January 2, 2015
Paul Hardcastle - Rain Forest album
When I saw this album at the record store I knew I had to have it. I used to love the song Rain Forest when it would come on the radio on the jazz or R&B stations back in the day. And I still like the song.
Paul Hardcastle is an English composer, musician, and multi-instrumentalist who specializes in the synthesizer as is quite evident on this album. Whenever I heard the song Rain Forest on the radio I thought of it, and him, as in the jazz genre, likely due to it being played on jazz stations in metro Detroit. As I research the album and listen to it in its entirety, however, it's clear it is definitely of the Electronic (Electro) genre. This album was released in 1985 and contains the following tracks:
Side 1
Rain Forest (Remix) 5:42
King Tut 4:38
Panic 4:29
Forest Fire 7:30
Side 2
Loitering With Intent 4:10
A.M. 5:14
Sound Chaser 5:48
Rain Forest (Original Mix)
The single of the title song from the album reached #2 on the dance charts in 1984, #5 on the soul chart, and #50 on the Hot 100 chart. In 1985, he came to greater prominence with the international hit "19" (not on this album), a song about America's involvement in the Vietnam War and the effect it had on the soldiers who served, using sampled dialogue from an American television documentary about the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by veterans. Paul's music has crossed into electronic, jazz, pop, and new wave.
Many of the tracks definitely have a far more electronic sound than jazz. Sound Chaser, for example, is very electronic with some synthesized vocals over the beat. It has almost a "Soul Sonic Force Planet Rock" sound, beat, and lyric to it.
A.M. has a slick electronic beat to it as well, something you could chill to or dance to. I hear elements of disco and jazz in the song. Loitering With Intent has a little more of a deeper bass beat to it. Panic is seriously electronic as well. This sound could easily have been played in the funk and break dancing days by Mojo in Detroit. It has some synthesized vocals and turn table scratching in it. Funny think - I almost hear a little Michael Jackson Smooth Criminal beat at certain points in the song. Forest Fire also has major aspects of old school funk in it. A b-boy could definitely break dance to this.
Rain Forest and King Tut probably have the most jazz and least funk sound to them. The whole album to me is great and an part of the electronic movement of the 1980s.
It's definitely a cool album to jam to. You can check out some of the songs on the LP below.
Rain Forest
King Tut
Sound Chaser
A.M.
Album info at Discogs
Paul Hardcastle's web site