S'Xpress 'Hey Music Lover'

Chart Peak:
YouTube

This is the 3rd hit from S'Xpress following 'Theme From S'Express' and 'Superfly Guy'... It had reaced No. 14 by 19th February 1989 and is a cover version of the Sly And The Family Stone original.

All spellings above are as on the original Now 14, and indeed match the image of the single sleeve: it would appear that the first letter E [no puns please] went AWOL from their name somewhere after 'Theme From S-Express', though it was back by the time of their debut album released just a few weeks after this single. And that mimed performance from ITV is the most complete 7" version I could find (to the extent that they even get to be surprised by the fade-out), although you can also find about half the promo video courtesy of German TV.

Mark Moore's second Now appearance is something of a change from the sample-based 'Theme' - indeed all the follow-ups that I can remember were more conventionally song-based than the debut hit, although some of this may I suppose just be a product of the record company's single choices from the material available. 'Hey Music Lover' is slightly closer to the debut hit in the sense that it's directly based on a classic funk track, though with the difference that they actually credited the original writers this time. It's a relatively straight cover of the original, which was issued originally as part of the long track 'Dance To The Medley' (the relevant part starts at about 6:29) and which itself is a development of their hit and album title track 'Dance To The Music', as well as quoting from other Family Stone songs like 'I Wanna Take You Higher'. Some of the more specific references are dropped but essentially this is a simple transposition into the acid house style of the time with various vocalists (including a young Billie Ray Martin) delivering parts of the lyric. You can see the point he was trying to make and it sounds OK but isn't particularly impressive. I'd rather have had 'Superfly Guy', actually.

Also appearing on: Now 12
Available on: Original Soundtrack