THE POINTER SISTERS

AUTOMATIC
(ORIGINAL SPECIAL 12" REMIX)

BONUS:
PINBALL NUMBER COUNT
(DJ FOOD RE-EDIT)
(BRACES TOWER ELEVEN-TWELVE MIX)

The Pointer Sisters were originally from Oakland, California, USA and have a music career spanning over three decades with their greatest success achieved during the 1980's. Their repertoire has included diverse genres as pop music, R&B, jazz, bebop, country, soul, funk, dance, new wave and rock.

Automatic was a funky New Wave-styled dance number, released on the Planet Records label in 1984. The song became one of the Pointers' signature tunes and was the first of four consecutive top ten singles from their multi-platinum landmark album, Break Out. The song, which features Ruth Pointer's deep lead vocals, soared to number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and number two on the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and U.S. Hot Dance Club Play charts. It repeated that success in other countries such as Canada and England (where it made it to number two only kept from the top spot by Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax"). The song also became the Sisters' only #1 in the Republic of Ireland.

The Special 12" Remix was done by the in-demand 80's DJ and Remixer John 'Jellybean' Benitez.

AUTOMATIC (ORIGINAL SPECIAL 12" REMIX)

We are going back before the 80's here with these bonus tracks from the Pointer Sisters but I thought it would be a shame not include these little numbers (no pun intended) with this post considering that it will appeal to most thirty-something BA80's followers and children of the original Sesame Street.

In 1972, The Pointer Sisters provided the vocals on the soundtrack to Pinball Number Count which was a collective title referring to 11 one-minute animated segments on the popular PBS children's series Sesame Street that teach children to count to 12 by following the journey of a pinball through a rather fanciful pinball machine. The track, which was composed by Walt Kraemer and arranged by Ed Bogas, was originally produced in 1972 by Imagination, Inc. in San Francisco, California for the Children's Television Workshop but made its debut on Sesame Street in 1976. Since the days of early Sesame Street the Pinball Number Count has become a staple in pop culture and upon it being heard you can guarantee a sing-a-long.

PINBALL NUMBER COUNT (DJ FOOD RE-EDIT)

PINBALL NUMBER COUNT (BRACES TOWER ELEVEN-TWELVE MIX)

A video edited together using the the different segments from Sesame Street and the DJ Food Re-Edit.

For the Braces Tower Mix a video was made using a clever combination of footage from Sesame Street and The Beatles' animated film Yellow Submarine.