12"/80's: Electropop
Release date:
September 1, 2009




As usual, the category is open to endless debate...
And when will we get that extended version of The Cure's "Let's Go To Bed"? It would have been a far better choice over "Why Can't I Be You".

Track List (as reported):

1. Disc One Simple Minds - I Travel
2. Human League - Hard Times / Love Action
3. Japan - Life In Tokyo
4. Yazoo - Don't Go
5. Landscape - Einstein A Go Go
6. Tears For Fears - Change
7. Soft Cell - Torch
8. A Flock Of Seagulls - Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)
9. Talk Talk - Such A Shame
10. Heaven 17 - Play To Win

1. Disc Two New Order - Confusion
2. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message
3. Freestyle - Don't Stop The Rock
4. Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock
5. Hashim - Al Naafiyish (The Soul)
6. Mantronix - Bassline (Stretched)
7. LL Cool J - You'll Rock
8. The Sugarhill Gang - Apache
9. Break Machine - Street Dance
10. Ollie & Jerry - Breakin'... There's No Stopping Us
11. Was (Not Was) - Wheel Me Out
12. Gwen Guthrie - Seventh Heaven

1. Disc Three Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax
2. Tin Tin - Kiss Me
3. The Cure - Why Can't I Be You?
4. Art Of Noise - Close (To The Edit)
5. Laid Back - White Horse
6. Trio - Da Da Da I Don't Love You, You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha
7. Visage - Pleasure Boys
8. Pete Shelley - Homosapien
9. Propaganda - Duel (Bittersweet)
10. Sharpe & Numan - Change Your Mind
11. Jan Hammer - Crockett's Theme
12. Giorgio Moroder, Harold Faltermeyer - Chase

available at Ideal Copy

February 05, 2008 Earworm

Speaking of dancing and love, Shannon's "Let The Music Play" placed dance floor courtship front and center on her biggest hit. She achieved this by having conversations with love, who offered advice like "just keep the groove and then he'll come back to you again". Presumably these words of wisdom were given while Shannon and love were waiting in line at the bar, or perhaps, while powdering noses because with a record this thunderous, you wouldn't have been able to hear a word anyone was saying on the dance floor.

"Let The Music Play" was the brainchild of Chris Barbosa and Ed Chisolm who decided to up the ante of New York's Electro sound by adding Latin syncopation. The result is generally referred to as the first fully formed Freestyle record although there are always dissenters to claim otherwise. Regardless, it was the first record in the Freestyle er, style to break out of clubland and into the pop charts.

In 1983, "Let The Music Play" was a truly amazing experience in the clubs and when armed with two copies of the 12 inch, the better the dj, the bigger the excitement. As a radio experience, it was much needed proof that not only did dance music not die with disco, but that it was still growing. It would also prove to be the foundation for any dance pop and r&b music of the 80's that wasn't built at the altar of Prince.

Shannon left the music business after three albums; two great, one mediocre, and went back to school. Popping up on Todd Terry's terrific "It's Over Love" in 1997, she was a welcome relief from the over-emoting, wailing dance floor divas that succeeded her. The legacy of "Let The Music Play" is continually tweaked every so often with a new remix but the result has never lived up to the original.