John Morales acetates

If you are even remotely interested in the roots of disco music you don't want to miss this. One of the most legendary disco DJs/remixers, John Morales, is offering some of his early Sunshine Sound era acetate medleys and re-edits for free at his site. Go and get them. If this is old news that I've simply (once again) slept on, please forgive me.

Sugarhill Gang - Hot Hot Summer Day

This is such a feel good classic and it goes great with the weather. I included Theo Parrish's version from 2003 as well. Though the re-edit goes quite far from the original it keeps the Roy Ayers-ish summer groove to it and it the edit goes heavy on one of my all time favorite Sugarhill lines: Freak Freak Da Funk Funk Funk Da Freak Da The Funk Funk Fuuunk.

Sugarhill Gang - Hot Hot Summer Day [320 kbps, DivShare]

Sugarhill Gang - Hot Hot Summer Day (Theo Parrish Re-Edit) [320 kbps, DivShare]

The Pockets - Come Go With Me

Come Go With Me by The Pockets is one of the greatest feel good songs I can think of and once again it has been the theme song of my weekend. It's the opening track of The Pockets' underrated debut album Come Go Wit Us. Enjoy the tune and buy the record if you see a copy somewhere. It should be inexpensive but full of versatile rhythm music produced by Verdine White (of Earth Wind & Fire).

The Pockets - Come Go With Me [320 kbps, DivShare ]

EDIT: Eli Escobar is one my favorite DJs and Come Go With Me a huge favorite of mine and still I had slept on Eli's great re-edit which has been recently released on a 12" with a couple of other solid edits. Thanks to Ace Of Clubs' comment my copy is now on its way to my record collection.

Melba Moore - Take My Love

Damn, this jam has been long forgotten but since re-discovering it today, I've been playing it on repeat. Such a strong boogie banger but what else can you expect when you combine a track written and arranged by Kashif, one of the greatest producers/pioneers of boogie, with really strong and soulful vocals by Melba Moore. Take My Love can be found on Moore's album What A Woman Needs (1981) and as a maxi single. Both should be inexpensive and easy to find.

If you're feeling Take My Love, make sure to check out DJ B.Cause's excellent edit of Love's Comin' At Ya, another Melba Moore boogie gem produced by Kashif. Get it from Diamonds In The Dust.

Melba Moore - Take My Love [320 kbps, DivShare]

Tiger & Woods - Gin Nation

The ethics and the usefulness of disco edits has been a trending topic on a couple of forums for a while. This is probably due to the fact that there are tons of edits around and the ones pressed on vinyl are selling pretty well and the producers/DJs behind these edits are able to make some name for themselves.

I've been following these conversations for quite a while and I have to say that I find the question of usefulness or originality of disco edits somewhat redundant. If it's a good piece of music that sounds great and makes people dance, it doesn't matter whether it's the original or a re-edit. Certainly there's lots of weak, quickly done Ableton edits that should have never been released on wax but on the other hand I have found so much great, obscure music thanks to solid edits.

All in all a duel between the original and a re-edit is quite useless. Original disco era and modern disco edits are two different genres from two different eras and both have their pearls but it's also good to remember that the bulk of releases in both genres sucks so it's all about finding the good cuts and enjoying them to the max.

Enough with my chitchat. Let the music speak for itself. Gin Nation is a big disco/house edit found from Tiger & Woods' second release Caddy Shag EP (2009).

Tiger & Woods - Gin Nation [320 kbps, DivShare]

And here's the original masterpiece in case you weren't sure of the original and/or would like to do a comparison. Too bad the quality of all YouTube clips of Music And Lights is so low.

Party Lights

Party Lights x 2. The first track is one of the latest tunes Kim Tolliver cut before she gave up the music business for good. It's a solid boogie joint, nothing above par but she's got a great, strong voice. One of those voices that should have brought her appreciation and success besides soul music collectors but for some reason that never happened. The other track is a great edit of First Love's killer boogie cut Party Lights. I love the original but Liquid Pegasus does a good job with the edit.

Kim Tolliver - Party Lights [320 kbps, DivShare]

First Love - Party Lights (Liquid Pegasus Cement Shoes Remix) [320 kbps, DivShare]

The Carstairs - It Really Hurts Me Girl (1979 Tom Moulton Remix)

I was browsing through my HD looking for some northern soul and I came across to a wonderful alternative Tom Moulton mix of the all-time northern soul groover, It Really Hurts Me Girl. This file isn't my own rip and I wasn't able to identify the original audio source for sure.

Discogs has one entry for the remix and it's on a rather new CD compilation but there's no entries on vinyl. The file name says 1979 remix. My friend Google who's deep in the northern soul game said that there is a UK 12" maxi single with two Tom Moulton remixes so I guess this one is either one of those. The ones who know the history of these alternative mixes, please educate me. Anyways, it's a solid version of a classic northern soul dancer.

