A sprawling retrospective of one of the most important figures in dance music history, who helped define the sound of the '80s.
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Do the '80s sound like Arthur Baker, or does Arthur Baker sound like the '80s? While it may seem like a chicken and the egg scenario, it's more of a rich, perpetual feedback loop. Throughout the decade, the record producer, label head and industrious remixer shifted the axis of the pop world from his home base of Shakedown Studios in New York City. After throwing down the gauntlet as one of the chief architects behind Soulsonic Force's "Planet Rock" in 1982—the foundation for electro—Baker spent the following years engraving his initials into the greater musical landscape. Through his collaborations with the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, the Pet Shop Boys and New Order, rock and dance music became more deeply intertwined while several emerging genres—freestyle, hip-hop and electro—were becoming more defined. By the time the '80s drew to a close, Baker's experimentations with sampling and the Roland TR-808's booming bass sound had propelled both techniques out from the fringes and into ubiquity.
Baker's output during this pivotal decade is examined in a new box set, Dance Masters: Arthur Baker – The Classic Dance Remixes. Rounding up several seminal original productions like "Walking on Sunshine" by Rocker's Revenge and Freeez's "I.O.U." alongside an assortment of remixes and rarities, the collection functions as a comprehensive survey of Baker's influence on dance floors and pop charts alike. The songs assembled here are maximalist, unapologetically synthetic and brimming with outsized, floor-filling percussion.
The 43-track CD edition runs through 1978 to 1989 in non-chronological order, spanning from "Can't Put No Price On Love"—a previously unreleased song by Baker's early disco group North End—to "The Message Is Love (Cupid Mix)," featuring soul legend Al Green on vocals. Everything from new wave and synth pop to house and hip-hop is covered along the way, with appearances from a diverse range of artists including The Cars, Neneh Cherry and Parliament-Funkadelic fixture Junie Morrison.
Baker's signature gift for arrangements is the thread connecting these seemingly disparate acts. As a self-professed student of Philly soul, Baker's music channels the genre's propensity for ornate instrumentation and elaborate grooves that flex and unwind across extended running times. In the place of interweaving string sections or horn-laden backing bands, Baker makes his idiosyncratic mark through punchy drum machine parts, slick synths and bite-sized samples. It's the same drive that pushed young artists in Chicago to reimagine disco through similar electronic equipment that Baker used. With these parallel trajectories in mind, much of this compilation's offerings represent evolutionary stepping stones toward house music coming into its own.
Baker's take on Fleetwood Mac's "Big Love" stands out as a consummate example of his gifts as a producer. An early Balearic favorite, and arguably the first proper house remix of a rock record, the track is finessed with new elements—most critically a buoyant bassline, dubbed-out piano parts and absolutely pummeling drums—that elevate the Tango In The Night opener into transcendent, otherworldly territory.
Not every song on the compilation ventures into the cosmos in the same way "Big Love" does, but they're all united by Baker's ear for beefing up tracks to maximize dance floor potency. In his hands, the interlocking parts of the Talking Heads' "Blind" become an extended, breakbeat-filled funk workout, while the Pet Shop Boys' "Suburbia" is bolstered with a saxophone-laden intro and additional vocals from Neil Tennant. The "1/2 Way 2 House Mix" of Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance" is a notable highlight that goads the 1988 staple into near-downtempo house, slinking and sliding from verse to verse while giving the mesmeric keyboard more room to breathe.
Overall, the compilation builds a cohesive case for Baker's singular strengths as a producer and his earned place in the dance music canon. While the tracklist has a few conspicuous omissions—North End's "Happy Days," New Order's "Thieves Like Us" and the "Blaster Mix" rework of Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" among them—there are more than enough classics and curios here to satisfy even the most obsessive of completionists. As far as electronic history goes, this is as comprehensive and groove-heavy of a lesson as they come.
TracklistDisc 1
01. Fleetwood Mac - Big Love (Extended Remix)
02. New Order - Confusion (12-inch Version)
03. Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want to Have (Fun Extended Version)
04. Daryl Hall - Dreamtime (Extended Remix Version)
05. Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia (Club Vocal Mix)
06. Fine Young Cannibals - Ever Fallen in Love? (Club Senseless)
07. General Public - Never You Done That Special Dance Mix
08. The Colourfield - Running Away (Long Version)
09. The Cars - Hello Again (Remix)
10. Carly Simon - My New Boyfriend (Remix)
11. Bob Dylan - When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky (Full Length Version)
Disc 2
01. Daryl Hall & John Oates - Out of Touch (Club Version)
02. Jennifer Holliday - No Frills Love (Extended Dance Remix)
03. Robbie Nevil - C'est la Vie (Extended Version)
04. Living in a Box - Living in a Box (Dance Mix)
05. Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance (1/2 Way 2 House Mix)
06. Will Downing - A Love Supreme (Jazz in the House Remix)
07. Jeffrey Osborne - Soweto (Remixed Version)
08. Jermaine Stewart - Jody (Dance Version)
09. Roberta Flack - Uh Uh Ooh Ooh Look Out (Here It Comes) (Arthur Baker's Dance Mix)
10. Al Jarreau - I Must Have Been a Fool (Remix)
11. Arthur Baker & the Backbeat Disciples Featuring Al Green - the Message Is Love (Cupid Mix)
Disc 3
01. Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City (Last Remix)
02. Freeez - I.O.U. (Mega Mix)
03. Talking Heads - Blind (Extended Mix)
04. Wally Jump Jr. & the Criminal Element - Turn Me Loose (12-inch Version)
05. Tina B - Honey to a Bee (Vocal/Extended Version)
06. Arthur Baker - Breaker's Revenge (Extended Vocal Version)
07. Cindy Mizelle - This Could Be the Night (Vocal/Extended)
08. Atlantic Starr - One Lover at a Time (Extended Version)
09. Boxcar - Freemason (You Broke the Promise) (Shakedown Mix)
10. Gypsy Kings - Bamboleo Latin (Extended Version)
Disc 4
01. Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock (12-inch Vocal Version)
02. Rockers Revenge Featuring Donnie Calvin - Walking on Sunshine (12-inch Version)
03. Touchdown - Ease Your Mind (U.S. Remix)
04. Second Image - Star (U.S. Remix)
05. Junie Morrison - Tease Me (Long Version)
06. Central Line - Surprise, Surprise (12-inch Version)
07. Glory - Can You Guess What Groove This Is (Short Version)
08. Afrika Bambaataa & the Jazzy 5 with the Kryptic Krew - Jazzy Sensation (12-inch Bronx Version)
09. Ritz - I Wanna Get with You (12-inch Version)
10. Larry Wedgeworth and Clique - No More Games (Short Version)
11. North End - Can't Put No Price on Love (Long Version)