Johnny Vicious - Grind (1994)

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present one of the worst CD covers ever, for one of the best compilations ever. It may even be one of the worst covers of all time. Let's take a look at the evidence.

1. Near-naked skank that has probably never danced to house music in her life.
2. Use of every colour under the sun, terrible layout and cogs (?).
3. Says "all night house party", then says "Over 60 minutes of non-stop music". That's a very short night.
4. Use of the word 'mixmaster'. Not cool.

and finally

5. The title. "GRIND". Not Grind, GRIND, like an order. Whoever looked after this knew nothing about subtlety (or house music), and was still on the first chapter of Photoshop for Morons. Needless to say, any discerning house lover would probably run a mile.

Which makes it all the more surprising to learn that this is probably one of the best house/garage compilations of the nineties. 1994 was Johnny Vicious' golden year, still fresh and full of ideas, and the selection on here was surprising even for him.

No house/garage lover can argue with Blaze (twice!), Bas Noir, Jomanda, Kerri Chandler... and if the mixing style is abrupt near the begininning - basically cutting directly from one track to the next - things soften out quickly, with overdubs and effects livening things up. Listen to "My Love is Magic" by Bas Noir, and you'll hear the title sampled and incorporated into the next track, Vicious' trademark odd sounds float across other tracks, and many of the garage numbers here are impossible to find elsewhere in decent quality.

It's not perfect, there are a couple of fillers, and the tracklisting has some puzzling errors (does "Trailer Ends" by Running Around really come after a track called "Running Around" by Trailer Ends?) but there's a lot of really great stuff on here, including quite a few tracks culled from seminal label Downtown 161.

The only thing I would take serious issue with is the last track, a dodgy cover version of "I Feel The Earth Move" that sounds like it was added on after the mix was finished. So I decided to edit it out. It was awful.

The CD can still be found on Discogs or eBay if you look, and it's not expensive. I think it's essential. Listen or download below to see if you agree.

General Public - I'll Take You There (1994)

1994, hell yeah! How can you possibly go wrong with Satoshi Tomiie remixing, aided and abetted by Johnny Vicious and Lem Springsteen?

Nevertheless, it could have been a disaster. This dodgy cover of a Staples Singers classic got a cod reggae treatment for the soundtrack of slightly dodgy-looking 90s film Threesome. The film's French title was "2 boys, 1 girl, 3 possibilities" a less concise title that accurately describes the plotline.

Anyway, after having a track on the Weird Science soundtrack and Ferris Bueller's Day Off,  General Public seemed a natural choice for Threesome; black but not too black, singing a cover version... both the tracks and the films had only mitigated success, but at least they gace us some rather ace remixes.

At the time, Sony often released 12"s and CD-singles with different mixes on each (the 12" catering more for the club crowd). Although the Hoya Tribe Trip is easy to find on CD, the Satoshi Tomiie Experience has never been released digitally, so I did a vinyl rip and cleaned it up for you. The mix is subtly but significantly different, although it also contains a slow-it-down-speed-it-up-again section, very much in fashion in the time. I have to admit it's one of my favourite tricks in a house track. Have a listen:



The Satoshi Tomiie remixes manage to turn what could have been a a train wreck into a decent piece of music. Not an absolute classic perhaps, but a commendable salvage job to be sure. Unfortunately, as is often the case for unsuccessful singles from defunct groups, it's only available second hand (which doesn't earn the label or the artist any money), so I think it's legitimate to let you download the two mixes in question in high-quality AAC.

You can get General Public's
 I'll Take You There (Satoshi Tomiie Experience) here (18MB)
and I'll Take You There (Hoya Tribe Trip) here (15MB).

DMC remixes from the 90s: 3 big names remixed by 3 big names

I'm not in the habit of reposting content from other blogs but I stumbled upon Dance Remix Fix the other day (thanks to the great Marshall Jefferson remixes of "I Don't Even Know If I Should Call You Baby" by Soul Family Sensation) and the site hasn't been updated since 5th December 2008, so...

Looking through the archives, there's some interesting stuff on there, some of which is hard to find. For example, some DMC remixes that I didn't even know existed.

