inched jaggedly funky instrumental 122bpm ‘Are You Ready‘ and gently loping vocal 109bpm ‘Future Shock‘ (not Curtis/Herbie’s) are OK too, though it’s Howard’s hit. Continue reading “April 7, 1984: Marvin Gaye obituary, Change, Detroit Spinners, Stanley Clarke, Kool & The Gang, Bobby King”

March 31, 1984: Pointer Sisters, AB’s, Art Of Noise, Cameo, Gino Soccio

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

SOMETHING like 16,000 actual DJs and goodness knows how many other followers of the music reading these pages, I don’t see why it should be up to me to chase record companies for their beastly product — if they can’t be bothered to get it to me they needn’t expect to see any mention of it . . . Julia & Company’s cooled out less jazzy Munzibai & Morales remix (115bpm on acetate, great out of Galaxy ‘Carnival Mix’) in a change of tactics will now only have 1,500 pressed for specialist shops as the original hit is slipping already . . . Barbara Mason and possibly the group Ingram are mooted as support for Jeffrey Osborne’s one-off London Dominion show on Monday April 16! . . . Slave’s UK tour continues after tonight (Thur 29) at Hammersmith Odeon, playing Manchester Carousel Fri (30), Nottingham Rock City Sun (1), London Lyceum with Greg Edwards Mon (2), Taunton Kingston’s Tues (3), Brighton Top Rank Wed (4), Basildon Raquel’s Thur (5), . . . Thames Valley DJ Assn’s second annual Shownite is Monday evening (2) at Syon Park’s Camellia Restaurant Complex (Islesworth, off the London-Hounslow road), £2 on the door, with exhibits, promotions, awards, entertainment, booze and lots of DJs buying rounds . . . Kev Hill (Harlow Whispers), who got his car back inevitably minus vinyl and cassette deck, was among many visitors to the Disco Mix Club Hippodrome convention annoyed by Radio 1’s Johnny Beerling talking so long that there wasn’t then time for forum questions . . . Island picked up Jocelyn Brown who, somewhat surprisingly not from the cast of ‘Dreamgirls’, has in fact been the session singer behind such as Inner Life, Change, Cerrone . . . Phil Fearon guests on the One Blood US mix, their B-side original 93bpm ‘Get In Touch (Sound City Mix)’ sharing the side with a 68½bpm ‘No Tears Woman‘ reggae chugger . . . Kool’s follow-up 105½bpm ‘In The Heart‘ next week is flipped by a rock-orientated 120bpm remix of ‘Tonight‘ . . . ‘StreetSounds Electro 3‘ (ELCST 3) so soon after ‘Crucial Electro’ and with largely unproven material may be a mistake — current Pumpkin, Newcleus, Davy DMX are warm, Fresh 3 MC’s, Imperial Brothers, Divine Sounds, Boogie Boys (‘Zodiac’) less so . . . Eartha Kitt’s new remix is from the latest DJs-only US Hot Tracks 2-LP set (SA 3-1, £40 if Record Shack have any left!), which besides a Pointer Sisters 134bpm ‘Jump’ remix has an original artists ‘Best Of Hot Tracks 1983’ megamix starting usefully with a synth underpinned new ‘Billie Jean’ (119)/’Jeopardy/Last Night A DJ/Rock The Boat’ (117)/’Pilot Error/Love Is A Stranger’ (116-122)/’Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (123bpm) before then getting Hi-NRG . . . US import LPs currently cost £7.50-£7.99, 12in £4.25-£4.50 or more, depending on where you shop . . . ‘Segue’ Steve Goddard (looking like a 6′ 5½” cross between Colin Hudd and Bob Jones!) sounds punchy on stereo Radio Horizon 102.5FM — I remember buying records from his brother at the Paul’s For Music stall in Brick Lane fifteen years ago! . . . Mastermind’s master of the “one handed four beat cutback”, Cut It Up Max (whose incredible long tension building live ‘Rockit’ scratch, beat by individual beat, needs hearing to be believed) keeps reviving my old C.O.D./Tyrone Brunson ‘The Bottle/The Smurf’ megamix on Radio Invicta 103.6FM Wednesday nights, and I must say it now sounds better than I thought at the time — incidentally, the original Gil Scott Heron/Brian Jackson ‘The Bottle (Drunken Mix)‘ has been revived by so many jocks in the wake of ‘Breakin’ Down’ that maybe a re-release would work? . . . Chris Kaye souls Tonbridge’s The Loggers pub next to the station (free) Tuesdays, but for other ventures offers work to established SW London/Surrey soul-funk DJs with loyal fans prepared to travel: contact him c/o Woodleafe Promotions, Unit F, Thorpe Works, Holden Park Road, Southborough, Tunbridge Wells, Kent (wot, no post code?!) . . . Ian Gordon at Liverpool’s new The Blitz in Duke Street is after PA’s (an ideal set up, he says) on 051-489 3798 — he mixes new wave/funk Thur/Fri/Sat . . . Andy Bianchi (Poole Mariners Wharf under-18s Saturday afternoon) is after freebie giveaways like promo stickers, badges, T-shirts, while Mark Anthony, now doing Wed/Fri/Sat at Edgbaston Faces French Club Jardine, says “Friends, Romans, record companies, send me your promos!” . . . Theo Loyla is reviving his Super Jocks mailing list at 6 Tomay Cottages, Hawthorne Corner, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 6TL . . . Neil Fincham is attempting to launch a DJ association for East/West/Mid-Lothian & Fife — anyone interested write to him c/o Mad Hatters, 126 High Street, Edinburgh . . . Phil Blizzard (Stoke-on-Trent 634584) is in London on Wednesdays doing some radio production work and could be available for voice-overs or club gigs . . . Dave Smith, funking Fridays at Mayfair Samantha’s, had four Shure microphones (one a special EQ model) nicked in their bag from his car by the Barbican Centre . . . Friday (30) Chris Hill souls Egremont Old Hall (I’ll be an onlooker), Peter Lee has an Island mega-promotion with David Joseph, Phil Fearon, Frankie GTH at Bolton’s Dance Factory, Hereward Radio’s Steve Allen electro-funks Peterborough’s Marcus Garvey Club, John DeSade with Capital’s suave John Sachs and a Paradise PA funks New Addington Kim’s, Pete Haigh & Richard Searling have their third ‘Mecca Soul Revival’ at Blackpool’s Baskervilles, where Saturday (31) they also start a weekly current funk ‘n soul night — Pete incidentally confirmed its existence by sending me the 12in of Race ‘What Is Race?’ (US Ocean Front TOF 1000) . . . Danny Daniels fills in for holidaying Graham Gold this week at Mayfair Gullivers, with me back on Saturday (31), when Chris Ramrachia & Nytro Express funks Bushey’s Hartspring Sports Centre in Park Avenue, Kev Ashman has a “silly hat” party at Charing King Arthur’s Court . . . Monday (2) Chris Hill debuts at Bermondsey Dockhead’s Swan & Sugarloaf, Paul Webb at Dublin’s Pink Elephant in South Fredrick Street has a “Black Monday” (music-wise) the first in every month . . . Tuesday (3) JFM’s Graham Gold starts weekly funking Tottenham Rudolph’s (over-21s) . . . Bob ‘The Doc’ Jones jazz-souls Wednesdays at Braintree Springwood Estate’s Fantasy Club (Rayne Road off A120), where Russ B electro-funks Fri/ Sat (free every night) — Bob’s also moved Tuesdays to Chelmsford’s ‘The United Brethren’ in New Writtle Street with his boxes of jazz ‘n R&B . . . Cyndi Lauper’s remix topped US Dance/Disco last week but has already been ousted by Shannon ‘Give Me Tonight’ while Central Line ‘Time For Some Fun‘ is steadily climbing US Black and Dance charts . . . Channel 4’s ‘I Love Quincy‘ certainly kept Gullivers’ punters at home in the dry last Friday! . . . Steve Levine’s demonstration on Saturday Superstore of making music by computer was fascinating . . . Record Shack’s ebullient Jeff Weston, flushed with chart success, last week treated Miquel Brown, new signing Steve Grant (ex-Tight Fit), label exec Paul Savory, Froggy, Island’s Adrian Sykes and myself to a Peking duck — which was an unexpected treat considering my lunch date was just with Adrian! . . . STAY JUST AS FRESH AS YOU ARE!

