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