Read this fantastic article If You Only Knew (Chip E.) and interview of Chip E. (Irwin Larry Eberhart II, 43) posted by Jacob Arnold from the Gridface blog. Chip E. (also known as The Godfather of House) was the first artist to release a dance track which contained the words “house” and “jack,” and therefore spawning so many House tracks to be released by other House artists, also contained such words (either in the title and/or hook): 7 Ways To Make You Jack (Hercules), Jack Your Body (Steve Silk Hurley), Jack To The Sound Of The Underground (Fast Eddie), House Nation (House Master Boyz), etc.
Another great Tears For Fears 12″ single. This track was recorded and released in the UK charts in 1984, well before the release of their 1985 LP/album release Songs From The Big Chair. It showcased the group’s edgier sound, intricate production and, most importantly, the creative use of sampling. Beat Of The Drum Mix was clearly one of the earliest remix tracks with sampled vocals, loops and snippets as well as loops, that were sequenced and arranged together on top of all other synths and multi-tracked layers of instrument/vocal performances recorded by the band. For example, the string-hits at the beginning Beat Of The Drum Mix were sampled from a Barry Manilow track; James Brown vocal snippets near the end; and the other samples were real ambient noises, drum shots/rolls, orchestral and horn stabs, ambient and weird noises, guitar strums/chords, and Tears For Fears’ own vocals.
All the sampling were done with the Fairlight CMi-2 which was, at that time, the most sophisticated and highly advanced sampling/sequencing/digital-editing workstation. It featured a mainframe computer, large keyboard-instrument controller, computer monitor and a light-pen. Watch this video demonstration of the Fairlight. Also watch this other video of the Fairlight being demonstrated by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran.
The meaning of Mothers Talk stems from two ideas:
Something that mothers say to their children about pulling faces; they say the child will stay like that when the wind changes; and
Tears For Fears – “Mothers Talk” (Beat Of The Drum Mix)…
Artist: Tears For Fears Title: Mothers Talk (Beat Of The Drum Mix) Year: 1984, 1985, 1986 Label: Mercury Records; Polygram; Phonogram; Vertigo Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.
I love this version of Head Over Heels (Preacher Mix) by Tears For Fears. It’s nice and long with outstanding edits and arrangements that takes you on a long journey. Layers and layers of real music instruments and electronic synthesizers. Intricate production. A work of art! I wish that I wrote this song. I recorded this track off of an imported 12-inch record (pressed in Germany) which I’ve had in my collection since the mid 80’s. The Preacher Mix is comprised of three parts: (1) intro Broken, (2) the main song Head Over Heels, and (3) outro Broken —- with all three playing in consecutive order. The intro and outro versions of Broken sound different from each other. However, the Broken-outro part in the album version of Head Over Heels is completely a different version/mix than the one in Preacher Mix; it sounds like a live performance than a studio-production (although I am not sure if it is really “live” or just made to sound that way).
The Preacher Mix was available only on 12-inch record for a long time. It wasn’t even available on Tears For Fears’ 1985 album Songs From The Big Chair, nor was it available on their 1999 remastered release of Songs From The Big Chair which included all the original tracks from the album plus several bonus B-sides tracks/remixes. But in 2006, The Preacher Mix was included in yet another remastered, 2-disc deluxe edition release of Songs From The Big Chair on CD
Tears For Fears – “Broken / Head Over Heels / Broken” (Preacher Mix)…
Artist: Tears For Fears Title: Broken / Head Over Heels / Broken (Preacher Mix) Year: 1985 Label: Mercury Records Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.
In 1983, Malcolm McLaren released two singles, Buffalo Gals and Double Dutch, both of which becoming worldwide top-10 smash-hits. Those two tracks hit the international music charts before his LP Dutch Rock was released. Dutch Rock album proved to be highly influential, bringing hip-hop to a wider audience, especially in the UK.
In 1984, Malcolm changed his tune to opera on his next maxi/EP single release of Madam Butterfly which was an electronic, synth-pop modern-classic track, based on Giacomo Puccini’s 1902 classic-opera Madam Butterfly’s - “Un Bel Di Vedremo” final aria (watch videos below). For those of you who are not familiar with Puccini, perhaps you might recognize his “Nessun Dorma” aria from his Turandot opera (which is still part of today’s popular culture). Nessun Dorma has achieved pop-status by Luciano Pavarotti’s recording of it, used as the theme song of BBC’s television’s coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup soccer in Italy; and it subsequently reached #2 on the UK singles music chart (the highest placing ever by a classical recording).
