UK dance music trio, North Street West, are Ashley Beedle, Jo Wallace and Darren Morris. From their North Street West Studio they turn out their original projects and remixes, including all the productions for Jo’s Ramrock and F*CLR labels. Together they’ve remixed artists such as Groove Armada, Str4ta, Smoove & Turrell, Honey Dijon, Maxine Scott, Tom Glide, Lay-Far, Ghetto Priest and many more. Style-wise, the North Street West sound ranges across house, Soul, Jazz, Reggae, Electronica, Dub, Disco, Country Soul and Downtempo. With a hot selection of remixes for the likes of Robb Scott & Leee John, Marcus Malone & The Motor City Hustlers, and a Wallace & Morris Rework of 77:78’s ‘Love Said [Let’s Go)’ all dropping over the next couple of weeks, DMCWorld goes back to mine with North Street West.
Ashley Beedle:
Jay-Z – A Ballad For The Fallen Soldier
Tucked away on the album The Blueprint 2: A Gift and A Curse. This is sublime hip hop with true emotion. Pharrell Williams and Marc Dorsey on soulful backing vocals. Always gets dropped at home! Could you believe that Jay-Z called this a skit?!!!
El Debarge – My Heart Belongs To You
Dear El goes Prince! This rocks the spot in my house. The production is off the scale and made me dig out the CD again which contains some incredible proto house. Nice for Dave Lee to remind me of this on a post on YouTube!
Steven Christie featuring Joseph Malik – Everybody Seems To Want
When I first heard this, I fell out of my chair! Beautiful Edinburgh soul jazz music that will never get old in my yard. Pure class.
Jo Wallace:
Savanna – I Can’t Turn Away
When the 12” of Savanna dropped in 1981, the BritFunk era had almost run its course, but this is probably the best example of the genre distilled into one track. In a peer group with Light of the World, Central Line and Hi-Tension, Savanna unleashed ‘I Can’t Turn Away’ on the mighty R&B label, home to global soul sensations, Imagination. The track’s tight instrumentation and Leroy Osborne’s exquisite harmonies are a reminder of just how special that period of UK Soul was.
Tower Of Power – So Very Hard To Go
If I could’ve been in the studio for one session, this would’ve been it (well, one of them). The 14 piece band from Oakland with Lenny Williams on vocals – enormous perfection in one track from 1973. There isn’t an ounce of musical fat on this production – be prepared to be transported to a beautiful musical universe.
H.B Barnum – Gotta Go
Co-written by prolific American poet + songwriter Rod McKuen and produced by David Axelrod, this 1966 outing by H.B Barnum is a proper tearjerker. In Northern Soul circles, this would be considered an ‘ender’ – the last record played at an all nighter guaranteed to rinse every last drop of emotion out of the soul survivors.
Darren Morris:
Dr John – Such A Night
This version features Dr John on stage with The Band and captures the essence of an amazing, feel good camaraderie of these great musicians. I think the clip is from the wonderful film The Last Waltz which I highly recommend seeing and can re inspire after a long week in the studio.
Rotary Connection – I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun
Everyone knows this but I never tire of hearing it. I love the unusual piano sequence, the beautiful production, the vocal harmonies in 4ths and the electric surprise of fuzz guitar arcing over the top. Distilled psychedelic black soul music. It’s a track that has seeped into my subconscious and gently influences my approach to our remixes.
Weyes Blood – It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody
My wife played me this and it blows me away. I love the lyrics, super gorgeous layered production and, of course, her heavenly voice.
Really refreshing to follow an unwinding chord sequence with little gems and surprises on the way. Fills me with hope that one day we’ll have moved on from economised, populist, 4 chord formulas.
77:78 ‘Love Said (Let’s Go)’ (Wallace & Morris ‘North Street’ Rework) is out now Ramrock Red Records.
https://ramrock.bandcamp.com/album/rrr037-77-78-love-said-lets-go-wallace-morris-north-street-rework