BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1988
“Straight Up” is a 1988 hit single by American singer and choreographer Paula Abdul.
“Straight Up” was the third single released from her debut album Forever Your Girl, after “Knocked Out” and “(It’s Just) The Way That You Love Me”. While the latter was enjoying success on the R&B charts, radio station KMEL in San Francisco started playing “Straight Up” from the album. The label decided to abandon “(It’s Just) The Way That You Love Me” and refocus its attention on “Straight Up”. The strategy paid off, as “Straight Up” was followed by three more number-one hits from the same album.
In the US, “Straight Up” reached the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 by February 11, 1989, where it stayed for three consecutive weeks. “Straight Up” was one of the most popular R&B and dance-pop singles of the entire year, remaining in the Top 10 for seven weeks, the Top 20 for nine weeks, and the Top 40 for sixteen weeks. The success of “Straight Up” catapulted the “Forever Your Girl” album into the top 20 on the album chart. 2 more number-one hits from the album boost it up further into the top 5 where it lingered before it finally reached the pole position in October after a record-setting 64 weeks on the market.
SIDE A:
Straight Up (Kevin Saunderson Mix) 6:51
Remix – Ben Grosse, Kevin Saunderson
SIDE B:
Straight Up (Ultimix) 6:57
Remix – Bradley D. Hinkle, Les Massengale
Straight Up (Marley Marl Mix) 6:29
Remix – Marley Marl
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint (company)
CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Straight Up | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #1 |
| 1988 | Straight Up | U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary | #39 |
| 1988 | Straight Up | U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Singles | #3 |
| 1988 | Straight Up | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club/Play | #2 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Virgin Records America, Inc. – DMD 1295
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Promo, 45 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1988
Genre: Electronic
Style: House, Synth-pop
Credits: Co-producer – Keith Cohen
Producer – Elliot Wolff
NOTES:
Original version appears on the LP
“FOREVER YOUR GIRL”
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
TY
Thanks for this one Paul. If you get the chance to post the other mixes that would be great. Don’t hurry though. I know you are busy and we appreciate the effort that you put into these posts.
Straight Up is Billboard’s #4 Pop Single for 1989 (Cold Hearted was ranked #6), and Paula was ranked the Top Pop and Top Dance Female Artist. Forever Your Girl is the first debut album to yield four #1 singles, and it took the slowest climb to top the Billboard 200 chart. It first crawled to the top for a week on its 61st week in the chart, and then returned to the summit again on its 81st week for nine more. Paula also broke Connie Francis’ 28 year-old record when she clocked up 68 consecutive weeks with at least one… Read more »
The quality of this 12″ promo is really bad.there is a lot of sibilance through the recording and that cannot be fixed unfortunately.
Do you have the original 12″ US? there are two different ones and they do not have sibilance.
Yeah Sergio it’s not a good pressing I tried to remove the sibilance without much luck. I have several US 12″ copies of this tune i’ll see if I have the other promo.
Hi Paul,
No need to be a promo the original 12″ US has a great sound.
Thanks!
Thanks for posting this! I didn’t even know there were 2 Kevin remixes for Straight Up. I had only ever heard the “House Mix,” which I still love. If my memory serves me well and correctly, this was one of the first times tempo/pitch adjustment technology had been used on a mainstream pop song/remix. Bumped it up from +/- 96 bpm to 116/118, which was extremely cool back then! Nobody ever seems to mention or remember that… just like the Virgin folks didn’t know how to spell Kevin’s last name correctly on this release. (It was right on the House… Read more »
You’re welcome Chiko Chevere I learned something new 🙂
hello great post,by the way don´t you have Tears For Fears – Suffer The Children 12″, thanks
I remember the first time I heard this song on the radio, and Paula’s “Forever Your Girl” album was one of the first CDs I ever got. Strangely enough, just a few days ago I was looking for the 12-inch mixes of this song. I found a rip of the CD single, but this vinyl rip is definitely better! 🙂
Thank you Doug I think the Marley Marl mix is longer than the version on CD single.
You’re right, the CD version of the Marley Marl Mix is 4:40. The CD mixes are all different from the vinyl. The CD does not have the Saunderson mix or Ultimix, but does have the 12″ Remix (6:54), Power Mix (3:01), House Mix (5:13), and 12″ Remix Edit (5:36).
Thank you very much Paul!!!
You’re welcome Guss 🙂
great site by the way love it any chance off topic by the way that you could re up the band aid japan import special
regards dazz) mp3 will do if any
Maybe not til around Christmas time.
thats fine good man ill keep an eye up till then
Sweet! Marley Mark Mix!
Thanks paul 🙂
Thank you very much Paul!
You’re welcome Spring 🙂