Drop The Deal

‘Please remain in your seats, we’ll have a full report in a moment’ says the voice at the start of this record (a sample from an episode of Miami Vice), a 1987 release from Code 61, a Belgian New Beat outfit, and a track heading for the open air nightclubs of the Balearic isles. A vocal sample of a prayer from Jean Michel Jarre. A Harry Belafonte sample and some eastern sounding melodies. A robotic voice intoning ‘drop the deal’. A woman talks about business. The drum machine punches away, the clock running down. What could it all mean?

Drop The Deal

Various Artists

This 1988 compilation was the first to attempt to pull together on one piece of 33rpm vinyl what had been going on in Ibiza in the summers of ’87 and ’88 and which was then transplanted back to the UK. From its eye-catching front cover on in it is a pretty essential purchase, showing the broad church that acid house was at the start. The tracks range from Eurodance (Electra’s Jibaro) to sympathetic indie (The Woodentops and Thrashing Doves) to industrial sounds that worked on the dancefloor under the stars (Finitribe, Nitzer Ebb) to the random (Mandy Smith, The Residents). This track, Drop The Deal, was from Belgium’s New Beat scene, young Belgian crowds dancing to slow-mo dance music in dark nightclubs. Somehow it made its way to the Mediterranean. Code 61 sampled Jean-Michel Jarre and Harry Belafonte for Drop The Deal. To these ears, the slightly wheezy drum machine aside, this sounds surprisingly fresh.

Drop The Deal