They may have sprung from the 'hear today, gone tomorrow' era of rave, but the songs of Shades of Rhythm have acquired an impressive longevity. This week we spotlight one of their classics: Sweet Sensation.
Its follow-up – the renown and highly-contentious Extacy (a UK Top 20 single in 1991) – charted higher, but Sweet Sensation has a spirit that still infuses the dance scene more than 20 years later: for example Anne Savage's anthemic trance-hall cover on her 2010 album, Pandemic and the band's own 2011 remake for the Cheap Thrills label.
You can hear multiple mixes of the song on 2010's Judge Jules-annotated Deluxe Edition of Shades' debut album, and the classic 7" A-side is available on the new Perfect Songs sampler CD pack. If you work in the synch business and didn't pick up a copy at Midem, get in touch and we'll pop one in the post…
"Shades of Rhythm were arguably the first UK act to truly cement their place in the record boxes of global dance DJs. Enjoy a slice of seminal dance music..." -- Judge Jules
Six-time GRAMMY nominee and long-time Perfect songwriter Marsha Ambrosius heads to LA this weekend for the 54th annual GRAMMY Awards. She has scored not one but two nominations for her 2011 J Records single Far Away.
Marsha co-wrote Far Away with Sterling Simms and released it -- alongside remixes from Busta Rhymes -- as the seconded single from her lauded solo album, Late Nights & Early Mornings.
It's now been nominated in both the Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance categories alongside works by Corinne Bailey Rae and Cee Lo Green. But no matter who wins on Sunday, there is no doubt that Marsha continues to deliver song after song, album after album, of classic R&B.
Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control) is an unmissable, unforgettable slab of the finest electropop. A collaboration, of course, between Groove Armada and Mutya Buena, it was released on both Groove Armada's Soundboy Rock and Mutya's debut solo album, Real Girl back in 2007.
Voted one of the Greatest Singles of that year by Popjustice, Song 4 Mutya reached number one on the UK Dance Chart and number eight on the Singles Chart.
Co-written by long-standing Perfect songwriter Tim Hutton, it's available on Disc One of our new 25-track Perfect Songs sampler. If you didn't pick up a copy at Midem, get in touch and we'll pop one in the post!
This weekend, Song of the Week is coming to you live and direct from Cannes. The Perfect team is here at Midem for the duration of the conference, so if you haven't been in touch to book a meeting, please do...
And when the Midem madness gets too much, take four minutes to unwind with this classic from Perfect Songwriter Marsha Ambrosius, performed by Michael Jackson.
Marsha’s recent single, Far Away has been nominated for two 2012 Grammy Awards, for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. But, almost ten years ago to the day, Michael Jackson released Butterflies, which she co-wrote with producer Andre Harris.
Butterflies was released as the third single from Jackson's Invincible album and, as Harris said at the time, "(With this song), he's showing you, I'm still the Michael Jackson that did Billie Jean and Rock With You, because Butterflies really falls along those lines." For the New York Times, it's simply a "melting love ballad".
To quote our biog of Fiona Renshaw at www.perfectsongs.com/artists, her music delivers "deep harmonious resonance, and lyrics that tell of a life steeped in musical eclecticism." A great example of her songwriting is this week's Song of the Week: Is There Anything You Need?.
Perfect controls a large catalogue of Fiona's songs, many of which were written after she was discovered by Creation Records' Alan McGee and some of which appeared on her solo album Love in a Bubble.
Love... was compared on release to Joan Armatrading and Gil Scott-Heron and won support from Gilles Peterson and Q Magazine, who described it as "deep, dark and authoritative, yet with a touch of vulnerability. A major discovery."
