Peaches from Herb
2008-03-26 by Kevvy K
Herb Alpert – Rotation
A blissed-out Balearic classic to celebrate a) getting round to adding a Balearic category and b) getting the album that this is on for 50p in a charity shop in Whistable over the weekend, along with the 12”s of Gino Soccio Dancer, Gary’s Gang Let’s Lovedance Tonight, and Martin Circus Disco Circus. One of my best and cheapest chazza-shop hauls ever.
Following on from the messages discussion as to what Balearic records actually are, here are the top 25 as voted upon by people on the DJ History Forum.
1 Tullio de Piscopo – Primavera (Stop Bajon) (Bagaria, 1984)
2 William Pitt – City Lights (Public Sound, 1986)
3 Elkin & Nelson – Jibaro (CBS, 1986)
4 Chris Rea – Josephine (Magnet, 1985)
5 Herb Alpert – Rotation (A&M, 1979)
6 Manuel Goettsching – E2-E4 (Inteam, 1984)
7 Mandy Smith – I Just Can’t Wait (Cool & Breezy Jazz Mix) (PWL, 1987)
8 Dizzi Heights – Would I Find Love (Parlophone, 1986)
9 Art Of Noise – Moments In Love (Island, 1983)
10 It’s Immaterial – Driving Away From Home (Virgin, 1986)
11 Carly Simon – Why (WEA, 1982)
12 Sebastien Tellier – La Ritournelle (Lucky Number, 2005)
13 Donna Summer – State of Independence (WEA, 1982)
14 Laid Back – Fly Away/Walking In The Sunshine (CBS, 1983)
15 Kate Bush – Running Up The Hill (EMI, 1985)
16 Cure – Lullaby (Fiction, 1989)
17 Linda Di Franco – TV Scene (WEA, 1985)
18 Flash & The Pan – Walking In The Rain (Epic, 1978)
19 Izit – Stories (ffrr, 1989)
20 Fleetwood Mac – Big Love (Arthur Baker Remix) (Warners, 1987)
21 Double – The Captain Of Her Heart (Polydor, 1985)
22 The Beloved – The Sun Rising (WEA, 1989)
23 Enzo Avitabile – Blackout (EMI, 1986)
24 Mike Francis – Features Of Love (Concorde, 1985)
25 Richie Havens – Going Back To My Roots (Elektra, 1980)
And here’s the Herb vid
Download MP3 (0:00min / 0MB)
Comments 
::
I'm still not clear on how a tune qualifies as Balearic…
Is this a list of tracks that were popular in Spanish discos in the late 80's and early 90's? Or do they all have a characteristic sound or style?
I get that we're not talking about Balearic Beat here, but I still don't see what the defining characteristic is.
Is that the Chris Rea (as in 'On The Beach' & 'the Road To Hell') sneaking in at number 4?
Balearic refers to the Balearic islands specifically, rather than the whole of Spain, and the Balearic Beat was basically UK DJs having been inspired by the musical scene there, bringing it back to the UK and giving it a more defined, homogenous sound, as opposed to the defining characteristic being the lack of defining charecteristic.
From the wikipedia page –
The style of Balearic Beat is described by its inventors, as opposed to its UK followers, as the ability for the DJ to play across a broad range of styles, from early minimal new beat to the first extended remixes of pop-songs, making Balearic DJ sets those that tend to have the sharpest turns of musical direction. While the public outside Ibiza generally describes Balearic Beat as a music style, the island based community regard Balearic Beat as a non-style or a healthy disrespect to style conformity and a challenge to the norm. Its a freestyle expression that seamlessly binds sporadic vinyl inspiration through technical flair on the turntables. Today, due to segregation in the electronic dance music few promoters and thus DJ's dare to stretch their spectrum of styles that far in fear of loosing identity and clients. DJ Alfredo still heralds the most diversity among Ibiza DJ's, but generally the approach to mixing as well as the terminology, have been swallowed up by the Chillout scene.
And Bill Wyman's jailbait Mandy Smith at number 7.
I don't know many of the tunes listed (I own a 12" of Stories and it's OK, if a little lame, and I have a big soft spot for The Sun Rising, even though that is pretty lame too really) but to be honest the others in the list that I do know only serve to confirm my original suspicion that Balearic music is generally a bit shit.
> the ability for the DJ to play across a broad range of styles
The definition here though is all about a style of DJing rather than a particular style of music – by this definition any tune could be "Balearic" as long as it is played in a set with other records that don't sound the same? So I'm still not sure how any particular tune qualifies… other than it was played in a subset of Spanish discos in the late 80's and early 90's?
My understanding is that the broad range of styles encapuslated a particular vibe at that time on the islands, namely a sort of languid, feel-good hedonism.
