It’s been a while coming but I’ve finally had some time to dive into the pile of cassettes I got at Revolution Records in Penge this summer. Just to refresh your memory; I found a stash of tapes that obviously came from someone who worked in the dance music industry in the 80s and 90s and the next round of posts will be my attempts at deciphering what’s on them. Most have little or no info on them but now we have Discogs and Shazam so finding out about their contents is a little easier than back in the day.

This first tape is simply entitled ‘Megamixers No.1 / No.2’, recorded on a TDK tape and most likely dates from 1986. It’s essentially two DJ mixes but there’s more to it than that. I’m putting these up on my Mixcloud Select subscription page so if you’d like to hear then sign up for £3 p/m for access including over 200 archive mixes from the Solid Steel days.

Side 1

Up until the Art of Noise track this mix is the 1983 Disconet Top Tune Medley from Vo.6 Program 9 – mixed by John Matarazzo and Mike Arato. Disconet was an American DJ pool series of albums with hot promo tracks and exclusive remixes or megamixes similar to the UK’s Disco Mix Club.

I’m guessing whoever made this tape had that record and added their own extras onto the end.
After Thomas Dolby you’ll notice that the pace of blends slows somewhat and the tracks are cut into each other rather than beat mixed, there was also a jump in volume when AON was introduced which I’ve levelled out here. Both Trouble Funk tracks are intercut back and forth before introducing the Beastie Boys’ ‘Hold It Now, Hit It’ (which samples a piece of ‘Drop The Bomb’ for its chorus – there’s the connection) and a big drop in tempo. There’s an extended section at the end where it sounds like the DJ is playing with two copies of the instrumental for a bit after the main song finishes and then we get an album cut by Lovebug Starski. This plays in full and, after a pause, the mix reconvenes in the middle of a couple of hip hop tracks, probably a previous set that was taped over.

Tracklist:
Shannon – Let The Music Play intro
Men Without Hats – The Safety Dance
S.O.S. Band – Just Be Good To Me
Yazoo – State Farm (Extended Version)
Herbie Hancock – Rockit
Madonna – Holiday
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Freez – AEIOU
Shannon – Let The Music Play (12” version)
Lime – Angel Eyes (remix)
Irene Cara – Flashdance… What A Feeling (Extended remix)
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science (Extended Version)
Art of Noise – Legs (Inside Leg Mix)
Trouble Funk – Drop The Bomb
Trouble Funk – Pump Me Up
Beastie Boys – Hold It Now, Hit It
Beastie Boys – Hold It Now, Hit It (Instrumental)
Lovebug Starski – Say What You Wanna Say
Salt ’n Pepa – The Showstopper
Roxanne Shante – The Def Fresh Crew (cuts off near the end)

Side 2

This side sounds like it was a mix by the DJ rather than a pre-recorded megamix – sadly (or thankfully) it cuts off in the middle to make way for three Beastie Boys and Run DMC demos

Tracklist:
Rochelle – My Magic Man (Magic Mix)
(an unknown house track is mixing in near the end but then abruptly cuts off early)

Beastie Boys – Time To Get Ill (demo version)
Run DMC – Slow & Low (demo version)
Beastie Boys – I’m Down (demo version)

At this point the tape cuts into two Beastie Boys demos from Licensed to Ill – the acoustic version of ‘I’m Down’ (a cut that never made it onto the album) and a version of ‘Time To Get Ill’ – that are different to any of the other demos on the web that I could find, certainly better quality. Also inbetween the two is a hissy recording of Run DMC’s original demo of ‘Slow & Low’ which they originally wrote and the Beasties would later record. I ran these by my friend Noah Uman in the US who has an amazing archive of hip hop and a ton of knowledge and he came back with, “The song I’m Down was meant for Licensed To Ill but the Beatles blocked it, I’m pretty sure it showed up semi commercially on a CMJ release (College Music Journal) in 1986.”

This might be the more rock guitar-orientated version that’s out there on the web. The Run DMC recording would later surface in much better quality on an expanded version of King of Rock but I’ve tried to clean it up here as best I can, the tape sounds like it’s recorded through a sock.
About the Run DMC demo Noah said, “The Slow And Low demo of Run DMC doing it, I actually uncovered that from a DNU tape (do not use), whenever I saw that written on tapes I knew we had to check it haha…After I had it released on the reissue it started popping up on bootlegs, one of my few proud record industry moments!”
I’m guessing that whoever had access to these tracks had to quickly find a tape to record them onto from another industry source, hence the random inclusion in the middle of a side.

(The mix reconvenes in the middle of an unknown house track before…)
Kenny ‘Jammin’ Jason – Jam Tracks
Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk – Jack The Bass
Unknown – (more Jam Tracks?)
Mantronix – Hardcore Hip Hop

And that’s it, a snapshot in time from the early to mid 80s. Disco mix classics on side 1 with golden era hip hop cuts and a snatch of early house music on side 2 with some rap history interjected randomly in the middle. More soon, I’ll try to get them out on a weekly basis on a Friday morning as before and if anyone is interested in the actual tapes, they’re for sale if you want to make an offer (although this one is already sold).