HOT VINYL

POINTER SISTERS: ‘Automatic’ (Planet RPST 105, via RCA)
To its sales advantage here never on import despite massive US disco success, this dynamite Jellybean-remixed solidly pushing 111bpm chugger is huskily sung in almost masculine style, rhythmically right in the current hot (if specialist) groove making it a must for mixers . . . and with the girls name it’ll doubtless get crossover radio support too. The less vibrant original 110bpm LP version and emptily frantic 145bpm ‘Nightline‘ are flip. A monster!

AB’S: ‘Deja Vu’ (Streetwave XKHAN 503)
Thoroughly irritating for all who paid around £12 for the Japanese import LP just to get this one killer cut, it’s now on UK 12in (running at 33 1/3rpm), a floor-filling terrific very Level 42/Brothers Johnson-style subtly jiggling slinky cool 0-91-92-88½-92-88½bpm jazzy jogger, most intriguingly sung in Japanese with the odd English word woven into it. People’s ears will prick up if radio play it so it could be a smash.

ART OF NOISE: ‘Beat Box’ (ZTT ZTIS 108)
Despite topping America’s dance chart and being incredibly influential the original 108bpm version of this Trevor Horn exercise in hip hop was largely ignored here — to British DJs’ everlasting shame. Now it’s been totally remixed and revamped into two new “diversions”, even more imaginatively freaky, the 108½bpm Diversion One ending with acoustic piano while the 107bpm Two incorporates what sounds like a car’s ignition system! Especially if you’ve rushed out to buy Depeche Mode and Scritti Politti, hear those plus the original and be amazed. Continue reading “March 31, 1984: Pointer Sisters, AB’s, Art Of Noise, Cameo, Gino Soccio”

March 24, 1984: Phil Fearon & Galaxy, Cameo, Dayton, Denise LaSalle, Tout Sweet

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

JULIA & CO rush an M&M remix this week . . . Streetwave got AB’S ‘Deja Vu’ for UK 12in . . . Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ instrumental evidently is NOT the ‘P.Y.T.’ flip . . . CBS’s Fiction Factory 12in was mailed by Rush Release . . . Chris Ryder actually left Skyline Radio for his own commercial-free Atlantis . . . Skyline’s Oscar J. Jennings had a natter at Mayfair’s Rockafella’s diner last Friday with Horizon’s Nick Lawrence & Steve Goddard about the future effect of Redhill/Reigate ILR station Mercury Radio on 103FM — a wavelength so full of pirates that Friday’s Dread Broadcasting Corp swamps Invicta in the Harlesden area! . . . Curtis Simon, back from JA with a hot Gregory Isaacs toon for his own Diamond C label, reports that the clash with Barry G has made Capital’s David Rodigan a supa-star in Jamaica! . . . Capital’s ‘Mr Ouch!’ Al Matthews and suave John Sachs seem to spend their nights at Mayfair’s Gullivers . . . Mastermind Roadshow cut up Peckham Kisses Friday (23), Graham Hunter funks RAF Greenham Common Saturday (24) — ready for a rap attack?! — Leeds Tiffany’s 3pm Sunday (25) all-dayer stars the usual crew, Slave start a UK tour Wednesday (28) at Luton Pink Elephant . . . Chris Hill, Carol & I return to Cumbria at Egremont’s Old Hall next Friday (30) . . . California’s Larc label folded, their veteran soul stars moving to Private I — where The Dells album notes reveal they backed Barbara Lewis’s 1963 classic ‘Hello Stranger‘, produced (as were The Capitols/Deon Jackson) by Ollie McLaughlin who sadly died last month . . . I missed Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler and his vintage soul videos lest week but am certainly catching ‘I Love Quincy‘ (Jones of course) this Friday on Channel 4 at 11.15pm . . . The Crusaders are now just Joe, Wilton, and drummer Ndugu Chancler . . . STAY FRESH!

HOT VINYL

PHIL FEARON & GALAXY: ‘What Do I Do? (Carnival Mix)’ (Ensign XENY 510)
Brilliantly remixed to sound the same yet full of important differences too, this slightly Latin-tinged longer 113½bpm version is still frothy but harder and reaches great brass and a bass break, the flip’s even more different and excellent jazzily instrumental 0-113½bpm ‘Pina Colada Mix-In-Dub‘ incorporating snatches of ‘Dancing Tight’. Clever devil, he’ll got your money twice!

CAMEO: ‘She’s Strange’ (Club JABX 2)
Immediately massive alter preliminary radio play on 7in, the terrific full length subtle sinuous slinkily weaving 109bpm smacker is right in the Rufus/Lynn/Osborne bag, albeit with a sharper sound — even sharper now it’s on 3-track 12in with the equally good slower dragging 98bpm ‘Groove With You‘ (nice between Dennis E and Y&P), and jerkily smoochy 84-42bpm ‘Love You Anyway‘ which climaxes in jazzy Benson-ish scat.

DAYTON: ‘The Sound Of Music (X-Tended Remix)’ (Capitol 12CLX 318)
Disco Mix Club’s Alan Coulthard floored me when he confessed this cleverly straightened out and simplified (though less jazzy) 114-115-114-115(break)-114-115bpm remix was all his own work, rather than from the US as misleadingly suggested on promo copies! Now a doddle for mixers (McF&W follows nicely), it’s flipped by the gently drifting lovely 51½-106-104bpm ‘Promise Me‘ and Roger Troutman-dominated 111bpm ‘Love You Anyway‘. Continue reading “March 24, 1984: Phil Fearon & Galaxy, Cameo, Dayton, Denise LaSalle, Tout Sweet”

March 17, 1984: Kenny G, Dennis Edwards, Paul Hardcastle, Cloud One, Bobby Womack

