Still no reply from anyone on my plea for a German speaker to help me out. Look people, I have this really cool thing I want to write about, but it’s in German. So the sooner I get in contact with someone who can sprechen sie deutsch, the sooner I can make that happen.

Third World
Now That We’ve Found Love (Paul Hardcastle Mix)
Sometimes the artist is the thing I care the least about when buying a strange-looking 12″ single. Take this one for example. The thing about this single that caught my eye more than the song or the artist was the fact that it was remixed by Paul Hardcastle of “19” fame. I’ve always been a big fan of his remix work. Then the second thing that caught my eye was the song. “Now That We’ve Found Love” was originally an O’Jays number, but if you’re like me, you know it as a Heavy D tune. Always liked his version, so seeing that made me curious. Between that and the Hardcastle connection, I grabbed the single right away. Only when I started listening to it did I begin to wonder who the hell Third World are. They’re apparently a reggae band, making them the fourth reggae act (after Bob Marley/Wailers, Jimmy Cliff and Inner Circle) who I can name off hand, so for me to talk anything about them or reggae as a whole would be pretty disingenuous on my part. I like this song though.

The English Beat
Can’t Get Used To Losing You (1983 Remix)
How is this 1983 remix different than the original? Excellent question. I don’t have that one. So if anyone wants to fill me in that would be stellar.

Shelia E
Koo Koo (Remix)
Can we talk for a second about how fucking awesome Shelia E is? She can sing, dance, produce and write music, and of course, drum like a goddamn beast from hell. She’s like Neil Peart, if Neil Peart made good music (oooooooh!).

This is what the world needs; more pop singers who can actually play a damn instrument. I mean, let’s be honest; Beyonce totally has the singing market cornered now. I don’t think there will be a mainstream pop star who will be able to come close to her in terms of pure vocal talent for at least another decade or two. So why not mix it up? I want to see a pop diva who can sing like Madonna and shred like Slash. A star who can wail like Christina and tickle the keys like Rick Wakeman. A vocalist who can break glass with her voice and her crazy bass skills. This needs to happen. Someone get on it already.

Oh yeah, “Koo Koo.” This is a good song. Did I mention I think Shelia E is dope?  Drum solo with glow in the dark drum sticks people!

Endgames
Waiting For Another Chance
Universe
I gaurantee you that The Lost Turntable is the only MP3 blog in history to have written about Endgames three times. The first was when I did a write-up of the obscure   1981 live compilation Live At The ‘101.’ Discovering them on that record led me to purchase the single for their tune “Love Cares,” and now two more tunes, which are from a single I scored at Jerry’s last week.

These tunes are even poppier than “Love Cares,” which was a slight bummer because I was hoping for something more dissonant and dark like the stuff they had on 101. But as upbeat second-tier 80s synthpop goes, you could do a lot worse than this. I’m going to have to cave and actually buy one of their albums someday.