Anyone who’s been following this blog will already know that, even during their most straight forward years, musically, Dougans and Cobain had the ability to surprise and confuse. And yet nothing previously covered comes close to describing how baffling ‘People Livin’ Today’ by Semi Real is. If the track had come out on Debut during their brief house period in mid-’91, following ‘So This is Love‘ and ‘You Took My Love‘, it would still have sounded broad and commercial. But to be released after ‘Papua New Guinea‘ and Accelerator, after they’d started working on Lifeforms, it’s mind-boggling. When I was working on the short-lived FSOL Wiki a few years ago, I even suggested it might have been an early track they’d delivered to Jumpin’ & Pumpin’, and the label had decided to cash in on the success of ‘Papua New Guinea‘ and ‘Stakker Humanoid‘s 1992 top 40-charting reissues. But no, they really did record a cheesy Euro-house track in 1992, and created four different versions (plus edits) while they were at it.
For all the track’s simplicity – and, in particular, it’s never-changing four-to-the-floor beat is remarkably unsubtle in comparison to almost everything the pair had worked on in the previous couple of years – it’s hard to deny that the band had their collective finger on the pulse. By late ’92, the UK hardcore style had begun to fall out of favour, with ravers moving on to experimental, ambient-leaning music, or the more commercial sounds coming from Europe that were pushing feet towards night clubs and away from illegal gatherings. And ‘People Livin’ Today’ has its feet firmly in the Eurodance sound, with soulful vocals, exotic flute melodies and congas, anthemic synth melodies, and a warm, rumbling bassline. It might be uncharacteristically straight-forward, and one of the least fondly remembered FSOL releases by fans, but the band knew exactly what they were doing in terms of making club-friendly dance music. White label promos were incredibly popular with DJs, and the track was remarkably successful in clubs, with a fair amount of hype leading up to the release (including a large hype sticker about the track on Earthbeat). Indeed, the track’s club popularity, as well as the band’s past two charting releases, led Jumpin’ & Pumpin’ to put the single out as the band’s third 12″, CD, 7″ & cassette multi-format release, hoping for further crossover success. Sadly, possibly surprisingly, the attempt failed, and the single failed to break the UK top 100. By this point, the band wouldn’t have minded much – they were already signed to Virgin by the time the commercial single came out, and it had been considered a parting gift to J&P.
Interestingly, two mixes feature radio edits, both the original and the more popular Med Mix. This version of the Med Mix is the version on the 7″ and cassette releases without its edit being credited; the 7″ sleeve mislabels it as being 3:58 in length.
For the cover, Buggy provided his last ever lo-bit monochrome image, featuring what looks like dancing people, although the cassette single appears to have been a very late addition to the roster, as what looks like a hastily knocked-together cover appears to have no input from Buggy at all. The credits follow the now established pattern of FSOL as producers and Yage as engineer, and the back cover features the very last appearance of the FSOL pyramid logo.
Release date: 2nd November 1992.
Tracklists
12″ (12TOT 30)
A1. People Livin’ Today (Original)
A2. People Livin’ Today (Med Mix)
B1. People Livin’ Today (Endorphine Mix)
B2. People Livin’ Today (Deep Field Mix)
CD (CDS TOT 30)
1. People Livin’ Today (7″ Mix)
2. People Livin’ Today (Original)
3. People Livin’ Today (Med Mix)
4. People Livin’ Today (Endorphine Mix)
5. People Livin’ Today (Deep Field Mix)
6. People Livin’ Today (Radio Med Mix)
7″ (TOT 30)
A. People Livin’ Today (7″ Mix)
B. People Livin’ Today (Med Mix) [Radio Med Mix]
Cassette (MCSTOT 30)
A1. People Livin’ Today (7″ Mix)
A2. People Livin’ Today (Med Mix) [Radio Med Mix]
B1. People Livin’ Today (7″ Mix)
B2. People Livin’ Today (Med Mix) [Radio Med Mix]
Credits
Written by Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain.
All tracks mixed and produced by The Future Sound of London.
All tracks engineered by Yage.
Vocals by Ricky Lee.
Executive producer Earthbeat Studios – Tim Jones.
Design & artwork Buggy G. Riphead.
Published by Skratch Music Publishing.
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