Artist: Will Downing
Title: A Love Supreme (Jazz In The House Mix) [ Produced by Arthur Baker ]
Year: 1988
Label: 4th & Broadway
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.
Will Downing – “A Love Supreme” (Jazz In The House Mix) (mp3)
Like the name of the label suggests, ColdCut were ahead of their time. In Summer of 1987 when I moved back to England to start grade-11 highschool at ACS Hillingdon, on the very day my plane touched down at Heathrow airport, the first thing I did was go down to Our Price record store in Uxbridge, Buckinghamshire, and looked for hiphop records. Going through all the singles in the 12-inch section, I came across ColdCut’s Beats + Pieces …. there was something magical about this record when I touched it, even though I had no clue who ColdCut were and what they sounded like. I took the risk to invest and bought the record among others. Once I played the Beats + Pieces at home, I was BLOWN AWAY. Just what I was looking for. Something cutting-edge with samples and loops pieced and scratched together on top of a tight main beat/loop sampled from Led_Zeppelin’s track Kashmir. Ever since that day, I’ve been a religious follower and fan of ColdCut.
Artist: Coldcut
Title: Beats + Pieces
Year: 1987
Label: Ahead Of Our Time
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.
ColdCut – “Beats + Pieces” (Mo’ Bass Remix) (mp3)
In 1987, Eric B. & Rakim were on a standstill and not going anywhere in the charts until ColdCut remixed their track Paid In Full which was absolutely incredible, filled with chopped samples that were pieced/scratched together ColdCut style. The most famous vocal used in that remix was from Ofra Haza’s Yemenite Im Nin Alu track (the original LP version from her Fifty Gates Of Wisdom album, released in 1984), which then catapulted Ofra Haza back to the top-10 music charts followed by her smash-hit remix of Im Nin Alu in Summer 1988.
All in all, it was the doing and the genius of ColdCut to come up with such beautiful and timeless remix of Paid In Full …. bringing Eric B. Rakim to the top of the music charts and also making Ofra Haza one of the most internationally famous/successful singers in the world (she even did most of the vocal soundtracks for Steven Spielberg’s The Prince Of Egypt animated movie). At the end of the day, ColdCut never received as much credit as they deserved. In 1989, ColdCut released an album with an instrumental version Not Paid Enough.
I tip my hat for ColdCut.
They deserve a standing ovation.
Artist: Coldcut
Title: Not Paid Enough
Year: 1987
Label: Tommy Boy
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.
ColdCut – “Not Paid Nough” (mp3)
Artist: Eric B. & Rakim
Title: Paid In Full
Year: 1987
Label: 4th & Broadway
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.
Eric B. & Rakim – “Paid In Full” (mp3)
The original version of this track was released in 1986, which sounded musically OK, even though its production quality was lo-fi, but overall it lacked oomph and excitement. When 1987 came around, MARRS released it’s internationally mega smash-hit Pump Up The Volume which used the vocal sample/snippet “Pump up the volume” from Eric B. & Rakim’s original version of I Know You Got Soul. Millions of people wondered who and from where did that sample come from, and, thus giving unprecedented exposure, attention and credit to Eric B. & Rakim. Because of MARRS, a new remix of I Know You Got Soul was just around the corner …. and here it is! This remix was in the top-10 British and European music charts and in the top-70 North American charts.
It should also be noted that it was ColdCut’s smash-hit remix of Paid In Full (in late 1987) which brought really catapulted Eric B. & Rakim’s to the top of the mainstream British and North American music charts. Read full article here.
Artist: Eric B & Rakim
Title: I Know You Got Soul (The Double Trouble Remix)
Year: 1987
Label: 4th & Broadway
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.
Eric B & Rakim – I Know You Got Soul (The Double Trouble Remix) (mp3)
DJ Eric Barrier (left) and MC Rakim Allah (Right).
DOWNLOAD Deejay Rhiannon's mixes here.
All of Rhiannon's mix-sets were mastered by Hashmoder (Omar Hash) at his studio
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. Check out example below:
Man Parrish
Boogie Down Bronx (dub version)
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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. Check out example below:
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Relax (12 inch Sex Mix)
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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. Check out example below:
The Buggles
I Am A Camera (12 inch version)
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Beat Electric 
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