B.M.U. - U Will Know (C.J. Mackintosh mixes) (1995)

Black Men United was a 'supergroup' made up of R. Kelly, Boyz II Men, Tony Toni Tone, Tevin Campbell, Usher and more (including Lenny Kravitz on guitar!), apparently formed just for this track, in order to promote the film Jason's Lyric.

Jason's Lyric, "a modern day Romeo & Juliet from the makers of New Jack City" was clearly aimed at he black demographic - both thematically and musically - and allegedly nearly got an X rating for a racy sex scene (that was removed). IMDB gives a quote from the film that does not inspire confidence:

Jason Alexander: I've never flown in a plane before.
Lyric: Sometimes you don't need a plane to fly.

or how about when the characters are sitting in the bayou:

Jason Alexander: Damn, it's quiet out here! I should've brought my radio.
Lyric: [smiling] No, it's not quiet. It's full of music. Just listen.

Ouch!

And talking about music, the B.M.U. track U Will Know came with sterling remixes from C.J. Mackintosh, including two house mixes that were very cleverly constructed, skilfully layering element on element.

It occurred to me that it would be possible to put the two of them together, so I extended the intro a little and made one mix flow into the other, giving the track five minutes to build up before the vocal parts come in. Even at nearly 12 minutes long, you never get bored. A testament to a well-made remix. Have a listen...



This really reminds of the time when Mackintosh was dishing out what he called FXTC dubs with generally superlative results (Sounds of Blackness, for example), and I never tire of listening to the track, 15 years later.

You can download my BMU - U Will Know

(C.J. Mackintosh Lyrical dub/House lyric Fist fusion)

here (17 MB).

Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson - The Best Things In Life Are Free (1992)

I think Mo' Money was probably a terrible film. Lord know how they managed to get so much great music on there: Caron Wheeler (with great remixes by Tenaglia), Sounds of Blackness (with remixes by Morales) and this, the motherlode, one of the greatest garage tracks ever and one of my most favourite memories of being on a dancefloor during the nineties.

Bot the vocal and dub versions were amazing, inventive, joyous, hypnotic. It's garage as it was meant to be: uplifting, ridiculously uplifting even, a masterpiece.

Can't say I liked the later remixes from 1996 - despite coming from Sanchez and MK - so I went back to the source: from the US CD-single, I used two of the classic CJ Mackintosh mixes and one Morales mix, moving from the dub, to the vocal and back to a dub, making one long epic that lasts - unbelievably - nearly 25 minutes! It's a mix that dares to take its time (there isn't even a beat until 1'30") and it's consistently interesting and different.

Check it out here...

This is one of the first edits I ever tried, I still love it, and I've just re-done it in better quality for you to enjoy! The mix sounds deceptively simple, but there was a fair bit of tweaking involved, and my favourite bit is around the 16-minute mark (in case you're wondering).

You can download

Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson

The Best Things In Life Are Free

(CJ's Fxtc dub/UK 12"/Def version Fist fusion)

here (48MB)

Deskee - Let There Be House (1989) CJ Mackintosh mixes

I thought my days of expensively buying CD singles were over. Apparently not, although this one wasn't too dear: it's the post & packaging that really kick you in the teeeth.

Deskee was a house/rap act from the eighties that included rapper Crumpley (what a name!) and Klaus Jankuhn (aka Westbam). Very obviously a commercial venture - that was to fizzle out very quickly as it happens - they did score a couple of large hits including Dance, Dance (with 'bootleg' mixes by Tony Humphries that are pretty scarce) and their most memorable tune, Let There Be House.

Remixes were commissioned for the UK in 1989 (love the way that the sleeve states "The 90s edition" as if it were something really exciting) from then hot remixing duo Dave Dorrell and CJ Mackintosh. The result was a really good long mix (11'30"!) and a couple of dubs, all of which only came out on 12 inch... apart from a mini 3" CD in Austria. I heard a poor quality vinyl rip of the mix somewhere on the web and decided that I had to order the CD. Difficult to believe that it's 20 years old already...

Ripping mini CDs is tough if you've only got a slot-drive computer, but I managed to find a way round that, and so here it is in 256kbps AAC, and slightly extended too by adding a bit of one of the dubs to the main mix! Have a listen if you like...

Click 'download' to get
Deskee - Let There Be House
(A 2 Zen mix part I & II Fist extension) (24MB)
or click here to go to the Let There Be House folder and choose the version you want.