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)

Cultural Vibe was created by Winston Jones in the mid 80′s. Its track Ma Foom Bey [watch video below] was one of the biggest and most successful dance track back in 1986. To this day, Ma Foom Bey is still getting played and continuing to stand the test of time. And I do love that track. However, I also really do love Cultural Vibe’s other track Mind Games just as much. Mind Games was also released in 1986 but failed to see any success, overshadowed obscurely by Ma Foom Bey‘s ongoing success and popularity. Ma Foom Bey was purely a legit tribal/house track for the dance-floor. But Mind Games was a deep/house, electronic and emotional VOCAL dance track for the music-listener.  Fantastic rare gem with overall good & clean production with some raw dirt in there, although not as filthy as Ma Foom Bey.  Melodic bassline, synth stabs and echoey/delayed synth marimba-ish chops.  Slightly minimal but hardly crowded nor drowned with a lot of layers.  Solid beats from a Roland TR-707 drum machine.

On side-B of this 12″ particular single of mine is Mind Games (Zans Games) which was later re-titled to Mind Games (Dub Games), thus both of them being and sounding exactly the same as each other.

Cultural Vibe – “Mind Games” (Club Vocal)…

Artist: Cultural Vibe
Title: Mind Games (Club Vocal)
Year: 1986
Label: Easy Street Records
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Cultural Vibe – “Mind Games” (Club Vocal) (mp3)

Cultural Vibe – “Mind Games” (Zans Games / Dub Games)…

Artist: Cultural Vibe
Title: Mind Games (Zans Games / Dub Games)
Year: 1986
Label: Easy Street Records
Media Source: Recorded straight from 12-inch record to enhanced digital.

Cultural Vibe – “Mind Games (Zans Games / Dub Games) (mp3)

Music Video: Cultural Vibe’s most popular track “Ma Foom Bey”…

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)

Synth Britannia – Part 1/9…

Synth Britannia – Part 2/9…

Synth Britannia – Part 3/9…

Synth Britannia – Part 4/9…

Synth Britannia – Part 5/9…

Synth Britannia – Part 6/9…

Synth Britannia – Part 7/9…

Synth Britannia – Part 8/9…

Synth Britannia – Part 9/9…

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)

Play Man Parrish Tracks…

Man Parrish Tracks…

The Information…

When I first started buying record albums and 12-inch singles in 1977, I was collecting all kinds of pop music such as Gary Numan, Blondie, Boney M, Bee Gees, Grace Jones, Grandmaster Flash, etc., throughout the following decade.

There were only few handful of electronic musicians and music groups who’ve pioneered electronic music decades prior to the 1980s, such as Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, Jean Jacques Perrey, ELP, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and others.

However, the 1980s decade began with a backlash against disco music, and a movement away from the orchestral arrangements that had characterized much of the electronic music of the 1970s. Music in the 80s was characterized by unheard of electronic sounds accomplished through the use of synthesizers and keyboards, along with drum machines. This made a dramatic change in music. 80s pop music experienced a revolution driven more by technology and consumerism than any resounding political message. It was that new electronic sound from synthesizers, samplers and drum machines, enhanced with unprecedented leap forward towards advanced and new production techniques of the time, where both analog and new digital domains fused together as one.

Fairlight III CMi sampler, music workstation.

Roland MC-202, the ultimate analog bass machine ... blows away TR-303!

Linn 9000 digital sampling drum machine and 64-midi channel sequencer.

By 1982, I was already tired of the old disco sound but hip to the new “rap” genre (which were heavily produced by drum machines and synths) and in love with all kinds of electronic-pop and electric-funk styles. However I was still hungry for something more but wasn’t quite sure what it was. Something was in the air … or ON THE AIR for sure.

After Malcolm McLaren’s release of Buffalo Gals in late-1982, I knew something bigger was coming along. 1983 saw the big shift in electronic dance music taking place. In Europe (especially Germany, England and Italy), electronic dance music was essentially electric-disco — 4/4 drum beats + 1/8th note basslines — such as New Order’s Blue Monday.

