Funky Friday's '80s Triple Play

I'm closing out "sweet 7's" week with some eighties soul stuff...

Gwen Guthrie - Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The RentThis is a tough as nails single from 1986. Take a fab disco diva voice, let NYC disco legend Larry Levan handle the production, and voila! - a stone cold classic with lyrics that cut against the grain. No "I love my man" shit here - it's realist vibe says "no romance without finance". Gwen is fierce on this electro disco classic 7" - "you've got to have a J.O.B. if you want to be with me". To which I say "yes, m'aam!"

Dennis Edwards - Don't Look Any FurtherThis 1984 single from this former Temptations singer features some great co-vocals from '80s r'n'b singer Siedah Garrett, as well as a very memorable groove. Samples of this song have been used by a bunch of folks, including Eric B & Rakim and Tupac. The bass line is classic, the key riff is ultra catchy, and the result is a smooth as butter slice of '80s soul that still sounds great to my ears today. Sweet.

Evelyn King - I'm In LoveThe title track from her 1981 LP, this album saw the disco diva hook up with one time member of B.T. Express, Kashif. He wrote and produced this tasty tune, which rides a giant electro bass line. It's a very groovy, midtempo disco track with that balances electro and organic instruments and combines it all with Evelyn's distinctive, husky voice. Kashif's thick, funky electro grooves that you hear were sought out by all kinds of musicians of the era, and he would go on to cut records with Aretha, Whitney, George Benson, Al Jarreau and Melba Moore among others.

Sweet 7"s of the '80s - Listen To The Radio


Tom Robinson began his career in the '70s s part of the acoustic trio Café Society. Their debut album was produced by Ray Davies from the Kinks. According to Tom's bio it only sold about 600 copies. He was also an openly gay man - not a common thing at the time - and his experiences living in London's gay community informed his music. Inspired by having seen the Sex Pistols, he left Café Society and formed the Tom Robinson Band. They were homo-political pub-slash-proto-punk rockers, and they scored an early hit with the tune 2-4-6-8 Motorway. However, it was a tune from it's follow-up EP that gave him his most notorious moment - the live version of the song Glad To Be Gay was banned by the BBC. The ensuing album was big but the TRB fell apart. In the early '80s Tom moved on to front the hotly hyped Sector 27. They recorded one critically lauded album with Steve Lillywhite and then they too fell apart. In 1983 he returned to the British charts with a mellow ballad called War Baby - a great tune with a smokin' sax solo. I thought about posting that one, but instead decided to share the follow-up, a song that he co-wrote with Peter Gabriel called Listen To The Radio (Atmospherics). A moderately funky slow jam, it rides a chunky groove, features soulful back ups and lots of great horn parts (love the Guy Barker trumpet solo) as well as Tom's gruff, melancholic voice. A nice little piece of '80s obscurity.

Sweet 7"s of the '80s - 3 From New Musik


New Musik were a late '70s / early '80s new wave band, the brainchild of producer/singer/songwriter Tony Mansfield. It was the kind of British power pop that Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello and Squeeze were doing, but with the added gleam of the shiny synthesizer's array of new sounds. I loved their songs, and I was sure that the average Joe would eat them up and propel them into the charts. Sad to say that didn't really happen. Their debut single Straight Lines reached the lower '50s, while the biggest hit they had was with their second single Living By Numbers - it got to number 13 on the British charts. I love the intro on this tune - that strummy riff, the hand claps, the dreamy keys. It's a lovely little slab of melancholic pop. The song of theirs I like the most? Easy - Sanctuary - I love the melody, the trippy sucking sound on some of the vocals, the cool new wave key parts. The highest it got in the charts? Number 31. IMO, they were a band that deserved much greater success than they ever had. Tony Mansfield went on to do a lot of production work for bands. Naked Eyes, After The Fire, A-ha, the B-52's, Vicious Pink and a host of others all benefitted from the modern shine he gave them.

Sweet 7"s of the '80s - Souvenir

Yowsa! The day from hell conspired against a timely post today. The theme this week is all 7" single action all the time - "classic 7"s", if you will.


Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark released the single Souvenir in 1981. Taken from the third (and breakthrough and often referred to as their "classic") album Architecture And Morality, it is a moody little ballad sung by "the other one" in the band, Paul Humphreys. It was a noticeable departure in sound for the duo. Gone are the rudimentary synths and drum programs, and in it's place are lush atmospherics and a drop dead gorgeous melody - so sweet and hooky. Paul's similarly softer voice compliments the tune's mood, the public dug it and it was a big chart hit. The single is particularly cool because the b-side songs are both really good too. Motion And Heart (Amazon Version) is a swanky, swinging re-recording of a song from their previous album Organisation, again reflecting a less metallic electronica. Sacred Heart is bit more experimental, mostly instrumental and spaced out electro - nice and blippy and floaty. All of these tunes are included on the 2003 remastered and expanded version of Architecture And Morality, as well as an extended version of Souvenir and a few other bits and bobs. A great 7".

