Tracklist

1. D-O-G Me Out (Single Edit w/ Rap) by Guy 2. Get Away (Club Version) by Bobby Brown 3. Don't Stop by Hammer 4. Come Over, Baby by Colin England 5. Funky Vibe (Club Vibe) by Po' Broke & Lonely 6. What A Feeling by Arts & Krafts 7. Don't Make Me Fall In Love by Basic Black 8. Rub You The Right Way (Extended 12" Mix) (feat. C.L. Smooth) by Johnny Gill 9. Why You Get Funky On Me (12 Inch Mix) by Today 10. Don't Leave Me (Untouchables Remix Extended Version) by The Winans 11. Someday (New 12" Jackswing) by Mariah Carey 12. Romantic (Sexy Mix) by Karyn White 13. Do You Really Want It (Long Version) by Omar Chandler 14. Party Slammin' (Hip Hop Mix) by Quayshaun 15. All About Red by Redhead Kingpin & The F.B.I. 16. If I Was Your Man (Swing It To The Street Remix) by Doug E Fresh & The New Get Fresh Crew 17. Trust In Me (Street Mix) by Az-1 18. Helluva (Club Mix) by Brotherhood Creed 19. Don't Walk Away (Mack Daddy Stroll) by Jade 20. Never Do You Wrong (Radio Version) by Stephanie Mills 21. Halls Of Desire (Kiss Mix) by Tevin Campbell 22. Judy Had A Boyfriend (Mucho Edits 12") by Riff 23. All About Love (Future Mix w/ Rap) by The Party 24. Does It Feel Good (Party Piece) by D'LaVance 25. Heat Of The Moment (Extended Heat) by After 7 26. Tender Lover by Babyface 27. Dial My Heart (12" Heart Version) by The Boys 28. Addicted To You (Club Remix) by Levert 29. If It Isn't Love (Club Mix) by New Edition 30. Spread My Wings (Clark Kent Mix w/ Rap) by Troop

Tracklist

1. Let's Fly by Jodeci 2. Try Me (Special Slammin Remix Edit) by Jasmine Guy 3. (I Wanna) Make You Mine (Extended Mix) by MC Trouble 4. Itchin' In My Pants (Super Remix) by D'Lavance 5. The Lover's Got What You Need (Rutger Kroese Extended Mix) by Heavy D & The Boyz 6. Check The Mirror (Extended Mirramix) by Marley Marl 7. Rock Me Good by Timmy Gatling 8. Don't Take My Mind On A Trip by Boy George 9. Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming (Westerville Mix) by Robert Palmer 10. Rapture (Teddy Riley Remix) by Blondie 11. The Floor (L.R. Extended Mix) by Johnny Gill 12. Jam (Teddy's 12" Mix) by Michael Jackson 13. Two Can Play That Game (2B3 Can Play That Game Mix) by Bobby Brown 14. Love Of My Life (Original Luv Radio Edit) by Jus' Cauze 15. Rocked Your Boots (12" Extended Mix) by Suavve 16. Honey Dip by Portrait 17. It's For You (Mike's Swazza Mix) by Shanice 18. Typical Reasons (Still Swingin') by Prince Markie Dee And The Soul Convention 19. Girls by New Kids On The Block 20. Summer Bunnies (Loverman's Picnic Extended Mix) by R. Kelly 21. I Like The Way You Work (T.R. Backstreet Mix) by Blackstreet 22. I'm In Luv (Remix) by Joe 23. How Do You Like It (Part One) by Keith Sweat 24. My Name Is Not Susan (L.A. Reid & Babyface Remix) (feat. Monie Love) by Whitney Houston 25. Giving You The Benefit (Extended Clubmix) by Pebbles 26. On Our Own (Extended Club Version) by Bobby Brown 27. Can't Get Enuff Of You by Robbie Mychals 28. Move It! (J-Funk Dance 12") by The Jamaica Boys 29. Waste My Time (Clockin' The Beat Remix) by Kool Skool 30. Someone To Love (Remix Club Vocal) by Mac Band

