Voodoo Ray
| "Voodoo Ray" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by A Guy Called Gerald | ||||
| from the album Hot Lemonade | ||||
| Released | 1988 | |||
| Recorded | June 1988 | |||
| Genre | Acid house | |||
| Length | 4:27 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Gerald Simpson | |||
| A Guy Called Gerald singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Voodoo Ray" is a 1988 acid house single by Gerald Simpson, recording under the name A Guy Called Gerald. The single was released in the UK in 1988, in the 7" and 12" vinyl formats, on the Rham! label.
It reached number 12 in the UK Singles Chart, and was the best-selling independently released single in 1989.[citation needed] It was released in the United States in 1989 by Warlock Records. It also appeared on A Guy Called Gerald's 1988 album Hot Lemonade, and a re-recorded version called "Voodoo Ray Americas" appeared on A Guy Called Gerald's 1990 album Automanikk, which was released by Columbia and CBS Records.
Background
The track contains samples of comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, taken from the first Derek and Clive LP, Derek and Clive (Live), specifically the "Bo Duddley" sketch.[2][3] "Voodoo Ray" combines a sample of Cook delivering the phrase "voodoo rage", truncated due to the recording equipment's lack of memory, and also Moore forcefully delivering the word "later!". In each case, the samples are shifted in pitch, and electronically processed. Artist Danny McCluskey titled a portrait of Peter Cook 'Voodoo Ray' in reference to the song.[4] The vocal was sung by Nicola Collier, who had worked on other tracks with Simpson.[5][6]
In an interview with Mojo in 2005, Gerald explained that "Voodoo Ray" was recorded over 2 days in June 1988 at Moonraker Studios in Manchester. Rham! initially pressed up 500 copies of the record and it sold out in a day.[7]
"I was trying to keep it quiet from the dudes in 808 State," Simpson recalled, "because I was still working with them but wanted to do my own thing. It was fun just slipping out of their basement and taking the drum machine. They'd be like, 'Where are you going?' I'd say, 'Oh, I'm just going home to do some programming,' then nip off to another studio. I was trying to get a tribal sound and found this sample saying 'Voodoo rage'. That was originally the title but the old sampler I was using didn't have that much memory. I just about had enough for 'voodoo ra…', so that's what it became."[8]
In popular culture
In 1995, Simpson re-modeled the original samples to create a new track, "Voodoo Rage", for his Black Secret Technology album.
The song is featured on the soundtrack of the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People (directed by Michael Winterbottom) that tells the story of Factory Records and the early Madchester scene.[9]
The song is also featured in the radio station SF-UR in the 2004 game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The song appears in Queer New Wave filmmaker Cheryl Dunye's She Don't Fade (1991).
A Steel Drum cover version was also used in artist Jeremy Deller's work English Magic, which was displayed at the Venice Bienale in 2013.
References
- ^ "Box Bottom: Bounce N Boom". Soul Food. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
- ^ "A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
- ^ Richards, Sam (3 September 2015). "From Voodoo Ray to Infinity and beyond – the story of the UK's biggest rave anthems". theguardian.com. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
- ^ "Painting By Danny McCluskey". Retrieved 7 July 2011.
- ^ "DJ History interview A Guy Called Gerald | Class of 808: Acid House to Hardcore". Class of 808. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
- ^ 1989: Bob Dylan didn't have this to ... - Google Books. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
- ^ Stuart Aitken (May 2005). "Voodoo Ray: I Raved with a Zombie". Mojo Magazine.
- ^ Q, May 2001
- ^ "City Life - Issue 498 - 13th August 2003 - "A Guy Thing" - Article". Homepages.force9.net. 13 August 2003. Retrieved 7 July 2011.