Funky Friday's Classic 12" - Body Rock


Today I'm giving you some old school hip hop. OK, it's from 1998 so it's only seven years old, but it is from a mini golden age of hip hop that was spawned by the mid to late '90s indie rap power label Rawkus Records. Mos Def. Talib Kweli. Hi Tek. Pharoahe Monch. The Lyricist Lounge compilations. All of this talent came out of the label. It was almost a second coming of the "Native Tongues" - positive, funky, playful. In 2001 Rawkus sold out to MCA Records, and the ideals of the original label slowly faded away. But for a while there it was where it was at. Witness the freshness of 1998's Body Rock, a collaboration by Mos Def, A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip and West Cost rapper Tash. Over a supremely tight beat - feel that snare shot - producer Shawn J. Period lays a deep bass line and some seriously jazzy guitar licks - soft, George Benson style riffs. The rappers rip up the mike with all manner of humorous pop culture references and party lines. It's the shit, and another fine classic 12" performance.

[Mos Def]
Aight, uhh, alright y'all slow down I'm tryin ta
Aight, yo I I only took a little bit of Spanish you gotta
Aight I hear what you're sayin but yo, aight okay
Alright okay, alright okay okay
Alright okay, I'm feelin you, okay
Alright okay, alright okay okay
Alright okay, I'm feelin you yo
All my people in Brooklyn and you know we're hot, I say
We don't stop, the Body Rock
All my people in Queens and the land in between say we
Don't stop, the Body Rock
Shaolin and L-I say you know we're fly, say we
Don't stop, the Body Rock
From the East to the West son we take it to the chest say we
Don't stop, the Body Rock

Check me out y'all
I'm in the lab with Ab, I got the band they're fat
My man T-A-S-H take it to your breastplate
It's the Mighty Mos Def, complete the trilogy
Just shot myself a dime, see are you feelin me?
Son I'm wicked and nice when I'm on facility
Let me take a sec to review what I wrote.. *paper rustling*
.. "Mos Def and I sound par fresh" OK it's dope
let's record this ('cord this) they gonna want dis (want dis)
And all area crew is gonna flaunt this *clapping*
And when we step to the plate Pah it's flawless
My man T-A-S-H with styles glory great
Great, great great, great great uh uhh uh uhh uh uhh uh

[Tash]
Up next we got CaTash with that West coast rhymin
Bombin niggaz with the style that's dangerous as mountain climbin (ahhhh!)
Cause the Alkie words I'm spittin be twistin while you listenin
Plus I'm in this motherfucker with the Likwit coalition
Gotta leave you in position, twist it backwards like dough go
While you starin down my throat like, "Is he drunk or is he sober?"
WHO KNOWS, all I know is Tash got flows
and got the technique to get the ladies out of they clothes
I been overly exposed to the forty-oh's and chickens
So I'ma keep it pumpin til the beat stop kickin
or til the plot thickens, cause this is how we do
CaTashTrophe, Mos Def, and the brother man QUE!!!!

[Q-Tip]
What's up Tash, hey yo, Tip can't call it
Sure as Mos is Def and you Alkaholik
I'ma be surfin at, thing that's worth dealin
Hypodermically, shoot up your feelin
Figuratively, speakin of course now
old and greedyness, seekin it's course now
what we gonna do, eradicate them
Shoot them from the jam, they fear disease

[Mos Def]
Tash Love... are you ready to rock the mic?
Q-Tip... are you ready to rock the mic!
Mos Def... are you ready to rock the mic?
We got the universal style that you got to like!
And ain't nobody steppin up when we got the mic
So turn the A.C. up cause it's hot tonight!
And til the bright early morn' we be rockin you all
Don't stop, the Body Rock!

[Tash]
Cause I'm next to flex, and I'm technically advanced
to turn you on like cybersex, so in less than two sec's
I blind MC's like Thomas Dolby with the Science that'll leave
they braincells fryin slowly (FIRE!) so slowly I flow and
express written consent, from the undergroundin niggaz
Coast II Coast I represent cause gettin bent, I do
but I'm doper than sherm plus the way I put it down
could burn the perm off Big Worm, so peace and pipe this greeting
of the Last Action Hero that be freezin rappers dead in they tracks
like Sub Zero (Zero), cause Rico ain't no joke
I eat your flows and yo' beat up rappers even feel my presence
when I'm home with my feet up