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

MARK BERRY, New York associate of Arthur Baker & John Robie, has alone been producing Freeez — in Farnham, of all funky places! — now thankfully without the unconvincing vocals of John Rocca . . . Phil Fearon & Galaxy has an extended Latin ‘Carnival Remix‘ coming soon, the dub flip including bits of ‘Dancing Tight’! . . . Alan Coulthard no less was responsible for the brilliant Dayton remix, due commercially this week and indeed Lefturno’s remix, plus Crusaders/Joe Sample/Wilton Felder medley on the Crusaders imminent new B-side (what a busy little megamixer he is!) . . . Froggy has strung together a medley of Jeffrey Osborne oldies for the flip of his UK remix of ‘Plane Love’, but as I personally love the long intro of the beefier US remix and its powerful dub flip I’ll be sticking with my import . . . Miquel Brown confesses that the pacemaker keeping her heart ticking is tuned with a magnet to the right BPM — not 129, I hope! . . . Skyline Radio’s Saturday Hi-NRG show now uses the Record Mirror chart as Radio One let Record Shack’s pluggers know that there was disapproval of the shop/label’s sponsorship of the original format . . . Skyline’s Kent-based soul sister Radio Atlantis, soon to go seven days a week, needs presenters and in particular a good mixing DJ — send demo tapes to Chris Ryder at 3 Horsley Drive, New Addington, Croydon CR0 0QW . . . JFM 102.8FM as suspected is only every afternoon/evening, and all day weekends . . . Carl Kingston has forsaken a life on the ocean wave for job nearer home, on BBC Radio Humberside, starting week nights 6-7pm early April, and is also at Hull’s Bali Hai Fridays mainly . . . Lee Taylor, sharing Hi-NRG Mondays at London’s Hippodrome with Colin Holsgrove, is still after fair haired mixing showmen for prestige foreign work on 01-385 4345 . . . London’s newly voted fave gay DJ, Norman Scott so impressed ’em at Busby’s in Charing Cross Road that he’s doing the oldies night there every Wednesday now . . . Friday (16) Capital’s soul seller Peter Young plays his ’60s oldies again at Chadwell Heath’s Regency Suite (don’t shout in his ear, OK?!), while Eddie Gee, Steve Edwards & Ranking Jonathan dub ‘n funk Loughborough University campus’ Edward Herbert Building in the Charnwood Room (60p including wine!), the same venue as Eddie Gee’s afro night next Wednesday (21) . . . Saturday (17) Chris Kaye funks ‘n reggaes Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall (his agent for bookings is on 0892-46014), while Dave Rawlings looks for ‘Miss Wonderful Wiggle’ at Basingstoke Martine’s . . . Sunday (18) Steve Dennis “anchors” the Birmingham Powerhouse alldayer . . . One Blood have the strong catchy ‘Get In Touch With Me‘ 92bpm soul-reggae jogger on Ensign promo ahead of release . . . Damaris’ UK 12in B-side as well as the instrumental has the dead slow ‘Hooray For Love’ from her lovely but down-tempo Dionne Warwick-like import LP — other import albums with slowies being the best tracks are by D Train (only the c.120bpm ‘I’ll Do Anything‘ being brightly typical), Tyrone Brunson, and the Roger-produced The Human Body . . . US based Evan Rovers turns out to be Italian, yet was briefly with Dayton, sang lead on Heatwave’s most recent UK tour, and called himself Otis Liggett when covering ‘Every Breath You Take’! . . . ‘Lou Grant’ is back, while Channel 4 have finally seen the light and are about to re-screen the incomparable ‘Hill Street Blues’ from episode one! . . . Boy George and Helen Terry’s new video togs were designed by Capital DJ John Sachs’ mum (his dad’s most famous role was in ‘Fawlty Towers’) — I’ve heard of the Emmanuelles, but Mrs Manuel??? . . . I and I say Rodigan the conqueror! . . . Sunday’s Hippodrome high jinks kept me from my typewriter, so no time for more gossip . . . STAY FRESH!

DJ’s DAY OUT

LAST SUNDAY saw Steve Dennis bring his DJ Convention south to join the Disco Mix Club’s first anniversary celebration in a double boomer bash at Peter Stringfellow’s Hippodrome in the heart of London . . . and of course the venue was the big attraction for many of the 1000 who attended. Over-dark for much of the time, so you couldn’t see who in fact was there, the Hippodrome came into its own when the fantastic lazer and lights were demonstrated. This was what they wanted! Other than that there were few blindingly brilliant individual moments during the event but the whole thing added up to a jolly nice day out, most useful as always for meeting or re-meeting the faces behind the names that many of us know so well. Of the mixing demonstrations, Sweden’s Sanny Xenokottas amazed everyone by looking for the perfect beat using scratching and especially a digital delay box of electronic tricks, culminated in ‘The Message’ played at 45rpm instead of 33 1/3rpm (it worked!) and a sudden chop into Slade’s slow ‘My Oh My’. Brilliant. Street credibility did materialise as well, thank goodness, as Whodini were a late addition to the bill, and, although the decks were too bouncily sprung for flawless scratching, Grandmaster D demonstrated his cutting technique not only one-handed but with his mouth on the record too! This hopefully shook up a few jocks! The actual disc jockey competition was disappointingly patchy (as a judge I can repeat that some contestants were scoring straight noughts from many on the panel), being won by Mick McGinley who must be a wow at wedding gigs in South Yorkshire, while the questions set by Phil Swearn & Patrick Isherwood for the Pop Quiz were gratifyingly tough (Radio’s Paul Gambaccini, Stuart Coleman & Janice Long won). Of the one forum I caught, outstanding speakers were Capital’s Tony Hale (I’m not crawling!) and the very witty Tony Blackburn, who everyone agreed would make a great after-dinner speaker. Professionally run by Steve Dennis and the DMC’s Tony Prince for professional people (the comparatively high £15 entrance kept out the cowboys, and included an incredibly good buffet feed!), this show wasn’t without its minor hiccups, yet has to have been the best of its type certainly ever held in this country, if not the world. Yes, a nice day out!

HOT VINYL

KENNY G: ‘Hi, How Ya Doin’ (LP ‘G Force’ Arista 206 168)
Tootin’ ‘n flutin’ Kenny Gorelick has been huge here for ages with this ultra catchy acappella-introed Barry Johnson-sung jiggly 113bpm shuffler, which like the rest of the set is driven by synthesised rhythms influenced by executive producer Kashif, the only other less good vocal being the 115bpm ‘Do Me Right‘ while the 0-117½bpm ‘I’ve Been Missin’ You‘, 106bpm ‘Help Yourself To My Love‘, 107bpm ‘Tribeca‘, 107bpm title track and 116bpm ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ jazz-funk instrumentals are all proven as hot to trot.

DENNIS EDWARDS featuring Siedah Garrett: ‘Don’t Look Any Further’ (Gordy TMGT 1334)
Extended for UK 12in (so now the intro’s useful “drum-tapping” mixing cue comes twice), this incredibly soulful 95bpm semi-smooch slow grinding groove has been a monster ever since the gruff voiced ex-Temptation’s solo LP arrived on import, from which evidently the smoothly thrumming unemphatic 115bpm ‘I Thought I Could Handle It‘ is flip.

