590 Hello Coldcut and Yazz * - Doctorin' the House

( * as  Coldcut  featuring  Yazz  and  the  Plastic  Population )

Chart  entered :  20  February  1988

Chart  peak : 6

Number  of  hits :  Coldcut  11 , Yazz  12

Two  qualifying  acts  for  the  price  of  one  on  this  single  which  furthered  the  dance  invasion.

Coldcut  are  a  duo. Computer  operator  Matt  Black  and  ex-art  teacher  Jonathan  More  met  at  Reckless  Records  in  London  where  Jonathan  worked. He  was  also  a  DJ  on  pirate  radio  playing  rare  soul  and  funk  records  and  drew  Matt  into  his  world.

Their  first  collaboration  in  1987  was  a  white  label  release  "Say  Kids  What  Time  Is  It ?"  a  record  entirely  constructed  around  samples, the   primary  ones  being  the  song  "King  of  the  Swingers"  from  The  Jungle  Book.  and  James  Brown's  Funky  Drummer. It  sounds   like  a  complete  dog's  dinner  to  me  but  was  popular  in  the  clubs  and  put  the  duo's  name  on  the  map. The  title  sample, from  the  kid's  TV  show  Howdy  Doody , was  re-used  by  M/A/R/R/S  in  Pump  Up  The  Volume.  The  duo,  who  previously  had  separate  shows  on  Kiss  FM, joined  forces  on  the  influential  show, Solid  Steel.

They  re-christened  their  partnership  as  "Coldcut"  and  started  their  own  label,  self-consciously  named  Ahead  of  Our  Time"  to  release  their  next  single  "Beats  And  Pieces"  which  sounds   like  more  of  the  same  to  me  if  a  bit   less  cluttered.

They  scored  their  first  hit  as  producers  - though  of  course  the  distinction  between   producer  and  performer  was  blurring- with  a  re-mix  of  Eric  B  &  Rakim's  rap  track  Paid  in  Full  which  reached  number  15  in  the  UK  in  November  1987.

For  their  next  single  they  hired  mixed  race singer  Yazz  to  lay  down  some  original  vocals. Yazz  was  born  Yasmin  Evans  in  London in  1960 . She  was  a  former  volleyball  player  with  the  England  under-19  team  and  catwalk  model.

In  1983  she  sang  on  two  singles  released  by  The  Biz. "Falling"  is  a  passable  Shalamar  impersonation. The  second, "We're  Gonna  Groove  Tonight"  sounds  more  like  Galaxy  with  the  female  backing  vocals  prominent  and   a  relentlessly  upbeat  partying  message. Neither  troubled  the  charts  despite  the  inclusion  of  a  free  pack  of  playing  cards  with  the  latter  single.

The  Plastic  Population  never  actually  existed. It  was  some  sort  of  comment  by  Yazz  on  the  prevalence  of  plastic  surgery  among  celebrities. Oh  well, whatever.

"Doctorin'  the  House"  is  somewhat  more  conventional  than  their  previous  releases, with  a  house  backing  track  that  they  presumably  wrote  themselves . Its  more  accessible  to  the  likes  of  yours  truly  but I  wouldn't  cross  the  road  for  it.   The  samples  are  mainly  dialogue  from  film  and  TV  rather  than  music  although  there's  a  bizarre  scat  break  in  the  middle  that  I'm  guessing  may  be  Cab  Calloway. Yazz's  contribution  on  the  record  is  restricted  to  crooning  the  title  at  regular  intervals  but  she  provided  a  visual  focus  for  the  video  and  Top  of  the  Pops, setting  a  template,  for  putting  models  out  front  with  this  sort  of  music,  that  would  be  picked  up  by  countless  other  outfits  over  the  next  decade.