Christmas Bells!

Who wouldn't love nutty xmas rhymes? If I wasn't playing a disco party I'd definitely play some of these tonight.



Hard Cell Xmas: My Christmas Bells (1987)
Pretty cool cover of Rock The Bells from the B-Boy Records comp pictured above

Treacherous Three: Xmas Rap (1984)
One of the highlights of Beat Street

Whistle: Santa Is A B-Boy (1986)
Just found the video for Just Buggin... crazy!

Nuit Et Jour

Earlier today I was wondering who came up with the nutty idea to do a French version of Nite And Day. I tweeted the question and got so many requests for the song I just had to post it here. For the record, as much as I love the original I think this is kind of corny.

Al B Sure!: Nuit Et Jour (1988)



Some of you might remember there's also a Spanish version on the album.

Rocker's Delight

I've been ripping records I'm getting rid of for 3 days now. I don't know why I decided to let this one go, maybe I'm just not the completist I once was. It's kind of fun and somewhat rare too.
Prince Blackman: Rocker's Delight Instrumental (1980)

Calypso Blues

Marvin Gaye: Calypso Blues (1965)
Something different for a change. Simply beautiful stuff from back when none of us were even born. If you like it make sure to also check the charming original version.

Today, Tomorrow & Forever

Whenever I'm in NY I try to catch Mr Cee's Throwback At Noon if I only get the chance. Last nite I went as far as stream it all the way from here just because Twitter told me he was doing a killer house classics set. Indeed he was, murdering staples like Gypsy Woman and In A De Ghetto. Towards the end of the set he went into one of my all time faves, Break 4 Love.



The Castle Beat: Today, Tomorrow & Forever (1987)

Break 4 Love is produced by Vaughn Mason of Bounce Rock Skate Roll fame. I don't know what his relation to Castle Beat's Larry Joseph is, but what's clear is that Today, Tomorrow & Forever is the blueprint for Break 4 Love, minus the vocals. Probably he just jacked it. If anyone knows I'd like to know too.

Robert Palmer

So I'm in Tokyo and have a few off days between deejaying obligations. It's the rainy season so I believe I'll be staying in my hotel room a lot, working and possibly even blogging. Let's see.
I just got back from Hiyoko Records in Shimokitazawa and their Compass Point section sent me on a crazy Robert Palmer YT spree. Dude had a knack for choosing songs to cover. Wikipedia has a cool story on how his version of You're In My System came about:
""You Are In My System" was an example of Palmer's passion for R&B covers. He jammed the song onto the Pride album after the other tracks were finished. Hearing the track in a Paris club, Palmer rushed back to his Bahamas hometown, where the reconvened band (co-composer David Frank of The System included) put together the number."
Make sure to also check his version of Cherrelle's I Didn't Mean To Turn You On, a big hit in the early days of MTV.

First True Love Affair

If you're a fan of Jimmy Ross' Garage classic First True Love Affair like me, you might wanna check out Coderbreaker's pretty smooth cover version over at Beat Electric.

Chameleon

La Pregunta: Chameleon (1979)
Solid disco funk version of Herbie Hancock's jazz fusion hit, by the group also responsible for UBB disco break Shangri-La. Supposedly John Davis of I Can't Stop fame is involved in this as well.

It Takes Two

Mr. Oizo: It Takes Two (Prince Klassen Edit)
I first heard this Saturday night when homie K2 played it and thought it was pretty cool.
BONUS:
Kanye: Paranoid (Pocketknife's House Mix / New Version)

Melo Do Tagarela

Forget about Rapper's Delight...
Gang Do Tagarela: Melo Do Tagarela (Roc Hunter Edit)(1980/2002)

Los Masters

Los Masters: Cissy Strut (1969)
One of the best versions of the funk standard, from an unexpected place like Chile too.

Way Down In The Hole

The coolest thing I've learned today is that Blaq Starr and M.I.A. have recorded a cover of Way Down In The Hole. Now it might suck and it might not, either way I can not wait.

Juicy Fruit

FIle taken down due to bad sound quality. Will re-up at some point.

Christine's smooth lovers rock rendition of the Mtume classic, produced by Chosen Few of Trojan and Konduko fame. She delivers the song convincingly and whoever mixed the song makes a point of dubbing out the "i'll be your lollipop, you can lick me everywhere"-line.

Taxi Gang's Billie Jean

In honor of his 50th birthday yesterday, here's one of the best Jacko covers ever.
Sly & Robbie: Billie Jean (1984)

Wayne Chin does Bobby Caldwell

As requested by my man Big Chan:
Wayne Chin: Won't Do For Love (198?)


UPDATE: Here's Otis Gayle's classy Studio One version of the same at 192kbps. Click the Divdshare logo to DL.

