Re-Flex – “So This is Music..”

After recording ‘The Politics of Dancing’ album for EMI, Re-Flex produced alternative versions of some tracks intended for release as extended club mixes. In America the 12” of “Politics..” topped the US dance charts. Almost all of these were created with producer John Punter and engineer Pete Smith (Smudge).

 

Paul Fishman  - "I have always liked the concept of the B side, the track that wasn’t on the album but hopefully a gem discovered on the back of the 7”, the first one I owned was ‘This Boy’.

‘Flex it’ was written by myself and the band’s original bass player Francois Craig who left the group before we signed to EMI. Along with John Baxter, he was a core member during the early period and had played a lot of gigs together. Before he left we recorded three songs at Maison Rouge studios in London - ‘Hit Line’, ‘Hurt’ and ‘Flex It’. We were working with engineer/producer Graham Dixon who around this time did a lot of projects with producer legend Gus Dudgeon. Gus often dropped by and soon became both a fan who regularly attended our gigs and a good friend. We later re-recorded both ‘Hurt’ and ‘Hit Line’ with Punter but earlier versions appeared on ‘Movement of The Action Fraction’, officially Re-Flex’s first album.

‘Flex it’ was among the initial tracks where Roly and I began experimenting with using live sequencers. There was a bond between us partially due to the clock sync cable that linked our equipment, as this was an umbilical cord that joined ‘The Boys’. We had only just finished the album when US Company Capitol Records released it and then much to our amazement both single and album entered the US Billboard charts and slowly began to climb. Before we knew it we were off to tour America supporting the Police. There wasn’t time to record B sides for singles, so we got hold of the multi-track for ‘Flex It’ added some new vocals and instrumentation with Punter who then mixed it. While working on the 12” we were experimenting with some delays, dubbed the vocals and produced an alternative 7” mix that was never released. I recently found the master while going through our archive and thought it would be a worthy addition to this CD.

 

Around this time “we need an extended dance mix” became a popular record company demand but there were many others, “the mix need’s more midi”, “the cheque’s in the post” and “is that your line?” After spending months arranging and recording songs it was confusing that suddenly everything had to be longer. Although then not fully appreciated but this was the beginning of a new medium, the club mix and the era of the DJ – “the politicians are now DJs”.

Having produced the initial extended ‘UK Emotional Mix’ of ‘Hurt’ with Pete, we thought it would be good to let someone in the US have a go, so copies of the multi-tracks were sent to John Luongo who provided two alternative mixes that were only released in the US.

 

After our first US and Canadian tour we returned to the studio to record an additional track intended as a B side. ‘Cut it’, written by myself, was a song often played as an encore and produced & mixed by the band with Pete Smith. Soon after we finished, the song found its way onto the soundtrack for the film ‘Breakdance’, which became an international hit and a multi-platinum best seller, now also available on Cherry Red.

Re-Flex then went back to America for another 3 months to tour with The Thompson Twins.  After recovering we began work on the next album “Humanication” with Punter and Smudge. When completed, we thought it would be good to stock pile a few additional tracks and recorded “True Lust’, ‘What You Deserve’ and ‘Cruel World’, possibly to be released as an EP, along with the first single ‘How Much Longer’.

 

From the beginning we attempted to remain in control and were clear about the relationship we wanted with the record company and management, including the sound of our records and image. We felt it was necessary to establish that Re-Flex was not product but the result of music.

“So this is music…” All of the bands unreleased albums have since been made available for fans through the group’s website www.re-flex.com

 

With the assistance of Warners UK as they now own EMI’s catalogue and thanks to John Reed at Cherry Reed, an expanded version of ‘The Politics of Dancing’ album has finally been produced with all tracks sourced from the original master tapes - the real thing!

 

Paul Fishman

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CD 1

Praying To The Beat

Hitline

Hurt

Couldn't Stand A Day

The Politics Of Dancing

Something About You

Pointless

Jungle

Sensitive

Keep In Touch

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CD2

True Lust

Hurt 12" PS UK Emotional Mix

What You Deserve

The Politics of Dancing 12"

Cruel World 12"

Prayin to the Beat 12"

Flex it 12"

Hit Line 12"

Cut it 12"

Hurt emotional John Luongo US Remix

Politics US 7

Flex it - 7 echo mix

Hurt - US Rubber Dub Mix