I don't put up much italo, but this came up in a box of US r'n'b and disco recently and despite the rarity of any european pressed italo of note appearing in a dollar bin out in California (doesn't really happen that often), I thought the instrumental of Gazebo's 'Masterpiece' had a dark electro rhythm and a melancholy, wistful sort of feel to it that appeals to me, so I'll throw it on the BE.

Now, for all this instrumental's great qualities, the parts of the arrangement I like are spread sparsely amongst some sort of epic piano and atypical italo cheeseball bits, it comes with the territory. Its well worth listening through all 13 minutes, it gets deep and electro percussion heavy in the last couple but to many a modern DJ's tastes it could perhaps benefit from an edit, I don't have time for that, the producer wrote it this way for a reason and there are only so many hours in the day, so one of you should edit this up, stick it up on your soundcloud with your name all over it and be a hero.

Gazebo - Masterpiece (Instrumental)

Here is a tight disco boogie jam especially for you. Have a great Labor Day weekend if you are one of the few that is employed; otherwise, enjoy vacation and the free tune.

Brief Encounter - We Want To Play

Bevin Fagan was most well known as the lead singer and producer of one of the UK's biggest reggae acts, Matumbi. Yet in his time he was involved with and influenced by all sorts of music that was going on in South London during the seventies and early eighties, even being part of a prog rock band named 'Stonehenge' even at one point in his youth.

Guardian Angel was a roots reggae project with his wife (or maybe sister) Sylvia Fagan on vocals. They put out a few lovers rock type singles, but if you flip the accompanying album over, the B side is mostly (and oddly) unique sounding funk and disco tracks, of which 'Last Funk' is the most left of center and hard hitting of all.

Through some miracle over the years I have managed to come across two copies of this LP from British reggae collectors who don't rate it as Fagan's best work and are turned off by the funk on the flip. One man's trash as they say. If you want my double hit me up.

Guardian Angel - Last Funk

Touche was one of the many projects of the Bronx's own Dennis Bell, then a much respected producer and keyboard session musician and now a significant figure in music education on the east coast, especially in the field of jazz piano. He was the studio wizard on a few early hip hop records, working with Doug E Fresh etc, but Wrap It Up and Just Like A Doorknob are probably his biggest solo dancefloor hits.

Wrap It Up has been posted far and wide before, and the vocoded vocals are excellent, but I never saw the instrumental floating around anywhere..so..here it is..

Touche - Wrap It Up (Vocal)

Touche - Wrap It Up (Instrumental)

Here is a great one-off jam from Cookie, who as far as I know only came together to make one 12" on Le Jazz records in 1982. Danny Weiss co-produced the track and also produced for The Players Association. This jam departs from disco and finds him in heavy boogie funk mode.


Cookie - Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover
Cookie - Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover (instrumental)

I spent the day wandering around the Soho district of London and found my way into a couple of record stores including the Soul Jazz Records hub, Sounds of The Universe. They had a deep collection of classic and new vinyl, but alas for obvious reasons I am going wax free on this particular journey overseas. I later walked into another shop and heard a solid classic house compilation from the early 90's playing on the PA and snatched it up. The House Nation comp is probably my first cd purchase in over ten years and in the spirit of my moment of devolution I am posting a few highlights from the disc.

Also check the sidebar for my Paris DJ sets next week. Je veux voir tous vos beaux visages.

Phase II - Reachin'
Rhythim is Rhythim - Strings of Life
The Todd Terry Project - Weekend

I don't know why we never posted this before (maybe we did), but here is the classic cut off of The Jammer's first self titled 1982 Salsoul released album. One of the few standout albums of the genre that hits hard from start to finish, you pick just about any track off of that and throw it up on the internet, but Be Mine Tonight has the most recognizable hook of the bunch. Richie Weeks and a prime Shep Pettibone both had a hand in this, with pretty much an all star instrumental lineup provided by Salsoul.

The Jammers - Be Mine Tonight

This is what happens when you mix a funk band, a freestyle producer, and Miami together. Pretty Tony produced this record in 1983. It has a an proto Miami bass beat mixed with a smorgasbord of sounds and effects; and somehow it works.

