Monday 19th April 2010

FAIR OHS – MIXTAPE FOR TOUGH LOVE

The Fair Ohs sound like Paul Simon, but, y’know, punk. It’s surprising, then, that drummer Joe is heavily into 80s R&B. Or maybe it’s not? Everyone hears things differently.

Since Eddy has already made a mix of African music for me for Platform, I asked Joe to do the same for the music he loves. There will be no favourtism here (Matt was going to do one too, but technology let us down). Perhaps it’s not that representative of Fair Ohs, but it’s Monday and these 9 songs of pure fire make the weekend sound like it goes on forever. Here’s Joe in his own words:

“This is a mix of 80s soul music that I grew up listening to through my parents and as an adult have listen to obsessively. The first three tracks are Jam and Lewis productions; my favourite producers. To me everything they touched in the 80s was just pure gold. The first track here by Alexander O’Neal is a slightly different style for them (made in 1990 where they were starting to develop a New Jack Swing influenced style) but shows how powerful Alex is when he is pissed off in contrast to the last track of his on this mix, ‘Sunshine’, where he is just as comfortable with a ballad. I love this man and still go to his shows whenever he is in town (I missed out on seeing him in the 80s, but what could I do, I was a child!).

The tracks by Cherrelle and SOS Band show more typical Jam and Lewis productions, with Terry Lewis’ idiosyncratic p-funk influenced bass parts and Jimmy Jam’s expert ear for amazing chords, and also their use of the 808 drum machine and Oberheim synths. The Womack and Womack track here I love becuase of how sincere and haunting it is . Luther Vandross’ ‘Give Me the Reason’ combines his technically perfect vocal delivery with jagged, almost industrial, drum programming, as does Teddy’s ‘I Never Felt Like Dancing’.

This music doesn’t really influence what I do with Fair Ohs (We got Paul Simon for that!) but I take a lot of influence from this for a futuristic soul group called The One . ”

Fair Ohs – Mixtape for Tough Love

Tracklisting

1. Alexander O’Neal – “Somebody Changed Your Mind”
2. Cherrelle – “Will You Satisfy?”
3. SOS Band – “Just The Way You Like It”
4. Womack and Womack – “Strange and Funny”
5. Bobby Womack – “I Can’t Stay Mad”
6. Morris Day – “Love Is A Game”
7. Luther Vandross – “Give Me The Reason”
8. Teddy Pendergrass – I Never Felt Like Dancing
9. Alexander O’Neal – “Sunshine”

(Photo: Kelley Smith)