[Mos Def]
for what you skied up or treed up
Relax and pull a seat up, make your landlord turn the heat up
Got the opposition shook like Tiger Woods about to tee up
So niggaz no competition with the clear Mos Definition
MC's screamin now for years can't rhyme without they mom's permission
You just a young'un comin out, gettin gassed to run your mouth
Wildin on the Runabout, Baby Pah you comin out
Barkin that you want a bout but son you know the comeabout
when Mos Def blow up and, you don't, nuttin
Don't you know nuttin? My crew go huntin
We keep it on the norm then we transform som'in
And while, we do it, you bounce to it
The cops wanna stop the Body Rock but don't do it

[Q-Tip]
DY-NO-MITE!!! Like Jimmy J.J.
Swap down pen-ny, somewhere in L.A. (A)
Now we got to bond like Voltron (tron)
Tash you the bomb, Mos you the won ton (ton)
Q will pick the lead, I must drop on thee (thee)
A-B-S, I bust down, facility (ty)
T-R-A-C-T is the MC (cee)
It's the LL, inside the place to be (be)

[Mos Def]
Tash Love... are you ready to rock the mic?
Q-Tip... are you ready to rock the mic!
Mos Def... are you ready to rock the mic?
We got the universal brothers that you got to like!
Now ain't nobody steppin up when we got the mic
So turn your A.C. up cause it's hot tonight!
And til the bright early morn' we'll be rockin you all
Don't stop, the Body Rock!

All my people out in Queens that know you're hot, you say
Don't stop, the Body Rock!
All my people out in Brooklyn and you know we're hot, say
Don't stop, the Body Rock!
Shaolin to L-I and you know we're fly, said
Don't stop, the Body Rock!
All the people on the Greens and the land in between said
Don't stop, the Body Rock!

... no stoppin
... no stoppin
Out in Jersey ... no stoppin
Philadelp-i-I ... no stoppin
Chi Town gettin down ... the playgrounds
Detroit you say ... no stoppin
In Cali ... no stoppin
And the great V-A ... no stoppin
Cause in the Brooklyn town ... no stoppin
And the Boogie Down ... no stoppin
L-I and Queens ... no stoppin
And you see Medina Greens ... no stoppin
You know we, Lyricist Lounge ... no stoppin
And my man Abstract ... no stoppin
Cause see we never the wack ... no stoppin
Don't stop, the Body Rock
D-dah, don't stop

Classic 12"s of the '90s - Fluke


Fluke were a dreamy pop act that first appeared on the scene on 1989. Over the next few years they adapted their sound and included elements of acid and prog house, trip hop and techno rock. They were able to cash in on the "electronica" movement of the mid '90s, particularly with their '97 LP Risotto and it's big hit single Atom Bomb. At that time I also picked up the 12" for Absurd - it has a smokin' Mighty Dub Katz remix of the title track that I used to love mix with - very big-beaty and chunky. My fave track on it though is the Global Communication remix of an older single from 1993, Slid. Tom Middleton & Mark Pritchard's take on Slid (The Hypogasmic Mix) is a sublimely chilled piece of pillow-y house music that kicks off with a simple metronomic click, and then gradually adds layer after layer of smooth, soft synth washes and sequences and "wah wah wah" vocals. It's a lovely, "drifting off into space" kind of a track, and it really stands apart from all of the big beat stuff that it shares vinyl space with. As a result it has aged a lot better!

Classic 12"s of the '90s - Radio Babylon


Meat Beat Manifesto's single Helter Skelter was released in the US in May of 1990. It featured Helter Skelter as the A-side, and it's B-side was Radio Babylon. Helter Skelter had a clattering breakbeat, dub and industrial elements, odd vocal snippets - "it's in my brain" & "this is it!" - and was pretty much the pinnacle of their output to this point. It was a perfect distillation of all that they had tried, and saw them perfect the trademark Meat Beat sounds - rumbling bass, submarine pings, that sort of thing. As much as I love Helter Skelter, it is Radio Babylon that hits me the hardest. Made up of a bunch of the parts of it's A-side, it was a spacier mix that boasted more roots reggae appeal. From it's opening beeps, "Babylons" and menacing bassline and the crucial "burning with ecstasy" blurb it rumbles on to shred your speaker cones with vital energy and "riddims full of culture, y'all". In the end it remains, IMO, one of electronic dance music's greatest moments.

Section 25 Redux


Yesterday's Section 25 post had me telling you about how I had really wanted to share the B-side mix of the single Looking From A Hilltop. However, I was foiled by a huge scratch at the beginning of the track, so settled on recording the A-side version instead. Well, due to the greatness of this here interweb thingy, my mate across the pond Phillip has "hooked me up". There was an e-mail in my inbox from him this morning, and contained within it was an mp3 rip of the B-side mix, taken from the digitally remastered 1998 reissue of From The Hip. So now I'm happy to say you can hear the tune I intended you to hear in the first place. Enjoy the deliciously huge, pounding electro grooves of Looking From A Hilltop Megamix, and when the percussive, trippy, backtracked breaks in the middle hit you, you'll know why I love this version so much!

