This one comes from exactly 32 years ago. Not strictly Rap or Hip-Hop, but close enough in spirit – and too good to leave sitting on a shelf unheard. The setting is Capital Radio, sometime in the early hours of Old Years Night 1988. Chris Forbes is in the studio, but he’s not alone. Around him: Ten City, Marshall Jefferson, Kym Mazelle, and Todd Terry – names that, at the time, defined the upper tier of club production.
A few hours later, they’d all be on stage at Brixton Academy for Metamorphosis II, alongside Norman Jay and legendary Belfast lad, DJ Noel Watson. But here, in this quieter window before the crowd arrives, the energy is different – looser, conversational. The music on the tape leans heavily toward Jefferson’s orbit — by one estimate, close to 80% of the selections. It plays like a condensed map of the late ’80s club sound: raw but sophisticated, still forming its own language. What lingers, though, are the details around the music. At one point, Simon Gough appears in an advert for a Fly Records compilation – a small, almost throwaway moment that now feels oddly specific to its time. A news bulletin cuts through, mentioning Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush being subpoenaed in connection with the Oliver North trial. Elsewhere, Barney Burnham runs through the New Year’s Honours list: Peter Cushing, Penelope Keith, Richard Bryars all receiving OBEs, while Eric Bristow is awarded an MBE “for services to darts.” It lands with a kind of understated humour that doesn’t need commentary.
The tape itself isn’t pristine. There’s a brief stretch of interference during a conversation with Byron Stingily, and the occasional pause-button glitch – artefacts of the medium as much as the moment. But none of it detracts. If anything, it reinforces the sense of something preserved rather than produced.
The interviews carry their own rhythm. Mazelle, in particular, drifts between accents – at one point attempting a knowingly “bloody awful” British voice – before grounding herself again, talking about Indiana, her influences, and the chance meeting with Jefferson in a Chicago attorney’s office that shifted her trajectory. There’s a sharp aside about other singers who “couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket,” delivered with just enough bite to linger.
Jefferson speaks more methodically – about output, about the Trax Records family, about the idea of establishing a base in London and building something new from there. And then there’s Terry, who drops what might be the most unexpected detail of all: There’s an unreleased full-length album by Swan Lake. It’s mentioned almost in passing, but it hangs in the air. Listening back now, the recording feels less like a document of a single night and more like a convergence point – artists, cities, scenes, all briefly aligned.
Richie Rich – Salsa House
Babie And Keyes – Secrets Of Love
Mic Break
The Break Boys – And The Break Goes On
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2am News with Barney Burnam
Dance Diverse Compilation
Chris does the weather and introduces Ten City in the studio….
Ten City – Right Back To You
Ten City – Interview
Ten City – Devotion
Ten City – Interview
Ten City – That’s The Way Love Is
Marshall Jefferson – Interview
Marshall Jefferson – Move Your Body
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Marshall Jefferson – Interview
Marshall Jefferson Presents The Truth – Open Our Eyes
Marshall Jefferson – Interview
Todd Terry – Interview
Swan Lake – In The Name of Love
Todd Terry – Interview
Todd Terry Project – Bango
Todd Terry – Interview
Royal House – Can You Party
Kym Mazelle – Interview
Kym Mazelle – I’m A Lover
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Fleetwood Mac – Lies
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Kym Mazelle – Interview
House To House Feat Kym Mazelle – Taste My Love
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3am News with Barney Burnam
Robert Howard & Kym Mazelle – Wait!
Boyz In Shock Feat Carol Leeming – Give Me Back Your Love
Humanganoid shouts to Justin Winks for the tape.
RANDOM RAP RADIO 