Lindy Layton - Pressure (1991) & No Other Star (1996) DOUBLE POST!!

Thanks to a wishlist fulfillment from Konstantin, I can now share both albums by British singer Lindy (aka Belinda) Layton.  I became aware of Lindy way back in 1990, when her group Beats International, which also included Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, had a huge pop-reggae #1 UK and #1 Billboard Dance Chart hit with "Dub Be Good To Me", a remake of SOS Band's R&B hit "Just Be Good To Me". I knew that she had a solo career after that, but only managed to get my hands on her first solo album a few years ago, Now, thanks to Konstantin, I have both! And luckily Wikipedia has an entry on her solo work, which makes my job here easy. After having another UK top 10 hit with "Won't Talk About It", Beats International's subsequent singles and album did not fare near as well.  Before Beats started working on their second album, Lindy was snatched up by Arista for a solo career.  Her first single was a remake of Janet Kay's 1979 reggae UK #2 hit "Silly Games".  Lindy's version reached #22 on the UK chart. Her album soon followed, as did the #42 hit "Echo My Heart".  The album had many tracks similar to the reggae pop of Beats International, but it also moved into house music as well.  It also included a remake of Prince's "Do Me Baby".  After the next two singles "Wait For Love" and "Without You" failed to take off, Lindy was dropped from Arista.  She released the house single "I'll Be A Freak For You" the following year on a smaller label, and was soon signed to PWL.  On PWL she released two poppier singles, "We Got The Love" and "Show Me", which reached #38 and #47, respectively, on the UK pop chart. She was then dropped from PWL as well.  It would take her three years to release more music, which she passed mainly DJing. The album No Other Star was only released in Japan on the Cutting Edge label, and the only single release from it was "Who Do You Think You Are?", which failed to chart.  She had returned to her pop reggae roots, which was clearly out of vogue by the mid-nineties. She then teamed up with DJ Steve Proctor to form the breakbeat duo Hardknox in 1997. They released their first single "Coz I Can" on the Skint label, and two years later released their self-titled album on Jive Electro. It was not a great commercial success, but was favoured by the underground scene. Nothing much was heard from Lindy until 2009, when she appeared on tracks on albums by both the Dub Pistols and the Groove Diggerz, such as "I'm In Love" and "Body Flow", as well as a remake of "Just Be Good To Me".  She featured on two other Dub Pistols albums on the tracks "Rock Steady" in 2012, and "Our Life" in 2015.  She also had a daytime radio show in 2013 called The Mrs.  She now focuses on songwriting and DJing, but hopefully she will return to making music some time soon.

Video for Silly Games

Video for Without You

Download Pressure

1 Wait For Love
2 Echo My Heart
3 Do Me Baby
4 Without You
5 Keep It Up
6 Silly Games
7 Drop The Pressure
8 Lines
9 Cruel (To Be Kind)
10 This Isn't Fair
11 Best Thing
12 Let Me Keep You Here

Download No Other Star

1 Who Do You Think You Are?
2 Feeling Groovy (A.K.A. West Side)
3 Miracle
4 No Other Star
5 Running Away
6 Bedtime
7 It Must Be Love
8 Like We're Human
9 Truly
10 Can't Get My Eyes Off You
11 Why
12 High Time
13 Love The One You're With
14 Stay With Me Till Dawn

Arthur Baker And The Backbeat Disciples - Merge (1989) & Give In To The Rhythm (1991) DOUBLE POST!!

