CRC Retro Mix #42

Clearance Rack Classics Retro 80s and 90s Dance Mix by DJ Tintin

1. Ever So Lonely (Razormaid! Mix) - Monsoon
2. Eyes Of A Stranger - Payolas
3. Stripped (Highland Mix) - Depeche Mode
4. Close To Me (Closer Mix) - The Cure
5. Eye Wonder (Main Mix) - The Apples
6. Justify My Love (Hip Hop Mix) - Madonna
7. Truth Is Out Of Style (12" Mix) - MC 900 Ft. Jesus
8. Dysfunctional Relationship (12" Mix) - Consolidated
9. Get The Message (DNA Sin Mix) - Electronic
10. Imagination (12" Version) - Belouis Some
11. The Honeythief (12" Mix) - Hipsway
12. We Move (Dance Mix) - Visage
13. Don't Say No (Ruby Red Mix) - Erasure
14. "Vous Le Vous" Medley (Razormaid! Mix) - DAF
15. Los Ninos Del Parque - Liaisons Dangereuses
Notes and other random things:
I re-recorded and re-posted this episode on 1/22/17 due to the poor recording levels on the original post. If you downloaded the previous version, you may want to delete that and download this one. It will be much more consistent from start to finish.
Starting off this episode is the band Monsoon. While the term monsoon refers to a seasonal reversal of the wind and torrential downpours that occur in areas of SE Asia, it's an unfortunate name, in a sense, for the band led by Sheila Chandra as they produced but a trickle of pop-infused music before disbanding. Just 16 years old at the time of their only album release, Third Eye, in 1982, Chandra, producer Steve Coe and bassist Martin Smith struck proverbial gold with "Ever So Lonely", which peaked at #12 in the UK. They followed that with the song "Shakti", which rose to #41. However, those two songs would prove to be their only hits, though a cover version of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" also appeared on the full-length album and featured one Bill Nelson on the E-Bow. In refusing to tether their fortunes to a record label that demanded more hits, Coe and Smith were free to promote Chandra's solo career, which focused less on pop music and more on world music. She eventually signed with Peter Gabriel's Real World record label, releasing three solo albums in the 1990s. Sadly, Chandra today suffers from Burning Mouth Syndrome, an affliction with no underlying medical or dental cause that produces such severe pain when laughing, crying, speaking, singing, etc. that she was rendered mute and forced to give up her music career.
Hailing from Vancouver, BC Canada, The Payolas produced one of the most breathtakingly sensual tracks of the 80s with their amazing song, "Eyes Of A Stranger". A fixture on the Canadian New Wave Scene from the late 70s through the 80s, the band was comprised primarily of core members Paul Hyde and Bob Rock, the latter of whom went on to become a mega-producer/engineer, working with such diverse artists as 311, Metallica, The Cult, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Our Lady Peace, The Tragically Hip and others. Taking their name from the Alan Freed payola scandal of the late 50s, the group won a Juno award for Single of the Year for Eyes Of A Stranger in 1983. (Rock, himself, has been nominated for 17 Juno awards in various musical categories including Engineer of the Year and Producer of the Year) The track would later appear on the Valley Girl soundtrack, a soundtrack that, like Pretty In Pink after it, was great when soundtracks typically were not. Modern English, The Flirts, Men At Work, The Plimsouls, Josie Cotton, Eddy Grant, Gary Myrick and The Figures and others graced that soundtrack, which became a serious collector's item for a long while until being re-issued by Rhino Records in 1994.
Sticking with the music industry disillusionment theme from earlier, Mark Griffin (aka MC 900 Ft. Jesus), a music hero from my old stomping grounds of Dallas, Texas eventually quit the business after the release of his third album One Step Ahead Of The Spider, released in 1994. Thankfully he leaves a legacy, albeit brief one, of some of the better cult classics of the era including the arsonists lull-a-bye "The City Sleeps" from 1991's Welcome To My Dream album and the track appearing in this episode, the 12-inch mix of "Truth Is Out Of Style" from his 1989 debut album, Hell With The Lid Off. In case you were wondering, Griffin's stage name derived from a sermon by televangelist Oral Roberts, who claimed he was visited by a 900-foot tall image of Jesus, commanding him to erect a hospital on the campus of the university bearing his namesake. Despite his short music career, Griffin's American heritage at the very least was a blessing in disguise as MC 270-Meter Jesus somehow just doesn't have the same ring to it.
I'm going to end this here. I still have another podcast write-up to do and a couple of podcasts ready to record, so I'm going to have to end this here.
Happy Listening!