Tuesday, 27 June 2023

Shiva [2023] - What Does It Take / Never Gonna Give You Up [Isle of Jura Records]


Released on Friday was a double single / EP consisting of two songs with vocal and intrumental / dub versions by Shiva.

The whole thing looks and sounds retro with a late 70s/early 80s feel, so we thought we'd better check to see it is was in fact a reissue. The fact that Leon Ware, who died in 2017, features  on "What Does It Take" lends even more curiosity. 

We discovered that both tracks were featured on a 1983 album ":20 Minute Workout (The Original Music)", a workout recording for a TV show with workout instructions included! It was re-marketed in the US and Australia as "Aerobicise - The California Exercise Craze" .. it never reached Europe lol!

"What Does It Take" (not the Johnny Bristol written song recorded by many including probably most famously Jr. Walker & The Allstars but possibly 'borrows' some of the lyrics) is the more pop oriented side and features vocals by Leon Ware.

Both songs were written by Ira Newborn with the flip also having a familiar looking title "Never Gonna Give You Up", but is an original song and the preferred side but with a decidedly white sounding vocal from Jo Ann Harris (who was a backing singer for the likes of Bob Dylan, Bette Midler, Rita Coolidge, Melissa Manchester and more). This track is labelled as a 'cool down' on the album and is a nice modern soul stepper, which would sound even better with a more soulful black vocal, but still a great vibe

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details
Rating: 8.4 (for B side)
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Modern Soul / Reissue
Format: Single
Media: Digital
Label: Isle of Jura Records
Cat No: None
Date: 23/06/2023
Key/BPM: 8B/122 / 12B/97
Price: £3.49
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