DJ

One of my favorites from 1979, here’s “The Second Time Around” by Shalamar.

This song is a decade old, but I really, really like the words.

Now that I have found you 
You’ve changed my life 
Cos you’re the one who showed me 
I have everything right 
We’re never gonna differ cos we know it’s true 
So don’t change me and I won’t change you

Here’s Sophie Ellis-Bextor, “I Won’t Change You”

I’ve posted this track before, but I stumbled across an extended mix of it on YouTube and it got me feeling thinking about the original track again. This song used to PACK the dance floor back in ’92 (before it was released to radio in the U.S. in ’93). It’s actually the song that got me into my modest music production. My version of a radio edit of this track was played nationwide.

Here’s the original ’91 radio edit of “That’s What Love Can Do” by Boy Krazy.

One of my favorite songs post high-school, here’s The Other Ones with “Holiday” from 1987.

Dance with me on this Sunday night.

Here’s DJ Spiller featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor with “Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)”.

Five years later, I still enjoy this video and song very much.

Here’s Brian Kent, with “I’m Not Crazy”. I thought it might be a good theme song for the day.

It might make some people blush.

I never knew there was a video for this track. It’s a very simple video, but nonetheless I still am happy to see that they went to the effort to make one. This is one of my very favorite tracks from the 90s. It was an import for the UK and was only heard on Abercrombie & Fitch in store radio here in the states, but nonetheless I LOVE IT.

Syncopated piano for the win. Those with a really good ear for this sort of thing will notice that the background singers are Miriam Stockley and Mae McKenna, who sang backups on many tracks by Rick Astley, Kylie Minogue, Sonia and even Donna Summer on her “Another Place and Time” album.

Here’s “Don’t Make Me Wait” by Loveland featuring Rachel McFarlane.

The small package arrived by Airborne Express. Hot delivery man (with the huge mustache) handed me the pad so that I could sign for it. I noticed the driver’s name at the top of the sheet and smiled.

The package was from Warner Brothers Records. The last time I had an overnight package from them it was a hard copy of the faxed cease and desist letter I had received for playing Madonna’s “Music” before I was suppose to.

The package contained a cassette tape with no label. Taped to it was a note: “new Cher track. Don’t play it on air.”

I popped the cassette into the tape player and pressed play. Out of my speakers came a track the sounded amazing for it’s day, in fact, a colleague in the other room came in to listen with me.

It was Cher’s “Believe”. We were into the second line of the first verse when I heard this really cool effect they did with her voice. It was like they turned her voice into some electronic instrument. It was definitely not a vocoder, I stopped the tape and rewound, listening to it again.

“That is wicked cool.”

The track played through and I realized I had been blessed by a sneak peek of what would be coming soon. The tape didn’t have the quality necessary to play the track on the air, but I could sneak it into a promo, if it was a really, really brief clip. I did, of course. No cease and desist that time.

By the way, that fresh, inventive sound we were hearing on her voice was auto-tune. It actually was auto-tune being used incorrectly, but it made for a really good effect. Cher demanded it be kept in the song.

And with that the auto-tune revolution was born.

Today, 99% of what you hear on pop radio or in dance tracks is auto-tuned. The folks at “Glee” auto-tune the hell out of their tracks, to the point of where it is so obvious that I want to kick in the television screen. What was once a really cool sounding effect, especially when used in moderation, became a necessity to sound 21st century. What’s worse is that auto-tune has sped up the American acceptance of mediocrity. Anyone can sing now. No talent required, just correct the pitch. Blah.

Back in the day Steve Perry had an amazing ‘arena rock’ voice. His voice is spectacular and is actually known for going a little sharp from time to time. The Human League, bless their hearts, are sometimes so off-key that you have to wonder if they’re in the same room as the instruments. (Listen to the opening ‘oohs’ of “Mirror Man” sometime). The honesty of a person’s singing voice should be celebrated, not electronically corrected.

People give a standing ovation now if the singer has simply made it through the song without forgetting the words and/or the pre recorded vocals haven’t skipped or crashed. This is crazy.

Cher was honest with her use of auto-tune as an effect in “Believe”. I wish more performers celebrated the honest instead of trying to cover up their individuality.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I think I need to get out and dance or something. Always a favorite on the dance floor back in the day, here’s Hazell Dean with “Love Pains”.

Notice the “Never Gonna Give You Up” percussion intro at the beginning. Hazell had teamed up with the Stock-Aiken-Waterman team for this tracks. They were known as the “Hit Factory” and used similar techniques in a LOT of records.