Council House, Anyone?

Weller has been popping up all over the ship recently and also Gareth at How Does That One Go Again posted a blissed out hippyfied version of today's tune last week.

I remember when I first heard that the Style Council had covered on of my favourite House records. I was a bit incredulous that Weller who for me had been peddling retro blue eyed soul for the previous six years was covering one of my favourite House records. However when I thought about it a bit more the content of the lyric, the themes of solidarity and freedom did chime with the sentiments and content of a lot of the Style Council output.

I still had a kind of forboding about where Weller would take this anthem but was pleasantly surprised with the outcome which is not radically different from the original albeit some what shorter in it's 7 inch form which is the only version that I used to listen to. A couple of years ago I picked up a copy of the 12" for 50p or something in a charity shop and was surprised to find that the extended version wasn't as bad as I remembered  and which I have played a few times since them.

Apparently Weller and Co had recorded a whole album of house music, entitled Modernism: A New Decade which was rejected by Polydor.

The Style Council - Promised Land

The Style Council - Promised Land (extended mix)

OJe Suis Seul

A piss poor amount of the white stuff fell here overnight. Big freeze my arse, although I'm sure down south it may well be a diifferent matter and civilisation will be on the brink.

Anyhow, here is a track that I've posted before in it's Weatherall remix form. The other side however never seems to get any attention , so in the interest of balance here is The Orb and Andrew Weatherall's mix of O Je Suis seul and very good it is too.

West India Company -  O Je Suis Seul (Orient Express mix)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

I've had a week in Scotland for a change, no stupid o'clock flight's, long train journeys or value depreciating car journeys. Would like to say that I'm all the better for it but I feel as if I've been slacking somehow.

Today's track comes from 1993, contains a sample from a Primal Scream song and was released on the Bosting label and that is about all I know about it. You can go look it up on the internet if you're so inclined but my association with Mother begins and ends here.

Have a good weekend people.

Mother - All Funked Up (Mother's Pride mix)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

I don't know about you but I'm in the mood for some uplifting house music, courtesy of Strictly Rhthym.

I am not ashamed to admit that I cried the first time I heard this, granted I was full of more than just emotion that night but still.

Have a good weekend people.

South Street Player - (Who?) Keeps Changing Your Mind

It's Friday . . Let's Dance

Let's have some early house courtesy of Boy's Own. I think that a few people will find this sound rather dated these days but it still sounds good to me.

How Do You See Me Now was first released in the US on A&R records in 1990 and then remixed and released on Easy Street Records the following year when the track was then again remixed by Joey Negro and released in the US as the eighth release on Boy's Own.

During the early nineties Joey Negro was rather prolific as a remixer, mixing everything from Adeva to DJ Jazzy Jeff. He also produced his own tracks under numerous aliases as Mistura, Headboys, Akuba and a myriad of others. But he is probably best known for his release American Dream as Jakatta.

Have a good weekend people.

Extortion  - How Do You See Me Now? (Joey Negro's remix)

It's Friday . . Let's Dance To A Cover Version

I'm sure that I have loads of dance cover versions but my mind has gone blank as I is now in holiday mode. So you will have to make do with a track that was first posted in August 2009.

Secret Life's uplifting cover of Stevie Wonder's As Always was the 9th record to be released on the Cowboy label in 1992 and was a bit different from the progressive house tracks which the label had released up until then as these were the days of leather trousers, biker boots and long hair. The instantly recognisable production on the track was done by messers Farley and Heller for Boy's Own.

Have a good weekend people.

Secret Life - As Always (Gospel mix)

As you are reading this I will either be listening to the dulcet tones of SpongeBob emanating from the rear of the car or being bombarded with the question "Are we there yet" for the hundredth time from Maxyboy, as we will be making the long trek south to Bude in Cornwall for round one of the summer holidays, thought it best to stay well clear of la Belle France for a year or so after last year's escapades and near physical and mental meltdown.

