Classic House Track!

[Master Z]

This is officially a classic thread.
One of my faves from the D. Inner City - Big Fun.
[youtube][/youtube]

 

[2steppa]

I think I actually prefer Todd Terry's version of Weekend to the original by Class Action.

Although the original still kicks, especially the dub version

I love that early Todd Terry sound; really raw with that 8 khz hi-hat treble roll off.

 

[ford93]

John I'm glad you checked out that last vid. I posted. Great tribute to Larry Levan and those pics. of the "Paradise Garage" in it's hey days!

Thanks for that Week End track John and Master Z "Big Fun" was and still is a banging track.

 

[jaetee]

John I'm glad you checked out that last vid. I posted. Great tribute to Larry Levan and those pics. of the "Paradise Garage" in it's hey days!

Thanks for that Week End track John and Master Z "Big Fun" was and still is a banging track.

Right on, Juan... thanks for starting this thread! Great posts and music added by 2steppa & MasterZ, too! You guys got me doing a deep-dive into house music! Especially watching (all 20 parts of) that documentary really helped me understand how house music ultimately made its way from the Chicago, NYC and Detroit underground over to the UK. And that whole "disco sucks" phase was completly assinine. Narrow-mindedness really sucks. I never bought into it then and remember being really disapointed when I heard about people gathering to burn records... My dad actually pointed it out to me at the dinner table one night after he read it in the newspaper. 30 years later it was really interesting to see how it effectively halted the growth of the genre here in the US. And then to see how it took the UK to get it going again.

It's kind of cool when you think about how the USA and UK have influenced each other over the decades (Elvis, Beatles, Stones, M.J, etc.... and house music).

Having grown up in Germany in the 70's and early 80's, my family moved to Georgia from '82~84 (where I graduated from High School) and then I went back to Germany for military service from '85~90.... I would only catch snippets of cool non-mainstream tracks that I would key in on, but most of what I was exposed to was generally R&B and snippets of funk and only the occasional remix. My focus then was girls, not turntables. And the scene were I lived was always a bit different. I basically missed the early days of house music as there were not a lot of "deep" clubs in Germany where one could go loose your skull between speakers, nor were there many of the types or record stores that catered to DJ culture during that time. And when I did go to a good club I was hunting girls, not hovering around the DJ booth. The only German club that really comes to mind for me that was cool in that way the Dorain Gray, which used to be in the basement of the Frankfurt Airport. That club was basically Germany's version of Studio 54 and was consistently ranked among the world's top five clubs by those who do such things. It was an impossible club to get into for a young kid with a military haircut and not a lot of money... The door guys were snobby bastards then and it was actually a bit elitist. I wonder how different my life might be had I gotten in there back in 1988 when I first tried??? LOL!

I didn't really get fully into house music until I stumbled across a CD in an Atlanta record store called "DJ Culture - THE STRESS COMPILATION" ([ebay]270515678012[/ebay]) which featured a pair of short turntable mixes by Sasha and Dave Seaman. The music was perfectly blended and briliantly programmed from track to track. Mixiing like I'd never heard it before! That's probably the best $5 I ever spent in my life. After that, I picked up a 3-CD set by Sasha and John Digweed called RENAISSANCE ([ebay]330446935385[/ebay]), named for the UK rave parties that made those two household names and bought some used 1200's as soon as I could afford them and started to mix for myself.

3000+ records and god-only-knows how many CDs and MP3s later... my music collection continues to grow.

This thread alone has spured me to pick up some Larry Levan vinyl on ebay last night and about 30 more MP3s from MP3fiesta.com (waaaaayyyyy cheaper than itunes, folks! chekkit out!).

Anway, sorry to go so far of topic and over the top to tell you guys my musical life story here... but I had to let that out... Hey, you guys practically made me do it...! And thanks for sharing your favorites and helping add to my always growing backfill of classics! I even stumbled across tracks and remixes I remembered hearing, but never knew what they were. Like that original version of Week End. I had only ever heard the Todd Terry version.

As a parting gift, here's a Sasha & Digweed remix of a track that had a huge impact on my life... The original PERFECT MOTION is on Sunscreem's debut CD called O3, which was my favorite CD for over a year before finding those mix CDs. The whole CD is awesome and I highly recommed getting a copy and giving it a listen. Download it from MP3fiesta.com for dirt cheap. Also pull down their "NEW DARK TIMES cd while you're at it...

[youtube]vU-0brHq1aM[/youtube]

 

[2steppa]

Great post Jaetee - that documentary is very interesting and is a useful way for others to learn what House is and where it came from.

I first discovered House back in late 1985/early 1986 when I saw a 12" single in my local independent record store (remember those?) labelled up as 'the new club craze' and 'hot new sound from Chicago' - That track was 'Jack Your Body by Steve Silk Hurley.

Well, I got it home not knowing what to expect and placed it on the Pioneer turntable.
WOW!!!!!!!!!! Played it, played it again, played it again and well played it 'several' more times I think it's fair to say

Fron that point I was hooked - Anything mentioning House was worthy of my attention and I was lucky enough to pick up a fair bunch of LPs and 12" singles including an album showcasing the hottest new trax from Chicago which featured the tune that has gone on to become one of my all time favourites: Can You Feel It by Mr Fingers. I had to buy the EP which also featured 'Washing Machine' and 'Beyond The Clouds'.
Classic tracks made with Roland Jupiter 6, TR-707, Yamaha DX7, TR-909, Juno 6 etc all the gear with the sounds I love to this day.

In fact, to hear from the Genius himself Mr Larry Heard check out the vid below. VERY interesting.


[youtube]fTb1wx85_VA[/youtube]

 

[ford93]

Man I could sit here and just watch these great vids. of house tracks, documentaries and interviews all day. I noticed on this interview the guy mentions the burning of records at a baseball park, well that was formerly known as Shea Stadium home of the Mets in Queens, New york. They showed it on the evening news and on the newspapers They had hundreds of Saturday Night Fever albums burning on the center of the ball park. Some people were so close minded in those days.

It's amazing how house music has evolve in sound. I think this music will always be around. No matter what you listen to whether is Rock, R&B Soul, Hip Hop, Jazz, Classical and so on you will always go back to club music it's just a beat that you can't resist and it fills you with happiness.

Thanks for that vid. 2steppa.

 

[jaetee]

Larry Heard has put out some great music over the years. As far as I know he's still putting out the occasional track, too... It was kind of funny how he was kind of reluctant to give names of influences... the interviewer had to spoon feed him names... Larry seems kind of humble and shy.

House music is everywhere... I was on the phone with a mortgage company and they had house playing as their "hold" music. And you can hear it in commercials, clothing stores in the mall, etc...

House is here to stay!