Rockers Revenge- Walking On Sunshine (98.7 KISS MASTERMIX)



Without question one my all time electro-funk tracks, still as timeless as ever and still proving a big hit with a cross section of dancers of all ages over 30 years after it's US release in 1982

Recently hearing the news that HMV were in trouble I began to think back to when I was a lot younger and how I was first introduced to electronic dance music through the store itself alongside the school discos I frequented and subsequent break dancing sessions around the boogie boxes on the not so tough streets in  my area around the north Somerset coastline

At this time the predominant musical draw for me and all my forwarded thinking BBoy mates were the Street Sounds Electro Compilations and although Walking On Sunshine wasn't to feature on them (as memory serves) I still however fondly associate the track with that period of musical exploration before I could hit the clubs and soak up more black music as a dancer and as a music collector before I contemplated djing almost a decade later

This particular mix of Walking On Sunshine was released by leading label of the time Prelude back in the early 80s as part of a two record set of "Master-Mixes" courtesy of NY radio station KISS 98.7

 Up until this month I was blissfully unaware of this version having been re-introduced to this track a few years ago via Greg Wilson's Credit To The Edit Volume One compilation. As indicated earlier at the start of this post I've recently been playing this out again, this time round in the guise of a 9 minute version of the track which by today's standards is a fairly lengthy exercise for any dance floor

I find it incredible to think that a track made 30 years ago can still and regularly does find a place amongst all the deep house and nu disco on the floors today

All told I think there were around 4 master mix compilations covering the front of NY dance music that supported the transition from disco to garage and house, capturing some of the best of the early 80's scene. Artists like France Joli, Sharon Redd, and Gayle Adams were part of the stable of divas (along with Jocelyn Brown, Gwen McRae and Loleatta Holloway) that sustained dance music through the post-disco era, proving that a good voice still carried the day


Tracklisting:
Volume 1
D-Train You're The One For Me
Strikers, The Body Music
Conquest Give It To Me (If You Don't Mind) 
France Joli Gonna Get Over You
Jeanette 'Lady' Day Come Let Me Love You
Empress Dyin' To Be Dancin 
Secret Weapon (2) Must Be The Music 
Unlimited Touch Searching To Find The One 
Sharon Redd Can You Handle It 
Gayle Adams Love Fever 
Nick Straker Band A Little Bit Of Jazz 
France Joli I Wanna Take A Chance On Love 

Volume 2 - TL thanks to Greg Wilson

D Train Keep On
D Train Music
Sharon Redd Beat The Street
Vuisual The Music Got Me
Wuf Ticket Ya Mama
Toney Lee Reach Up
Indeep Last Night A Dj Saved My Life
Warp 9 Light Years Away
Rockers Revenge Walking On Sunshine
Mahogany Ride On The Rhythm
The Limit She's So Divine
Raw Silk Do It To The Music