Egyptian Lover – “Freak-A-Holic” (12 Inch Long Versionl)..

Artist: The Egyptian Lover
Title: Freak-A-Holic (12 Inch Long Version)
Year: 1986
Label: Egyptian Empire Records

Egyptian Lover – “Freak-A-Holic” (12 Inch Long Version) (mp3)

Music Video: The Egyptian Lover – “Freak-A-Holic”…

Since the Egyptian protests are all over the news lately, I’ve figured why not post some of Egytpian Lover’s oldschool electro hip-hop tracks.  The very first time I’ve heard an Egyptian Lover’s track was back in 1984.  A track titled Egypt Egypt on a DJ-mixed electro/hip-hop compilation record, released by StreetSounds, called Electro-5 on side-A — which is also available on this site. The second track I’ve heard by Egyptian Lover was My House On The Nile on StreetSounds Electro-6, side-B, which is also available on this site. And the third track I’ve heard by Egyptian Lover was Girls on StreetSounds Electro-7, side-A — again, also available on this site. After being exposed to those three tracks between 1984 and 1985, that was when I’ve decided to hunt and collect  as many Egyptian Lover 12″ singles as I could find on the market.  I’ve bought several of his 12″ singles on vinyl back then from Toronto, London and New York.

The Egyptian Lover is Greg Broussard — born on August 31, 1963.  He’s an American musician, rapper, vocalist, producer and DJ from Los Angeles.  Greg Broussard was one of the first men to pioneer the hip-hop/electro sound from LA.  One of his main influences was Man Parrish’s track track Hip-Hop Be Bop (Don’t Stop) — whom I’ve also blogged about on this site — so click here to read that article.

With just a Roland TR-808 drum machine among other flagship analog synthesizers and digital samplers, Greg Broussard rocked (and still can rock) the house.

Egyptian Lover – “Egypt, Egypt” (12″ Vinyl)..

Artist: The Egyptian Lover
Title: Egypt, Egypt (12″ Vinyl)
Year: 1984
Label: Egyptian Empire Records

Egyptian Lover – “Egypt, Egypt” (12″ Vinyl) (mp3)

Killer synth-R&B-dance track from 1986.     Rumors… I can still take more more!

1986 was a great year for electronic R&B which incorporated the new urban sound, hiphop, funk, soul and dance music — a sound that later became known as the New Jack Swing in the late 80′s. New Jack Swing was pretty much hijacked by Teddy Riley [watch video] who took that genre to a whole new level. But Rumors was one of the very first tracks with that sound — a sound so poundingly raw, with a spine that keeps the drums, baseline and overall groove fused together as one. I remember this track hitting the top of the charts around the world. I bought a few different copies of the 12-inch records from Canada, USA and England.  I’ve also bought Rumors on Canadian-issued maxi-single cassette tape.  Why?  Because I liked the different artwork covers!

Almost every artist of this genre was utilizing the very latest electronic and groundbreaking musical instruments at that time.     E-mu SP12 [watch video] and Linn-9000 [watch video] were just the revolutionary sampling drum machines used in the industry. Their factory sound/samples that came with those two machines were legendary — practically used on thousands of tracks out there.  The SP12 had 24 onboard drum sounds plus 8 additional memory allocations for loading custom/user samples. Since the SP12 had no built-in floppy drive for backup, I am not sure how the user samples were stored. However, the SP12 was quickly superseded by SP1200 in 1987 which had a built-in 3.5″ floppy drive and more sampling memory.

Almost all the drum sounds on Rumors were from the SP12/1200. I recognize that snare very well to be from E-mu Systems’ factory sample collection. Just that snare alone could be heard on Jody Watley’s – Looking For A New Love,  Janet Jackson’s – Control by the two big-time producers Jam & Lewis, and even Kraftwerk’s – The Telephone Call… just as few examples.

The TR-808 drum sounds on Rumors, to my belief, were samples of the real 808 drum-machine loaded into the SP12/1200.  Most of the synth sounds, particularly the main melodic/stabby one, was from a Roland Juno-106 [watch video]. I know that Roland sound, because I, too, own a 106 and few other kinds.

Read more information on Timex Social Club here (wikipedia) –and– here (TSC official site).

Timex Social Club – “Rumors” (Social Club Mix)…

Artist: Timex Social Club
Title: Rumors (Social Club Mix)
Year: 1986
Label: AM Records
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Timex Social Club – “Rumors” (Social Club Mix) (mp3)

Timex Social Club – “Rumors” (Social Club Dub)…

Artist: Timex Social Club
Title: Rumors (Social Club Dub)
Year: 1986
Label: AM Records
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Timex Social Club – “Rumors” (Social Club Dub) (mp3)

Timex Social Club – “Vicious Rumors”…

Artist: Timex Social Club
Title: Vicious Rumors
Year: 1986
Label: AM Records
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Timex Social Club – “Vicious Rumors” (mp3)

This is one super sick track that defined the true meaning of techno-electro hiphop. Drum machine tight beats, rolling mechanical techno bassline, synth zip-zaps, reverse-then-slap-forward claps, synth pads, vocal erotic samples, synthetic scratching samples, really sweet processed orchestra stabs/hits, and serious rhymes. 808 Beats stands on its own plateau. Although The Unknown DJ raps about his 808 drum machine, but the drum machine sounds in this track aren’t from a Roland TR-808 at all …. not even close; but my best guess would be that they come from Oberheim DX or DMX.

The Unknown DJ – “808 Beats”…

Artist: The Unkown DJ
Title: 808 Beats
Year: 1984
Label: Techno Hop
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

The Unknown DJ – “808 Beats” (mp3)