mo’ better beats

Rip It Up, Issue 223, 1 March 1996, Page 30

mo’ better beats

VPD Celebrate The world (Warner) . ‘This is the first of a series of Public Demand vocalists as a group,’ cries the cover. Hmmm, sounds like another PWL marketing ploy to me. VPD stands for Voices of Public Demand, but the vocals are secondary to the Euro/garage beat. — which is good, because the lyrics are a little soppy, very much of the ‘isn’t life wonderful?’ sort. Nice enough, fairly harmless. MNB Baby, It’s You (Sony) Sadly it’s not a cover of the 70s hit by Promises (anyone who remembers the 70s will remember their, female vocalist — with tits for Africa), but more soppy R&B slow(ish) jams from the UK’s answer t0...' well, actually, they’re better and funkier than All 4 One. The boys really trip out on the ‘Argonauts Club Mix’, which is a lot faster and the only way to listen to this stuff. ALL-4-ONE I’m Your Man (Warners) Not a cover of the 80s hit. by Wham!, but a smooth R&B slow jam by a group really hot with young teenage girls (and younger). Sounds nice on the radio, so why buy it? Well, it’s also got some really nice Christmas songs on it as well. VARIOUS ARTISTS Hero: The Party Anthems , ■ (Sony) - - ’ . . Hard on the heels of recent Gay Pride festivals such as Hero and Devotion comes this ‘worthy’ compilation. Okay, it’s worth buying to support the cause, but how does it stack up as a record? Very nicely thankyou — but as local gay ’zine Express has already, pointed out, some of the tracks are a little dated. The album starts with a little handbag, courtesy of Desire’s ‘Holding Out For a Hero’, and then on to cult fave Kylie Minogue, with the US mix of ’Better the Devil You Know'. Midway through, the compilation suddenly breaks down into a bit of retro, with three tracks lifted from last years Sydney Mardi Gras’ compilation (The Jacksons, Weather Girls

and Dan Hartman) before leaping into the splendiferous Jesus Loves You (aka Boy George’s) ‘Bow Down Mista’, and the Dancing Danny D remix of Chaka Khan’s ‘l’m Every Woman’ (the theme to The Oprah Winfrey Show — you work it out). CHER Walking in Memphis (Warners) Well, this sure ain’t the version they’re playing on the Breeze. Yes, it’s Her Royal Thighness (the artist formerly known as Mrs Bono) but these are the Shut Up and Dance remixes. Actually, their two are quite lazy — just the same old Cher over a hyped-up beat. It’s PG who makes the effort to re-orchestrate, re-arrange and re-work the whole song into something different for his ‘Rated PG’ remix. As does Baby Doc, who works his remix up from a slow atmospheric start to a hi-energy stomper.

ADAM FEATURING AMY Zombie (BMG) Anyone who went to last year’s Sleaze Ball in Auckland will remember this, one, a faithful Euro reworking of the Cranberries hit. It’s good, but the song is now a little dated, surely? Seven mixes in all, all energy techno, with sampled guitar and Amy doing her best to maintain an Irish . accent. Very nice’handbag. TLC Creep 96 (BMG) Another dated. release, surely? Wasn’t this a mega-hit. for the band last year? Yes, it was, but this release is not a total waste of time. It contains the ‘Tin Tin Out’ UK remix, which basically throws away everything, except for one vocal sample. And damn it all, it’s very effective. Essentially a whole new techno song, and very good. I bet TLC hate it (but they’ll gladly take the royalties!) VARIOUS ARTISTS Jeep Jams — Red (Import) Ah, this is more my style — 90 minutes of hip-hop and R&B all. mixed together in one continuous groove. If the recent local release of DJ Funkmaster Flex’s mix CD whetted your appetite, then grab this. Coolio, Mobb Deep, Erick Sermon, LL Cool J, Capelton, Naughty By Nature and more, up against Mary J Blige, Monica, Salt-N-Pepa, Deborah’Cox, Aaliyah and the Junior MAFIA and

more. Itls all new stuff and it’s all good. Close your eyes as you cruise down the highway listening to this and you’ll swear you’re cruising the LA freeway in your Benz (you’ll also smash into something pretty damn quick if you keep your eyes shut for too long, you eediot). Also on it’s way is Jeep Jams — Blue and Jeep Jams — Green.

HAPPY CLAPPERS I Believe (Warner) Nice name, but nothing much to lift it’s head out of water. Another from the PWL stable, this features six mixes, of which Red Jerry’s is best. Uplifting? Yeah, sure... you go girl.

DIANA KING Ain’t Nobody (Sony) The sleeve goes to great pains to avoid any mention of who wrote this song, but such is my age I do recognise it as a cover of Chaka Khan’s original hit. I suppose today’s clubs need a 90s produced version, but kiss my ass if the original isn’t a dance classic and doesn’t really need a cover. Kiss my ass two times if this isn’t good though. Diana King has a great voice and gives the song a slight reggae lilt to producer David Cole’s R&B swing. For good measure there’s also a David Morales remix.

VARIOUS ARTISTS Summa Flava (Sony) Hmmmm. I’m sorry, but this is a verrry mainstream compilation. Targeting the 25+, white bread market, this compilation serves up yawn inducing fodder from the likes of Hootie and the Blowfish, Sophie B Hawkins, Margaret Urlich and worse. Slightly funkier is Simply Red, Strawpeople, MNB and CDB. If you found Kickin' and The Rhythm too hard to dance to, and couldn’t even begin to fathom The Trip, then stick to stuff like this. Kind of like. Top 40 radio without the announcer talking (or mixing). NICK D'ANGELO