Arthur Baker is a legendary producer and remixer.  He was born in Boston and began his career in music as a DJ, but soon tired of it and chose to pursue music production.  He produced several unsuccessful soul and electro tracks in the late 70s and early 80s, and thought a move to New York might help to elevate his career, which happened when he got a job with Tommy Boy Records.  As part of Northend, he had his first major success in 1981 with their second disco single "Happy Days". (The song would be heavily sampled in P.J. aka Paul Jacob's "Happy Days", which was a dance hit in both 1997 and 1999.) The following year he had even bigger success with the number one dance hit "Walkin' On Sunshine" by Rockers Revenge, which also featured his future wife and Isle postee Tina B..  That same year he became a hip hop and freestyle pioneer by producing Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force's seminal "Planet Rock".  From there his career exploded, and he was in demand as a producer and remixer, working on future hits with huge and diverse acts like New Edition, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Holliday, Carly Simon, Bob Dylan, Suzanne Vega, New Order, Hall & Oates (with whom he'd have a close production relationship), and even Billy Crystal, as well as several Isle postees. He was also part of acts like Wally Jump Jr & The Criminal Element and Criminal Element Orchestra. But aside from the 1984 club hit "Breaker's Revenge", he didn't release anything under his own name. Until 1989, that is, when A&M Records gave him an album deal.  He recruited a band and dubbed them "The Backbeat Disciples", which consisted of John Warren, Tiny Valentine, Mac Quayle, Bobby Khozouri, Philip Damien and Cevin Fisher (Quayle, Fisher and Damien would go on to become huge producers and remixers themselves). The album consisted mostly of dance pop, with some more adult contemporary and hi-NRG tracks thrown in. Along with Warren and Valentine, he recruited several other vocalists, including legendary soul singer Al Green, ABC frontman Martin Fry, half of OMD, Andy McClusky, Jimmy Sommerville of Bronski Beat and The Communards, popular French singer Etienne Daho, future house legend Robert Owens, and Isle postee Shirley Lewis.  He released seven singles from the album, the biggest hit being "The Message Is Love" featuring Green, which made the UK top 40 and top 10 in several other countries.  "It's Your Time", featuring Lewis, made the UK top 100, but "Talk It Over," "2 x 1," "Mythical Girl," "Silly Games," and "Last Thing On My Mind" were far less successful, and his deal with A&M ended.  But he was soon snapped up by RCA, and his second album appeared two years later.  Though he kept the name, the Backbeat Disciples were no longer with him, and some releases of the album appeared under his name only.  Again he recruited a bevy of amazing singers, including Leee John of Imagination, diva Tata Vega, newcomers Nikeeta and Wanda Nash, Kate Ceberano, lead singer of Isle postees I'm Talking, fellow Isle postee Adele Bertei, and Green once again.  This time Baker explored the more club-ready genres of house and trance.  He also had greater success in the US, with "Let There Be Love" reaching the top 20 on the Billboard dance chart, "Kiss The Ground (You Walk On)" also hitting that chart, "Leave The Guns At Home" a minor Billboard R&B hit, and "I O U", a remake of the dance smash he wrote and produced for pop group Freeez in 1983, just squeaking into the Billboard Hot 100.  Since then, Baker has continued to release singles under his own name and also continues to produce and remix, and he is deservedly considered a legend by most of the new breed of producers and remixers, his influence obvious in their work.

Video for The Message Is Love

Video for It's Your Time

Download Merge

1	Talk It Over (Featuring John Warren)
2	Willin' To Be Chillin' (Featuring Tiny Valentine)
3	Last Thing On My Mind (Featuring John Warren)
4	Mythical Girl (Featuring Martin Fry)
5	I Believe In Love (Featuring Jimmy Sommerville)
6	The Message Is Love (Featuring Al Green)
7	Walk Away (Featuring Andy McCluskey)
8	It's Your Time (Featuring Shirley Lewis)
9	Count To Ten (Featuring John Warren)
10	2 x 1 (Featuring Tiny Valentine)
11	All I Ever Wanted (Featuring Mac Quayle)
12	Silly Games (Featuring Robert Owens)
13	Paris Sens Interdit (Featuring Ettienne Daho)

Video for Let There Be Love

Video for Leave The Guns At Home

Download Give In To The Rhythm

1	Let There Be Love (Featuring Leee John & Tata Vega)
2	Leave The Guns At Home (Featuring Al Green)
3	I.O.U. (Featuring Nikeeta)
4	(Rock Me) In The House Of Love (Featuring Wanda Nash)
5	Feels Like The First Time (Featuring Nikeeta)
6	Inspiration (Featuring Leee John & Tata Vega)
7	C'mon C'mon (Featuring Leee John)
8	If Love Had A Heart (Featuring Leee John)
9	2 Can Play This Game (Featuring Wanda Nash)
10	Let's Start From Scratch (Featuring Nikeeta)
11	Surrender (Trance Like Us) (Featuring Adele Bertei)
12	Kiss The Ground (You Walk On) (Featuring Adele Bertei)
13	Meaning Of Life (Featuring Kate Ceberano)

Taja Sevelle - Taja Sevelle (1987), Fountains Free (1991) & Toys Of Vanity (1997) TRIPLE POST!!!

