Rounding up the rest of a mixtape that brings together a bunch of my favourite songs from that glorious period from 1989 to 1991 when the indie/dance crossover really was on fire.
Looking back, it was such an exciting time for music and whilst at the ridiculous end of the spectrum, there was a lot of bandwagon jumping with lots of mediocre artists having a funky drummer sample strapped onto their MOR dirge in an attempt to get with it, it was also a period of rebirth and reinvention for many other artists.
Side 2 starts off with one such example, Zodiac Youth being Youth and Mark Manning. At the time, Youth aka Martin Glover was the former bassist with Killing Joke who had carved out a new reputation as a remixer and producer. Mark Manning was better known as the front person of Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction. Fast Forward The Future is an exhilarating collaboration featuring rapper T-Love and riding on a sample from Faith Healer by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
Stephen Duffy, an 80s pop star as Tin Tin, found a new path with The Lilac Time, forging a more pastoral, folk-infused path whilst retaining the wonderful wordplay of his finest songs. Stephen was reportedly quite dismissive of Creation label mate Hypnotone aka Tony Martin's remixes of Dreaming. Whilst Hypnotone's remix of Sheer Taft's Cascades is the high water mark, personally I think this one comes pretty close.
Pleasure* was a duo of Barry Maguire and Steven Gallifent, signed to David A. Stewart's Anxious Records. They released a single, self-titled album in 1989 and Please was the fourth and final single to be lifted, with a trio of remixes by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne. The CD single was beautifully designed, with a card sleeve housed in an outer red plastic sleeve with button and stenciled logo, the cost of which alone likely landed them in even greater debt when the single didn't achieve global success. It's a shame, as the mixes are pretty good.
Bonita Applebum was my introduction to A Tribe Called Quest, specifically the 7" and 12" mixes built around the sample of Why? by Carly Simon. CJ Mackintosh was the go-to remixer for labels seeking to open up US hip-hop and rap to a wider UK audience and you can see why on the strength of this track. Blew me away at the time and still does, to be honest.
Both New Atlantic and Love Decade shone very briefly in the early 1990s but neither bettered I Know. This collaborative effort samples the Candi Staton vocal used in full - and to brilliant effect - by The Source on You Got The Love several times, including 1991 when I Know was also riding the charts. Add some further pan pipe samples, Italo piano chords and propulsive beats and the remix had hit written all over it.
According to the small print on the cassette sleeve, the original mixtape used the Loved Up remix of Paris Angels' Perfume from the 1991 reissue. I haven't been able to track down the CD single in question so I've used the 1990 single version. It's pretty much the same running time and there may be little difference apart from a slight remix and buff up for the second go ahead. Either way, it's an absolute classic of the period and genre. The original, full length All On You version is the essential but this'll do very nicely, thank you.
I'm not a big fan of The Farm, and seeing them live on stage supporting Madness last year didn't change that drastically, but I do like their cover of The Monkees' Stepping Stone, particularly the 12" version. Continuing the theme of reinvention and rebirth, Madness legend Suggs was managing The Farm at the time and joined Terry Farley for the remix.
Also on a break from his main job at the time was INXS front person Michael Hutchence, here with old pal Ollie Olsen as Max Q. Just the one self-titled album in 1989, with a couple of singles with remixes from Todd Terry, though less dance-oriented than you'd expect. The 12" single(s) to go for featured Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, the Land Of Oz mix featured here being the standout.
1) Fast Forward The Future (Witch-Hunt Mix By Youth & Mark 'Spike' Stent): Zodiac Youth ft. T-Love (1991)
2) Dreaming (12" Mix By Hypnotone): The Lilac Time (1991)
3) Please (Future Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne): Pleasure* (1990)
4) Bonita Applebum (7" Why? Edit By CJ Mackintosh & Robin Hancock): A Tribe Called Quest (1990)
5) I Know (Love Decade Remix 12"): New Atlantic (1991)
6) Perfume (Single Version): Paris Angels (1990)
7) Stepping Stone (Ghost Dance Mix By Terry Farley & Mr. Suggs) (12" Version) (Cover of '(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone' by The Monkees): The Farm (1991)
8) Sometimes (Land Of Oz Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne): Max Q (1989)
Side One here
P.S. If you visited the Dot Allison post yesterday, you may be interested to know that I’ve since added a link to the hour-long Dubhed selection I originally posted in October 2022.
