Disco Scratch

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

 

 Dave Pearce BBC6 Street Sounds Special [119:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (267)

This is the second mix in a series of 4 CDs that I am uploading here.  You can cop the first one, an alternative mix of Electro UK HERE.  It is the first part of a 2 part mix.  As it is such a great mix, I wanted to get the full fat, and so it is ripped at 320kbps/16 bit/44.1khz/stereo MP3.

Greg did this mix for Samurai FM back in 2005.  There is a page on his site dedicated to this mix so I won’t go into too much depth here, but please go to the mix on his site, Electro Funk Roots .  There is also a page on Samurai FM, which you can find HERE.

Here is a single paragraph quote from Electro Funk Roots, which sums up the mix:

“It’s difficult to believe that this show, a retrospective of the influential tracks from 1982/83, pre-dated the acid house explosion by half a decade yet the sounds still sound so fresh more than 20 years later and in them you can easily identify the origins of the genres that continue to push the scene forward to this day. Equally as impressive is that a mix such as this is possible given the complexities of the remixing and editing of tracks involved in this mix with the technology available at the time. Today production and DJ technology may have developed light years compared to what they were then but the ideas they were based on are still mainly used to this day.”

Here’s the tracklist, trust me it really is a dope mix!  Download at the bottom….  Once again, many thanks to Greg himself.

MALCOLM X / KEITH LeBLANC — No Sell Out
GRANDMASTER FLASH & THE FURIOUS FIVE — The Message
DIMPLES D — Sucker DJs (I Will Survive)
B BOYS — Two, Three, Break
RUSSELL BROTHERS — The Party Scene
THE PACMAN — I’m The Pacman (Eat Everything I Can)
DJ DIVINE — Get Into The Mix
MALCOLM McLAREN / WORLD’S FAMOUS SUPREME TEAM — Buffalo Gals
NEWCLEUS — Jam On Revenge (The Wikki Wikki Song)
TIME ZONE — The Wildstyle
PUMPKIN — King Of The Beat
ART OF NOISE — Beat Box
B BOYS — Cuttin’ Herbie
HERBIE HANCOCK — Rockit
NEWTRAMENT — London Bridge Is Falling Down
WHODINI — Magic’s Wand
EXTRA T’S — E.T Boogie
THE WEBBOES — Under The Wear
Q — The Voice Of Q
ARKADE FUNK — Search And Destroy
G.L.O.B.E & WHIZ KID — Play That Beat Mr DJ
WARP 9 — Nunk
PROJECT FUTURE — Ray-Gun-Omics
TWO SISTERS — High Noon
C.O.D — In The Bottle
GRANDMASTER & MELLE MEL — White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)
TOM BROWNE — Rockin’ Radio
NAIROBI — Soul Makossa
MAN PARRISH — Hip Hop Be Bop (Don’t Stop)
WARP 9 — Light Years Away’
FREEEZ — I-O-U
TYRONE BRUNSON — The Smurf
NEW ORDER — Confusion
AFRIKA BAMBAATAA & THE SOUL SONIC FORCE — Looking For The Perfect Beat
MIDNIGHT STAR — Freak-A-Zoid
CAPTAIN ROCK — The Return Of Captain Rock
RUN-DMC — It’s Like That
ROCKERS REVENGE — Walking On Sunshine
HASHIM — Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)
KLIEN & MBO — Dirty Talk
SHANNON — Let The Music Play
XENA — On The Upside
JONZUN CREW — Pack Jam (Look Out For The OVC)
MELLE MEL & DUKE BOOTEE — Message II (Survival)
REGGIE GRIFFIN & TECHNOFUNK — Mirda Rock
GRANDMASTER FLASH & THE FURIOUS FIVE — Scorpio
JONZUN CREW — Space Is The Place
KLIEN & MBO — Wonderful
MAN PARRISH — Techno Trax
CYBOTRON — Clear
PLANET PATROL — Cheap Thrills
ORBIT — And The Beat Goes On
JONZUN CREW — We Are The Jonzun Crew
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO — Riot In Lagos
TWILIGHT 22 — Electric Kingdom
PLANET PATROL — Play At Your Own Risk
AFRIKA BAMBAATAA & THE SOUL SONIC FORCE — Planet Rock
ALSO REFERENCED:
Aretha Franklin — Jump To It
Atlantis Keep — On Movin’ And Groovin’
Aurra — Such A Feeling
B Beat Girls — For The Same Man
Beat Boys — B Bop Rock
Bohannon — Let’s Start The Dance III
Booker Newbury III — Love Town
Brass Construction — walking the line
BT (Brenda Taylor) — You Can’t Have Your Cake And Eat It Too
C Bank — One More Shot
Candela — Love You Madly
Candido — Jingo Breakdown
Charades — Give Up The Funk
Chocloate Milk — Who’s Getting It Now
Class Action — Weekend
D Train — Music
David Joseph — You Can’t Hide (Your Love From Me)
Dolby’s Cube — Get Out Of My Mix
Electra — Feels Good
Electrik Funk — On A Journey (I Sing The Funk Electric)
Evelyn King — Love Come Down
Ex tras — Haven’t Been Funked Enough
Fatback — Is This The Future
Fearless Four — Rockin’ It
Forrrce — Keep On Dubbin’
Fresh Face — Huevo Dancing
G Force — Feel The Force
Gary’s Gang — Makin’ Music
George Clinton — Atomic Dog
Gunchback Boogie Band — Funn
Hot Streak — Body Work
Howard Johnson — So Fine
Indeep — Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
Johnny Chingas — Phone Home
Kashif — I Just Gotta Have You
Ladies Choice — Girls’ Night Out
Linda Taylor — You And Me Just Started
Madonna — Everybody
Marvin Gaye — Sexual Healing
Michelle Wallace — Tee’s Right
Micronauts — Letzmurph Acrossdasurf
Mike & Brenda Sutton — Don’t Let Go Of Me (Grip My Hips And Move Me)
Mtume — Juicy Fruit
Peech Boys — Don’t Make Me Wait
Pressure Drop — Rock The House
Prince Charles & The City Beat Band — The Jungle Stomp
Pure Energy — Spaced Out
Raw Silk — Do It To The Music
Rod — Just Keep On Walkin’
Salsoul Orchestra — Ooh, I Love It (Love Break)
Sandy Kerr — Thug Rock
Sharon Redd — Beat The Street
Sharon Redd — Love How You Feel
Shock — Electrophonic Phunk
Sinnamon — I Need You Now
Sinnamon — Thanks To You
Steve Arrington’s Hall Of Fame — Way Out
Stone — Girl I Like The Way You Move
The System — It’s Passion
Toney Lee — Love So Deep
Toney Lee — Reach Up
Touchdown — Ease Your Mind (US remix)
Two Sisters — B Boys Beware
Unique — What I Got Is What You Need
Verycheri 69 — Cancer Sign
Visual — The Music Got Me
Was (Not Was) — Tell Me That I’m Dreaming
Weeks & Co — If You’re Looking For Fun
West Street Mob — Break Dancin’ – Electric Boogie
Wreckin’ Crew — Chance To Dance
Wuf Ticket — The Key
X Ray Connection — Replay
Xavier — Work That Sucker To Death

