:: Breakin’

Arthur Baker

In music, the words influential and seminal are thrown around regularly by music writers and pop-culture columnists, and very rarely are the tag relevant. In the case of Arthur Baker however, he is truly both these things…and a double album of his productions, alone and with collaborators is an essential release for music fans. A pioneer of the electro sound in the early 80’s and legendary producer of New Order, Afrika Bambaataa, his sound incorporated pure hip-hop and disco and today has evolved into straight-up dance. The first disc is Baker with contemporary producers such as Utah Saints, Lee Coombs, Felix da Housecat and Timo Maas. The results are interesting and eclectic with Baker clearly having significant drawing power and street cred to get such a range of artists. For me, the standout collaborations are Baker and Dave Clarke (as AB/DC) doing The Feelin’ a dirty little club-techno number, Baker vs Dee-Kline with Buttercup and probably the best, Criminal Element Orchestra vs Lee Coombs re-doing Put the Needle To The Record. But for me, the release is really about the second disc. They are literally all classics - New Order’s Confusion, which has lost none of its urgency over the years. – Rocker’s Revenge Walking of Sunshine, Bambaataa’s Looking for the Perfect Beat, and the track that history remembers, Planet Rock. There is also a terrible remix of Planet Rock by Oakenfold that only serves to demonstrate how awesome the original is and how average Oakenfold has become.