A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman

In Episode 80 — the final regular episode of A Journey Through SAW — we heard about "Free To Love Again" by Suzette Charles , which was one of the final singles released during Mike Stock and Pete Waterman 's working relationship. Now, 33 years after that track came out in the UK, Suzette's debut album is finally about to be released. Comprising faithfully re-recorded versions...

To celebrate five years of A Journey Through SAW , Gavin and Matt are back for a special episode. And so is Mike Stock , who joins us in an interview conducted on the Calrec Soundfield Microphone to answer some long-held questions and discuss some of the best deep cuts in the SAW catalogue. Find out whether "Turn It Into Love" was written for Kylie Minogue or Hazell Dean , why "Who&...

To mark reaching the end of the journey through every single produced by Mike Stock , Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman from 1984-1993, Gavin and Matt celebrate the music of the Hit Factory by counting down our listeners' favourite 20 singles from the list of 200 we have discussed on the podcast. What will be number 1?  (Subscribers, numbers 50-21 are counted down in the bonus material at chartbe...

Shortly after Mike Stock left PWL in 1993, he purchased a building to house a brand-new studio complex and record label, Love This, and reunited with Matt Aitken to resume their songwriting and production work together. Although, over the next few years, the duo would release many more cover versions than original songs, having success with the likes of Nicki French , Jocelyn Brown & Kym Mazel...

Although both Matt Aitken and Mike Stock had left the building, PWL Records continued to release music — and in this epilogue episode, we look at some of the artists who succeeded and some that didn't hit the mark in the few years after the demise of Stock Aitken Waterman . Former PWL MD David Howells joins us to discuss the challenges of starting afresh with new talent to replace Mike and Ma...

Every journey has an ending, and in this episode, we reach the final three singles produced by Mike Stock and Pete Waterman in 1993 — and discuss the events surrounding the termination of the partnership as Mike left PWL. Former Miss America Suzette Charles joins us to talk about her singing/acting/pageant career and how she turned up at PWL demanding an audience with Pete. Her eventual collaborat...

The top 40 resurgence was over, with the next few Stock and Waterman singles released in 1993 struggling on the UK chart. But it wasn't for want of trying. Tapping into the same piano house sound that had yielded hits for Sybil (with and without West End ), "Looks Like I'm In Love Again" by Key West featuring Erik had come to PWL via Eddie Gordon 's Sanctuary imprint. The...

The commercial resurgence at PWL continued in 1993, with all four of the singles covered in this episode becoming UK hits. Still on her hot streak following the success of "The Love I Lost" with West End , Sybil returned to the top 5 with original tune "When I'm Good And Ready", which was credited to her alone. Sybil tells us what she thought of the song, which was poppier...

Things were looking up at the Hit Factory in early 1993. Mike Stock and Pete Waterman found themselves in the UK top 5 with back-to-back singles — something that hadn't happened in three years. And the latest of those big hits came from a remake of "The Love I Lost" released by West End featuring Sybil . The story behind the single is an intriguing one, with various mixes and multip...

Before we begin our journey through Mike Stock 's final year working with Pete Waterman at PWL, we have a preview of what's still to come. Plus, we share the first 10 minutes of our recent Greatest Hits by Kylie Minogue bonus episode To hear the full Greatest Hits by Kylie Minogue bonus episode and all the other extra content, you can subscribe at chartbeats.com.au/subscribe Support the...

To wrap up 1992, Stock and Waterman worked with two new artists and two returning favourites. In the case of Kylie Minogue , it was to be her final single released with PWL. Fittingly, her version of "Celebration" was lifted from Greatest Hits and gave her a final UK top 20 hit before departing for new musical adventures. We hear from Phil Harding & Ian Curnow , who produced the trac...

Summer 1992 didn't yield much in the way of Stock and Waterman productions. But in August that year, there was a sudden rush of releases, kicked off by a curious novelty record: a remake of "Summer Holiday" by Fat Slags , characters from Viz . Former PWL engineer Pete Day helps us get to the bottom of who exactly performed on the track. Meanwhile, Kylie Minogue got one step closer t...

