The first time I heard LL Cool J was when I was at the movies.  There he was …right before my eyes …making his first film debut in Krush Groove and literally performing to the audience for the first time his debut track I Can’t Live Without My Radio.  It blew me away!  By the time the release of his first album Radio made it to Starsounds record store in Toronto, Canada, I was one of the first to get a copy.  The LP version of You’ll Rock is not as wicked as this remix posted here, but nonetheless it’s still good.  I considered LL Cool J to be one of my first serious, solid and harder/core rappers in the music scene of 1985, as he was the first rapper/artist to be signed with Def Jam Recordings (hence, the story of Krush Groove movie was somewhat like the real story of how Def Jam got started).

LL Cool J – “You’ll Rock” (Remix)…

Artist: LL Cool J
Title: You’ll Rock (Remix)
Year: 1985
Label: Def Jam Recordings

LL Cool J – “You’ll Rock” (Remix) (mp3)

Early LL Cool J’s film & music debut in Krush Groove (1985)…

I have decided to record digitally my entire StreetSounds Electro compilation series.

I will record every single StreetSounds vinyl of mine into Protools, with as much digital restorations as possible and widened stereo-field.  I do believe that I make the best vinyl-rips than most music collectors and bloggers out there. My 30+ years experience in pro-audio says so!

As I’ve stated in my previous StreetSounds article over a year ago, Electro since the early 80′s was electric funk and hip-hop music, mainly for break-dancing, bee-bopping, and body-popping. In my opinion, the word electro today has been hijacked in the form of 4/4 dance music and not anywhere near its true roots.

THEREFORE, STAY TUNED FOR DAILY POSTING OF EACH ELECTRO MIX.

Streetsounds History…

Streetsounds was part of the UK Streetwave stable of labels created by Morgan Khan. A Hong Kong-born Indian who grew up in London, Khan had worked in the UK record industry since the mid 1970′s, working for such names as PRT Distribution (a division of Pye Records) and R&B Records, for whom at the time Imagination were the up and coming stars of the day.

Khan founded the independent Streetwave record label during 1981 to specialise in releasing Electro and Hi-NRG releases. Within a year of creation, Streetwave began the StreetSounds series of albums; compilations created from some of the hottest 12″ imports of the day. These releases made available a selection of the most contemporary dance floor hits within the financial reach of those wanting to hear the freshest sounds. In the early 80′s a 12″ single was priced around £2 and you would pay over £4 for an import 12″. The Streetsounds series offered usually 8 to 12 full-length 12″ mixes for under a fiver. Understandably, the Streetsounds series was met with considerable enthusiasm and, some might say, mighty relief.

This series would run for over 6 years and contain over 50 albums. By far the most coveted of the Streetsounds releases were the Electro series. These albums introduced the UK to the developing hip-hop scene from America – a stroke of genius that brought electro and early hip hop from the underground to the UK high street and, one could argue, helped in the creation of the UK’s hip hop scene.

The Electro series ran for a total of 27 albums (and one box set) from 1982 to 1988. The albums were initially labeled StreetSounds Electro with the title morphing into StreetSounds Hip Hop after release 12 in 1986.

All of the albums were competently mixed by a series of the best remixers of the day – predominately from the UK.  A large proportion of the mixes on the early releases were completed by a London-based hip-hop sound system from the early 80s. Headed by “Herbie The Mastermind” (aka Herbie Laidley) the team also featured Kiss FM radio DJ’s Dave VJ and Max LX who were also members of UK electro outfit Hard Rock Soul Movement, responsible for the massive “Double Def Fresh” release.

