Inspired by Pet Shop Boys, Canadian group, Kon Kan, wasn't quite able to reach the notoriety as their muse.
The benefit of being a DJ in a club is that you can sometimes slip in your own tunes. Especially if said tunes are well received. This was the case for Barry Harris, founder of Kon Kan. While playing his recently recorded track, "I Beg Your Pardon (I Never Promised You A Rose Garden)", he got the attention of Atlantic Records employee, Marc Nathan. The track was a synthpop remake of the 1967 song from Joe South, originally recorded as Rose Garden, and later made popular by Lynn Anderson (1970), which is sampled in the 1989 version.
Nathan bought several copies of the single from a record shop around the corner from where Harris was DJ'ing, and took them back to the United States where he sent out a handful to various radio stations. Kon Kan were signed to a record deal with Atlantic, and the track ultimately went on to become a top five hit in several countries.
Playing the album, I was hooked on the opening track, Arts In D Minor / Harry Houdini. The first three minutes of the almost seven minute song are nothing but delicious synthpop instrumental goodness, and quite frankly, I wish it would have stayed that way. It wasn't that the singing detracted from it. Rather, at that point, it simply wasn't needed. The song could have easily stood on its own without vocals.
This set a high bar, and I was happy to find that this was going to continuously be met. Track after track delivered on great tunes. The sampling, the mixing, and the occasional rapping all melded together with Wynne's vocals, making for a pretty solid listening experience. So solid, I grabbed seven of the nine tracks for my shuffle.
From there, Kon Kan entered the 90's, and I personally check out. For those of you unfamiliar with my listening tastes, that is typically an invisible line I don't cross. It's purely a mental thing. Apparently Wynne had no interest in the new decade either. He left the group after touring in 1989. Though Harris was technically a solo act at this point, he kept the group's name, and released two additional albums, 1990's Syntonic, and 1993's Vida!... The two reunited in 2014. However, to date, there have been no new albums released.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS January 26, 1980 |
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS January 26, 1985 |
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