I have loved Taja Sevelle from the very start of her career and have enjoyed all of her musical explorations.  I've wanted to feature her here for years, but at one time Taja was offering her albums on her website so I resisted out of respect.  However, someone recently requested her work, and I checked her website and the albums are no longer available there, and they don't seem to be available digitally either, so I thought it was time to share her amazing music.  As her biography is available on her website, I'll give the condensed version.  She was born Nancy Richardson in Minneapolis.  While working in the health food industry and farming, she also pursued music, fronting several local jazz and R&B bands and also working as a radio producer and DJ.  She was accepted at the Berklee College Of Music, but passed when Minneapolis' most famous citizen, Prince, offered her a record deal with his vanity label, Paisley Park, which was distributed through Reprise Records. She had previously done background vocals on his track "The Ladder" in 1985, and obviously this impressed him enough to sign her to a solo deal.  Hooking up with Minneapolis musician Chico Bennett (aka George Bennette), she created an album that incorporated the red hot Minneapolis sound, but with her own folksy, hippiesque vibe. Her first single, the self-penned ballad "Love Is Contagious," became a huge hit in Europe, reaching #7 on the UK charts, and a modest hit in the US, reaching #62 on the Billboard Hot 100. It remains one of my favourite ballads ever.  She followed it up with the funky Prince-penned "Wouldn't You Love To Love Me," but it only managed to reach the middle of the UK Pop and Billboard R&B charts.  Follow-up singles "Popular" and "Take Me For A Ride" failed to chart.  Paisley Park's run would soon end, but Taja stuck with Reprise, and four years later released her second album, Fountains Free.  While Bennett still produced a few tracks (and would go on to work with superstars like Lady GaGa, Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake), she also worked with various other R&B and pop producers, most prominently pop producer du jour Ian Prince and the legendary Burt Bacharach.  As a result, the album was much more pop-oriented, but the direction didn't seem to work, as the only single, "Trouble Having You Near," did not chart.  For awhile it seemed that was the end of Taja's musical career, but six years later she surprised her fans by signing with 550 Music and releasing the album Toys Of Vanity.  This time she worked with producer R.J. Rice (of R.J.'s Latest Arrival fame) and she delved deeply into the trip hop sound that was hot at the time.  No doubt she didn't expect the album to become a huge pop hit, but she released the singles "I & I" and "A Lot Like You" to critical acclaim. Personally I was thrilled to discover the album a couple years later, as I was a huge trip hop fan.  During the recording of the album in Detroit, Taja was struck by all of the poverty there.  This led to her greatest passion, the founding of Urban Farming, which encourages people in cities to grow their own food on unused land, and the group helped to plant vegetable gardens around the world for those in need.  Though she has also written books, acted, and even patented her own invention, Urban Farming has remained her passion, and she has made more of a name for herself in this respect than from her music, having appeared on numerous television shows, including Ellen.  But she has still managed to release new music, including the underground house music hits "Never Givin' Up" in 2000 and a remake of The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil" in 2003.  She also independently released the Good Times EP in 2004 and continues to occasionally independently release various singles on her e-store.  I have had the pleasure of corresponding with her on her blog and Facebook page, and I can tell you that her personality is as sweet as her voice and her conscience.

Urban Farming

Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Musi

Video for Love Is Contagious

Video for Wouldn't You Love To Love Me

Video for Popular

Download Taja Sevelle

1	Love Is Contagious
2	Wouldn't You Love To Love Me?
3	Popular
4	How Could You Do Me So Bad?
5	Take Me For A Ride
6	If I Could Get Your Attention
7	Infatuation
8	Baby's Got A Lover
9	Mama 16
10	Fly For Your Painted Rainbow

Download Fountains Free

1	Trouble Having You Near
2	Chase Temptation
3	I'm Givin' In
4	Even Odd You
5	Fountains Free
6	The Power Of Your Love (You And I)
7	Perpetual Motion
8	What A State Of Love
9	Fierce Desire
10	Forever In Love
11	Died Alive
12	Trouble Having You Near (Radio Mix)