However, in New York, electric-disco became known as “high energy” with a twist: a new sub-genre was emerging as “electro” which was a blend of hiphop beats with electronic dance arrangements.

Examples of electro music releases were:

• Freeez – “I.O.U.”
• Man Parrish – “Hip Hop be Bop” (listen to track in flash music player above)
• Man Parrish – “Heatstroke” (listen to track in flash music player above)
• Man Parrish – “Boogie Down Bronx” (listen to track in flash music player above)
• Mantornix – “Needle To The Groove”

I was enrolled in a boarding-school back then in England and was still listening to New Order and Grandmaster Flash on the Walkman. There was this fuckin’ Jamaican kid in my dormitory — David Yakabu. One day, David ran up to me and said, “Hey mon! Chek dis Mon Pah-rish wikkidest sound!” I put on the heaphones, he pressed play, and my socks were blown off my feet.

I was listening to Man Parrish for the first time ……… “Hip Hop Be Bop” and “Heatstroke.”
HOLY CRAP – THIS SHIT IS FIERCE !! — was my impression.
I followed and bought every release by Man Parrish.

Man Parrish links…

• ManParrish.com
• MySpace
• Wiki

Read  below, Sean Cooper’s Review of Man Parrish…

Link to original source.

MAN PARRISH REVIEW by – Sean Cooper, All Music Guide

This ground breaking 1983 Dance-Urban Synthesizer album is considered by many, to be a DANCE CLASSIC and a MUST HAVE in any serious collection. Man Parrish is said to have coined the phrase “Hip Hop” from this classic, electronic dance record.

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. A native New Yorker, Parrish was a member of the extended family of glam-chasers and freakazoids that converged nightly on Andy Warhol’s Studio 54 club. His nickname, Man, first appeared in Warhol’s Interview magazine, and his early live shows at Bronx hip-hop clubs were spectacles of lights, glitter, and pyrotechnics that drew as much from the Warhol mystique as from the Cold Crush Brothers.

Influenced by the electronic experiments of his good friend and co – writer Klaus Nomi and Brian Eno as well as by Kraftwerk, Parrish together with “Cool” Raul Rodriguez recorded their best-known work in a tiny studio sometimes shared with Afrika Baambaata, whose own sessions with Arthur Baker and John Robie produced a number of classics equal to Parrish’s own, including “Wildstyle, ” “Looking for the Perfect Beat, ” and the infamous “Planet Rock.” What distinguished “Hip-Hop Be Bop, ” however, was its lack of vocals and the extremely wide spectrum of popularity it gained in the club scene, from ghetto breakdance halls to uptown clubs like Danceteria and the Funhouse. After he discovered a pirated copy of his music being played by a local DJ at theinfamous “Anvil” club ( NYC ), Parrish found his way to the offices of the Importe label (a subsidiary of popular dance imprint Sugarscoop and Disconet DJ mixing service), which whom he inked his first deal. He released his self-titled LP shortly after, and the album went on to sell over 3 million copies worldwide. He was signed to Electra Records and managed by David Bowie’s notorious manager Tony De Fries and the infamous Main Man Ltd management team. Tony De Fries had managed careers of David Bowie, New York Dolls, Mott the Hoople, Mick Ronson and Dana Gillespie to name a few.

Following a period of burn-out that followed, Parrish recorded and remixed tracks for Michael Jackson, Boy George, Gloria Gaynor, and Hi-NRG group Man2Man, among others, and served as manager for the Village People and Crystal Water to name a few. While Parrish’s subsequent material has achieved nowhere near the success or creative pitch of his earlier work, he continues to record from his brooklyn studio and is a frequent DJ at New York’s eclectic night spots and SM clubs. His Sunday Underground Party “Sperm” at the “Cock Bar” on New Yorks lower east side, is notorious, to say the least ! He is main DJ and co founder for a circut party called “Hustlerball” which has parties in many cities worldwide. He also has several adult websites and online businesses which keep him busy as a webmaster, and “jack of all trades”. His second LP, DreamTime, appeared on Strictly Rhythm in 1997.

- Sean Cooper, All Music Guide