Freestyle Express - Freestyle

Maybe Florida's most prolific R'n'B writer and producer, Eugene Wilde came from a musical family, including still performing favorite Dee Dee Wilde, and had some solo success including an r'n'b chart #1 on Philly World Records in the early 80's. After moving from the limelight for a while and behind the mixing boards, he found himself writing smashes for the Backstreet Boys, Brittany Spears and Victoria Beckham in the early 2000's. Now he is back releasing independent modern soul singles out of Scandanavia.

'Personality' was Eugene's second or third single, coming out in 1984. This is the cleverly titled 'Split' mix, a proto house garagey dub version that came out on the 4th & Broadway issued UK release. A pleasant backdrop for this hot weather.

Eugene Wilde - Personality (Split)

Bronner Brothers - Pretty Boys

Mazarati are known for being an early Minneapolis based Prince produced side project, starring Prince And The Revolution bassist Mark Brown (also known by the bizarre stage name BrownMark). They put out two albums, Mazarati I & II, but are better known for the songs that Prince wrote for them, then took back after hearing the bands demos when he realized the songs had real potential to make some loot.

Amongst the weird and wonderful world of the Prince bootleg collector community, cassette tapes of early Mazarati studio sessions and unreleased material have long been prized. 'Little Mazarati', a mock up of a sort of title track for the band, was never released, and comes from such a traded stolen studio session tape, which then eventually made it onto a Prince Bootleg CD-r compilation in the late 1990's (hence its 128kps, which was standard back then in the olden days of dial up modems and ambient drum'n'bass).

This is some low-fi indie, stripped down boogie funk rock by one of the all time grand masters.

Mazarati - Little Mazarati

The saxophone is very much maligned instrument for good reason. In most instances, it can spread so much smooth cheese that it is difficult to taste the funk. Here are some sax heavy cuts that are pretty palatable for a Sunday afternoon pool party.

Marcus Miller was a session bass player and this cut is off his first record, 1983's Suddenly. There are good funky basslines all over this LP. The cheezy saxophone solo in this track adds a campy element against a backdrop of serious funk. Think of it as a workin' man's hand in a velvet glove.

Kenny G needs no introduction. The university trained accountant and full-time cheezmeister learned his chops by playing along with his Grover Washington Jr. records. His curly head adorned the cover of The Jeff Lorber Fusion's Wizard Island album in 1980 before he got his own record deal at Arista. This track is from Kenny's first record, which was produced by Lorber in 1982. 1982 was a banner year for soul and not even Kenny G could disappoint. This cut has some great sax work tightly intertwined some funky jangly guitar. Lorber lets loose with a janky synth solo to round out the whole package.

Markus Miller - Suddenly
Kenny G - Stop And Go

There are two Steve Harvey's and both have links to funk and R'n'B, there is the American born actor Steve Harvey who used to play a retired funk musician who teaches highschool in downtown Chicago in a short running sitcom back in 1999, and then there is Scottish born musician Steve Harvey who also lives in the US that produced two of the most perfect synth led proto house funk tunes of the early eighties. They make it hard to google one another.

Tonight and Something Special both have a contemporary quality to them, like they could have been produced in Paris yesterday by some up and coming producer on the current house or 'nu-funk' scene. Tonight gets slightly less shine, but I think the dub version of that particular track has one of the most transcendent basslines to come out of the eighties. Steve did a couple of garage house records in the early nineties too, although as for what he has been up to recently I don't know, he is still working in LA somewhere I would imagine.

Steve Harvey - Tonight (dub)

Spellbound were an obscure group from Ohio. This track is the b-side to the band's first single released on their own private label Great Records in 1983. Spellbound went on to record a sought after and (as evidenced above) killer looking full length LP on Heat Records in 1985. This is the perfect poolside slow jam for the summer that just won't seem to get hot enough (at least in LA) to kick off proper.

Spellbound - Under My Spell

Spoken word and funk artist Gary Byrd, the 'Professor Of The Rap', wrote the Stevie Wonder produced The Crown in 1982 for Stevie's short lived Wondirection label. The single didn't do much in the US, but reached #6 in the UK charts in 1983, and broke some sort of record for being up until then the longest ever top ten single weighing in at 10 plus minutes long.