   
Video for I & I

Download Toys Of Vanity

1	I & I
2	Us
3	Wake Before I Die
4	A Lot Like You
5	I Feel
6	Killing Time
7	Making Love To The Air
8	Fleet Of Angels
9	Toys Of Vanity
10	Sub-Conscious Me
11	Why?
12	Fleet Of Angels (No Drums)

MC Peaches - More Than Just A Pretty Face (1991)

It seems that 1991 was a banner year for female rappers on major labels, although ones that didn't quite hit with the mainstream.  On this blog alone we have featured Tam Tam, Missy Mist, Icy Blu, Tycie & Woody, and Princessa of Bingoboys, who all managed to release only one album, all in 1991.  The female rap boom at this time was obviously due to the late 80s success of acts like Salt 'N' Pepa, J.J. Fad, Queen Latifah and MC Lyte, among others.  Every label wanted to have the next big lady of hip hop.  To that end, EastWest Records signed MC Peaches, a rapper from Brooklyn.  Previously she had released one single, the double-sided "Commin Straight Rollin Hard / Treat Her Like A Lady" in 1988.  The latter was produced by one of hip hop's heavyweights, King Of Chill, who had also produced MC Lyte, and rap duo Audio Two, and this association, along with Peaches' tough but feminine rap, garnered her respect in the hip hop community.  The same producers worked on her album, though the result was quite a bit less 'street' than her debut single.  The first and only single was "Every Breath You Take (Watching You)", which was obviously based on the pop hit by The Police. It was not a hit, and several other tracks utilized bits of other pop hits like John Waite's "Missing You", and Rose Royce's "Love Don't Live Here Anymore". The result was an album that was likely too pop for hip hop fans, and too hip hop for pop fans.  What became of Peaches after that is as mysterious as where she came from, since, like Tam Tam, there is virtually nothing about her on the internet, and it doesn't help that there are several other ladies of hip hop who use the moniker of Peaches.  MC Peaches, please hit us up if you see this and fill us in!

Download More Than Just A Pretty Face

1	She's Not Just Another Woman
2	More Than Just A Pretty Face
3	Every Breath You Take (Watching You)
4	Dope Is How It's Done
5	I'mma Let You Know
6	Love Don't Live Here Anymore
7	Fellas Gather Round
8	Good Thing
9	(This track has been removed from the download file thanks to a complaint regarding the copyright of the Queen song sampled)
10	Keep It In Your Pants, Tucked Away
11	I'm Not Missing You
12	Crowd Pleaser
13	Jo Ann - Outro

Missy Mist - Let The Good Times Roll (1991)

How about a bit more old school hip hop, this time of the Miami bass sort?  Missy Mist is Michelle Broom.  Originally from the Bronx, Michelle moved to Miami at a young age, where she convinced her mother to take her to a local radio station that LL Cool J was appearing at. While there, Michelle's mother convinced the security guard that Michelle could rap, and he introduced her to the DJ (and Miami bass pioneer), Eric Griffin, and his music partner Norberto Morales, who owned the successful Bass Station Records.  They liked what they heard and signed her.  Unfortunately Norberto was soon murdered, so Eric created his own label, Never Stop Productions, and started recording with Michelle, who now recorded under the name Missy Mist.  Their first track together was "Make It Mellow," in 1988, which became a Billboard rap hit.  It's success captured the attention of major label Atlantic Records, who quickly released the single on a larger scale. Missy followed this up the next year with "Gettin' Bass," which solidified her reputation as the queen of Miami bass.  Soon RCA Records came calling and Missy was signed to a lucrative deal.  With Eric again producing, the album included the Miami bass sound ("Back It Up" is the standout), but also explored other hip hop sounds, making it one of the more diverse albums from an artist associated with Miami bass.  There were samples aplenty, from Brian Hyland's "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" to S.O.S Band's "Take Your Time (Do It Right)".  The title track was the only single, and didn't fare quite as well as her previous tracks, and it would seem that RCA dropped her.  She stayed in Miami while Griffin moved to Missouri, where he was tragically murdered by thieves in his home studio in 1998.  While still dabbling in music, as well as doing voiceover work and acting, Michelle focused on being a housewife and mother.  She also went to school for Legal Studies in the hopes of one day becoming an Entertainment & Sports attorney.  And in 2013 she discussed her early days in an exciting documentary dedicated to Miami bass, The Bass That Ate Miami, which featured all of the pioneers and superstars of the genre, of which she was obviously one.  Visit her on Youtube or Facebook.