I never really understood how DMC worked. Getting big names to remix big tracks and not releasing the results to the public seems a little strange (not to say a large waste of money). It's certainly frustrating for those of us who love the music. So it was with a certain satisfaction that I was able to download the following tracks, ripped from CD in decent quality. Click on the names to download:
Frankie Knuckles feat. Adeva "Welcome To The Real World (Johnny Vicious remix)" is a stomping, slightly barmy affair that will not be to everyone's taste. It's certainly pretty far removed from the original and very typical of Johnny Vicious' style of that time.

Crystal Waters "100 Percent Pure Love (Danny Tenaglia mix)" is a deep house version that's half lilting, half lazy, but interesting nonetheless.

And perhaps the best of the bunch is C+C Music Factory "Do You Want To Get Funky (Junior Vasquez mix)". A harder version than the original but a good workout, with slight acid touches that complement the vocals well. Very typical of the Vasquez sound in the early nineties. Have a listen...

You can still find some of classic DMC mixes from the era to buy on the DMCworld site, but I'd never heard these ones before. Apparently these came from a CD called DMC - The Best of U.S. remixes Vol.1" (tracklisting here) but I have no idea how to buy it...

Loni Clark - U (1994) Johnny Vicious mixes

"U" was not Loni Clark's biggest hit, especially as she did actually have a couple of bona fide garage hits in the UK and US, i.e. Rushing and Love's Got Me (On A Trip So High).

A Mood II Swing protégé, their great production, her great voice and the great early nineties all conspired to give her a couple of classic tunes... and a couple only: by 1996 her career (or garage career at least) took a serious and seemingly definitive nosedive.

"U" did get a UK release with added K-Klass remixes, but for me nothing can touch the completely demented Johnny Vicious remixes. Released on the Nervous sister label Sorted (specialised in druggy tracks, as the label clearly indicates) Johnny was at the top of his game at this time. His Slinky vocal remix is completely off the wall, with trademark stabs and discordant arrangement giving the whole thing a very weird and entrancing feel. However it's the Play-Doe dub that was the killer track for me: completely nuts, with a slow-it-down-speed-it-up-again part that used to devastate dancefloors at the time. Classic stuff.

I met Johnny in Paris around the time of the track, and was in touch with him until recently about "U" which he was hoping to find the time to hook out of his computer. That was a year ago, but I suppose he's a busy guy. I also asked Nervous if they were intending on releasing the track digitally. Kevin Williams from "marketing/A&R/promotions" said that he'd look into it, and that I should "keep a look out".

That was in February 2006, so I'm not holding my breath for a legal download any time soon.

What I've posted is a quality vinyl rip, de-clicked, EQ'd and boosted to get it sounding crisp. The original vinyl is pretty easy to find (here), but no-one seems to have a decent digital copy. Until Johnny finds time to go through his DAT archives or Nervous get their back catalogue online - finally - this should tide you over.

You can download
Loni Clark - U (Slinky vocal) here (15MB)
and
Loni Clark - U (Play-Doe dub) here (12MB)

Adele Bertei - Zami Girl (1994)

For years I though this track was by Zami Girl. Zami Girl is actually the title. Poor Adele Bertei didn't even get a credit on the cover. But then this is quite a strange track...

Bertei (I have now learned) had a moderately successful career in the 80s as a sort of Madonna copy, recording with Jellybean (even appearing on Top of the Pops here) and having a bit part in Desperately Seeking Susan! Other bubblegum efforts were released with help from Thomas Dolby and Scritti Politti (here).

But Adele had a darker, more political side and in 1994 this expressed itself through Zami Girl. With its delightful refrain of "Ballbreaker. Dyke. Bitch", E-Zee Posse-style raggamuffin delivery and lyrics exhorting lesbians everywhere to reappropriate the insults hurled at them, it's hard to believe that anyone thought it would be a hit. However, it was produced by the same team as RuPaul's Supermodel, which probably explains how the track came to receive pretty damn fine remixes from Johnny Vicious - at the top of his game - and Junior Vasquez.

This was a time when BPMs were nearer 118 than 130 and although the track has been mostly forgotten (the CD isn't even on Discogs), stumbling across it again was a pleasure. Still not convinced by that mock-Jamaican accent though...

You can download Adele Bertei "Zami Girl" (51MB) here