Track-By-Track: O/B #12
Anyone losing their shit over the Warhol photo of Keith Haring, Grace Jones, Fela Kuti and Basquiat (and rightly so), get a load of this one. Hashim ('Al-Naafiysh'), Tony Moran & Albert Cabrera (The Latin Rascals), Herb Powers Jr. (mastering engineer), 'Little' Louie Vega (half of MAW), Sa-Fire, Omar Santana, Nitro Deluxe ('Let's Get Brutal')... I want to see a similar press shot from CPU Records or Dark Entries.
Among all this star-power, one person really stands out: Herb Powers Jr. He's a legendary mastering engineer from the 80s, with over 3,000 technical credits to his name on discogs. His contribution to the sound of Black music during this decade is immense, as he did work for almost all the era-defining labels you can think of. In the early part of the decade, he was a staple for established disco labels that were moving into boogie (West End, Sleeping Bag, Prelude, Salsoul) and those that were really pushing this new electro/electro-funk sound (Emergency, Sutra, Sunnyview, Profile, Streetwise, Mirage).
You can then trace his influence through imprints that put out what we now see as proto-house (Easy Street, Personal, Supertronics, Criminal), through to freestyle powerhouses like Cutting. All while finding the occasional moment to work with stars like Whitney, Diana Ross and Eric B & Rakim for the majors. No biggie.
Anyway, this post was meant to be about Hashim but I got distracted. 'Al-Naafiysh' may be the world-changing hit, but 'Chateau Vie' is my favourite, not least because every time I get this record out I get to look at dreamboat Tony Moran (now a successful circuit party DJ) and Louie Vega's cute face from when he really was 'Little'.
Hashim - Chateau Vie (Castle Life) (Cutting, 1987)
(Discogs)
Note: this is an entry in the Track-By-Track series for my mix for O/B.
Track-By-Track is a series that looks back at records you will have heard in my mixes, one by one in the order they were played. Who made them, and when? How did I come across them? And what do they make me feel?