PAUL HARDCASTLE: ‘You’re The One For Me/Daybreak/AM’ (Total Control Records TOCO 1, via 01-724 1559)
Recorded in his front room (with 2 year-old niece burbling at beginning and end!) by First Light’s now solo keyboardist for the label he and old school chum London DJ Steve Walsh have jointly started, this excellent 0-117-0bpm medley of D Train’s oldie with Paul’s own two best First Light tunes has literally exploded overnight selling all the initial pressing. Elf-like Kevin Henry sings ‘n scats a bit, while using two copies for terrific effect the instrumental flip can be synched to produce an amazing phase! Continue reading “March 17, 1984: Kenny G, Dennis Edwards, Paul Hardcastle, Cloud One, Bobby Womack”

March 10, 1984: Cameo, J. Blackfoot, Chi-lites, Matsubara, Dezign

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

RECORD MIRROR’S recent reader survey reveals the fantastic fact that 16 per cent are DJs — people have always assumed that many of the paper’s sales ware due to DJs but the actual statistic is amazingly high (on current sales there are probably more jocks buying RM than anyone buying other specialist black papers), which maybe all those funny little record companies who don’t get their records to me would do well to note! . . . I’ve decided to drop the unnecessary qualification “12in” from reviews and general editorial mentions when no clarification is needed, instead emphasizing just 7in and LP configurations, as let’s face it for many years everything has been in 12in . . . Disco Mix Club’s DJ convention/birthday party at London’s Hippodrome this Sunday between 6 and 7.30pm features mixing demonstrations by Alan Coulthard, Peat Romer, Les Adams, Sweden’s Sanny Xenokottas, Ian Levine & Les Cokell live (Greg Wilson on tape?), but — good though doubtless these are — there are no Americans and not even the Mastermind Roadshow to lend street credibility . . . Alan Coulthard is back on form with all three current DMC megamixes (Thompson Twins medley/Hi-NRG/pop floorfillers), the relative simplicity of which must help at floor level . . . Kev Roberts is adding Hi-NRG jox to the Electricity label’s mailing list at High Energy Records, 62 Rowley Street, Stafford . . . Carrere are putting out the much-sought Front Page ‘Love Insurance‘ (Sharon Redd was uncredited singer), and Fantastique ‘Mama Told Me‘ . . . Lefturno is indeed now finally in a new 114bpm UK remix, on promo at least, restructured with chunks of instrumental making it different— but an improvement, or necessary? . . . Dennis Edwards ‘Don’t Look Any Further’ is due next week in extended new form on 12in here (already promoed) — it’s a perfect synch out of David Joseph ‘Joys Of Life’ as many have already discovered . . . Greyhound picked up Kerr, Island landed Malcolm X and the Warp 9 material, Malaco are releasing Main Line’s “Rockwell/Jackson” remake medley, while various PRT labels have Zena Dejonay, Inner Life (remix), Vicki Sue Robinson . . . Mimi’s Boys Town hit is being beefed up for a “totally intensified” version to replace exhausted current stock . . . Madonna’s US newie is the Jellybean remixed/revamped ‘Borderline’, but here we get a re-release of the less appealing 0-117bpm ‘Lucky Star’ (Sire W 9522T), about which there has been talk of speeding it up to make it brighter on subsequent pressings . . . Rockwell is America’s top Black single while Michael Jackson alone returns (replacing Lionel Richie at last) as top Black LP, and Tina Turner ‘Let’s Stay Together’ is top Dance/Disco hit . . . ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic — you may remember me raving about his Queen send-up ‘Another One Rides The Bus‘ — has shot into the US charts with a Michael Jackson poking ‘Eat it‘ . . . Disco Dave Singleton (Newton-Le-Willows 6018), whose third big screen video venture residency is on Thurs-Sat at Wigan’s Balcony Inn, has three video disco units for sale at £1,000 each (hang on, maybe he’s stopped gigging, then?!) . . . Alan James Jewell, labouring away under appalling conditions at the Hollywood Boulevard in Hong Kong’s Hotel Regal Meridien, has to make do with the club’s own video studio in which to segue his own mixed video compilations every week — yeah, life’s tough in the colonies! . . . London’s JFM radio is reputedly back on 102.8FM seven days/24 hours, Richard Searling’s no-electro/hard funk Soul Sauce show has moved to 3-5pm Sunday on Preston’s Red Rose 301 Radio, while Friday evening 8-10pm on Radio London has Malcolm Laycock joined near the end by Gary James for hilarious bitchy boys talk — quite an ear opener when I caught it last week! . . . Skyline Radio is of course on 103.6FM, Paula Moore ‘Valparaiso’ is c.117-118bpm, Jeffrey Daniel ‘AC/DC’ is in 7/8ths time . . . Howard Hewett has now been joined in the new Shalamar line-up by Prince-look-alike heavy metal guitarist Mickey Free, special talent contest winner Delisa Davis, and (on stage only) break dancer Flip . . . ‘DC Cab’, a ‘Car Wash’ follow-up by the same writer/director Joel Schumacher, is in cinemas here as ‘Street Fleet’ . . . Capital Radio’s John Sachs is compere at heat 2 of Mayfair Gullivers ‘Miss Gullivers’ Thursday (8) while colleague Phil Allen funks Dartford Flicks Friday (9), Skyline’s Chris Ryder funking Tottenham Elton’s every Fri (star PAs)/Sat . . . Saturday (10) Paul Schofield & Simon Walsh have their “second Saturday every month” jazz-funk oldies night at Bradford’s Time & Place, while Helen Shapiro is at Stratford E15’s Pigeons with the boys . . . Norman Scott is back approx once a month on Wednesdays at London Busby’s Wednesday pop oldies night (entrance and all drinks 50p) . . . Andy Bianchi Saturday afternoons 1-5pm at Poole’s Mariner’s Wharf is now “holding Under 18s” (lucky devil, can I watch?!) . . . Dave Thomas souls Shrewsbury’s Oak Hotel Sundays, only 50p and hot toons . . . Colin Curtis and harbourmaster John Grant reunite appropriately at Legends in Manchester on Monday (12) for a special one-off “Rafters revival” . . . Pete ‘Pedro’ Tong joins Nicky Holloway the same night at Bermondsey Dockhead’s no less legendary Swan & Sugarloaf, while weekly Mondays Dave Rawlings lets ladies in free before 11pm at Kensington’s The Park (that old ploy!) . . . Theo Loyla has returned on Tuesdays to his old stomping ground, the Bridge Country Club near Canterbury in Bridge (my own childhood area) . . . I did one of my mobile gigs Saturday night, a 21st, as usual ending after seven hours continuous music at 6.15am in broad daylight, with the guests that were left using the marquee roof above my head as a toboggan run! . . . Derek Lawrence (Soho Bananas Mon/Chertsey Galleon Sun/Burnham Beeches Anne Boleyn Fri/Staines Angel Sat) finally identified that mystery ‘IOU’ mastermix as on the Dutch ‘High Fashion Music 3’ LP . . . STAY FRESH!

HOT VINYL

CAMEO: ‘She’s Strange’ (LP ‘She’s Strange’ Dutch Casablanca 814984-1)
Selling on US 7in for several weeks but now in full length glory, this terrific subtle sinuous slow 109bpm soul swayer swaps lead vocal styles as the guys gently enthuse about one foxy chick over a delicately jittery rhythm containing simple little twiddles and chords — however hang on, as the set’s other goodie, the jogging 98¼bpm ‘Groove With You‘, will be joining it here on 12in in a fortnight (white labels are already about). Perhaps not coincidentally, Fatback’s ‘Is This The Future?’ synchs sensationally!

J. BLACKFOOT: ‘Taxi’ (Allegiance/Sound Town ALES 122)
Huge Stateside, where already there’s an answering Anne LeSear ‘Take Him Back (Taxi)‘ on HCRC, the Memphis-made 66bpm smooch smash sets the scene with ex-Soul Children leader John ‘Blackfoot’ Colbert hailing a taxi to take him to the other side of town, and us on a soul-drenched nostalgia ride along with him (old style swinging message 121bpm ‘Where Is Love‘/autobiographical bluesy 70bpm ‘Can You Hang‘ flip). Dynamite.

