When he played his revamp of Gwen McCrae's "Funky Sensation" during a 1981 DJ slot on New York's WBLS, Shep Pettibone perked the ears of then-emergent producer Arthur Baker. The presenter and co-producer of this boxed set consequently initiated a collaboration on the answer record "Jazzy Sensation," the first 12" crediting Pettibone. By the end of the next year, Pettibone's solo "mastermixes" had become so numerous and prized that a dozen for the Prelude label alone were rounded up for commercial release on double vinyl. ...
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When he played his revamp of Gwen McCrae's "Funky Sensation" during a 1981 DJ slot on New York's WBLS, Shep Pettibone perked the ears of then-emergent producer Arthur Baker. The presenter and co-producer of this boxed set consequently initiated a collaboration on the answer record "Jazzy Sensation," the first 12" crediting Pettibone. By the end of the next year, Pettibone's solo "mastermixes" had become so numerous and prized that a dozen for the Prelude label alone were rounded up for commercial release on double vinyl. The DJ and remix artist soon diversified as a pop producer, most notably as an indispensable Madonna associate. The four-disc Classic 12" Master-Mixes features neither "Funky Sensation" nor "Jazzy Sensation," and doesn't include anything Pettibone did for Prelude or with Madonna. Still, on its own, this offers immense and irrefutable affirmation of Pettibone's standing as a dance music colossus with the power to optimize songs for the airwaves and dancefloors at once. It's not merely coincidental that, in the set's engrossing booklet, both journalist Larry Flick and satisfied client Neil Tennant describe Pettibone's sound as muscular. It's a quality common in all of the selections, whether they're funky post-disco records like Leroy Burgess' "Heartbreaker" and Skyy's "Show Me the Way," hybrids like Phyllis Nelson's not-quite Hi-NRG or house "I Like You," high-tech pop efforts from Whitney Houston and George Michael, or alternative dance staples such as New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" and Depeche Mode's "Behind the Wheel." Pettibone even added might and nuance to adult contemporary R&B ballads like Lionel Richie's "Love Will Conquer All" and Howard Hewett's "Stay." Moreover, what he, the Latin Rascals, and Steve Peck put Cyndi Lauper's "Change of Heart" through -- stretching, wrenching, and twirling it, teasing out the Bangles' background vocals as the whole thing is on the brink of destruction -- is stupefying. One needn't comprehend or even care about what Pettibone and his team of musicians, editors, and engineers did with the source material, whether they added instrumentation, rearranged sections, treated vocals, or reclaimed unused elements from the original master recordings. The bottom line is that this first volume of Edsel/Demon's Dance Masters series is one of the most invigorating overviews of '80s dance music. It's up there with Tommy Boy's more underground (and Baker-enhanced) Perfect Beats compilations. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi
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