SWV 'Right Here'

Chart Peak: 3

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SWV - Sisters With Voices - are New Yorkers Coko, Lelee and Taj... 'Right Here', with its stunning Teddy Riley Human Nature remix was their 2nd UK Top 20 success. following 'I'm So Into You'. It made No. 3 in September '93.

For those not clued in, the Human Nature remix is so called because it extensively samples Michael Jackson's song of that name: one of the few tracks on Thriller not to have been released as a single in the UK, although it charted here after Jackson's death in 2009. In the meantime, though, it was a popular source of samples and seems so integral to this particular track that it's hard not to imagine it being constructed around it. And yet it wasn't: until writing this post I'd never thought to seek out the original version but it's out there and was a minor US hit in its own right in 1992, though I think the UK label were right to stick with this version. Of course that's partly because RnB of this type was more of a minority interest here at the time - it's notable that SWV's biggest US hit, 'Weak', struggled to a peak of 33 here - and therefore bringing in a proven hookline makes obvious commercial sense. But there is a little bit more to it than that, I feel: as well as being catchier this mix has a different mood, more relaxed and happy than the original. Ironically, using a second-hand melody makes the track more distinctive.

Incidentally, this isn't a song I would knowingly have heard at the time, but I do remember it from heavy rotation on The Box channel when we got cable a couple of years later; notwithstanding what I said about the popularity of this kind of music in the nation as a whole back then, The Box seemed like a special enclave for its fans. I remember thinking of it as an obvious summer hit and I'm slightly surprised at how late in the year it was actually released. And in another minor fact, this was apparently the first appearance of future star Pharrell Williams on a Now! album - it's supposed to be him saying "S Double-U V" in the middle of the track, even if it doesn't sound that much like him.

Available on: Platinum & Gold Collection