ARTIST: Urban Dance Squad 
TITLE: Mental Floss for the Globe
YEAR RELEASED: 1989
CHART ACTION: #54
SINGLES: Deeper Shade of Soul (#21), No Kid, Fastlane
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Nothing else tickled the mainstream fancy
LINEUP: Patrick Tilon, Rene van Barmeveld, Silvano Madatin, Michel Schoots, Arjen de Vreede
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Dutch group combined hip hop and alt funk / rock to some success including a great summertime jam.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: When “Deeper Shade of Soul” blasted out of boom boxes in 1989, it seemed the perfect mellow summer tune, a combo of funk and hip-hop with some tasty guitar licks and interesting turntable work. The album itself was revelatory, with not so much mellow licks but some hardcore funk / punk married to rap and hip-hop.
Being that this was 1989, some people who heard the single weren’t ready for some of the guitar-based assault. However, live they put on quite the show and their vision definitely thrilled some forward thinking record buyers.
Some of the songs don’t really work – the noise rock experiment at the end for sure. Yet, there was a lot of promise for this Netherlands band and when this album clicked, like on “Prayer for My Demo”, “Big Apple” or “Struggle for Jive”, it really clicked.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: The band got together in 1986 when Tilon and de Vreede (the DJ) jammed with the other three on stage in Utrecht.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: Yes, a second disc of live cuts that’s pretty interesting.
GRADE: B+: The concept is great, there’s just a few misses here.
