Fresh 4 (Children Of The Ghetto) Featuring Lizz.E - Wishing On A Star - (1989)

10 Records ‎– TENCD 287

Comprising Paul Southey (Suv), brothers J. Thompson (Flynn) and Kirk Thompson (Krust) and Judge, Fresh 4 had a massive underground hit with 1989's "Wishing On A Star", but their debut album went unreleased as a result of musical disagreements with their record company. What a shame!

Strangely, considering they were a band of producers, this track is listed as being produced by Smith & Mighty. Perhaps the fledgling crew were still learning their craft?

Flynn became one half of Flynn & Flora, whereas Suv and Krust would go on to become hugely influential within the drum & Bass scene, being pivotal figures alongside Roni Size within the Reprazent and Full Cycle Records crew. Big up the Bristol massive!

As a lady who loves her breakbeats this track really scratches my itch, combining James Brown's Funky Drummer with the Bobby Byrd Hot Pants (Bonus Beats) break as detailed elsewhere on here), along with some heavy compression, giving us a kick-ass framework for the song. It also uses the beautifully atmospheric Riding High by Faze-O, as sampled by EPMD and Ghostface Killah, as the main melody which is always a real treat to my ears.

Jump right into that 12" mix or the No JB Beats and ignore the edit. Smoke Filled Thoughts is simply the instrumental version, which is nice.

This is a legendary UK cut from way back when and absolutely essential.

Peace and luvizm xx

Tracklist

1. Wishing On A Star
2. Wishing On A Star (12" Mix)
3. Smoke Filled Thoughts
4. Wishing On A Star (No JB Beats)

Download: F4-WOAS.7z | Filesize: 41.3MB

Paul Johnson - No More Tomorrows (Promo) - (1989)

CBS ‎– PJOHN C7, CBS ‎– 654596 2 Promo

Paul Johnson is something of an unheralded UK Soul legend. He began singing in school and church while living in New York during the 1970's and later worked with one of the UK’s pioneering contemporary Gospel bands, Paradise and also sang with the London Community Gospel Choir. 

He sang backing vocals with Junior Giscombe on the Red Wedge Tour where he met Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, The Smiths, Blow Monkeys, Communards and many other pop artists. Soon after that tour, he signed an album deal as singer and songwriter to CBS Records in the late 1980's in which he recorded two albums, Paul Johnson and Personal. His first singles were When Love Comes Calling, written and produced Junior Giscombe and Half a World Away. 

Paul has also worked with Bryan Ferry, Stevie Wonder, Bros, Mica Paris, Juliet Roberts, Loose Ends, Al Green, Tom Robinson, Cliff Richard, George Michael, Soul II Soul (Represent is already on here), Glen Goldsmith, Steven Dante, Bluey Maunick of Incognito and many others. In addition, he has toured Europe and the UK, doing numerous television shows and has performed at Ronnie Scots and Sadlers Wells and has been a featured artist on various records, performing on numerous re-mixes through producer Danny D. Through an introduction by Juliet Roberts, he began touring and recording with M People and has sung with Lynieve Austin and Sarah Brown on tours around the world. 

His other work has been as a production co-ordinator providing session singers for the industry in the UK and abroad which include managing and signing Shaun Escoffery to his own production company. After working with DJ Dodge, he was introduced to a new audience through the release in 1994 of If We Lose Our Way (a release I'm desperate to get on Soul Vendor) written and produced with IG Culture, Sayin’ Something and To Be Wanted. He began working on an album with DJ Dodge that has never been released. 

He stopped singing some time ago and is currently "somewhat removed from the music industry". Currently, he is the head of a department in an inner city college where he works with young people and adults who despite very difficult circumstances are attempting to improve their lives through accessing education.

Awesome stuff!

Tracklist

1. No More Tomorrows
2. I Don't Care
3. Hold On! I'm Comin'
4. That Was Yesterday

Download: PJ-NMT.7z | Filesize: 34.3MB

The Chimes - Heaven - (1989)

CBS ‎– 655432 2

There can be few breakbeats as wicked as Bobby Byrd's awesome Hot Pants (Bonus Beats) break. It's up there with the all-time great breaks that have transcended genre such as the Winston's Amen Brother, James Brown's Funky Drummer and Skull Snaps' It's A New Day to name a few.

You can find it as the rhythmic backbone to widely varied tracks like Fresh 4's Wishing On A Star, Congress' 40 Miles, True Faith/Pin-up Girls' Take Me Away, The Prodigy's Warriors Dance, Stone Roses' Fools Gold, Run DMC's What's It All About, Blurr's There's No Other Way, Big Daddy Kane's Raw and soooo many others.

And then there's this little beauty. Released in 1989 producer Mike Peden (later one half of The Lighthouse Family) put together a solid groove of a bassline, laced it with the Hot Pants break, and employed the killer diva-like voice of Miss Pauline Henry to absolutely murk up the track.

