Underground Hit [Level 5]
In the shops today:
http://www.discomusic.com/cds-more/6069_0_3_0_C/
TRACK-BY-TRACK
1. SALSOUL ORCHESTRA ‘OOH, I LOVE IT (LOVE BREAK)’
Edited from mastermixer Shep Pettibone’s brilliant 1983 remix. Pettibone has never really had the same type of acclaim as his contemporaries, Larry Levan and Francois Kevorkian, but he was a huge inspiration for me, especially his work on the Prelude compilation, ‘Kiss FM Mastemixes Vol 1’. This was one of two Vincent Montana Jr productions that topped my floorfillers lists during this period, the other being his Montana Sextet release, ‘Heavy Vibes’, the previous year. I originally edited this as an instrumental ‘sketch’ inspired by Spiller’s ‘Groove Jet’ (the pre Sophie Ellis-Bextor version). However, more recently, following the release of ‘The Salsoul Acappellas’, I added the vocal sections. The resulting version immediately felt like it should be the opening track, perfectly setting the tone for this album and its summer release.
Written, Produced and Arranged by Vincent Montana Jr
Salsoul Records 1983
2. ROCKERS REVENGE ‘SUNSHINE’
Back in the summer of 1982, ‘Walking On Sunshine’, Arthur Baker’s Electro-Funk masterpiece, arrived on import and instantly went massive on the black scene, before going on to become a major UK chart hit and one of the biggest dance releases of the year within mainstream clubland. The edit here is built around two lesser known versions, issued back-to-back a few months later, ‘Sunshine, Partytime (Rap)’ and ‘Dubbing In Sunshine’, which I was playing at Legend and Wigan Pier, whilst the main mix was climbing up the pop charts. Elements of both these mixes (as with the original version, courtesy of ‘Jellybean’ Benitez and Baker), including the rap section that namechecks some of the great New York clubs of the era, are combined, along with additional vocal parts from a third source, ‘Acappella Sunshine’, to create a unique version for 2005.
Edited from ‘Sunshine, Partytime (Rap)’, ‘Dubbing In Sunshine’ and ‘Acappella Sunshine’
Written by E, Grant
Produced and Arranged by Arthur Baker
Streetwise Records 1982
3. RAW DMX ‘DO IT TO THE FUNK’
The first thing I played on my return to deejaying was a ‘mash-up’ I put together especially for the occasion, which I called ‘Do It To The Funk’ by Raw DMX (the acappella section of ‘Do It To The Music’ by Raw Silk over an instrumental edit I’d done of DMX Krew’s ‘Who Got The Funk’). ‘Do It To The Music’, being a classic Wigan Pier / Legend tune, linked back to my past, whilst ‘Who Got The Funk’, a more contemporary recording, reflected my intention not to simply trade on my reputation of two decades earlier. This perfectly symbolized the direction I wanted to take, which would be based around my direct experience of the early 80’s, a greatly overlooked era in the evolution of UK dance culture, but without it being a purely retrospective exercise. Having gained a reputation back then for being forward-looking in my approach to deejaying, it was important for me to remain true to this principle now. It was with this in mind that I opted to use a laptop while I worked, so that I could prepare and play my own edits. As a by-product of this decision, I brought the Revox out of retirement, along with my reels of ‘spins’, to provide the ideal balance between past and future.
Raw Silk ‘Do It To The Music’:
Written by Ron Dean Miller and Bert Reid
Produced by Ron Dean Miller
West End Records 1982
DMX Krew ‘Who Got The Funk’:
Written and Produced by Ed DMX
Rephlex Records 1997
4. BT (BRENDA TAYLOR) ‘YOU CAN’T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO’
Originally issued on a small Washington based label called After Hour, but quickly picked up by New York’s essential West End label. As with Raw Silk (another West End release), ‘You Can’t Have Your Cake And Eat It Too’ was mixed by Nick Martinelli and David Todd, becoming a big underground favourite during 1982. My decision to edit this was because the excellent instrumental version contains different, more dynamic, elements, which aren’t included as part of the indispensable vocal mix. With this in mind, I wanted to bring the best of both mixes together, to form a new hybrid version. This was the final edit I did for the project and quite tricky in a sense, demanding some lateral thinking, due to the edit points being more difficult to negotiate than on most of the other tracks. However, on finishing it, I was more than happy with the result and felt that, with its inclusion, the album was finally complete.
