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Monday, August 4, 2014

I love D Train KEEP ON, YOU'RE THE ONE FOR ME and much more

HUGE D TRAIN ZIP

Brooklyn duo James "d train" Williams and Hubert Eaves III put out some of the best releases of the post DISCO era when in the U.K. they started to call disco "boogie."  They defined the Prelude records sound of the early 80's.


Born and nurtured in Brooklyn, New York, James "D-Train" Williams began his singing career at age 6. He sang in many church choirs and school choirs. While attending school at Erasmus High School he earned the prestigious title“D-Train” as a Defensive Tackle, football star. (”When he hits you, you felt the impact of the Train”). James’ career came into play by a chance meeting, while helping out his fellow classmate the legendary Will Downing in the studio, he met producer Hubert Eaves III and the two embarked on a musical journey of Number 1 Billboard Hits, on the dance charts.


James "D-Train" Williams gave memorable and fresh-sounding R&B/dance tracks of the early to mid-1980’s. Along with Hubert Eaves III their first single, the brilliant “You’re The One For Me,” was released on Prelude Records in 1981. The song hit number one on the dance chart in early 1982 and kept that position for three weeks. Their first album for Prelude was 1982’s entitled“You’re The One For Me.” The album stormed the club charts and produced three powerhouse 12″ singles. Besides the stunning title track it also featured “Keep On” and the much-covered “Walk On By.”  YOU"RE THE ONE FOR ME EDIT

“Music,” D-Train’s second album, followed in 1983 and was supported with another batch of singles: “Keep Giving Me Love,” “Are You Ready For Me,” and the major club smash Music amongst them. “Something’s On Your Mind,.” Followed by “Oh how I Love You Girl”, top 10 R’N’B hit, "Misunderstanding" (from his debut Columbia album, “Miracles of The Heart”,) “In Your Eyes”, and a host of others.

Having signed to the Epic/Prelude label, they found greater success in the UK than in their home country. They enjoyed three UK Top 30 pop hits with “You’re The One For Me” (1982), “Music, Part 1″ (1983) and “You’re The One For Me (Remix)” (1985). D-Train’s biggest US hit was the Billboard R&B Top 5 single, "Something’s On Your Mind"(1983).  But it was not one of their biggest club hits and they won't really be remembered for that one.
YOU'RE THE ONE SPECIAL DUB They put out three full albums, one in each year '83, '83 and '84.  I was in college then so I spent a lot of time dancing to "D" Train classics.




Keep On remains a classic at The Loft.  The lyrics are so inspirational and draw people to the floor as well now as they did in 1983. It was of course one of the high points at the Larry Levan tribute party this past May in New York, a street party to commemorate naming the street outside the Paradise Garage space on King St. Larry Levan Way.  FRANCOIS K REMIX OF KEEP ON



By 1985 their sound wasn't really in style anymore and the hits dried up.



3 comments:

kosmikino said...

Many thanks for the D Train collection, it certainly reminds me of clubs here in England during that time - I was never a huge fan of the more jazz-funk side of things but the dubs and remixes of bands like D-Train and Freeze were always really interesting, especially when someone like Francois K got in on the mix!

Just to let you know, the D Train Dub link has been taken down by MF and the Francois K mix of Keep On takes you to Angie B's Soundwaves - with all the work you do, it's easy to put in the wrong link and as a follower of this blog, it's the least I can do to point it out.

PS> I forgot to thank you for the edit of Electra's Feels Good - short and sweet but it keeps the groove of the original in place (so many edits these days just butcher the original in a spurious "nu-disco" justification, though perhaps I'm just getting old lol).

ExpatMichael said...

I fixed this one too.

kosmikino said...

Thanks for updating the links Michael, it was the D Train dub and the FK mix I was most interested in hearing again.

As a side note, is this your rip of the Zebra Crossing album?

http://funkisshere.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/zebra-crossing-1978-zebra-crossing.html

I have been hoping you would re-post it and am sure I mentioned it in passing in some comment or other - of course it does not say who the source of the rip is (isn't that the way sadly)....