The All Seeing I

Dean Honer joined forces with Jason Buckle and DJ Parrot—born Richard Barratt—to create this eccentric British electronic trio, the last of whom had anchored Sheffield’s dance-music community from the mid-1980s onward. Following his residency at the Jive Turkey club, Parrot collaborated with Cabaret Voltaire’s Richard H. Kirk on material issued by Warp Records as Sweet Exorcist; the groundbreaking 1990 cuts “Testone” and “Clonk,” the former accompanied by a video directed by Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, crystallized the home-grown “bleep” style that countered the vocal-house sound then dominant in the south. Parrot later turned to production duties and, prompted by Cocker, launched his Earth Records imprint in the mid-1990s. Buckle, for his part, had already placed tracks on Warp under the Rubber Johnny alias and released material on Rephlex under his own name. He also shared a house with Essex-born Honer, who first encountered Parrot while both were working on sessions for Sheffield electronic outfit Add N To (X).

The three musicians subsequently formed the All Seeing I and issued their 1997 debut single “I Walk.” Commercial breakthrough arrived via a sample of a live recording in which jazz drummer Buddy Rich and his thirteen-year-old daughter Cathy performed Sonny & Cher’s 1967 hit “The Beat Goes On.” The track appeared on the Earth label at the very moment Sonny Bono perished in a skiing accident. Radio exposure translated into UK chart success when the single climbed to number 11 in March 1998. The group then assembled an album with additional Sheffield contributors, among them suave 1970s cabaret crooner Tony Christie, Phil Oakey of 1980s pop stars the Human League, and maverick singer-songwriter baby bird. Christie’s stylish reading of “Walk Like A Panther,” Cocker’s wry tribute to Sheffield—“the old home town still looks the same / like a derelict man who died out of shame / like a jumble sale left out in the rain / it’s not good, it’s not right”—reached number 10 on the UK chart in January 1999. Pickled Eggs And Sherbert emerged as a fond homage to Sheffield, blending cheesy MOR and pop melodies with quirky electronic interludes. “First Man In Space,” which also entered the UK Top 30, showcased a suitably plaintive vocal from Phil Oakey. Stephen Jones, aka baby bird, supplied a biting performance on his own “Plastic Diamond,” while Cocker himself took the microphone for “Drive Safely Darlin’.” In a curious twist, Honer, Buckle and Parrot were invited to produce Britney Spears’s cover of “Beat Goes On,” which appeared on the American teen sensation’s debut album. Honer subsequently collaborated with the similarly styled I Monster.