Written by R. Cobb, C. Dyson, S. Sanford
Produced for Luck Corp by C. Dyson and D. Clayton
West End Records 1982
5. THE CONTROLLERS ‘I CAN’T TURN THE BOOGIE LOOSE’
Issued in 1979 on TK, the classic Miami Disco label, but never released in the UK. This is a track I’ll always connect with my hometown club, the Golden Guinea in New Brighton, where I enjoyed three wonderful years as a big fish DJ in a small club pond, developing a vibrant local scene between 1977-1980 (following on from my main early residencies in 75/76 at the Chelsea Reach and the Penny Farthing). I remember buying this from a guy called Bernie Golding, a well-known name in Northern Soul circles back then, who, having begun dealing in Disco and Funk imports, had brought an armful of vinyl across to Merseyside for me to listen to. It was subsequently listed in Blues & Soul as one of the records I played when Frank Elson, who reported on the scene in the North and Midlands, visited the Guinea to write a piece about the club for the magazine (which was then regarded as an absolutely essential purchase for any self-respecting DJ). It was indeed a proud moment to read that my little backwater club had received a glowing review and was recommended as somewhere to go if you wanted a night of quality black music.
Written by F. Knight, M. Ward
Produced by Frederick Knight
TK Disco Records 1979
6. SCRITTI POLITTI ‘ABSOLUTE WOOD BEEZ’
One of my ‘turntable edits’ from 21 years ago, copied from the original tape master. Scritti Politti made their breakthrough in 1984, scoring top 20 hits with both ‘Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)’ and ‘Absolute’, the tracks I use here. Produced by the great Arif Mardin, who’d worked on Aretha Franklin’s 1968 standard, ‘I Say A Little Prayer’, the very song referred to in the sub-title of ‘Wood Beez’, these 2 singles would later appear on Scritti’s highly acclaimed (and commercially successful) album, ‘Cupid And Psyche 85’. Another of Mardin’s memorable productions of the period was Chaka Khan’s ‘I Feel For You’, which also appears on Credit To The Edit as an original ‘turntable edit’ from way back when.
Around 2 minutes into this edit there’s a section that runs for about 45 seconds, which took me a number of hours to put together – at the time, I remember it being the most complex thing I’d attempted with regards to cutting up tape.
Edited from ‘Absolute’ and ‘Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)’
Written by Green
Produced by Arif Mardin
Virgin Records 1984
7. BOYSTOWN GANG ‘CRUISIN’ THE STREETS’
Before the term Hi-Energy came into common usage, the Boystown Gang were firmly categorized as ‘Gay Disco’. Spin Inn, the North’s main import specialists, in Manchester, wasn’t just the place to buy the latest black music, but was also an important shop for DJ’s on the Gay scene, selling both US and European releases. Harry Taylor, sadly no longer with us, looked after this side of the shops business and, when I was still the 4 nights-per-week resident at Wigan Pier, I’d buy the odd Gay Disco tune from Harry to play on the more commercial weekend nights. It would have been in this way that I came across ‘Cruisin’ The Streets’ in 1981, a record that made you feel proud to be gay, even though you weren’t! Harry would turn me on to a lot of tracks the other DJ’s on the black scene weren’t listening to, and it was in this way I came across some real gems, not least Klien & MBO’s ‘Dirty Talk’, an Italian import that slotted straight into the Electro vibe I was cultivating in my clubs (and later one of the records that provided the inspiration for New Order’s seminal ‘Blue Monday’). I always loved the groove and build-up on ‘Cruisin’ The Streets’, the edit working around these instrumental elements.
