VARIOUS ARTISTS - BOB STANLEY & PETE WIGGS PRESENT FELL FROM THE SUN ~ DOWNTEMPO AND AFTER HOURS 1990-92 [2LP]

ACE

£34.18

Format: 2 x LP
Catalogue No.: XXQLP2089
Barcode: 029667014311
Release Date: 24 Jun 2022
Genre: Dance/Ambient

• 1989 had been a long hot summer, but 1990 felt longer and hotter. Since the house music explosion of 1987, Britain had had a whistle in its mouth, and it needed a lie down. February 1990 brought two records that were made to accompany the sunrise and would shape the immediate future: The KLF’s “Chill Out” was a continuous journey, a woozy, reverb-laden mix; and Andrew Weatherall’s drastic remix of a Primal Scream album track – ‘Loaded’ – slowed down the pace on the dancefloor itself, right down to 98 beats per minute.
• Within weeks of ‘Loaded’ and “Chill Out” emerging, a whole wave of similarly chilled, floaty, mid-tempo records appeared. The charts were full of chugging Soul II Soul knock-offs, but further out were amazingly atmospheric records such as the Grid’s ‘Floatation’, which married the new-age relaxation method du jour with Jane Birkin-like breathy sighs; BBG’s ‘Snappiness’, which was all sad synth pads and Eric Satie piano; and the Aloof’s ‘Never Get Out Of The Boat’, which re-imagined Apocalypse Now as if it had been shot in Uxbridge.
• “Fell From The Sun” gathers the best of the 98bpm records that soundtracked the summer of 1990. It has been compiled by Bob Stanley, whose own group Saint Etienne makes an appearance alongside acknowledged classics (Primal Scream’s ‘Higher Than The Sun’) and forgotten beauties (Soul Family Sensation’s ‘I Don’t Even Know If I Should Call You Baby’).
• This was a modernist sound, grabbing bits of the past, the feel of the immediate now, and creating something entirely new. There was a notable 90s-does-60s vibe, a neopsychedelia that didn’t involve guitars. For a moment, or at least for a summer, it felt like the perfect future had already arrived. “Fell From The Sun” encapsulates that moment.

track listing
SIDE ONE
1. HIGHER THAN THE SUN (HIGHER THAN THE ORB) (Extended Mix) - Primal Scream
2. IT COULD NOT HAPPEN (Essential Trance Hall Mix) - Critical Rhythm feat Jango Thriller & Vandal
3. CASCADES (Hypnotone Mix) - Sheer Taft
4. AFRIKA (Love And Laughter Remix) - History feat Q-Tee
SIDE TWO
1. FLOATATION (Original Version) - The Grid
2. SPEEDWELL - Saint Etienne
3. FALLEN (Album Version) - One Dove
SIDE THREE
1. TEMPLE HEAD (Pacific Mix - Airwaves) – Transglobal Underground
2. JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE (Electro Instrumental Mix) - Massonix
3. U MAKE ME FEEL (Running Water aka Workhouse Mix) - Elsi Curry
4. I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF I SHOULD CALL YOU BABY (Marshall Jefferson Symphony Mix) – Soul Family Sensation
SIDE FOUR
1. SNAPPINESS (7” Edit) - BBG
2. NEVER GET OUT THE BOAT (The Flying Mix) - The Aloof
3. SPIRITUAL HIGH (The Moodfood Megamix) – Moodswings