Gary's early example of socially conscious rap isn't included on this instrumental side, but you do get some of Stevie Wonder's accompanying verse about 6 minutes in, which will catch the crowd pleasantly by surprise, as the disco funk groove sort of just loops up until then, never seeming to get old.

New Yorkers may know Gary Byrd better today as Imhotep Byrd, the radio talk show host WBLS 107.5

Gary Byrd And The G.B Experience - The Crown (Instrumental)

I finally got my recording rig sorted; hopefully these are loud enough for you. Now, if I could just keep my computer from crashing! Here are some early 80's gems. This 1982 D Train cut is a no brainer. No group can put me in a good mood like them. They are so filled with positive energy and they make me want to get up and dance. This dub version is on the flip of the Walk On By 12". This 1983 track by Bobby Nunn is a jam, a warm up or a cool down for sure. Has a lot of garage flavor in a modern soul dish.

D Train - Tryin' To Get Over (Dub)
Bobby Nunn - Do You Look That Good In The Morning?

After laying low for several years following the death of disco, producer Jacques Morali returned in 1984 with Break Dance Party by Break Machine. Like many of his projects (ie. The Village People), they were visually represented by people that didn't actually sing or perform on the recordings. Looking at the dudes above, I can definitively say they had nothing to do with the recording of Break Dance Party. But, I do seriously dig their matching yellow headbands. You might think these guys would do something a bit harder than the almost cheesy italo stylings of this track. That said, I quite like this song and it's a worthy entry to the Beat Electric universe. Jacques Morali died of Aids in 1991 and left behind a huge body of work. He may truly have been ahead of his era by placing the emphasis on image and flash ahead of the productions, but not by much.


Break Machine - Break Dance Party
Break Machine - Break Dance Party (Dub)

Danny Darrow - Doomsday (Extended)
Danny Darrow - Baby Let Your Love Run Free
Danny Darrow - Telephones (Extended)

Trax Records was run by a gangster, the dude was known to have other local label mogul's kneecaps broken, apparently he even rubbed a couple of guys out in his time. Gotta love Chicago. I put in my time there and it's definitely a rough town indeed. Sad as they pressed so many amazing Trax records on shitty recycled vinyl and just about every pressing was pure garbage. Here are two highlights from the Acid Trax Volume 3 compilation released in 1989.

L A - L A's Music
Spanky - Acid Bass 

I like Washington DC, its my favorite place to be on the east coast, but that being said Go Go is a funny genre isn't it?

This is my favorite track by GoGo's godfather, Chuck Brown, and I think its my favorite because its his least GoGo sounding. Off of 1980's Funk Express lp, In The Pocket is the standout straight hard hitting funk dancefloor smasher that somehow never saw a 12" release.

Chuck Brown still performs and releases records to this day, and recently even had a street named after him, Chuck Brown Way, in his native DC. GoGo is still weird though.

Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers - In The Pocket

I have always liked 80's club tracks that resonate around the theme of getting dirty after dark in an alley somewhere on the wrong side of town. This obscure dollar bin jam by Pretty Poison lyrically hits the theme well enough. The vocals are a little white chick vibe for my tastes but that much aside the track slams really hard.

Pretty Poison - In The Heat of The Night (Nightime Dub)

The Beat Electricians aren't posting much these days because we are too busy planning for the rapture that is coming in three weeks. In that time, the only thing that will survive other than a few pious Americans are their Hummers and my Threshold SA 3.9e; which was made specifically to withstand such an ordeal. In all honesty, I need a new soundcard and just came up with a janky solution to rip a couple of jamz for you foos. So here we have a favorite jam of mine off of Cymande's second record that came out on Janus in 1972. I have also included a selection for the ladies. Here Roy Ayers is apparently seducing his robot lover.

Cymande - Anthracyte
Roy Ayers - Programmed for Love

Began Cekic made his money in the Brooklyn construction trade, and during the disco boom decided to capitalize by setting up a label and producing what were perhaps some of the early examples of dance tracks made up of looped and re-worked riffs and hooks from earlier well known hits. You can find his hits produced for Brooklyn Express all over the internet, as well as many others, but I can't find a clean version of Hi Voltage's Somewhere Beyond/Let's Get Horny anywhere, and I think its his best, so I'm putting it up. That being said maybe I just didn't look hard after I randomly picked it out off the shelf this morning.