THE CHI-LITES: ‘Stop What You’re Doin’ (US Private I Records 4Z9 04962)
Another year, another label, another soul goodie from Eugene Record (written by various Bayyans/Harrises), an uptempo licketty spit 121bpm smacker with the guys usual sharp vocalese snappin’ back at ya, the breezy beat slotting it in with Luther Vandross currently (inst flip). Continue reading “March 10, 1984: Cameo, J. Blackfoot, Chi-lites, Matsubara, Dezign”

March 3, 1984: Phil Fearon & Galaxy, Ronnie McNeir Experience, Funkmasters, Tout Sweet, West Phillips

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

CBS RECORDS’ club promotion department has been suspended, Steve Ripley moving up to join Loraine Trent in the marketing, so (for a while anyway) don’t expect anything in the mail . . . I wonder whether CBS will suddenly find March releases (by Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Shalamar, Patti LaBelle, The Jacksons) selling better than usual as all the DJs buy them? — this has been Morgan Khan’s experience since stopping his Streetwave mailing list . . . Total Experience (home of the Gap Band) is another label moving here to RCA . . . MCA picked up Charles Earland (too late?), while surprisingly Malcolm X is up for grabs here . . . Lionel Richie follows with ‘Hello’ flipped on 12in by the instrumentals of ‘All Night Long’ and ‘Running With The Night’ . . . Jive, desperate to sell anything by Whodini, now have a ‘5-Track EP‘ 12in (JIVE T61) of predictable stuff . . . The Academy is on RCA, not Virgin (as misinformed by Rush Release) . . . George Kranz has been ruined by yet another UK-only remix, but Cyndi Lauper in a marathon scratch version remixed by Arthur Baker could be interesting on imminent import 12in . . . Gary Crowley is running his own GLOBE & Whiz Kid-inspired megamix competition on his Saturday evening Magic Box show — send cassettes (sae for return) to him at Capital Radio, PO Box 194, London NW1 3DR . . . Mastermind have their own far superior remix of Shannon ‘Let The Music Play’ with barking cut in on the beat (off Man Parrish?), and on Radio Invicta last Wednesday night Herbie kicked off the hip hop mixes early, just after midnight, while later Max (hi to you too!) played an incredible long tape of the whole roadshow in impressive scratching live gig action, plus some solo mixes of his own — the best Dave could manage were some off-air KISS-fm remix medleys, but all are worth Londoners staying awake midnight-6am Thursdays (Friday morning Trevor Jay OD’s on slow deep soul), in clear mono 103.5FM (though you may need to switch your AFC to “off”) . . . Skyline’s Friday breakfast jock is Oscar J. Jennings, who presumably forgot his real name en route from St Martin’s Lane? . . . Peter Anthony (London Stringfellows), a regular breakfast companion at Mayfair’s Rockafellas, joined me in commiserating with Jeffrey Daniel over his somewhat inappropriate solo debut the 50½bpm ‘AC/DC‘ from his starring role (on roller skates) in the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Richard Stilgoe musical ‘Starlight Express’ — neither disco nor particularly pop, it’s in 7ths time but may be a brave new move . . . Miquel Brown on the Tube’s Hi-NRG special may not have sparkled, but she’d just had a pacemaker fitted to her heart following her car crash, and was straight our of hospital . . . British Airways cabin crew strike stopped Ian Levine reaching Newcastle for the broadcast — his flawlessly exciting mixes on ‘Street Sounds Hi-Energy‘, and those of Mastermind on ‘Street Sounds Crucial Electro‘, put other better ballyhooed efforts in the shade — and point up the stupidity of trying to mix incompatible material purely as a marketing ploy . . . Greg Wilson evidently under-ran his given timing on ‘Dance Mix — Dance Hits III‘, so someone else just tacked on the last track each side . . . ‘Street Sounds Edition 8‘ has Kenny G ‘Hi’ and Luther Vandross ‘I Wanted Your Love’, amongst others, already! . . . Thursday (1) Break Machine & Second Image join John ‘Nick’ Osborne at Rayleigh’s Pink Toothbrush (seriously?), Edwin Starr stars at Haringey Bolts Motown night Cleveland Anderson funks Kensington Cromwell Road’s Le Club Cabana weekly (where there’s lotsa girls but few guys — presumably they’re all in Haringey!) and Steel City G funks from James Brown thru Paz to Afrika Bambaataa weekly at Sheffield Mona Lisa’s The Hothouse . . . Gary Crowley & Steve ‘200 MPH’ Lewis do Southgate Pink Elephant on Fridays now with star PAs — this week Animal Nightlife & The Questions (get there early) . . . Chris Hill is this Friday’s guest at Dartford Flicks, where young Dave Williams is the Tuesday Teen Scene’s new host . . . New Blackbeat’s Steve Guarnori & Tony Stevens start a weekly 60s/70s soul afficionados night at Peterborough city centre’s Grapevine pub this Saturday (3), when Chris Sharpe & Clive Anthony anticipate mucho breaking at Drayton (Derby) Tudor Court’s 1984 ‘Richard’ Disco Dancing final, Kev Ashman funks an MCA-promoting “white” night (£1 discount if you wear white) at Charing King Arthur’s Court, Trevor ‘Redeye’ Hughes starts at Telford’s revamped (and re-named?) Town House . . . Mastermind Roadshow are in full scratching force at Birmingham Dale End’s Hummingbird alldayer on Sunday (4), along with Paz live and a break dancing exhibition by national crews . . . Chadwell Heath’s Regency Suite becomes the hip hopping Dodge Club with Spence, Deblus, Ralph & Debbie funking with fluorescent break dancers every Saturday, which is when Kev Hill now souls Harlow’s Whispers (revamped ex-Tiffanys) despite the loss of his current vinyl and an old Cortina Ghia RPK 882R . . . Soho Gossips on Tuesdays becomes the Krush Groove with Bristol’s Wild Bunch Cuts hip hopping their street scene thing . . . Franklin Sinclair, now a fully qualified partner in a solicitors firm, nevertheless funks Fri/Sat at Radcliffe (Bury) Bennies! . . . Darren Fogel (who evidently missed earlier mentions) still jazz-funks Kensington’s Thackerays wine bar Fri/Sat (pub hours free), and does Under-18s Sunday at Soho Bananas . . . Ernie Priestman & Steve Naylor at Egremont’s Old Hall, handy for Windscale and not far off the route to Scotland, are after bands for PAs or gigs (fully lit stage) on 0946-820307 — Chris Hill & I look like heading there soon . . . Brian Mason (01-441 1322) is selling his trusty old 220 watt disco and lightshow . . . Greek Adam Cheolakakis from Salonica don’t speaka de Eenglish very good but is hot enough at mixing to impress the DMC’s Tony Prince and would love a London gig — better write, rather than call to 474 Garratt Lane, Earlsfield, Wandsworth SW18 . . . The Malemen’s LP sleeve features a pile of fan mail — but whose, as it’s obviously not theirs? . . . Omni for two albums running have given special thanks to West Phillips . . . if you funk all night with scratch fever — STAY FRESH!

