Let’s face it. Most albums are a hit single or two if they are lucky and the rest is just filler. It’s rare to find one that is good from start to finish. The house artists who released albums in the 80s were no different. But there is always an exception or two. A prime example is Mickey Oliver’s first (and I believe only) album – In-Ten-Si-T. Damn good music from start to finish. Although, at 30-something minutes, we might have to call it half an album, but let’s not nitpick.
You have the single In-Ten-Si-T which was a huge hit (if it doesn’t immediately ring any bells, it’s vocals are a Speak And Spell saying – You make me want, you make me cry, you’re the one for me, I like your intensity), and Pump Up The Beat is an interesting Pump Up The Volume tribute?/parody?/ripoff? , but when I would be driving around with my buddies, I think we grooved the most to You Make Me with it’s catchy latin keyboards and percussion.

The vocals on most songs are by Shanna Jae which I just learned from Google is actually Paris Grey – most famous for her work in Inner City. Although I wonder if this is some internet-propagated misinformation since there is a picture of a woman on the back of the album (presumably Shanna Jae) and I’m not sure that it looks like Paris Grey.

(Update – November, 2011) I got curious so I emailed the man himself – Mickey Oliver. Shanna Jae and Paris Grey are the same person. Her real name is Shanna Jackson, she started her career as Shanna Jae and then changed it to Paris Grey. Thanks Mickey!

And one last babble – I don’t think Youtube appreciates Shanna Jae since it suggested the tag ‘instrumental’ for the song Heart On Hold.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESX8ucFJg2s

The rest of the album:
Track 1 – Never Let Go
Track 2 – You Make Me
Track 4 – Pump Up The Beat
Track 5 – Heart On Hold
Track 6 – I Like It
Track 7 – Mega Mix In

I’ll be uploading a bunch of classic tunes to Youtube – but I may miss a day here or there so don’t take ‘song of the day’ quite so literally.

When I first got into house music and mixes in the 80s, there weren’t any good music stores out in the suburbs with a good selection of 12 inch singles. Feeling frustrated, I finally called one of the distributors listed on one of the singles (probably Quantum), and they gave me a few suggestions. One of them was Importes Etc. It seemed like a big adventure for a buddy and me to drive into downtown Chicago to go to some hidden, dingy little record store. (And make no mistake – back in 1986, Importes was pretty dingy. They remodeled a few years later.)
I spent a bunch of money that day, probably mostly Trax and DJ International stuff. The only record I specifically remember buying was Legion by Mark Shreeve. I was so excited that they had it. It was a record I had heard in a bunch of mixes on WBMX and WGCI. The reason I remember it is because – when I went to check out, the guy ringing up my purchases yelled to a co-worker something like “Hey – we finally got someone to buy our last copy of Legion.” I had the distinct impression that this guy was mocking me and my white boy, suburban tastes. Or it could have just been that they had bought too many copies and were finally glad to get rid of them all. Who knows? Don’t get me wrong – I was at that store 1000 times after that and everyone was always cool, but for my first impression, I wasn’t so sure about that place.

Mark Shreeve – Legion (Razor Mix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSPHKNUPGzs

Other versions of the song from the 12 inch:

Satan Mix

Single Edit

Space Mix