Bananarama – I Can’t Help It (Remix) (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1988

REQUEST

“I Can’t Help It” is a song written and recorded by English girl group Bananarama. It is included on their fourth studio album Wow! and was released as its third single except in the U.S., where it was the album’s second single (following “I Heard a Rumour”) and Australia, where it was the album’s fourth single (after “I Want You Back”). The track was co-written and produced by the Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) trio.

The song is a disco-influenced pop tune similar to many hits produced by SAW during this time period

The single peaked at number twenty in the UK singles chart, #27 on the Australian ARIA chart (where it was released in August 1988 after I Want You Back), and just missed the top-forty on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. A hit in nightclubs, “I Can’t Help It” climbed to number seven on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart.

This is the final Bananarama single to feature Siobhan Fahey, who announced her departure shortly after its release.

The photos on the record sleeve were taken by famous American photographer Herb Ritts. The record sleeves for “I Can’t Help It” and “Love in the First Degree” were switched with each other for the UK and North American markets.

The song’s suggestive lyrics and music video further perpetuated Bananarama’s sensual visual image that the group began to incorporate with their previous album True Confessions.

The “I Can’t Help It” video featured muscle men dancing, colourful backdrops, and Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward in a milk bath filled with fruit and naked men. Siobhan Fahey, heavily pregnant at the time, also appears but was only shown on camera from the shoulders up. Music video directed by Andy Morahan.

SIDE A:
I Can’t Help It (The “Hammond” Version Excursion) 6:32

SIDE B:
Esctacy (Wild Style) 5:35

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

CHARTS:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1988	I Can’t Help It	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#47
1988	I Can’t Help It	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music\Club Play	#7

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: London Records
Catalog#: NANXR 15
Format: Vinyl, 12″
Country: UK
Released: 1988
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop
Credits: Design [Sleeve Designed – Assisted] – Andrew Biscomb
Design [Sleeve Designed] – Peter Barrett (3)
Producer – Stock/Aitken/Waterman*
Remix – Pete Hammond

NOTES:
Special versions from the LP “WOW”

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 20
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

June 14, 2011

Patrick Cowley Featuring Sylvester – Do Ya Wanna Funk (US 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1982

REQUEST

Sylvester James (September 6, 1947 – December 16, 1988), better known as Sylvester, was an American disco and soul singer, and a gay drag performer. Sylvester was sometimes known as the “Queen of Disco,” although this moniker has also been bestowed on some of the women of the disco era (i.e. Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer). His most significant works are the songs “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”, “Dance (Disco Heat)” (both 1978) and “Do You Wanna Funk” (1982).

Patrick Joseph Cowley (October 19, 1950 – November 12, 1982) was a disco and Hi-NRG dance music composer and recording artist. He recorded in a style that has drawn comparisons to that of Giorgio Moroder and is often credited with pioneering electronic dance music.

Patrick Cowley met San Francisco-based musician Sylvester in the late 1970s. Sylvester had asked Cowley to join his studio band after hearing some of his early synthesizer recordings. In 1982 “Do You Wanna Funk” was released on the Megatone Records label and quickly entered the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart peaking at #4. In the UK “Do You Wanna Funk” entered the top 40 peaking at #32.

SIDE A:
Do Ya Wanna Funk 6:50

SIDE B:
Do Ya Wanna Funk (Instrumental Version) 6:50
Do Ya Wanna Funk (Radio Version) 3:29

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Cover: Near Mint (Company Sleeve)

CHARTS:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1982	Do You Wanna Funk	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	#4

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Megatone Records
Catalog#: MT 102
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1982
Genre: Electronic
Style: Hi-NRG, Disco
Credits: Arranged By [Vocals], Vocals, Lyrics By – Sylvester
Artwork By [Lithography] – David Willers
Artwork By [Logo & Graphics] – Jim Saunders
Producer [Associate] – Marty Blecman
Producer, Music By – Patrick Cowley

Find The 12″ on DISCOGS

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

June 13, 2011

Bananarama – More Than Physical (US 12″ Promo)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1986

REQUEST

“More Than Physical” is a song written and performed by English girl group Bananarama. It was one of two tracks on the group’s True Confessions album produced by the Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) trio instead of Jolley & Swain. The album version of the track is different from the single.

In order to capitalize on the number-one success of previous single “Venus” (the other True Confessions track produced by SAW), “More Than Physical” was given a Hi-NRG-influenced make-over to sound similar to the dance-oriented chart-topper.