Began was a shadowy, uncelebrated figure in the New York disco scene, Tee Scott who mixed this record gave an interesting and colorful account of him in an interview he did with Daniel Wang back in the nineties, but a decade later Began Cekic turns up in the history books again, this time in a new york times article about the Montenegro separatist movement. Turns out he went from disco revolutionary, to, well, revolutionary..

'"I think we made a difference," said Began Cekic, a demolition expert from Brooklyn who returned to his parent's home in Gusinje in the north of the republic. His friends and neighbors, a mixture of Montenegrins, Albanians and Muslim Slavs, celebrated late into the night, waving Montenegrin, Albanian and Bosnian flags.'


Hi Voltage - Somewhere Beyond
Hi Voltage - Lets Get Horny

Due to fair weather funk collectors, who shall remain unnamed, neglecting their duties to BeatElectric in order to concentrate their time on their newly formed Witch House band ('Witch House', look it up, I shit you not), I will be renaming beatelectric to BlackShag.com . It will comprise mostly of rips of soon to be not as sought after as they were last year before Witch House came along electro boogie records, and discussions about fantasy wargaming.

Owning the biggest boogie 12" collection in North Norfolk county comes with a burden of heavy responsibility, and as such it was high time I posted Goody Goody's Make Me Hot, maybe one of the most perfect uptempo electro funk compositions put to wax. I say perfect because it has all the bits I like very much, a squelchy woofer shaking bass line, synthy space effects and on point vocals. This is maybe the last great single that came off of Philly Sound Works and is still to this day more coveted than the first Salem demo cd-r that I caught BT Magnum and Joel having a bidding war over on ebay (no need to look Salem up)..

Goody Goody - Make Me Hot

Asphalt Jungle was a project of session drummer and Salsoul Orchestra rhythm section ace Keith Benson. The above is not a picture of Keith, as I can't find one, its just a picture I like of a drummer, so its in context.

If you look at the man's discography he is credited with playing on hundreds of New York sessions all the way up until the nineties, but he is only credited as producing and writing a rare handful. He either re-recorded or re-edited Asphalt Jungle's Freakin Time without the vocal and with more dubby bits, a bit similar to the B side pt. 2 version of this release, a few years later in the early eighties as The Funk Fusion Band, which is no easier to find than this his original version.

Asphalt Jungle - Freakin' Time Pt. 1

Asphalt Jungle - Freakin' Time Pt. 2

Johnny Copeland (Cloud One) Orchestra - Atmosphere Strutt (Parts 1 and 2)

It was just this last weekend that your Beat Electricians got together to pay tribute to none other than the original corvette driving, San Francisco, white bread, master of the turntables and slayer of the ladies, Cameron Paul. Tim Sweeny was even hallucinating from the experience. Dogtones from Laserfunk and I were playing a gig a couple of weeks ago and met a guy named Raul who built a special antenna so that he could receive Cameron Paul broadcasts from San Francisco all the way in Sacramento. Dogtones hooked us up with these mixes. We have hosted some of his janky jamz and even a janky megamix (mixed by yours truly), so click here for more. Also, here is another mix on the KMEL site.

Cameron Paul - Late Great 88
Cameron Paul - Mixx It Power Mix '87 Side A
Cameron Paul - KMEL Megamix

Here is a semi-rare B-side from FLOS (Former Ladies of Supremes) released on Hollywood, California based Superstar International Records. I came across this one thrifting and it struck me because not only was it the trio of Scherrie Payne, Joyce Vincent and Lynda Laurence doing their best to make a comeback 10 years after Diana Ross split up The Supremes but it was also a fairly tight cut especially for the advanced year of 1987. Of course I had to do a little editing on this one, there was no way the producers were not gonna throw in a really wack 80's sax solo. Here ya go:

FLOS - Get-Away (Magnum Edit)

Bass session wizard and unsung synth funk producer Kenni Burke produced this instrumental as a backing for The O'Jays uptempo philly style harmonies. The O'Jays scored a minor radio hit with the vocal version of this track, but it's Kenni's synth work that makes this stand out. Seek out any of Kenni Burke's self produced albums, and also keep an eye out for a couple of much rarer singles produced by his brother, Cubi Burke, who is probably deserving of his own post if I can ever find the wax.