Tracklist

1. If I'm Not Your Lover (12" Remix) (feat. Slick Rick) by Al B. Sure! 2. Baby Doll (Teddy Riley 12" Mix) by Tony Toni Tone 3. One Girl (7" Edit) by Christopher Williams 4. I Found Lovin' (Club Version) by Jeff Redd 5. Alright (Hip Hop Mix) (feat. Heavy D) by Janet Jackson 6. Schemin' by Livin' 7. Poison (Original 12" Mix) by Bell Biv Devoe 8. I Got The Feeling (Original 12" Mix) by Today 9. Humpin' Around (Extended Club Version) by Bobby Brown 10. Get A Little Freaky (Freaky Club Version) by Aaron Hall 11. Get It Up (12" Remix) by TLC 12. Call Me Up (Extended) by II Close 13. Stand By Your Man (New Jack Mix) by LL Cool J 14. U Blow My Mind (Club Basic 1 Mix) by Blackstreet 15. Stay (Extended Mix) by Eternal 16. Get On Up (Platform Shoes Mix) by Jodeci 17. I Get Lifted by Barrio Boyz 18. I Knew (Remix) by Chris Bender 19. Everytime My Heart Beats (Narley Marley Mix) by Riff 20. Had Enuf (12" Version) by Al B. Sure! 21. Ain't It Grand by Men At Large 22. Meet Me Halfway by Mind 23. Do Me by Joe

Tracklist

1. Do The Right Thing (Extended) by Redhead Kingpin & the F.B.I. 2. Spend The Night (Extended Mix) by Guy 3. We Got Our Own Thang (12" Club) by Heavy D & The Boyz 4. Everybody Knows My Name by Jasmine Guy 5. The Right Stuff (Extended Version) by Vanessa Williams 6. The Lover In Me (Extended Version) by Sheena Easton 7. Rock Steady by The Whispers 8. Why Should I Cry (The Boo Hoo Mix) by Nona Hendryx 9. My Eyes Don't Cry (Extended Version) by Stevie Wonder 10. I Want You - You Want Me (12" Extended Version) by Starpoint 11. Her (Extended Mix) by Guy 12. World Party by Ready For The World 13. Feels Good (Extended Version) by Tony! Toni! Tone! 14. I Got What You Need (Extended Version) by Colin England 15. Get It Together (12") by Redhead Kingpin & the F.B.I. 16. Nu Nu (Extended Nu Mix) by Lidell Townsell And M.T.F. 17. Dreamin' by Christopher Williams 18. You (You're The One For Me) (Shopwreckers' Mix) by Ex Girlfriend 19. Ice Cream Dream (Remix 12") by MC Lyte 20. Anutha Luv by P.O.V. 21. Nobody Does It Better (3 Boyz 12" Edit) by Mint Condition 22. Something Special (Summer of 93 Remix) by Prince Markie Dee & Soul Convention 23. My Cutie (Album Version) by Wreckx-N-Effect 24. Cutie (Baby Fingers Mix) by 911

Tracklist

1. Reminisce (Puff Daddy Remix) by Mary J. Blige 2. Tell Me (Go Go Mix) by Groove Theory 3. You Are The Best (Street Mix) by Smoothe Sylk 4. Happy Days (feat Keith Sweat/12" remix) by Silk 5. One More Night by Bobby Brown 6. Sensitivity (Extended Version) by Ralph Tresvant 7. Keep On Movin' (Teddy Riley Remix) by Soul II Soul 8. Good Love (Extended Hype Club Vibe) by Klymaxx 9. Step To Me (Do Me) (Extended Version) by Mantronix 10. Live and Learn (12" Remix) by Joe Public 11. I Thought It Was Me (Extended Version) by Bell Biv DeVoe 12. I Just Can't Handle It (Teddy 7" Edit) by Hi-Five 13. You Called Me And Told Me (Dave's Mix) by Jeff Redd 14. Gotta Learn My Rhythm (Extended Remix) by Damian Dame 15. Mama Said Knock You Out (12" Remix) by LL Cool J 16. Death Blow by Kool Moe Dee 17. Uptown Anthem by Naughty By Nature 18. Sympin (Remix Version) by Boyz II Men 19. For Your Mind (Extended Urban Re-Mix) by Robbie Nevil 20. Try My Love by Highland Place Mobsters 21. All My Love (Extended Mix) by The Gap Band 22. My Girly (Extended Version) by Ready For The World 23. The Way You Love Me (12'' Club Mix) by Karyn White 24. My Only Woman (12" Version) by After 7 25. New Jack Swing by Wreckx-N-Effect 26. That's My Attitude (12" HipHop Remix) by Troop 27. She by The Jacksons 28. My Prerogative by Bobby Brown 29. She's Hot (Burning Up) by Jonathan Butler 30. I Don't Go For That (Teddy's Extended Mix) by Quincy Jones 31. Don't Wanna Fall In Love (New Jack Swing Club) by Jane Child 32. Remember The Time (New Jack Main Mix) by Michael Jackson 33. I Just Love You by Michael Cooper 34. Treat You Right by H-Town 35. Adjust Your Love by Riff 36. Baby Be Mine (Radio Remix) by Blackstreet