My digital recording process & audio quality of vinyl records are top-notch …

click each image above to enlarge

Old video: recording session ripping vinyls Electro-6, 7, and 9…

Summer 1987, I had moved back to England to start grade-11 highschool. I went to Tower Records London which was a huge multi-level building by itself at the heart of Piccadilly Circus, London. Down in the huge basement was nothing else but 12-inch records of all genres — a heavenly section for disc-jockeys and music collectors. And that was where I’d finally found a copy of this limited edition release by The 2 Live Crew. I had been looking for this record since January 1987. As a matter of fact, I’d been looking for any 12-inch release of We Want Some Pussy since 1986. Sometime in early 1987, I  heard a remix of We Want Some Pussy at  the legendary Twilight Zone nightclub (located in the attic/roof above a coffee shop) on Bloor Street,  Toronto, Ontario; and since then I was unsuccessful in finding the 12-inch record …… until ….. of course … when I moved back to England more than six months later where I found the last remaining copy of the limited edition. I took the bus home to Rutland Court, Knightbrigde, opened the door to the flat, rushed to the stereo and put the needle to the record …. anxiously wanting to hear the track’s (Liberty City Long Hard) remix. And it sure did blow me away ………… so much better than the original or Classic Dance versions. Harder drum beats from Roland TR-909 (also more 909 wikipedia info here) drum-machine, killer bassline with nice dance/club melody, sampled rock-guitar stab-hits in various pitches/notes and other sweet elements floating on top.

The 2 Live Crew – “We Want Some Pussy” (Liberty City Long Hard Mix)…

Artist: The 2 Live Crew
Title: We Want Some Pussy (Liberty City Long Hard Mix)
Year: 1987
Label: Luke Skywalker Records
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

The 2 Live Crew – “We Want Some Pussy” (Liberty City Long Hard Mix) (mp3)

The 2 Live Crew – “We Want Some Pussy” (The Original Classic)…

Artist: The 2 Live Crew
Title: We Want Some Pussy (The Original Classic)
Year: 1987
Label: Luke Skywalker Records
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

The 2 Live Crew – “We Want Some Pussy” (The Original Classic) (mp3)

Virgin record store, where Tower Records used to be in the same building in Piccadilly Circus, London.

I’m a very huge fan of Captain Rock’s preschool hiphop. I have all of the very few 12-inch records he’d released between early and mid 80′s. What I love about this track is the hard-hitting, reverb-gated kick and snare from a drum-machine.  The synth bassline is very thick and stabby, punching it’s low-frequency melody on top of the kick/snare, thus  adding extra beef in-between and around the beats. There is also a cosmic and high-pitched syncopated synth element which serves as the main upper-layered second melody – super nice icing on the cake, driving the track along with the bassline underneath. The human-beatboxing is incredibly breathy, groovy and not over the top; there are no Fat-Boy-esque “hee-haw, haw-hah” beatbox vocals.  It’s somewhat a futuristic-sounding hiphop. Really good production. No messing around, no bullshit.

I’ve managed to gather little information about him from another site:

His real name is Ronnie Green. Captain Rock was an underground fixture in the early 80′s. Captain Rock was produced by Aleem (Taharqa & Tunde-ra Aleem) on NIA. He appeared at the [Street Sounds] UK Fresh Fest 86 where he allegedly striped down to his thong on stage. Several of his tracks include “Captain Rock to the Future Shock”, “House of Rock”, and “Cosmic Glide”. Before being Captian Rock he was Dr Jecyll and Mr Hyde’s live dj from their period in the Harlem World Crew.  He was known as DJ Ronnie Green. The only record he wrote the lyrics for was “Cosmic Blast.” The Cosmic Crew didn’t exist longer than the time it took to make the record “Cosmic Blast”. They were The Aleems, Dr Jeckyll + Mr Hyde, Scratch Al-D and Marley Marl. He was a referee for NCAA Division 3 basketball in the late 80′s and early 90′s. He’s also run a youth program in New York City, for underprivileged kids. He still keeps in touch with several artists including Mr Hyde, Aleem Brothers and Marley Marl.

Captain Rock – “Cosmic Blast”…

Artist: Captain Rock
Title: Cosmic Blast
Year: 1984
Label: NIA Records
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Captain Rock – “Cosmic Crew” (mp3)

Captain Rock – “Cosmic Blast” (Dub)…

Artist: Captain Rock
Title: Cosmic Blast (Dub)
Year: 1984
Label: NIA Records
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Captain Rock – “Cosmic Crew” (Dub) (mp3)

I am so glad that I bought this 12-inch record back in 1985. It was purely accidental. I had no idea that I was buying a gem, but the cover, colors and the names of the label and artist were enough to convince me to make the purchase. Such a killer track. Both versions of this track are completely different and distinct from each other, as if not remixes at all. At that time, I was really into electro hiphop and finding a lot of 12-inch singles of that genre (in England of all places) was really hard, whereas most tracks were easy enough to find on compilation albums & cassettes like the Electro series released through UK’s renowned Streetsounds label. For the record, Davy’s “DMX” last name is derived from a very popular drum machine at that time — the Oberheim DMX (see picture caption somewhere below).

