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Voodoo Ray
"Voodoo Ray" is the debut single by British electronic musician Gerald Simpson, recording under the name A Guy Called Gerald. The single was released in the UK in 1988 on the 7" and 12" vinyl formats, on the Rham! label. The original single was later released in the United States in 1989 by Warlock Records.
The single spent 18 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, eventually reaching number 12, and was awarded best-selling independent single of 1989 by Music Week and the British Phonographic Industry. The track became a popular acid house anthem associated with Manchester club The Haçienda.
"Voodoo Ray" began as a home demo recorded by Simpson while he was a member of 808 State. It was then re-recorded along with the surrounding EP over two days in June 1988 at Moonraker Studios in Manchester. The session featured production assistance from the duo of Aniff Akinola and Colin Thorpe (together credited as Chapter), as well as engineer Lee Monteverde. Simpson explained:
I was trying to keep it quiet from the dudes in 808 State, 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.
The track contains samples of comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (in character as Derek and Clive), from the "Bo Duddley" sketch as heard on their 1976 live album Derek and Clive (Live). Two samples from the sketch are heard: one of Cook saying "voodoo rage" and one of Moore shouting "later!". Simpson explained to Q in 2001: "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."
The vocal was sung by Nicola Collier, who had worked on other tracks with Simpson, with the vocal melody suggested by Thorpe and later processed by Simpson using an Akai S950 sampler.
Rham! initially pressed up 500 copies of the record, which sold out in a day. "Voodoo Ray" received support from local DJs and became popular at Factory Records' Manchester nightclub The Haçienda.
A version of the track also appeared on the compact disc version of Simpson's 1989 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. In 1995, Simpson reworked "Voodoo Ray" as "Voodoo Rage" for his Black Secret Technology album.
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Voodoo Ray
"Voodoo Ray" is the debut single by British electronic musician Gerald Simpson, recording under the name A Guy Called Gerald. The single was released in the UK in 1988 on the 7" and 12" vinyl formats, on the Rham! label. The original single was later released in the United States in 1989 by Warlock Records.
The single spent 18 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, eventually reaching number 12, and was awarded best-selling independent single of 1989 by Music Week and the British Phonographic Industry. The track became a popular acid house anthem associated with Manchester club The Haçienda.
"Voodoo Ray" began as a home demo recorded by Simpson while he was a member of 808 State. It was then re-recorded along with the surrounding EP over two days in June 1988 at Moonraker Studios in Manchester. The session featured production assistance from the duo of Aniff Akinola and Colin Thorpe (together credited as Chapter), as well as engineer Lee Monteverde. Simpson explained:
I was trying to keep it quiet from the dudes in 808 State, 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.
The track contains samples of comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (in character as Derek and Clive), from the "Bo Duddley" sketch as heard on their 1976 live album Derek and Clive (Live). Two samples from the sketch are heard: one of Cook saying "voodoo rage" and one of Moore shouting "later!". Simpson explained to Q in 2001: "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."
The vocal was sung by Nicola Collier, who had worked on other tracks with Simpson, with the vocal melody suggested by Thorpe and later processed by Simpson using an Akai S950 sampler.
Rham! initially pressed up 500 copies of the record, which sold out in a day. "Voodoo Ray" received support from local DJs and became popular at Factory Records' Manchester nightclub The Haçienda.
A version of the track also appeared on the compact disc version of Simpson's 1989 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. In 1995, Simpson reworked "Voodoo Ray" as "Voodoo Rage" for his Black Secret Technology album.