 

 Greg Wilson - No Sell Out Mix [43:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (889)

UK Fresh 86 Tape 2 Disco Scratch

Content has been a bit thin over recent weeks my fellow Disco Scratchers, but a bumper update this week should vanquish the hunger pains for that old school material.  Look out for more demo tracks from the vault, late 80s Westwood & Dave Pearce tapes and the next Simon Harris LP.

Anyway, UK Fresh ’86… this tape represents the end of part 1 and first part of part 2.  This is because when Capital put the show out, it was 2 2 hour shows over a Friday and Saturday night, but obviously tapes are only an hour and a half, so hence 3 tapes.

DS UK Fresh 86 Tape 2 Inlay

It was great relistening to the tape again, some particularly dope performances.  Not a lot more to say, enjoy the tape & pass the word around that DS has got those nuggets from the crates you need!  Til’ next time, WAXOFF…!

 

 Disco Scratch UK Fresh 86 Tape 2 [92:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (252)

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.

I won’t go too deep into his history as you can get it all from his main website, Electro Funk Roots

Greg replied to a post that I had made in a forum about the Street Sounds Electro series and my complete love for those LPs.  He told me about his involvement in the early days and much to my surprise made the effort of sending me 4 CDs and some printed information about himself, his history and his career.  This was a fantastic piece of history to receive and I am very greatful to him for contacting me.

This post is the first in a series of Greg Wilson related posts, giving you audio from these CDs.  Anyone with an ounce of interest in the UK Electro scene from the early 80s should thoroughly enjoy these CDs.

This first slice of history is an alternative Mix that Greg did of the Electro UK Streetsounds compilation.  If you want to check that out, but do not already have it, you can cop that from the Electro Vault site, he sells the complete collection on a DVD, I got mine yo!

I strongly recommend you check his site out and really have a good poke around at the history, this guy has really pushed this music we love so give him his props!

Anyway, here’s the audio, please leave a comment, let me know if you like it!  It’s just over half an hour long and I ripped it at 320kbps/16 bit/44.1khz/stereo so it’s top notch quality.  I’ll be upping the other tracks from this CD and the others over the coming weeks.  Peace out!

 

 Electro UK Greg Wilson Alternative Mix 1984 [34:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (410)

Tracklisting:
1     Zer-O     Real Time (Retrospective Dub)
Producer – Bellini
2     Syncbeat     Music
Producer – Pete Ramon
Remix – Greg Wilson
3     Broken Glass     Style Of The Street
Producer – Justin ’84
Remix – Greg Wilson
4     Forevereaction     U People
Producer – Eric Freeman
5     Zer-O     Real Time
Producer – Bellini
6     Rapologists     Hip Hop Beat (Street Mix)
Producer – Mastermind
Scratches – Whiz Kid
7     Forevereaction     B.E.D. ’34
Producer – Eric Freeman