Q+A ARTHUR BAKER
THE LEGENDARY PRODUCER REVEALS ALL ABOUT HIS LATEST REMIX PROJECT THAT DEBUTS WITH A SHOWCASE OF SHEP PETTIBONE PLUS HIS OWN WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH NEW ORDER AND THE ART OF A GREAT MIX
DUNCANSEAMAN
DJ turned record producer and remixer Arthur Baker is one of the pioneers of dance music in the 1980s, working with an array of artists from Afrika Bambaataa, Freeez and Hall & Oates to Neneh Cherry and the Pet Shop Boys. He also transformed the sound of New Order, whom he has continued to work with on and off for the past 40 years.
Baker’s new project, Dance Masters, is a series of curated compilations that celebrates the art of the remix. The first instalment focuses on Shep Pettibone, the man who shaped the sound of the 80s dancefloor through his reworkings of tracks by the likes of Madonna, George Michael, Whitney Houston and Duran Duran.
“Shep was incredibly versatile,” Arthur tells Classic Pop.
This is a great collection. What are your favourite tracks from it?
Bizarre Love Triangle has to be my favourite. A lot of the mixes were done in my studio, Shakedown. Shep would work in my edit room where there was no soundproofing, so I heard Phyllis Nelson, Miami Sound Machine, all those pop mixes that were constantly on the radio. But when he did Bizarre Love Triangle I was like, “Damn, I wish I’d done that mix!” Also West End Girls and Depeche Mode’s Behind The Wheel. That was in the era where I was doing some of the same things as Shep, but I loved what he achieved with those records.