What Power Do You Bring Back Here?

Side 1 of a cassette compilation recorded as a gift from my brother, sometime around March-April 1991. 

 

Some New Beat and some not-so-new beat, generally speaking. As mentioned when I posted Side 2 last year, two key albums for this mixtape are the compilations New Beat, Made In Belgium (1989) and The Third Mind (1990). I might go so far as to say that my brother was either getting bored or tired towards the end of this side and opted to lift the latter's closing two songs on Side 1 to complete his own Side 1 of this compilation. I don't have a copy of The Third Mind and haven't been able to source the Son Of Sam track St. Augustine Said online, so I've instead plumped for a previous 12" aside, which I think sits reasonably well with the music on either side.

The selection kicks off with Psychic TV with the (kind of title track) from their acid house album Towards The Infinite Beat (released with a remix companion titled Beyond The Infinite Beat). From there a brace of classic Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne remixes, followed by Paris Angels' finest moment (from the original 1990 12", not the subsequent major label remix and re-release).

 

I guess you could describe English Boy On The Loveranch as a 'supergroup in reverse', comprising Dave Ball, Jamie Fry and Nick Sanderson. Dave of course had found fame and notoriety with Soft Cell and would again with The Grid. Jamie and Nick later co-founded World Of Twist and Earl Brutus. English Boy On The Loveranch only released a couple of singles in 1987 and 1988, but they're both worth tracking down.

A couple of New Beat contributions from 101 and Moments Of Ecstasy, featuring Jos Borremans, Maurice Engelen, Nikkie Van Lierop and Oliver Adams, who also variously recorded as Praga Khan, Lords Of Acid, etc. I was bit unkind about the latter last time, but there's no denying New Beat's allure.

I know next to nothing about Faction but according to Discogs they appear to be the same Faction that backed Nico on her 1985 album Camera Obscura. A nice way to come down from the relentless beats that have preceded it. 

I've no idea how my brother crammed all of this onto one side of a C90, but this is more or less as he originally intended.

 

1) Infinite Beat: Psychic TV (1990)

2) Pro>Gen (Land Of Oz) (Remix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (Album Edit): The Shamen (1990)

3) Human Nature (On The Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (12" Version): Gary Clail / On-U Sound System ft. Alan Pillay (1991)

4) All On You (Perfume) (12" Version): Paris Angels (1990)

5) Rock To The Beat (Original Mix) (Cover of Reese aka Kevin Saunderson): 101 (1989)

6) Sex Vigilante (Deadly Weapons Mix By Flood): English Boy On The Loveranch (1988)

7) You And Me (Edit By Maurice Engelen): Moments Of Ecstasy (1989)

8) One Thousand Beats Per Minute (Deejay's Edit): Son Of Sam (1987)

9) Noa Noa: Faction (1990)

Side One (47:58) (KF) (Mega) 

Side Two here

The (Not So) New Creation

Side 2 of a loved up cassette compilation, recorded 7th September 1997.

Rounding up the rest of a mixtape that brings together a bunch of my favourite songs from that glorious period from 1989 to 1991 when the indie/dance crossover really was on fire.

 

Looking back, it was such an exciting time for music and whilst at the ridiculous end of the spectrum, there was a lot of bandwagon jumping with lots of mediocre artists having a funky drummer sample strapped onto their MOR dirge in an attempt to get with it, it was also a period of rebirth and reinvention for many other artists.

Side 2 starts off with one such example, Zodiac Youth being Youth and Mark Manning. At the time, Youth aka Martin Glover was the former bassist with Killing Joke who had carved out a new reputation as a remixer and producer. Mark Manning was better known as the front person of Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction. Fast Forward The Future is an exhilarating collaboration featuring rapper T-Love and riding on a sample from Faith Healer by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. 

 

Stephen Duffy, an 80s pop star as Tin Tin, found a new path with The Lilac Time, forging a more pastoral, folk-infused path whilst retaining the wonderful wordplay of his finest songs. Stephen was reportedly quite dismissive of Creation label mate Hypnotone aka Tony Martin's remixes of Dreaming. Whilst Hypnotone's remix of Sheer Taft's Cascades is the high water mark, personally I think this one comes pretty close.

Pleasure* was a duo of Barry Maguire and Steven Gallifent, signed to David A. Stewart's Anxious Records. They released a single, self-titled album in 1989 and Please was the fourth and final single to be lifted, with a trio of remixes by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne. The CD single was beautifully designed, with a card sleeve housed in an outer red plastic sleeve with button and stenciled logo, the cost of which alone likely landed them in even greater debt when the single didn't achieve global success. It's a shame, as the mixes are pretty good.

Bonita Applebum was my introduction to A Tribe Called Quest, specifically the 7" and 12" mixes built around the sample of Why? by Carly Simon. CJ Mackintosh was the go-to remixer for labels seeking to open up US hip-hop and rap to a wider UK audience and you can see why on the strength of this track. Blew me away at the time and still does, to be honest.

Both New Atlantic and Love Decade shone very briefly in the early 1990s but neither bettered I Know. This collaborative effort samples the Candi Staton vocal used in full - and to brilliant effect - by The Source on You Got The Love several times, including 1991 when I Know was also riding the charts. Add some further pan pipe samples, Italo piano chords and propulsive beats and the remix had hit written all over it.

According to the small print on the cassette sleeve, the original mixtape used the Loved Up remix of Paris Angels' Perfume from the 1991 reissue. I haven't been able to track down the CD single in question so I've used the 1990 single version. It's pretty much the same running time and there may be little difference apart from a slight remix and buff up for the second go ahead. Either way, it's an absolute classic of the period and genre. The original, full length All On You version is the essential but this'll do very nicely, thank you.

I'm not a big fan of The Farm, and seeing them live on stage supporting Madness last year didn't change that drastically, but I do like their cover of The Monkees' Stepping Stone, particularly the 12" version. Continuing the theme of reinvention and rebirth, Madness legend Suggs was managing The Farm at the time and joined Terry Farley for the remix. 

 

Also on a break from his main job at the time was INXS front person Michael Hutchence, here with old pal Ollie Olsen as Max Q. Just the one self-titled album in 1989, with a couple of singles with remixes from Todd Terry, though less dance-oriented than you'd expect. The 12" single(s) to go for featured Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, the Land Of Oz mix featured here being the standout.

1) Fast Forward The Future (Witch-Hunt Mix By Youth & Mark 'Spike' Stent): Zodiac Youth ft. T-Love (1991)

2) Dreaming (12" Mix By Hypnotone): The Lilac Time (1991)

3) Please (Future Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne): Pleasure* (1990)

4) Bonita Applebum (7" Why? Edit By CJ Mackintosh & Robin Hancock): A Tribe Called Quest (1990)

5) I Know (Love Decade Remix 12"): New Atlantic (1991)

6) Perfume (Single Version): Paris Angels (1990)

7) Stepping Stone (Ghost Dance Mix By Terry Farley & Mr. Suggs) (12" Version) (Cover of '(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone' by The Monkees): The Farm (1991)

8) Sometimes (Land Of Oz Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne): Max Q (1989)

 

Side Two (46:22) (Box) (Mega)

Side One here

P.S. If you visited the Dot Allison post yesterday, you may be interested to know that I’ve since added a link to the hour-long Dubhed selection I originally posted in October 2022.