Loveland
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| Posted: 19 May 2019 at 9:08pm | IP Logged
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Black Box feat. Loleatta Holloway "Ride On Time"
Someone asked me to post whatever info I had on "Ride On Time". Here we go.
First released around the world on August 1989 except North America. deConstrucation/RCA wouldn't release a Black Box single until November 1990 (a single that was first released outside the U.S. on January 1990).
"Ride On Time" charted on Billboard's Club Play in 1989 as an import, peaking at No. 39 (no promoters were plugging the record). During its six-week reign at No. 1 in the U.K., controversy erupted when it was "discovered" that Katrin Quinol was lip-synching to an uncredited sample (Loleatta Holloway's "Love Sensation"). Salsoul Records sued, and copies of the original pressing had to be withdrawn from the market. deconstruction quickly re-issue the commercial, calling it "Ride On Time (Remix)". In reality, this wasn't a remix at all, Black Box simply hired an uncredited vocalist to record the song set to the same music/backing track. The single version was called 'Massive Mix', but in reality, it was the 'Massive Edit'/'Massive Mix Edit' (4.14). The full 'Massive Mix' clocks at 6:37. The first U.K. CD Maxi features the 'Massive Mix Edit' as track 1, while the second pressing -the so-called 'Remix'- features the full 'Massive Mix [Remix]' as track 1. The other two mixes, 'Ascot Mix' and 'Epsom Mix' became 'Ascot Mix [Remix]' and 'Epsom Mix [Remix]'.
Black Box performed "Ride On Time" multiple times at TOTP, and during its six-week reign at No. 1, one week they were performing the Loleatta version, while the following week, they were performing the uncredited vocalist version - the audience never batted an eye.
By the time the remix album, "Mixed Up!", the truth was finally revealed: The vocalist on the re-recorded version of "Ride On Time" was Heather Small, the then-vocalist of another deconstruction act Hot House (and later, M People).
By January 1990, the legal disputes were settled and the original 'Massive Mix Edit' was included as the B-side of their follow up single, "I Don't Know Anybody Else".
In the U.S., I'm fairly certain that deconstruction/RCA released "Ride On Time" as a single to ride the coattails of a then-recent No. 1 single, Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch feat. Loleatta Holloway's "Good Vibrations" - both singles sample "Love Sensation", quite possibly one of the most sampled songs in dance music history. I wanna say that Samantha Fox's "I Wanna Have Some Fun" was one of the first ones.
Since all mixes of both Loleatta's and Heather's versions shared the same name, deconstruction / RCA U.K. got all, um, mixed up and included one Loleatta and one Heather mix on the "Mixed Up!" compilation and this error was never corrected.
Black Box's North American label, infuriatingly repeated this mistake on single's U.S. release. This U.S. promo CD maxi contains two mixes with Loleatta's vocals and two mixes with Heather's:
U.S. Promo CD Maxi Single - deconstruction / RCA RDJ-62003-2
1. Ride On Time [Massive Mix] 6:35
2. Ride On Time [LP Version] 4:35
3. Ride On Time [Ascot Mix] 2:57
4. Ride On Time [The Bright On Mix] 4:28
It's hard to imagine why on Earth would deconstruction / RCA provide the full 'Massive Mix' (and not the 'Massive Mix Edit') as track 1 to radio stations. You can see RCA's ineptitude with this single: The vocals are credited solely to Loleatta Holloway. But in truth only tracks 2 and 4 feature Loleatta, while tracks 1 and 3 feature Heather Small.
Errors on the cassette single are worse:
Track 1 is credited to Loleatta, while in reality is actually Heather's; while track 2, "Ghost Box" (an instrumental) is credited to Martha Wash (!). Who was running RCA back then? What an embarrassment. The full 'Massive Mix' is impossible to find on good CD quality.
I don't believe many radio stations played "Ride On Time" (the follow up to "Strike It Up"), but Black Box's next single, "Fantasy" -while it didn't chart on The Hot 100- was a Top 20 / Top 10 hit in quite a few markets across the U.S., including Miami.
Edited by Loveland on 20 May 2019 at 8:32am
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Topic: Black Box "Ride On Time"
