RECORD MIRROR: FREE & E-ZEE (1990)

4 Track Cassette EP promoting four CBS Dance Division acts:

1. Trust - The Chimes

Back in the last series of The X Factor when that Rebecca or someone sang a gospelised version of U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Simon Cowell, who previously suggested that Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men had never reached #1 anywhere significant despite staying at #1 for 15 weeks in the USA, commented on how wonderfully unique the interpretation was. Of course, the man behind Teletubbies, Robson and Jerome and -worse- Olly Murs, didn't realise that The Chimes had beaten The X Factor to it by 20 years. Their version was The Chimes' biggest hit by far and the Scottish group released one eponymous album before singer Pauline Henry went solo to limited success. Trust is an exclusive track to this release.

2. Mr Icecream - Teena Marie

The late Teena Marie was a rarity; a white soul singer signed to Motown. She was also the first white female to appear on Soul Train. Despite a long and influential career in the USA, Teena Marie only scored one major hit in the UK, Behind The Groove, in 1980. Mr Icecream was featured on her 1990 album, Ivory.

3. I Want To Be - The Pasadenas

The best thing about British R&B group The Pasadenas was that the lead singer was called Rockin' Jeff. Despite this obstacle, the group managed a number of Top 40 hits and 2 Top 20 albums before bizarrely disappearing off the face of the Earth except maybe Japan. This track was featured on their second album Elevate which, surprisingly sandwiched between two hit albums, failed to chart.

4. Milky Cereal - LL Cool J

Cool J recounts meeting many ladies whilst offering us up some dope rhymes about Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and something called Captain Crunch amongst other granular snacks. It's taken from his 1990 album Mama Said Knock You Out. Which presumably she did when he opened up a new packet of Sugar Puffs before finishing the old one.

RECORD MIRROR: 4 TRACK SOLID EP (1986)

1. Dressed In Black - Depeche Mode

Billed as an exclusive track from their forthcoming LP - which was to be Black Celebration - this isn't quite right. It is in fact a demo/pre-version of album track Dressed In Black unreleased anywhere else, making this EP a huge collector's item for DM fans.

2. In The Night - Pet Shop Boys

This EP was released in February 1986 just after PSB hit Number 1 with West End Girls , a time when the duo still remained a mystery to many. This had been the B Side to their previous single, the original issue of Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money) which had stalled at #116. Not only would Opportunities achieve a new lease of life on re-release in 1986 but so would In The Night which became one of the most well known PSB songs in their entire canon after being adopted by the BBC in October 1986 as the theme tune to The Clothes Show. When the programme remixed in 1995, so was In The Night and so remained as the theme until the end of the show's run on the BBC. By which time, the mysterious duo had become pop royalty.

Synth-pop gives way to rap on Side 2 and two more acts in their infancy destined for bigger things...

3. Slow & Low - Beastie Boys

After a string of low key EPs in the USA, Beastie Boys started to make waves in 1985/6 with a string of live dates and singles. Released a good nine months before its parent album, the classic License To Ill, Slow & Low was one of the first pieces of mass exposure for The Beasties in the UK. Of course, they'd get even more exposure, especially of the tabloid variety, within the next two years...

4. Dangerous - LL Cool J

Def Jam's first full album release was Ladies Love Cool James' 'Radio' and became arguably the first modern rap record, paving the way for rap culture over the next two decades. Again, this EP brought this new, more, well, dangerous rap to the attention of the UK record-buyers. This seminal album features Dangerous as well as I Can't Live Without My Radio and career-best Rock The Bells. Like the Beasties, he's now one of rap's elder statesmen.