Written and Produced by Bill Motley
Moby Dick Records 1981
8. KOOL AND THE GANG ‘OPEN SESAME’
First released in 1976, but best-known for its inclusion on the ‘Saturday Night Fever’ soundtrack the following year, for which it won a Grammy. It’s an edit I actually did a number of years ago, when I got my computer and started cutting stuff up, more to get used to the program I was using than anything else. So, when I started deejaying again, this, along with a few other things I’d done at the same time, provided me with some ready made exclusives to play out. It’s a very dynamic edit, based around just a few sections, rather than being a re-arrangement of the whole track. My working title for it was ‘Sesame Seed’.
Written by Ronald Bell & Kool & The Gang
Produced by K.G. Productions
De-Lite Records 1976
9. YELLO ‘LOST AGAIN’
Yello scored a big club hit in New York with ‘Bostich’ in the early 80’s, having been championed by DJ Afrika Bambaataa, but this pretty much passed us by in the UK at the time, only picking up plays at the more Futurist type nights. I really got into Yello as a result of their album, ‘You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess’, which was released in 1983, when they were right at the top of their game, and included ‘Lost Again’. Although they would go on to taste commercial success later down the line, this album and the follow-up, ‘Stella’, marks their golden era for me.
The vocal was a bit too quirky for the black scene at the time, although I did manage to slip the mainly instrumental 12” mix of ‘Pumping Velvet’ in there, so the first time I played ‘Lost Again’ in a club environment was only recently. However, it was at home where I really got into this awesome album, especially after I’d stopped deejaying and, aided by copious amounts of hashish and marijuana, was beginning to listen to music from a whole new perspective, without the distraction of considering how it would work in a club. Anyone who visited me in Wigan around this time was ‘excessed’ good and proper, having first smoked themselves irie! God knows what my neighbours thought of me at the time, with music often played full blast right throughout the night.
Music composed and arranged by Boris Blank, lyrics by Dieter Meier
Produced and engineered by Yello and Ursli Weber
Vertigo Records 1983
10. CHICKEN LIPS ‘HE NOT IN’
Following on from their success as Bizarre Inc in the Rave era, Dean Meredith and Andy Meecher would eventually go back to their early 80’s dance roots when forming Chicken Lips. As things transpire, the main influence behind the project is a cassette from Piccadilly Radio in 1982, featuring my earliest mixes. This is a tape Dean first started listening to when he was a young b-boy in Stafford, having made a copy via a friend who knew somebody who used to attend my nights (being far too young to go clubbing himself back then). The appreciation is mutual; Chicken Lips were way ahead of the game in anticipating a return to a pre-House approach. ‘He Not In’ is something of a modern dance classic and I thought that, given the history between us, it would be fitting to put my own spin on it, in order to bring things full circle, so to speak.
Written & Produced by Andrew Meecham and Dean Meredith
Kingsize Records 2002
11. MIKE T ‘DO IT ANYWAY YOU WANNA’
This is an edit that came about completely by accident. Having dug out the 12” to record into the computer, I found that it was jumping at the intro, so, given that I wanted to play it the following weekend, I began to edit it around. I was really happy with the outcome, preferring it to the original arrangement, and it’s since received great feedback. I called the edit ‘T’s On The Mike’. Back in 1981, this was a massive track for me at Legend and the Pier, one of the biggest underground black tunes of the year (although pretty much unknown outside of the specialist scene), so it’s good to be able to bring this hidden gem to peoples attention almost a quarter of a century on.
Written and Produced by Mike T
Golden Pyramid Records 1981
12. UNCLE LOUIE ‘FULL-TILT BOOGIE’
Another big record from my Golden Guinea days and, like The Controllers, a TK 12” that was never released in the UK. Many people are under the false assumption that Northern Soul was played pretty much everywhere in the North during the 70’s, but this simply wasn’t the case. For a start, the Northern Soul scene never took off at all in Liverpool, where the DJ’s I looked up to when I was starting out, Les Spaine and Terry Lennaine, were local legends, playing the latest US Funk, Soul and Disco. As a consequence, clubbers on Merseyside had grown used to a funkier groove and ‘Full-Tilt Boogie’ fit the bill perfectly.
