CAFFE` LATTE` 
TOP 1200 CHOICE TRACKS
#980-976 20 -a -day special fast track...

#980 ALL AROUND THE WORLD Lisa Stansfield
Barry White inspired the writers of "All Around the World", British trio Blue Zone's members Andy Morris, Ian Devaney and Lisa Stansfield. Forming in 1986, she was the group's lead vocalist. In 1989, Stansfield sang lead on the Coldcut dance classic "People Hold On". 
It was in that same year that "All Around The World" was issued. The 3 wrote all the tracks on Stansfield's first solo album 'Affection'; with the 2 males producing all but 1 song. Her solo career was successfully launched as the decade gave way to the 1990s. In 1999, Stansfield recorded a duet with White on his 'Staying Power' album, entitled "The Longer We Make Love".

#979 THE SNAKE
The Al Wilson song "The Snake" was a forgotten R&B recording until the explosion of Northern Soul in the UK. The singer/ drummer was born in Mississippi in 1939. He became a member of The Rollers in 1960, leaving 2 years later. His first solo chart hit was "The Snake", which peaked at #27 in 1968.  The track was included on his 'Searching for the Dolphins' LP. The original version of "The Snake" had been written and recorded by Oscar Brown Jr. 
With the popularity of Northern Soul in Britain in the early Seventies, "The Snake" became an essential dancefloor favourite in clubs catering to this trend. Wilson would finally reach #1 in the US with "Show and Tell" in 1973; his only Top 10 single. The singer died in 2008 of kidney failure.

#978 ONE HUNDRED WAYS Quincy Jones featuring James Ingram
Legendary producer Quincy Jones gathered some of the best talent around for his solo album project  'The Dude'. Among its key tracks, were 2 ballads: "Just Once" and "100 Ways". The latter was penned by Kathy Wakefield, Ben Wright & Tony Coleman. Q handled the production duties himself. The track was lifted as a single in late 1981, peaking at #14. Ingram is in fine voice, imploring the listener to remember it's important to show those in your heart that you love them. Toto's Steve Lukather is featured on guitar. Louis Johnson (from the Brothers Johnson) plays bass on the track. Ingram collected a Grammy for this performance in 1982.

#977 TILL THE HEART CAVES IN K.D. Lang
K.D. Lang's 1997 album 'Drag' featured a set of songs all related to smoking. "Till the Heart Caves In" was written by T-Bone Burnett, Bob Neuwirth and Roy Orbison. Lang co-produced the track with Craig Street. Ten years earlier, Lang & Orbison recorded a remake of the latter's 60s hit "Crying", which won the pair a Grammy Award.

#976 MR. BAD GUY Freddie Mercury
In 1985, while Queen was on hiatus, its lead singer Freddie Mercury recorded his debut solo album. 'Mr. Bad Guy' was preceded by the overtly camp "I Was Born To Love You". That served as a perfect preview of this diverse project. Mercury branches out further than he ever did within the confines of his group, but his voice and the productions didn't alienate Queen fans. The title track was penned by Mercury- as were the other 10 songs on the album. Regular Queen co-producer Mack shared production duties with the singer. Despite the lyrics of foreboding peril of the title song, Mercury's playful vocals allure us. In the end, it is further evidence that Mercury was the consummate showman.

Updated every 6 hours for 5 days