Twenty Years of Horizon

I'll be the first to admit that i don't readily post enough positive material to this blog, so here is a small celebration of sorts.

March 2011 marked twenty years since the release of one of the fundamental building blocks of the 90s eurodance scene. The late Torsten Fenslau along with Peter Zweier and Jens Zimmermann teamed up with the vocalists Lana Earl and Jay Supreme to record the first Culture Beat album, Horizon. Along with 1990's Street Moves long player by Ruud van Rijen's act Twenty-4-Seven, Horizon proved that dance albums could exist without being pointless, cynical cash-ins on successful singles.

What set Horizon apart from the Twenty-4-Seven album was that it included far more fusion with other sounds away from dance music. If heard in isolation, Lana Earl's divine vocals would be immediately regarded as those of a country artist, but allied to the slick rap flow of Jay Supreme and distinctive Frankfurt tech-house sound that Fenslau pioneered, they couldn't have sounded more at home.

Horizon was released across Europe by the CBS/Sony group on a variety of labels. Germany, Austria and Switzerland saw its appearance on the locally popular Dance Pool label, whilst the album appeared in the UK very quietly and uniquely on Epic.

The album opens with the title track, a symphonic ambient-house instrumental with influences from all over the place. The stark piano line recalls George Harrison's Beatles classic "I Want To Tell You" (even more so if you've heard Neil Innes recalling the recording of it), whilst the ambient background recalls the KLF's then contemporary Chill Out album.

The first vocal track of the album, with Lana singlehandedly taking on vocal duties, is a cover of Carole King's It's Too Late. The song is dark and broody, punctuated by a sharp metronomic beat and an insistent bassline. The result is a very moving and timely cover of the original.

In stark contrast, track three is Jay Supreme's solo moment in the spotlight, The Hyped Effect. Showcasing Supreme's brilliant flow and style, the upbeat track pulls no punches and wastes no opportunity to fill every moment with his ideas. The track never assaults the senses, but it certainly wakes them up. The chorus is a processed vocal sung by Fenslau and Zweier. Compared to the current collection of plastic, mass produced party songs, this is raw dance music with genuine feeling.

Track four is the slower, almost ballad pace Tell Me That You Wait. Drawing more influence from the late 80s soul sound to which they were contemporaries than the dance beats they usually worked on, the track features a reflective rap on the theme of going away from Jay, a simple vocal chorus featuring Torsten and Peter and Lana working on backing and embelishment to key moments. Although it was released across most territories of Europe as a single on the strength of No Deeper Meaning, it failed to repeat the patchy success and remains the most widely available single from the album.

Black Flowers is the fifth track on the album, the first real collaboration between Lana and Jay. It opens with a spoken introduction by Jay and blossoms to tell a story of struggle, passion and adversity. Dance music is so often accused of being meaningless or throwaway material, but this proves it can achieve so much more. Despite the faster beats and distinctly European feel to it, Black Flowers has a rich soul and moral to it.

Tracks six and seven were both released as singles, No Deeper Meaning reached #5 on the Dutch charts and probably secured the future of the project amongst the corridors of CBS/Dance Pool management. I Like You was also released as a single, although didn't achieve the same level of success. Both tracks are upbeat dancefloor-based songs with a topical rap from Jay and a matching chorus from Lana, both sitting atop accomplished and catchy instrumentals.

Track eight is a second solo outing for Lana Earl, the 80s powerpop sound of Serious. Accounting for the nods towards the country sound of Lana's vocals and the obvious references to the Detroit tech sound, this is the most stark American influence on the album. The track doesn't feel as fully developed or accomplished as those which preceded it, perhaps indicating that those involved in the project were ill at ease dealing with a sound they didn't fully believe in.

Der Erdbeermund / Cherry Lips / Les Lèvres Cerises is the ninth track on the album in its original German, English and French forms. The original version features vocals from German actor, singer and director Jo van Nelsen, a spoken poetic ode to the one driving him crazy. Its been done before and since in dance music a thousand times, but never quite like this. The backing is a mellow, atmospheric track, verging on the ambient at times but held back from this by the insistent beats. Issued across most of Europe as a single (including in the UK as an instrumental where it troubled the lower end of the Top 75), the track was a staple of the club scene at the time.

Now we get on to the grey areas - track ten (One Good Reason) was released on the CD as a bonus track (and did not feature on the vinyl release). Another track featuring just Lana, this time in an ethereal and wistful mood along with a hypnotic beat. This was followed by a common remix of Tell Me That You Wait and a reprise of the opening overture. Horizon reprise runs through almost without any beats at all, cranking up the ambience and overall dreaminess of the track.

So there we go. One of my favourite albums ever. I first bought a copy in a record fair in one of Brunel's sheds at Bristol Temple Meads. At the time there were dozens of stalls selling deadstock and promos from the major music groups and one of several vinyl copies of Horizon caught my eye as something i'd never seen before. As i was well acquainted with Culture Beat through the hits from the second album Serenity, i gave in to temptation and thank heavens i did.

Several months later i found a copy of the Epic (UK) release of Horizon on CD at the branch of Rival Records on Park Street, also in Bristol. I've never seen another one since...