Merge

by William RuhlmannBy the time Arthur Baker got around to making an album under his own name in 1989 (or as "Arthur Baker and the Backbeat Disciples," at any rate), he had a lot of favors to call in, having spent most of the '80s remixing music for half of the pop music community. But even on his own tracks, he remained a remixer and producer, creating sparkling dance grooves and having such guests as Al Green, Martin Fry of ABC, Jimmy Somerville, and Andy McClosky of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, among others, sing over them. The result set the toes tapping (although the album was surprisingly eclectic, not all hard-core dance music by any means), but it was hard to identify as the work of a particular artist. Nevertheless, individual cuts stood out: Green's "The Message Is Love" got into the R&B charts, and it and "It's Your Time" were U.K. hits. The album, however, failed to take off, and Baker left A&M.