Deep Heat 5 – Feed The Fever (Telstar, 1990)

Review
One year on. A new decade. Bring on tomorrow. Deep Heat 5 was the first one for the 1990s: a fitting fanfare for a new era. All colours to all people.
The gospel: “Beware of those who don’t give a damn, be aware of those who give. Give it all you’ve got – take nothing except no abuse – no hurt – no hate – no life – because with your self-belief comes your dreams. Be blind and deaf to those who tell you – no – force you – to believe otherwise – have a ball – dance – love and with all the love you can make – Feed The Fever!”

Please put down your weapon. Silver Bullet’s 20 Seconds To Comply (Final Conflict Mix) absolutely murders the dancefloor. The beats don’t get old for 2 In A Room either; Somebody In The House Say Yeah! is a banger; a face-chewer of a tune. FPI present Rich In Paradise featuring Paolo Dini and slam the decks with their ace version of Lamont Dozier’s Back To My Roots while The Beatmasters rope in the sweet voice of Claudia Fontaine on Warm Love. Mamma gave birth to a great sample: Once In A Lifetime on KC Flight’s pounding Planet E. Same as it ever was. Frankie Knuckles’ Move Your Body is edgy jam with a echo-laden spacey vibe while Sybil’s All Through The Night (Good Vibrations Mix) just builds a haunted house. All through the night.

Stars on 45: Latino Rave’s Deep Heat ’89 consists of Technotronic’s Pump Up The Jam, Stakker Humanoid’s Humanoid, Black Riot’s A Day In The Life, LNR’s Work It To The Bone, Fast Eddie’s I Can Dance, A Guy Called Gerald’s Voodoo Ray, Starlight’s Numero Uno, The Todd Terry Project’s Bango, Raze’s Break 4 Love and Sugar Bear’s Don’t Scandalise Mine. A greatly enjoyable megamix. The Mixmaster’s Grand Piano is cut from the same cloth – a great snapshot of 1989’s Balearic beats. The happy house sound continues with JD’s Good Vibrations; this and a few more of the tunes can also be found on Stylus Music’s Ware’s The House. Lee Marrow was the alter ego of Italian DJ Francesco Bontempi. In Pain he created a boss groover where the beat just doesn’t want to stop.

Detroit now with Eddie Flashin’ Fowlkes and the robotic techno of Goodbye Kiss. Next up is Shay Jones [Sharon L Osborne-Jones] and the little-known rhythm belter Time To Party. And in an exclusive for this compilation, Gary Cobain and Brian Dougans [Humanoid / The Future Sound Of London] re-recorded Sunshine and Brick as Homeboy. The original version appeared on Humanoid’s Global LP. Meanwhile there’s more Italian heat as Maurizio Pavesi and Lisa Scott carve up the funky Love System into a revolutionary disco jam. End of part 1 with Kevin Saunderson under the Reese moniker and the brutal minimalistic house of The Heavens. Righteous acid.

Disc 2 begins with the catchy commercial sound of Rob ‘N’ Raz featuring Leila K – Got To Get. Then it’s a virtual unknown – Santos’ Your Wish Is My Command. The CD single said that it featured Clive from the Hit Man and Her. The vocal sounds like Flowered Up’s Liam Maher; the track is a drugged-up baggy gem. Equally obscure are Atillas and the Balearic beats of Seduzieteu while Lips-Kiss cover of Lambada mixes sinister strings with a more percussive groove. Elsewhere Pandella’s This Way, That Way has a classic house sound with a killer vocal. And then there’s the pulsating Security (Club Mix) from Miami’s Beat Club. Dark, stilted electro produced by Bernard Sumner and a soundlab sub blower. This is followed the original warehouse raver What U R by TOT. Don’t let the music stop as the illsick beats crash over you. Andy Robinson would go on to manage New Order.

The underground spell is broken by Inner City and The Paradise Megamix. You know the deal. Two familiar chunky tunes from ’89 follow: Adeva’s I Thank You and De La Soul’s Eye Know before the mean garage sound of Intense’s Dog A Bassline. 92nd and 5th’s What’s Done Is Done is a resigned, slowed-down soul tune with a bitter message while John Helmer’s Deep is another track residing below the floorboards; piano-driven acid with a solemn vocal. Julie X’s stripped-down Believe and Invasion’s nondescript Don’t Break The Rules are also exclusive to this compilation. The night’s final tune is the fiery Burn The House Down (1989 Remix) by The Menz Club. So it’s a second disc of mostly unknown records. Where did they come from?

“Just say you’ll listen, close your beautiful eyes, open your soul and there they are – begging for it”.

Favourite tracks
Silver Bullet – 20 Seconds To Comply (Final Conflict Mix)

Sybil – All Through The Night (Good Vibrations Mix)

TOT – What U R (Rhythm Mix)

Santos – Your Wish Is My Command

Lest we forget
Latino Rave – Deep Heat ’89