Mostly Madge

If you've read this blog in the past you may know that I find it difficult to walk past a Madonna 12 inch single, particularly her 80s ones (her heyday as far as I'm concerned, before she learned to sing).  Yesterday's car boot sale was packed and I came away with four such examples:

Madonna 12" singles.  Clockwise from top left: Into the Groove,
Like a Virgin, La Isla Bonita, Express Yourself.

I also couldn't resist the 12" version of another 80s favourite; Miami Sound Machine's Dr. Beat:

Miami Sound Machine - Dr. Beat (1984)

I've amassed quite a few twelve inch singles from car boot sales and don't listen to them as much as I'd like.  Since our new (old) car has only a cassette player in it, I thought it'd be fun to make a mixtape of a selection of 80s 12"s.  I recently bought a load of new blank cassettes at a boot sale, so yesterday afternoon I re-lived part of my early teens and did just that.  Madonna singles filled all of Side A and spilled over into Side B, which I finished with tracks by Michael Jackson, Pet Shop Boys and Kraftwerk among others.

I'm now thinking of doing something similar with my box of 80s 7" singles, but that may take a bit more effort.  Anyway, in keeping with recent sporting news, here's the Kraftwerk track playing on my vintage Dual HS 34 record player:



Congratulations Bradley and Mark!!

Sun and singles

Today dawned bright and sunny, so I headed up the coast in search of vinyl.  The site was almost full and heaving with bargain hunters:

There were quite a lot of records around and for some reason, lots of 80s 12"s.  First I got two Madonna 12" singles at £5 for the pair; more than I would normally like to pay, but they are favourites of mine and in spanking condition:

Madonna - Borderline (US Remix) (1984)

Two statements of independence from Madonna; Borderline, the fifth single from her self-tiled debut album, remixed by Jellybean (John Benitez) who was then going out with Madge.  This reached no.2 in the UK and no.10 in the US.

Then her second single from third album True Blue; teen pregnancy plea Papa Don't Preach (1986), which reached no.1 in both the UK and US:

Madonna - Papa Don't Preach (Extended Version) (1986)

For £1 I bought another 80s gem from the wonderfully unique Miss Jones:

Grace Jones - Slave To The Rhythm (1985)

It's taken from her 1985 Trevor Horn-produced concept album of the same name, which consisted of eight interpretations of "Slave.."  as well as spoken word sections.  Horn had originally intended the single to be recorded by Frankie Goes To Hollywood but it ended up in Grace's capable hands.  It was a top twenty hit in many countries, particularly German-speaking ones where it achieved it's highest chart positions.

Here's the video of the 7" single version:

Lastly was an EP of remixes of the Rebel MC and Double Trouble's 1990 hit Street Tuff:

Rebel MC and Double Trouble - Street Tuff Remixes (1990)

Side A.  Ruff Mix, Time To Rock - The Trouble Dub.

Side B.  Norman Cook Mix, Norman Cook Mix Instrumental.

As you can see from the track list it contains some of Norman Cook's early work from before he became Fatboy Slim.

For me, the making of the original hit (which reached no.3 in the UK) was it's use of the sample of the bassline to The Maytal's 54-64 That's My Number, but this is entirely absent from all of these consequently disappointing remixes.

Here's the original version on Spotify:  Double Trouble & The Rebel Mc – Street Tuff

Life Is A Dance

Chaka Khan

Singer Chaka Khan first found fame with funk group Rufus in 1973.  Over her long career she has successfully lent her powerful voice to pop, jazz, R&B and soul, but in 1989 she had a go at house music too.  Or rather, she allowed an array of producers to remix 11 of her hits into extended club versions to make a double album of floorfillers.

I bought Life Is A Dance at a car boot sale last autumn for £1:

Chaka Khan - Life Is A Dance - The Remix Project (1989)

My top tracks (Spotify links below) are the legendary Frankie Knuckles' remix of Ain't Nobody and radio and club DJ Tony Humphries' mix of I Know You, I Live You.

The album reached no.1 in the UK and every single track reached no.1 in the US dance play chart.

Chaka Khan – Ain't Nobody - Remix

Chaka Khan – I Know You, I Live You - Remix Album Version



Bonus Beats

I found a 12" De La Soul EP for 50p at a recent boot sale.  There'd just been a huge downpour and the box of records I'd been looking through was pretty soggy, but luckily this was at the bottom and mainly dry:

De La Soul - 4 New Remixes (1989)

It contains 12" remixes of four of their most well known songs.  Tracklisting:

Side A.  The Magic Number (Too Mad Mix), Say No Go (Bonus Beats).

Side B.  Eye Know (Daisy Bass Mix), Me Myself And I/Say No Go.

It's not on Spotify and I couldn't find a decent youtube vid, so I made one myself.  Here's Side B.