ARTHUR BAKER PRESENTS: THE CLASSIC DANCE REMIXES CD

Do the '80s sound like Arthur Baker, or does Arthur Baker sound like the '80s? While it may seem like a chicken and the egg scenario, it's more of a rich, perpetual feedback loop. Throughout the decade, the record producer, label head and industrious remixer shifted the axis of the pop world from his home base of Shakedown Studios in New York City. After throwing down the gauntlet as one of the chief architects behind Soulsonic Force's "Planet Rock" in 1982—the foundation for electro—Baker spent the following years engraving his initials into the greater musical landscape.

Through his collaborations with the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, the Pet Shop Boys and New Order, rock and dance music became more deeply intertwined while several emerging genres—freestyle, hip-hop and electro—were becoming more defined. By the time the '80s drew to a close, Baker's experimentations with sampling and the Roland TR-808's booming bass sound had propelled both techniques out from the fringes and into ubiquity. Baker's output during this pivotal decade is examined in a new box set, Dance Masters: Arthur Baker – The Classic Dance Remixes.

Rounding up several seminal original productions like "Walking on Sunshine" by Rocker's Revenge and Freeez's "I.O.U." alongside an assortment of remixes and rarities, the collection functions as a comprehensive survey of Baker's influence on dance floors and pop charts alike. The songs assembled here are maximalist, unapologetically synthetic and brimming with outsized, floor-filling percussion. The 43-track CD edition runs through 1978 to 1989 in non-chronological order, spanning from "Can't Put No Price On Love"—a previously unreleased song by Baker's early disco group North End—to "The Message Is Love (Cupid Mix)," featuring soul legend Al Green on vocals. Everything from new wave and synth pop to house and hip-hop is covered along the way, with appearances from a diverse range of artists including The Cars, Neneh Cherry and Parliament-Funkadelic fixture Junie Morrison.