O'Jays, The - Put Our Heads Together (Instrumental)

Black Soul was a disco group from Dakar Senegal on the West Coast of Africa. This cut comes from a 1977 record on Beam Junction Records out of New York. I love the whole LP. It is an early Tom Moulton mix which explains its fat disco stomp. Speaking of, my new phono stage doesn't have a lot of gain, so a lot of the tracks I have been posting are a bit quiet. How do I get more input gain than the slider gives me in Logic?

Black Soul - Africa Africa

Here is a funky jam off a 1983 Strut Records 12" by Charles Earland. The drum programming reminds me of proto garage tunes from the same era. The vocal versions on this 12" are pretty weak, but I like this one up until the guitar and sax solos make it whack.

Also, I have a funky modern soul number from 1982 by Fredi Grace and Rhinestone I picked up in Sacramento a couple of weeks ago.

Charles Earland - (It's A) Doggie Boogie Baby (Instrumental)
Fredi Grace and Rhinestone - Help

The most difficult part about getting a good rip is having a clean record. Using a $500 cartridge to clear out the grooves is endlessly frustrating. I have had most of the parts to assemble this record cleaning machine for over a year. I had procrastinated building a vacuum attachment like this; but found the perfect solution at the hardware store when I was looking for something else.

Here is what you need:

Shop Vac (this one is 3HP)
Shop Vac detail brush kit
Turntable
Dry Brush
Nitty Gritty Wet Brush
Record Clamp (optional)
Record washing fluid (make your own like I do or buy it)

There is a record washing fluid recipe in the link. I have access to a lab, so I am able to buy reagent grade water and isoproponol. I bought the surfactant from a photo supply place online.

Here is a cool rare lazer soul record I picked up in Denver. It is from Detroit and was released in 1988. It sounds more like 1984. I love the synth work and the production. Almost ever track is good on this LP and there is even a slow jam that makes me a little frisky.

Dennis Paul & Apossa' - Who's Lovin' You?
Dennis Paul & Apossa' - Can't Get Enough

Here is an early one from future New Order producer Arthur Baker. He would have produced this roller boogie mover sometime in his early twenties, and it features his wife on vocals Tina Klein Baker, later to become freestyle star Tina B.

This one came out on the always upbeat and choice Posse Records, I'm sure he also produced the Ritz 12" whose name I cannot remember on Posse a year or so later that everyone sweats. After this point in his career me and Arthur Baker's tastes diverge a little, but these early outings behind the boards at such a young age hint at what a power house behind the boards he was set to become.

Glory - Can You Guess What Groove This Is?

Unfortunately, I have some bad news. BT Magnum is in Europe bringing sweet boogie flavor to dance parties all over and just got all of his records jacked while on a train to Amsterdam. If you are over in that neck of the woods and you see someone pedaling raw, sick ass heat, please bring it to the attention to the authorities! These records took years, lots of cheddar, and countless hours avoiding work; help him out if you can!

Here is a loft jam in mourning.

Jo Bisso - Your Love

Here is a proto house instrumental produced by saxophone great Patrick Henderson, used as backing for Mr T's preachy 'Mr T's Commandments'. This one came up whilst looking through the cheap section at a record store last weekend, on a lovely sunny day in Eagle Rock.

I don't really have to write much about Mr T's cash in tween market focused rap career, I think the sleeve cover for this single really does all the talking for me. Unfortunately his gruff early eighties style staccato flow about such important topics as not talking to strangers, and telling your parents about your problems, has overshadowed what is an lovely piece of progressive electro funk on the flip of this dollar bin single..

Mr T - Mr T's Commandments (Instrumental)

Space was a space disco group from Marseilles, France. This one comes off the 1977 Metropolis release. It is still the most epic space disco track ever. The pic above was from my trip to Malibu over the holiday where I was visiting and partying with some good friends who live next to Babs, Mccaughney, and Hans Zimmer . A washed up (so to speak) drunken sailor beached his 37' recording studio in this precious paradise while in-route to LA from Santa Barbara. He and his two cats survived. I threw my back out removing a strange piece of gear that would have been better served as a boat anchor.

