Optimo Take Us on a Tour of Their Record Collection

THE RECORD I WISH I’D WRITTEN
Suicide, “Dream Baby Dream” (Island, 1979)
Wilkes: The simplicity in the composition of “Dream Baby Dream” and the emotional purity of the song is incredible. When something is repetitive like this, but gaining in strength as it repeats, it’s rarely purely musical.

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THE ACID RECORD THAT’S SO GOOD I’D PUT IT IN A LATE ‘80S TIME CAPSULE
Fast Eddie, “Acid Thunder” (DJ International, 1988)
Wilkes: If we’re going to try and describe the sound of a great club around that time, this would be the record I’d choose. I’ve always thought this track had a narrative more than most ‘acid tracks.’ I love its structure, even though it’s kind of clunky. It has an intense start—an insane 303 just repeating and repeating until that extended fill on the kick leads to the hooky 303. Then the use of simple sound effects and the melancholic pads that come in towards the end. This record is kind of like the story of a night out back then, and maybe it’s the right record to tell that part of our story.

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THE RECORD THAT NEVER LEFT MY CRATE DURING THE SUB CLUB’S WEEKLY RUN
Dinosaur, “Kiss Me Again” (Sire, 1978)
When I first listened to this record, I thought it was a bit of a mess and pushed it to the back of the pile for a few months. Then I put it on again late one night, and it was if a lightning bolt went off in my head. I realized the first time I’d played it, my mixer had been set to mono and I hadn’t heard the vocals. But now I had discovered the magic in the record, and I stayed up all night listening to it on repeat.

The A-side mix that Sire demanded be made—they thought Arthur’s mix was too weird—is okay, but Arthur’s 13-minute B-side mix is a thing of wonder, and possibly my favorite 12-inch ever. People in Scotland clubs have short attention spans, so I had to make a shorter edit. “Kiss Me Again” ended up becoming one of the most beloved Optimo songs, with a full audience singalong and much clapping and cheering every time it was aired. I’d also end up hearing it at almost every post-Optimo party I went to, where it would be drowned out by late night revelers crooning along to the lyrics.