So next weeks posts will be few and far between, I have done a couple more covers posts to finish off the week and have a belter of a tune for next Friday and am hoping to finish a post for Monday and Wednesday before I go.

Just Because

This came on the ipod the other day and it's a great, building, deep house track which samples Loleatta Holloway's brilliant Love Sensation

Simon Says - Simon's Track

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Back again to 1988, there really were quite a number of very good house records produced in the early days, I still have quite a few that I want to post. So if you are beginning to get bored with this series the bad news is, it may last for a few more weeks yet.

After last weeks dip into the world of acid house today's track takes us right back to more conventional House sounds with a track that was produced by Clivilles and Cole and released on Fever Records.

Notice Me was the third solo single by Sandee (Sandra Casanas). She was one of the three original members of the girl group Expose, who would become hugely successful in the States in the 90s, after she had left the group. She pursued a solo career and had a hit with the track Love Desire. Sadly, Sandee died of a seizure on 15th December 2008.

Here is her finest moment.

Sandee - Notice Me

it's Friday . . . Let's Dance

By the end of 1987/ the start of 1988, producers and acts over here in the UK got in on the act and started making House music, a lot of the early tracks were innovative in the use of samples, with the likes of Bomb The Bass, M/A/R/R/S and S'Express making truly memorable tracks.

One of my favourite of these early house tracks was House Arrest by Krush. The group were Mark Gamble, Cassius Campbell and vocalist Ruth Joy with producers Mark Brydon and Robert Gordon. Brydon would go on to form Moloko (Fun For Me) with Roisin Murphy and Gordon would go on to be involved with Warp records. Ruth Joy left to pursue a pretty unsuccessful solo career.

House arrest was released on the FON (Fuck Off Nazis) label which they shared with the Age Of Chance. The sleeve of the single was designed, like those of their label mate by the Designer's Republic who would go on to design the Warp artwork as well.

Krush were basically a one hit wonder, with House Arrest eventually reaching number 3 in the UK at the end of 1987. The record, doesn't sound half as dated as I expected it to and conjures memories of Red Stripe and spliffs in the dark, dank basements of hotels, those were the days.

Krush - House Arrest (The Beat Is Law)

Yet More Uplifting, Joyous House Music.

I was going to keep this track for a Friday sometime in the future but had the urge to play it this morning and decided to just go ahead and post it. If you can't have a little bit of house on a Saturday there is something wrong.

(Who?) Keeps Changing Your Mind was first released on Strictly Rhythm records in 1993 and I think that I may have cried the first time I heard it. It has been subsequently re released a few times with new mixes, none of which are a patch on the 2 mixes on the original twelve, the mix posted is the Night mix.

I once played this with the Fire Island's mix of Regret and Pete Heller's Big Love  and by the end the dance floor was full of people with huge grins on their faces having a ball, due to the quality of the music not my mixing skills I hasten to add.

With a big bag of pills and music like this blaring out of a PA, we could probably end all wars.

South Street Player - (Who?) Keeps Changing Your Mind

It's Friday . . . Let's Lose Ourselves In Some Rather Uplifting Early House Music

Last week I stated that there would not be any repetition of the early house tracks which had previously been posted on this site.

Bugger that, these tracks deserve to be heard rather more frequently than they are in this house at least. Two of the most uplifting house tracks which has been my good fortune to hear over the years.

I'm just back from Hamsterdam and the trip and meeting was about 100 times better than I thought it was going to be, which was nice. I also came very close to having a spliff but am  proud of the fact that I resisted as it would have meant 6 years of abstinence would have went down the toilet. Did, however have an extremely funny evening, with a couple of Swedes, a few Germans, a Finn or two and an Indian,  now there is a combination for you.

