Dance Max 2 (EMI Electrola, 1990)

Review
The second volume of Dance Max was released by EMI Electrola in the spring of 1990. Three volumes would emerge that year – just like the UK’s Now Dance series.

Go. The opening track is the bass-heavy Sit And Wait (Stationary To Stationary Mix) from Sydney Youngblood. It was a top 10 success in Germany and its programmed beats still sound fresh 25 years on. Get Up (Before The Night Is Over) was Technotronic’s second single and like its predecessor Pump Up The Jam, reached #2 in the UK charts. This time around Ya Kid K featured instead of the legendary Felly. Nightclubs across Europe heaved to its uplifting fly grooves. Back to school and multiplication rock. De La Soul interpolate both the original melody and lyric snippets from Bob Dorough’s Three Is The Magic Number into their track The Magic Number. The 1-2-3 Mix features here; we got it as the AA side of Buddy. Pink sleeve 12″ from KG Discs at Lisduggan Shopping Centre.

Less than six months after the release of the original Phil Collins version, a cover of Another Day In Paradise by Jam Tronik was released in the UK. Dig the drum loop from Raze’s Break 4 Love and the slo-mo kick-off. FPI Project and Rich In Paradise slam the decks with their ace version of Lamont Dozier’s Back To My Roots while the 49ers spin a wicked web of moaning hip house with Touch Me. Smash and grab time for MC B and Daisy Dee as the High Level Mix of This Beat Is Technotronic gets a grittier makeover. Meanwhile the Neneh Cherry success story continued into 1990 with Raw Like Sushi’s fourth single, a completely re-recorded version of urban funk classic Inna City Mamma.

Disc 2 leads with Soul II Soul’s Get A Life. Elevate your mind to the sweat dance as Mantronix drop Got To Have Your Love. The 12″ mix – known as Club with Bonus Beats – is the ultimate drench jam. Queen of the beats. Local talent time: Oh Well’s cover of Golden Earring’s Radar Love and Komtur’s meandering Hans von Stoffeln. Tina Turner’s Steamy Windows is remodeled by Justin Strauss into a sleek house anthem while JT and The Big Family channel the spirit of the Art of Noise into something phat with Moments In Soul. The walls rattle with the sound of hard bass on Tribal House’s Motherland A-FRI-CA before the closing number, the mean R&B groove of Kevin Paige’s Don’t Shut Me Out.

Favourite tracks
Neneh Cherry – Inna City Mamma (Completely Re-recorded Extended Version)

Mantronix featuring Wondress – Got To Have Your Love (Club with Bonus Beats)

Lest we forget
Tina Turner – Steamy Windows (Justin Strauss House Mix)