Ish ‎– I Could Love You (1986)

Ismael Angel Ledesma (born October 2, 1952) professionally known as Ish Ledesma is a Miami-based singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. Ledesma has fronted, written for, or produced hits for the bands Foxy, Oxo, and Company B. Both Oxo and Company B were one-hit wonders in the US, with respective hits “Whirly Girl” and “Fascinated”; Foxy released several albums and singles, including the number one R&B hit “Get Off”.

Ish Ledesma had embarked on a solo career in 1979, releasing his own self-titled debut on T.K. Records. The album featured a hit with the release of the 12″ single, “Don’t Stop.” Ledesma would release a second solo album in 1986 called On This Corner on Geffen/Warner Bros. Records, which was produced by John Robie. Ledesma spent the years between the solo releases doing studio appearances as a session artist, and expanding his endeavors into production aspects. He is credited on Abba’s Voulez Vous, Miami Sound Machine’s “Bad Boy,” Latimore’s “Goodbye Heartaches,” and Fred Schneider’s “Monster”.

I Could Love You (Club Mix)                               6:02

Don’t Stop Now (Dub)                                       3:53

I Could Love You (Rhythm Version)                    5:03

Scream For Daddy (Dub)                                  3:40

Toot Toot Too Doot (Dub)                                  2:59

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Jimmy Barnes ‎– Waitin’ For The Heartache (1988)

James Dixon Swan (born 28 April 1956), better known as Jimmy Barnes, is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer-songwriter. His father, Jim Swan, was a prizefighter and his older brother John Swan also works as a rock singer. It was actually John who had encouraged and taught Jim how to sing as he wasn’t really interested at the time. His career both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel has made him one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music artists of all time.

In 1987, Jimmy Barnes released the album “Freight Train Heart”, which featured contributions from a range of US musicians including Huey Lewis, Journey members Randy Jackson and Neal Schon and former Babys and Rod Stewart drummer Tony Brock, who would later accompany Barnes on tour. The recording process was deeply problematic however, as Barnes fought with producer Jonathan Cain over artistic control and Geffen Records wanted to feature a solo by Robert Cray in the track “Too Much Ain’t Enough Love” in place of the one laid down by Schon. In the end, Barnes claimed the masters and returned to Sydney to rework the recording with English producer Mike Stone. Most of the songs were remixed, with parts added by Peter Kekell, Rick Brewster from The Angels, and Johnny Diesel, the 20-year-old guitarist and frontman of Perth band Johnny Diesel and the Injectors, who had just begun to make a name for themselves. Jon Farriss from INXS and ex-Angels bassist Chris Bailey also played on the album.

The album spent 5 weeks at the top of the Australian Album charts in Dec 1987 / Jan 1988. Most of the tracks were written by Barnes and producer Jonathan Cain, however “Waitin’ for the Heartache” was co-written by Barnes and Desmond Child and for the single release was remixed by Desmond Child. “Seven Days” was a Ron Wood track originally written for him by Bob Dylan. This was the last song recorded for the album, and features INXS drummer Jon Farriss, bassist Chris Bailey and Rick Brewster from The Angels. “Seven Days” was remixed by Bob Clearmountain for the “American Mix”.

Waitin’ For The Heartache (Remix)                4:30

Seven Days (American Mix)                          3:20

Seven Days (12″ Mix)                                   6:09

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New York Citi Peech Boys ‎– Life Is Something Special (1982)

The Peech Boys, also known as the New York Citi Peech Boys or NYC Peech Boys, were a band that comprised Bernard Fowler, Steven Brown, Robert Kasper, Darryl Short, Larry Levan and Michael de Benedictus. The group formed at the Paradise Garage, being influenced by Larry Levan. They only released four 12″ discs with “On a Journey” peaking at #56 in the 1983 US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. However, they are most known for their 1981 song “Don’t Make Me Wait”, which was one of the early hits in the New York house/garage scene, due to Levan’s playing it at the Paradise Garage. “Don’t Make Me Wait” was their only UK Singles Chart entry, peaking at #49 in November 1982. They were signed to the West End Records label, but in 1984 they split up.