Malcolm McLaren’s Madam Butterfly is arranged with a drum-machine, atmospheric synthesizers and spoken/sung R&B verses (with opera backup vocals). The production on Malcolm’s Madam Butterfly is stellar. The track was produced by Steven Hague who settled for nothing but the best in overall production. I know for a fact that a Fairlight CMI-2 was used, because Madam Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo) starts with the Fairlight’s famous factory sound-preset ”aah” voices coming in slowly and rising gradually in amplitude, serving as a bed/pad sound layered in the background throughout the track. Watch music video below to hear that sound. I know all the Fairlight sounds inside-out, because I’ve heard them millions of times since 1980 when the Fairlight beast of a sampler/workstation instrument was used on countless of tracks by other famous artists and groups in that era (for it’s unique sound, powerful sample/sound processing engine and music sequencer). Watch this video of the Fairlight being demonstrated by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. As for the chord melody in Madam Butterfly, it is a sound of an upright-harp with softer/slower attack transient; though there’s no telling what synthesizer or sampler brand used for it. It could’ve been a custom-sampled harp sound for the Fairlight, or a factory-sample bank coming from a then-popular E-mu Emulator-II, but my guess is that the harp and the bassline-sound were factory-preset patches from a Yamaha DX7 synth. Watch this YouTube demo of the DX7. Harp sounds from synths and samplers sound almost exactly the same and very difficult to distinguish them apart. Also, the drum-machine used in Madam Butterfly is an Oberheim DMX (which was just as popular as Roland TR-808, LinnDrum and E-mu Drumulator and SP-12 drum-machines at that time).
Attention new music producers: I have compiled and categorized .wav samples of almost every classic drum-machine and electronic drum-kits made by man. Download drum_kits.zip
I used to own the 12″ vinyl of Madam Butterfly which I bought in 1984 from Our Price record store in Uxbridge town center (Hillingdon, Buckinghamshire, UK). But I gave it to my friend Mister P-Body (Arizona) in June 2001 (just before I moved back to West Vancouver, BC, Canada, on July 1, 2001), as I had already owned a copy of it on CD-single which I’d purchased in 1988. To this day, I’m still playing the track over and over again. I have never gotten (and still never get) sick of listening to Madam Butterfly — takes on me on long mind trips each time.
While the norm for most tracks go anywhere between 3:30 to 6:00 minutes in length, I prefer 15:00 minutes or longer, like the four seasons. Give me 4 long tracks to fill the hour, and I’ll be one very happy Iraqi. I love tracks that take me on long journeys through various movements. One of my all-time favorite synth-pop groups is PROPAGANDA from germany … who sound like twisted ABBA + Industrial + TechnoPop + Darkness. My favorite Proganda track is P:Machinery. I’ve taken two 12-inch vinyl versions of that track and conjoined them together as one … the way I want to listen to P:Machinery by:
Digitizing them into Protools; Spending two long months cleaning them up; Getting rid of every single scratch/pop/click; Restoring deteriorated sounds through various RE-SYNTHESIS processes and techniques; Splicing the tracks to separate clips; Re-arranging and layering clips to my taste; Throwing in my own synth-stabs, chops and other minor subtleties; Adding & automating series of chained top-notch effects throughout the mix, utilizing parameters some of you could not even pronounce ... thus resulting with more dynamic and reverberated DEPTH to the mix; Fattening the bottom-end; Widening overall stereo perception; and Mixing, engineering and mastering my version of P:Machinery the way I think it's supposed to be heard.
To my taste, P:Machinery sounds better than 'sick' ... more like master piece of shit which blasts sonically across the stereo-field ... not one element standing still but constantly moving all over the place.
Although he produced only a handful of tracks of renown and disappeared into obscurity almost as quickly as he had emerged from it, Manny ( Man ) Parrish is nonetheless one of the most important and influential figures in American electronic dance music. Helping to lay the foundation of electro, hip-hop, freestyle, and techno, as well as the dozens of subgenres to splinter off from those, Parrish introduced the aesthetic of European electronic pop to the American club scene by combining the plugged-in disco-funk of Giorgio Moroder and the man-machine music of Kraftwerk with the beefed-up rhythms and cut’n'mix approach of nascent hip-hop. As a result, tracks like “Hip-Hop Be Bop (Don’t Stop)” and “Boogie Down Bronx” were period-defining works that provided the basic genetic material for everyone from Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys to Autechre and Andrea Parker — and they remain undisputed classics of early hip-hop and electro to this day.
