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'Is It All Over My Face' (1980) - Loose Joints

Related: proto-house - New York music - Steve d'Aquisto - Larry Levan - West End Records - Arthur Russell - 1980

'got me got me got me luv dancing ... luv luv luv luv luv dancing'

Mel Cheren: "During the summer of 1980 producers Arthur Russell and Steve D’Aquisto came to me and said they wanted to do a record. They called the group at the time The Little All-stars. Steve approached me outside the West End offices and said he wanted to change the name to Loose Joints—and showed me a flyer with the name spelled out in marijuana leaves. Chased me down Broadway waving that flyer in my face. I liked the idea and joked that he’d have every street corner dealer promoting the record (that’s what they sell—not bags of pot, but loose joints).

So after about ten blocks I gave in." West End released what is now the original male vocal version. Cheren: "We put it out, but nothing really happened. Larry wanted to do a mix. We did not have studio time—we were so broke at the time, but Larry was good friends with Llew Horowitz at Opal Studios which was on the same floor as the original West End offices (6th floor, 254 W. 54 St..--Studio 54 occupied the first floor). Larry got Llew to let him into the studio while the owner was out.

Well, the owner returned after 2-3 hours and Larry had to drop everything right then and there. And that was the version we released. Larry played it Friday night, Frankie Crocker (of WBLS) was in the booth, looked on the turntable, and by Monday Loose Joints was on the air. It remains an underground staple to this day." FYI: Butch Ingram’s band provided the musicians on the track. They were the back-up band for Patti LaBelle’s Your Arm’s to Short to Box with God tour. Ingram also produced the West End 1983 release "Another Man" by Barbara Mason (recently sampled on Li’l Kim’s "Another").

On vinyl

'Is It All Over My Face' West End rds Loose Joints famous track 'Is It All Over My Face' was co-written by Steve d'Aquisto and Arthur Russell. There are two versions on West End, only one of which features the Larry Levan mix. The other one has the haunting 'Pop Your Funk' on the b-side.
  • West End rds

    Is It All Over My Face? The Life and Music of Arthur Russell

    Is It All Over My Face? The Life and Music of Arthur Russell will tell the story of the vocalist, cellist, percussionist and composer Arthur Russell. Having worked and partied in the creative milieu of downtown New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Russell forms a symbolic bridge between Tim Lawrence's first book, Love Saves the Day , which examines seventies dance culture, and Paradise and After , which will focus on dance culture in the 1980s and early 1990s. Russell generated a remarkable roster of quirky, off-beat, radical recordings that relentlessly tested the boundaries of established genres -- and which are worthy of a biographical study. --Tim Lawrence

    On cd

    Masters At Work presents West End Records: the 25th Anniversary Mastermix (2001) - Various Artists [Amazon.com], Larry Levan's Classic West End Records Made Famous by the Paradise Garage [Amazon.com], Give Your Body Up: Club Classics & House Foundations, Vol. 1 [Amazon.com], Jumpin Vol.1 [Amazon UK], David Mancuso Presents the Loft, vol 1 [Amazon.com]

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