West End Girls

Any disco connoisseur knows that West End Records was one of the most influential labels during the garage era of the late 70's and early 80's. It was during this time that New York City dancefloors were riveted by the soulful stylings of Mr. Larry Levan, who graced the label with his talent on several different occasions with a multitude of different remixes, as well as his Peech Boys project with Bernard Fowler and Michael de Benedictus. The key to the magic of the West End sound lies its ability to encompass the flare of disco while still maintaining a relatively low kitsch factor. There will definitely be more West End action to come here on First Choice, for this is only the beginning and these two records are only a droplet from the pool of turntable excellence that is the West End Records catalogue.



Taana Garner-Heartbeat (full Larry Levan 12" version)
Though it nearly clocks in at 10 minutes in length, one wishes it would never stop. (I'll refrain from putting some lame reference to a heart stopping it's beat.) I was hesitant about posting a record that is probably familiar to most as my official first choice, but this is one of my all time favorites, as well as perfect material for this blog, encapsulating everything I love about the garage sound. This track has been sampled by the likes of De La Soul, Heavy D, Snoop Dogg, DMX, Ini Kamoze ("Hot Stepper" much?), and KRS-One just to name a few, and the list will probably continue to grow in the years to come. Though the lyrics may seem trite, Gardner's convincing impassion in their delivery makes for a love song extraordinaire. Who would have thought that such prose as "my heart beats for the one I love" could ever sound so genuine? I've never been one to be affected by such puerile words of romance, but when combined with this amazing groove, it makes one wish there was someone to be head-over-heels about-- at least for 10 minutes anyway.



Barbara Mason-Another Man
From the title, one would assume that Miss Mason is singing about her own affair, but soon one finds out that "another man is beating my time, another man is loving mine." Yes that's right, girlfriend has gotten burned by a player who's batting for both teams-- Not only did she catch them holding hands on Market Street, but he may have even knicked one "very very sexy" dress from her closet. This is a more downtempo track, yet still has enough smooth garage goodness that combine with the novel vocals to delight. Definitely not a floor filler, but still quite amusing and great fodder for when the lights come up. I like the subject at hand, and wish there was a more hard-hitting follow up about what she ended up doing in this situation, and how she'll never be fooled again etc etc. Is this not the recipe for great disco anthem? Too bad it never panned out and we'll never know what happened in the end, or what really happened to that dress of hers.