It is difficult to digest that 26 years have passed since the release of this track:
THE AURANAUT - PEOPLE WANT TO BE NEEDED
The driving force behind this track is Graham Dear, a British producer and DJ with a very rich resume in music production. Following an engineering training in the 80's and after performing production duties for various bands, he managed to secure recording deals with independent and major record labels. His first moderate success was the production of "It's My Life", a downtempo / soul song performed by Maureen Walsh and released in 1990 by Urban, a sublabel of Polydor.
During his early production todays, Graham Dear got acquainted with Richard Sullivan, a fellow engineer and producer. They both worked in the same production studio in London and decided to team up, forming Power Circle in 1991. Supported by Ayman Sawaf, owner of a private client recording facility at Burhill Park, the production duo had the opportunity to produce their first works on progressive house genre, following the zeitgeist of the period.
The collaboration between the guys lasted until 1996, when the separation was amicable in order to chase different music horizons. My personal favorite from the Power Circle era is the DJ Shakra remix for Garden of Eden, a remarkable example of early progressive house ethos (hypnotic, dubby baseline with the ethereal vocals). The solid production of this track has also been appreciated by the current electronic music community, with DJ play time by Maceo Plex and a re-release in 2021 by Renaissance, along with a new remix.
POWER CIRCLE - GARDEN OF EDEN (THE SHAKRA MIX)
However, the commercial success of the band was the track "A Little Love, A Little Life" and more specifically the acapella version. But how it this possible?
Aussie DJ Anthony Pappa used in his sets a white label mash-up, combining Offshore (Disco Citizens Mix) of Chicane with the acapella vocals of Louise Barton in the Power Circle track. What started out as a bootleg, resulted to an official release, called Offshore '97. The track reached #17 in the Charts and was included on several dance compilations.
CHICANE - OFFSHORE '97
Another great trivia of the original track is the fact that it made its way to be included in the soundtrack of film Love In Paris, a poor sequel of 9 1/2 weeks.
Since 1994 and onwards, Graham started to experiment with trance music and adopted "The Auranaut" moniker. His first release under this alias was Interactive, under Mr.C's label Plink Plonk. His releases (either original or remixes) until the start of the new century can be found in the sets of famous DJs of that era, championing progressive trance (Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, John Digweed, Tiesto, Perry O' Neil).
Personally, his best works are today's track along with Yo-Yo (another progressive trance stunner). These are the kind of tracks that were caned back in the day by Oakie during the Essential tour series. Unfortunately, there was no chance to enjoy such tracks, as explained in previous post. Additionally, for anyone interested into the vocal monologue sample, it is taken from a British 60's movie "Sink the Bismarck!".
Graham Dear released in 2004 his first album, which mostly served as a compilation of his prior tracks (incl. People Want To Be Needed and Yo-Yo), under his joint label with Sullivan (Power Circle Records). Two additional albums followed (Divine Ordinance | 2006 and Under The Radar | 2013), but since then his tracks are lost...
