dance FLOOR

Rip It Up, Issue 149, 1 December 1989, Page 24

dance FLOOR

Can | be the firstto say that the recent Music Weekend on the currently self-destructing TV2 was a total abomination? | mean, you can’t please all of the people all of the time but whoever mis-programmed it made no attempt to please anyone who wasn't into bland white rock. There is a place for Fleetwood Mac or Who golden anniversary shows (preferably in Australia where that sort of thing is still contemporary, and black people who sing a bit of a novelty) but a bit of variety would not have killed the ratings. The only black stuff that snuck in was a NEVILLE BROTHERS special (they're hip with white people who don'tlike black music) and the odd unavoidable lapse in the middle of variety shows. WILL DOWNING was, however, superb, with the magical ‘Free’ off his last LP. His new one Come Together As One, while alittle more chart-orientated than the last, is still extremely classy soul, but unfortunately because of the change in ownership of his label, Island, probably won't see local release. In an import shop near

youif you're in one of the main centres. The other soul release this month is the second and long-awaited album from Def Jam’s TASHAN. On The Horizonis hard-edged soul that eclipses its peers’ releases this year, with the possible exception of Tashan’s label mate ALYSON WILLIAMS (who duets on the standout ‘Do You Wanna Know’, but more of her later). The sparse urban feel is typical of many of the Def Jam soul releases, andit's something nobody else has really been able to emulate -- until now, that is. Because strangely enough, the closestthing I've heard to it is locally recorded. The track ‘Stormy Weather’ from UPPER HUTT POSSE may not have cost a million bucks to record but shit, it's gotthatfeel and, for me, sounds like one of the best soul songs released by anybody anywhere this year. Okay, a few more superlatives: on three or four listens, the Posse’s album Against The Flow sounds like the best and exciting thing to come out of this country in one hell of along time, and while this phenomena (rap, thatis) is basically American, UHP break new ground because they sound like they're New Zealanders and proud of it. I'm not really what you'd term patriotic, but I'm proud that a record of this quality has been produced in this country. Enough said, on with the rest. Infactthere's a whole bunch of hot albums released this month, and | don't

mean the Billy Joels and Eric Claptons. More like YOUNG MC, whose debut Stone Cold Rhyming suffers the same label problem as Will Downing. The disc contains all the singles and B-sides plus a whole batch of new tracks including the new 12-inch, ‘Principal’s Office’ which sounds betterin its

second, heavily sampled mix; or SYBIL's self-titled debut (there was an earlier album but it was more a collection of 12" mixes). The single ‘Don’t Make Me Over’ has been one of the biggest international dance hits of the past

couple of months, and although not released locally has sold hundreds here as animport 12-inch, and the new one ‘Walk on By’ looks like it might do the same. The album has the same sort of appeal. FAST EDDIE's first longplayer earlier this year held up as a house album you couldactually enjoy as a record rather than a great couple of tracks for club play only. There was something rather exciting and original going on, and the new one, Most Wantedis better.

Listening to this record, and its single (although there are much better tracks onthe album) ‘Git On Up' you get the feeling that there is a mind at work, unlike, say, the Miami bass stuff which sounds like it was created by and for people dead from the neck up. What else? OK, from the east coast, two albums from the Red Alert management camp, QUEEN / LATIFAH's All Hail The Queen and the much awaited JUNGLE BROS debut on WEA, Done By The Forces Of Nature. It's a bit of a bloody toss-up as to which ofthese | prefer, they're both bloody good. The JB's are a bitharder and more concise than lasttime whereas Latifah’s does tend to ramble in places. But shit, no self-respecting ‘B9 rap

collection should be without either of these so buy them both. From the other coast, BLACKMATES's Let It Swingis a bit like @ more mainstream NWA without the paranoia or hype.

Rumour Records’ Warehouse Raves Vol 2is a prefty strong representation of what the English clubs are into at the moment. From all accounts rap is dead (apartfrom hip-house) in the UK and New York clubs; atleast, that's the indications of this album. Strongest tracks come from ADONTE, QUARTZ, LANDLORD and a classic, GIL-SCOTT HERON's ‘The Bottle’. Current biggies from New York or Jersey include KYZE's Smack Production’s (the Adeva people) produced ‘Stomp’, a classic rap / garage amalgam that has nothing to do with the Brothers Johnson oldie; ULTRA NATE's ‘lt's Over Now’, soulful raw garage produced by the Basement Boys whose own Rose Royce cover ‘Love Don't Live Here Anymore’, from 1987, is enjoying something of a resurgence; ALYSON WILLIAMS' great Miracles cover ‘I Second That Emotion’ with a Soul ll Soul feel and a club mix from London’s The Chimes; ‘l'll Do Nothing’, a remake of their own 70s hit from CROWN HEIGHTS AFFAIR, mixed by Marshall Jefferson in his usual style. EVELYN KING's slinky and very soulful ‘Day To Day’is also produced by Marshall, butin a slower groove than normal (107 bpm), while LIZ TORRES' ‘Loca’is areal grower: catchy Latin hip-hop. | sort of getthe feeling that if you can’t getinto this record then New York will forever eludeyou. - Gotham city rap trax around

currently are the newies from TWIN HYPE, the Jimmy ‘Bo’ Horne based ‘For Those Who Like To Groove’, best in its almost instrumental Hollywood Sweat mix, with its ‘Shaft’ sample; ROB BASE with the ‘White Lines’ bassline on the slightly disappointing (and annoying) Turn It Out’; and TOO NlCE'’s ‘Cold Facts’, on which | prefer the B-side P-funked mix. Going mid-west (Chicago and Detroit actually), MR LEE's ‘Get Busy’ steals its chorus from Joeski Love's ‘Peewee Herman’ butis a good, if not classic, bit of hip-house in a genre that's getting a bit frayed around the edges. FRANKIE KNUCKLES' ‘Your Love'isin the current Euro ethereal House sound. The best single from this part of the globe is INNER CITY’s much slower and more soulful Stephanie Mills cover of ‘Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin’, an altogether different sound from them and a major hit. Stuckin the middle somewhere is the 12-inch mix of SLY AND ROBBIE's ‘Dance Hall’, a bloody mess with the now exiremely cliched Lyn Collins - “Whoa ... yeah” sample ruining a great song. Get the album. From UK and Europe, the two big sounds are ska-house and the twittering sub-New Age house feel. From Manchester, 808 STATE's ‘Pacific’ is the latter and has sold a million copies across Europe. | guess you had to be there. Far better in asimilar style is SEUNO LATINO's self-titled ltaliansingle which sort of goes places, but it takes a couple of listens to figure out where exactly. Neither ska or new age, RUTH JOY's second single ‘Soul Power’ goes absolutely nowhere andisa maijor disappointment after her first solo disc. However, the single of the month moves like a locomotive. From out of the past return TOTAL CONTRAST under the guise of Tongue'n’Cheek, with a killer cover version of the old Cheryl Lynn classic ‘Encore’. Classic song, classic remake, buy it. Finally, fortrue soul power, check out Lifelines Vol 1, a compilation of the best of Frankie Beverley’s Maze in the early 80s, which includes a great Shockley / Sadler remix of the original Joy And Pain’, which totally eclipses both the recent remakes, plus seven other soul classics. After all, that's where this music really comes from. SIMON GRIGG