HOT VINYL

PHIL FEARON & GALAXY: ‘What Do I Do’ (Ensign 12ENY 510)
Another frothily infectious pop-aimed bouncy 113½bpm 12in swinger with a kicking backbeat (M&M mixed), Phil’s most commercial since ‘Dancing Tight’ (inst flip). To be ludicrously accurate for The Tube to quote, it’s actually 113 3/5bpm, and sounds even brighter when speeded up!

THE RONNIE McNEIR EXPERIENCE: ‘Come Be With Me’ (US Capitol MLP-15015)
On a 4-track “mini LP”, this Rene & Angela-penned superb if specialist soul stormer is a subtly pushing 104½bpm jogger full of jiggly undertow and sinuous singing, the more sombrely jolting 101½bpm ‘Keep Giving Me Love‘, punchily bumping 108bpm ‘Light My Fire‘ (new song) and lovely deep slow 41bpm ‘Is This What Happens To A Love?’ adding to the excellent value. Hot!

THE FUNKMASTERS: ‘Have You Got The Time’ (Master-Funk MF 008)
Less universally appealing than ‘It’s Over’ but good ‘n beefy for the hard core floor, the Tony Williams-produced bumpily tugging 12in chugger has nice vibes and Benson-style scat, halfway on the 113½bpm vocal or from near the start of the more powerfully opened out 0-114bpm Disco Mix. Continue reading “March 3, 1984: Phil Fearon & Galaxy, Ronnie McNeir Experience, Funkmasters, Tout Sweet, West Phillips”

February 25, 1984: Julia & Company, AB’s, Duces Wild, T.C. Curtis, Shannon

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

DAYTON ‘The Sound Of Music’ has been test promo-ed as a really useful ‘US Pre-Release X-Tended Re-Mix‘ which straightens it out into a steady 114-115-114-115(break)-114-115bpm, replacing the jazzy but tricky intro with vocoder and beat . . . Galaxy featuring Phil Fearon ‘What Do I Do‘ is another frothy 113½bpm shuffling pop kicker, due commercially next week . . . Luther Vandross ‘I Wanted Your Love‘ is now on US 12in (Epic 49-04969), as is a remix of Gladys Knight & The Pips ‘When You’re Far Away‘ (US Columbia 44-04965, 111bpm) . . . Adrian Sykes’ new co-plugger at Island, Julian Palmer is starting an electro/alternative DJ mailing list — jocks honestly into it should send him their details at Island Records, 22 St Peters Square, London W6 9NW . . . Art Of Noise ‘Beat Box‘ now tops US Dance/Disco, Cheryl Lynn ‘Encore‘ is top US Black single — c’mon Britain, get on the case! . . . Break Machine’s video (like all the others) is good enough, but live on TVam with no clever editing they were brilliant — and were even more marvellous, according to Gary Van Praagh, at Soho Bananas (where they return on Tuesday 28) . . . Capital Radio’s Mister Ouch! Al Matthews acted the jitterbugging black GI victim of the dance hall punch-up in ‘Yanks’ . . . Burundi Black’s original unadorned African chant sounded highly incongruous throbbing out of the Amazonian jungle during ‘Fitzcarraldo’ on telly — couldn’t painstaking director Werner Herzog have found something more authentic, or at least less well known? . . . Radio Invicta’s nightly 103.6FM broadcasts may be from SE London but cover the metropolis and are good reason for turning the radio on at night again — though why do Mastermind leave their mixes until so late on Wednesday (actually Thursday morning)? . . . Giorgos Pappas calls his station Greek Cypriot Broadcasting For London, according to my local kebab take-away! . . . Gary Allen tonight (Thursday 23) starts a fetish club Decadance II at Liverpool’s Concert Street, where there’ll be a human cage and (he hopes) lots of kinky dressers . . . Daryl Stafford (well known printing error) insists The Cabaret Club is Bournemouth’s only exclusively gay club — so there! . . . Paul Parker appears exclusively at Haringey Bolts this Friday (24), when Froggy, Chris Dinnis, John C and Central Line “live” funk Yeovil Olivers, Roger Dynamite has another ’60s special at Gt Yarmouth Tiffany’s, and Robbie Vincent joins Colin Hudd at Dartford Flicks . . . WE FUNK ALL NIGHT!

MICHAEL JACKSON has blazed back into the US Top 5 now that ‘Thriller’ is out there on 12in (US Epic 49-04961), with something that we (and mixing DJs in particular) really missed — an instrumental flip! However, one step behind, well be getting it on the B-side of ‘P.Y.T.’ whenever that comes out here. The same 118bpm backing track, it retains some chorus singing and Vincent Price, and is worth buying on import for the cover pic alone.

HOT VINYL

JULIA AND COMPANY: ‘Breakin’ Down (Sugar Samba)’ (London LONX 46)
Steeped in gospel (dad was an original Dixie Hummingbird), Julia McGirt took over Jennifer Holliday’s role in ‘Dreamgirls’ and now wails as well as you’d expect over a fantastically infectious frisky jazz backing that’s already burning up the airwaves here — the UK 12in somehow runs slower at 115-114½bpm, with a new Pedro Edit for radio and same Club Insert.

AB’S: ‘Deja Vu’ (LP ‘AB’S’ Japanese Moon MOON-28007)
Now selling fast as word spreads it’s worth the money (c.£11.75), this “slant eyed soul” set is actually sung in Japanese with the odd disconcerting English phrase woven into it, all rather “yellow Level 42”, this lightly harmonised subtly half-stepping 0-91-92-88½-92-88½bpm jazzy jogger being the raved about standout — though also nice are the tranquil 97½-98bpm ‘Fill The Sail‘, 0-76½bpm ‘Django‘, (0-)96½bpm ‘In The City Night‘, and thunder-thumbed 125bpm ‘Dee-Dee-Phon‘.

DUCES WILD: ‘Gimmick’ (US Next Plateau NP 50018)
The week’s hottest hip hop, great with Pumpkin/Art Of Noise, this 107bpm 12in judderer has terrific freaky FX as it progresses but really rates for its rapping lyrics (inst/bonus beats flip). Presumably they can’t spell “deuce”, or are they Mussolini fans?
[Editor’s Note: only the Instrumental/Bonus Beats is available online.]
Continue reading “February 25, 1984: Julia & Company, AB’s, Duces Wild, T.C. Curtis, Shannon”

February 18, 1984: Starpoint, Status IV, Captain Rapp, Jeffrey Osborne, Carl Anderson

