It looks like I’m on the retro trip right now with re-discovering some of my old records. I hope you’ve enjoyed the first part of Limbo’s Paradise and are ready for part II.

1. Stephanie Mills - Something In The Way (You Make Me Feel) (12″ MCA)

Like Camelle Hinds’ Sausalito Calling mentioned in Part I of Limbo’s Paradise this is a song that has written timeless summer groove all over. Produced, written and arranged by Angela Winbush and splendidly remixed and extendeded by the late Louil Silas Jr. to epic 9:20 minutes this is still a dream come true for every soulboy and soulgirl. You know you’re addicted to this tune when you hear the bass and fingersnipping at the very beginning. Something In The Way was the first single from Stephanie’s Home album that also featured another great Winbush song So Good, So Right plus a divine version of Home from the Wizard Of Oz with Take 6 on background vocals and Nick Martinelli as producer. Stephanie did a cover of Something In The Way on her recent lacklustre Born For This! album but compared to this version it is a mediocre copy and Miss Mills didn’t do herself a favour with the new version.

2. Paul Johnson - If We Lose Our Way (12″ Force Vital)

One of the unsung heroes of Brit Soul, Paul Johnson suffers from the same under-exposure like for example Noel McKoy. The closet thing to a hit Paul had sp far was as featured vocalist for Soul II Soul on Represent. For If We Lose Our Way Paul teamed up with Dodge and I.G. Culture and it’s the Long Rhodes Mix that’s still the best version eleven years after its release. Wait a minute, eleven years? Why I’m feeling so old all of a sudden when I pick some records I haven’t heard for a while?

3. Veronica Lynn - Make Up Your Mind / Best Times Of Our Lives (12″ RCA)

It was and still is the song Best Times Of Our Lives on the flipside that makes this 12″ worthwhile. Imagine Chante Moore with Love’s Taken Over combined with an early Erykah Badu and you get the impression how good this track is. Best Times Of Our Lives is an Album Version and the sleeve mentiones a forthcoming album Diamond In The Rough. Unfortunatley I’ve never seen nor heard it. Looks like RCA had cancelled the release because the single wasn’t a success.

4. Zakar - Censee (12″ Select Records)

Straight out of Obscursville this release…I guess most have never heard of Zakar. Well, you’ve missed something. Censee in the Fanatic’s Hydromix is a very good rip-off of Nancy Wilson’s Sunshine and Teddy Pendergrass’ Love T.K.O. and Zakar’s voice is smooth and fits to the groove. The other versions are rather meaningless for me with their hip-hop beats and included raps.

5. André Cymone - Dance Electric (12″ CBS)

And they always tell you that they haven’t cloned any humans now. Well, André Cymone does not only look like Prince on the cover of Dance Electric, he even sounds like him. Ok, this song was co-produced by Prince but still they could’ve been twins. Dance Electric sounds like most of Prince produced songs of the mid-80s. Driving electrofunk with some nice guitarlicks. After all this song has aged quite well.

6. E.U. - Da Butt (12″ EMI/Manhattan)

Ah Go-Go, the party music out of Washington DC…I think Da Butt was the greates Go-Go hit record ever. For some obscure reason this earthy funky music has never been a great success outside the DC area. Da Butt is still a great funky party tune with enough oh hey oh’s and and yeah yeah yeah’s to chant along.
I remember that I saw the Spike Lee movie School Daze, in which this song was featured in the late 80s when I studied in (Western) Berlin, as original version. Usually non-German movies get dubbed here in Germany, a fact that makes it quite unpleasant to watch a movie because I always used to sit there and wonder where I know the voice of a speaker from. Well, I thought I could understand English back then…but after seeing School Daze I had my doubts. Maybe it was because this movie played at a college and the actors spoke very different from the Britsh English I was more familiar with back then…but after all the included performances by E.U. and Phyllis Hyman still made it worthwhile watching this movie.

7. Master C And J ft. Liz Torres - Master Of Love (Satisfaction Guaranteed) (12″ Street Side Records)

An early house record that doesn’t sound so bad these days if you’re into early house stuff. Somehow similiar to Master C & J’s In The City that featured Liz Torres as well. For the real underground house feeling listen to the Jesse Street Mix on the B-side.
Maybe the misspelling on the record is the reason why there’s no entry for this 12″ on discogs or could it be that rare?

8. Mica Paris - Contribution (David Morales Remixes) (12″ Island)

Sad to say but after fifteen years this sounds horrible dated. David Morales did his usual stuff on a tune of the album of the same name, that finally gave us a little more creative input from Mica. Somehow this US release has lost somthing I found attractive in 1990. There also was a Yvonne Turner remix of Contribution, which today sounds notches above these Morales mixes for me.

9. Groove Collective - Lift Off (12″ Giant Step/GRP)

In its original version Lift Off is a modern soul gem with vibes, trumpet, flugelhorn, flute and heavenly vocals by Vinia Mojica, something like the best Brand New Heavies track (while they were good with N’Dea Davenport as lead vocalist) the Heavies had never recorded. Salaam Remi did the best with his remix and sticked closely to the original although he couldn’t made it better.

 

10. Divine Circle ft Annette Taylor - Show Me (12″ After Dark Records / Freeze Dance)

I’m still a sucker for any deep house record with a singer that can really sing. Just take this After Dark Records release produced by Mitch Moses with the overlooked Annette Taylor on vocal duty. The Deep House Mix has everything I always loved about this genre, i.e. a great acappella intro and that warm soulful feeling and Annette’s vocals as icing on the cake. There was also a Freeze Dance release with additional mixes by Matthias Heilbronn and Todd Terry which may be more suitable for the dancefloor but somehow pale compared to the Deep House Mix.