Tracklist

1. Teddy's Jam 2 (Club Jam) by Guy 2. Whatever It Takes (12" Mix) by Basic Black 3. Are You Free (12 Inch Peppermint Mix) by Mint Condition 4. Gotta Love (Hip Hop Mix) by Jodeci 5. U R The 1 by Bobby Ross Avila 6. Hat 2 Da Back (Extended Remix) by TLC 7. Mary Mack (3 Boyz From Newark Remix) by Babyface 8. Mr D.J. (Extended Mix) by Joyce 'Fenderella' Irby 9. Right And Hype (12'' Version) by Abstrac' 10. It's Real (12'' Extended Version) by James Ingram 11. Just Call Me by The Good Girls 12. No 1/2 Steppin' by Colin England 13. Lies (New Jack Remix) by En Vogue 14. Funny Feelin' (Extended 12inch) (feat. Curly) by Deshay 15. Crucial (Dance Remix) by New Edition 16. Not Thru Being With You (The Club Fire Mix) (feat. Karyn White) by Michael Jefferies 17. Nothin (That Compares 2 U) [Extended Version] by The Jacksons 18. Right Of Wrong by Mind 19. Your Love (Extended Radio Mix) by Keith Sweat 20. Wreckx Shop (Posse Deep Mix) by Wreckx-N-Effect 21. 69 (Uptown Swing Remix) by Father 22. Every Little Thing U Do (DawgHouse Mix) by Christopher Williams 23. Love Thang by Intro 24. Had Enough by Andre Wilson 25. I Love Your Smile (Hakeem's Mix) by Shanice

The Party - All About Love (Promo CDM) Hollywood Records, 1993 Cat: PRCD-10298-2

There are two reasons why I bought this promo for US$130 off eBay:

Its a rare 1993 promo CDM release written by Teddy Riley (with help from brothers Omar Chandler (RIP) and Markell Riley) that has an exclusive New Jack remix by Walter ‘Mucho’ Scott (Basic Black), Sprague ‘Doogie’ Williams and Ty Fyffe (check video below). The remix can not be found on any other release.

The aforementioned remix - Track 3: ‘All About Love (Future Mix w/ Rap)’ - is one of three tracks from the early 90s that features a guest verse from a young Pharrell Williams, this one under his then stage name ‘Magnum the Verb Lord’.

Pharrell’s other two early guest verses appear on:

SWV’s ‘Right Here (UK Back To Black Mix)’ released as a companion remix to Teddy’s legendary ‘Human Nature’ mix in 1993, however this mix was produced by Chris Cuben-Tatum.

Blackstreet’s ‘Bootknockilization’, featured on an unofficial whitelabel that likely started circulating around 1995 but was probably recorded much earlier.

It’s worth noting there are some leaked songs from collective ‘Surrounded by Idiots’ (SBI) that included Pharrell rapping as Magnum the Verb Lord along with Virginia locals DJ Timmy Tim aka Timbaland and Magoo circa early 90′s. I’m not gonna count leaked recordings though.

A quick aside: I find it interesting that Pharrell’s full rap from the ‘Right Here’ sessions only made it on to the practically unknown, but still worthy ‘UK Back To Black Mix’. Pharrell’s “Ess (Ess), the Double (Double), U, the V” adlibs were all that made it to the ‘Human Nature Mix’. My assumption is that, as part of Teddy’s team,  Pharrell wrote the rap for the ‘Human Nature Mix’ but Teddy, or co-producer All Star, decided to strip it down for the final mix. I’d be surprised if Pharrell wrote the rap exclusively for the ‘Back to Black Mix’. Would love to hear from anyone who knows more about the ‘Right Here’ sessions and can give an account of how it went down.

But I digress, this post is about The Party’s ‘All About Love’.

I have to confess I only found out about this song and associated New Jack remix fairly recently. Once I learned about the Pharrell verse, the rareness of the remix, and saw that it’s a relatively rare promo, I made sure to get myself a copy.

The original song is on the pop side with an accessible break beat and reasonable R&B vocals from group lead Albert Fields. Not unexpected given the whole group are graduates of the Mickey Mouse Club. Interestingly the production of the original is credited to Lavaba Mallison, probably best known for his work with Teddy on Kool Moe Dee’s catalogue of music. I think it would be fair to say ‘All About Love’ is a big departure from his signature style.

Demetrius Shipp is listed as playing all instruments on the original. Again, not really the flavour you’d expect from him either. He’s not necessarily a prolific music maker with a vast catalogue but the music he has made for artists like Troop and Bobby Brown are definitely more on that swing vibe. Exhibit A. Exhibit B.

