BAKER, ARTHUR / VARIOUS ARTISTS - ARTHUR BAKER PRESENTS BREAKER’S REVENGE

Real name: Arthur Baker / Born: April 22 1955, Boston, MA USA Arthur Baker was among the most visible and widely-imitated of the early hip-hop producers, masterminding breakthrough experiments with tape edits and synthetic beats before crossing over to introduce the art of remixing into the pop mainstream. He began his career as a club DJ in Boston, and landed his first production work at Emergency Records, debuting with Northend's Happy Days." After relocating to New York in 1979, Baker quickly immersed himself in the nascent hip-hop scene; there he was recruited by the Salsoul label to helm a session for Joe Bataan which yielded the rap novelty "Rap-O-Clap-O." His stay in the Big Apple largely unsuccessful, he then returned to Boston, producing a handful of singles which went nowhere, among them Glory's "Can You Guess What Groove This Is?" A move back to New York followed, at which time Baker joined the staff of Tommy Boy Records, where he teamed with co-producer Shep Pettibone to record Afrika Bambaataa's groundbreaking 1982 single "Jazzy Sensation," a remake of Gwen McCrae's "Funky Sensation." Assuming sole production control, Baker next reunited with Bambaataa for the classic "Planet Rock," a watershed in hip-hop's early evolution -- a wholly-synthesized record inspired by Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express, its programmed beats left an indelible imprint on the music released in its wake. Baker's success at Tommy Boy led to the formation of his own label, Streetwise Records; after helming underground club hits for Rockers Revenge, Nairobi and Citispeak, he signed a then-unknown New Edition, issuing the teen vocal group's debut single "Candy Girl" in 1982. Baker's gradual absorption into the pop mainstream continued in 1983, when the cutting-edge British dance group New Order contacted him to produce their single "Confusion; " the record became an immediate club classic, even scraping into the American R&B charts. Remixes of the track also help pioneer the remix aesthetic throughout the rock mainstream, and soon Baker was producing material for Naked Eyes, Face to Face, Diana Ross, Jeff Beck and others. In 1989, he also assembled artists including Al Green, ABC and Jimmy Somerville to record the all-star LP Merge, credited to Arthur Baker and the Backbeat Disciples. After a follow-up, 1991's Give in to the Rhythm, he returned to production, albeit no longer exerting the same kind of influence as in the decade prior. "The spirit of making dance records is exactly the same to me as its always been. You have more control now in the studio, that's the whole new thing. But the spirit in which people make dance records is still DJs and the kids who want to go to clubs and hear their own records. I've never made a great dance record that wasn't the direct result of being in a club the night before. Never. When you make a dance record the objective is clear - to make people dance and have a good time. You really can't take it too seriously." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Warning! Deleting this artist may remove other artists and scrobbles from your library - please handle this with caution! Note: You can view albums tagged as 'Various Artists' in your library here. The term Various Artists is used in the recording industry to designate releases featuring contributions from multiple performers. It commonly appears on compilation albums or collaborative recordings where no single artist attribution applies. On digital platforms such as Last.fm, tracks may be listed under this designation when individual artist information is missing or incomplete in metadata, resulting in automatic grouping under the generic label. In some cases, singles credited to Various Artists are issued for charitable purposes, particularly when performers collaborate under a collective project name. Examples include Band Aid with the song "Do They Know It’s Christmas?" and USA for Africa with "We Are the World". Various Artists is also used as a performance alias by German musician Torsten Pröfrock, founder of the DIN label. In addition to this name, he has recorded under several other aliases, including Dynamo, Erosion, Resilent, and Traktor. He has collaborated with Robert Henke and has been a member of Monolake since 2004. The name was also used by a short-lived punk band formed in Bristol by brothers Jonjo and Robin Key, originally from Birmingham. Other members were involved simultaneously in Art Objects, which later evolved into The Blue Aeroplanes; the Key brothers also contributed as songwriters and participants in that project. After the group disbanded, the brothers formed Either / Or. The designation Various Artists is also commonly applied to musical theater soundtracks, reflecting recordings that feature multiple cast members or ensemble performances within a single track. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.