Walter Murphy, the guy behind this track, is best known for ‘A Fifth Of Beethoven’ (by Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band), a novelty Disco single that became a US Number 1 in 1976. It would also turn up later down the line, as with ‘Open Sesame’, on the ‘Saturday Night Fever’ soundtrack
Written by W. Murphy / G. Pistilli
Produced and Arranged by Walter Murphy for Crabapple Enterprises
TK Disco Records 1979
13. CHAKA KHAN ‘I FEEL FOR YOU’
Following the inclusion of my Chaka Khan ‘turntable edit’ on a compilation of old mixes (which I put together initially for just a few friends) the response was so positive that I decided to feature this version on my return to the clubs. It was a big surprise when, no sooner had I done this, people began to request it and ask me if they could get hold of a copy. So, as a direct consequence, Credit To The Edit includes this now vintage edit of ‘I Feel For You’, a Prince composition that reached the top of the UK chart in 1984 and provided one of my all-time favourite female vocalists with her biggest British hit.
Written by Prince
Rap by Melle Mel
Produced by Arif Mardin
Warner Bros Records 1984
14. CHIC ‘DANCE DANCE DANCE (YOWSAH YOWSAH YOWSAH)’
The debut hit from the seminal Disco-Funk collective, Chic, led, of course, by rhythm guitarist Nile Rodgers and the late great bassist Bernard Edwards - a track I first played at the Golden Guinea in 1977, as a 7” import. This is an instrumental alternative I put together, once again, as a sketch idea a little while ago, adding overdubs more recently, once I’d been given the nod that I could include it as part of the project.
The period leading up to ‘Saturday Night Fever’, in which ‘Dance Dance Dance’ was released, marked a great time for Disco music, peoples associations being closer to the Soul and Funk grooves, from which it evolved, rather than the iconic white suited Travolta image, which would, unfortunately, come to symbolize the Disco era for many.
Written by B. Edwards, N. Rodgers, K. Lehman
Produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards for the Chic Organization Ltd
Atlantic Records 1977
15. MR BLOE ‘GROOVIN’ WITH MR BLOE’
Finally, it’s one of my ultimate feelgood tunes, taking me back to carefree days growing up in New Brighton, which was then still a bustling a seaside resort on the opposite side of the River Mersey to Liverpool. In the summer of 1970, ‘Groovin’ With Mr Bloe’ was a massive chart hit, only kept off the top spot by Mungo Jerry’s ‘In The Summertime’, which was the biggest selling single of the year. A British recording, featuring the unforgettable Harmonica playing of Harry Pitch (whose session credits also include Frank Ifield’s 1962 million seller, ‘I Remember You’ and the theme music to the TV series ‘Last Of The Summer Wine’), ‘Groovin’ With Mr Bloe’ is a record I’ll always associate with fairgrounds, alongside hits like Len Barry’s ‘1-2-3’ and ‘Mony Mony’ by Tommy James And The Shondells (plus, of course, countless Soul classics), which provided a vibrant and vital soundtrack for the various rides.
During the latter part of the 70’s, the track was revived at Mr M’s, the oldies room at Wigan Casino, and is nowadays often described as a Northern Soul classic. However, when Casino resident, Russ Winstanley, began to play it in the main room, it wasn’t at all well received by the purists, who weren’t happy about a former Pop hit being played within its hallowed walls.
Mr Bloe’s version was actually a cover, the original being the flip side of a 1969 US single by Wind called ‘Make Believe’, a Bubblegum recording featuring Tony Orlando (who’d go on to become a huge star in the 70’s with Dawn, via syrupy Pop singles like ‘Knock Three Times’ and ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree’). The UK recording was arranged by pianist Zack Laurence, but Harry Pitch, brought in as a session musician, will forever be regarded as Mr Bloe.
Having played the 7” last year at Aficionado in Manchester, to a wonderful response, I decided to extend the track for a subsequent appearance in the city, at the Electric Chair in February, where it was once again greeted like a long lost friend. No doubt I’ll be playing it a fair few times throughout this summer, 35 years on from its UK release.
