Minnie Riperton had a short but very esteemed career in music. In her teens Riperton was the lead singer of a band The Gems and was affiliated early on with Chess Records. Riperton is likely best remembered for her song "Loving You" where her five and a half octave vocal stylings were highlighted. In this track, "Young, Willing and Able", a more funky side of Minnie is expressed. This song, released in 1977 on Epic, was produced by Freddie Perren who was known for producing two tracks on the Saturday Night Fever album, "I will Survive/Substitute"(produced with Dino Fekaris) and many of the Jackson Five's first hits. Minnie's sultry vocals are perfectly backed with a sprinkling of horns, electric guitar, cascading synths and smooth strings. This song just drips with sensuality. So good.

Minnie Riperton: Young Willing and Able

What do you get when you mix B.T. Express and Brass Construction? This is the only track by Garnett Mims & Truckin' Company; but Garnet Mims (with one t) was a soul singer from Ashland, West Virginia in the mid 60's. It was produced by Jeff Lane from B.T. Express and Randy Muller from Brass Constructionin 1977. The back track sounds very much like any from Brass Construction's self titled LP, but with screaming guitar and funky proto-rave synth work. The guitar can be a bit much, but I am a sucker for tambourine.

Garnett Mims & Truckin' Company - What It Is
Garnett Mims & Truckin' Company - What It Is (Part II)

Ok, I recorded this entire album twice as I suffered a grand technical failure the first time around, and as such the evening is wasting away so I'm going to keep this short so I can make my rendesvous.

Many of you may be familiar with the popular dark electro classic '112 BPM' . It came from this album, More Jive Rhythm Trax, the follow up to the equally sought after (but not quite as deadly in my opinion) Jive Rhythm Trax. A series of albums produced by Jive records consisting of dark, dubby instrumental covers or 'versions' of popular electro and new wave tracks of the day. I have three albums in this series, one with a blue cover, this one with a red cover, and one with a yellow cover entitled something like Jive Scratch Trax. They were all intended to be used as DJ tools, and might be the first example of a mass produced record purely intended as a utility for DJ'ing. I find them all amazing.

If you can, try and spot the original inspirations for these instrumentals:

S.M.U.R.F. mp3
112 B.P.M. mp3
129 B.P.M. mp3
112 B.P.M. mp3
120 B.P.M. mp3
101 B.P.M. mp3
116 B.P.M. mp3
116 B.P.M. mp3

As Safety Scissors and myself sat down several hours ago to rip "What's In It For Me" by Zalmac we came to a very simple consensus. The vocal mix was too "vocal-y" and the instrumental mix (somewhat ironically) was missing the instrumental breakdown we both enjoyed on the A-side. So here it is. Produced in less time (and infinitely less effort) than this "edit" actually runs, this can not be clearly defined as an edit, but rather a cut and paste of the instrumental and the vocal breakdown section resulting in the ideal mix that just now sees the light of day. Neato!

The original 12" was released on the private TSOB imprint in 1982. An image of Zalmac's only full length LP entitled "Whatcha Gonna Do" is pictured above. I really need to add dude's sleeveless leather jacket to my collection stat.

Zalmac - What's In It For Me (Cut And Paste)

Ann-Margaret was born in Sweden and came to America in 1946. In the 1960's Ann-Margaret began a recording career in addition to her already notable film career. While her music ventures didn't prove as successful, she did have a song "I Just Don't Understand" peak on the Billboard Charts at #17 in 1961. Much later, she had this song "Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes" released in 1981 on First American Records. The song was popular in clubs and reached #22 on the charts. "Everybody..." features brilliant production and writing by Paul Sabu and highlights the soft and throaty qualities of Ann-Margaret's voice. "Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes (Part 2)" is percussive, with just the right amount of horns and synths.

Ann-Margaret -- Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes(Part 2)

I've been waiting for this date to fall upon a Friday...Waiting in the dark cabin and I've cut the power or waiting in the woods and your flashlight is running out of batteries. Yes, you are cute in your ripped up mini shorts and I'm not so hot and smell like lake water. No, I'm not promoting the new movie, just the one from 1982. Er, rather just the soundtrack from this movie...I actually liked the second one more.

We rarely mention modern artists here at BE, but we make an occasional exception when we find something that garners our attention. Our friends in Codebreaker recently constructed a cover of the Jimmy Ross classic "First True Love Affair" for a website called Buffet Libre. Unfortunately the track got a little bit buried amongst the 80 or more other artists that they commissioned to cover a classic track for their Rewind 2 series. Anyways, Codebreaker dug a little bit deeper than the rest and did a fine cover, staying true to the original whilst adding a few modern touches. All in all, they produced a solid version of the 1981 Jimmy Ross/Kano masterpiece.

Codebreaker - First True Love Affair

Eumir Deodato is a very accomplished arranger, producer, and keyboard player from Brazil. In the late 60's and early 70's he was mainly known for jazz and jazz funk and pressed records for CTI Records. His records never sold very well and eventually CTI folded. In the Mid 70's he signed to MCA and then pressed records on the Warner Brothers label in the late 70's. In addition to recording tracks under his own name, he produced tracks for Kool and the Gang, Gwen Guthrie, and the Dazz Band; among others. He has recently produced and arranged for Bjork.

This 1982 track shows how well he excelled as a boogie producer. It is super smooth with a funky bass up front, spacy synths in the background, and subtle vocals.

Deodato - Keep On Movin'

Under the guidance of legendary NYC DJ Walter Gibbons, "Set It Off" by Strafe was a massive underground club hit upon its release in 1984. Gibbons (who mixed the track) was co-founder of the Jus Born imprint which was basically formed as a catalyst for the "Set It Off" single. The track had such a profound impact that they went on to produce a female vocal version in 1985, a 1986 remix 12" as well as "Set It Off II" in '87. With its stark groove, the original version was a masterful blend of early electro, house and techno styles. Still, I quite enjoy the single as it evolved over the next several Jus Born releases.

This is one of my favorite italo records. It was released on Vedette Records in 1979 with subsequent releases on Rams Horn and 1981 re-releases on Carrere and CNR. Azoto was first known as "Lucrethia And The Azoto 14,008." Azoto was produced by Celso Valli, who produced and arranged many italo classics such as personal favorites: Self Control by RAF and Walking in the Neon by Peter Richard.

This five cut record has no fewer than four classic italo tracks. All the tracks except Exalt, Exalt share a space disco meets traditional folk music sound that is a magical combination. San Salvador warps Bee Gees-esque falceto, protohouse piano, and gypsy folk into a peak hour disco masterpeice. Exalt, Exalt is just simply brilliant with a dark minimal sound and perfectly placed accents. The tune was way ahead of its time and set the stage for mid 80's italo electro.

Azoto - San Salvador (12")
Azoto - Exalt, Exalt