Artist:Urban Dance Squad
Song:Deeper Shade of Soul
Album:Mental Floss for the Globe
The Dutch band Urban Dance Squad were mostly successful at home. But they scored a surprise hit when the 1989 single Deeper Shade of Soul almost cracked the US top 20. It was their only chart single in the US. Urban Dance Squad first got together in 1986 at a club in Utrecht, The Netherlands. They were a rock band with a rapper. The name Urban Dance Squad is from the Parliament Funkadelic song Urban Dancefloor Guerillas. The band members were Patrick "Rudeboy Remington" Tilon on vocals, Rene "Tres Manos" van Barneveld on guitar, Silvano "Silly Sil" Matadin on bass, Michel "Magic Shoots" Schoots on drums and Arjen "DJ DNA" de Vreede on turntables. They signed with Triple X Records and released the 1989 album Mental Floss for the Globe. The album was produced by Jean-Marie Aerts who is the guitarist for the band TC Matic. Ariola Records was the European distributor. Arista picked it up in the US. Deeper Shade of Soul was the first single and it charted across Europe before it reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. MTV played the video in heavy rotation and that was probably a big factor in the song's success. The main sample on the record is the 1968 Ray Barretto song A Deeper Shade of Soul. I wouldn't even call it sampling. It's really a cover version with rapping. To be fair, the average listener would not be aware of the original. The sax solo is by Luther Francois. The album is available on CD. Urban Dance Squad released six albums from 1989-99. They switched to Virgin after three albums. They had modest success in Europe. But Deeper Shade of Soul was their only memorable song. They split up in 1999 and have reunited occasionally. Here's the video for Deeper Shade of Soul by Urban Dance Squad.
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