Davy DMX – “The DMX Will Rock” (Rap Mix)…

Artist: Davy DMX
Title: The DMX Will Rock (Rap Mix)
Year: 1985
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Davy DMX – “The DMX Will Rock” (Rap Mix) (mp3)

Davy DMX – “The DMX Will Rock” (Scratch Mix)…

Artist: Davy DMX
Title: The DMX Will Rock (Scratch Mix)
Year: 1985
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Davy DMX – “The DMX Will Rock” (Scratch Mix) (mp3)

Davy DMX, circa 1984/85

Oberheim DMX drum machine.

Electro back then was electric funk and hiphop music, mainly for break-dancing, bee-bopping, and body-popping. In my opinion, the word ‘Electro’ today has been hijacked in the form of 4/4 dance music and not anywhere near its true roots.

I am providing you with four Electro albums for download. I recorded them directly from vinyl into Protools (Electro-6, 7 & 9 in particular), digitally restored as much as possible, and widened the stereo field, among other quick fixes. Go ahead an compare my mastered versions to the same ones you find elsewhere — mine sound the best.

Streetsounds History…

Streetsounds was part of the UK Streetwave stable of labels created by Morgan Khan. A Hong Kong-born Indian who grew up in London, Khan had worked in the UK record industry since the mid 1970′s, working for such names as PRT Distribution (a division of Pye Records) and R&B Records, for whom at the time Imagination were the up and coming stars of the day.

Khan founded the independent Streetwave record label during 1981 to specialise in releasing Electro and Hi-NRG releases. Within a year of creation, Streetwave began the Streetsounds series of albums; compilations created from some of the hottest 12″ imports of the day. These releases made available a selection of the most contemporary dance floor hits within the financial reach of those wanting to hear the freshest sounds. In the early 80′s a 12″ single was priced around £2 and you would pay over £4 for an import 12″. The Streetsounds series offered usually 8 to 12 full-length 12″ mixes for under a fiver. Understandably, the Streetsounds series was met with considerable enthusiasm and, some might say, mighty relief.

This series would run for over 6 years and contain over 50 albums. By far the most coveted of the Streetsounds releases were the Electro series. These albums introduced the UK to the developing hip-hop scene from America – a stroke of genius that brought electro and early hip hop from the underground to the UK high street and, one could argue, helped in the creation of the UK’s hip hop scene.

The Electro series ran for a total of 27 albums (and one box set) from 1982 to 1988. The albums were initially labeled “Streetsounds Electro” with the title morphing into “Streetsounds Hip Hop” after release 12 in 1986.

All of the albums were competently mixed by a series of the best remixers of the day – predominately from the UK. A large proportion of the mixes on the early releases were completed by a London-based hip-hop sound system from the early 80s. Headed by “Herbie The Mastermind” (aka Herbie Laidley) the team also featured Kiss FM radio DJ’s Dave VJ and Max LX who were also members of UK electro outfit Hard Rock Soul Movement, responsible for the massive “Double Def Fresh” release.

Electro-9…

Mixed by: Herbie (The Mastermind) Laidley
Year: 1985
Restored & remastered by: Hashmoder

Streetsounds Electro-9 (mp3)

Electro-7…

Mixed by: Herbie (The Mastermind) Laidley
Year: 1985
Restored & remastered by: Hashmoder

Streetsounds Electro-7 (mp3)

Electro-6…

Mixed by: DJ Maurice Assisted by DJ N
Year: 1985
Restored & remastered by: Hashmoder

Streetsounds Electro-6 (mp3)

Electro-2…

Mixed by: Herbie (The Mastermind) Laidley
Year: 1983

Streetsounds Electro-2 (mp3)

Track-List of Electro-6, Electro-7 and Electro-9…

Video of ReMastering Session of Electro-6|7|9…