Man Parrish Boogie Down Bronx (dub version) PLAY TRACK
What made Trevor Horn’s productions stand out was his unique and genius production techniques and the heavy use of state-of-the-art pro-audio gear, which made him become the torch-bearer for the kind of technology-led pop music which was hip and incredibly disciplined. Trevor Horn’s 12-inch remixes were uniquely long (anywhere from 8 to 13 minutes in duration) and told stories which took the listeners through long instrumental journeys at the begenning of tracks until the climax is reached (around the 5/6 or 7 minute mark). After the climax, the original or alternate full vocal version of the track takes over from that point on to the end, lasting additional 3.5 to 5 minutes in length.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood Relax (12 inch Sex Mix) PLAY TRACK
Trevor Horn is the guy who produced and performed “Video Killed The Radio Star” world-wide smash-hit track. I did some major digging and discovered some fascinating, forgotten facts and hidden gem tracks from The Buggles. In 1980, the Buggles’ duo Geoffrey Downes (keyboards) and Trevor Horn (vocals) — who were coming off an international success with their new-wave album The Age of Plastic – to help out on a new YES album. Downes suddenly left Buggles when Trevor learned that YES’ keyboardist Rick Wakeman was leaving the band, and therefore snatched him as well as lead-vocalist Jon Anderson to work on the next Buggles album Adventures In Modern Recording. The Buggle’s second album was completed in 1981 but was never released or charted. The album was a gem masterpiece.
The Buggles I Am A Camera (12 inch version) PLAY TRACK
Here is a strong disco tinged boogie number from the much beloved by me NelWin Records / Silver Cloud records stable, with all of the Andrew Langston production hallmarks, great, slightly tribal percussive elements and ahead of their time synth hooks. I'm not too sure what the distinction between these two New York labels were, because they have the sam […]
Sometimes we like to kick it smooth. This is a rare modern soul jam from around 1985 on Money Three Records. It has a bit of a vibe as if Janet Jackson's mom is singing it. Anyway, you are too smart to miss the epic party that Beat Electric is throwing this Friday. It is at Mezzanine and it is free if you RSVP, just follow the instructions and make sure […]
Some cuts I don't want to post for no other than the artist names and track titles are too long, don't fit in an ID3 v1 tag, are easily misspelled or are a pain to type with one finger. These selfish artists had no appreciation for the fact that I may want to post their work, for free, on the internet one day. Trigger Finger And The Space Cadets […]
Well let me start off and issue another apology for the lack of posts this summer. I have been a bit buried in the weeds as of late. This weekend I move to Los Angeles leaving all three Beat Electricians scattered across the California landscape. Not to worry, once I get settled in it will be back to business as usual. So if I can get Black Shag to come out […]
I was going through a box of sealed bankrupt stock CD's, flipping through post hair metal and euro dance summer anthem comps, when I came across a stack of funk discs. These dated from the deep funk revival of the early/mid nineties, great times, but amongst them was this Best Of Radar Records collection, claiming to be recorded from master tape, releas […]
Ron Richardson is thought of amongst diggers as a Canadian artist, but I think this is simply confusion due to the fact that his best known funk 12" grail, 1983's Ooh Wee Babe, came out on a Canadian imprint whilst he was working up there in the early eighties. A later 1987 vocal house release called Treat Me Better came out on the US based Herbert […]
I long for the dog days of summer. It feels more like early spring in Northern California and San Francisco feel like, well, it feels like it always does. I guess that's why my ideal of a matinee rooftop pool disco party does not exits here. You have to go down to LA and have Blog Haus beaten into your head to enjoy that kind of party; or to Miami for s […]
A couple of Tee Scott mixes here including Jazzy Rhythm my favorite Arthur Baker/Michelle Wallace collaboration. In lieu of writing a long winded post on this already well documented artist, Black Shag pointed me to this bio page complete with an excellent 1994 interview conducted by a young Danny Wang a year before Tee's untimely death.Michelle Wallace […]
BT Magnum
Feeds From Hypem.com
Disclaimer
Mp3's on this site are for sampling and promotional purposes only and will only. Most of the mp3 tracks on this blog/site are remixes, extended and limited versions which are deleted, no longer available for purchase and would not be heard otherwise. However, please support these artists. If you are one of these artists and would like your music removed from this site, please notify me, and I will endeavor to remove them as soon as possible.
Recent Comments