Forgive me if this has already been discussed but I was just wondering who else has dipped their hand into the drove of recently released treasures over at iTunes?

For those that don’t know, RCA/Arista/J Records opened up the vaults and let out a breathe of fresh air recently with their “Dance Vault” series. What this basically means is that if you’re a remix junkie whose been looking all over the place for that 12” version of Expose’s “Let Me Be The One” or that rare 8:35 minute Dance Mix of Aretha Franklin’s “Who’s Zoomin’ Who” or the previously unreleased David Morales Emotional Club Mix of Whitney Houston’s “So Emotional” or that out of print 1988 remix of The Thompson Twins’ “In The Name Of Love”, then today is your lucky day!

Just type in “Dance Vault” in the search field and click “See All” to get the full page of “Dance Vault” titles available.

The only downside is that these gems are only available in the U.S. version of iTunes. I’ll never understand why iTunes doesn’t get their act together and let people buy from different countries. They’re losing a lot in potential revenue!!

If these goodies were available for sale in my country, my shopping list would be as follows:

1. Expose – Point Of No Return (6:08) (This version features a different singer than Jeanette. It’s kinda interesting to hear her vocal over the original track.)
2. Expose – Exposed To Love (12” Version) (6:24)
3. Expose – Let Me Be The One (12” Version) (8:05)
4. Expose – What You Don’t Know (Atomic Mix) (6:30)
5. Taylor Dayne – With Every Beat Of My Heart (Make It Rock Mix) (7:05)
6. Taylor Dayne – With Every Beat Of My Heart (Extended Radio Remix) (6:33)
7. Angie Stone – Wish I Didn’t Miss You (Hex Hector/Mac Quayle Main Club Mix) (9:53)
8. The Pointer Sisters – Jump (12” Extended Mix) (6:32)
9. Expose – Seasons Change (Extended Mix – 12” Version) (7:46) (I didn’t even know this existed!)
10. Expose – Mega-Mix (12” Version) (10:00)

Dancing queens rejoice!

Dancing out of the ‘Vault’
By Gregg Shapiro
PGN Contributor
© 2006 Gregg Shapiro

Hosh Gureli is a proud man. You can hear it in his voice when he talks about his pet project, the RCA Dance Vault, launched last year, followed by a second installment last month. It makes available to ravenous iTunes consumers out-of-print disco classics, rare remixes and other obscure fare for dance-floor sophisticates.

The openly gay vice president of A&R (artists and repertoire) for the RCA Music Group, Gureli is responsible for scouting and developing talent.

He recently took time out of his busy schedule to talk music.

PGN: Do you remember the first song you ever danced to in a gay bar?
Hosh Gureli: No, because I became a DJ who started spinning at both straight and gay clubs. I can tell you my most memorable record, dancing in a club, that had an impact on me.

PGN: What was that?
HG: That was Bonnie Pointer’s “Heaven Must Have Sent You.”

PGN: Oh, yeah! With the chimes and everything.
HG: That was when I was at Syracuse University for one year, before I transferred to Emerson College in Boston. I had to get out of that cold cow town. There was also that Suzi Lane record.

PGN: For me it was “Shame” by Evelyn “Champagne” King.
HG: I like that record a lot. As a matter of fact, that should be up on the Dance Vault now.

PGN: How much influence would you say that being in Boston, a city renowned for its fertile music scene, had on your own musical taste?
HG: I would say that after one year at Syracuse, I realized that after growing up in the New York metropolitan area that I couldn’t spend four years of my life in a cold, non-urban environment. My best friend from high school was attending Boston University, and I had a chance to visit him quite a few times. I liked Boston and thought it was kind of cool. I had made the wrong decision. I needed to be in an environment where I can be with city people and feel alive. I don’t know if it was the Berkeley aspect, per se, or if it was just being in a city where you can make an impact. At Emerson, there was WERS, a 100,000-watt college radio station, on which I was fortunate enough to get a show that I called “Boston Master Mix.” I emulated what Shep Pettibone was doing in New York City. It was the first mix show in Boston and had an unbelievable impact on a lot of people without me even knowing it.

