Riding the Funky Titanic

With the much-anticipated upcoming release of Danny Krivit's re-edit record Edits By Mr. K Vol.02 being only a few weeks away, I thought I would post Krivit's re-edit of Titanic's early seventies psychedelic rock classic "Sultana". This heavy funk rock re-edit was originally released on Ibadan Record's 2002 Space Lab Yellow Phase 2 compilation, which I mentioned in a post(see More Mwana) early last week. Krivit really does a nice job here, extending the original, which is only about four minutes in length, and making the song much more friendly to play out. The funky edit reminds me a lot of an early Barrabas song, having an overall Latin rock feel to the entire track. Even though this track won't be included on Krivit's upcoming release, this funky psychedelic rock re-edit continues to be one of my favorites from the legendary deejay. Enjoy!

Titanic - Sultana (Danny Krivit Re-edit)

Edits By Mr. K, Volume Two

I was excited to get a press release today from Strut Records announcing the much anticipating upcoming release of Edits By Mr. K Vol. 2 by the one and only Danny Krivit. The first volume, which was released by Strut back in 2003, included some incredible re-edits including Diana Ross' "No One Gets The Prize", Lenny Williams' "You Got Me Runnin'", Ecstasy, Passion & Pain's "Ask Me", The Sisters Love's "Give Me Your Love", and Betty Wright's "Where is the Love" among many others. Volume 2 of the series will begin where the first record left off with Krivit tackling Milton Hamilton's "We Have All The Time", Midnight Movers' "Follow The Wind", Black Blood's "Chicano", The Fatback Band's "Spanish Hustle", and Rare Pleasure "Let Me Down Easy" just to name a few. This new collection of re-edits will be released on September 14th. From the difficulty that I have found in trying to hunt down the first volume, I will assume that this record will move very fast and quickly become just as hard-to-find, therefore making it an absolute priority to purchase this record very shortly after it's been released. I heard about this release way back at the beginning of the year and have been anticipating it's release ever since. I am certainly going to enjoy the remaining days of summer, however I now have at least one reason to look forward to the fall and the upcoming second volume release of Edits By Mr. K.

Tracklist:
1. PATRICE RUSHEN – MUSIC OF THE EARTH
2. MILTON HAMILTON – WE HAVE ALL THE TIME
3. MIDNIGHT MOVERS – FOLLOW THE WIND
4. BLACK BLOOD – CHICANO
5. RARE PLEASURE – LET ME DOWN EASY
6. BLUE MODERNE – THROUGH THE NIGHT
7. PHILADELPHIA ALL-STARS – LET’S CLEAN UP THE GHETTO
8. SOUND EXPERIENCE – DON’T YOU KNOW YOU’VE BROKEN MY HEART
9. THE FATBACK BAND – SPANISH HUSTLE
10. CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD – LIFE & DEATH

Here is one of my favorite re-edits from the first volume. Enjoy!

Lenny Williams - You Got Me Runnin' (Danny Krivit Edit)

I'm Hurtin' For Your Love

I thought today I would re-post one of my favorite re-edits by Danny Krivit. This classic reworking of Betty Wright's 1974 classic "Where Is The Love" can be found on Krivit's hard-to-find album "Mr.K Edits", which as the title suggests, is a collection of classic Krivit edits. The album also features some other great re-edits including Diana Ross' "No One Gets The Prize", Lenny Williams' "You Got Me Runnin'", Ecstasy, Passion & Pain's "Ask Me", The Sisters Love's "Give Me Your Love", as well as many others. When Strut Records, who originally released "Mr.K Edits", put out a press release earlier in the year, it mentioned that there would be a follow up re-edit album by Krivit. I haven't heard anything since, however hopefully the plan is to release the second volume of the series at some point in the coming months. Until then, we will have to continue to enjoy some of his classic edits like "Where Is The Love". Enjoy!

Betty Wright - Where is the Love

No One Gets The Prize

I don't have a lot of time to 'blog' today, so I'll keep it short and sweet by sharing with you a Danny Krivit edit of Jimmy Simpson's mix of Diana Ross's 1979 disco classic No One Gets The Prize from her album, The Boss. This was another amazing Krivit edit that was included on his brilliant Mr. K Edits record. Hopefully one day I will actually be fortunite to get my hands on a vinyl copy of the hard-to-find classic. Enjoy your weekend!

Diana Ross - No One Gets The Prize (Danny Krivit Re-edit)

Let No Man Put Asunder

An edit that I have gotten re-addicted to after browsing through some older records the other day has been Danny Krivit's amazing re-edit of First Choice's classic 1977 cut "Let No Man Put Asunder". On this edit, Krivit blends the different mixes by Frankie Knuckles, Walter Gibbons, and Shep Pettibone together to form a more solid and in my opinion more dance friendly version of the classic disco cut. Krivit also does a nice job with the dynamics of the song, building it up as well as bringing it back down throughout so that the edit never looses any steam. I've always been a fan of this song, as many people I find are, however, Krivit does a nice job pollishing it up with all the different mixes so that it can be fully effective, even during peak moments on the dancefloor.