In early 1992, Boy Krazy were still a year away from their belated massive success in the US with "That's What Love Can Do" and they followed up that debut single in the UK with "All You Have To Do". Now a four-piece, the girl group shifted musical gears, releasing a more club-influenced track, but once again it failed to connect. Ruth Ann , Kimberly and Josselyne discuss...

Following their launch in 1991 with debut single "Get Ready For This", Eurodance duo 2 Unlimited enjoyed a string of more than a dozen hits around the world. What does that have to do with Stock Aitken Waterman ? Well, in the UK, the act fronted by Ray Slijngaard and Anita Doth was signed to PWL Records at a time when the Hit Factory's in-house productions were often struggling on t...

There was no denying the popularity of rave and techno in the UK in 1991, and Stock and Waterman went all clubby as the year drew to a close — with help from some key collaborators. DJs Paul Taylor and Danny Bennett (aka Danny Hibrid) from Angels nightclub visited PWL to work with Tony King on remixing Kylie Minogue album track "I Guess I Like It Like That". The result: a completely new...

Late in 1991, PWL was trying all sorts of things to get back in the charts on a regular basis, including working with '80s funk/soul band Cool Notes . Single "Make This A Special Night" harked back to some of SAW's earliest releases when they dabbled in R&B — and was one of several tracks recorded with the group, which was now a trio. Singer Lauraine McIntosh talks about Co...

They were the pop stars that changed everything for the Hit Factory — and in this episode we discuss pivotal singles for Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue . In Jason's case, his remake of "Happy Together" was his final single with PWL, as he made the leap to musical theatre and a new record label. The cover version was also the first Stock and Waterman production, with Matt Aitken now...

To mark the third anniversary of A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman , former PWL remixer Tony King joins us to share his story of going from Phil Harding 's assistant to being responsible for a Billboard Hot 100 smash hit thanks to his remix of "Don't Make Me Over" by Sybil. Tony recounts the "weird" way he landed a job at PWL and how his first task was to remix...

The Boy Krazy story is one of the most interesting — and complicated! — in the SAW history. The American girl group was put together through auditions in New York, going through a few line-up changes before the final five-piece, Johnna , Josselyne , Kimberly , Renee and Ruth Ann , signed a deal with PWL Records and flew to London to start recording with Stock Aitken Waterman . Kimberly and Jossely...

It had to happen at some point. In May 1991, the Stock Aitken Waterman era ended when Matt Aitken walked away from his role as one third of the songwriting and production trio. In this episode, he explains what prompted his decision and we explore the changing nature of PWL at the time, which was a contributing factor in the split. Mike Stock also weighs in on Matt's departure and reveals whe...

The fourth in arguably the best singles run in pop music history was also a first for Stock Aitken Waterman , as external mix team DNA took care of the 7" remix of "Shocked" by Kylie Minogue , Neal Slateford from DNA tells us how the unprecedented remix came about following the runaway success of his and production partner Nick Batt 's reinvention of Suzanne Vega 's "...

She was our very first interviewee back in Episode 1 — and we finally reach the conclusion of Hazell Dean 's Stock Aitken Waterman journey with her version of "Better Off Without You", which was released in 1991. The Queen of Hi-NRG joins us once again to discuss recording a song previously cut by Lonnie Gordon and her thoughts about the SAW sound struggling in the early '90s....

While "What Do I Have To Do" by Kylie Minogue stands on its own two feet as a song, the impact of the single was increased greatly due to the striking imagery on display on the single cover and in the music video. Celebrity stylist David Thomas takes us right back to the early years of his career and tells the story of how he was hired to style the video. His desire to take Kylie into a...

 In 1991, it was another bold step forward for Kylie Minogue , and in the decades since, "What Do I Have To Do" has cemented its place among fans' all-time favourites from her extensive back catalogue. But the third single from Rhythm Of Love didn't come together easily, with a lengthy period of time spent mixing the club-influenced track — and remixing it. Songwriters and prod...

You can have the best single in the world, but there's little chance of it being a hit if no one hears it. That's where pluggers come in — taking songs to radio and convincing programmers to playlist them. In 1987, Ron McCreight and his business partner, Robert Lemon , joined forces with PWL's Pete Waterman and David Howells in a plugging company that became known as Sharp End. In t...