Day 130 – Inner City – Paradise
Scotland is currently freezing, and our centuries-old housing stock isn’t equipped for this weather. Frankly, I don’t think it’s equipped for any weather – every time there’s a heat wave, people are quick to point out that the disaster is that our houses aren’t built for summer, but they’re somehow not built for winter either. There’s about 20 days of the year when they’re perfect, and then the rest of the time you’re just wondering why is it windy if I’m indoors? All of this to say, I wanted to enjoy my 20 minutes of summer in the shower more so than usual, so I thought I’d pick a fun, dance-y album. I went for Inner City’s 1989 release Paradise.
Album cover courtesy of Virgin Records
Inner City are an electronic music group from Detroit who have been active since 1987. At the time of recording Paradise, the group consisted of vocalist Paris Grey and DJ and producer Kevin Saunderson. Saunderson is one of the Belleville Three, or the “godfathers of Detroit techno”, along with his school friends Juan Atkins and Derrick May.
Detroit techno was the earliest iteration of the genre, and arguably techno in its current form wouldn’t exist without these three men. Compared to European techno, Detroit techno relied more on influences of futurism and funk – Juan Atkins, the original pioneer of techno, says he was inspired by the previously reviewed Parliament/Funkadelic, or P-Funk, and their Afrofuturist vision.
Paradise represents a softer, smoother iteration of the genre, as opposed to Saunderson’s peers. The group was almost formed by accident. Saunderson needed vocals, one of his friends suggested Paris Grey. Saunderson sent her a tape with the keyboard line for his song “Big Fun”, she sang whatever sprung to her mind. She then flew to Detroit to meet him and his friends and went to his apartment, where the other members of Belleville Three were tearing up the dance floor, and said “Kevin had a mic set up in his living room and I remember him saying: “Everybody be quiet, she’s gonna sing.” And I did Big Fun just like that. It became our first hit.”
Their debut album Paradise is pretty much banger after banger. You don’t really realise how iconic it is, I thought I’d only know “Good Life,” but I’d definitely heard many of the other ones before, especially “Big Fun” and “Set Your Body Free”. It’s a record that has stood the test of time. Apparently it was one of the first techno albums to cross over into being a mainstream hit, and not without reason — it’s just so fun to listen to.
“Good Life” is a classic, I also enjoyed the horny ballad “Power of Passion” and the Juan Atkins-produced “And I Do”. The opener “Inner City Theme” ties in with the Detroit techno ethos of building a better future, with the lyrics repeating “We as people in the world today / Should come together / And help one another / We should build our nation / Free from inner city decay.”
I’m more than happy with my choice today, it won’t be my last time listening to this by any means and I will buy the vinyl if I see it. 8.5/10. Also, fun fact: Inner City have recently returned with Saunderson, his son and vocalist Steffanie Christi’an, and they frequently collaborate with DJ/actor/nation’s favourite hunk, Idris Elba.