First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (Danny krivit Re-edit)

More From Mr. K

One of my most sought after records right now has to be Danny Krivit's 2003 un-mixed re-edit compilation "Edits By Mr. K". And Probably by the time I'm done doing blogs, I will have posted most of the entire compilation. It's some of Krivit's best work in my opinion, re-editing classic disco and soul cuts by artists' like Diana Ross, Lenny Williams, Caress, L.T.D., The Sisters Love, and many many more. Lately, however, my favorite track lately has been Krivit's edit of Betty Wright's 1974 uptempo soul classic "Where Is The Love". He successfully takes this rare soul classic and turns it up a notch, creating a very funked-out and more dancefloor friendly disco gem. Nice work, once again by the man known as Mr. K. Now if I can only get my hands on a vinyl pressing of the record.

Betty Wright - Where Is The Love (Danny Krivit Re-edit)

Orgone's Gone Funky

I was originally introduced to North Hollywood's Orgone by being a huge fan of Danny Krivit and checking out his remix of Orgone's cover version of "Funky Nassau". Even though I would say that I'm probably a bigger fan of the original 1974 version released by The Beginning of the End, Orgone's version does provide it's own interesting take on the classic track. With a more laid back and funked out approach combined by female vocals, this nine piece group successfully put their imprint funk sound on the song, producing a solid cover song that sits nicely in the mix with their original material. After hearing this track, I checked out their 2007 debut LP The Killion Floor and found that they had a lot more to offer with a collection of well written and produced '70's funk and latin influenced original cuts, including stand out tracks like "It's What You Do", "Hambone", "Dialed Up", and another cover, this time of George McCrae's 1974 classic "I Get Lifted". Overall, I was very happy to discover this new group that know's how to truly produce that classic vintage '70's funk sound that makes you want to get on the floor and let loose. If your a fan of artists like Sly & the Family Stone, War, Fela Kuti, and The Beginning of The End, as well as newer groups like Escort, The Million Dollar Orchestra, I would recommend checking out Orgone's The Killion Floor.

Orgone - Funky Nassau (Danny Krivit Remix)
Orgone - Dialed Up

PS - Check out Orgone Tonight @ Nectar. I(TJ Gorton) open the show with my usual cosmic disco/italo/funk set at 8pm, some come early .They are also doing an in studio performance on 90.3FM KEXP at 3PM.

Love is The Message

One of my all-time favorite remixers/deejays is New York's own Danny Krivit. Throughout his musical career, which started at a very young age, Krivit has put together some of the finest re-edits and mixes for some time, remixing many Disco, Soul, Hip-Hop, and House classics like Arthur Russell's "In The Light of a Miracle", Lenny Williams' "You Got Me Runnin'", Caress's "Catch The Rhythm", and Gary's Gang's "Let's Lovedance Tonight" to name some of my favorites . In his younger days, he was a regular attendee at New York nightclub's The Loft and Paradise Garage where he gained a wealth of his DJ and music knowledge. Krivit has become a household in the DJ community, and continues to release solid re-edits and mixes under either his name or his alias Mr. K. Here is another one of my favorite Krivit re-edits, a 11 minute cut of MFSB's 1973 breakthrough classic "Love Is The Message", which can definitely appeal to fans of disco, funk, jazz, and house.

MFSB - Love Is The Message (Danny Krivit Re-edit)

Runnin' Away With Your Love

This weekend a bought a copy of King & Hound's new re-edit 12" entitled, Stranger In The City off the Golden Goose label. The B-side features a solid re-edit of Lenny williams disco classic "Midnight Girl". This edit reminding me of one my favorite re-edits, which is Danny krivit's 2003 re-edit of Williams' 1978 cut, "You Got Me Runnin'". This re-edited mix was featured on Krivit's re-edit compilation Edits By Mr. K on the now defunkt UK dance label Strut. Krivit's edit is a shorter sliced up mix of the original, that really highlights the more funkier sections of the song. It's definitely worth getting a hold of, if you can find a copy of the now out-of-print release.

Lenny Williams - You got me runnin'(Danny Krivit Re-edit)

Fourteen Minute Miracle

One of my favorite Arthur Russell songs, the Danny Krivit re-edit of "In the Light of the Miracle", is a fourteen-plus minute dance jam, that in my opinion tops all the other edits that this song has received. And as amazing as this song is, it never saw an official release, however finding it's way onto a white label 12-inch with two other mixes of the same song. I was fortunite enough to find this hard-to-find 12-inch at the bottom of hundreds of records at my favorite record store in San Francisco, the now defunkt Open Mind Music. When I first heard this version, I thought to myself, this is Arthur Russell's best track next to maybe Dinosaur's "Kiss Me Again" or Loose Joints's "It's All Over My Face". I would like to see this unreleased track get remastered and possibilly get the official release it deserves. However, until then, enjoy a true hidden gem.


Arthur Russell - In The Light Of The Miracle (Danny Krivit Re-Edit)


SPECIAL NOTE: Me and my girlfriend will be making our first trip to New York (Believe it or not) from the June 8th - 11th. I would love to hear suggestions as to good record stores, clubs, places, etc., that we should check out during our short stay. Right now we have plans to stay in a hostile, and would rather not, so if anybody would be interested in housing us for a couple days (just to sleep, and very low maintence), I would be greatly appreciative. Thanks.