Ralphi Rosario ft. Donna Blakely :: "Take Me Up (Légo Remix)"
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Review by Terry Matthew | Published January 2008 | Review Archives

This past summer, I was going through some old mixtapes and came across this song with an addicting little xylophone riff - simple, stripped down but more addicting than reality TV. This was Ralphi Rosario's "Take Me Up," with vocals by Donna Blakely, remixed by Légo. I didn't know at the time, but according to Ralphi, Donna Blakely passed away on June 9, 2007.

I fell in love with this song all over again, and played the hell out of it all summer long. I wondered how I could review something that's ten years old at this point, but Légo took care of that for me when he recently re-released some of his classic remixes on his own Poontin Muzik label.

In a subtle way, "Take Me Up" rewrote the formula for House Music as it was being produced at the time. There was no classic build but an unmistakable energy made this the kind of track that could be played at peak hour, midnight, an afterhours or early set - anytime, at any event House Music is played at. It's like a machine that taps some kind of kinetic energy, brings it up to the surface and lets it go. Donna Blakely's big vocals are in the best tradition of divas dating back to the disco era, and Légo layered the drums and driving bassline to awesome effect.

This for me marked the start of Légo's rise into the phenomenal producer he is today. Whether you find the original or buy the re-release off traxsource from Poontin Muzik, this is a record that deserves another spin.