Ten songs you never knew were produced by PWL

The familiar sound of Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW) and their various sound engineers - all covered here by the Pete Waterman Limited (PWL) umbrella - is one that defined the eighties and early nineties.

Here are 10 lesser known gems that you may be surprised to find PWL had a hand in making:

10: Kylie Minogue: Tell Tale Signs

Kylie's eponymous debut was a blend of brash europop (for which PWL would become best known) and R&B lite; a nod to their earlier work with Princess ('Say I'm Your Number One') and Mel & Kim (More Than Words Can Say'). Follow-up 'Enjoy Yourself' continued in a similar vein, with four notable exceptions; 'My Secret Heart' - quirky and more chord changes than you can shake a stick at, 'Heaven & Earth' and 'Tears on my Pillow' - the album's obligatory ballads, and 'Tell Tale Signs' - marking the arrival of torch-song Kylie, and to this day remaining a fan favourite:

9: O'chi Brown and Rick Astley: Learning To Live (Without Your Love) (Midnight Lovers Mix)

PWL do American style soul, performed here by O'Chi Brown and Rick Astley, prior to Rick's worldwide fame. Incidentally, Brown originally recorded 'Whenever Your Need Somebody', which Astley later went onto achieve global success with:



8: Bananarama: Mr Sleaze 

SAW used a number of Bananarama b-sides to experiment with different genres, including the funk driven 'Mr Sleaze in 1987'. This rare groove sound was used earlier in that year, on SAW's 'Roadblock'.






7: Andy Paul: Anna Maria Lena 

You may know that Pete Waterman and Mike Stock (along with Steve Crosby) wrote and produced the UK's 2010 Eurovision entry - 'That Sounds Good To Me'. You may not know, that SAW produced Cyprus's 1984 Eurovision entry - 'Anna Maria Lena':



6: La Toya Jackson: Just Say No

Perhaps not the preferred Jackson PWL wanted to work with, nonetheless SAW contributed three songs to La Toya's 1988 eponymous album. 'Just Say No' was written for Nancy Regan's anti-drugs campaign:



5: Expose: Point of No Return (PWL Remix)

In 1987, PWL Mixmaster, Phil Harding, remixed 'Point Of No Return' for the American freestyle sensation, Expose.

A year later, SAW worked with another freestyle group, Sequal. 'Tell Him I Called' is the best known song from this collaboration:






4: Depeche Mode: Strangelove (Pain Mix)

Maintaing the balance between alternative credibility and pop sensibility, Phil Harding comes up with the goods yet again on this Depeche Mode remix:



3: Banarama: Ectasy (Chicago House Stylee)

Thanks to the influence of Pete Tong (head of London Records A&R at the time of the emerging chicago house sound), PWL experimented with the genre for one of Pete's better know acts, Banarama, in 1987:




2: The Visionmasters and Tony King featuring Kylie Minogue: Keep On Pumping It

Released in 1991 with the rave scene in mind, 'Keep On Pumping It' featured a sample of 'I Guess I Like It Like That', taken from Kylie's fourth album, 'Let's Get To It'. 'Rave Kylie' continued into 1992, with the club influenced 'Do You Dare' and 'Closer', which featured as b-sides to 'Give Me A Little More Time' and 'Finer Feelings' respectively:







1: Mandy Smith: I Just Can't Wait (Cool and Breezy Jazz Mix)

Mandy Smith may well be remembered for two reasons; her short-lived marriage to Rolling Stone Bill Wyman and this version of her 1987 single 'I Just Can't Wait'; still seen as an influential record on the then still emerging Balearic House scene.

The same laid-back guitar groove (courtesy of Matt Aitken) can be found be heard on 'Matt's Jazzy Guitar Mix' of Rick Astely's 'It Would Take A Strong, Strong Man':

'Stick or Twist ' - the choice is hers

What next for Kylie? La Minogue was on top form at this years 'Brits'. She looked stunning, glamorous and understated (which is more than can be said for some of the get-ups Will Baker has had her in over recent months - miaow). 2008 was also an interesting year music wise for Kylie. So much so, that she is now at a crossroads in her pop career. A good time then to ponder on what choices may lay ahead:

(1) More of the same

Another album along the lines of 'X' - i.e. a dollop of electro-pop provided by Bloodshy and Avant, a sprinkle of pop from the fair hands of Cathy Dennis, and a smidgen of 'R&B lite' for good measure. Another successful recipe for Kylie? In my mind no.

The problem with 'X' is that it sounded too prescribed. The sleeve notes may have read like a who's who's of the late 00's music industry, but the record itself sounded like a contrived mish-mash of songs, hand chosen no doubt by record company 'suits', and lacking in any really feeling from Kylie herself. The exception being 'No More Rain', which apparently Minogue had to fight tooth and nail for to make the final cut. 'X' has been Kylie's poorest performing album since she moved to Parlaphone, and I honestly believe it's because the collection lacked any direction. Sure, there was the occasional good song ('The One' being the obvious example and don't even get me started on the lack of 'proper' single release in the UK), but there was nothing to tie the whole collection together - no red thread. The public will become bored of more of the same. A new direction is needed.

(2) The 'Showtunes' album

The idea has been mooted on many a fan messageboard and indeed by the great one herself. It would involve parred down versions of standards (a la 'Over the Rainbow from the 'Showgirl' tour), or even acoustic/ballad versions of Kylie's back catalogue (the crowd pleasing swing version of 'Better the Devil', or something in the vein of the ballad versions of 'White Diamond' or 'Made in Heaven' as featured in the 'White Diamond' Documentary).

I for one would love to see such an album, as would probably much of Kylie's core fan base and gay following. However, would anyone else? The women who look up to Kylie and think her songs are catchy, the men that fancy her and secretly have 'Fever' on their iphones ('it's only for when I am at the gym, honest'). It is likely that such a concept would alienate these key demographics. So whilst the idea is a nice one for us fans, its probably not sensible in this important juncture in Kylie's career.

(3) The retro album

By retro, I am not suggesting a return to SAW. Well not completely anyway. I am talking about a good, old fashioned album with ten really cracking songs on it - not ten average, one crap and two good songs (yes I am referring to 'X' again). Production wise, there should be a small core of producers. This would give the album a consistent sound and some kind of theme that the audience gets and relates to.

The CD should be 80's inspired. Pete Hammond did some great work with Alphabeat last year, and whilst his remix of 'Boyfriend' was identical to his mix of Bananaramas 'I Can't Help It', it did sound surprisingly contemporary in context. There could be a starkness to the album. A style that is perhaps akin to Jam and Lewis' work on Janet Jacksons Control album. To bring some warmth into the mix, how about some Freestyle influence, courtesy of production from the Latin Rascals? There is a holy grail of music to be found between the trinity of PWL, Jam & Lewis, and Freestlyle; and right in the middle of these three styles is where Kyies new album could be hiding.