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

PRELUDE RECORDS have left Epic here, and are currently chatting to RCA . . . Steve Harvey’s publishers succeeded in getting him a composer credit for Sharon Redd’s ‘Something Special’-like ‘Love How You Feel’ . . . Shannon ‘Give Me Tonight’ in the USA will be on Emergency 12in, but Mirage will do 12in promos too as they release her on 7in and LP there in a licensing arrangement that added the muscle needed to give her a Top 20 pop hit outside Emergency’s disco market . . . First Light’s instrumentalist Paul Hardcastle has medleyed his old ‘Daybreak’ and ‘AM’ with D Train’s ‘You’re The One For Me’ (and a bit of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’!) for a certain large London DJ’s new Total Control Records . . . West Phillips will be remixed on Trans-Q/S.O.U.N.D. next week . . . ‘Hump To The Bump’ sadly will be Steve Arrington’s single here too . . . Elektra have a promo 4-track 12in sampler split between Womack & Womack (‘Scared’ / ‘TKO’) and Pieces Of A Dream (‘Fo-Fi-Fo’ / ‘Foreverlasting Love’), which could cause a chart jump next week . . . Elektra also has a new label design, while Pinnacle’s Banana logo is so well designed I know one shop who swear it spells “Banand” . . . Vince Lee is starting a new club mailing list at RCA, 1 Bedford Avenue, London WC1B 3DT . . . North West DJ Assn’s tailor-made DJ tuition courses (studio and live work covered) have started in Heywood, details from Paul Baxendale (Bolton 53817 afternoons) or Tony Potts (061-223 2188 evenings) . . . Thames Valley’s 1984 Shownite will be on Monday April 2nd at Syon Park’s Camellia Restaurant complex, discounted £1 advance tickets (sae and cheque payable TVDJA) from PO Box 14, Ashford, Middlesex . . . Radio Invicta now fill in with soul from midnight-6am when Skyline Radio go off the air, so it’s music 24 hours a day on 103.6FM/212MW in SE London . . . John Dawson hosts Groove Records Electra Top 20 at 9pm Saturdays on London Weekend Radio 92.5FM, London Town Radio 91FM (Saturday midnight thru Sunday morning) take dedi’s and enquiries (send sae) at LTR, c/o 23 The High Street, Little Sandhurst, Camberley, Surrey — however, biggest noise on London’s airwaves is a very powerful Greek station beaming out of Finsbury Park around 103FM, which has all the kebab takeaways jumping! . . . Blackbeat fanzine’s latest editorial misses the point about black electro music — it doesn’t pretend to be “soul”, it’s funk, the modern evolution of an old tradition (rap of course being the new blues) . . . Pumpkin’s excellent import has sold here when still nobody’s bought the cheaper UK issued and just as vital Trevor Horn-produced Art Of Noise ‘Beat Box’ (ZTT), now a US disco smash . . . I now realise that the word “fresh” has been cropping up in hip hop lyrics since last summer at least — and on fact goes back to 1982’s Fresh Face ‘Huevo Dancing‘ if not earlier . . . Harry Belafonte is producing ‘Street Beat’ in the South Bronx, Sidney Poitier is making a “street” movie in Chicago and there’s a martial arts/break dance film coming called ‘The Last Dragon’ — so by the end of 1984 hip hop can only be bigger (and then gone?) . . . Capital Radio’s ‘Story Of The ’70s’ (which I compile) last Friday reached May 1978, when, in the immediate wake of ‘Saturday Night Fever’, no fewer than 11 of the 18 singles which peaked in the UK Top 20 that month were loosely describable as “disco”! . . . Adele Bertei isn’t seen but does most of the singing in Thomas Dolby’s clever video, Haywoode strolls through Fashion’s video, and the dialogue started Rick James ‘Ebony Eyes’ video (though a different song) has an Everly Brothers-echoing plane crash . . . Alton Edwards ‘Everybody’s Watching‘ (Ike Hayes-prod!) is due here in a fortnight but will be out in June in America so its gymnastic video can tie into the Olympics . . . Hi Tension are not necessarily signed to Streetwave just yet . . . Tony Clark starts playing a wide range of sweaty ’60s soul and jazz on alternate Thursdays starting today (16) at Bristol Temple Meads Rockpile Club . . . Miquel Brown plays Haringey Bolts Fri (17), Charing X Heaven Sat (18), Leicester Square Hippodrome Mon (20) — the latter having Break Machine Fri (17) . . . Mastermind mix it up at Peckham Kisses Friday (17), when Chris Dinnis plays solid jazz at Yeovil Olivers, Graham Hunter funks Dorchester Buzz Inn, Colin Hudd says “wear leather” (£100 prize) at Dartford Flicks . . . Jonny Haywood this Saturday (18) slips over from his weekly funk at East Croydon Shocks in the Leslie Arms to PA at Camden Electric Ballroom’s body popping heat . . . Colin Curtis, Roger Tovell, Ralph Randell etc funk Birmingham Powerhouse 3pm all-dayer Sunday (19) . . . James Hamilton mixes the funk Tuesday (21) at Carlton Colville’s Hedley House near Lowestoft . . . E.T. says “Watch out, the Lollipop People are about!” . . . Michael Baker (last week) should be c.122bpm . . . Slags in Bloomsbury, brilliant pastiche though it was, still didn’t match the perfect Gino (whaddaya mean, you don’t video the Comic Strip?) . . .

SNOOKER CHAMP and soul fan Steve Davis, who recently bought a complete disco unit for his home, won “a pair of slipmats to help his cueing” in my year-end Hammy Awards — immediately after which on New Year’s Eve he announced over London’s airwaves “I’ve just found what I need to help my mixing . . . slipmats!” Could there be a connection? The event marked the first birthday celebration of London Weekend Radio (92.5FM Sat 7am/Sun 5am) and in particular of The Jonny Haywood Saturday Funktion (3-5.30pm), for which Steve brought along Herbie Hancock ‘Palm Grease‘, George Duke ‘I Can Hear That‘ and Dee Dee Bridgewater ‘Just Family‘. One cool dude!

HOT VINYL

STARPOINT: ‘It’s All Yours’ (US Elektra 0-66973)
On a new label and never sounding so good before, wailing Renee Diggs struts her stuff in Patrice Rushen/Chaka Khan/Valerie Simpson style over an electronically bumped Kashif-ish 114½bpm 12in lurcher that’s lithe and lean and built for speed (edit/LP version flip). Watch it go!

STATUS IV: ‘Lovin’ You’ (Design Communications DEST 8)
Finally on UK release, this Eric Matthew-produced excellent creamily rolling very soulfully harmonised mellow 113bpm 12in handclappin’ and fingersnappin’ swayer with superb honking horns halfway (inst dub flip) has been one of the year’s hottest imports so far.

CAPTAIN RAPP : ‘Bad Times (I Can’t Stand It)’ (Becket BKSL 10)
The SOS Band-producing ex-Time members Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis perform this drastically overdue (though proven “sleeper”) burbling and lurching now 120½bpm 12in backbeat nagger, driving remorselessly behind stridently squawking Kimberley Ball and rapid-fire rappin’ Rich Cason (sparser dub/strong inst flip), best for serious dancers. Continue reading “February 18, 1984: Starpoint, Status IV, Captain Rapp, Jeffrey Osborne, Carl Anderson”

