It's The Sound of the Drum That Makes You Come (...?)

When Rhino released the 5-Disc Sugar Hill Records Story box set years back (well, 1999), the Treacherous Three's Action was nowhere to be found on it. I will never understand how it didn't make the cut. Also left off was Crash Crew's On The Radio and Mean Machine's Disco Dream, but they were included on the one-cassette Best of Sugar Hill Records release that Rhino put out around the same time (and yes, that's how they suckered me into buying the cassette too).

Treacherous Three- Action (12" Vocal Version) -

Treacherous Three- Action (12" Instrumental Version) -

The thing with Sugar Hill Records is I always seem to find alternate mixes of their tracks that I never knew existed. When I searched for Action on youtube, the first result was this version, with a totally different mix. I can hear more ad libs by Kool Moe Dee, Special K and LA Sunshine towards the beginning, but overall it seems to be a sparser mix. I prefer the 12" version over this one, but that's usually how it works... you go with what you heard initially.

I find it interesting that as the vocal mix fades out (in the 12" version), you hear Kool Moe Dee (?) say "Furious 5 emcees!" That never made sense to me, especially since around this time there was tension between the two crews, and even talks of a potential battle. It doesn't sound like Moe Dee is calling them out in the fade out, it just sounds more like he's shouting them out or something. Whatever, this label has always been mysterious to me. Maybe I should stop listening that close to the fade outs of songs. Jokes on me!

Furious 5 Fade Out (Boosted) -

Here's audio from Treacherous Three's 2nd Anniversary, with Moe Dee calling out the Furious Five to battle:

(Special thanks to Big Dan for giving me the Treacherous Three cassette!)

Off-topic from this post, but...

I realize in my last post I didn't say much about GURU. I think most people feel the same way I do, deeply saddened and at a loss for how to put his influence and legacy into words. He is responsible for some of the best music ever created in this genre, and nobody was debating that when he was alive either... it's legit. It is heartbreaking that such an irreplaceable talent left us at such a young age. I'm going to bump Statik Selektah's Shade 45 Tribute right now!

Tweet