Help Is On The Way VS Act Like You Know

The Whatnauts: Help Is On The Way (1981)


Fat Larry's Band: Act Like You Know (1982)

This is obviously not the sole case of an established artist stealing a lesser known artist's composition, but it has always been one of the more fascinating ones to me. I guess it's because I really love both songs. The case has been frequently discussed over the years, but I've yet to hear anyone tell how things really went down back when the Fat Larry record dropped in 1982. Help Is On The Way had been a reasonably big club hit in it's own right, so some controversy must have arisen. If we have any old heads in here who might remember please enlighten us.

For an interesting case of a semi-unknown disco artist getting bitten by a totally obscure one see here.

4 x Love You Down

I kinda love the song, so let me break down my favorite versions.

Inoj: Love You Down (1997)
Classic bass / R&B cover version from Atlanta. Check the video as well.

DJ Technics: Girlfriend (1999)
The definitive club remix. Baltimore Club Tracks has tons of classics by Technics & others, a lot of 320's too.

Sissy Nobby: Break It Down (Stick 'Em Remix) (2007)
Bangin remix of Nobby's bounce hit from last year, with the smooth Love You Down breakdown in the middle. I just wish I knew where to get more of his jams.

And last but not least...
Ready For The World's timeless slow jam from 1986 got zero airplay around my parts, which is a damn shame if you ask me. I don't think I even got to hear it until mid-90's or so. Here's the classic video for you to revisit. Enjoy.

LDN

I'm off to the airport any minute now, and don't know when I'll be able to update again. So I'll just leave you with this timeless London classic...

Disco Dub Band: For The Love Of Money (1975)

The More I Get...

Here's a belated little easter gift to ya'll. One of the greatest cover versions ever, one of my all time favorite 12"s, in all of it's 7 minute glory. The single hardly ever turns up and to this day there's no legit reissue out there. You need to promise me one thing though: if you ever play this out don't even THINK about quick mixing out after 2 or 3 minutes: the thing builds and builds and builds and at 5:50 when the bassline kicks in again it's straight murder believe me...

Lorraine Johnson: The More I Get, The More I Want 12" Version (1977)

Be Thankful For What You Got

DJ Kool's go-go take on William DeVaughn's timeless classic was a bit of a DJ fave here when it came out and damn if it didn't still sound good when I played it again the other day.
DJ Kool: Just Be Thankful (2000)

Instrumental Peg

Mike Mandel: Peg (1977)(Community Service Edit)

One of 2007's coolest disco edit releases was this little EP that supposedly originated somewhere in New York. The highlight for me is the very useful edit of Mike Mandel's Steely Dan cover that in it's original form is too much all over the place to really play out.
If you never heard of Mandel before he played synthesizer and keyboards with jazz-rock dudes like Larry Coryell and was later in disco-jazz supergroup Players Association.

South Rakkas' Africa

People seem to bug out whenever I play this and some clearly disapprove because they can't stand the song. I don't really mess with the original either, but this... what's not to like???
Mr Easy: Africa (produced by South Rakkas Crew)

BONUS:
This was already posted way back when, but here's the full quality version finally.
Bounty Killer: Do Ya Think I'm Sexy (produced by South Rakkas Crew)

Classic Time #25

Shinehead: Billie Jean (1984)

BONUS:
Shinehead: Lady In My Life (1984)
Shinehead: Mama Used To Say (1984)

Mind Blowing Decisions

The long version of my favorite Heatwave classic. I love how they flip the rhythm halfway through. The Jimmy Sabater cover version is also super smooth.
Heatwave: Mind Blowing Decisions (12" Version)
Jimmy Sabater: Mind Blowing Decisions
I also have a reggae version somewhere (Big Youth?), but it isn't on the same level as these two.

Subway Theme

Almost everybody knows Chris Stein's Subway Theme. If not from Wildstyle, then from the background of Illmatic's The Genesis intro. Some five years ago local electronic trio And The Lefthanded covered the song and created what is for my money one of the finest Helsinki records ever.
And The Lefthanded: Subway Theme
Shout outs to T.A. and Vilunki for being some of the coolest dudes in town too.

Plush & Harold Gill

Recycling melodies and rhythms has been going on forever, but blatantly taking someone's record and singing on top of that is something you might think just happens in hiphop and reggae. And that's exactly what my man Harold Gill did to Rene & Angela offshoot Plush back in 1983: he took their "Free And Easy" instrumental, rewrote the song and released "I Can Make You Party" on his own Sure Hit label.
I ain't mad, as both songs are incredible.

Plush: Free And Easy
Harold Gill: I Can Make You Party
EDIT: a new Plush file linked, the first one had some glitches towards the end.

New wave covers

New wave covers of soul classics.. you gotta love em! The Flying Lizards and The Slits are old faves, but the Paul Haig and Ronny versions I only found out about recently. This post was inspired by last nights corporate gig where "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" just killed it.

The Slits: I Heard It Through The Grapevine
The Flying Lizards: Move On Up
Paul Haig: Running Away
Ronny: If You Want Me To Stay