The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel
LABEL: Sugar Hill
SERIES: N/A
GROUPING: N/A
RELEASE YEAR: 1981
CATALOGUE NO: SH-557
RUNOUT GROOVES: VID-200 X MR M3 STERLING (Side A) VID-189 M3 STERLING (Side B)
COUNTRY: U.S.A.
FORMAT: 12" Vinyl
COMMENTS: Released in May 1981 (source: James Hamilton's column in Record Mirror)
WHAT JAMES HAMILTON HAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS RELEASE:
Sugarhill’s legal mixer ‘The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel‘ is ruined by ghastly awful jerky stops and starts that are meant to be clever and precisely timed but will immediately throw dancers who’ve just settled into a groove
GRANDMASTER FLASH & THE FURIOUS FIVE: ‘The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel’ (Sugarhill SHL 557).
Out a while, this disjointedly freaky 107-112-111-113(“story”)-108-111-113-112bpm 12in rap mixer (based on Chic ‘Good Times’) actually works well and took off here in electro-funk venues (try Yvonne Gage chopped out of the halfway “ . . . pretty much like this”).
WHAT GRANDMASTER FLASH HAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS RELEASE IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY:
September 1981. 11:24 A.M. The clock radio's blaring my jam... And by that, I mean my jam. "The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel." It's the newest record I've got. It's also the first record ever that's a pure D.J. solo. No house band. No rappers. No Sylvia Robinson telling me what to do...just me, my gear, my beats, and my techniques.
After months of asking, the Good Queen finally let me do my thing. After months of standing around the studio, letting live musicians play what I could be mixing on two turntables, and showing the engineers how to mix everybody's voice so the record sounds right, I finally got my own record. Finally got to punch-phase, cut, cue, spin back, rub, and zuka-zuka on wax. Kept coming back and coming back on the Good Queen:
"Gimme a shot. No rappers on this one, Sylvia.
This one's my show. People are gonna listen, trust me." Finally, she says yes.
Except we're out on tour.
So the Good Queen flies me and Mel home for a day to record it. Flies us home.
Doesn't even take that long, though. I take all my favorite jams, throw 'em in the pot, mix 'em up, record the whole thing live in three takes, and a week later, we drop it on the people.
SIDE A MIX: THE ADVENTURES OF GRANDMASTER FLASH ON THE WHEELS OF STEEL
MIXED BY: Grandmaster Flash
LENGTH: 07:10
GENRE: Hip Hop/Pop/Disco/Funk/Soul
TRACKS I CAN IDENTIFY IN THE MIX - I have only listed the ones that have prolonged elements or have a short sample repeated multiple times:
Spoonie Gee meets The Sequence - Monster Jam (1980); Blondie - Rapture (1980); Chic - Good Times (1979); Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band - Apache (1973); Queen - Another One Bites The Dust (1980); Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - Freedom (1980); Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - The Birthday Party (1981); Hellers - Life Story (1968); Sugarhill Gang - 8th Wonder (1980); Jackson Beck - The Decoys Of Ming The Merciless (1966)
This release also has another track on it that isn't a megamix.
SIDE B:
THE PARTY MIX - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