This is a fantastic slice of classic UK soul & dance, as HMV like to categorise it and remains a total banger thirty years on (seriously, can you believe it's really thirty damn years??).

Frankie Foncett is on the remix for the Attack Vocal Club Mix and provides an interesting take but it not really my thing. Go straight in with the original version (track one) or maybe even the Heavy Club.

Incidentally, apologies for the state of the CD sleeve - that faux gold colour doesn't take ageing very well!

Tracklist

1. Heaven
2. Heaven (Heavy Club)
3. Heaven (Attack Vocal Club Mix)
4. So Much In Love (Extended Demo Version)

Download: TC-H.7z | Filesize: 42.8MB

Mantronix (Featuring Wondress) - Got To Have Your Love - (1989)

EMI / Electrola Records CDP560-20 3654 2

320 reupness.

"Top hit in UK!!" LOL

I pestered poor Mickey to post a rip of his vinyl copy of this a couple of years back when I couldn't find my CD. I've since dug out my Mantronix records though, so this is a new post for the CD single. Mick has already done a wicked write up as usual, but I'll add my thoughts on this one.

To be perfectly honest with you, this is a massive song for me. The album version, not included on this single, was great but the extra Funky Drummer break (Kurtis Mantronik really liked his funky drummer breakbeats), funky raps and club breakdown on the Club With Bonus Beats took it to another level.

The Hard to Get Rap version is just the rap verses on their own, without Wondress doing her thang, and the Luv Dub strips out the melodic instrumentation to let the sista flow over the more hip-hop style club beats.

If you want my recommendation head straight to track 1 (Club with Bonus Beats) for eight and a half minutes of musical brilliance, and one of my all time favourite songs.

Tracklist

1. Got To Have Your Love (Club With Bonus Beats)
2. Got To Have Your Love (Hard To Get Rap)
3. Got To Have Your Love (Luv Dub)

Download:  M-GTHYL.7z | Filesize: 38.4MB

Alyson Williams - I Need Your Lovin' - (1989)

Def Jam Recordings ‎– 655143 2

Mick posted the 12" back in the day, but I have the CDS in all its 320 glory right here.

I won't rewrite the whole thing as he posted a lot of great info in his review so go peep the link above for more info on Alyson. 

The only difference between the two releases is this one contains a 7" edit of I Need your Lovin', wheras the 12" featured another track Make You Mine Tonight. Criminal really that this CD single is missing that - would it have hurt to have had four tracks? Ah well, them's the breaks!

I loved this track back then in '89 and still do. Jazzie B and Nellee Hooper as Soul II Soul were absolutely on fire at the time and bring their trademark UK street soul vibe to the track, really improving on the original. Dare I say it's the definitive version?

A small gripe though - I could never work out why it wasn't called Soul II Soul Mix rather than the vague names we got. Weird.

Anyway, enjoy this wicked lil' sexy ass tune. 

See you next time, soulistas!

Tracklist

1. I Need Your Lovin' (7" Remix)
2. I Need Your Lovin' (Extended Remix)
3. My Love Is So Raw (Album Raw Mix)

Download: AW-INYL.7z | Filesize: 33.9MB

Big Daddy Kane - Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now (1989)

Cold Chillin' ‎– W 2635T

Here's a quick and dirty post of an utterly brilliant 12".

Apologies upfront as this is a vinyl rip, and while my rip is great, I no longer have access to to the large scanner I used to use, so I've had to borrow an image from Discogs.

The audio rip itself is particularly good. It's a 320kbp rip of a treasured slice of wax. Being a bit OCD I used to tape record my 12" records as soon as I bought them, and then leave the 12" alone, meaning there are very few pops and crackles. It sounds almost like a CD rip.

Anyway, about this tune. The original is okay, but far from Kane's greatest track. However, the two Brixton Bass remixes here (track 1 'Brixton Bass Mix; and track 3 'UPSO Mix' are phenomenal and really elevate it. 

The pick of the bunch is the titular Brixton Bass mix, with it's sweet and slick production. This mix transformed it into a smooth summer jam you can bump in your whip to this day and it sounds pretty damn fresh still, and, aside from Kane mentioning the year on a couple of occasions, has aged like a fine wine. I absolutely adore this track!

In addition to the quality of the main remix, the UPSO Mix is really good, too. Yeah, it may not be quite as amazing, but the tougher sounding UPSO Mix is still way better than the original and flexes its muscles with a lovely reverse JBs/The Grunt loop, and will satisfy the street crowd.

All in all, this is a pretty essential release, especially if, like me, you adore Big Daddy Kane.

Tracklist

1. Ain't No stoppng Us Now (Brixton Bass Mix)
2. Ain't No stoppng Us Now (LP Version)
3. Ain't No stoppng Us Now (UPSO Mix)

Download: BDK-ANSUN.7z | Filesize: 31.3MB