A bit of an outlier for me, I’m not usually a fan of Ben Liebrand’s work, but I will make an exception for this particular mix. Took a pretty good 70’s rock track and smashed the UK clubs with it in 1990! You could easily put this in a sequence with UK indie rock dance tunes of the time too. And indeed I did, this was a real floor-filler at the time.
The 12″ Extended Version was remixed by Steve Thompson and features a great extended intro which was a really useful tool when DJing at the time, enabling it to be faded in with the previous track without loss of beat. Remember, this was in the days before digital samplers were freely available.
In 1984, the British synth-pop band Bronski Beat released their debut single “Smalltown Boy,” a song that would become an iconic anthem for the LGBTQ+ community. The lyrics of the song describe the experiences of a young gay man growing up in a small town, facing discrimination and prejudice from his community. The chorus of the song, featuring the memorable line “Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away,” has become a rallying cry for those who have felt the need to escape their small town and find acceptance elsewhere.
Madonna’s Into the Groove, remixed in the 2020s, but using original Stems.
In 1984, the British synth-pop band Bronski Beat released their debut single “Smalltown Boy,” a song that would become an iconic anthem for the LGBTQ+ community. The lyrics of the song describe the experiences of a young gay man growing up in a small town, facing discrimination and prejudice from his community. The chorus of the song, featuring the memorable line “Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away,” has become a rallying cry for those who have felt the need to escape their small town and find acceptance elsewhere.
As I sit down to write this blog post, I am transported back in time to the mid-80s when the synthpop hit “Together in Electric Dreams” was released. I remember the excitement I felt when I first heard the song on the radio, at the time I was in Germany on an exchange visit, and managed to get the 12″ version of the record from a local mall.
One of the reasons that the “Theme from Shaft” has endured as a classic piece of music is its ability to capture the essence of the era in which it was created. The 1970s was a time of great social and cultural change in the United States, marked by the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the rise of funk and soul music.
Music has the power to move us, to make us feel alive, and to transport us to a different place and time. This is especially true when it comes to dance music, which is designed to get our bodies moving and our hearts pumping. And no song captures the transformative power of music quite like “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” by Indeep.
A true Mastermix Masterclass by Les “Mastermix” Adams.
The song has been described by the band as a “British on-the-road song”