Publication:
DANCE MUSIC AUTHORITY / 12” Reviews
Article:
RALPHIE ROSARIO introducing
MARK GRANT
presenting DONNA BLAKELY
“Gotta New Love”
Underground Construction Records
Author: Chad
Harris
Reference:
Vol. 3 Issue 1 / January 1995 / Page 14
Leave it to
Chi-town’s top house wizard to discover America’s newest vocal
goddess. Donna Blakely. With a voice this strong and pure, it
wouldn’t’ come as any surprise to me if she became the newest Martha
Wash. Why not, with a debut record like this one, she’s gonna get
enough exposure. “Gotta New Love” is beautiful piano driven house
music at its absolute finest. And talk about energy, whew,
“Ralphie’s Extended Remix” is just about as energetic as a house
record can get. No, this is not another one of those typical,
watered down, New York/Chicago house mixes that meks you want to
fall asleep rather than dance, this is happy, fun, soulful house
with an energy and drive that I haven’t heard since Juliet Roberts’
“I Want You” earlier this year. If you want a dub, “Ralphie’s Keep
Working Tribal Dub” or “Mark’s Greedy Beat Dub” are my
favorites, but with vocals of this quality, you’ll most likely
groove on the vocal mixes the best. If enough people hear this
record, Ralphie’s got his next “You Used To Hold Me.” TERRIFIC!!!
(122 BPM)
****PLUS
Donna Blakely “Gotta New Love”
Underground Construction
Producer Ralphi
Rosario has this month’s REAL HOUSE HIT with this beautiful
combination of Mark Grant’s arrangement and instrumental performance
topped by star-to-be Donna. It’s tough to pick a mix to play here
as all four sides of the double vinyl release have worthy
contenders. A: Mark’s Anthem Vocal (125) has a chunky house kick
smothered in just the right amounts of piano and horns and
generously topped with Ms Blakely’s soulfully happy voxe. Mark’s
Vox Dub is just that sans the horns, but still worthy. B: Both
timbale-accented mixes, at 122, Ralphi’s Extended Remix and Ralphi’s
“Keep Working” Tribal Dub add strings where there were horns but the
toughening of the kick compensates for what could have been a more
ambient mix. The latter has a touch more punch. Both sides are
fantastic. Also deserving props are Mark’s “Greedy Beat” Dub (122),
a perc-a-pella on the C and the quirkily bassed Red Nail Redux on
the D. The glue holding all of these together is Donna’s impressive
vocal performance. You go girl.
Richard Mink |