Wednesday, December 11, 2024

We Were E

 RIP the legendary Lennie De Ice



Real name Lenworth Green. A first name I've never seen before. The whole name sounds like a place. 


I can't remember what I was watching - an old episode of Snub seen many years after its 1988 broadcast ? - but can remember my surprise on encounteringthe source of that almost distraught-with-XTC "we are e-e-e-e-e"


Rai'd on tyme. 

It was on the indie-alt TV show Snub  because Factory licensed the rai track and put it out late 1987. 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lennie made a load of other solid tunes without ever reapproaching the 'lightning captured in a bottle' effect of that debut 







Mixed at the Dark Side Studio - quite early for that concept to be in circ. 

Like the use of the wonderful phased vocal intro bit - "no time for no time for criticizing / music's hypnotizing" - from Raw Silk's "Do It To The Music" (postdisco classic, bought this at the time - heard the first time on Top of the Pops and was floored) 




A reflicker here of the bliss-stricken "we are eeeeeee" sample








Smackman on the right geeking out 


Getting intelligentish in a sort of Bodysnatchish way


Which is funny cos one of his alter egos was called Body Snatcher


I like the use of the word 'terrible' in this next title -  the Ivan / sublime awe-ful majesty vibe of it undercut by the blokey bathos of 'well' 








The best things he did apart from 'I.E' were as part of Dubb Hustlers  









"Jungle Tremble" -  cool, odd title that

One more time for the all-time classic  - the original remastered (and on Hooj Choons for some reason)



2 comments:

David Gunnip said...

‘We Are E’ is the first track on the classic Routes From the Jungle compilation from 1995. Fantastic.

Omar said...

My Hood / Switch is a brilliant 12" also 94 tune Konk the way he flexes that Troubleman sample. Those Do Or Die records are peak Jungle up there with Tom & Jerry for that aromatic jungle blend of Dancehall and R&B. I feel I have too many questions about Lennie after 95 where his output diminished it just seems like his tracks at the time were not getting smashed like they should have been which could be why he always kept an association with House & Garage. There is so much the scene ignored after his most famous tune. Gone too soon there will never be another