Lil Louis
Related: 1980s music - House - American music
French Kiss (1989) - Lil Louis
Journey with the Lonely (1992) - Lil' Louis [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
It would take a great album from the nineties to make this Hall of Fame, but Journey With the Lonely deserves it 'classic' status despite being barely 5 years old. By all accounts it wasn't a commercial success - so often the case with truly great works, but it gained Lil Louis great respect outside of the House music fraternity previously familiar with his genius on tracks such as French Kiss/Music Takes U Away/Frequency/ Videoclash, etc. Journey... travels from the superbly produced garage of Club Lonely through to highly original House/R&B hybrids and finishes with the albums best tracks; Thief with its jazz-cool swing, double-bass and sax solo to the gorgeous ballad Share. A modern classic that was criminally under-rated when it came out and which apart from LPs from Blaze and Larry Heard is one of the - all too few - truly great albums to come from the House/Techno generation of producers. -- Kirk Degiorgio
Biography
Lil Louis is the stage name used by Chicago-born house music producer and DJ Louis Burns. He scored a number of hits on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in the eighties and nineties, three of which hit #1.
His best known song, "French Kiss," featured vocals by Shawn Christopher and spent two weeks at #1 on the dance chart in 1989. The house track (now considered a classic) features a several-minutes-long breakdown in which the music gradually slowed down in tempo to a complete stop and left nothing but orgasmic moaning from Christopher. Even with its sensual sound, it crossed over to some dance-leaning pop radio stations and climbed to #50 on the Hot 100.
In 2000 producer Josh Wink released "How's Your Evening So Far?" - credited to Wink vs. Lil Louis - a track which heavily sampled "French Kiss." The song peaked at #3 on the dance chart.
Louis has released albums under the names Lil Louis & the World and Lil Louis & the Party. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil_Louis [Sept 2005]
Freedom
BLACK MAGIC "Freedom (Make It Funky)"
Strictly Rhythm (SR12403) 12"
BLACK MAGIC "Freedom (Make It Funky) (Remixes)"
Strictly Rhythm (SR12420) 12"
One of the must have releases of the past few months or should I say past few years. Produced and mixed by none other than Lil'Louis with a little help from another Louie, "Little" Louie Vega. The original version kicks off with a cool telephone conversation and then breaks into a mega funky, bassline driven female vocal groover. There's also a good dub by Frankie Feliciano on the flip side. The separate remix 12" has one slammin' Lil'Louis rendition and two not so great versions by Angel Moraes and Frankie Tamburo. A definite classic for the years to come.
Journey With the Lonely
LIL LOUIS & THE WORLD: Journey With the Lonely (Epic E47058 - 1992)
Club Lonely/New Dance Beat/Saved My Life/Aahhhh!
Do U Love Me/You're My Reason/Dancing In My Sleep/Funny How U Luv/Thief/Share
It would take a great album from the nineties to make this Hall of Fame, but Journey With the Lonely deserves it 'classic' status despite being barely 5 years old. By all accounts it wasn't a commercial success - so often the case with truly great works, but it gained Lil Louis great respect outside of the House music fraternity previously familiar with his genius on tracks such as French Kiss/Music Takes U Away/Frequency/ Videoclash, etc. Journey... travels from the superbly produced garage of Club Lonely through to highly original House/R&B hybrids and finishes with the albums best tracks; Thief with its jazz-cool swing, double-bass and sax solo to the gorgeous ballad Share. A modern classic that was criminally under-rated when it came out and which apart from LPs from Blaze and Larry Heard is one of the - all too few - truly great albums to come from the House/Techno generation of producers.
Selected Discography
From The Mind Of Lil Louis (1989 Epic)
Journey With The Lonely (1992 Epic)
French Kiss (1989 Diamonds Records) Réédité sur vynil dans l'anthologie FFRR Classics Volume 2 (1998 London Records)
Freedom (Strictly Rhythm 1996)
Clap your hands (Go!Beat 1997)
CDs
It would take a great album from the nineties to make this Hall of Fame, but Journey With the Lonely deserves it 'classic' status despite being barely 5 years old. By all accounts it wasn't a commercial success - so often the case with truly great works, but it gained Lil Louis great respect outside of the House music fraternity previously familiar with his genius on tracks such as French Kiss/Music Takes U Away/Frequency/ Videoclash, etc. Journey... travels from the superbly produced garage of Club Lonely through to highly original House/R&B hybrids and finishes with the albums best tracks; Thief with its jazz-cool swing, double-bass and sax solo to the gorgeous ballad Share. A modern classic that was criminally under-rated when it came out and which apart from LPs from Blaze and Larry Heard is one of the - all too few - truly great albums to come from the House/Techno generation of producers. -- Kirk Degiorgio