In 1993, underground electronic music in the UK was thriving. The explosion of ecstasy and illegal raving had defined the sound of a generation, with distinctively British sounding club records gaining widespread popularity across the world. Naturally, major labels were circling from above, feasting their eyes on emerging artists who could feed them commercial dance hits for years to come. As a consequence, creativity was stunted and underground gems were lost to the grinding corporate machine. ‘Just Can’t Stop’ by Serpico is the story of a 90s UK underground classic that never was.

Hailing from Surbiton on the outskirts of London, Carlos Baker AKA Serpico had been a sound engineer and part owner of a local recording studio before going down the rabbit hole of electronic dance music production. In 1989 he teamed up with good friend and fellow producer Simon Slater (AKA Gat Decor) to make proto progressive house. By the early 90s, Baker was recording tracks under the alias Capricorn with friend and guitarist Amit Joshi, releasing a white label that took the underground scene by storm in 1992. Seemingly destined for great things, Carlos signed a multi-year deal with the major record label 4th & Broadway.

Weeks after penning the deal, the A&R who signed Baker to the label abruptly left his position, leaving him stranded in an environment where he was artistically misunderstood. The brief was to make commercially successful dance music and Baker certainly had that in the locker, kicking things off with the loved up two-tracker Taste / Love in London (1992). Baker then presented ‘Just Can’t Stop’ to the label as the follow up, yet his masterpiece was batted away under the guise of its perceived lack of commercial viability. Put simply, the record wasn’t what they wanted.

Struggling to get the track to the point of release, ‘Just Can't Stop’ ended up being self-released on a limited run of blue label copies and Serpico was born, with the music gaining notoriety across Europe for its quirky euphoric feel, weighty low-end and intoxicating synthwork. Delighting dancers all over the continent, the track perked up the ears of underground heavyweights R&S Records who wanted to give the music the platform and recognition it deserved, but contracts couldn’t be agreed and the magical sounds of ‘Just Can’t Stop’ never saw an official release. Until now…

30 years on from its creation, ‘Just Can’t Stop’ remains a standout record from one of the most abundant and forward-thinking periods in British dance music history. Unlike many major label dance records of the early 90s, it has endured the test of time, becoming a prized possession for some of the biggest tastemakers on the scene. At Moonworks we are delighted to have been able to work closely with Carlos for our debut release, restoring these tracks from the original DAT tapes at Gat Decor’s studio and remastering them to modern standards. A special thanks to Carlos for trusting us to bring this record back down to earth.