Nu Shooz 'I Can't Wait'

Chart Peak: 2

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Charted at No. 35 on 20th May 1986, rising to the heights of No. 2 by 24th June

One reason why I pushed Now 7 to the front of the queue was because this particular track had become topical: it's extensively sampled on the recent hit 'Buzzin' by Mann. Of course no sooner had I made the decision and started preparing than a track from Now 8 actually entered the Top 40 in its original form, but never mind.

Despite myself (and more to the point despite 50Cent, who appears on the UK version of it) I quite liked the Mann record which went some way to reviving my interest in 'I Can't Wait': in practice one effect is to make this sound terribly slow in comparison. In fact, on a literal basis this seems to lack the urgency that a song of this title ought to have. And yet there's something oddly addictive about its cold synth bass and the cutting-edge-at-the-time pitchshifted vocal. Singer Valerie Day is also a percussionist and so that's presumably her I can hear pinging away at some metal instrument on the right-hand channel - Friendly Fires eat your heart out! Between these various disparate elements we get a record that's both incredibly naff (well, the band name would see to that) and oddly charming, both dated and modern in 2011. It certainly has more going for it than the utterly forgotten version by Ladies First, who were a sort of own-brand version of Mis-Teeq.

Nu Shooz were a a married couple and it's pleasing to see that they still are, though Day loses some points in my eyes for quoting quack psychiatrist Louann Brizendine on her website.

Available on: The Switch: Music From The Motion Picture