Continuing the music quiz yesterday Here's the first "album" that means a lot to me: Tony Humphries, live at Ministry of Sound London sometime between December 1991 and February 1992.
I got a loan of a copy of this tape around April/May 1992 from Dj Billy Scurry, it wasn't exactly a first generation copy and the quality wasn't great but I still made my own copy of it. I'm quite the mix cd afficionado, these days they get done in the studio, but this one, recorded live, is probably the best mixtape I've ever heard.
Humphries' signature style was not just to beat mix to segue from one record to the other but, "dialled" in the mix ever so gradually on the classic Urei 1620 mixer, to play two records simultaneously for extended periods, for most of the length of the track. You used to find djs mixing the accapella of one track over the instrumental of another - the most famous example of which is "You've got the Love" by Source featuring Candi Staton, the entire musical arrangement for which is a track called "your Love" by Frankie Knuckles featuring (discarded vocalist) Jamie Principal - or beefing up one track by playing over the drum track of another. Humphries' knack was to find and play together different but, often surprisingly, complimentary tracks together to create a new sound, while simultaneously unearthing new interesting music and encouraging people to listen again to tracks they may have overlooked because they were by uncool artists.
I managed to collect most of the tracks used in this mix but I'm still missing a few (in parentheses):
Tracklisting:
Sound of Redness - Sample Minded
Another Place, Another Time - Juliet Roberts
Is This Love Really Real? - Sure is Pure
[?]
Friendship - Sabrina Johnson
Now Here This - Da Rebels
When Love Calls - Shay Jones
This Mute Horn - Masters at Work
Coming on Strong - Desiya
[Body - ?]
What U Want - Chocolate Fudge
[Got To Get You into my Life - ?]
Chic Mystique - Chic
She's Crazy - Grampa
Flutes - Jovonn
Hold Your Head up High - 4 Love
Love is Taking me Over - I Love NY
[Nasty Bass - 3sb]
[Pride, a Deeper Love - Clivilles & Cole]
[Tribal Life - Drums of Life]
Let it Reign - Inner City
Stations of the Groove - Reese Project
Across 110th Street - El Barrio
Real Love - Helen Bruner
Ran Kan Kan (MAW dub) - Tito Puente
Update: This post has prompted me to finally get round to doing something I'd been planning to do for ages, convert this battered old tape to mp3. If anyone's interested in a copy, email me.
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