Tag: 1987

Exposé – Point Of No Return (All New Mixes!) (US 12″ Promo)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1987

NEW 2024 Transfer
New Meticulous Audio Restoration

Originally posted November 3, 2011

“Point of No Return” is a single by the American pop group Exposé. Written and produced by Lewis Martineé.

Exposé was initially formed in 1984 when Lewis Martineé, a Miami disc jockey and producer, decided to form a dance-based group. Working with his partners Ismael Garcia and Frank Diaz at Pantera Productions, talent scouts hired Sandra Casañas (Sandeé), Alejandra Lorenzo (Alé), and Laurie Miller as the group’s lineup, under the title X-Posed. The next year, the trio recorded “Point of No Return” for Pantera Records as a 12-inch vinyl single, which became a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. The song helped to introduce a still-popular genre of music that became known as freestyle, which often features keyboard riffs, a sing-along chorus, and electro-funk drum-machine patterns in the music arrangement. The success of “Point of No Return” quickly led Exposé to sign with Arista/BMG Records, which promptly assumed distribution of the 12-inch vinyl single.

During the recording of the group’s first studio album Exposure, the personnel of the group changed. Reports vary based on the source. According to People magazine, one of the original singers quit while two of the girls were fired midway through the recording of the first album, but according to Billboard, all three were fired. Arista Records felt that the three original singers lacked star potential. Martinee states that he made the decision himself to replace the three girls, while Miller maintains it was all their choice, and Jurado confirms that Lorenzo wanted to leave. Shortly thereafter, Casañas pursued a solo career and Lorenzo pursued other ambitions; they were replaced by Jeanette Jurado and Gioia Bruno. Miller began a solo career; she was replaced by Ann Curless.

In February 1987, the new lineup of Exposé released its debut album, Exposure, on Arista Records. Notably, unlike many classic girl groups, Exposé alternated lead vocals among its members. During the summer of 1987, a re-recorded version of “Point of No Return” was released, with Jurado performing lead vocals, and it topped out at #5 on the Hot 100 in July 1987. While the initial distribution of Exposure to Suppliers contained the original 1984 version of that song, subsequent pressings contained the new vocal version; this has led to the original pressings of the album being considered a collector’s item.

“It’s just a little song about loving somebody to the point of no return,” said songwriter Lewis Martineé when asked if there was a deeper meaning to the song. “I just liked the title ‘Point Of No Return,’ so I decided to write a song around that. Then I started coming up with the beats and the synthesizer lines and then both melody and words. I wrote that song so fast it was crazy, like, literally 15 minutes. But then I didn’t like the bridge and I changed it. I’m glad I did because the bridge actually came out really good at the end.”

The music video for the song was directed by Ralph Ziman, and included the new 1987 lineup of Jeanette Jurado, Gioia Bruno and Ann Curless receiving heavy rotation on MTV and VH-1.

  • “Dub Of No Return (Strikes Again)” was not included on the 2015 Cherry Pop CD Deluxe Edition of the LP “Exposure”.

SIDE A:
Point Of No Return (Extended Mix) 9:42
Mixed By – Lewis A. MartineéMike CouzziRick “Billy Bob” Alonso*

SIDE B:
Point Of No Return (Crossover Mix) 5:48
Mixed By – Chris Lord-Algé*Lewis A. Martineé

Dub Of No Return (Strikes Again) 6:33
Mixed By – Lewis A. MartineéMike CouzziRick “Billy Bob” Alonso*

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1987 Point Of No Return U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #5
1987 Point Of No Return U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles #39

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Arista – ADI-9580, Arista – AD1-9580
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Promo, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic
Style: Freestyle, Electro, Hi NRG, Latin

CREDITS:

NOTES:
Produced & arranged for Pantera Productions.
A1 & B2 mixed at Criteria Studios, Miami.
B1 mixed at The Hit Factory, NYC.

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus:  Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp:
Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC:
Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning
: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans
: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!

Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.



Simon F – American Dream (Australia 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1987

“American Dream” was the first single taken from the second studio LP “Never Never Land” by British musician Simon Fellowes (Simon F) on Reprise Records in 1987. “American Dream” made a short two-week run on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #91 before disappearing. The single was co-produced by Phil Thornalley (Johnny Hates Jazz, The Cure), and Tom Lord-Alge.

The “Extended Version” was only released on 12″ single in Australia.

The video for “American Dream” was directed by Peter Care and was banned by MTV for its portrayal of an interracial romance.

SIDE A:
American Dream (Extended Version) 8:47
Producer, Engineer – Philip Thornalley*

SIDE B:
Love Bomb 4:03
American Dream (7″ Version) 4:53
Producer – Simon F.*
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By –  Tom Lord-Alge

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1987 American Dream U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #91

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Reprise Records – 0-20800
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Single, 45 RPM
Country: Australia
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Written-By –Simon F.*

NOTES:
From the LP “NEVER NEVER LAND”

Housed in a Reprise Records sleeve.

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus:  Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp:
Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC:
Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning
: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans
: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!

Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.



Ava Cherry – Good Intentions (US 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1987

“Good Intentions” is a 1987 single by American singer and model Ava Cherry. She collaborated with English musician David Bowie between 1972 and 1975; the two met in New York City when she was a nightclub waitress and Bowie was touring for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Afterwards, they began a period of personal and artistic collaboration that heavily influenced the Young Americans “blue-eyed soul” era. Following this, she struck out as a solo singer and backing artist for musicians such as Luther Vandross and Chaka Khan.

“Good Intentions” was the first single taken from her third and most successful studio LP “Picture This” (1987). “Good Intentions” debuted on the Billboard Dance Chart on August 8, 1987, peaking at #16 after spending eight weeks on the survey.