Another quick aside: while looking Demetrius up on Discogs I found out he produced Tupac’s ‘Toss It Up’. I never realised! I’m impressed. I love that song. Danny Boy, K-Ci, Jo Jo and Aaron Hall on one jam, what’s not to love!

Back to ‘All About Love’. Sprague Doogie, Walter ‘Mucho’ and Ty Fyffe did their thing and gave it that swing sound on the ‘Future Mix’. Doesn’t completely counteract the pop-y-ness of the vocals but its enough to satisfy any New Jack fan/collector. I’d liken it to NKOTB’s ‘You Got That Flavor’.

The centrepiece is really the ‘Future Mix With Rap’. You get that swing sound with three verses by Pharrell - one at the beginning, one two thirds of the way through the track, and one right at the end which fades out. The ‘Future Mix’ without the rap has a nice New Jack intro you kinda miss when Pharrell’s rapping over it so its a worthy version to have as an alternate. Strangely, the version with Pharrell’s raps is shorter than the one without by about 8 seconds. Weird.

Ultimately, if you’re a Teddy Riley or Pharrell collector (or both), I would deem this essential. The New Jack remix is solid and rounds out a collection; the largely unknown Pharrell verse recorded at the genesis of his career adds weight; and its a rare promo you’re not likely to come across in most people’s collection. To put it another way, its something you can imagine Nardwuar springing on either Teddy or Pharrell in an interview and both probably wigging out a little bit. I think that’s worth something.

The Party - ‘Free’ (Album) - 1992

Separate to this promo, I looked into the album ‘All About Love’ comes from. I realise I may be earning myself a late-pass here, but I discovered there are a few more Teddy contributions on The Party’s album ‘Free’ released in 1992 by Hollywood Records. Teddy wrote two other songs, the title track ‘Free’, produced by Lavaba Mallison, and another called ‘At All Times’ produced by Thomas Taliaferro, who apparently did some work on Bobby’s third studio album.

‘Free’ is not really that exciting but ‘At All Times’ uses some of the sounds you hear on MJ’s ‘Jam’ which is kinda cool. I think if you’re a collector you’re gonna pick this up regardless. If you only buy the essentials I’d say don’t worry about the album. You’d only really need it if you wanted to argue about the completeness of your Teddy Riley collection.

There’s a Dr. Dre song on ‘Free’ also called ‘Let's Get Right Down To It’. It sounds nothing like a Dr. Dre cut and nothing I would constitute as necessary for West Coast collectors/fans. I think its probably a song Dre would rather forget.

Back when Jermaine Dupri was pumping out New Jack remixes. RIP to Dana and Damian.

Such a legendary sample used on so many dope songs. If you don’t know get to know!

The super producer talks about the time he spent in Virginia mentoring artists like The Neptunes.

Doug E. Fresh and The Get Fresh Crew - The Show / La-Di-Da-Di  (12″) Reality Records, 1985 Cat: D-242

Adding this to the collection was a no-brainer. Outside of the Teddy Riley connection this is such a seminal Hip Hop song. It was the breakout song, alongside ‘La-Di-Da-Di’, for two Hip Hop legends: Doug E. Fresh and MC Ricky D aka Slick Rick. It popularised beatboxing as an art form and probably marked it’s introduction as a pillar of Hip Hop along side breaking, rapping, graffiti and DJing. Perhaps most importantly, the song itself is a timeless Hip Hop classic. Revolutionary for its blending of beatboxing and MCing, resulting in a perfect interplay of two quality (legendary) MCs with verses ripe for sampling. In fact according to WhoSampled.com, ‘The Show’ has been sampled by 108 other songs since its release. 

In terms of the song’s influence I’m sure this represents merely the tip of the ice berg. ‘The Show’ peaked at #4 on the US R&B chart in 1985, however this probably undersells the impact of the song. You only need to go as far as the sound-effect laden style of Missy Elliott to start to appreciate the longevity of its impact and how this release may have influenced future MCs. 

The Teddy Riley Connection

Despite all of the above, the aspect of this release that interests me the most is its association with Teddy Riley. There are a lot of vague references across the Internet about Teddy’s uncredited involvement with ‘The Show’. Certainly if you look at the label on the 12″ (see above) there’s no mention of Teddy in the credits. So what did he exactly do? 

According to Chill Will of The Get Fresh Crew, the song was pre-produced at Teddy’s house, with Teddy contributing the synths. This includes the iconic Inspector Gadget synths that have come to define the song. However according to Chill Will the synths played by Teddy and recorded at his house didn’t make it to the final release we now know and love. This was allegedly due to Teddy being unavailable to re-play the parts when the song was being laid down in studio. The final synths heard on ‘The Show’, according to Chill Will, were played by act manager Dennis Bell, the person officially credited as the producer of ‘The Show’ on the release along side Ollie Colton and Doug E. Fresh. 

