Super selections and wonderful words by Balearic Mike.

What are the odds? Two of the greatest, most beloved dance records of all time, were released on the same day, November 28th, 35 years ago…   

This might be the best house record ever made… or it might be the best techno record ever made…  

Inner City – Good Life – 10 records / Virgin 1988 

It’s quite unusual to be able to pinpoint the release of a dance record to the actual day. Sure, you can often nail down the UK major label release, but that’s usually months after a 12’s initial import or white label has been tearing up clubland dancefloors. For example, we can say that the Lil Louis mega-hit and house classic was released in the UK on July 17^th 1989, but that would ignore the fact that it had been an absolute anthem in UK clubs for months by that point, since the first Chicago import copies arrived in the spring of that long hot summer of rave. However, the circumstances around Inner City’s Good Life meant that it was released in the UK and US simultaneously, and was actually aimed primarily at the UK market. The reason for this was pretty obvious. It wasn’t their first rodeo!

Inner City are, of course, Detroit Resident Kevin Saunderson, and Chicago native Paris Grey. The New York-born Saunderson moved from Brooklyn to the town of Belleville, Michigan, just outside Detroit, at the age of 10, where he met Juan Atkins and Derrick May. Collectively, they became known as the Belleville 3. The oldest of the trio, Juan Atkins had been releasing music under the name Cybotron since 1981, while May began making music in 1987. Kevin, although the last to try his hand, eclipsed his friends, and achieved global, chart, success.

The Bellville boys’ early 12s caused a storm in those select UK clubs playing house, and an eagle eyed few, noticed that these records hailed from Detroit rather than Chicago. Among them were respected music journalist, Stuart Cosgrove, my personal disco godfather, John McCready, and an ex-Northern soul fanatic from the Midlands, named Neil Rushton. Neil had already set up Kool Kat Records, to license Chicago house tracks for UK release, but he then had the rather jolly idea of signing a shit load of these killer Detroit records – and their producers – for a compilation with the catchy title of ‘The House Sound Of Detroit’. “Ahem! Oh no you don’t!”, said Pete Tong and London Records, who were using a similar title to re-package the tunes coming out on Chicago’s DJ International and Trax labels. Rushton needed an alternative name to differentiate the music coming out of Detroit from the house of Chicago.

Many words have been written, and there are just as many opinions out there, about exactly what happened next. One thing’s for sure, the Belleville 3 set out to make music for Ron Hardy to play at The Music Box in Chicago. – so they were making ‘house’. Alvin Toffler’s book The Third Wave, with its concept of ‘techno-rebels‘, was a favourite of the trio’s. The term ‘hi-tek soul’ was also being bandied about. What we know for sure is that when Rushton got the backing of Virgin Records to compile this incredible music, it was sold under the title, Techno! – The New Dance Sound Of Detroit. Although the LP includes tracks by other, now highly respected Detroit artists such as Blake Baxter, Eddie “Flashin’” Fowlkes, and Anthony Shakir, only 2 of the 12 tracks on the album didn’t feature the involvement of either Saunderson, Atkins or May. It was released in May 1988, to huge critical, and some commercial, acclaim. 

The album is all-killer, no-filler, but one of the tracks n particular picked up special attention from both DJs and clubbers, and became a summer anthem in the UK. Credited to Inner City, featuring Kevin Saunderson, Big Fun, was originally an instrumental. Saunderson, however, thought it would work well with a vocal, and his friend, Chicago producer Terry “Housemaster” Baldwin suggested a singer called Paris Grey. Paris flew to Detroit, wrote some lyrics, and recorded her part. Since it was now one of the tracks of the summer, Virgin put it out as a single (Saunderson may also have snuck some copies out on his own KMS Records in advance). In August ‘88, this blew up, going to #1 in the US Billboard dance chart, and top 10 in the UK charts. Virgin knew they were on to something, and signed the duo as artists in their own right, offering them an album deal. To seal the deal, they’d need to prove it wasn’t a fluke and provide a follow up.

The quickly recorded Big Fun 2.0 – if you will – somehow managed to be even better than the first. Titled Good Life, Saunderson produced the basic track in his apartment, using a Casio CZ-5000 synth and his Roland TB909 drum machine, while a professional studio was hired for 24 hours to record Grey’s vocals, and do the final mix down. Saunderson has stated that he wanted a “follow up with a feel that’s similar”, and Good Life refines and polishes the blueprint of their debut, but also adds a sense of melancholy to the euphoria. The track is both haunting and ecstatic!  The original version is the equivalent of a pop single or radio edit, clocking in at just under 4 minutes. Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Chicago house pioneers, Steve “Silk” Hurley and Mike “Hitman” Wilson all took a turn at remixing it. I still can’t decide if the ‘Magic Juan Mix’ or ‘Mayday Club Mix’ is my favourite. 

Good Life was an instant club classic, with the reaction to advance  copies surpassing all expectation. It was a huge commercial success, this time matching the #1 US billboard placing, but surpassing their previous release to peak at #4 in the UK top 40. When dance records gain crossover, commercial success, this proves to be the end of their longevity. Perhaps it’s something in the nature of the elements required to reach mass audience appeal which means that the track might date, or it can just reach saturation point, and the clubbing audience who loved it tire of it. This has never happened to Good Life. It has never fallen out of favour. A few years later, in 1993, Unity For Freedom gave it a prog-y remix, which made it a huge club anthem all over again. While I’m now too old to have an accurate opinion on “clubland, I’m certain that you could drop this today at the coolest underground party, and several generations of clubbers / ravers / dancers would collectively lose their minds to it, just like we did back in late ‘88.

Nenah Cherry – Buffalo Stance – Circa Records 1988 

Neneh Cherry might be one of the coolest artists of all time. If having jazz legend Don Cherry as your stepdad wasn’t cool enough, how about forming post-punk-funk outfit Rip Rig & Panic, and ‘hanging with the Wild Bunch’, Bristol Sound” pioneers, Massive Attack? Or DJing on the reggae pirate radio station, Dread Broadcasting Corporation, playing early hip hop? Singing backing vocals for The Slits and The The also makes you impossibly cool. How about if you make one of the all-time greatest pop-dance records ever? Well, then it’s game over isn’t it.

Buffalo Stance started life as the B-side to a record by pop duo, Morgan-McVey, called Looking Good Diving With The Wild Bunch. Neneh and Cameron McVey would later get married. Neneh reworked the track, with the help of producer Tim Simenon, and the results were quite phenomenal. Seminal UK Style magazine, The Face, heralded it as single of the year, before it had even been released, describing it as “Shannon mixed with Joy Division in a Notting Hill dancehall.” The song’s impact was instant, and huge, and it perfectly incapsulates a uniquely British take on US dance music styles, which in the process creates a new and unusual hybrid. Neneh herself became an instant icon after an incredible Top Of The Pops performance, while in the advanced stages of pregnancy. I told you, just the fucking coolest! The album Raw Like Sushi, which wasn’t released until the summer of 1989, after Neneh had her baby, was also absolutely bloody brilliant. Still to this day, this is one of my favourite dance music LPs.

November 28th, 1988, what a day for dance music!

For more from Balearic Mike you can find him on both Facebook and Instagram – @balearicmike. 

Mike has a Mixcloud page packed with magnificent, magical, music, and you can catch him live on 1BTN, from 12 noon until 2 (UK time) every 1st and 3rd Friday.

You can also check out the super silk screen prints of “Balearic Wife” over at @jo_lambert_print