25 ‘Electribe 101’: Billie Ray Martin and ‘the Groove Corp'

25 ‘Electribe 101’: Billie Ray Martin and ‘the Groove Corporation’

Looking like they had come from Detroit or Berlin, the ‘Groove Corporation’ was actually a group from Birmingham, England, who had previously recorded under the name of ‘Electribe 101’. As ‘Electribe 101’, they were fronted by a German vocalist called Billie Ray Martin, and played a new kind of dance music that was heavily influenced by the techno and house music sounds of 1980s urban America.

Recently I was reminded of the brilliance of ‘Electribe 101’ when, in a number of record stores in Manchester, I heard ‘snatches’ of the great new album by the former Moloko’ member Roisin Murphy. Whilst some of the album’s tracks sounded like what would happen if Annie Lennox decided to reinvent herself as a ‘Street Sounds’ Electro diva, a great deal sounded uncannily like tracks, that could have been taken straight from the early 90s ‘Electribe 101’ album called ‘Electribal Memories’.

It was a pity that ‘Electribal Memories’ was the bands only ‘proper’ album as ‘Electribe 101’ as it was brilliant. It is an album to rank alongside The KLF’s ‘White Room’, The Beloved’s ‘Happiness’ and Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Introspective’ as one of the great dance albums of that early period in ‘modern dance music’ (post-disco). In fact, this was not the only link to Neil and Chris as the two acts also shared the same management and even though he is mostly known for ‘teenybopper’ acts like ‘2wo Third3’, ‘East 17’ and ‘Bros’, it was Tom Watkins who also managed the band.

I cannot remember if Billy Ray Martin ever performed a duet with Neil Tennant, though I think it would have been a wonderful contrast to have Neil’s very English deadpan vocals along with the German vocalist, whose vocals would usually ‘soar’ to the heights.

On ‘Electribal Memories’ those vocals would soar all over and in my mind, position Billie Ray Martin as a female Billy Mackenzie, a comparison aided by the ‘Circa Records’ release of the former ‘Associates’ man’s ‘Outernational’, a year or two later.

Another comparison I could make here is with ‘Propaganda’, another Anglo-German band operational in 1990 and one that had evolved from the iconic Germanic band of the mid 1980s. Remembering how they had sounded on ‘ZTT Records’ and how they ended up on ‘1234’, I thought that the sound of ‘Electribal Memories’ is where they should have progressed to, rather than ending up as a better version of ‘Wilson Phillips’ with various ex-members of ‘Simple Minds’

Whereas singles, such as ‘Tell Me When The Fever Ended’ and ‘You’re Walking’, may end up on those ‘Greatest Ever Dance’ compilations, it is worth searching out and buying the original ‘Electribal Memories’ album. In addition to the hit singles there are great tracks such as ‘Diamond Dove’ and ‘Lipstick On My Lover’ whilst a fantastic version of the old Jesse Rae song ‘Inside Out’ really makes the song their ‘own’ (I do not know if the ‘Funk Braveheart’ recorded the original or it was just given to ‘Odyssey’).