Aaliyah - One In A Million

First off, I tried to get a cleaner version from the CD of yesterday's Abbe post but was unable to. I first listened to the CD when I got it and thought that it was a clean rip. (I listened to it a low volume during dinner). After listening to it with headphones on, I found it wasn't a clean rip to begin with. The scratchy sound is actually on the CD. Must have been a used record that is was recorded from. Oh well, things happen.

Today, I'm posting another song that one of my readers sent to me from my request list. Bob sent me the songs from the Aaliyah promo 12" single of "One In A Million". These are great rips and hope you all enjoy this song. Boy these mixes are totally different from the radio single version. Thanks goes out to Bob for the great mixes.

Aaliyah was born Aaliyah Dana Houghton On January 16, 1979 in Brooklyn, New York; moved to and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She starred in the movies Romeo Must Die and Queen Of The Damned. In 1994, she got married to R. Kelly but that marriage was later annulled.

Her life was tragically taken in a plane crash on August 25, 2001. She died at age 22. ;-(

Todays post was the first time that Aaliyah saw one of her songs hit the dance chart, and with these cool remixes you can see why this was such a big dance floor filler.

Taken from the original double disc promo 12" single on Blackground Records
One In A Million (Armand Van Helden Drum N Bass Mix) - 7:09
One In A Million (Nitebreed Mongolodic Mix) - 9:31
One In A Million (Geoffrey Curtis Housemix) - 11:48
Song charted on March 22, 1997. Spent 13 weeks on the chart and reached #2

Abbe - Armed & Extremely Dangerous / Thunder & Lightning

WOW!!! I can't believe that I finally got my hands on a copy of this hard to find disco classic. Many thanks goes out to Richard, of West Palm Beach, Florida, for sending me a copy of one of the hardest to find records....Abbe - Rainbows

Abbe was born Abigail Lassman on December 14, 1932 in Brooklyn, New York. She was a singer/actress who became known as Abbe Lane and appeared in several Italian movies. She was married to bandleader Xavier cugat from 1952-1964.

Today I'm posting the two songs from this LP that charted on the Billboard dance chart. First is Armed and Extremely Dangerous, which was originally a Top 30 pop hit in 1973 for the group First Choice. The second track, Thunder And Lightning, is her version of the Top 20 hit for Chi Coltrane from 1972.

Taken from the Original LP "Rainbows" on Butterfly 3107 (THANKS RICHARD)
Armed & Extremely Dangerous - 7:55
(After I uploaded this I noticed it's a bad rip...I'll fix this tomorrow)

Thunder & Lightning - 3:57
(this one ripped great)
Both songs charted on February 16, 1980. Spent 5 weeks on the chart and reached #81

Company B - Full Circle

Yesterday I posted Fascinated by Company B. Today is the follow-up single to that song. A late summer release, this saw similar response on the dance floor. It sound so much like their first chart single that it is no suprise this one did well too.

Although this release, "Full Circle," received extensive club play, along with the groups appearance on such programs as Showtime At The Apollo, the song received little attention at radio and never cracked the Top 100.

Taken from the original 12" single on Atlantic 86674
Company B - Full Circle (Vocal / Club Version) - 7:48
Song charted on August 8, 1987. Spent 11 weeks on the chart and reached #5

Company B - Fascinated

The first chart sucess for the female Dance trio from Miami, Florida called Company B was this classic diddy from winter of 1987.

This song was the lead off single from the groups self-titled debut LP. Still a club classic since I still get tons of requests for this one.

The original line-up of Company B consisted of Charlotte McKinnon, Lori Ledesma, & Susan Johnson. McKinnon was replaced by Lezlee Livrano before their debut album was released. Livrano and Johnson were replaced by Donna Huntley and Sheena, who was soon replaced by Julie Marie, though Livrano and Johnson would return and replace Huntley and Marie for various albums. The group recently reformed, with original members McKinnon and Johnson (now Susan Marie) and new member Rachel Leslie

Taken from the original 12" single on Atlantic 86731
Fascinated (Club Mix) - 7:30
Song charted on February 14, 1987. Spent 10 weeks on the chart and reached #1

Artist Spotlight Week #5 - Nitzer Ebb - Getting Closer

The second single to be released from "SHOWTIME" was "Getting Closer" As the follow-up to Lightning Man, it found greater audience appeal in the club. This song gave Nitzer Ebb their highest chart success on the US Dance charts as it peaked at #3.

Getting Closer" captures an atmosphere of impending, imminent doom better than just about anything, while the heavy synth distortion makes the track rock, all without using guitars. The way the song literally revs up alone is worth the listen.

This song was produced by Flood and Nitzer Ebb. Mixed by Flood. Recorded at Swanyard Studios and The Garden. Mixed at Swanyard Studios with remix and additional production by Arnaud Rebotini

Taken from the original 12" single on Geffen 21606
Getting Closer (Pool Mix) - 5:15
Getting Closer (Trance Mix) - 7:09
Song charted on July 14, 1990. Spent 8 weeks on the chart and reached #3

Artist Spotlight Week #2 - Nitzer Ebb - Control I'm Here

Continuing the week long Nitzer Ebb Artist Spotlight.

In 1988, Doug and Bon set out to record "the perfect electronic album", resulting in the LP Belief. Preceded by the classic club track 'Control I'm Here', their second album, Belief, was released in 1989 and was co-produced by Flood (Depeche Mode, U2),who went on to produce their next 3 albums and remix other tracks. The band was now down to a core duo of Harris and McCarthy, with Julian Beeston on drumming duty. Two further singles 'Hearts & Minds', (which will be featured tomorrow) and Shame were released in 1989 with extraordinary remixes from Daniel Miller and William Orbit. The band was asked to be the opening act for labelmates' Depeche Mode's Music For The Masses tour (European Leg).

Taken from the original 12" single on Geffen 21111
Control I'm Here (Command Control Confront Mix) - 6:43
Song charted on January 14, 1989. Spent 10 weeks on the chart and reached # 14

Artist Spotlight Week #1 - Nitzer Ebb - Join In The Chant

This week featuring 5 songs from a particular artist. To begin with, since the Packers are not going to the Super Bowl, I am kind of in a dark mood. So this week the feature artist will be Nitzer Ebb.

Nitzer Ebb (pronounced night-zer or nit-zer—the band themselves pronounce it either way) is a music group formed in 1982 by Essex schoolfriends Douglas McCarthy (vocals, synthesizer), Vaughan (Bon) Harris on synthesizers and drums, and David Gooday.

In May 1987, they released their debut album on Geffen Records, That Total Age, which spawned a hit with the pounding bass rhythms and barked vocals of "Join In the Chant" and "Let Your Body Learn". Both tracks found favour with the Euro club scene and the nascent Balearic Beat movement. Today posting their first ever dance chart single in the US. JOIN IN THE CHANT.

Taken from the original 12" single on Geffen 20786
Join In The Chant (Burn) - 5:26
Song charted on October 31, 1987. Spent 10 weeks on the chart and reached #9