Seven 45s: Stock, Aitken & Waterman

There is something about the brevity of playing Seven 45rpm (7 inch) records.
It is enough to convey a message, create a feeling, tell a story, and much, much more, but doesn’t consume too much listener time.
Further to this, in terms of starting out in DJing, it is easy and cheap to start collecting 7 inch records. A quick trip to the charity shop will get you a record player and a clutch of 45s.
During a 1 or 2 hour radio show or podcast you may dip into and out of the music over the course of a listen thru.
Seven 45s is less daunting and can hopefully inspire other people into looking at music differently & to do the same & create there own Seven 45s set(s).
“Seven 45s” maybe a concise format, but that doesn’t mean inferior.
Just like 45s themselves have to distill down the (usually longer) full version of the track, Seven 45s sets distill down DJ mixing to the quinticential Seven 45rpm 7 inch records.
Seven 45s allows DJs to be less concerned with beat matching as “mixing” in the traditional sense doesn’t have to apply. Letting tracks play out to the noisy end is fine in Seven 45s, as long as the next track is played promptly after with no large pauses.
The flow of a Seven 45s recording doesn’t have to be synced or beat matched.
Think of Seven 45s like the vinyl based musical equivalent of Haiku’s, easy to start doing yourself, but can take a lifetime to master.

The rules:

Seven tracks from seven different 7 inch 45rpm records “Seven 45s”

That’s it.

Seven 45s

This is my first one.

For this Seven 45s I’ve decided to focus on the 80s production powerhouse Stock, Aitken & Waterman. If you don’t know that name I am certain you will recognise the music. From Kylie to Bananarama to Dead Or Alive “S.A.W” were the production team behind more than 100 UK top 40 hits!
Here is my “Seven 45s” from there back catalog.

Tracklist:

Bananarama – Venus
Mel & Kim – Showing Out
Pat & Mick – I Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet
Kylie Minogue – Hand On Your Heart
Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up
Jason Donovan – Too Many Broken Hearts
Dead Or Alive – Your Spin Me Round (Like A Record)

For more on my Seven 45s go here: http://www.whistla.com/2015/10/01/seven-45s/