The follow-up single to “Don’t Make Me Wait” was “Life Is Something Special”, the track was written and produced by Larry Levan and Michael de Benedictus.

Life Is Something Special (Vocal)                                8:07

Life Is Something Special (Glimmer)                           1:00

Life Is Something Special (Special Edition)                  8:00

Life Is Something Special (A Capella)                          3:45

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Stephan Remmler ‎– I Don’t Go To USA (1987)

Stephan Remmler (born 25 October 1946) is one of three members of the German band Trio. He performed most of the vocals for the band’s songs. He was a member of the band alongside Gert Krawinkel, who played the guitar, and Peter Behrens, who played the drums.

After the split of Trio in 1986, Remmler continued his musical career as solo artist, releasing various singles and albums until 1996. His work contains Schlager and drinking songs as well. His biggest hits were Keine Sterne in Athen (1986, released in English as I Don’t Go to U.S.A. in 1987) and Alles hat ein Ende (nur die Wurst hat zwei) in 1987. His 1990s releases did tend more to rock music. Remmler left the music business in 1996 and took a ten-year break before his comeback in 2006.

“I Don’t Go To USA” was mixed by Peter Hammond and remixed by Stock/Aitken/Waterman.

I Don’t Go To USA (Janet In Sankt Katrein)                                                6:28

Die Zeit Ohne Stimme (Instrumental)                                                         2:35

I Don’t Go To USA (7″ Version)                                                                 3:07

Keine Sterne In Athen (3-4-5 X In 1 Monat) (German Version)                      3:07

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Captain Rapp ‎– Bad Times (I Can’t Stand It) (1983)

Captain Rapp is the stage name of Larry Earl Glenn, an American hip hop/post-disco musician, producer and West Coast Rap pioneer.

Glenn’s musical career started in 1981 when he was signed to a small indie label called Rappers Rapp Disco Record Company. His first record, party-oriented, “Gigolo Rapp” was a minor hit on the East Coast yet the record failed in his home state.

In 1983, his most successful single “Bad Times” came out on Saturn Records and reached number 23 on Billboard Dance Charts. The single was arranged and performed by emerging Contemporary R&B moguls Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, with Rich Cason.

“Bad Times” lyrically touches sensitive topic, including unemployment, child sexual abuse, AIDS, Salvadoran Civil War and even nuclear war, in contrast to uptempo synth-funk melody and soulful vocals.

The song is a West Coast variant of “The Message” whereas the title is lampooning a name of the most sampled song in hip-hop history, “Good Times” by Chic.

Bad Times (I Can’t Stand It)                                                  6:57

Bad Times (I Can’t Stand It) (Part 2)                                      5:34

Bad Times (I Can’t Stand It) (Instrumental)                             5:50

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Max Q ‎– Way Of The World (1989)

Max Q was an Australian band formed in 1989. Playing electronic music, the band was a collaboration between Michael Hutchence of INXS and Ollie Olsen (Whirlywirld, Dogs in Space soundtrack).

Max Q consisted of Hutchence (vocals and songwriting) and Olsen (songwriting and production), who were accompanied by key members of the post-punk scene in Melbourne, Australia; most of whom had previously collaborated with Olsen. The project followed on from Hutchence and Olsen’s work on the film, Dogs in Space, where they had first met.

Max Q released its sole self-titled album in 1989 and had minor hits with the songs “Sometimes” (originally recorded by Olsen with Orchestra Of Skin And Bone) and “Way of the World”. The album was more critically acclaimed than commercially successful, and has gone out of print and never been re-issued. The band never performed any live shows.