PGN: So would you say that doing radio had more of an influence on you than the presence of other musicians?
HG: Absolutely!

PGN: Can you say a little something about the genesis of the Dance Vault on iTunes?
HG: This was an idea that I thought up about a year ago because I was looking on iTunes for “Native New Yorker,” the Odyssey song. It’s a classic song and I wanted to see what was up there and what wasn’t. “Native New Yorker” wasn’t there. But I know we’re converting everything we have, because the music industry is moving towards a digital platform to survive. Then I started looking for our other dance artists and remixes and they’re not there. I’ve done A&R for many huge remixes and have been fortunate to have a lot of number-one singles. So how can I make a difference and take it to the next level? I have to give credit to the president of the RCA Music Group, Charles Goldstuck, who recognizes that I was into the whole digital aspect, in addition to A&R. I proposed that we create the Dance Vault. That was its genesis. BMG wasn’t the best at archiving in their vaults in Pennsylvania. I had to scramble to find the masters on pneumatic and half-inch tapes and other obsolete formats.
I even went to friends who had master CDs. In some rare cases, we took it right off the vinyl.

PGN: That’s incredible.
HG: You would be surprised. If you get a clean piece of vinyl, it will sound better than digital because of the warmth.

PGN: Among the out-of-print classics, I saw Machine (“There But for the Grace of God Go I”) and Odyssey listed. But what about Brainstorm or Evelyn “Champagne” King?
HG: I am about to open the floodgates. The first month, because of the Winter Music Conference, iTunes finally gave us the green light. It was a hurry-up-and-go situation, but it was not easy to do. To clear all the cuts for digital use when these artist contracts were signed 30 or so years ago, there was nothing about digital rights — whether it be mobile, a download, ring tones, anything. The contracts had to be rewritten and, in some cases, the third-party licenses expired.

PGN: What do you hope to achieve with this?
HG: I think of this as the first step in reinvigorating dance music. Dance music is not looked at, especially by major labels, as a profitable source of income. It is looked at as a marketing tool, whether to get the gay community or the underground, hip community to say, “Wow! That’s a really cool mix of this artist, I’m going to check them out.” I want to take it beyond that to say that you can actually pay for the mixes that you’ve done because there is a fan-base out there. They just don’t know where to get it.

PGN: With the Sony-BMG merger, will you also have access to songs such as Dan Hartman’s “Instant Replay” and their extensive catalog of dance music?
HG: Anything’s possible.

PGN: Since gay people go to dance clubs and listen to dance music, I wanted to know if there are openly gay artists represented in the Dance Vault?
HG: I’m sure there are. I haven’t really gone through and looked at each artist individually to determine who is gay and who is not. But I do think that you will see more artists comfortable with their sexuality in music in general. Times have changed significantly within the last several years.

PGN: In addition to remixes by Heather Headley and Kelly Clarkson, two current artists, who are some of the contemporary artists you are excited about having available on Dance Vault?
HG: I’m looking very forward to the new Christina Aguilera record. That’s going to be hot and we’re going to have some blazing mixes on that. She’s coming with fire. And there will be a new Kelly Clarkson record by Christmas.

For more information, see
www.rcarecords.com.

Don't tell me I'm the only whose excited.

It looks like it!

All those Expose tracks were already available on CD...Expose's Greatest Dance Mixes or something like that.

Cool. I have the Taylor Dayne remixes.

They have issued some rare Eurythmics mixes.

Moonbeam said:

I wish I knew everything they planned on putting out.

GangstaFam said:

Me too.

I want B-sides too!

Moonbeam said:

Beast-Sides

GangstaFam said:

GangstaFam said:

I need a cigarette after seeing that picture....

NorthernLad said:

I can totally hear her doing "Power of imagination goes right to my head".