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BBC6 Dave Pearce Streetsounds Special Morgan Khan in interview
Posted by Waxer | Posted in Audio, Dave Pearce, Dave Pearce GLR, Electro, Memorabilia, UK Hip Hop History, UK Hip Hop Radio Shows | Posted on 21-06-2010
Listened to this interview this morning and thought it was important for those that don’t know about this label to learn their history and those that do to refresh their memories. The Electro series of records on this label basically shaped my youth and I can honestly say they are the most played LPs in my entire collection. I own them all on original wax, almost all bought when they first came out, usually from Woolies in Petersfiels, or if I was in Pompey, Our Price in the Tricorn. There really was nothing like getting a new Electro… the first 10 and the Crucials, plus Electro UK are so fundamental in my Hip Hop experience in the UK I can’t bang the drum loud enough!!!
Well, this Dave Pearce interview was fairly interesting, Morgan Khan is animated and relaxed and he covers most of the series of releases on the label, sectioned into genre. Readers of Disco Scratch will mostly only be interested in the Electro section, commencing with Planet Rock, so if you want you can skip forward to 00:42:27 to hear this section, although the entire interview is worth listening to as there are other areas that tie in.
I also have to say that the last half hour of Dave’s choice is particularly dodgy. Not because of the selection of music, but he has clearly played these in software that time stretches on the fly while maintaining pitch, like Traktor or Serato and there are some awful slow downs and speed ups, the Aleem track is all over the place and it seems unnecessary as it speeds up and slows down in the middle of the track without being mixed in. Seems like Dave got taught to mix by his mate from GLR days KCJ….
Here’s the blurb from the BBC6 site, download after the tracklist, enjoy…
Dave Pearce presents a 6 Mix special charting the history of the Street Sounds compilation albums which dominated UK dance music in the early 1980s. Started in 1982 by London based Streetwave Records as a way for people to get hold of expensive, rare dance and hip-hop 12 inch records only in available in the USA, Streetsounds compilation albums bought previously underground music onto Britain’s high streets with a new album every three month. Street Sounds compilations soon became essential for anyone into hip hop, house, rare groove or electro music, at a time when the British charts were dominated by the New Romantic bands like Visage and Spandau Ballet.
Founder Morgan Khan licensed early tracks from Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaatta and The Fatback Back as well as opening the doors for US labels like Def Jam and Profile recordings, at a time when the UK music industry was still a closed shop for anyone but the traditional major labels. Morgan Khan joins Dave in the studio to tell the incredible story of how a Hong Kong-born Indian who grew up in 1970s London came to be so influential in the early days of dance music and how Street Sounds helped bring hip hop and electronic music to the mainstream. Dave and Morgan also play and talk about seminal tracks from the Street Sounds back catalogue including D-Train, Scott La Rock, Roy Ayers and Todd Terry.
1.Raw Silk – Do It To The Music
2.Roy Ayers – Running Away
3.Candi Staton – You Got The Love
4.Fatback Band – I Found Lovin
5.Grandmaster & Melle Mel – White Lines
6.Masquerade – Set It Off
7.Rose Royce – Magic Touch
8.Chuck Brown – Bustin Loose
9.Hashim – Al Naayfish
10.Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force – Planet Rock
11.Joe Smooth – Promised Land
12.Todd Terry – Bango (To The Batmobile)
13.Stakker – Humanoid
14.BDP – South Bronx
15.The Egyptian Lover – Do U Wanna Get Down?
Dave’s Street Sounds Mix
1.Dayton – The Sound Of Music
2.Cheryl Lynn – Encore
3.The Staple Singers – Slippery People
4.Class Action – Weekend
5.Aleem – Get Loose
6.Peter Black – My Love Is Free
A couple of years ago I was contacted by Greg Wilson. For those that might not know this guy, he was a very influential DJ in the fledgling Electro Scene in the UK and responsible for breaking a lot of records in the early 80s.