What's with the balearic chip, Double K? For every slightly dodgy Chris Rea etc on this list, there's something wonderful like Primavera or E2-E4 – and I'm really not sure that feeling unrestricted by musical boundaries is a bad thing for a DJ provided that he keeps a crowd rocking; the fact that these Balearic DJs inspired the Brits enough to come back and recreate the feeling in home grown clubs like Spectrum, Shoom etc which along with the northern soul tradition & the hacienda in the north and the imported US house sound helped to make the club scene what it is in this country should be enough for you, right?
Perhaps I do have a Balearic chip… my main problem is that I'm still not convinced that it really works as a label to help categorise music.
If you tell me that an island is "Balearic" then that's great – it tells me exactly whereabouts to look for it, what the weather will be like there, and something about the culture of the place. "Balearic" is a great category for islands.
On the other hand, if you tell me that a tune is "Balearic" then it doesn't really narrow things down for me much. Will it be A.O.R. from Chris Rea, whinging pop from the likes of Kate Bush and Mandy Smith, something a bit more disco, or (if I'm really lucky) something wonderful?
This example also shows that the label "Balearic" is superfluous – all the tunes listed can be perfectly well categorised with terms more descriptive of how the tune actually sounds: disco, house, A.O.R., pop, krautrock, etc.
And also "Balearic" means different things to different generations – the list above is what you get if you ask a bunch of self-important old codgers at the DJH forums what their favourite Balearic tunes are, but if you ask a bunch of 20-something partygoers in Ibizia the same question you'll probably end up with something more resembling the latest Hed Kandi Chill-Out compilation.
I have nothing against unrestricted musical boundaries, but I don't see how classifying a tune as "could be played by a DJ as part of an eclectic mix" is at all useful.
Actually, I do think people SHOULD be musically restricted by at least some measure of good taste, and this Balearic list is a good example of how badly wrong things can go if people feel too unrestricted: Some of these records are proper shit and I don't care who played them out or what influential clubs they were played in, they remain shit (I'm thinking of the Mandy Smith, Fleetwood Mac, Chris Rea and Carly Simon tracks in particular here because I know how they go).
Ah, but how these records were combined to form a vibe in clubs which, along with shedloads of drugs, were really influential in what then happened here is exactly what's interesting and worthy of discussion. Each to his own, and I've no love lost for Chris Rea, but I'm I'm willing to accept that at the right time and place, I could enjoy some of what you've described as shit tunes. The irony is that the self-important old codgers might actually be being more open minded than you by displaying that sort of attitude. Although they might then go and ruin it all by saying that everything the kids listen to these days is rubbish.
Yeah I'm sure that given enough drugs anything can sound good. That's no excuse to go on listening to it for the next twenty years.
In the past I have myself, while incredibly intoxicated, very much enjoyed James headlining at the Reading festival, and got really into the groove of the sound of a tube train rattling along the Northern Line.
That doesn't mean I then go out and encourage people to listen to either James or tube trains though, and even though I enjoyed them at the time I've never sought out those sounds again for my own listening pleasure because I know that they will be shit.
Who said I was open minded? On the contrary I'm very set in my ways. I have better things to do with my life than be open minded about Chris Rea.
Have you heard "Rotation" (DJ Harri Edit) it is really Great.
'Do you mind if I bring my guitar?'
'I'd rather you didn't, Its not that kind of area'
Brilliant!
I think you're missing something Double K and it sounds like you've got something against pop. A variety of music can be played to be Balearic but the overall vibe of a set should be hazy, feel good, with a slightly hippy spiritual side. That can easily be created with numerous records from different genres despite the fact that any one tune heard on it's own might not be like that but thrown in to give a feel of anything goes. By saying one tune specifically is Balearic then it's probably referring to the fact that it has some sort of spritual, beachy quality but doesn't mean that it's not a house tune or a pop tune.
Pop is fine.
It's Chris Rea I have something against.
I heard someone say that balaeric DJs are ones that comb every musical genre for stuff that sounds good on a beach. Pretty good description if you ask me!
From the Phonica website:
Wham – Everything She Wants (Remix)
A Wham record in Phonica? Never before has the question "Is it balearic genius or is it just a load of shite?" been more pertinent. An undoubtable pop-dance classic back in 1984 and a feature at many a balearic night as an ironic end-of-night classic. But should we be stocking it? Answers on a postcard at the usual address….(and "Careless Whisper" is on the flip!)
I have to admit to liking Everything She Wants. And Rahaan played that great souped up version of George's Father Figure at Faith and it sounded amazing. AND I also played A Different Corner last weekend and it made me a bit goose bumpy.
> Never before has the question "Is it balearic genius or is it just a load of shite?" been more pertinent.
...or more straightforward to answer, I suspect!
I don't actually remember "Everything She Wants" at all so I YouTubed it before writing this, just to be sure.
It's really fucking awful. No question.