Download Let The Good Times Roll

1	Deadly
2	Let The Good Times Roll
3	Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend
4	Let's Pull Together
5	Think About Peace
6	We Can Do It
7	Rock The Funky Beat
8	Back It Up
9	Let's Get This Party Started
10	Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
11	Funky Enough

Tam Tam - Do It Tam Tam (1991)

When I started this blog, it was very difficult to find any info on the artists I featured because they were so obscure.  As time went on and the internet grew, a lot of these artists reemerged, and their internet presence grew as a result.  Most times now when I want to feature an album, I can find quite a bit about the artist if I poke around enough.  Not true of Tam Tam.  There is virtually nothing about her out there, just basic info that her real name is Tammy Hairston, she was (and still is) from Boston, and that her one single, "Do It Tam Tam," reached the lower end of the Billboard R&B Singles chart.  The album was produced by mostly unknowns, but somehow her talent got her a deal with a major label, Island.  I even reached out to LaTamra Smith, former member of Isle postees Picture Perfect, as she was mistakenly thought to be Tam Tam, and it turns out that she was Tam Tam's back-up singer and dancer, but she has not heard from her since.  A message on Youtube indicates that Tam Tam became disillusioned with the industry and left it.  And there is a Tammy Hairston on Facebook who looks like it could be her, but I didn't want to harass her in case I was wrong or she would rather not discuss it. ;)  Whatever the case, the album is full of fun pop-rap and funky R&B, and Tam Tam has a great flow.  "Sweat To Death" is a great hip-house track, and "Miss You" uses the music from the Rolling Stones song of the same name.  Tam Tam was much better than many of her peers, IMO, but her album came out when every label was signing female rappers, thanks to the success of acts like Salt 'N Pepa, MC Lyte, and Queen Latifah.  Like many of her peers, several featured on this very blog, she got lost in crowd.  And maybe she wasn't interested in fame anyway after all.

UPDATE:  Thanks to Isle visitor Martin, I discovered a bit more about Tam Tam.   Back in 1989, authors David Foster Wallace and Mark Costello set out to write an essay to explain the essence and emerging popularity of rap music.  It ended up becoming a book, Signifying Rappers (which I am currently reading with interest).  In the book the authors describe how most people in the hip hop world refused to talk to them, but they did manage to get into a Boston studio, RJam Productions.  While there they met Tam Tam, who was then 16 and recording in the studio.  She had a loose family connection to the owners. The writers interviewed her for a bit, and they paint her as very young, naive and soft-spoken, but driven to have a successful rap career. She also revealed that she was interested in pursuing modelling.  She was then working on a diss track directed at rapper Antoinette, who Tam Tam and her producers claimed stole a song she had written and recorded a demo for called "I'm Crying".  The song was about Tam Tam consoling a friend, her rap partner Pebbles (apparently there was more than one Pebbles and then Pebbles was dismissed, since Tam Tam thought she was ruining her sound). Antoinette included the track on her album Who's The Boss? Tam Tam's diss track was called "Ho, You're Guilty".  Unfortunately the writers leave Tam Tam while she's recording the track, which was never released, and the next (and last) anyone would hear from her is this album.  If you care to read some of the essay yourself, you can check it out HERE.

Video for Do It Tam Tam

Live performance of Do It Tam Tam

Download Do It Tam Tam

1	Legacy Intro
2	Legacy One
3	Miss You
4	Boston Intro
5	Do It Tam Tam
6	Juvenile
7	Got It Going On
8	Sweat Intro
9	Sweat To Death
10	I Ain't Down With You
11	Legacy Two
12	A.I.E.

Nayobe - Nayobe (1986) & Promise Me (1991) DOUBLE POST!!

