Considered by many to be a classic B-boy anthem, this sublime slice of laidback rare-groove funk from Philadelphia’s Pieces of A Dream was released in 1982 and was taken from the album We Are One.

A trippy excursion into disco, boogie and electro, ‘Mt Airy Groove’ has been sampled by the likes of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five and DJ Shadow.  Carrying one of the most instantly recognizable breaks in rap, this dreamy and delightful track is still cherished by B-Boys and B-Girls all around the world.

Pieces Of A Dream – Mt. Airy Groove (instrumental)

The sassy Pointer Sisters released their smokin’ version of Allen Touissant’s ‘Going Down Slowly’ way back in 1975.  This was the storming closing to track to the Sister’s Steppin’ Out album and the raw ‘n’ funky intro has delightfully been sampled by many a crate diggers since. My personal highlight of the track is the joyous vocal climax towards the end which the sees the Sisters seamlessly weave their vocals in and out of each other, resulting in a gutsy and joyous performance. Simply a powerhouse.

The Pointer Sisters – Going Down Slowly

Ahhh, the summer. There’s nothing like the summer with a bit of Carly Simon. What’s Carly Simon got to do with the summer? I hear you ask. Well, my friends this timeless ‘Balearic’ classic will tell you ‘why’ (arf!).

Produced by the mighty Chic in 1982 for the flop movie ‘Soup For One’ (the soundtrack has been mentioned a few times on this website, notably here), it was considered a bit of late disco cash-in by the critics and the public alike (it reached a giddy #74 on the Billboard chart!). What did they know huh? ‘Why’ is by far one of the best pieces of work that Chic have ever done and the best song Carly Simon has ever done (it beats ‘You’re So Vain’ – who cares who it was written about? I still think its Warren Beatty btw Carly…). Tinged with melancholy, the song is an intriguing mix of reggae-lite disco and off-beat pop. Constantly enticing the listener with its bouncing rhythm and the simple vocal refrain of  ”la, di-da, di-da”, its clear why the record-buying public of 1982 didn’t get it. It was waaaay ahead of its time.

It was only in 1989 when the whole Hacienda/acid house/Ibiza/Balearic thing kicked off that the song started to get recognition. DJs such as Mike Pickering and Graeme Park reclaimed the song and turned into a Hacienda classic. Treating a generation of clubbers to the whole concept of mellow, feel-good sunny vibes.  When A Tribe Called Quest sampled the instrumental for ‘Bonita Applebum’, the tracks’ legacy across the emerging house and hip-hop scene were finally confirmed.

A bona-fide summer classic. Just don’t mention the 1999 Glamma Kid version…

Carly Simon- Why