Way Of The World (12″ Mix)                           4:37

Way Of The World (7″ Mix)                             4:08

Zero-2-0 (Todd Terry Mix)                                4:20

Ghost Of The Year (Todd Terry Mix)                 4:23

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Koo Dé Tah ‎– Body Talk (1985)

Koo De Tah (also Koo Dé Tah or Koo Dee Tah) was a New Zealand/Australian pop music band of the 1980s. The core band members were Tina Cross (a native of New Zealand) and Leon Berger (Australian), who met in Sydney.

They scored a hit in 1985 with their first single “Too Young for Promises”, which reached number 6 in the Australian charts and number 48 in New Zealand.

Their self-titled debut album was released in 1986 with the follow up single being “Body Talk”.

Body Talk (Body Mix)                      6:54

My Eyes Are Shut                          5:54

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Jeffrey Osborne ‎– Plane Love (1984)

Jeffrey Linton Osborne (born March 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, lyricist and lead singer of the band, L.T.D.

In 1982, Osborne released his self-titled debut album, which featured two hit singles, “On the Wings of Love” and “I Really Don’t Need No Light”, peaking at #29 & #39 on the pop chart respectively. This was followed up the next year by Stay with Me Tonight, his first gold album (later reaching platinum album status). The album reached #25 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and #3 on the R&B album chart. The title track, “Stay With Me Tonight” charted at #4 on the R&B Singles Chart in 1983. The other three singles, “Don’t You Get So Mad”, “We’re Going All The Way” and “Plane Love”, also reached #3, #16, and #10 on the R&B chart respectively.

“Plane Love” was written by David “Hawk” Wolinski ans remixed by Larry Levan.

 

Plane Love (Specially Remixed Version)            6:17

Plane Love (Dub Version)                                 7:40

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The Cars – Hello Again (1984)

The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the new wave scene in the late 1970s. The band originated in Boston, Massachusetts, with singer, rhythm guitarist and songwriter Ric Ocasek, singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, lead guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson.

The Cars were at the forefront in merging 1970s guitar-oriented rock with the new synthesizer-oriented pop that was then becoming popular and which would flourish in the early 1980s. Robert Palmer, music critic for The New York Times and Rolling Stone, described the Cars’ musical style by saying: “they have taken some important but disparate contemporary trends—punk minimalism, the labyrinthine synthesizer and guitar textures of art rock, the ’50s rockabilly revival and the melodious terseness of power pop—and mixed them into a personal and appealing blend.”

“Hello Again” was released as the fourth single from the album Heartbeat City. It was the fourth Top 20 hit from the album, reaching number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; it also reached number 8 on the Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart and number 22 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

Written by Ric Ocasek, produced by Robert John “Mutt” Lange”, with remixes by Arthur Baker.

Hello Again (Remix Version)                     5:54

Hello Again (Dub Version)                        6:02

Hello Again (LP Version)                          3:45

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Vince Clarke / Paul Quinn ‎– One Day (Extension) (1985)

Vince Clarke (born Vincent John Martin; 3 July 1960) is an English synthpop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been the main composer and musician of the band Erasure since 1985, and was previously a member of several groups, including Depeche Mode, Yazoo and The Assembly.

In 1983, after the Yazoo split, Clarke teamed up with Eric Radcliffe and it was their idea to collaborate as one-off associations with different artists on each new single, under the name The Assembly; notably with singer Feargal Sharkey they scored the Top 5 hit “Never Never”. Meanwhile, he founded the label Reset Records with Eric Radcliffe. During 1983 and further on in 1984, he produced four singles “The Face of Dorian Gray”, “I Just Want to Dance”, “Claudette” and “Calling All Destroyers” for his friend Robert Marlow, which were released on this label. They also produced an album, which was shelved but was released much later in 1999 under the name The Peter Pan Effect. In 1985, another collaboration took place with Paul Quinn of Bourgie Bourgie, the result was the single “One Day” by Vince Clarke & Paul Quinn. However, the project never took off, and Clarke moved on to other projects.

One Day (Extension)                       4:17

Song For (Extension)                      5:09

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