It's due time to feature a lady who is considered by many the first true queen of freestyle.  It is believed that she is the first Latin woman to have a freestyle hit, and second woman overall, after Shannon.  Whether this is true or not, any fan of freestyle knows exactly who Nayobe is.  Brooklyn born Nayobe Catalina Gomez burst on the scene in 1985 with the song "Please Don't Go", arguably the first vocal 'Latin Hip Hop' song.  Before then, after performing in talent shows and off-Broadway appearances as a young girl, she met manager Sal Abbatiello when she was 14 at a skating rink.  Hearing her singing aloud, he asked her to join a talent contest at the popular Dance Fever club.  She won ten times in a row, which resulted in her being signed to Sutra Records and back-up singing gigs with hip hop acts like Lovebug Starski, The Fat Boys and Kurtis Blow.  She was presented with "Please Don't Go" and loved it, and it was an instant club hit, reaching #23 on the Billboard Dance charts.  She even perfromed it in the film Krush Groove.  Though the freestyle sound was a big hit, the label chose to release the 60s R&B flavoured "School Girl Crush" as the next single.  When it failed to hit, they went back to the freestyle formula and released "Good Things Come To Those Who Wait" and "Second Chance For Love", both of which were also Billboard Dance hits, reaching #15 and #30, respectively.  Her self-titled album was also released, as was another single, the ballad "Guess I Fell In Love", but it failed to chart.  However, her dance chart success led to her being signed to Epic offshoot WTG, and the track "It's Too Late" was included on the soundtrack to the movie Twins.  It became her biggest hit, reaching #5 on the Billboard Dance charts.  In an attempt to widen her audience, the label then set her up with top R&B producers like Teddy Riley, Frankie Blue, Les Pierce, David Frank and Mic Murphy.  The result was a new jack swing album, far from the sound of her debut.  With a change of sound and image, her fans didn't embrace (or perhaps even notice) her new sound, and though the first single, "I Love The Way You Love Me", managed to hit #14 on the Billboard Dance charts and was a minor R&B hit, the album and follow-up single "I'll Be Around" were fairly unsuccessful and she was dropped.  Nayobe took some time off, but returned with the single "All Night Long" in 1995, a remake of the Mary Jane Girls classic (according to Nayobe, it failed because Mary J. Blige released her version the same year). She also recorded a new freestyle track that same year, "What Am I To Do", for the Freestyle Lives compilation. Then, thanks to the label's president, she signed a two album deal in 1997 with Sony's Latin division to release Latin music, but after the president was fired, she was dropped before her album Dame Un Poco Mas could be properly promoted.  Luckily, during that time a friend got her a gig dubbing Salma Hayak's singing voice in the movie 54 for the song "The Night I Fly".  After changing management, Nayobe signed with Platano Records in 1998 and released a self-titled salsa album the following year.  It was not a huge success, and Nayobe claimed that if it failed, she'd either give up music or focus on house music (something that she dabbled in in 1991 with the song "Good Love").  Luckily, instead of retiring, she returned in 2005 as a featured artist on the #19 Billboard Dance chart house hit "You're My Angel" by DJ Mike Cruz.  Since then Nayobe has been touring the hugely popular freestyle concert circuit with many of her contemporaries, garnering new adoration and even receiving the first Fever Lifetime Achievement Award earlier this year.  You can bet we haven't heard the last of Nayobe's incredible voice blaring through clubs the world over.

Video tribute

Download Nayobe
(Note: This is the 1991 reissue of the album entitled Please Don't Go, which contains bonus tracks)
 

1		Please Don't Go
2		Good Things Come To Those Who Wait
3		Guess I Fell In Love
4		Roses
5		School Girl Crush
6		Second Chance For Love
7		The More I Need (The Less I Have)
8		I Don't Have To Make Believe
9		No Te Vayas (Please Don't Go)
10		Please Don't Go (Remix)
11		Please Don't Go (Dub Version)

Download Promise Me

1		I Love The Way You Love Me
2		I'll Be Around
3		Can't Let Go
4		You Are You
5		You Are Everything
6		Who Do I Call
7		Some Kind Of Emotion
8		Promise Me
9		Main Squeeze
10		Have I Said I Love You Lately