David Morales & The Bad Yard Club - The Program (1993)

After I posted the Arthur Baker & The Backbeat Disciples post, I was reminded of another album from around the same era that was fronted by a legendary producer and featured several vocalists.  It was David Morales & The Bad Yard Club, but I only had it on cassette and hadn't listened to it in decades.  I immediately found the CD online, and here it is! David Morales was born and bred in a rough section of Brooklyn and frequented the New York club scene as a teen, becoming a DJ in the late 70s, most notably at Paradise Garage. His success as a DJ led to his being asked to remix several singles, his first being married synth-pop duo The Zummos' "An Obsession (Over You)" in 1985.  From there he was in demand as a remixer, remixing an endless stream of pop and R&B singles (including remixes for several Isle postees like Pam Russo, Sequel, Adventures Of Stevie V, Nerissa, Nayobe, Alison Limerick, Jamie J. Morgan, Slam Slam, Ana, Blue Pearl, Temper Temper, Ya Kid K, Malaika, Eve Gallagher, India, and, yes, even Arthur Baker & The Backbeat Disciples), with his first remix for a major artist being Whitney Houston's "Love Will Save The Day" in 1988. In 1987 he also began making his own music, joining up with other future remix and production legends Chep Nunez, Robert Clivilles and David Cole to form 2 Puerto Ricans, A Black Man And A Dominican, whose single "Do It Properly" was a huge underground club hit. But it wasn't until 1993 that he decided to use his own name to release original music.  Like Arthur Baker, he chose to add a group name after his name, branding his supporting players, producers and vocalists The Bad Yard Club. He signed to Mercury and released the single "Gimme Luv (Eenie Meenie Miny Mo)" featuring Jamaican ragga vocalist Papa San.  The song became a huge club hit, eventually hitting #1 on the Billboard Dance chart.  The album soon followed, and it maintained the ragga house sound introduced in the first single.  The title track, also featuring Papa San, was released next and hit the #1 spot on the Billboard Dance chart as well.  While the next single, "Sunshine", failed to chart, its follow-up, "In De Ghetto", hit #3 on the Billboard Dance chart in 1994 and is probably the best remembered single from the album.  (It was re-released in 1996 featuring the original vocalist, Delta Bennett, as well as house diva Crystal Waters.) It would be the last single from the album and from David Morales & The Bad Yard Club.  (Of particular interest to pop fans, the track "Forever Luv" is the first song to feature the vocals of future pop superstar (in Europe, at least) Anastacia.) Morales went on to even huger, superstar success in the following years as a producer, remixer and artist.  He was nominated for Grammys three years in a row - as a producer on Mariah Carey's Daydream in 1996, and for Remixer Of The Year in 1997 and 1998, the latter year for which he won.  This was helped by the success that same year of "Needin' U", a mostly instrumental house track that he released as David Morales Presents The Face, which hit #1 on the Billboard Dance chart and #8 on the UK Pop chart. He released it again in 2001, as "Needin' U II", this time featuring vocals by Isle postee Juliet Roberts, and it again hit #1 on the Billboard Dance chart and #11 on the UK Pop chart.  He has since released many successful singles using his own name and as part of various groups, the biggest being "Higher" by Moca in 2000, and also released two albums using just his own name, 2 Worlds Collide in 2004 and Changes in 2012.  He has produced, remixed and released a lot less since then, as he dedicates most of his time touring the world as a highly sought after DJ, thus returning to his first love.

Video for Gimme Luv (Eenie Meenie Miny Mo)

Download The Program

1	The Program (Reprise)
2	The Program (Featuring Papa San)
3	Sunshine (Featuring Stanryck)
4	In De Ghetto (Featuring Delta)
5	Games (Featuring Ce Ce Rogers)
6	Jazzy Mo
7	Gimme Luv (Eenie Meenie Miny Mo) (Featuring Papa San)
8	Beautiful Thing (Featuring Stanryck)
9	Forever Luv (Featuring Anastacia)
10	Work That Body (Featuring Natural E)
11	Gimme Luv (Eenie Meenie Miny Mo) (The Jackie 60 LP Experience) (Featuring Papa San)