SIDE A:
Good Intentions (Two Left Shoes Mix) 7:39
Producer – Glen Ballard
Producer [In Association With] – Spencer Proffer
Remix, Producer [Additional Production] – Andy Wallace
Written-By – C. MagnessG. Ballard

SIDE B:
Good Intentions (Dub Mix) 6:46
Producer – Glen Ballard
Producer [In Association With] – Spencer Proffer
Remix, Producer [Additional Production] – Andy Wallace
Written-By – C. MagnessG. Ballard

Majic Castle 3:30
Producer – Spencer Proffer
Written-By – Jon Butcher

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1987 Good Intentions U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play #16

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Capitol Records – V-15308
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Single, 45 RPM, Red, Transparent
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul
Style: Synth-pop, Funk

NOTES:
Original version appears on the LP “Picture Me”
Produced for Pasha

Pressed on Red Translucent Vinyl

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus:  Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp:
Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC:
Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning
: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans
: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!

Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.



Michael Jackson – The Way You Make Me Feel (Special 12″ Single Mixes) (US 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1987

“The Way You Make Me Feel” is a song by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records on November 9, 1987, as the third single from his seventh studio album, Bad. It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones and Jackson.

The song received positive reviews from contemporary critics. “The Way You Make Me Feel” became Bad’s third consecutive single to peak at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and charted mainly within the top ten and twenty internationally. A music video for the song was released at the time, showing Jackson pursuing and dancing with model Tatiana Thumbtzen.

The song has been performed on all of Jackson’s world concert tours as a solo artist and was planned to have been performed during the This Is It concerts from 2009 to 2010. Notable live performances of the song by Jackson include at the 30th Grammy Awards (1988).

“The Way You Make Me Feel” generally charted within the top ten and top twenty positions on music charts worldwide. The song climbed to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart’s issue date of December 26, 1987. After charting within the top ten for five weeks, the song peaked at number one on the Hot 100 on January 23, 1988. “The Way You Make Me Feel” became the album’s third consecutive single to reach number one on the Hot 100. The song charted on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at number nine, and on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi Single Sales chart at the peak of number three. The song also charted at number one on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart and Dance Club Play Singles chart.

The song entered the United Kingdom singles charts at number sixteen on December 5, 1987. The following week the song moved up thirteen spaces to number three, which was the song’s peak position. The song stayed at its peak position for two consecutive weeks, and remained on the country’s chart for ten weeks, before falling out of the top 100 positions, only to re-enter the charts two weeks later.

The song has sold over 2 million digital copies as of August 2018.

The music video for “The Way You Make Me Feel” was directed by Joe Pytka and was filmed in June 1987 at Skid Row, Los Angeles. It was choreographed by Jackson and Vincent Paterson. The short version of the video is six minutes and forty-four seconds long and the full version is nine minutes and thirty-three seconds long. The video begins with a group of men trying to pick up women, but failing. One of the men, Jackson, is told to go home and not to hang around with the other guys anymore. When Jackson walks home, an elderly man (played by Joe Seneca), who is sitting on the steps of his house, tells him to just be himself. Jackson notices a woman, played by model/dancer Tatiana Thumbtzen, walking down the streets alone.

Shortly after, Jackson walks out of an alley and stands in front of Thumbtzen while she is walking down the street. However, she ignores him and keeps walking, which prompts the other guys to make fun of him. Jackson shouts at them, which gets the attention of everyone, including Thumbtzen. After walking up to her, Jackson begins singing “The Way You Make Me Feel” to her while also dancing. Uninterested, Thumbtzen walks away. He follows her, having been cheered on by his friends to pursue her. This leads to the man to continue to pursue the woman throughout the neighborhood. The video ends with the man eventually winning the woman over, and embracing her, while a fire hydrant sprays out water. The videoclip features an appearance by his sister La Toya as one of Thumbtzen’s friends.

The music video was released on October 31, 1987, and received one nomination at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards Ceremony. The video, alongside Jackson’s “Bad” video, was nominated for Best Choreography, but lost to Jackson’s younger sister Janet’s video “The Pleasure Principle”.

The music video was included on the video albums: Video Greatest Hits – HIStory (long version on DVD and short version on VHS), Number Ones (short version), Michael Jackson’s Vision (long version) and the Target version DVD of Bad 25 (long version).

The introduction of the full version of the video also samples the Roy Ayers 1985 song “Hot” (written by Binky Brice, Philip Hunter Field and James Mtume) from his You Might Be Surprised album.

SIDE A:
The Way You Make Me Feel (Dance Extended Mix) 7:53
The Way You Make Me Feel (Dance Remix Radio Edit) 5:22

SIDE B:
The Way You Make Me Feel (Dub Version) 5:05
The Way You Make Me Feel (A Cappella) 4:30

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1987 The Way You Make Me Feel U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #1
1987 The Way You Make Me Feel U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary #9
1987 The Way You Make Me Feel U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play #1
1987 The Way You Make Me Feel U.S. Billboard Hot DanceMusic/Maxi-Singles Sales #3
1987 The Way You Make Me Feel U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles #1

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Epic – 49 07487
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Single
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul, Pop
Style: Dance-pop, Contemporary R&B

CREDITS:

NOTES:
Produced […] for Quincy Jones Productions.
Co-Produced […] for MJJ Productions.

Dedicated to Andrea Patel of Canada.
I love you.
Michael Jackson.

Special Versions From The EPIC Lp “BAD”

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus:  Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp:
Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC:
Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning
: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans
: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!

Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.