VOLUME 4 · PROGRAM 2
Program 2 of Volume 4 includes four extended remixes, the world premiere of The Boystown Gang's "Remember Me/Ain't No Mountain High Enough" medley, and The Original Beatles Medley produced by Ray Lenahan.
The Original Beatles Medley. Produced by Ray Lenahan.
The original tracks of quite a few great recording artists have been presented in special dance medley form on Disconet. These include The Beach Boys (Volume 2, Program 10), The Supremes (Volume 3, Program 3), Cameo-Parkway (including Dee Dee Sharp… no wonder she's so popular now!) (Volume 3, Program 5), and Elvis Presley (Volume 3, Program 9.) The original artists still can cut it with a dance floor, especially with a little added rhythm and bass to get the sonic vibrations which today's productions often include.
Ray Lenahan has edited 12 of The Beatles' classics into a 13:33 trip through one of music's greatest groups, and has added some a bass and percussion to keep the flow going. Ray has been a professional percussionist for 10 years, and has been spinning at JW's East in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for the past five years.
You'll find Ray's medley useable as a whole, or in portions with other rock songs. "Day Tripper" starts it out, into "Tax Man." "Birthday", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Hard Day's Night" follow. It is really great to hear these guys at 130 dBs!!! Then it's "I Should Have Known Better", "Got To Get You Into My Life", and "All My Loving" followed by "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Magical Mystery Tour." "Rock And Roll Music" is next, followed by what seers like an encore with "Slow Down." They're all on various Capitol LPs.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Side A runs 13:33, beginning at 138 BPM and cold-ending at a very hot 163 BPM. Enjoy!
Debra De Jean's "Goosebumps" and Telex's "Soul Waves" get extended energy for your dance floor.
Goosebumps / Debra De Jean. Debra De Jean was born in New Orleans, and moved to Memphis in the mid-1970s and formed a rock band. She met producer Bo Bohannon, and they stayed in touch until the right song came along. It did with "Goosebumps", and with Carl Marsh arranging and co-producing with Bo, the title doesn't brag a bit. This is real music, with a simple hook that's effective. Yet it's so well done, that you will hear new sounds and effects every time you play it. That's what great songs are made of. The 5:14 12" version on Handshake has been extended with a new 1 minute intro that previews many of the pleasing instrumental passages which appear later, and has additional choruses for more dramatic mixouts. The Disconet extended remix runs 7:14, at +3% pitch.
Soul Waves / Telex. RKM's clean, avante-garde production is apparent once again with Telex's newest song. "Soul Waves" is out as a 12" in Canada and England, and the U.S. via Sire will be looking closely at your reaction. Telex was formed in Brussels in 1978, and consists of Marc Moulin on keyboards, Dan Lacksman on electronics and Michel Moers with lead vocoder vocals. "Soul Waves" is more fun than "Moskow Diskow", and there is a warmer balance of the human element vs. the cold aspects of technopop electronic music. Perhaps Telex is defining what electronic soul music may sound like? In any case, a 4 minute instrumental mix was shrunk to form a two minute intro to the 12" 7:50 vocal. Jack SuperCutter Skinner smoothed out most of the EQ changes between the two-track mixes.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Side B runs 16:50, beginning at 112 BPM and tricking you into 120 BPM (beats per minute.) The first band marks the beginning of the Telex intro, and the second band marks the beginning of the vocal.
Trip Ringwald and Will Crocker have an Energy Double-Header for you: "Body Check" by The Three Degrees and "He's Just A Runaway" by Sister Sledge.
Trip and Will put The Three Degrees on the map with "Set Me Free", and they're back with an energy double-header with extended remixes of "Body Check" by The Three Degrees and "He's Just A Runaway" by Sister Sledge.
"Body Check" starts out the side. It was inspired by Angel at Crisco Disco, where they give a body check on the way in to keep Frank and Danny happy. The original 3:35 now goes for over 7 minutes, and that Giorgio/Harold Faltermeyer energy doesn't stop. Keith Forsey co-wrote, and plays the drums. It's from the Ariola LP.
"He's Just A Runaway" is next, and now runs a little over 7 minutes up from its under 4 version on Sister Sledge's Cotillion LP. Narada Michael Walden produced, and co-wrote "He's Just A Runaway" with Alee Willis. Special thanks to Mike Mayberry, of Backstreet in Ft. Lauderdale, who originally turned us on to this song with his own remix which arrived at about the same time as Trip and Will's remix.
Will plays at Ken's River Club in Los Angeles, and cautions that on long overlays with "Runaway", be sure to watch out for a hidden extra beat.
Trip plays at the one-and-only Circus in Hollywood, and provides no caution whatsoever except that energy music continues to dominate the Los Angeles club scene and it's nice for LA DJs to note how it is "coming back" in other areas around the country.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Bonus Side 1 runs 14:30 at 135 BPM.
Bill Motley produces his first record: "Remember Me/Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by The Boystown Gang featuring Cynthia Manley.
Bill Motley has made many great contributions to your dance floor on Disconet, starting off with the classic Original Supremes Medley he co-produced with Trip Ringwald. And then, there is his original Elvis Presley Medley a little later on.
Well, it had to happen… Bill has produced his first record from scratch, and has created a very nice medley arrangement using "Remember Me" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." The group is called The Boystown Gang, and lead vocals are done by Miss Cynthia Manley. This girl can really sing, too.
There is a wonderful charm about Bill's medley. It combines the energy that is California with the r&b/Motown sound which the Supremes' original versions of these two great Ashford & Simpson songs had.
One tape and one acetate leaked out a few weeks ago, and the talk of San Francisco and Los Angeles still centers largely on that Motley production. When you play it for your crowd, you'll see what we mean… the songs have it, Cynthia's vocals have it, and Bill's production has it. And those background vocals are a breath of fresh air today---remember how the guys with top hats and canes would sing backgrounds in the old Fred Astaire movies?---they're back.
Victor Swedosh co-produced with Bill, and there is more material getting readied for The Boystown Gang's debut album.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Bonus Side 2 runs 13:53 at 128 BPM. Easy intro and outro,too.
Glenn Judd wins the LCD chronograph. Glenn plays at the Endup in San Francisco, and the pressing serial number on his Volume 3, Program 13 Disconet matched the lucky winning number for that program… Number 316. We've sent Glenn the watch that does everything, including an alarm, elapsed time, two time zones, and a light for dark DJ booths.
Glenn's favorite songs on the program were the Mike Lewis/Steve Algozino/Bob Logan remix of "Can You Feel It", "Wishbone" (otherwise known as "Camino al Destino"), "Body Contact" and "Kama Sutra (Come And Play With Me.)"
To win the watch, please be sure and enter the pressing serial number on the upper right hand corner of your Side A/Side B pressing. Put the number shown on the feedback card, and be sure and write in your name, address, and phone number as well. Plus, of course, your feedback for this program and any additional comments or suggestions you may have.
Be live it or not, outside of tabulating your feedback, we actually read every card, and appreciate your suggestions as well as your constructive criticisms (which occur only rarely.)