The Carstairs - It Really Hurts Me Girl (1979 Tom Moulton Remix) [320 kbps, DivShare]

Eddie Drennon & The B.B.S. Unlimited - Do It Nice And Easy

Do It Nice And Easy has to be one of the coolest cuts in the history of latin hustle music. Disco Deviance released just recently Greg Wilson's awesome disco edit of this classic and I'm loving it. The edit works like magic with hot vocals from Donna Summer's Love To Love You Baby. The flipside of the 10th Disco Deviance 12" features Unwind Your Mind i.e. a fresh Greg Wilson edit of Touchdown's Ease Your Mind.

By the way Disco Deviance's excellent mix over at Cosmic Boogie is definitely worth a listen.

Eddie Drennon & The B.B.S. Unlimited - Do It Nice & Easy (With Love) (Greg Wilson Edit) [320 kbps, DivShare]

Eddie Drennon & The B.B.S. Unlimited - Do It Nice And Easy [320 kbps, DivShare]

Todd Terje edits

Norway's crown prince of disco edits, Todd Terje, will throw a dj set in Helsinki next weekend. In anticipation of this, I decided to share a couple of his edits from the endless vault of sizzling hot Todd Terje edits. There's no need for introductions. Such QUALITY edits of classic tunes will speak for themselves.

Claudja Barry - I Wanna Dance (Todd Terje Edit) [320 kbps, DivShare]

Dee Dee Sharp Gamble - Easy Money (Todd Terje Rekutt) [320 kbps, DivShare]

P.S. Follow the link to check my earlier blog entries concerning Todd Terje.

Beatconductor appreciation

Southside Break Crew, Beatconductor, Beatfanatic, Jazzconductor, Discoconductor, Southside Connection... Ture Sjöberg has aliases for every occasion but the common denominator of his multifaceted work is fresh, high quality tunes. Here's a couple of my favorite joints from a few years back that I've been feeling lately.

Southside Connection - Make No Mistake (...To The Disco) [320 kbps, direct link]

Southside Break Crew - Freshest Jam [320 kbps, direct link]

EDIT: Download links removed upon request

Family Tree - Family Tree (Norman Cook Disco Edit)

It's been over two weeks since my last post and I'm honestly sorry about that. I really hate blogs that don't get updated often enough but I've been mad busy with all sorts of new things in my real life. Yes, I actually do have a real life outside the interwebs.

I'm back but only to give you a little treat before I head out but I'll promise to come by more often. What we have here is a great edit of Family Tree, a rare classic that's big in the northern soul scene. The edit is done by Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) and it came out in 2001 with the original cut on the flipside of the 12".

Family Tree - Family Tree (Norman Cook Disco Edit) [320 kbps, direct link]

Mr. Magic - Potential 1980 (Curtis Vodka's White Light Orchestra Edit)

I'm in the process of moving to another city. It's great to have a chance to move to a bigger city but the packing processs is a really schitty task. Anyways, while I was going through my stuff without getting anything done I found an unfamiliar looking USB memory stick. To my surprise it contained quite a few decent edits and some old blog house. The most positive surprise was Curtis Vodka's edit of Mr. Magic's Potential 1980, the holy grail of early disco rap. The ultra rare early Tony Pearson tune is a killer and so is the edit with 11 minutes of non-stop disco heat. It might be that this one's all over the blogosphere but at least I had slept on it so here you go.

Mr. Magic - Potential 1980 (Curtis Vodka's White Light Orchestra Edit) [320 kbps, direct link]

Patti Jo - Ain't No Love Lost

I don't know much about Patti Jo but what I do know is that she's done great versions of Curtis Mayfield's classics Ain't No Love Lost and Make Me Believe In You. The first one was released by Scepter in 1972 and the latter by Scepter's subsidiary Wand a year later. Both were originally released only as a 7" but Tom Moulton made a great extended version of Make Me Believe In You for Scepter's compilation Disco Gold. The same edit appears on this essential Tom Moulton compilation.

Patti Jo - Ain't No Love Lost [320 kbps, direct link]

Patti Jo - Make Me Believe In You (A Tom Moulton Mix) [320 kbps, direct link]

The Fatback Band - Street Dance

Street Dance is an excellent piece of funk from the early days (1972) of The Fatback Band. This opening track of Let's Do It Again has all those great elements that make up the funky sound of The Fatback Band. A unique drum sound by Bill Curtis, great guitar hooks and horns and a nice bouncing bass that makes the groove go on and on. Todd Terje has done a great edit that stays loyal to the original but beefs up the beat and extends the tune just the right way. Great work from him as usual.

The Fatback Band - Street Dance [320 kbps, direct link]

The Fatback Band - Street Dance (Todd Terje Rekutt) [320 kbps, direct link]

Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (Rapson Edit)

I posted the phenomenal DJ Day Edit of What's Going On about a week ago. Since I recently bought the Rapson Edits 12" as well I thought I would make a post about it also since they go well together.

