Woman 2009 Edition

Well it’s finally arrived!!! After a few months of twiddling and reworking… ‘Woman (She Want My Money)’ is winging its way around the globe again on home grown label ‘Music For The People’.

‘Woman’ was first conceived back in 1997/98 when I was living in Symonds Yat West, England. I was signed to D*Fusion Records in London and had already released ‘Long Board Blues’. The MD liked the ‘Woman’ demo and I spent several days in an East End studio working on an acid jazz ‘live’ mix with an Italian house music producer named Marco.

The mixes were raw and funky, created on my little Amiga 600 computer. It wasn’t easy translating the track to a professional recording studio but the end results were pleasing. The studios were owned by ‘Paul Weller’ and we had Shola Ama recording upstairs, a really nice vibe and cool studios.

Eastern Bloc Canada 1998

First Release on Amato Disco

The mixes were finished and I sent an album’s worth of material to D*Fusion for them to digest, however, an epic journey to Canada was calling and I sold my entire studio in a week, to embark on a jouney, thousands of miles away.

Summer of 1998, I backpacked from East to West across Canada with my partner and I took with me, a remix of ‘Woman’ on cassette by my friend Sam. The MD from D*Fusion hooked me up with the manager of Eastern Bloc Records in Toronto and, after an interesting meeting and getting us on Industry (nightclub) guest list, he agreed to distribute the record should we ever get it pressed. When we finally returned to the UK, it took me a while to settle and the demo was once again put on hold.

A year or so later, I bought back the equipment I had sold to visit Canada, and tentatively fired up the studio in Herefordshire again. I revisited ‘Woman’ and sent off a few remixes to various places such as Catskills Records (who were interested), but it just wasn’t strong enough.

A Promo Makes It To Vinyl 2002

Woman 2002 Edition

In 2002, Sam got back on the case and we spent a few intense weekends in the studio. Sam’s mate ‘Dave Cotterill’ had played some nice guitar over another track and I suggested we try it over ‘Woman’. As soon as Sam laid it down we knew it was the final touch to a great mix. We released it ourselves in 2002 on Sam’s ‘Steppin’ Stone’ Records as a promo 45 vinyl release; just breaking even.

It had a review in Muzik Mag stating “Put it on an advert and it’ll reach number three in the charts” (click here to read). It was played across the world with little or no promotion with two of the fans being ‘Tim “Love” Lee’ and ‘Ursula 1000′ both in New York.

Time fleets by, and end of last year, Sam and I decided to really push the music out there again. With plenty of new ideas and pending releases in the wings, what better track to kick things off with than a re-visited version of ‘Woman’.

A Full Release For ‘Woman’ 2009

Music For The People

And so, again, on Sam’s label, and funded by us.. we have released ‘Woman’ (semi) officially and this little record continues to beat it’s own path around the world.

So far, ‘Woman’ has: reached number 2 in the Juno Records download ‘single chart’, featured as “Record of the Week” at Manchester’s ‘Fat City Records, been playlisted on Nemone’s BBC Radio 6 weekly afternoon show (click to listen), plugged on ‘Tim love Lee’s’ East Village radio show straight outta New York (click to listen), playlisted ’prime time’ on Craig Charles’ Saturday night funk show on BBC Radio 6 (click to listen) and was used as the opening track to a recent Don Letts radio broadcast also on BBC radio 6.

‘Woman’ Spinnin’ Into The Future…

The psychedelic-hip hop ‘B’ side to the original promo was used as backing to BBC Manchester United Ball Skills DVD ‘Play Like Champions’ (click to watch on youtube), and this time around, the ‘B’ side ‘Where Stars Are Born’ (click to watch on youtube) is equally as heavy.

Ram Cafe 4 Compilation

I handed a copy of the first mixes to ‘Afrika Bambaataa’ some years back and this week, friends ‘Roy Roast Beef’ and ‘Rick’, of Birmingham DJ night ‘Funk Box’, handed a copy to ‘Maceo’ from De La Soul, so this mash-up really has done the rounds over the years and I wonder where it will travel next? or where it’s already been? maybe another dimension!?!

‘Woman’ is now available on 45 vinyl (best quality – contact snorkiebyng@hotmail.com for a copy) and also digital download via Juno Records, it is now also available on a Universal Records chillout compilation ‘Ram Cafe 4′, along side the likes of Belleruche, Mayer Hawthorne, Nitin Sawhney, Amy Winehouse and Jose Feliciano.