Search - Man Parrish :: Best Of: Heartstroke

Major influence on synth and electronica

Adam Holdsworth | London, England | 05/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Imagine the scene. Its cold, its wet, its middle of no-where suburban London in the mid 80s. I'm fifteen and the only joy music-wise comes on a late Saturday night show on Capital Radio hosted by Mike Allen, a guy who already sounded like your dad, but was just so ahead of his time it was unreal. This ground breaking show, the first to play hip-hop and rap in the UK filled my ears with the exotic sounds of urban New York and LA. This stuff is spirit lifting and the often cartoonish over-production made a grey day into a surreal summer one, where the sky is shocking pink and people dress up like spacemen. It opened possibilities musically I never knew existed till then. Yes, I know that New York was full of gang violence and grafitti but somehow this did not matter over here, its too far away to have an influence for several years. Well Afrika, LL Cool J, Roxanne (both of them) and all the one-hit old skool hip-hoppers, and above all, Man Parrish, now from a distant era, affected my taste in music for years to come, and the possibilites created by what they did back then have changed music production, in a good way, forever. Even though the sounds have dated and become less crazy over time (sampling superceded all those delicious analog sounds way back then even). When the UK mass media caught on to what hip hop, rap and breakdance was all about, they wanted to focus on the violence, the tribal fighting and the drugs. All well and good, and relevant even. But for me, and I suspect a lot of electronica fans of a certain age and romantic bent, the one thing that stood out was the freaking music. I bought my first Roland synth after hearing this. When I was landing in JFK for the first time, watching night-time Queens get bigger down below, Hip Hop Be Bop was the tune playing in my head - to me, if defined NY better than Sinatra. I hope you buy this, and enjoy re-listening to this LP as much as I did. Nice one Manny."

Boogie Down Bronx is that shiznet

shervin nooshin | Helotes, TX United States | 10/24/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"well....I bought this for just one song "Boogie Down Bronx". This was the song that I learned how to break dance to back when I was 10 years old....and lets say that I am 30 now :)



After listening to the rest of the album...I have to say that its really good. My only complaint is that the song "Boogie Down Bronx" sounds horrible on this CD. Although it appears that they used the original master tapes.....for some reason, my favorite track sounds horrible as my reason for giving a 4 star. The rest of the album sounds fresh and it even shook the house with my new sub :).....just dont know why my song came out bad.



"

Mark Wahlberg knows Man Parrish, you should to.

shervin nooshin | 02/05/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"listen to ladytron, add n to x, and the faint? well, this is what they listen to- or should. Man Parrish and Bambaata et al originated the sound of hip hop, disco, and computer games all crashing your commodore's hard drive. Plus, listen to "Hip Hop Bebop" to hear the piano line Marky Mark Wahlberg lifted for "Good Vibrations." Marky Mark has this record, and so should you."