(The Woodwork) Squeaks

First release of this compilation of original Was (Not Was) extended 12" disco mixes and remixes. "The group was formed in 1980 by two childhood friends (Donald Fagenson and David Weiss) from Detroit who had spent their adolescence locked in each other's basements listening to The MC5, Frank Zappa, John Coltrane and Firesign Theatre. Such listening habits inevitably led to a surfeit of ideas which came tumbling out every which way on their records: reggae skank guitar, Robert Quine-style solos courtesy of The MC5's Wayne Kramer, surreal, sarcastic lyrics via Dylan and Lenny Bruce, James Brown/Nile Rodgers chicken scratch, rudimentary synth riffs, basslines that alternated between Jah Wobble's work with PiL and Terry Lewis' Minneapolis sound, paranoia that seemed to come straight from a 1950s public service announcement. … However, while they probably combined dub, jazz, punk, funk and studio alchemy more elegantly than any other group of the time, Was (Not Was) could also be victims of their own intelligence and refusal to recognize boundaries…On their extended remixes, though, their music became more streamlined and honed down to a razor smoothness. The remix process and the dancefloor forced Fagenson and Weiss to focus on one idea rather than the 30 they had running around their heads. …Where most remixes are created simply to get more bodies on to the dancefloor, the mixes collected on '(The Woodwork) Squeaks' actually shed light on the messages of the songs rather than merely their grooves. Of course, the goal of the best dance music is to get you to think with your entire body and that's exactly what Was (Not Was) succeeded in doing." --Peter Shapiro, London December 2003.