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Chaka Khan: Life Is A Dance: The Remix Project (Warner Bros.)

Frank Owen, Spin, October 1989

LIKE A DRUG, dance music needs harder and harder hits to sustain the same level of pleasure. What would have been a seismic drum track or a thumpin' bass in the 70s seems wimpy today. That's why one of the initial impulses of Chicago house music was the re-gearing of disco classics for the 80s: taking early 70s Philly soul like MFSB's 'Love is the Message', pumping up the bass and underlaying the original with a drum machine.

Total word count of piece: 418

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