Mark Rapson, a well established UK based keyboard player/producer, has created three solid re-edits (Mercy Mercy Me, Grapevine, The Real Thing) from the original multi tracks of these classics. Grapevine and The Real Thing are nice, extended edits but Mercy Mercy Me is the one that really stands out. The edits are out and available on a 12" but act like you know since the record seems to be out of stock in quite a few stores.

Marvin Gaye has been remixed, covered etc. always but it's funny that these two edits (DJ Day Edit and Rapson Edit) came out almost simultaneously and they are so much alike. Both edits are respectful to the original but still succeed in adding that little extra to a classic song.

Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (Rapson Edit) [320 kbps, DivShare]

Top 8 of 2008

Lists are always fun to make but many times I end up forgetting something obvious from the lists and it drives me crazy. We'll see what I forgot this time.

I didn't buy a lot of new releases last year but anyways I picked eight albums and eight singles that first came to my mind as the strongest ones released in 2008. Thanks for 2008. Hopefully 2009 will be even better.

Albums

1. Menahan Street Band - Make The Road By Walking

2. Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It

3. Q-Tip - The Renaissance

4. Hercules And Love Affair - Hercules And Love Affair

5. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

6. The Five Corners Quintet - Hot Corner

7. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah

8. El Michels Affair - Sounding Out The City (Digi-LP)

Singles

1. Menahan Street Band - Make The Road By Walking

2. DJ Mujava - Township Funk

3. Mayer Hawthorne & The County - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out

4. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (DJ Day Edit)

5. Bounce Camp - Big Dancin

6. The Bladerunnners - Champ (Club Mix)

7. Estelle - Come Over (only the version without Sean Paul will do)

8. Erykah Bady - Honey (DJ Day Edit)

Since two great edits by DJ Day made their way to the list, I'll share his latest and greatest edit so far.

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (DJ Day Edit) [320 kbps, DivShare]

Stevie Wonder - Superstition (Todd Terje Edit)

Klas asked me via email whether I could re-up Todd Terje's edit of Superstition that I posted back in September since the link is broken. The answer is hell yeah. This is such a superb tune that I'm happy to share it again. Enjoy!

Stevie Wonder - Superstition (Todd Terje Edit) [320 kbps]

Paul Nice - Journey To The Centre Of The Beats

Paul Nice is one of those talented DJs/producers that are consistently putting out excellent stuff but never get enough props for their work. If you aren't familiar with Paul Nice you got a lot of listening to do. Check out his excellent mixtapes Soul On The Grill vol 1 & 2, Sade Blends, Breaks For Days...the list is long.

The tracks that I'm sharing today are taken from Journey To The Centre Of The Beats released by Antidote Records in 2004. The mixtape contains some freestyles, blends and remixes. It's not as soild as Paul Nice's other stuff but the dubbed remix/mash-up of The Message impressed me back in the day and it still works for me. It really takes balls to change the beats of a Grandmaster Flash joint but Paul Nice pulls it off in style.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message (Paul Nice's Super Duty Bootleg Mash-Up) [320 kbps]

Sugarhill Gang - Paul Nice's Megamix [320 kbps]

Videos courtesy of MTV's music search.

In The Mix...Stevie Wonder

Here's a couple of my favorite Stevie Wonder edits/remixes. It's hard to rework on such classics without raping them but these guys have really done it right. It takes a lot of skills and love for music to get it right.

Stevie Wonder - Superstition (Todd Terje Edit) [320 kbps, zShare]

Todd Terje is a master of re-edits. He seems to be able to take any classic tune, rework on it heavily and still make it work.

Stevie Wonder - Uptight (B.Cause Fraze Ruff Ride Refix) [320 kbps, zShare]

DJ B.Cause, one of my favorite DJ's around, has done an excellent uptempo remix of Uptight that's heavy on the bass.

Stevie Wonder - All I Do (U-Tern Disco Edit) [320 kbps, zShare]

This one's amazing. A solid disco/boogie version by DJ U-Tern. It has a nice and long intro and outro making it dj friendly.

Gwen Guthrie appreciation

During the last couple of weeks I've been really feeling Gwen Guthrie's solo material so I decided to devote a post to her. I should devote this post also to Larry Levan's mixing and Sly & Robbie's production because those are the key elements that make these tunes excellent.

It Should Have Been You (Larry Levan Mix) - Gwen Guthrie [320 kbps, zShare]

Padlock (Larry Levan Mix) - Gwen Guthrie [320 kbps, zShare]

Seventh Heaven (Larry Levan) - Gwen Guthrie [320 kbps, zShare]

Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent (Larry Levan Mix) - Gwen Guthrie [320 kbps, zShare]

These two songs are courtesy of DJ U-Tern. The first one is a great edit of this one and the second one is a banging blend.

Peanut Butter (DJ U-Tern Edit) - Gwen Guthrie [320 kbps, zShare]

Gwen Guthrie vs. Daft Punk (Club Version) - DJ U-Tern [320 kbps, zShare]