"Your Loving Arms" by Billie Ray Martin

"Your Loving Arms" may have been released in 1994, but it was not until the following year that it really blew up big-time. It was in 1995 when "Your Loving Arms" came to my attention. I was a passenger in the red Corolla of my officemate (now The Philippine Star's executive vice president) Lucien Dy Tioco. He played this song off his mixtape. Lucien would always play breakout dance records to me in that car, to which I was a happy listener. I learned a lot about European dance records from him. I was heavily into American dance records and house remixes of pop songs. Anyway, he was very excited about "Your Loving Arms" when he made me listen to it. To be completely honest, it did not make an immediate impression with me. I just thought it was all right for a dance single. Then again, that's usually the case with me. Sometimes a song would take a few more listens before it gets me hooked. And when I get hooked, I really get hooked!

Later in 1995, I learned that "Your Loving Arms" went to #1 in the Billboard Club Play Chart. (The following week, it would be replaced at #1 by another song that carried a Sound Factory remix by Junior, "Never Get Enough" by the Waterlillies--but that song deserves a separate post.) I used to track down the single whenever a record topped that particular chart. In this rare case, I was still on the fence about the song. I got hold of a copy of DJ Magazine listing the tracks found in the vinyl. My eyes widened when I found out there were Sound Factory remixes from Junior Vasquez. Say no more, I thought. 

Off I went to the now-defunct CD Warehouse in Greenbelt, Makati to try my luck. I was over the moon when the CD maxi-single was available. I immediately bought it, and never looked back since. I love the Sound Factory Vocal Mix. I am a sucker for tribal house music. This remix is awesome on a big sound system. The tribal drums and percussion are so alive. Of course, Billie Ray's voice shines above the production. If there was a song that could reduce a grown man to tears on the dancefloor, this is the song. I remember clubbing in those days and when "Your Loving Arms" came on, a guy on the dancefloor started crying. It does have that effect.

When I became an underground DJ, of course I played the Sound Factory remix a lot. Although there are other remixes from dance music icons Roger Sanchez, Brothers In Rhythm, Todd Terry, and The Grid (who produced the original version of "Your Loving Arms"), I stayed with Junior's remix because of its sheer power and its ability to translate Billie Ray's emotional delivery into an emotionally-charged house record. 

From my iTunes playlists.

In a later year, Todd Terry's remixes came out in another single. I was positively amused that the remixes bordered more on freestyle music than house, but I couldn't complain. The single was a real treat. Again, I became aware of this single's existence because of DJ Magazine. I know some people didn't like these remixes at all, but I thought it was a groove and that was all that mattered to me. 

Then Billie Ray released "Running Around Town", which got as high as #3 in the Billboard Club Chart. I had to scour the single as well. Yes, Junior Vasquez remixed the single, together with Darrin Friedman, Brian "BT" Transeau, and Tony Moran. It also carried the Brothers In Rhythm remix of "Your Loving Arms" so, hello, that was a bonus. Meanwhile, my love affair with "Your Loving Arms" is alive and well.