When is a smoking ban not a smoking ban? When it's the Netherlands, some bars we went into the smokers could light up and others they had to go outside. It all seemed completely arbitrary

Joe Smooth feat. Anthony Thomas - Promised Land

Sterling Void & Paris Brightledge - It's Alright

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

We'll stay with the house music vibe started last week with an epic track by Clivilles & Cole, A Deeper Love.

Robert Clivilles and David Cole in the guise of C&C Music Factory had a number of dance floor favourites both here and in the states and chart success with tracks such as Gonna Make You Sweat and Things That Make You Go Hmmm. They were also prolific re mixers for the likes of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Aretha Franklin to name but 3. They were also responsible along with David Morales and Ralphi Rosario, the first and only House supergroup, for one of my favourite early house tunes Do It Properly by 2 Puerto Ricans a Black Man and a Dominican.

Here we are concerned with A Deeper Love, first released in 1991 and became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic the following year. The vocals are courtesy of Deborah Cooper, who at that time was Clivilles & Cole's vocalist of choice. The track would later be covered by Aretha Franklin with production by the duo.

The version posted is the 12 minute plus Underground Club/ Let's Go Chanting mix but don't let that put you off as there is not a second of filler in the track.

Sadly, David Cole died of spinal meningitis in January 1994. Robert Clivilles still produces music using the C&C moniker.

Clivilles & Cole - A Deeper Love (Underground House/Let's Go Chanting mix)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

This Friday, let's go back to a time when things were a lot simpler, well in the case of electronic dance music anyway. In 1987, there was House and that was it, no dubstep, hardcore, and the thousand and one sub genres there seems to be these days.

This track is one of the finest examples of early house. it was a collaboration between Ce Ce Rogers and Marshall Jefferson who was posted here a couple of Friday's ago. It has one of the most soulful vocals and a piano line that would later be sampled to great effect by British hardcore act Liquid. This record shows the natural progression from soul to disco and then on to House.

Back in the day as soon as the track was dropped the floor would fill with grinning faces only some of whom would have been "on one". As I said simpler times.

If your feeling flush you can grab a copy here

Ce Ce Rogers - Someday

and the song that borrowed from it

Liquid - Sweet Harmony

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

As I mentioned before during the late 80's I had a few scooters and was part of a scooter club. At that time there were 5 or six clubs within a twenty mile radius of where we lived with numbers ranging from 7 to 8 (our club) to some with more than 20 members.

Every so often clubs would organise dances if they could find a venue willing to host one of these nights. Not as easy as you would think , as these functions fuelled by testosterone and beer frequently ended up in violence between rival clubs, NF skins or more often than not locals looking for a rammy to end the night and scooterists being what they were, only too happy to oblige.

I was in Aberdeen at the time when a friend called and asked if I fancied coming down for the weekend as our club was organising a dance, oh and could I bring some records as I would be djing.

I had been to a few scooterist nights and knew enough of their tastes to know that I had the soul, punk and 80's indie records covered but would have to borrow some psychobilly to keep the nutters happy.

The night was going well I had dropped the relevant northern stompers, punk classics and a couple of Meteors and Cramps tunes. I decided it was time to delve into the box of the latest things I had been buying, which I had been played at the Pelican Club in Aberdeen and educate the scooterists. Bad move. Within a minute of the song that I am posting today starting I had cleared the dance floor and was being pinned against the wall by a particularly upset Globetrotter (an infamous scooter club from Glasgow who prided themselves on their thuggish reputation) who told me in no uncertain terms what would happen to me if I didn't get "that gay pish" off.

Needless to say no more House music was played that night or at any other scooter nights I attended until about 18 months later when the Madchester hype began and the nights were full of baggy anthems and selected House tracks.

Marshall Jefferson - Move Your Body (House Music Anthem)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

It's been a tough week in more ways than one. So here's a big smiley House tune from 1999 to thaw you out and cheer you up. You don't need to be on one to enjoy this, just pour yourself whatever your poison is and play it loud. This tune always makes me grin.

Pete Heller - Big Love (original mix)