Author: DjPaulT

Brenda K. Starr – Pickin’ Up Pieces (US 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1985

“Pickin’ Up Pieces” is the lead single from Brenda K. Starr’s debut album, I Want Your Love, released in 1985 by Mirage Records. The song was produced by Arthur Baker, who co-wrote it with Lotti Golden. The single, released in 1985, was a sizable hit on the Dance/Club Songs chart. It reached a peak of #9 on that chart the same year, and also managed to chart on the R&B chart at the time – reaching a peak of #83.

The single was an early Freestyle release – marked with syncopated rhythms and intense synthetic production. Lyrically, the song is about “Picking up the pieces” and moving on after a failed relationship.

SIDE A:
Pickin’ Up Pieces (Vocal / Long Version) 6:38

SIDE B:
Pickin’ Up Pieces (Dub Mix) 6:28

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1985 Pickin’ Up Pieces U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play #9
1985 Pickin’ Up Pieces U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop #83

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Mirage (2) – 0-96873
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Maxi-Single
Country: US
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic
Style: Freestyle, Electro

CREDITS:
Design [Generic Atlantic Jacket] – Lynn Dreese Breslin
Lacquer Cut By –  sf
Producer, Executive-Producer, Written-By – Arthur Baker
Written-By – Lottie Golden

NOTES:
Special version of Mirage LP 90284 – “BRENDA K. STARR”
Printed in U.S.A.

This variation is for the Specialty pressing.

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
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.



Breakfast Club – Right On Track (US 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1987

“Right on Track” is a 1987 hit single by the American band Breakfast Club. Written by the band’s lead singer and drummer, Dan Gilroy and Stephen Bray respectively, the single climbed to number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart on May 30, 1987. The single also peaked at number 54 on the UK Singles Chart and number seven on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart that same year.

SIDE A:
Right On Track (Midtown Mix) 7:11
Engineer [Assistant Engineer] –John Hegedes
Engineer [Remix Engineer] – Michael Hutchinson
Remix, Programmed By [Drum Programming] –Jellybean*

Right On Track (Midtown Dub) 5:37
Engineer [Assistant Engineer] –John Hegedes
Engineer [Remix Engineer] – Michael Hutchinson
Remix, Programmed By [Drum Programming] –Jellybean*

Right On Track (Canal Street Mix) 4:53
Remix [Remixed By] –  Chris Lord Alge*

Right On Track (14th Street Mix) 6:04
Remix [Remixed By] – Chris Lord Alge*

SIDE B:
Right On Track (Uptown Mix) 6:20
Remix –  Timmy Regisford

Right On Track (Uptown Dub) 6:30
Remix –  Timmy Regisford

Right On Track (Local Mix/LP Version) 4:33
Mixed By – Ian Eales, Michael Verdick, Stephen Bray

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1987 Right On Track U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #7
1987 Right On Track U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play #7

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: MCA Records – MCA-23687
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Single
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Style: Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Art Direction –  Jeff Adamoff
Design – Steele Works*, Tommy Steele (2)
Illustration –  Todd Schorr
Mixed By – Ian Eales, Michael Verdick
Producer – Jimmy Iovine
Recorded By – Joe Chiccarelli, Michael Frondelli

NOTES:
From the LP “BREAKFAST CLUB”

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable:Technics SL-1200 MK7
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
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.



Alan Rankine 1958-2023

 

Today we have lost one of my favorite artists from one of my favorite bands Alan Rankine of the Scottish band The Associates has died at age 64.

Alan Rankine, one-half of the celebrated Scottish indie band the Associates, has died aged 64. The news was confirmed on Tuesday by his sons, Callum and Hamish, who wrote on Facebook that their father “died peacefully at home shortly after spending Christmas with his family”, describing him as “a beautiful, kind and loving man who will be sorely missed”.

Born in Stirlingshire in 1958, Rankine formed the Associates in 1979 with singer Billy Mackenzie, having made early recordings with him under the name Mental Torture. Rankine and Mackenzie initially broke through with a cover of David Bowie’s Boys Keep Swinging, which itself had been a hit in the UK mere weeks earlier. The attention the pair got from the cover resulted in a record deal with Fiction, and a year later they released The Affectionate Punch, their debut album. Two years later, they followed it up with Sulk, a surprise success that spent 20 weeks on the UK albums chart.

Shortly after the release of Sulk, Rankine left the Associates and began working as a producer and session musician, collaborating with influential no-wave musician Anna Domino on her albums East & West and Anna Domino, and producing Cocteau Twins’ 1983 EP Peppermint Pig. During the latter half of the 1980s, he also released three solo albums: 1986’s The World Begins to Look Her Age, 1987’s She Loves Me Not and 1989’s The Big Picture Sucks.

In his life, Rankine had an outsized influence on indie music in Scotland and beyond: the experimental, wide-reaching sound of the Associates, as well as of the acts Rankine later went on to produce, proved to be widely influential, with Björk citing Sulk as one of her formative influences. He also helped set up Electric Honey, an in-house label at Glasgow’s Stow College, which went on to release records by Belle and Sebastian and Snow Patrol, among others.