VOLUME 5 · PROGRAM 5
First there were dub mixes, and now there are dub medleys. "Fashionable Dubs" by Fashion, mixed by Valapucci.
Fashion is from England, and the group describes their music as American funk dressed up in a very English way. Salvator Jon Mulligan plays keyboards, synths and vocals, Dee "Dave" Harris does leads and guitar, Dik Davis plays the drums and Martin Recchi is on bass guitar. Zeus B. Held produced these secret "dub" versions of songs from recent and forthcoming Arista releases, which Valapucci has edited for you into a very unusual 18 minute set.
"Fashionable Dubs" starts out with "Street Mechanek" at a brisk 135 BPM, with a bass drum reminescent of early Voyage cleaned up for the 1980s. There's a clip of "Dressed To Kill" which drum-rolls into "Mutant Move." A very spacey "Do You Wanna Make Love (At 5 a.m.)" concludes the set. Use the dubs separately or as a set to take them on a fast to sleeze trip.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Side A runs 18:10 from 135 BPM (beats per minute) to 107.
C.M. Lord sings "You're The Only One", U.X.B. with "Sting Me!"
C.M. Lord is a very talented writer (Brenda Jones' "My Heart's Not In It"), and she makes her debut on Wave Records as a singer with "You're The Only One" previewed here with Mark Berry's mix. The tracks were produced by C.M. and Pete Robinson.
C.M. lives in Los Angeles, has two kids, and knows how to bring emotion to the dance floor. Her construction is simple and direct, and the song keeps moving from its phased intro through the special ending.
U.X.B. is next, with "Sting Me." It was written and produced by Keith M. Pole. Dave Reyes (formerly with Young & Company) plays the drums, Ira Gilmore is on bass, and Keith does the lead vocals and guitar. The group has appeared on Joe Bingo's "Hot Rocks" cable TV show and knows how to make their energy jump out of the tube. The charm of "Sting Me" might not hit you until you've heard it a few times, so give this one a real chance.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Side B runs 12:12, beginning at 124 BPM and then slipping into 119.
Man Parrish heats the floor with "Heatstroke", Gary Private sings "Reach Out."
Man Parrish has been writing and producing technofunk music in New York for three years, including the original soundtrack score to Joe Gage's "Heatstroke" cult movie. Lance Wise fell in love with the original version while playing at The Eagle, The Anvil and The Saint in the Big Apple, and brought the tracks to Raul's attention at Importe/12. Man and Raul are now completing production of Man's forthcoming album, and here is a preview of one of-the cuts mixed by Lance and Bobby DJ Guttadaro, engineered by Mark Berry.
Man's vocoder vocals have an innocent charm and appeal, as do the street-hip backgrounds by The Rain Sisters. Steve Crew did the percussion. And those grammy-award winning clap tracks seem to jump all over the place, so watch out!
Gary Private is next with a new cover version of the Four Tops' "Reach Out" on Select Records. Gary is from New York, began as a drummer, and followed his ear for arrangements and vocals into vocal session work in New York and Los Angeles. Kenny Aaronson plays bass, Tommy Mandel is on keyboards, Tommy Morrongiello is on guitar, and Mark Onofrio is on drums (with a bongo duet with Gary during the break.)
The initial hook of pitch modification to the lead guitar (known as a "joystick" among electronic keyboard whiz kids) keeps the song together. Gary says "The Four Tops' version is a standard that can't be improved upon, but the song is so strong that it's open to a little reworking and personalization and still can be great."
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Bonus Side 1 runs 16:10, beginning at 135 BPM and rolling into 128. Bands mark a special 2 minute "Bonus Claps" intro to "Heatstroke" as well as the segway.
Love Twins with an extended remix of "Miami Heatwave" by Rick Gianatos, Steven Smith and Michael Shayne.
Laurnea Wilkerson and Phil Gibson are the Love Twins. Laurnea played Dorothy in the road company of "The Wiz", and Phil has done many a session in and around Los Angeles. "Miami Heat Wave" originally appeared as a 5 minute portion of a suite on the Love Twins early 1982 AVI album, and the tracks have been substantially reworked into a 10:30 dance powerhouse by Rick Gianatos, Steve Smith and Michael Shayne for release soon on Altair/Airwave.
There's great attitude in the song, which was written by Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench ("My Claim To Fame" by James Wells.) Rick produced with Ian Levine, and Tom DePierro was executive producer. Three bands mark some nice breaks along the way.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Bonus Side 2 runs 10:30 at 138 BPM.
Joe Messina wins the LCD chronograph. Joe plays at Backstreet in Atlanta, and also runs the Hot Tracks record store in his spare time. His pressing serial number on Program 3 matched the lucky winning number for that program (#1051), and we've sent Joe the watch that does almost everything.
Joe's favorite selections on Program 3 were Jonathan Fearing's excellent edit of Q-Feel's "Dancing In Heaven (Orbital Bebop)", the Raul and Walter Kahn remix of Karen Young's "Deetour", and Crazy Joe's "Eugene Goes To School" (now with a very danceable instrumental on the 12".)
To win the watch, be sure to list the pressing serial number shown on the upper right hand corner of your Side A/Side B record jacket. And be sure to put your name, address, and phone number on the feedback card as well so we'll know who wins if your lucky number comes up. Good luck!