Synthsoul from 1987 and US group Club Nouveau (an 80’s Fugees) Denzil Foster, Jay King (Timex Social Club) and Thomas McElroy provided the synthetic background to the vocals of Samuelle Prater and Valerie Watson.
The Club Mix puts beats over the symphonic opening. With the duet almost Gospel like. The “Ultimate” mix is by John Morales And Sergio Munzibai who go to town on the samples and overdubs, expanding the whole track to 9 minutes.
Jeffrey Osborne burst on the scene in 1982 with the ballad “On the Wings Of Love.” This 1984 UK release featured a megamix by Froggy (Pioneering UK DJ Steve Howlett) as well as US Club Mix. All about trying to get your leg over, it has a juicy bassline and a guitar solo by one Brian May of Queen!!!
The megamix blends 4 tracks from his first two albums, each track given a good few minutes to work on you.
“Plane Love” is also given a Froggy remix , working on those synth lines. It was written by David “Hawk” Wolinski who also wrote “Ain’t Nobody” for Chaka around the same time so it gives out a similar vibe.
Debut single from 1980 from Amsterdam based Disco/Funk group Spargo. The quintet of
Jeff Nassenstein, (bass, vocals) Ruud Mulder, (guitar, vocals) Lilian Day Jackson, (lead vocals, percussion) Ellert Driessen (lead vocals, keyboards) and Leander Lammertink (drums)
Lilian Day Jackson was an American singer (step daughter of legendary American Jazz drummer Art Blakey. Her and Driessen shared vocal duties and this debut has a typical Disco beat, electronic drums and a funky remix by Eddy Cornard and Joe Born.
Cheesy Euro Disco.
“Worry” is a slower jazzy soul number, reminds me of The Style Council.
The lead off single from 1986’s album of the same name. Looking for another “Caribbean Queen” is it laidback funk/soul and given a suitably techy mix by Bryan “Chuck” New.
The 12″ version nicely builds up the groove and extends if a little too much, a tad repetitive.
So it has a few synths and a nice, lazy bassline. The instrumental only gets rid of half of the lyrics.
A bonus was another album track “They’ll Be Sad Songs” which was also used to promote the album and had a good deal of success. A classic piano led smoochie.
Euro-Disco from 70’s legends Heatwave and written by Rod Temperton. A remix from a track off the 1980 LP “Candles” and released ’81. Lush production by James Guthrie (Pink Floyd) and frontman and vocalist the late Johnnie Wilder Jr. with plenty of Strings and horns. Personnel at the time – Johnnie Wilder, Jr. – lead and backing vocals, Keith Wilder – lead vocals, J.D. Nicholas – lead and backing vocals, William L. Jones – lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals, Calvin Duke – keyboards Derek Bramble – bass and Ernest (Bilbo) Berger – drums
“Where Did I Go Wrong” the last track off the LP and is more of a soulful, Doo-Wop ballad. A chill-out track
From 1989 and the debut single from squeaky voiced (although not her singing voice which is Diva-tastic!) Michel’le Toussaint with some New Jack Swing and produced by Dr. Dre with the remix by Antoine Carraby (DJ Yella from the World Class Wreckin’ Cru and N.W.A.)
I like the dominant bass synth and the breaks. You get the full telephone conversation on the short “More Lies” version.
Borrowing a lot from other dance tracks this release from Philly based Dance Act, Pretty Poison from 1988 is a typical slice of Freestyle with a more than a nod to Miami Sound Machine. Jade Stirling takes charge of vocals with Whey Cooler the synths. Produced by Fred Zarr (Debbie Gibson, Madonna) and engineered by Mitch Goldfarb, it comes with 2 great mixes, the Hip-Hop mix being the pick.
It also has a short scratch mix, such the rage back then.
A bonus is a long , “House ” mix of “Nightime” , bringing up to date the 1984 track with a powerful bass and plenty of Simon Harris “Bass (How Low Can You Go)” Up there with the mix of the month!
It galls me to saw but SAW – the production team – were groundbreaking in terms of developing electronic dance music. I’d completely forgot that this was out in 1986!! Mike Stock wrote “Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend)” for the duo, influenced by the Chicago garage house sound, creating London House.
I think it was all done on a sample machine called The Publison; this short remix by Pete Waterman shows roots in early House as well as early sampling and vocal pitching. Linn Drum patterns and a deep bass drive this 120 BPM track. (quite quick for the time)
The B-side could be a completely different band. “System” (it’s the only world the girls sing on the mix) was engineered by Karen Hewitt and Mike Duffy at PWL but it just doesn’t have the shine. It was geared at the dancefloor and has an early House groove with some guitar by Matt Aitken. The actual track did appear on their album “F.L.M.” and was penciled in to be the first single, this is more of a long instrumental.
As is the lottery of picking up vinyl for this blog, the 12″ was a little bit worn so I’ve included a “treated” version amongst the RAW recording.
I forgotten early track from the girl trio. From the 1982 debut album “Deep Sea Skiving” this has elements of New Wave and plenty of synths. Produced by Barry Blue I’d never heard of it and it is a bit different to the previous singles (No Fun Boy Three for a start) it stalled at Number 45 in the chart. Here with a nicely extended version by Steve Jolley Swain with added drums and synths. Love the video based on “The Sound Of Music.”
The B-side is extended too. With plenty of traffic sound effects, more uptempo than the A-side it takes a while for the vocals to kick in it has a feel of The Human League about, a decent Club mix.
THE track of 1987 from Colourbox and A.R. Kane as Goth/Shoegaze label 4AD went to the dancefloor. (There is plenty of sampled weird guitar in here)
The instrumental is here without most of the samples. Whilst the Bonus Beats is a stripped down to the bone whilst keeping a few samples, a good alternative listen.
Now over to the B-side. Well, well , well. A hidden gem.
Industrial-lite beats and more Colourbox in style. More shoe-gaze in style with buzz saw guitars and dub effects.
