Life tends to teach us how there’s no better revelator than time going. But also the capacity which is ours to relate to a certain period with the simple use of our senses whatever they are and have them associated to a precise thing. It could be a picture, it could be a flavour, it could be a fragrance. Not to mention a sound, the power of which will be measured on its ability to be then associated to a precise name. And as for what concerns us here, the ones of Diana Brown & Barrie K Sharpe have no doubt marked the memories of a whole generation of groove junkies…

1992 The UK soul scene seems like litteraly boiling, redifining the genre, as opposed to its US counterpart led by the formats. One would even use the term of Brit soul as to welcome the emergence of a whole line up of people such as Loose Ends, Soul II Soul, Omar, Mica Paris, YoYo Honey, the Chimes, Driza Bone, D-Influence, Blacksmith, Brand New Heavies, Opaz and many others, not to mention Lisa Stansfield. Jamiroquai is already on the run for what is to become quite a glorious career. Every local label (independant or not), from Virgin to Acid Jazz, EastWest, Island, Talkin’ Loud has an eye on it and it really looks like ain’t no stopping the Brits on their race for recognition at the time… And you know why ? Simply coz’ they had that particular thang on their approach to make them instantly identifiable. And that pair known as Brown & Sharpe would make no exception on this quite exciting period.

No doubt, the twosome knew what they wanted and never lost an opportunity to reaffirm it, sticking to who they really were at the time being, as opposed to the usual wanabees following reputedly safe recipees on their quest to get fast incomes instead of making themselves a name first. And what is more than an evidence today was already around 15 years ago…

No matter what the music is, no matter how long it’s gonna last, crap will always be promoted as opposed to works with signification, coz’ that’s whare the money is… A reality that both of’em were truly aware of when getting themselves ready to put out the fruit of their common work by the beginning of the 90’s. And I’d like to say what a stunning debut, by the likes of this infectious 70’s wah wah guitar riff melted with insame keyboard effects over a phat bass line on a cool 103 BPM tempo groover originally released on Acid Jazz. Well, some of you may have guessed it, I mean none another than this soulful funk jam known as ‘Masterplan’ about which, ironically, Diana and her partner would end up being quite critic…

We didn’t know exactly what we were doing by the time we recorded it, stated Barrie. Right, it was cool for what it was but should we have to redo it, it would be different with more of a James Brown feel… A sign of perfectionnism which would lead the pair to take some 2 years to come with a whole album – The Black, The White, The Yellow & The Brown (And Don’t Forget The Redman) – with a budget (£ 200,000) quite comfortable in comparison with what their label (FFRR) would pay for licencing totally electronic made music with tracks from people such as The Orb and the likes (£ 100) roughly at the same period ! And what an album as well out of which no less than 5 singles wouldl be extracted, incl. ‘Love Or Nothing’, ‘Sun Worshippers’, ‘Blind Faith’ and ‘Eating Me Alive’ to be added to the aforementioned. Not that bad indeed from people – at least Barrie – stating at the time being a non musician. I can’t draw neither, he said although having the other hand firmly in the fashion industry. I can’t draw but I think I’m a good clothes designer and I can write.

The thing you’ve gotta understand about this LP is that it’s never ment to be a dance album. It’s a collection of goods songs made by good musicians (Mick Talbot for instance and co-producer Robin Goodfellow, known for previous works with artists such as FYC, The Thompson Twins and Bananarama). As for the lyrics, these are not just words, they’ve got a real signification. I mean, the things you’re putting out whatever they are have to be connected with the world outside. Getting influences from other people and trying to recapture them is not the point. The real thing is the way you’re gonna drop them, the way you’re gonna give’em your own touch and that’s exactly the same in terms of DJing whereas it’s not the things you play that counts but the way you play them.

No surprisingly, Barrie had the same critical eye in regards to the already dominating use of technology on music at the time. Not only in soul or disco but also in rock, there was a real warmth in music as opposed to today’s productions which just sound too polished… The 70’s were such a good period. Now people look like afraid to try to be different, as if there no other solution than stucking to a standard. And that’s about the same with all those remix packages around. I mean, having all of the likes (sometimes up to 8 or even more) released is kinda crazy, when 2 are enough as long as they’re different. It’s nothing but having record companies execs throwing money just to have certain names on the remix. Everyone wants to have big names but those people just make tracks sounding samey on most of the cases. As long as some producers are around, you would see their names almost everywhere at the same time regardless the risk of burining themselves more or less quickly. And I guess this is not the way the business shoud be looked at.

I look at designing clothes with the idea of what I’d like to wear and that’s the same with music. Both of’em reflecting my lifestyle.

‘Love Or Nothing’, they said and they obviously stayed true to those words with what would be their sole album rather than compromise themselves while falling into the diktats of the trends which would become soon after the motto of FFRR and, as a direct consequence, the quick loss of its identity after having been one of the most promising label coming out of UK, from its launch to this precise period.