I'm happy to announce that the remix I did of The Jackson 5  "I want you back" gets an unxpected official release as part of the Michael Jackson Remix suite Part 2, available digitally from September 8.
I initially did this remix, uncommissioned, 4 months ago for my sets and to give a few DJ friends.
2 weeks ago I passed it on to Frankie Knuckles who I didn't know was already involved in the remix project. He liked it and sent it over to his contact at Motown who happens to be no other than Sylvia Rhone, the president !
Sylvia liked it too and decided at the very last minute to squeeze it in with the rest !

Frankie did a great remix of the underground Disco classic "Forever came today" and I could never thank him enough for generously passing my mix in the right hands

I'm very happy that this mix I've been playing at every one of my sets since April 12 is going to be available for everyone to play

It's been on my player for a little while now so hope you dig it

More info here

A nice little interview i did over email with Chicago's 5 Magazine, out in June 2009 issue:
For more info on House music and its history:  5 Magazine Chicago website

About the time you read this, Nightdubbin’,
the latest compilation from the world-renowned Dimitri from Paris, will be in stores and available worldwide. Dimitri has sold more than a million records in his career – most famously his album Sacrebleu, A Night at the Playboy Mansion and Disco Forever – but Nightdubbin’ is truly a milestone
in his career. With extensive liner notes padding this 3 CD set, Nightdubbin’ is focused entirely on dub versions of classic ’80s tracks from François K, Larry Levan, Paul Simpson, John Morales, Shep Pettibone and more. It’s not just that many of these tracks are presented here in digital format for the first time, but with the brain of one of our foremost musicologists and a heart filled with genuine love for this music, Dimitri has created worthy monument to this underground phenomenon.

5 mag :
I want to go into your background a little bit, as I find it inspiring to a lot of young DJs. From what I understand, you wanted to be a remixer but figured you had to be a DJ first?

DFP:
I did want to become a remixer first. As I was buying a lot of records, I thought DJing would be a good means of subsidizing that habit and making others enjoy different sounds. I was disappointed
by my first experiences as I was treated
as a human jukebox enslaved to the owners’ limited taste in music. This was definitely not a creative route to follow.
To get a remix job, I needed to expose the edits
I was doing, so I figured radio could help. In the mid 1980s there was a bustling pirate, then private radio scene and I haggled my way in. I eventually got my own mixshow and that got me my first remix gig in 1986. I built up my rep for 12 years over the airwaves. As the perception of the DJ evolved from anonymous club employee
to headliner, I got finally booked for my music selection in clubs.
I know what it is to be discouraged and right now more than ever, but I’m afraid I have no magical advice. I think it might help to regard music as a side thing until it can eventually take off as a full job – that way it always stays a pleasurable
thing. When you start compromising too much in music, it’s very easy to get lost.

5 mag :
You really got your feet in the industry via your show on Radio 7. Could you see yourself having the freedom on radio now to play the records that you want?

I think that would be unthinkable to have freedom
in a large media now. My show got cancelled
after 12 years because it was the only one not following any generic playlist and that became unbearable to the radio’s decision makers.
However there are still countries with strong public radio networks that offer specialised shows in semi-niche genres.
Northern Europe is quite good with trying to spread a variety a musical genres, including electronic and dance-related material, as part of their cultural mission. Radio 7 in France was such an outlet, and it was never replaced after it was shut down in the early 1990s.

 In North America I heard good things on college, community and even satellite radio. If I were to start now, I imagine I would need to use the internet as my main springboard. Problem is it’s oversaturated, and it feels like one needs more “marketing” skills than musical ones to get noticed.

5 mag :
We have an audience that’s made up of both really
old school DJs as well as just the party people
who love this music but don’t have much experience
with technical terms. So this might be a bit like asking a bishop to explain Christianity (ha!), but could you, in your own words, explain what is meant by “Dub”?

A tough one indeed... OK, brace yourselves, as I’ll be going through the scenic route:
I believe the word “Dub” is derived from the audio engineering term “dubbing plate” – “dubbing” meaning here duplicating an audio signal.
It is also sometimes referred to as an “Acetate” (because it was using that particular chemical compound) and it designates a 7”, 10’’ or 12” metal plate with a soft, waxy, plastic coating on which sound can be engraved using a specific cutting machine. The “dubbing plate” denomination was casually shortened to “dubplate”.

In the old analog days, a song was recorded onto a multitrack magnetic tape reel. Usually each instrument featured in the song would be recorded on it’s own separate track or channel. Same went for the vocal content. After all the elements were recorded, all the channels (ranging from 3 to 48+) would be mixed down to a stereo 2 track magnetic tape (one track for the left side, one for the right side). That’s what’s called “the Master” and is the definitive version of the recording
the general public gets to hear. The Master needed to be duplicated (dubbed) so it could then be mass manufactured in the form of vinyl records, cassettes, 8 tracks, and later CDs.
The duplication process for vinyl is to play the Master tape through a heavy cutting machine (resembling a huge record turntable, with a large needle) that is literally cutting a sonic groove on a blank plate. This plate, named the “Lacquer”, is then used in a pressing plant to imprint a master duplication mold.

Now, the “Dubplate” was a ONE-OFF disk similar to the Lacquer (but with a different coating)that would be engraved so the producers of the recording could check the sonic quality of the freshly-cut groove. That one off Dubplate could be played on any turntable. Hence, the newly finished song could be tested in a home set-up, played on radio, at clubs – you name it.
Remember, there were no CDs nor CDRs at that time, so there was no other way than the Dubplate to try out a new record before mass manufacturing it.

Club music producers became eager to take those Dubplates to their DJ buddies so they could test them out to an audience. If something wasn’t sounding right, they could go back in the studio, remix all the channels and come back and test with a new Dubplate. Once it was good to go, the manufacturing process could be launched.
And what does all it got to do with Dub music, you rightly ask?

Well, as producers would bring their fresh songs on Dubplates to the DJs in clubs, the DJs would comment on how this or that should have been done differently. This led some clever producers to take a shortcut and get the DJs in at the mixing stage so they could do to the song what they thought would be the most relevant from a dancefloor-filling point of view. So they happily did and the club mix or remix concept was born. The DJs were first credited as “mix consultants” and then simply remix artists.
And again? the Dub mix?
Well, yes, that pretty much was a Jamaican thing. Jamaican DJs were operating or attached to mobile soundsystems. They used to always have an MC sort of rapping (also “toasting” in Jamaican lingo) over the popular records. So the DJs favored instrumental versions of their popular songs to leave room for the MCs to entertain.
Those instrumental versions were not always made available by the producers to the public and hence were cut on one-off Dubplates. They very quickly became known as “Dub versions” or just “Versions” in Jamaican DJ slang. They became quite in-demand and ended being commercially available as b-sides.
As DJs were getting more involved in the mixing process of the record, they started adding special effects, like weird sounds, spacey echoes, swooshy cymbals, etc... which would infuse extra excitement in the dancefloor-oriented songs.

So while Dub was a staple of the Jamaican dancefloors, it only seems to have started making its way into other genres in the late 1970s, early 1980s, particularly in New York. One can imagine that the large Jamaican community and its then open-all-hours underground club scene must have somewhat interacted.

As the New York DJ was playing a larger part in the conception of dance oriented records, demand for remixes increased and it was time to try and experiment to keep an edge. It is unclear whether someone like DJ Walther Gibbons (RIP) was familiar with Jamaican Dub, but he definitely gave his mixes a similar approach. Other DJs like François Kevorkian were more directly influenced by it.

Knowingly or not, many DJs/remixers used Jamaican-originated techniques, while building new ones over them. Applied to a different style of music – primarily Disco – they created a brand new genre, one that is still influencing producers 30 years later.

And if you’re still reading, that is what my new compilation focuses on!

5 mag :
Well, let’s talk about this new compilation, Nightdubbin’. What was your role in putting this together?

That early ’80s dubbed-out sound was a major influence for acts like Idjut Boys, Faze Action, Metro Area, also the Norwegian Disco guys like Lidstromm, Todd Terje, Prins Thomas...
I was wondering why the subject was never thoroughly covered before. This was the music I started DJing with so I was very familiar with it. I wanted to present this as the source of many of the things we hear today. Pioneers like François K have to take credit for a mixing approach that is still relevant nowadays.

I tried to give an historical angle to this compilation, and the selection reflects what I consider milestones rather than obscure tracks. Although hardly any of these versions have ever come out on CD, they are not all difficult records to come across, but it’s the main vocal mix that people are usually familiar with.
It was essential to me that I get hindsight from the makers of those Dub mixes, so I’m really proud of the CD booklet that features my interviews with Paul Simpson, John Morales and of course François K (he also wrote the foreword) who were key players in crafting the genre.

5 mag :
Why did you pick the Idjut Boys instead to mix the first CD rather than do it yourself?

BBE preferred the compilation to be also in mixed format. Although I felt legitimate enough to take care of the selection and written content, I thought the mixing duties would be handled better by today’s masters of the genre. I know the Idjuts from a while ago and I was convinced they would add that extra spaced-out crazyness
to make my selection flow in a continuous dubbed out mix.

5 mag :
I was reading the liner notes and it’s really almost
a book. How important were the people you interviewed there to your own evolution as a producer and DJ?

Well each of the people I have interviewed has at least three of their mixes on the project, they’re all responsible for creating the dance music Dub sound. The interesting thing is they all did it in their own way. As you can read in the interviews, they all had a somewhat different intention.
François K is the major influence to me. He inspired me to do what I do. His work was extremely technical but at the same time instantly accessible. Once I passed the first excitement of listening to one of his mixes, I could then spend hours trying to understand how he actually did it. He was able to do things that had several levels
of “reading” or appreciation and that is what he mostly inspired me to try to achieve.

5 mag :
A lot of the people from that era have passed on. Who would you have liked to just sit down and talk with about music for this project who is no longer with us?

I would have really loved to talk to Walther Gibbons
who himself was an influence to François K. He was laying down the basics of Dub mixing. I heard some of the songs he mixed in their raw multitrack recording form and it helped me realize
even more how his work was groundbreaking 30 years ago.

5 mag :
There are 3 CDs in this release but I suspect 10 CDs wouldn’t be enough to hold all the music that you’d like to put on here. Was there any heartbreak over something that you couldn’t fit or get the rights to?

I made the selection based on what I thought were historical mixes while trying to achieve a simply enjoyable flow of music. Some labels were a bit difficult to work with and were asking unrealistic amounts of money to let us use versions of songs they wouldn’t even know they had. It’s unfortunately part of the game. The love for music has long since left the industry as you may have noticed...

5 mag :
There are a lot of folks here in Chicago who really
admire the hell out of you and what you’ve done for Disco and House. To my surprise, a lot of them also know you personally. How do you manage to keep your ear to the street?

I probably don’t keep my ear close enough to the street, and I’m sure I’m missing out a lot. But really what I’m looking for is more people who are passionate about the music and who can keep me inspired and challenged too.
Unfortunately I seem to meet too few of them and they’re scattered around the globe. I would like to see more carrying the flame. It feels like there are just too few people who dig, rather than ticking names off lists posted on the web...

I take music and DJing very seriously, I was never in it for the partying, fame or money. I grew up wanting to share the music I liked with others, turning them onto other things.
I believe achieving some kind of notoriety is a good way to sneak in different sounds into people’s ears. The system is what it is, and I’d rather use it than hopelessly fight it. I worked for years in a Top 40 “uncool” radio station, but that meant I could reach thousands with my own playlist, not theirs.
The association with Playboy helped me put on the map a music that most clubbers had never heard before.

There are quite a few dance music oriented web outlets but they seem to be only preaching within their own little scenes and dissing whatever isn’t theirs. It doesn’t help music break boundaries. I’ve seen so-called music lovers diss me and other DJs because we were playing to the crowd and the programming wasn’t what they and their buddies were expecting.
They just don’t seem to see the big picture. I get to play to audiences from 100 to 3000+ people, I want to get the room going before anything else. These clubbers are a whole entity, they have spent their hard earned cash to have a good time. It is my number one goal to deliver to that entity. That said, if I can fit a few non-standard sounds in the mix and get the crowd to enjoy them, I feel I’ve accomplished a good deed.
I always say to music-minded people that most dance clubs are really not the best places to hear new music. Most people go there for the party, not to discover new things, but that doesn’t mean we DJs should give up trying. That is what keeps me on my toes.

5 mag :
I’ve noticed you’ve done a number of collaborations
with DJ Meme lately. It’s really striking that you have such a similar sound and style. How did you meet?

I met Meme four years ago on a holiday trip to Rio. A promoter presented him to me as, “He’s our Brazilian you.” He was right in the fact that we share a lot of similar influences as well as having both been in the industry for the same (long) time. We started talking shop and he played me his stuff which I thought was an effective mix of old and new sounds. He was Brazil’s first remix producer as I was France’s, and he’s very well establishedin his country like I used to be.

5 mag :
After Nightdubbin’, what can we be looking out for from you in 2009?

I have a couple of projects in the works with BBE, and there may be a compilation of my re-edits over the years to be released in Japan. That would be most likely around Fall.

(no writer credit found, will be updated when available)

Thank you 5 for taking up space to put the whole thing in, and thank you Chicago for the early and continuous support.

Nightdubbin' available at BBE online shop

CD1: Mixed by The Idjut Boys – Compiled by Dimitri From Paris

01. Aurra - Such a feeling (Shep Pettibone Part 2)
02. Sandy Kerr - Thug Rock (M&M Dub)
03. Serious Intention - You Don't Know (Paul Simpson Special Remix)
04. Michael Wilson - Groove It To Your Body (François K Instrumental)
05. Lenny White - My Turn To Love You (François K Dub)
06. D Train - D Train (François K Dub)
07. Paul Simpson Connection - Treat Me (Paul Simpson Dub)
08. Wuf ticket - The Key (François K Dub)
09. Radiance - You're My Number One (M&M Dub)
10. Raw Silk - Just in Time & Space (Nick Martinelli & David Todd Dub)
11. Mikki - Dance Lover (Nick Martinelli & David Todd Dub)
12. Electric Dred - Butter Up (Instrumental)
13. Cloud - Steppin Out Jam (Dub)
14. Rah Band - Clouds Across The Moon (Super Nova Mix)
15. Wham - Enjoy What You Do (François K instrumental)

CD2: Unmixed – Compiled by Dimitri From Paris

01. Trammps - Whatever Happenned To The Music (Paul Simpson Dub)
02. Michael Wilson - Groove It To Your Body (François K Instrumental)
03. Jamaica Girls - Somebody New (Larry Levan Dub)
04. Serious Intention - You Don't Know (Paul Simpson Special Remix)
05. D Train - D Train (François K Dub)
06. Cloud - Steppin Out Jam (Dub)
07. Wham - Enjoy What You Do (François K instrumental)
08. Radiance - You're My Number One (M&M Dub)
09. Sandy Kerr - Thug Rock (M&M Dub)
10. Imagination - Changes (DFP Dub Mix)
11. Aurra - Such A Feeling (Shep Pettibone Part 2)

CD3 – Unmixed – Compiled by Dimitri From Paris

01. The Winans - Let My People Go (M&M Dub)
02. Third World - One More Time (Larry Levan Dub)
03. Wuf Ticket - The Key (François K Dub)
04. Lenny White - My Turn To Love You (François K Dub)
05. Paul Simpson - Treat Me (Paul Simpson Dub)
06. Raw Silk - Just In Time & Space (Nick Martinelli & David Todd Dub)
07. Mikki - Dance Lover (Nick Martinelli & David Todd Dub)
08. Elektrik Dred - Butter Up (Instrumental)
09. Affinity - Don't Go Away (DFP Dub Edit)
10. RAH Band - Clouds Across The Moon (Super Nova Mix)

Nightdubbin'

A new compilation out in May through my long time friends BBE

In the early 80's when I started DJ'ing there was no House, no Techno, no Hip Hop it was all Dance Music. Whether it was Soul, Rock, Pop, Rap, Electronic, Acoustic... it didn't matter as long as a DJ could get his crowd going with it.

At the time most DJ's were residents in clubs, attached and exclusive to a specific venue. They were not traveling the world with a record box as some grew up to do.
Very early on the club owners realised that certain DJs where creating something special, and that was bringing more customers in. It was just not enough to play dance record after dance record. The way it was done would make a big difference.
As the more talented DJs were the biggest crowd pullers, they were exposing their musical selection to a larger audience. Additionally, their expertise in controlling the dancefloor's flow was attracting record labels.
Remixing and thus making songs dancefloor friendly had already started in the late seventies, but it was usually done by the original producers with occasional "consulting" from their DJ friends.
In time labels realised than no one better than a "hot" DJ would be able to create a dancefloor hit. They subsequently offered more DJs to remix music they wanted to succeed in clubs.
The whole dance remix concept was definitely established and DJs became the centerpiece of it. Most of those DJs originated from New York, there were Walther Gibbons, François Kevorkian, Larry Levan, Paul Simpson, M&M, Tee Scott, John Luongo, Richie Rivera...to name but a few.

In those early times of remixing, record labels would pick a song, a DJ, put him in a recording studio with an audio engineer, and hand them the tape of the original multitrack recording.
Under the direction of the DJ, the engineer would use his technical mastery to emphasize certain elements of the recording, re-arranging it by mixing them differently (hence the word re-mix) creating in the process, a fresh sounding version.
Most recordings were initially done at the length of the album (rather short) versions. As the DJ would want longer pieces that would lock dancers into a groove, certain parts of the song would be repeatedly recorded onto another tape, with different mixing arrangements of each pass. Then the tape with those multiple passes would be edited to achieve a longer seemingly seamless climatic progression.
Using that technique a 3 minute recording could be turned into a 7 minute or more version without the untrained ear noticing any repeats.

As the DJs and engineers skills and techniques progressed in creating Club oriented mixes, so did the studio equipment. The 1980s saw the advent of the first drum machines, digital equipment that could "sample" short pieces of audio to be replayed at will, echo machines and many other sound tweaking devices.
A remix session was a great opportunity for engineers to experiment with new gear and effects that could have been too "wild" for standard mixes. At their side, the DJs were learning. And fast !

After a few years of mastering the art of remixing and extending album versions into dancefloor monsters, the DJs felt the need to expand their creativity and push the genre further.
Once they had completed an effective remix that featured the body of the original song, typically its vocal section, it was time to get wilder.
From what used to be a plain instrumental version of the remix, they built up, adding extra effects, editing new sections in, adding percussion and anything that could bring excitement.
Since their comissioned job was done with the vocal version, they had a no holds barred approach to what would come to be known as the "Dub mix"
Although there had been Jamaican Dub mixes before, the variety of styles of music the New York DJs were applying the process to made the outcome quite different and a genre of its own.

This genre has become very influential over the years to DJs as much as producers and even sound engineers, It has been somewhat absorbed by Dance music as we've been knowing it for a while and it has become quite unescapable for any club cut to have its associated dub. Current acts like Metro Area, Chicken Lips, Todd Terje and to a certain extent the new wave of 80's influenced artists like Ladyhawke or even Justice owe all a little something to those original dubbed out sounds.

Nightdubbin' is a triple CD compilation that focuses on early Dance music Dub mixes from the late 70's to the mid 80's. There have been many of them, tucked on the b-side of vinyl 12" singles and this a personal selection of the most creative ones. To my knowledge none of these versions have been available on CD before

CD 1 & 2 features the unaltered Dub versions with a brand new exclusive mix of Imagination's classic "Changes".
CD 3 features a continuous DJ mix. Done by my friends, UK duo The Idjut Boys. I've handed them the task of further dubbing things out, as their expertise in that field is unparalleled.

Lastly Nightdubbin' will also feature a foreword by dub master François Kevorkian, as well as extensive interviews of him alongside remixers Paul Simpson and John Morales. All three of them having their work strongly featured in the project

full track listing to follow soon

DFP

My third take on the Playboy Mansion series is out on the Defected label !
You can get more info at www.defected.com

Here is my personal account on how this all came about.

In 1999, the Parisian promoters Respect is Burning, organised a party at the now renamed Groovejet club in Miami's South Beach. As one of their residents, they asked me to be part of it. The team that helped shape the first wave of the "French Touch" through their weekly "Respect" Wednesday night free parties was holding its second Winter Music Conference event.

A few weeks before the party, details were getting finalised. French expat Neil Aline of Chez Records was the man in the US in charge of smoothing the South Beach angles. He mentioned Groovejet had been approached by Playboy that wanted to join in the party, in a move to get their brand out to a younger generation of potential customers.

Although the marketing ploy was obvious, neither I nor Respect could resist the idea of finally getting to officially use the much bootlegged Rabbit Head logo we considered a true icon of modern design. We bargained a bunch of exclusive co-branded t-shirts to give away (highly collectible today) and agreed to have the corporate yet historically sexy brand on board.

Before the party, we casually met over dinner with two Playboy reps, and against all expectations we found we were dealing with young, very clued up people that had a refined knowledge of the DJ and clubbing world.

We were taught about the mythical Playboy Mansion, that we frenchies only had a vague idea of. 'Playboy Mansion West' as it's officially called is to this day Hugh Hefner's, founder of Playboy real home. An English style manor located in Los Angeles where he moved in 1971.

At the top of his game, Hef totally decked the house inside out making it this super bachelor pad, chocked full of the time's high tech and top end gadgets.
The Playboy Mansion comes complete with a mini zoo that houses exotic animals, as well as actual bunnies, a cinema room, a game house, themed guest bedrooms, tennis courts, a 24h operating fully fledged kitchen and the infamous underground swimming pool, known as The Grotto. The whole complex is manned by no less than 80 full time employees.

With a home like that Hugh Hefner could finally live his childhood dreams of grandeur inspired by lavish Hollywood epic movies such as 'The Great Gatsby'.
It was the time and place to throw sumptuous parties, and so he did, throughout a decade and an half. Photos of the exuberant and often libertine parties spiced the pages of Playboy magazine and an American myth was born. A sign at the door read "If you don't swing don't ring".

The mansion party train came to a stop in the mid 80's when Hef decided it was time to dedicate more time to his marriage and family. However, 10 years later divorce knocked at the door, and it was time to hang the infamous sign again.

My Respect buddies and I were fascinated by the Mansion's history, and were thinking how great it would be to throw a party there! At our amazement Playboy reps asked first if we wanted to do a Party! All it would take would be something to celebrate, like the release of a new CD for instance. We looked at each other and couldn't believe it! Although me and Respect already had a few records out on our own, nothing was planned in the future, but a seed was planted.

The Groovejet party was a success, the mix of the Playboy theme and my Disco sounds worked great. Everyone enjoyed the goodies handed out by the specially flown in official Playmates, and Respect and I returned to France happy.

A few weeks later back to NY, Neil Aline called to say Playboy were still into the idea and that all we needed really was a good reason to do a party there.
Respect already had a deal with Virgin, and they had 3 more projects left to release. It quickly became evident we needed to pitch a new record around the Playboy theme to the label in order to get to launch it at Hef's home! A night at the Playboy Mansion was going to happen.

That would be my second mixed CD after the Mixmag/Rewind release from 98, and this time I wanted to take on the artwork side of things. More than the sex content I always thought Playboy magazine stood out for its ground breaking late 60's and 70's cover art. I called up my friends at House Industries, a design company in Maryland, USA. Those guys shared the same passion as me for all things Post Modern and were supplying the world with beautiful retro infused fonts, all done by hand in a rare old fashioned way.

They got so much into the project that they specifically created a new font series for the CD's artwork. The Chalet font as they called it, was inspired by NY department store Macy's logo and has since then been used by many other people on wide variety of designs.

As per the musical content, this project gave me the first opportunity to start mixing vintage Disco originals with more modern productions. The Mansion's glory days happened in the mid seventies, its soundtrack of choice was naturally Disco, so it made sense that I was going to build the mix around that.

The tracklist on 'A night at the Playboy Mansion' was quite a personal selection, it featured some songs I had tried and tested on the dancefloors, as well as older and newer material that I thought didn't have the exposure it deserved. All in all it was a Soulful, Disco, quite acoustic influenced program that was not exactly following the Dance music trend of the time, already dominated by hard and progressive House styles.

Current productions were peppered with a handful of personal Disco classics which I re-edited to better fuse them in a seamless program.

I wasn't yet using CDs nor computer mixing back then, so I had the re-edits pressed onto acetates, one off, custom vinyl pressings. After a few rehearsals, I mixed the whole set from vinyl in one take onto DAT - Digital Audio Tape. The listener's expectation of a DJ mix and the technology have evolved so much that today, mixes are expected to be tighter, and so take much more time to be finalised!
All the precise tweaking and fine tuning induced by Digital mixing on a computer is unlike what most people believe not easier, and a major time eater.

Due to the then unfamiliar nature of the tracklist I never thought the CD would hit outside of a small niche of music people. Virgin thought the same and invested a very minimal marketing budget. To everyone's surprise word of mouth worked and sales soon grew above expectations. It seemed like everyone wanted to know about the Playboy Mansion's secret, and soon we would get to finally go there and see for ourselves.

Saturday April 29 2000 was the date of the CD's launch party at the actual Playboy Mansion. We could only invite a 100 people and it was real hard to accommodate all requests. Guests from around the world made the trip to L.A. with a strong |French delegation. The night before I was playing a Respect is Burning pre party at an L.A. club and a self proclaimed fan came backstage. After a friendly chat she invited the whole crew to a barbecue party the next day at her L.A. home. We could only reciprocate the honour and invite her to our Mansion party. We had a hard time convincing security they needed to let in this last minute guest, moreover totally unknown to them. I'm sure they now remember they almost turned Kylie Minogue away.

The Mansion party started in the early evening's daylight, as it moved into dusk Hef and several of his guests turned up. Old school TV icons like Farrah Fawcett (complete with feathered hair) were mingling with future idols Daft Punk amidst a cohort of Bunny ears adorned Playmates under the bemused eyes of it director Sophia Coppola. The perfectly preserved 70's decor of the Playboy Mansion made the party a total surreal experience, not unlike being thrown into an Austin Powers movie ! The many bartenders at the three fully stocked bars were making sure everyone was having a good time.

After a first DJ set in the garden, it was time for me to slip into something more comfortable, I put on one of the many bathrobes on offer, and descended in the Grotto joining the Respect crew for those relaxing times.

Fully recharged, I took on my second nightime set in the Mansion's ballroom. The turntables were placed on top of the staircase leading to Hef's apartments but he was nowhere to be seen. The room was getting into motion and I went on to play my first Disco record. At the very moment Sister Sledge "He's the greatest dancer" started, Hugh Hefner suddenly appeared with his three girlfriends as if on cue with the music, and they set the dancefloor on fire.

The party had great reports, proving that the Playboy Mansion mystique was still very strong. That seemed to open the ears of many people to the more melodic type of Dance music our mixed CD showcased.

A British tabloid made its first page with a stolen photo of Madonna on her way to a private party, you could clearly see her holding our CD. The story was not music related but it gave our Masion CD a huge exposure and sealed its reputation as a house party classic.
Furhermore, UK historical Club bible Mixmag recently placed it in the top 10 must have mixes of the past 10 years. Over time A night at the Playboy Mansion sold in excess of 350.000 copies and is still selling steadily.

Soon, many were asking for a sequel. I was excited by how given an accessible package, uncommercial music could reach outside of a specialist scene and I accepted to give it another go.

Vol 2 was a bit more ambitious and I opted to make it in 2 CD parts. CD1 would follow up on the house party tip with upbeat tunes, while CD2 would be more of an after party laidback and sexy affair.

After the Playboy Mansion was released in 2002. I had projected it as a double package but Virgin's corporate heads decided that in some countries it would be sold as 2 distinct CDs. The Playboy Mansion mixes became this CD trilogy. It had a beginning and now an end, so I figured it was now time for me to move on to other projects, notably my second "artist" album.

Respect is Burning however wanted to give other DJs a shot at the Playboy concept. They offered German Electronic music pioneer DJ Hell to get into the Mansion's vibe. Unfortunately, the project was plagued by many licensing and legal issues. The whole illegal download tsunami was hitting the label and eventually they scrapped the project.

DJ Hell had already mixed a first draft of the CD before the plug was pulled, it prefigured the electro clash sounds that would became popular soon after. Interestingly his mix has been since floating around the www, you might want to seek it out.

Playboy on their end, later put together a few mixed CDs with other DJ's and labels, but there was not much continuity with the original series.

As per me I found a new home for my projects in England with indie labels Defected and BBE. Both ran by passionate music lovers, respectively Simon Dunmore and Peter Adarkwah. They were giving me the final cut that distressed major companies would no longer afford to their artists.

Eventually in 2006 Defected approached Playboy to take things back to were they started and agreed on a new series of compilations. Superstar DJ Bob Sinclar was first to fly the Mansion flag again. Bob's release did revive some of the original series' spirit, and it also created this itch in me to have another go at it!

Since the release of the original volumes I've been getting constant requests at each gig to play music from those CDs and many clubbers would come to me and tell me how they made out to the soundtrack of the Playboy Mansion series.

After 5 years I thought it was time to give them something fresh to grind their teeth (and other things) on.

Return to the Playboy Mansion is out worldwide from April 21st.
CD 1 features a new house party mix of tried and tested personal classics as well as some unheard of gems. CD 2 is for those romantic and hotter moments, my first commercially available lovemaking mix.

Thanks to all of you who made the Playboy Mansion mixed series what they are today. It's been a great opportunity for me to showcase a wider variety of music and I'm very grateful it got to reach so many of you.

You might have checked this on my player, it's been there since June when I had just completed it, well now, it's finally out !

It looks like not too many people are left with a good memory of Imagination. Their look was on the cheezy glitzy side the 80's was so famous for, and their numerous TV appearance are not remembered for their hipness, although I have a feeling the current Bling Bling trend might not be praised in 20 years time...

The music was pretty ground breaking at the time, and was the work of a duet of London's Red Bus studios producers Steve Jolley & Tony Swain.
In my opinion the sound they crafted for Imagination is one of the most unique and recognizable in Dance Music's history.

They went on to produce further pop hits for Yazoo's singer Alison Moyet (All cried out), Bananarama (Shy Boy, Cruel Summer ) and Spandau Ballet (True).
They were kicked out from the Pop-Dance field when other team of super producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman got in the game by interpretating the blossoming US House Music sound for the masses.

Jolley & Swain had a way to make basslines sound (the swinging core of a dance track) like no other ever managed to this day.
True, some of the songs had a little too sweet melodies, but they were effective pop songs, and the backing music, especially in the extended 12" form was killer.
It was the beggining of all synthesizer based pop, and Jolley & Swain had. created a tight hybrid between acoustic and electronic.

Burning up was a bit of a stand out cut in Imagination's repertoire, it came in their second album that had less hits than the first, and was mostly instrumental, featuring only vocals in the chorus section.
I found out when I got to hear the original master tape, that a whole song (verse AND chorus) had been recorded all along but was never used.
It didn't take me too long to figure out why, as it just didn't fit that well with the music, so I decided to follow the original's direction and not use the unreleased vocal section. Maybe someone will in a future remix !

Burning up in it's original form instantly became a classic with New York and Chicago DJ's, it had that electronic drive that was quite new at the time, the familiar Disco beat and most of all that relentless rhythm piano pattern that went to become a House Music landmark. It indeed paved the way for the House revolution and was later rightfully tagged a "Proto-House" classic, inspiring many a dance music producer.

Burning Up never had a proper 12" release, it was featured on a few B sides in different countries and never really got the full extension it deserved. It was remixed once by Jolley & Swain themselves on the Nightdubbing album that featured crazy dubbed out mixes of the Imagination hits for the better and quite sometimes for the worse...
It was pretty clear the producers didn't really have the dancefloor in mind and the result was way more experimental than danceable.

I was initially approached by Juno to do Just an illusion which was a bigger crossover hit, but that song had it's own extended version and honestly I found it so good already I thought I'd break it if I touched it. I asked instead for Burning Up and I was really excited that the master tapes were still available, which mind you, is not always the case as a lot of classic music material has been lost or irremediably damaged.

The actual recorded take was about 4 minutes and of course very well produced in the tight but rather minimal Imagination style. I wanted to use 100% of the original production but felt it needed a few extra details in order to still sound interesting once stretched to a longer format.

I called up Hamburg based Australian keyboard maestro Simon Grey as I thought he had the perfect synth sounds for this. We did a little back and forth session between his studio and mine by way of the internet and he came up with great vintage sounding synth parts and a solo that totally fits the original vibe. I also replaced the not so great sounding original conga track, and the song was sped a few BPM's up from the original tempo to be more in key with current dancefloors.

The rest of my work consisted in mixing (and that's what a "re-mix" historically was) the Jolley & Swain recorded individual elements and editing the song's structure into a new longer arrangement, creating drops, breaks and effects etc...
As with a lot of my recent remixes, my friend Julien Jabre of Swimming Places fame magnificently worked the sound engineering.

Burning up is exclusively available from Juno records who comissioned the new mixes as part of their 10th anniversary compilation project. I've made 2 versions of it and original version is included.

A)   Dim's Red Bus Re- dub remix (8:26)
B1) Dim's Re-stretch remix (7:07)
B2) Burnin Up original (4:44)

CLICK IMAGE TO GO TO JUNO RECORDS





Coming soon: Ashford & Simpson - Stay Free DFP remixes

We will see if there's been any progression from last year's poll's result.
It seem to get harder every day to hear a piece of music with more than 3 simultaneous notes in a club, so I'm afraid chances are slim to see a bigger representation of the more musical DJs !
But hey, the most important is to participate ! Thank you for doing this, wether you voted for me or not, you put your word in, and it was a good thing to state your opinion rather than bitching your sound is not represented:)
All the best to you
Dimitri

CD 1

The Blue Velvets**
Summertime
Written by Gershwin – Heyward. Symphony Corporation
(Gershwin - Heyward) ASCAP. Producer: Robert Stewart, arranger: Otto A.
Gomez, Vocals arranged & conducted by Kamal Saleem
[p]1979 Record Symphony Corporation.

Equally sought after as the infamous Board of Directors 12" from same stable. Here comes this lush cover of George Gershin's evergreen classic from the Porgy & Bess Broadway show. To my knowledge this remake only came in the only album of this band named Changes.

The Vast Majority*
Ocean's Apart
Written by C. Elke & C. Wilson. Produced by Dave Miller & Martin Wilson
D&M Sound Records. D&M Sound Corp.
Pub by D&M Music Corp. [p]1975.

Another Disco Orchestra like Salsoul's or Love Unlimited The vast majority although sounding very similar was one of the first one to cater for the DJ's as an early adopter of the 12" format.

Ms Victoria Barnes*
Never Too Late
Written by David Jacobs - Rick Chalek. American International Music.
Published by E.B.Marks BMI. Produced by David Jacobs, Ronnie Mollozzi,
arranged by Hal Serria.

A very obscure singer on a very obscure 12" ! although no info can be found on any of those this song, the B side to Save it for me, is a true Coktail Disco song, latin flavored and Diva led.


Astrud Gilberto*
The Girl From Ipanema
Written by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Produced by Vince Montana Jr and Astrud
Gilberto. Albert Aron Image Records. Published by Albert Aron Image Records
a div. of Audiofidelity Enterprises Inc. 1977.

A unusual Disco stint from the queen of Bossa Nova. Taking a song she made herself popular on numerous recordings she beautifully remakes it over a Philly sound backing courtesy of master arranger and vibraphonist Vince Montana Jr

Rhoda Scott*
C'est Si Bon
Produced by Barclay, France. Licensed courtesy of Universal Music.
Directed by Aldo Frank.

An old 50's song that despite the french hook (c'est si bon=it's so good) is of american origin. Rhoda Scott also from the US spent most of her time recording in France. A famous keyboardist, her thing was to play crazy basslines on the church organ pedals with her bare feet. That Disco version of C'est si bon was produced in France.

Darcus*
It's Got To Be Love
Written by Phil Hurtt & Ritchie Rome. RCA USA [p]1977. Cookie Box/Valeria
Music, BMI/ Ritchie Rome Music. Arranged & conducted by Ritchie Rome.

A early Disco production from Richie Rome. I suspect the act Darcus was as with Ritchie Family the Philadelphia's Sigma sound studio session players. To my knowledge it was only released as a 7" single and a promo 12" featured here


Marti Lynn*
Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)
Written by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley. Produced by Wardell Quezergue.
One Way Disco Records (New Orleans LA).
TRO Musical Company Production [p]&[c]1979.

Wtitten by Leslie Bricusse a stage musical big shot, famous for having penned the Goldfinger James Bond theme. Who can I turn to, as it's pretty obvious is lifted from a forgotten musical, and superbly re-done by one hit Disco wonder Marty Linn
A DJ friendly edit of this will be available on the Vinyl edition and as digital download.

Paul Mauriat Plus*
The Joy Of You
Written by P. Mauriat, G. Gambus & T. Jones. [p]1978 Power Exchange Records
UK under License from Phonogram France (Now Universal Music).
Produced by Paul Leka, Arranged by Paul Mauriat & Gerard Gambus.

Paul Mauriat is the french Frank Pourcel ie a king of orchestral elevator music, chances are there are a bunch of his records gathering dust in thrift shops world wide.
The genre was quite popular in the late 70's, and inevitably Mauriat did his Disco thing backed with pretty solid UK musicians as you will hear.

J. Elliott Group*
Disco Village
Written by Les Baxter. Locust Inc. & The Road Company Farmington Hills
Michigan. Published by Love Blast Music. Granson/Atlantic.
Arranger: Jeff Steinberg. Production: Jeff Steinberg & Jeffrey Parsons.

Quiet Village is possibly the biggest easy listening classic, created by Tiki master Les Baxter it's been cover numerous times, including a great version by Ritchie Family that almost made it here (rain check on this one) The J Elliot is definitely the more dubby and rarer of the two.

Charlie's Roots**
Show You The Way to Go
Written by Gamble/Huff. Published by Warner-Tamerlane, c/o Warner-Chappell
Music Inc., 10585 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025-4950. BMI Work
No. 1335339. Executive Producer: Ellis Chow Lin On & Charlie's Roots.
Publishing date: 1978. CLO Records (Trinidad).

Produced by Ellis Chow Linn who sadly passed away very recently (RIP) This mostly instrumental remake of The Jacksons' song is lifted from a pretty straight up Calypso album, hence the predominant steel drums that give it a sweet lazy feel.



The Band That Fell To Earth*
Starflight
Written by P. Mengaziol. Produced by Laurence Jacobson.
Shaggy Dog Sounds Unlimited [p]1977.

One of the longest 12" in history (if not THE longest) that clocks at a whopping 17+ minutes and is as rare as it's long ! An intsrumental Disco jam packed with drumbreaks, it could honestly do with half the length, but is featured uncut to keep it's anecdotic appeal.

CD2

Cindy Rodriguez*
What You Need Is My Love
Written by Ricardo Marrero & San Judas. Disk-O-Mania Records (NY)
BMI. Produced arranged and conducted by Ricardo Marrero.

On same label and with same producer as Charanga 76 and Milton Hamilton which I previously compiled comes Cindy Rodriguez. A 12" release that's a bit more latin and less dubby than others from same origin, nonetheless the Latin Disco flavor is at its strongest here.



Jobell & The Orchestra de Salsa*
Never Gonna Let You Go
Written by Nieves & Craft. Produced by Morty Craft. Mixed by Nat Jeffrey.
JAN Records, division of FEA Inc, 8424 Carlton Way, Los Angeles CA. 90069.
Yukon Music ASCAP 1976 [c].

Another 12" and excellent example of Disco Salsa. Traditional Salsa bands don't have a drummer but use Latin percussionists. The simple addition of a classic drum kit (kick, snare etc..) usually turns Salsa into Latin Disco-Presto !

Ralfi Pagan*
Take Me With You
Written R. Pagan - S. L. Burke. Arranged R.Pagan & David Torres.
Pumkris Records Hollywood CA [p]&[c]1978. Published by Pumkris Publishing.

We stay again into my fave Latin tinged Disco territory with Ralfi Pagan, on a very obscure californian 12" (although the song is in a pretty short format) Mr Pagan was mostly known for his work on Nu-Yorican Salsa label Fania.

The Ritchie Family**
Frenesi
Produced by Jacques Morali for Can't Stop production. General supervision by
Henri Belolo. Recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia Pa.
Arrangement and assistant production: Ritchie Rome.
Can't Stop production [p]1975. Licensed courtesy of Scorpio Music, 92 av.
Kleber 75116 Paris.

The name of Ritchie Family came from Philadelphia arranger Ricthie Rome and his session musicians who were the same as Gamble & Huff's, MFSB's, Salsoul's Orchestra's hence the striking similarity in sound. The project was initiated by french producer Jacques Morali who later gave the world Village People, and subsequent Ritchie Family albums that adapted to the trends in dance music.
My exclusive remix of this track will be available on the Vinyl edition and as digital download.

Ray Martinez & Friends*
Lady Of The Night (Hey Honey Come Gimme Money)
Written by Martinez & Wilkinson. Produced by Ray Martinez for Paris
Productions. Importe/12 Records.
Published by Paris International Publishing Inc.

Out of Florida Ray Martinez was one of TK records producers of dancefloor effective Disco. He made a come back in the 80's under his own guise with much more latin inflenced productions that are very reminiscent of a sound August Darnell of Kid Creole and Coconuts fame made popular.

Serenade*
Canteen
Written and produced by John Terrell.
Published by Out Front (Detroit Michigan) [c]Don't Stop Music BMI.

Out of detroit based indie label comes this gem of a 12". A delightful hand designed cover, great musicianship, and a result that has the rawness of a home recording, filled with spontaneity. Check Joey Negro's Soul Of Disco compilation for the other song on that record.



Nightfall*
Keep It Up
Written by Doug Shawe. Produced by Cory Robbins & Eric Matthew. Arranged by
Eric Matthew. RCA Records [p]&[c]1977.
Published by Duchess Music Corp/Chesyl Music BMI.

12" only acoustic Disco production from Eric Matthew featuring the musicians that would later form Gary's Gang. The vocal and lush mid tempo ochestration are quite charming and despite pretending to be about a dancer, the lyrics are particularly "risqué" for 1977 !
A DJ friendly edit of this will be available on the Vinyl edition and as digital download.

Private Pink*
Little High Things
Written by Peter Sinclair. Produced by Terry Jacks. Goldfish Records. Poppy
Family Prod. Gone Fishin' Music Ltd BMI [p]&[c]1977.
Licensed courtesy of Gone Fishin' Music Ltd.

Sometimes I wonder what makes me pick a record that looks like nothing, and in the bargain section of a shop where usually the worst records end. When I heard it wondered how long it stayed there too. With a killer breakbeat intro Little High Things moves on lead by a horn-y lead synth to a vocal climax.
A DJ friendly edit of this will be available on the Vinyl edition and as digital download.

Moses*
Something About You
Written by Thomas W. Stewart. Produced by Thomas Stewart. Executive Producer
Marlin McNichols. Pure Silk Inc.
[p]&[c]. Pure Silk Records. Published by Pure Silk Music.

Another sought after 12" here, this is actually the the B side to Love to live that was also compiled by my friend Joey Negro. Very soulful early Disco that has a Philly style backing with great vocal harmonies reminiscent of the doo-wop groups

The Night People*
Again
Written by D. Cochran - L. Newman. Produced by Earl Young & Dave Crawford
for Dave Crawford Prod. TSOB (The Sound Of Brooklyn) US 1980. 20th Century
Fox Music/ Robbins Music Corp. Licensed courtesy of Ramshorn.

Earl Young is the most influencial, and recognisable drummer in disco history, from MFSB to Salsoul he played on countless hits, and 99% of House music beats owe something to his style. This song though is a bit of an oddity, Produced and sung by him in a super smooth baritone voice, it sounds much more coming from a broadway musical than from the streets of Philly. The girls love it !


Jonelle Allen*
Baby, I Just Wanna Love You
Written by George Gade & Jack Hoffman. Produced by Norman Ratner
Arranged and conducted by Charles Veal. Alexander Street Records USA
[p]1978. Alexander Street Music ASCAP.

We end here in a downtempo fashion, Holywood style rich orchestration by Maestro Charles Veal (Gorge Duke, Webster Lewis, Gladys Kinght) and super tight backing. Time to unwind.

*Original 12" version / **Original LP version

all tracks on CD 1 & 2 are full lenghth, unmixed and unedited

Less than 7 months here, and close to 10.000 friends, peeps you rock !!
Thank you for supporting my page and its sounds from all over the world
MASSIVE LOVE TO YOU ALL
DFP

Dimitri from Paris presents Cocktail Disco, worldwide release June 4th 2007. Double CD

Track listing

CD 1:

1 Blue Velvets - Summertime 04:25

2 The Vast Majority - Ocean's Apart 05:24

3 Ms Victoria Barnes - Never Too Late 05:39

4 Astrud Gilberto - The Girl From Ipanema (Disco Version) 05:52

5 Rhoda Scott - C'est si bon 6:21

6 Darcus - It's Got To Be Love 07:35

7 Marti Lynn - Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me) 08:01

8 Paul Mauriat - The Joy Of You 04:06

9 J Elliot Group - Disco Village 07:03

10 Charlie's Roots - Let Me Show You The Way 04:45

11 The Band Who Fell To Earth - Starflight 17:38



CD 2:

1 Cindy Rodriguez - What You Need Is My Love 07:42

2 Jobell - Never Gonna Let You Go 04:58

3 Ralfi Pagan - Take Me With You 03:48

4 Ritchie Family - Frenesi 07:49

5 Ray Martinez - Lady Of The Night 11:32

6 Serenade - Canteen 05:30

7 Nightfall - Keep It Up 05:26

8 Private Pink - Little High Things 03:15

9 Moses - Something About You 05:00

10 Night People - Again 04:56

11 Jonelle Allen - Baby I just wanna love you 05:58