Tag: Pete Hammond

Musical Youth – Pass The Dutchie (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1982

A. Front

R E Q U E S T

“Pass the Dutchie” is a reggae song recorded by the British group Musical Youth from their 1982 album The Youth of Today. It was a major hit, holding the number one position on the UK singles charts for three weeks in October 1982.

The song was the band’s first release on a major label. It was a cover version of two songs: “Pass the Kouchie” and “Gimme the Music” by The Mighty Diamonds, which deals with the recreational use of cannabis, “kouchie” being slang for a cannabis pipe. For the cover version, the song’s title was bowdlerized to “Pass the Dutchie”, and all obvious drug references were removed from the lyrics; e.g., when the original croons “How does it feel when you got no herb?”, the cover version refers to “food” instead. “Dutchie” is used as a patois term to refer to a food cooking pot such as a Dutch oven in Jamaica and the Caribbean. It has since become a drug reference in itself, denoting a blunt stuffed with marijuana and rolled in a wrapper from a Dutch Masters cigar, since American and British listeners assumed that the term were a drug reference.

The song was first championed by radio DJ Zach Diezel and became an instant hit when it was picked up by MCA Records in September 1982. It debuted at #26 on the UK chart and rose to #1 the following week. In February of the following year, it reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the USA. The song also scored the #1 position in five other countries, eventually selling over 5 million copies worldwide.

SIDE A:
Pass The Dutchie (Special 12″ Club Version) 6:05
Producer – Peter Collins
Remix – Peter Hammond*
Written-By – F. Simpson*, Jackie Mittoo, L. Ferguson*

SIDE B:
Pass The Dutchie (Special Dub Mix) 4:40
Producer – Peter Collins
Remix – Peter Hammond*

Please Give Love A Chance 3:36
Producer, Written-By – Musical Youth

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

CHARTS:

Year Single Chart Position
1982 Pass The Dutchie U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #10
1982 Pass The Dutchie U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs #8
1982 Pass The Dutchie U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play #11

 

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: MCA Records – YOUT 1
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1982
Genre: Reggae
Style: Reggae, Reggae-Pop
Credits: Mastered By – JA*

NOTES:
“Pass The Dutchie” produced for Loose End Productions
Mastered at Tape One
The back side sleeve does not mention the “Special Dub Mix”.

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

B. Back

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

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