If you are near Davis on Friday, come to the Delta of Venus where Dog Tones and I will be spinning funk, soul, and rare disco.

Space - Magic Fly

John Davis And The Monster Orchestra - Ain't That Enough For You
Mike And Brenda Sutton - Don't Let Go Of Me
John Davis And The Monster Orchestra - I Can't Stop
Rhyze - Just How Sweet Is Your Love
Gary's Gang - Keep On Dancing
Gary's Gang - Let's Lovedance Tonight
Convertion - Let's Do It
John Davis And The Monster Orchestra - Love Magic
Vicky "D" - This Beat Is Mine
KID - You Don't Like My Music

As most of you 80's nerds know the picture above is of TC's helicopter from one of my favorite childhood Television programs, Magnum PI. Initially I was going to use a shot from the film Blue Thunder as the helicopter in the movie was actually a souped-up LAPD ghetto bird, but I love the paint job on this one. Of course TC's helicopter was an island tour hopper that would get entangled in the occasional skirmish while assisting his pal Thomas Magnum. Come to think of it TC's character in the show fills a parallel role as Black Shag being BT Magnum's sidekick in the Beat Electric universe.

This is the 1983 instrumental B-Side of The Ghetto Bird, an LA private press boogie-rap homage to the those infernal police choppers that constantly light up the LA skyline.  Ironically, as I was recording this song one of those pesky buggers flew over my house as a constant reminder of the awesome police state we live in here in the good old US of A. If only it was still 1980 and Shag, LeBaron (Rick) and myself spent our days cruising around the Hawaiian skies in our own ghetto bird. That would be the life.

The Plainwrap Band - The Ghetto Bird (Instrumental)

Harvey Mason was a jazz funk drummer extraordinaire and and continues to work in the contemporary jazz group Fourplay. He was featured on most of the Mizell produced jazz funk works of the 70's and 80's and he kept the beat on the seminal Herbie Hancock album Headhunters.

This track comes off the 1981 record M.V.P. Albums made by jazz drummers usually feature way too many drum solos and awkward fills all over the place. The drum work on this record is in good taste and super tight albeit a bit too loud in the mix. The whole record has a groovy boogie sound and is great, minus the obligatory smooth jamz. The album artwork features Harvey doing just about every sport you can imagine, from SCUBA to horse stadium jumping; a renaissance man indeed.

Harvey Mason - On And On

Advance - Take Me to The Top
Unique - You Make Me Feel So Good (Instrumental)
Arlana - You Can't Keep Breaking My Heat

 Here is some top shelf electro funk, although for a few years this one never left my bag, and so the drop beat at the beginning of the vocal side is a little fuzzy from me rocking back and forth on it with overweighted club needles. A shame, but then this music was meant to be played and danced to, not reside forever in some sad beardo's vault, and this was always the electro jam for ladies that managed to keep that infectious edge and as such needed rinsing out. 

 Zest's Hot Tasty Love was a very early 1983 project but the then young duo of keyboardist Fred McFarlane and producer Allen George, both of whom wrote and produced independently and together as a duo well in to the nineties house era, when they were particularly prolific in the new york garage scene. This effort was indicative of the quality that was found on pretty much every record I have come across since with either guy's name on, I only wish I knew who the singer was.

Zest - Hot Tasty Love (Vocal)

Zest - Hot Tasty Love (Instrumental)

I grabbed this record whilst digging in Sacramento with my buddy from lazerfunk over the weekend. This record, still sealed was in a pile of MC Hammer 12"s and $10 Switched On Bach LPs on a lower shelf. I also got a couple of mint Aurra 12"s, some good jazz funk, and some Chi house heat. While I was down there I was crop dusted by some middle aged weirdo who was looking for a soundtrack to a movie that he couldn't remember. It was a nice and productive four day weekend that refused to be marred by all the wine and beer that went down my gullet. Not only did I get a grip of records for Beat Electric, I finally finished restoring my 1976 Bozak and it is sounding so smooth and punchy. I am going to have to put a booth together and record a mix!

This record seems to be pretty a rare 1984 release on Beverly Glen. This track mates this famous old gospel crooner's voice to disco strings and a sweet boogie bassline.

Johnnie Taylor - Seconds Of Your Love