I’d like to thank both Harry Pitch and the legendary Northern Soul DJ, Richard Searling, for sharing their Mr Bloe memories. The edit itself stays close to the original, but in a playful sort of way. It’s an absolute pleasure to be able to include it here as the perfect closing track for this album.
Written by Bo Gentry, P. Naumann, K. Laguna
Produced by Stephen James
DJM Records 1970
http://www.discomusic.com/cds-more/6069_0_3_0_C/
No Longer Charting
Can we see the 'post' reel to reel jockeying photo, where both your arms are ripped out of their sockets? :lol: :lol: :lol:
I 'hate' you for doing a mash up of MIKE T. :lol: The record was just perfect as it was and yes, it WAS one of the biggest tunes for me too. Didn't every DJ play it?
Underground Hit [Level 5]
Sorry Quinny, I keep forgetting how Southampton led the way back thenOriginally Written by QUINNY
I 'hate' you for doing a mash up of MIKE T. :lol: The record was just perfect as it was and yes, it WAS one of the biggest tunes for me too. Didn't every DJ play it?
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Excellent review in DJ mag again!
No Longer Charting
Sooooo, didn't every DJ play it? Sorry, but I couldn't ever imagine why a jock wouldn't play such a ferkin' boss sound.Sorry Quinny, I keep forgetting how Southampton led the way back thenI 'hate' you for doing a mash up of MIKE T. :lol: The record was just perfect as it was and yes, it WAS one of the biggest tunes for me too. Didn't every DJ play it?
You got a thing 'bout Southampton, Greg?
Underground Hit [Level 5]
I can't believe that you actually think that every DJ played this track - surely a classic Quinny wind-up. Had it not been for the more upfront DJ's who were buying imports it would never have even been released in this country (on a very small label at that). This was a track that was only generally known on the black scene - of course there are always exceptions, but this was hardly the type of tune you'd hear in the majority of clubs back then.Sooooo, didn't every DJ play it? Sorry, but I couldn't ever imagine why a jock wouldn't play such a ferkin' boss sound.Sorry Quinny, I keep forgetting how Southampton led the way back thenI 'hate' you for doing a mash up of MIKE T. :lol: The record was just perfect as it was and yes, it WAS one of the biggest tunes for me too. Didn't every DJ play it?
You got a thing 'bout Southampton, Greg?
Put it into a search engine and you'll soon find out just how obscure a track it is.
Just joking about Southampton BTW (hence the
No Longer Charting
Greg: It's interesting to note that in the Southampton area, we had hardly any Black clientele and yet every jock I knew (most of the club DJs) just loved the track and played it (once released on UK 12"). So hats off to you guys who played it on import and got it released.
BTW: The 12" UK release was a slight remix and to my ears soooo much better than the original US 12" mix. A few years back I got ever so excited 'cos I saw the track on a German compilation CD 'Sax Comes To Dance'. How disappointed I was when I gave the CD a spin, only to find that it was the only track lifted from vinyl (a poor copy at that) AND it sounded different/inferior in its structure to the UK 12" as it was the US 12" that was used. It must have been pretty big in Germany I guess?
Underground Hit [Level 5]
Nice one Bernie :)
http://www.discomusic.com/cds-more/6069_0_3_0_C/
Indie Release [Level 4]
Picked this up from HMV in Swindon today, Greg. Good stuff - I like the way you keep (and enhance) the exuberance of the original songs instead of being too experimental and spoiling them. Hard for me to pick a favourite... I was thinking Brenda Taylor, but then I changed my mind to Kool And The Gang, and then Uncle Louie, but in the end I realised they were all pretty much to the same high standard.
I must confess I hadn't heard of "Mr Blow" before listening to the song, but of course I recognised the tune instantly when it started to play.
Looking forward to Volume Two.
Indie Release [Level 4]
Had a second listen and now my favourites are Rockers Revenge and Mike T!
Interesting to read the Mike T discussion above. I'd never heard it before buying this album. To my ears it has similarities (albeit small) to Jazzy Dee's Get On Up, especially in the rapping vocals.
Thanks again for a great CD, Greg.
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