Classic 12"s of the '80s - Looking From A Hilltop


Section 25 were one of the lesser known acts on legendary Mancunian label Factory Records. Formed in Blackpool in 1978 and named after a health provision code, they began as an indie rock trio, their earliest FAC records produced by Ian Curtis and Rob Gretton, then Martin Hannett. Over the course of the early '80s they added a couple of lovely ladies to help with vocals and synths, added lots of drum machines, and went on to write an early page in the book of what would soon be known as acid house. Their 1984 LP From The Hip was produced by Bernard Sumner and included the giant electro-pop anthem that is Looking From A Hilltop. I had wanted to give you the B-side version of this tune, which is a largely instrumental remix that is flat out HUGE, but the vinyl has developed a nasty scratch that makes it pretty much unplayable. The A side is still pretty good tho' - a pounding, Kraftwerk-ian beat, massed banks of swirling synths and sequencers, topped off with mournful vocals. I love the beats on this - they just keep growing as the tune goes on. Apparently the band is still active - they have a website (Section25.com) and there is even talk of new music.

Classic 12"s of the '80s - Set The Tone


Set The Tone were a short lived (and pretty much unknown - googling will give you almost nothing) early '80s band that featured Kenny Hyslop, drummer for The Skids and then for the Simple Minds. They released a couple of singles and an LP - really more of an EP, as it only has 6 songs on it, before disbanding. They were a hard edged dance act that mixed tough beats with dubbed out punk funk. I can't remember if I heard them on the radio or had just read about them when I picked up their first single, 1982's Dance Sucker, appearing here in it's 12"-full-on-Francois Kevorkian-remixed glory. I fell in love with the song instantly, with it's hard assed groove, huge spongy synth bass and scratchy guitars. I also liked the aggressive vocals, all shouty and loud. It was so much thicker and beefier sounding than so many of the other things on the radio at the time, largely due to the ace production of Island Records' house whiz Steven Stanley. Of course it failed to make a dent in the charts - pah! I say. I stand by it today as a fierce call to get your ass on the floor and dance, and in light of the resurgence of all things post-punk and funk, it stills sounds pretty good.

Funky Friday's Hot (Remix) Action


A couple of cool singles from The Juan MacLean and Goldfrapp hit record shelves this week. The Goldfrapp EP is called Number 1, features 2 versions of the title track, two other songs and a Tiefschwarz remix of Ooh La La. The CD single also has the video for the title track. I love this band, and like this EP a lot. I do have to admit that I'm a bit pissed off at their label, Mute Records, tho'. The album is out in Europe now, but it's US release has been pushed back to March of next year - what's the point of that? Dumbass corporate suits. That having been said, enjoy the Franco-disco-fied version of Number 1 (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix) - a very groovy, space-y take that strips the song of it's glammy stomp and replaces it with a disco one instead. I like the bit in the middle too, where it goes all slow for a minute.

The Juan MacLean single is for one of the standout tracks from the debut album, Give Me Every Little Thing. The remixes are handled by X-Press 2, Cajmere, Eric B. and my fave mix is Give Me Every Little Thing (Putsch '79 Remix), which brings even more '80s electro flavor to the tune. It kicks off with a Linn drum beat straight out of 1982, and from there it's '80s synth squiggle heaven.

Nine Horses


Nine Horses is a one-off collaboration involving David Sylvian, his brother (and former Japan drummer) Steve Jansen and electronic experimentalist Burnt Friedman. It also features contributions from Ryuichi Sakamoto and Stina Nordenstam. The resulting album is a beautiful set of tracks that are some of the most commercially accessible music Sylvian has done in a while - since at least the first couple of solo LPs. Don't think for a second that I mean it has the chart busting appeal of the old Japan hits, although this is the closest he's been in years. This is still very artful stuff, but there are more traditionally structured songs on here, with beats and hooks, and even a few slightly rockist (!) moments. Lyrically Sylvian surveys both personal (the end of his marriage) and political relationships (the world post 9/11) and their ups and downs. It's a nice blend of David's mournful croon, Jansen's shifting rhythms and Burnt's electronics. Serotonin is a shuffling, burbling art funk tune that sounds very much to me like what Japan would sound like today if they were still recording - think Art Of Parties and you're not too far removed. It's a lovely record. It's interesting to me that some twenty five years on from when I first encountered David Sylvian, his work is still capable of moving me. It's great to see such creative longevity.