Club 69 - Adults Only (1995) & Style (1997) DOUBLE POST!!

Though I am not a huge fan, I was offered very good tickets to Madonna's concert in Toronto tonight, so it seems I'll finally be seeing my first Madonna concert!  Which somehow got me thinking of Peter Rauhofer, one of her premiere remixers.  Which got me thinking about his albums released under the moniker of Club 69 (a very provocative name to go with the provocative album covers!).  Rauhofer was born in Vienna, Austria.  Always on the lookout for a fresh new sound in music-starved Vienna, through the radio he managed to tune into the emerging dance music scene and loved it.  This enthusiasm led to a job at a record store and then a gig with GiG Records, which specialized in and imported underground house and dance music from around the world.  Rauhofer would share these songs as a DJ, and soon moved into production.  His first release was the deep house "Unique" under the pseudonym Danube Dance in 1991, which featured American vocalist Kim Cooper, who happened to be living in Vienna.  The success of the song encouraged him to create another deep house song with Cooper, the saucy "Let Me Be Your Underwear".  The song became so successful that it was picked up for distribution worldwide by FFRR Records, and it became a huge dance hit everywhere, even reaching #18 on the Billboard Dance Chart.  Coasting on this success Rauhofer decided to move to New York to pursue his music career.  He began work on his first album as Club 69, newly signed to Tribal America.  He brought Kim Cooper along as his lead vocalist (her vocals were primarily spoken word), though he tested the waters with different singers on a few other singles released on GiG during the album's recording, namely "Take A Ride" featuring Connie Harvey in 1993 and "Sugar Pie Guy" featuring Annette Taylor and "Pleasure" featuring Leee John in 1994.  The album was released on GiG in 1994 and finally on Tribal America in 1995.  The first single in America was "Diva" which managed to reach #47 on the Billboard Dance charts.  This was followed by a re-release of "Sugar Pie Guy" backed by a remake of The Normal's "Warm Leatherette".  Though these failed to chart they still got play in clubs and led to a second album for Club 69, though label Tribal America had transformed into Twisted America after some difficulties.  The second album was released in 1997, preceded by the double single "Much Better / Drama", which ended up being Club 69's biggest success, reaching #1 on the Billboard Dance Chart.  While "Drama" again featured the spoken word vocals of Kim Cooper, "Much Better" featured up-and-coming singer Suzanne Palmer, and she helped Club 69 get their only Billboard Hot 100 hit, with the track reaching #95 in 1998.  The next two singles also featured Palmer, and both reached #18 on the Billboard Dance Chart - remakes of Diana Ross' "Muscles" and Urban Soul's "Alright".  (Of special interest to Isle devotees is the album track "I Look Good", which features the chorus from Isle postee Bernadette Cooper's semi-hit of the same name.)  The same year Rauhofer released an album as Sizequeen, which featured less vocals and deeper underground beats (and will likely be featured here in the future), and he also became a much sought after remixer.  In 1998 alone he remixed tracks for Madonna, Deborah Cox, Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, and Cher, and his remix of her comeback hit "Believe" earned him a Grammy for Remixer Of The Year in 2000.  In 1999, along with the release of a Style remix album entitled Re-Styled, Rauhofer also started his own label, Star 69 Records, which has been going strong since, releasing dance hits by club divas including Suzanne Palmer and others like Celeda, Amuka, and Inaya Day, and also released a Club 69 "Best Of" in 2004.  Though Rauhofer releases his own music under different monikers on occasion, his focus has primarily been on his label and DJing and remixing, and he is still one of the most in demand DJs and remixers out there, this year alone having remixed Scissor Sisters, Toni Braxton and Kylie Minogue.

UPDATE:  Sadly, Peter Rauhofer lost a battle with brain cancer and died on May 7, 2013.  He will be missed, but his music will live on.  RIP

Video for Let Me Be Your Underwear 

Download Adults Only

1		Diva
2		Let Me Be Your Underwear
3		Sugar Pie Guy
4		Pleasure (Nothing Better)
5		Take A Ride
6		Fantasy (Deep Dominatrix Mix)
7		Unique (Is What You Are) (New York Underground Mix)
8		My Secret Wish
9		Riding Into Battle With Her High Heels On
10		Love Is The Message
11		Warm Leatherette
12		Diva (Pier Queen Mix)
13		The Theme

Download Style

1		Style
2		Much Better
3		I Look Good
4		Twisted
5		Muscles
6		My Orchard
7		Alright (Garage Club Mix)
8		Drama (Overload Club Mix)
9		Take Me To The Sky (The Theme)
10		Always Unique (Peter's Disko Mix)

Bingoboys - The Best Of Bingoboys (1991) & Color Of Music (1994) DOUBLE POST!!

The title of the Bingoboys debut album is misleading, because they had not released any material prior in order to have a "Best Of". But their debut single, "How To Dance" was indeed a hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Dance charts and other charts across the world. The Bingoboys consisted on three DJs from Austria: Klaus Biedermann, Paul Pfab, and Helmut Wolfgruber. They obviously had a taste for hip-house music, and over their danceable beats they enlisted the voice of American rapper Princessa aka Jennece Moore. "How To Dance" combined her raps with house beats and extensive samples, from other songs as well as soundbites from instructional recordings. The rest of the album follows suit, though Princessa is occasionally replaced by other vocalists like Two Deadly Elements, Papa Linley, and Melissa Bell, who sings on a reimagining of Gino Soccio's disco classic "Dancer". The most notable vocalist is Arnold Jarvis, who sings on a remake of the SOS Band's "Borrowed Love," which also features Princessa. It was also released as a single and even dented the Billboard Pop top 100. This wasn't success enough for their label Atlantic, however, and they were dropped after releasing a third unsuccessful single, "No Woman No Cry", which owes more to Salt 'N' Pepa's "Push It" than the Bob Marley song of the same name. They did manage to record and release another album on WEA in Europe in 1994, however, entitled Color Of Music. Princessa was replaced with singer Vivian Sessoms. But the album and it's singles - "Ten More Minutes", "No Communicaton" and "Sugar Daddy" - made little impact and they officially split soon after. All three men have remained active in the music scene, but nothing has been heard from Princessa again. Pity.

Video for How To Dance

Video for Borrowed Love

Download The Best Of Bingoboys

1 How To Dance
2 Get Up
3 Borrowed Love
4 Welcome To The Love Connection
5 No Woman No Cry
6 The Dancer
7 Bla Bla
8 Adventures In Funk Space
9 Set The Mood

10 Hey D.J.

Video for Ten More Minutes

Alternate video for Ten More Minutes

Download Color Of Music

1 Ten More Minutes

2 Sugar Daddy

3 No Communication

4 That Girl

5 Knock Knock

6 Gimme Love

7 Peace Of Mind

8 Color Of Music

9 Logical

10 Get It Together

11 Magic Number

12 Discard After