every week and get their releases. And if you missed a week, you suffered, because you’d never get that record again. As another example of that, there’s this next record, one of my rarest.
the first years of the ’70s, it was rare. It was usually an eight- or sixteen-beat blend, and when you heard a sixteen-beat blend, you’d notice it. There’s a lot of memory involved, knowing where the record sped up or slowed down, and a lot of physical mixing to get it to work, because often records were really off- time. Those who had a delicate touch and knew the record inside and out could do it. People who didn’t have that memory or thought they could just wing it, you would hear this fighting [the mix], a train wreck kind of thing. By the mid-’70s, there were quite a few professional DJs who had practiced and were really pretty good. Certainly, by the end of the ’70s, it was really popular. By the time of the ’78, ’79 disco boom, there were a lot of records being produced that were not difficult to mix; they were just straight records [rhythmically]. Around this time, I had been DJing a number of years, and I went to see Jellybean at Harrah’s. I was coming from my gig, and I had gone through this ordeal to pack up all my records and get down there. It was the end of the night, and I’m waiting for him to come out with his records. He comes out in a suit, all immaculate, and he’s got a little briefcase! A tiny briefcase, and I’m like, “Where are all your records?” And I realized, after hearing him a few times during that period, that there were a ton of fifteen-minute records out, and he was playing a circuit of clubs where those were hit records. It was very easy to just play a lot of long records, and you wouldn’t have to bring that many. That was your night!
Lorraine Johnson “The More I Get, the More I Want” (Prelude) 1977
Made famous when Teddy Pendergrass recorded his version for Philadelphia International, this was composed by McFadden/Whitehead and keyboardist Victor Carstarphen. The song begins with a long drum and percussion break punctuated with flashes of string stabs, bass, and guitar added sixteen measures in. After the body of the song, highlighted by Johnson’s charismatic vocal performance, the outro fades and fades until all you’re left with are those majestic string stabs. Krivit: It’s one of the first Prelude 12-inches. This was probably just as François [Kevorkian] was coming to the label, before everything on the label started being mixed by him. This was remixed by Rafael Charres, and it’s a very dramatic, excellent remix. At that time, I was really taken with [remixers] Tom Moulton, Walter Gibbons, and Richie Rivera. But Rafael Charez, to this day, if I see something I don’t know with his name on it, I have to get it. But, somehow, I missed this one; I couldn’t get it at the label. It took me about seven years to find another copy. François didn’t even get this until a few years ago! It took him that long. Then after he told Joe [Claussell] about it, Joe walks in to the club the next week with a copy and says, “Yeah, I found it on the street for fifty cents.” But, in spite of that story, it’s a very rare record. It’s actually one-sided; the other side is a different song and artist. As you can tell from the writing on the label, I got this from a guy named Larry Francis, who used to work for MCA. I traded a bunch of stuff for it: a lot of records, some pot...
How was your approach different?
I didn’t know how not to bring too many records! I was always bringing a crate or two of records! It was like, “This is all I have, but if I had more, I would bring more!” The situation with Jellybean was really my first exposure to somebody just focusing on one sound. I was all over the place. I would play a variety. I was funky, disco, a little bit of rock; I just played everything. So I brought a lot of records!
Brainstorm “We’re On Our Way Home” (CBS) 1978
Were these long intros made with blending in mind?
This single is drawn from the Detroit band’s second LP, Journey to the Light . Brainstorm included several notable talents in the band, including drummer Renell Gonsalves, the son of Ellington saxophonist Paul Gonsalves. Early in her career, Brainstorm’s lead singer, Belita Woods, released two gorgeous singles on Detroit label Moira Records (also home to the Fabulous Counts). A one-off single on Epic, “I Just Love You,” followed in 1973 before she joined Brainstorm.
No. They were made with excitement in mind. Especially someone like [Rafael Charez]. There were other mixers who thought about blending, who were busy keeping everything in four- and eight-[bar patterns] and straightening things out. Rick Gianatos was one, and John Luongo. Luongo took Sly and the Family Stone and remixed the whole Greatest Hits album and threw the band out. He just used these tired musicians and made a disco crap record. He did do some good disco records, but I always wondered what the original sounded like, ’cause he just threw stuff out. They were blending all throughout the ’70s, although in
Krivit: This is another one I got out there in Queens. I love
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