Strada Records

A1. Hit & Run (Walter Gibbons mix)
B1. Hit & Run (Joaquin Joe Claussell remix)

12G4056-A1
12G4056-B1

As the story goes, Salsoul boss Ken Cayre handed over the multi-track tapes of Loleatta Holloway’s ‘Hit and Run’ to Walter Gibbons in 1976, effectively liberating the burgeoning edit art form from its previous cut & paste methodology. Gibbons, a Brooklyn-born DJ who had seen the light emanated forth from the likes of Grasso, Burgess, Levan, Scott, and Siano, had became a lethal beat mixer, possessing, according to Francois Kevorkian, an “uncanny sense of mixing that was so accurate it was unbelievable.” Following early edit work with Salsoul releases ‘Nice ’N’ Naasty’ and ‘Salsoul 2001’, Gibbons had established himself as a meticulous artist, able to completely rework existing tracks in a new extended amalgam of rhythm and sound. Cayre’s multi-tracks conferred the ability to thoroughly deconstruct each of the songs elements, as Gibbons transformed Holloway’s lead-off cut from Loleatta into an 11 minute opus which fellow tape pioneer Tom Moulton would distinguish as being “so different from the original that it must be classified as a new record.” The resulting 12” would go on to sell 300,000 copies; DJ’s and the dance floor would now dictate the industry and art as never before.  If Gibbons’ historic mix so radically altered Holloway’s original in banishing the strings and brass, Joaquin Joe Claussell’s vision for ‘Hit and Run’ sets a new standard on an equally unimagined horizon line. The prior lead guitar is now exchanged for a clean, chopped chucking, and Halloway’s impassioned vocals are given frequent, spacious vistas for added prominence. The horns presage a re-focus on shifting rhythmic emphasis, and by the time the aforementioned familiar fuzz guitars are welcomed back into the fold, the coalescing orchestra has been sustained and revitalized in a complete surrender to time and pulse. As Holloway’s vocals are eventually removed from direct semantics and pulled into other modes of expression, the track’s foundation is given a final rinse and farewell, and were left with the proceeding disembodied aftermath evaporating in delay. This is an iteration every bit inspired and fresh as Gibbons’ landmark, a showcase of two genre-defining artists whose singular inspiration is shaped by the contrasting exchange of the intimate and the public, the communal potential of the dance floor and the soul in the booth making it move.