Out Of Office - 'Break Of Dawn 2008'
OK, dance records are notoriously tricky beggars to review. Most of the sonic revelation happens quite early on, there's often not that much of a chorus to speak of, and it's really all about how it affects the parts of your body which are untouched by words (clue: feet, spine, arse). So instead of listing every synth-swirl and breakdown, I am going to tell you a story about how such a song came into being.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...
Once upon a time, as it is written in the sacred scroll of press-release, there was a song called 'Let No Man Put Asunder' by First Choice (it's on ), which featured some paint-peelingly raw soul testifying from a lady called Rochelle Flemming. During the early '90s, records such as these were prized higher than Mark Ronson prizes his shiny horn, because you could sample the vocal and use it to spice up your would-be club banger.
This was what happened when Rhythm On The Loose put together their song 'Break Of Dawn' in 1991 (again, it's on ), and lo! The clubbers beheld it and they said it was good.
Despite this, 'Break Of Dawn' took four long years to reach the charts, and when it DID get into the Top 40 in 1995, it was a remix of the original.
This version of the song utilises the vocal skill of Marcella Woods, Mr Out Of Office's sister (his real name is Michael, fact fans), to recreate some of the vocal work of the Rhythm On The Loose version, but you'll notice that Rochelle's "no man in the WORLD..." bit is still in there. It's always nice in a story to go right back to the beginning in flashback form, from time to time. It's good structure, see.
So, to recap, this song is a reworking of a remix of a dance track which samples an old song. It's like musical recycling, and proves that despite those ads on TV, it might be easier to be green than people are letting on...
...let's just draw a veil over the mountain of carbon-aggressive CDs which have been made in the name of this song since it was first recorded, shall we?
Oh, I nearly forgot...and they all lived happily ever after.
THE END
Download: Out now
CD Released: February 18th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
*cries*
Oh man, why did they take the awesome ROTL bass riff off? It's like listening to the 12" version of The Orb's Blue Room all over again (ie still good but WHERE IS THE BASSLINE), waah disappointment.