Evidence of the creative latitude granted in the '80s by music executives, and of the maverick studio derring-do that resulted from it, can be found in the track that starts this four-disc boxed set.
Warner Bros., in 1987, approached
Arthur Baker to remix
Fleetwood Mac's first single in roughly half a decade. What the label received would be parenthetically titled "Extended Remix," but "Big Love" underwent something else, what
Baker notes in the rich accompanying booklet as "more of a reproduction." Pattering drums are recast into a slamming beat with ricocheting handclaps. Overdubbed keyboards from
David Cole and
Gary Rottger roll and bob with as much power as those of a Chicago house track.
Gail King executes the wizardly edits, and then -- what's that? -- the voice of
Stevie Nicks, unheard on the album version, sounding like a would-be house diva. "Big Love" hit the Top Ten of Billboard's dance chart, the same height reached by well over a dozen of the other selections on this second volume of a series launched in 2021 with
Dance Masters: Shep Pettibone. Full of ideas and gumption, and in a constant sort of dialogue with what he heard in New York clubs like the Paradise Garage, Danceteria, and Funhouse,
Baker was one of the premier club producers and remixers throughout the decade covered herein. He started humbly with underground disco singles like
Larry Wedgeworth and Clique's "No More Games," which due to bad timing and a low profile didn't become an anthem for his hometown Boston Celtics the way the Pittsburgh Pirates had adopted
McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stopping Us Now." In 1981, he first connected with both
Afrika Bambaataa and
Pettibone for the purely old-school hip-hop of "Jazzy Sensation," and the next year took off both artistically and commercially with the
Kraftwerk-derived electro classic "Planet Rock," the first Top Ten dance single here. Eight of the subsequent tracks, headlined by newcomers, short-lived projects, and established stars alike, topped the chart. Among them are solo productions like
Freeez's ringing "I.O.U.," written with frequent associate
John Robie, and commissioned remixes
Baker either "reproduced" or retouched with reverence, such as
Roberta Flack's "Uh-Uh Ooh Ooh Look Out (Here It Comes)," a delightful
Ashford & Simpson-written respite from new jack swing. Additionally, there's a smart balance between other evergreen Top Ten dance bombs (
New Order's "Confusion," the video of which was filmed at the Funhouse with
Baker co-starring) and fascinating relative obscurities (a rather busy promotional remix of
Pet Shop Boys' "Suburbia" makes its first appearance on compact disc). Licensing barriers likely prevented the inclusion of
Baker's work on
Bruce Springsteen's
Born in the U.S.A. singles. The gold beyond this indispensable set is not limited to
Planet Patrol's "Play at Your Own Risk,"
Diana Ross' "Swept Away," and the storming "Rapid Eye Mix" of
Will Downing's "In My Dreams," left off by
Baker in favor of a sweeping version of the same era's "A Love Supreme." ~ Andy Kellman
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