House Beats and a Jazzy Sting track from ’87 and it works ….just about !!
Hani, a Kuwaiti-American DJ, producer and remixer does a fine job on this long mix (13 min mix!) Bleeps and Courtney Pine make for an interesting blend. The initial mix is less full on than the much harder Club Mix and therefore a little more palatable.
Classic RnB from En Vouge and an early one from 1990. Sounding pretty good for it’s age.
The Jazzy main mix by Denzil Foster & Thomas McElroy adds extra Jazz piano. The “Funky Mix” has the Public Service Announcement as the intro and a synth bass to funk it up.
Kwamé Holland finishes this twelve with his own mix, adding more Hip Hop Beats and a loose strung bass guitar.
A forgotten gem from Yvette Marie Stevens from ’88 and the LP “CK”. The LP included a fine wide-ranging players and collaborators like Brenda Russell, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Bobby McFerrin, Womack & Womack, George Benson, Chris Jasper, and the legendary Miles Davis,
Witness the funk workout of LP track “Where Are You Tonite” as proof, this added as a bonus track.
Written by 2 of the Womack’s (Cecil and Linda) and Jeff Lorber adding some additional keyboards. Keith Cohen and Steve Beltran provide the remixes. Pinned to a solid bass and synth brass it has that ambient Party noise and a calypso feel. The Club Instrumental is in fact another vocal mix.
A later release by the band from their 3rd Album, “Everything” and remixed by Bernard Edwards released Sept ’89. A medium paced ballad with a bit of a hippy vibe and jangling guitar and gently extended.
’86 track, “Walking…” gets its groove with the original remix by David Kahne. Quite Motown via The B-52’s. A sign of past glories.
“Watching The Sky” has a bit of a heavier sound and a bit of keyboards, psyche rock box firmly ticked.
Amazingly not on here! From November ’85 and produced by Laurie Latham it has all the Bunnymen features as well as an interesting bit of bass sequencer and a sampled flute which everyone was doing at the time. It a class song and one of my favourites by them. Timeless.
I really like this looser , early version of “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo”, a less contrived arrangement with plenty of psychedelic organ.
“Over The Shoulder” is quite thrashy in a nod towards Jesus And Mary Chain (or Hüsker Dü ), a “Killer B Side” in all respects.
Before most of them got poached to be Sparks backing band from 81-85, Gleaming Spires released this debut release from 1982. Their first full band release, Bohem and Kendrick had released an album the previous year called “Song Of The Spires.”
The line-up on here was ; Backing Vocals – Bob Haag, Bass, Recorder, Vocals – Leslie Bohem (Bates Motel), Drums – David Kendrick (Bates Motel, Devo), Guitar – Paul Cutler ( The Dream Syndicate and 45 Grave).and Saxophone and synth – Jim Goodwin. (The Call, Velvet Underground)
From an interview with Kendrick,
“We were at Musicland Studios in Munich working on a Sparks record. After hours, in the dead of night (when the Sparks sessions were done), on two-inch tape we recorded bass guitar, my drum kit, sax, a relentless tribal chant, and Les’ possessed vocal line – as the song’s protagonist sinks into the terrain of a “lawn” that was no longer content to be a lawn. The natural world in revolt. Blade by blade, yard by yard.
I had long been enthralled by the disaster novels of J.G. Ballard, written in the 1960s, where our planet morphs/dies in brutal and wonderful ways – by burning, fearsome winds, crystallization. In my mind, Life Out on the Lawn encapsulated a new kind of disaster, where the world below goes viscous, disrupting concrete and displacing and eating solid rock. As it turns out, this process mirrors a fungal world that is only coming to light today, where mycorrhizal connectivity links all forest plants to one another. Underground via hyphae.”
There is a weird synth ballad cover of “Somewhere” – Stephen Hague guesting on the leys.
“Passion Pit” is another morose synth ballad with It does have an extended ending, Mike B doesn’t have an auto return turntable, just like myself.
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