ShannonLet The Music Play

Label:

Emergency Records – EMDS 6540

Format:

Vinyl , 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, Stereo

Country:

US

Released:

Genre:

Funk / Soul

Style:

Electro

Tracklist

A Let The Music Play 5:49
B Let The Music Play (Dub Version) 6:10

Companies, etc.

  • Published ByShapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc.
  • Published ByEmergency Music (4)
  • Copyright ©Emergency Records
  • Phonographic Copyright ℗Emergency Records
  • Manufactured ByEmergency Records & Filmworks Inc.
  • Distributed ByEmergency Records & Filmworks Inc.
  • Mastered AtFrankford/Wayne Mastering Labs
  • Pressed ByPresswell

Credits

  • Arranged By [Vocal Arrangement By]Quentin G. Hicks* (tracks: A)
  • Instruments [All Instruments]Rob Kilgore*
  • Mastered ByHerb "Pump" Powers*
  • Mixed ByNelson Cruz
  • ProducerRod Hui
  • Written-ByEd Chisolm

Notes

Tempo: 116 BPM

Barcode and Other Identifiers

  • Matrix / Runout (Run-out A-Side, (PR) facing inwards towards label [etched]): EMDS-6540-A HERbIE JR :v) AngiE "IT's SmoKing" "IT's FREsh" "LeT IT PLAy" (PR)
  • Matrix / Runout (Run-out B-side, (PR) facing inwards towards label [etched]): EMDS-6540-B HERbIE JR :v) (PR)
  • Matrix / Runout (Run-out both sides [machine-Stamp]): MASTERING BY FRANKFORD/WAYNE NEW YORK
  • Rights Society: ASCAP

Other Versions (5 of 112)

View All
Title (Format) Label Cat# Country Year
Let The Music Play (7", 45 RPM) Unidisc 7MM-702 Canada 1983
Recently Edited
Let The Music Play (12", 45 RPM) Club LET 112, 814 752-1 UK 1983
Recently Edited
Let The Music Play (12", 45 RPM, Maxi-Single) Polydor 817 045-1 Scandinavia 1983
Let The Music Play (7", Single, 45 RPM) Dance Records 105.943 Netherlands 1983
Let The Music Play (Special-Remix) (12", 45 RPM, Single, Stereo, Violet Labels) Bellaphon 120·07·067 1983

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Reviews

  • FunkyBeak's avatar
    FunkyBeak
    The dub of this classic is an absolute masterpiece. Extremely useful, by far one of the greatest dub versions to come out of the 80’s
    • splainslounger's avatar
      splainslounger
      My copy is cut too bright in tone, and has sibilance in one channel. It's not even very punchy, but detail is good. Sounds digitally sourced anyhow. I would recommend only buying this for nostalgic purposes.
      • VinylSite.Records's avatar
        How lucky to have had a sweet adolescence with this music :D
        • ronpadilla's avatar
          ronpadilla
          great follow up song to C-Bank's One More Shot.
          Shannon claims to be the first female vocalist of freestyle. Sorry to say she is not.
          Jenny Burton One More Shot do the research.
          • REENO's avatar
            REENO
            Good record, but overplayed to the point of nausea. As good as this is, there are better ones from this year that did not cross over, and are hence not as well known.
            • andyman5's avatar
              andyman5
              Edited 18 years ago
              Some have called this record "cheesy"....shame on ya'll for that! This is one mighty classic that was and is the rebirth of dance music in the 80's. Just four years earlier people were blowing up disco records on baseball fields in Chicago and Disco Sucks! was a mantra of the punk and post-punk movements... and then this came out (and as others have said) helped feminize electro and IMHO this bridged to house and so on...
              • DeletedDiscogs
                Edited 19 years ago
                An undisputed classic as well as a critical record in the evolution of dance music, Shannon's groundbreaking 'Let The Music Play' was, in some ways, a throwback to the diva-dominated days of 70s disco. For 1983, this cut made use of some truley cutting edge production techniques. Up until that point, electro was very much a masculine thing. When 'Let The Music' was released, not only did it elevate electronic music to a new high, it was also the first time we heard a robust female vocal backed by wholly synthetic music - something that has since dominated mass appeal dance music. Additionally, it also did the impossibly difficult task of transporting dance music back over to the masses (a feat for the mid 80s), something absent since disco itself.
                • Alain_Patrick's avatar
                  Alain_Patrick
                  Edited 20 years ago
                  The Brooklyn singer Brenda Shannon Greene was only 25 years old when she recorded on the electro-disco label Emergency a tune named "Let The Music Play" in autumn 1983. At the first moment, Shannon was absolutely surprised when she saw her name mentioned on the song credits, and the track became instantly a massive dance club hit. With more than one million copies sold, reaching number eight at the Billboard pop charts and the second place in the R&B charts, the Freestyle anthem had a combination of typical electro-synth bass, lovely piano lines, dancing breakbeats and Shannon vocals whose lyrics “Let the music play, He won’t get away, Just keep the groove and then he’ll come back to you again! Let it play!” were heard in the dancefloors of USA and Europe. Largely played at Manchester’s Hacienda club (on the same building of the Factory Records), it was included on the repertory of the compilation “Viva Hacienda - Fifteen Years Of Hacienda Nights” that celebrated the hits of the club from 1982 to 86. The tune became a reference to many of the freestyle artists that appeared later, such as Angelique, The Cover Girls, Debbie Deb, Alizee, Wickett, between others.

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