Rhythim Is Rhythim ‎– Strings Of Life

Although " IT Is What It Is" is my fave Deric May tune,this is a monster that went out of control.I remember it slipped though the net at first and didn't make big waves.I remember going to London with quite a few others from Stoke and the Manchester (in 1989) and this tune causing ecstatic mayhem.When we got back we all wanted to know what it was,and my friend Justin C saying it was an older track and after buying incorrectly buying Da Posses "Strings" pulling it out of my crates.By then it was everywhere and to this day is still the biggest most awesome Techno monster ever created.Beautiful,anthemic and so big it packs floors 25 years later.

this is a major track. the live version is very unlike the original until the breakdown when the piano kicks in and the crowd cheers, lifts the hairs on your body!! amazing!!

fantastic track!!! One of the all time classics!!

Any one know which version was the first?

In the release notes, it reads: "Strings Of Life (Remix)", or "Strings Of The Strings Of Life" first appeared, and featured additional production by Carl Craig & Derrick May. This mix was "unreleased" in the sense that it was new at the time and was never officially released on a single; only on compilations."

Does anyone have this??? I cannot find it anywhere on Discogs. I'd like to peep it out.

Someone posted a comment on the Mastercuts Classic House Volume 2 release that the version on that compilation is the Carl Craig-Derrick May colab, but it's clearly the Magic Juan remix.

The Runout as mentioned above should read MS-004 although if an original promotional copy should also have ARCHER in very small text to both A and B sides. Track listings as mentioned above. If without the ARCHER stamp then I would suggest a bootleg or later pressing.

I read somewhere that Strings Of Life is about the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. gave to the world. Perhaps in the Detroit of 1987 that dream seemed to have died with King but listening to this song, I know that cannot be true. There is an energy in this song, a sense of movement, that I have never heard in another techno song. Somehow the string stabs chafe against the piano line and the drums in a unique way that electrifies my body. Judging by the response I have seen to to this song in clubs, other people have the same reaction. You cannot stay still when the song kicks off after the short introduction, and if there is more than one person listening, something special will happen between the two of you.

Sometimes I feel sad when I look at Derrick May's catalogue and see that he stopped giving us music after only a few magical years near the end of the 20th century, but when I listen through, I find it full of emotional explosions like this one. They are focused and cut like a scalpel to the heart. Maybe he got sick of the pressure, maybe he is lazy (doubtful), or maybe he just burned out after producing a dozen odd songs like this one. I want him to produce more music, but I also feel satisfied with what he has made so far.

An interesting thing about 'Strings Of Life' is that Derrick May didn't name the song, but Frankie Knuckles did. Derrick took the song to Frankie, so he could play it at the Power Plant. The song was played seven times in a row in a night and the people who came to dance loved it. But there was still no name for the song, but everybody called it 'The String Song'. Then Frankie came up with the idea to call it 'Strings Of Life'.

It became a common sense the fact that ‘Strings Of Life’ was the most important Techno classic of the early period, most precisely the eighties. On this matter, this English Twelve Inch pressing of the tune by the label Kool Kat became among the main responsibles for the Techno explosion in Europe (together with 'Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit' compilation and the Inner City massive hits ‘Big Fun’ and ‘Good Life’). According to Mark Archer, ‘Strings Of Life’ (present in the ‘Deep Heat 89 – Fight The Flame’ compilation) was “one of the tunes of the year of 1989 and the tune of 1990”, though being conceived in America years before, in 1987. The Burden brothers from Octave One didn’t hesitate to claim that, “with Strings of Life, Derrick was the real precursor”, for “that was the track that started bending things”. They also said that, without this essential anthem, there probably would be no ‘Jaguar’ or ‘Blackwater’. The last track of the B Side of this single, ‘Nude Photo’, also released originally by Transmat in 1987, was included later on WARP 10+1 Influences compilation. All of these facts (among others) lead us to the conclusion that this English single, packed with a gorgeous sleeve cover of an android in the middle of musical notes, was one of the main reasons for the Techno definitive invasion in Europe.

Even though the Soul Central version for "Strings of Life" turned to be a massive hit kinda instantly, the original version from master Derrick May should get the credits for it, 'cause it holds the essence. It may be a bit slower and have a different mood from the more recent tracks, but it definitely has the spirit of a Detroit Techno classic.