February 11, 1984: Shannon, Dennis Edwards, Rodney Franklin, Warp 9, Larry Wu

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

AMIDST FIERCE fighting, London won Julia And Company for rush UK release . . . Shannon’s remix will go on sale when current commercial copies are exhausted . . . New York DJ turned hot pop remixer, John ‘Jellybean’ Benitez has signed to EMI America in his own right, debuting next month with the 5-track 12in EP ‘Wotupski‘ (as in “What’s up, Doc?”) featuring different actual artistes on each cut . . . Ian Levine, slipping back into his old shape, has mixed Miquel Brown ‘Men’/Kofi/Laura Pallas/Simone/Shirley Lewis/Abba ‘The Visitors’/Earlene Bentley ‘Life’/Gloria Gaynor/Sharon Redd ‘Winner’/Eartha Kitt for ‘Street Sounds Hi-Energy 1‘ (HINGR 16), due now . . . Gary London starts this week presenting a Record Shack sponsored Hi-NRG Disco show 8-10pm, Saturdays on SE London’s Skyline Radio 103.6FM/212MW . . . Tyne-Tees’ The Tube is rumoured to be trying to avoid all mention of the word “disco” on their Hi-NRG special in a fortnight (24th)! . . . Alan Coulthard’s megamixes on Disco Mix Club cassette this month include ‘Hi-NRG 83’ (fine after a dodgy Irene Cara start), yet another remix of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and a largely successful Mac ‘n Jack medley of Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson material (the former’s oldies working best, actually) — however, probably most useable of all is a Salsa medley by Steve Gladders . . . CBS weigh in with two more all-mixed albums, both lumbered with poor material dragging down the hits, Peter Romer’s ‘Electro Shock — Voltage 1‘ (VOLT 1) having a neat side two in Dead Or Alive’s weak pop revival of KC’s ‘That’s The Way I Like It’/Herbie Hancock ‘Rock It’/The Tribe ‘Jungle Rock’/Herbie Hancock ‘Autodrive’ though side one is dull, while Greg Wilson’s ‘Dance Mix — Dance Hits Vol. III‘ (DM3) is forever clashing vocal on vocal and offsets some neat tricks with surprising clumsiness too . . . Total Contrast’s own label is now distributed by PRT . . . BBC 2’s Arena Special last Saturday, ‘Say Amen Somebody‘, was such a compulsive grabber for true soul fans that I bet most stayed with it rather than changing channel for Mel Brooks — focusing on gospel music, the programme’s standouts were the Barrett Sisters (who, spiritual lyrics apart really brought back the atmosphere of Harlem’s Apollo Theatre in the mid ’60s — fantastic!) and the obese O’Neal Twins (who, as a point of interest were the direct inspiration for Sam & Dave in ’64): it was O’Neal who articulated an epitaph for soul as well as gospel in the sage observation, “Unfortunately we are living in a hit record society, and we get caught up on a hit record and miss the substance” . . . Amen . . . Karen Spreadbury of pluggers Eyes & Ears has stopped promoting London’s Xenon niterie after 14 months and says thanks to all the liggers who put it on the music biz itinerary (does this mean now they’ll all be going somewhere else?!) . . . Chris Britton (Watford Baileys) is booking small dance acts (two to five members) into Europe and invites all to send him CVs with photos and videos at The Paddock House, 4 Paddock Way, Warners End, Hemel Hempstead, Herts — where he’s also selling a complete late ’70s to present dance record collection (700 LP/12 in, 400 7in) for £425 ono . . . Steve Dennis starts his new 7-9pm Friday funk show on BRMB this week, plus on Saturdays he’s got the 6-9am breakfast show and 11pm-2am snooze show — is he gonna be knackered or what?! . . . Hereward Radio’s Saturday evening soul host Steve Allen currently electro-funks Tuesday at The Gables and souls Sunday at the Wheatsheaf pubs, both in Peterborough . . . Millie Jackson is at Watford Baileys Thurs-Sat (9-11) this week . . . Friday (10) finds Pete ‘n Jeff with a fancy dress “odd couples” lovers ball (½ price before 11pm) at Sheffield Park’s Sheffield Arms on the A275 in Sussex, Nicky Holloway & Sean French with a pyiama party at Bermondsey Dockhead’s Swan & Sugarloaf, Greg Edwards with Cohn Hudd at Dartford Flicks (Colin’s recent number one is now top US Dance/Disco hit, Laid Back ‘White Horse‘) . . . Saturday (11) Chris Hill & Jeff Young rattle their maracas at Canvey Goldmine’s Brazilian Carnival night and things get hot at Daryn Stafford’s weekly Boys Town night in Bournemouth’s Cabaret Club . . . Sunday (12) Nottingham’s Rock City all dayer (3pm) stars Steve Allen and the other usual non-chart returning mob . . . Monday (13) Chris Paul, George Alexander & Mick Salmon celebrate Valentines Day early at South Harrow Bogart’s, while on Tuesday Theo Loyla returns after 2½ years to the totally refitted Bridge Country Club near Canterbury . . . Danny Smith, pretty upfront Wed/Thur/Fri/Sat at Gt Yarmouth’s after-hours 151 Club, is looking for good “modern” DJs on 0483-57303 (though for what he doesn’t say) . . . Feminine Touch need another jazz-soul venue while Upton Park JR’s is being redecorated (call via JD Roadshow on 01-579 0225) . . . Brentwood’s mad Kev Hill (0277-223030) once again guarantees extra punters should any Galway area niteries care to book him during his annual visit . . . Tony Monson agrees with Cyndi Lauper’s similarity to Sue Thompson, tempered with a lot of Little Peggy March ‘I Will Follow Him‘ (yeah, well us old ‘uns remember them!) . . . Lauriece Hudson, not Laurence (last week’s review), is a lady . . . US Atlantic has another nicer new 12in sleeve design, and US Arista a new label . . . DIN DAA DAA!

HOT VINYL

SHANNON: ‘Give Me Tonight’ (LP ‘Let The Music Play’ US Mirage 790134-1)
Avid hip hoppers preferred her instrumental dub’s excitement but the “disco”-pitched gal’s album is all vocal, this 119bpm jitterer — freakiest towards the end — being a very obvious frantic follow-on from the title track hit (here in 115½bpm 7in edit and the disappointing newly promo-ed 0-116¾-115½-116-116¾bpm vocal remix), other similar style including the 116bpm ‘My Heart’s Divided‘, 108bpm ‘Sweet Somebody‘, while the 149bpm ‘One Man‘ pumper is blatant US rock-disco.

DENNIS EDWARDS: ‘Don’t Look Any Further’ LP (US Gordy 6057GL)
With obvious exceptions, albums on Motown these days don’t exactly set the pulse racing in anticipation, but here from an unexpected source (the Temptations original “new boy”) comes a right good ‘un. The noisemaker is the dynamite jogging 95bpm title track duet with Siedah Garrett, a snappily jiggling but lazily swaying drifter growled and wailed through catchy ‘Roots’-ish chanting, but check too the smoochy Sam Dees co-penned 66½bpm ‘(You’re My) Aphrodisiac‘ and smoothly thrumming 115bpm ‘I Thought I Could Handle It‘, others of lesser though still reasonable degree being the 66bpm ‘Just Like You’, 108bpm ‘I’m Up For You’, 102bpm ‘Can’t Fight It’, 70-140/70bpm ‘Let’s Go Up’, 119bpm ‘Shake Hands (Come Out Dancin’)’.

RODNEY FRANKLIN: ‘Stay On In The Groove’ (LP ‘Marathon’ US Columbia FC 38953)
Realistically just a one-track album, but that track’s a corker! Starting in an ultra-mixable hip hop flurry, it settles into an electro-backed 121bpm groove with cooing chix and a sizzling jazz piano melody over the by then mind-snaring backbeat (Luther locks on superbly!). Otherwise the frantically pumping 149bpm title track has Ronnie Laws on soprano sax, the samba-ish 0-130bpm ‘Lumiere‘ has LP producer Stanley Clarke on piccolo bass, while (two slowies apart) the vocal 128½bpm ‘Let’s Talk‘ and 126bpm ‘Searchin’ For‘ (sic) are sub-EWF. Continue reading “February 11, 1984: Shannon, Dennis Edwards, Rodney Franklin, Warp 9, Larry Wu”