Based on Chill Will’s account it becomes clearer why Teddy may not have been credited on the release. It’s also worth noting that Teddy was incredibly young at the time this song was made (18). Outside of performing as part of Kids At Work, ‘The Show’ was likely Teddy’s first foray out on his own as a music maker on an official release. Inexperience may have hindered his ability to ensure proper credits were in place. I’m almost sure I’ve seen an interview where he’s said as much.

It’s all academic anyway. This 12″ is an essential part of any collection. As a Teddy Riley collector, for me its the first milestone in a long career of making classic Rap & R&B music and the opening of a prologue to a historic New Jack Swing story that was to begin two years later. 

What a great flip. Wonder if you can still cop these somewhere.

Edit: Looks like it was made in Japan with Uniqlo’s UT Me app: http://utme.uniqlo.com/

beats by teddy

I’m literally rubbing my hands together in anticipation of this batch of orders from Discogs. Still have plenty of gaps in my Teddy Riley and Gene Griffin collections, especially album tracks. 

It may seem like sacrilege to not have some of these already but I’ve been living off downloaded versions to get me by. Its only in the last two years that I’ve decided having lossy mp3s is not good enough and need to have everything essential in high quality, sitting on my shelf like a prized trophy.

I’ve been focussing on picking up a lot of rare promo singles up until this point (see previous posts on this Tumblr) as they tend to have the juicy mixes, but I needed to stop procrastinating and get these albums.

Look forward to posting about all of these goodies in the near future.

The Master and Apprentices

After posting up about The Party’s ‘All About Love’ and Pharrell’s mostly unknown verse on that remix I thought this picture was relevant. The still is taken from Clipse’s ‘Grindin’ video. Blink and you’ll miss it.

Mary J. Blige - My Love (Promo CDS) Uptown Records, 1993 Cat: UPT5P-2916

An eBay purchase that arrived in the mail this week. Picked it up for around $45 (Aus). Sounds like a lot for a CD single I'm sure, but when you're a collector and a bit of a Teddy Riley enthusiast it feels reasonable. Besides its a CD promo I haven't really seen around so its probably rare enough to warrant the price tag.

All the mixes outside of the Acapella offer something worthwhile and different to the remix from the album version that was released on Mary's '93 remix album 'What's The 411? Remix' on MCA Uptown.

The remix album version is essentially the 'T.R. and Mary Mix' as an intro with the 'Hip Hop with Rap' as the main track. It was nice to discover that the 'T.R. and Mary Mix' is essentially four minutes of Teddy adlibbing on his talkbox over the remix instrumental *heaven*. 

The 'New Jack Jazz' is a quiet storm version that isn't just a boring, beatless version of the same song. Its a nice listen and one of two 'New Jack Jazz' mixes I've seen from Teddy. The other being the 'New Jack Jazz' mix of Michael Jackson's 'Remember The Time'. 

The 'Street Mix 1', to my ears, has a harder, drier slam and deeper clap than the album/Hip Hop mix but its not very dissimilar. Probably the biggest difference is that there's no Heavy D rap. 

One of two Teddy Riley productions coming off of Mary's remix album, the other being 'Changes I've Been Going Through', its nice to pick up this promo with the full extra versions. The original Dave 'Jam' Hall version from Mary's original 'What's The 411' was nice, but this song was made in heart of Teddy's heyday, when he was punching out worldwide hits for SWV, Wreckx-N-Effect, Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, shit even Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince! Teddy absolutely made this song his own, adding his signature slam and layering it with all those crisp synth sounds. Together with Mary's vocals it was a match made in heaven. There's just no comparison.

If you're a Teddy Riley/New Jack Swing collector this is probably one you need in your life.

So why Unappreciated Scholar? 

It's probably less pretentious than the title suggests but then kinda not. It comes from the High Fidelity scene in this post.

There's a quote in the scene where Louis calls out a bunch of record store snobs: 

Louis: "You're totally elitist! You feel like the unappreciated scholars so you shit on the people who know lesser than you." Record store snobs: "No!" Louis: "Which is everybody..." Record store snobs: "Yeah..." 

When I heard those lines there was something that resonated. Probably because I've spent much of my life feeling like I know so much about the things I'm passionate about but have never really been recognised for it - well at least not to the level my ego demands. Of course this is because I've never really put much out there to be recognised for. 

Enter this blog. 

While its not technically putting out my own art, its at least a space where I can begin to share all this fascinating 'scholarly' knowledge I think I have. Even if it may only be with myself.