Even with heavy exposure on MTV, “More Than Physical” did not duplicate the success of “Venus”, stalling at number forty-one on the UK singles chart and number seventy-three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It was a top-forty success in Australia, where it peaked at number twenty-eight in the ARIA chart. Its biggest success was in nightclubs, and “More Than Physical” became a top-five hit on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart.

“More Than Physical” was featured in the 1986 British film Rita, Sue and Bob Too starring Michelle Holmes and Siobhan Finneran. The song is featured in the scene where the girls are babysitting for Bob and Michelle, and they dance around the living room while the video to “More Than Physical” plays on the television.

The bassline of the track is derivative of the 70’s disco hit “Boogie Oogie Oogie” by A Taste Of Honey.

The remixed single version’s music video further capitalized on Bananarama’s new glamorous and sexy visual image by including several well-muscled, topless men in a montage of shots of the group members. Some of the shots were made with colored filters, and are juxtaposed with tightly cropped shots of body parts or movements in slow motion.

SIDE A:
More Than Physical (Muscle Mix) 10:00
Remix – Ian Levine

SIDE B:
More Than Physical (Garage Mix) 8:45
More Than Physical (Dub) 4:58

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Cover: Mint (Generic)

CHARTS:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1986	More Than Physical	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#73
1986	More Than Physical	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music\Club Play	#5

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: London Records
Catalog#: PRO 4601
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Promo, 33 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1986
Genre: Electronic
Style: Hi NRG, Synth-pop
Credits: Producer – Stock/Aitken/Waterman*
Written-By – Woodward*, Dallin*, Fahey*, Stock/Aitken/Waterman*

NOTES:
Promotional Not For Sale
Produced for P.W.L. Productions
Original version on the London album #422 828 013-1 R-1 “True Confesssions”

Find The 12″ on DISCOGS

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

June 7, 2011

Rufus & Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody (Remix) (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1989

“Ain’t Nobody” is a 1983 hit single by Rufus & Chaka Khan. It was released as a studio bonus track on the band’s live album Stompin’ at the Savoy. It reached number one on the U.S. R&B chart and twenty-two on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It has become one of Khan’s signature songs.

Rufus keyboardist David “Hawk” Wolinski wrote the song around a repeating synthesizer loop backed by a LinnDrum drum machine. Legendary producer Quincy Jones (who had previously worked with Rufus) wanted Wolinski to give “Ain’t Nobody” to Michael Jackson for the album that would become the blockbuster, Thriller, but Wolinski had already promised it to producer Russ Titelman, who ultimately had the band record it as a vocal showcase for Khan.

The song was also included in the soundtrack of the movie Breakin’.

House music pioneer Frankie Knuckles remixed the record for Chaka Khan’s Life Is a Dance – The Remix Project (the first-ever double album of outside remixes of a single artist’s catalogue) in 1988. This remix is regarded as the first example of what would become Knuckles’ (and business partner David Morales’) “Def Classic Mix” style.

SIDE A:
Ain’t Nobody (LP Remix Version) 4:24
Engineer [Remix] – John Poppo
Engineer [Assistant] – Abdu Malahi
Producer – Russ Titelman
Percussion [Additional], Programmed By [Keyboards] – David Morales, Peter Swartz*
Written By – Hawk Wolinski
Remix, Producer [Additional] – Frankie Knuckles
Performed By: Rufus & Chaka Khan

SIDE B:
Ain’t Nobody (Hallucinogenic Version) 6:55
Engineer [Remix] – John Poppo
Engineer [Assistant] – Abdu Malahi
Producer – Russ Titelman
Percussion [Additional], Programmed By [Keyboards] – David Morales, Peter Swartz*
Written By – Hawk Wolinski
Remix, Producer [Additional] – Frankie Knuckles
Performed By: Rufus & Chaka Khan

I’m Every Woman (Dub Version) 4:58
Remix, Producer [Additional] – Dancin’ Danny D
Engineer [Remix] – Jerry Allom*
Written By – Ashford & Simpson
Producer – Arif Mardin
Edited By – Dancin’ Danny D, Steve Murrell
Performed By: Chaka Khan

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Cover: Near Mint

CHARTS:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1989	Ain’t Nobody (Remix)	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#22
1989	Ain’t Nobody (Remix)	U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Hip-Hop Songs	#1

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Catalog#: 921 269-0, W 2880 T
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1989
Genre: Electronic
Style: House, Disco

NOTES:
Remixed at Quantum, Jersey City & Shakedown, N.Y. (A, B1).
Taken from / Original version from the LP * Cassette * CD ‘Life Is A Dance – The Remix Project’.
Made In U.K.

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi