Deee-Lite - A Sampladelic Anthology

If you listened to pop radio in the early nineties you've most likely heard Deee-Lite's best known song, Groove Is In The Heart. It's a great song and is still mighty catchy today, but I've always been bothered by the way the band seemed to be ignored otherwise. Their first album, World Clique, had three other singles, at least one of which was pretty popular (that would be Power Of Love) and the other two being damn good in their own rights at the very least. They also recorded two other albums, 1992's Infinity Within, and 1994's thoroughly slept-on Dewdrops In The Garden, and there was a remix compilation issued a few years after that was meant to be a retrospective of sorts but failed miserably. I was awash with hope though when Rhino/Elektra announced a best of collection in 2001, hoping we'd see their rare single versions, b-sides and exceptional remixes get the reissue treatment, but those hopes were dashed when that compilation featured album tracks only with a serious focus on the band's first album. What's the point in making a "greatest hits" compilation when it features most of the album that everyone who knows the group already has? Yeah, it might introduce some of the tracks from the other albums to the uninitiated, but I always felt that 2001 comp did a rather poor job overall.

For years I've been meaning to assemble my own mixtape/retrospective/whateveryouwannacallit of Deee-Lite stuff and I finally got it done. A few tracks crossover with the 2001 compilation but there are a number of remixes, b-sides and rarities included here which are otherwise dead out of print. Most of these recordings have been taken from my own original CDs although a few are from lossless copies and one or two from high-quality MP3s, but I'm sure you'll find everything sounds rather nice.

Lady Miss Kier is apparently still performing although she may be without management at the moment. Her site has details of her career post-Deee-Lite as well as a nice showreel with clips of her performing live and some of her solo work and collaborations. Towa Tei went on to have a very good career in Japan both producing other groups and performing as a solo artist. He also has a website with plenty of information. The only other original member of the group, Super DJ Dmitri, is a bit of an enigma. Apart from a mix CD he released quite a while ago, I can't find any information about his current activities online. Same goes for jungle producer DJ Ani was replaced Towa during most of the recording of Dewdrops In The Garden. If anyone has details about them I'd love to hear from you!


Deee-Lite - A Sampladelic Anthology

01 Power Of Love (Sampla-Delic Remix)
This is the extended version of the mix that was sent to radio and is taken from it's maxi-single. Original version from World Clique.

02 Runaway (Video Mix)
This is actually a reconstruction of the video mix as it was never officially released beyond the music video. It's made from the Sampladelic Radio Edit of Runaway and parts of I.F.O. from Infinity Within. All editing, reassembly and reconstruction courtesy of moi. Original version from Infinity Within.

03 Riding On Through
A B-Side of Good Beat from it's maxi-single.

04 When You Told Me You Loved Me
From the ridiculously under-appreciated Dewdrops In The Garden album, this is one of my favorite Deee-Lite tracks and shows them using breakbeats and going for a then more modern club sound.

05 Groove Is In The Heart
I wanted to post the extended remix but I didn't have enough room left if this was supposed to fit on a CD as I'd imagine some people may still be burning these things off. Still though, great track and thoroughly essential. Featuring a guest spot from Q-Tip and bass & vocals from Bootsy Collins, this track is originally from the World Clique album.

06 I Won't Give Up (Ani Remix)
The original version of this soulful jam is from Infinity Within, but this remix is from the 1996 compilation, Sampladelic Relics and Dancefloor Oddities. I really love this remix and it's probably the only track on that compilation I feel strongly about, so that's why it's here. There are a few other good tracks on that comp, but it brings me back to my complaint about dance remix comps: While I'm all for remixes not necessarily holding true to the original version, straight house remixes where almost all of the vocals and melody are dropped mostly sound the same and are boring as FUCK! Most of the Sampladelic Relics comp is boring-ass shit in that vein and is basically an excuse for the producers to sample someone breathing or saying one word and loop the fuck out of it. Even Carl Craig's contribution is boring and goes nowhere. If you're a completist and wanna buy it, you will find an EPs worth of great tracks but the rest is shit or edited to death.

07 Call Me
Not my favorite track from Dewdrops, but it's the last released collaboration the band did with Towa Tei and Kier sounds delicious doing her Noo Yawk accent impersonation!

08 Good Beat (Extend The Beat Mix)
This is the extended version of the mix that was sent to radio and video. The original version is on World Clique.

09 What Is Love? (Holographic Goatee Mix)
This mix isn't terribly different from the original, but I prefer the pacing here. This sounds great on a dance floor! Original from World Clique.

10 Say Ahhh...
Ooh, Kier brings the sexy here! A funky jam with breakbeats and plenty of sexy talk, this should have been a single. Unfortunately, by the time Dewdrops In The Garden was released Elektra had basically stopped doing promo work for Deee-Lite. Too bad, because this coulda been a club smash!

11 E.S.P. (Yee Yee Radio Mix)
Like the version of What Is Love?, this isn't terribly different from the album version, but it's pacing has been changed enough that it's worthy of inclusion. Great track that originally appeared on World Clique.

12 Stay In Bed, Forget The Rest
Once again, Kier and the sexy go together like peanut butter and jelly! I'd love to have an instrumental of this jam as it simply gets under my skin. Originally on Dewdrops In The Garden.

13 Rubber Lover
A pro-safe-sex song that doesn't quite work, it's a good club jam but not much more. It's memorable enough that I think it should be included here though. The single's packaging had visual instructions for applying a condom. I guess they were pretty serious about the safe-sex thing, it just doesn't translate to club or radio fun, although you should put a rubber on your dongle if you're gonna connect with her (or his) USB port. Okay, weird sex talk over, this one originally appeared on Infinity Within. Oh, an Bootsy is on this one again.

14 Bittersweet Loving
A seriously bouncy club track from Dewdrops In The Garden. This one got under my skin a long time ago and never got out despite being kinda cheesy.

15 Who Was That?
Seriously fun and funky track from World Clique. Hello there!

16 Sampladelic
Short one from Dewdrops, it doesn't have much to do with sampling but it's quite fun. Wish it was longer.

17 Pussycat Meow (Infinity Extended Mix)
Apart from Runaway, this is probably my favorite track on Infinity Within. It's all an excuse to hear Kier do her best sexy oohing and cooing all to a good groove. This version is from the maxi-single.

18 Build The Bridge (Satoshi's Holographic House Groove)
The original version of this track has the bizarre detail of being listed as a bonus track on both the CD and cassette versions of World Clique. It was probably left off the vinyl version of the album due to it's length, but it's still kinda funny as CDs and cassettes were then the pretty dominant mediums for music. Anyway, this is Satoshi Tomiie's remix which was released on the Power Of Love maxi-single. It starts off rather similar to the original version but goes "out-there" as the remix progresses. The original is nice but this takes a good idea much further! Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the bizarre vocals are credited to Bill "Chicken On Fire" Coleman. Seriously.