THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

746-B. T. Express-Express.

1974-Number 34 single.

Best Bit-At 0.22. Pop has ‘9 to 5,’ Swing has ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo,’ Skiffle has ‘The Rock Island Line,’ Dance has ‘The Last Train to Trancentral, Soul has the ‘Love Train,’ Folk/Rock has the ‘Marraskesh Express, but Funk has this.

B. T. Express were formed in Brooklyn, New York, United States, in 1974, by the music producer Jeff Lane. They started out in 1972 as the ‘King Davis House Rockers,’ and then were later called the ‘Brooklyn Trucking Express,’ before finally deciding on ‘B. T. Express.’ In total there were nine different members come and go, with the group remaining active through until 1987. The discography of B. T. Express includes seven studio Albums released between 1974-1982, and 20 singles issued between 1974-1994, there are also three official compilation Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, three of their tracks have reached the top 40, with their debut single ‘Do It (‘Til You’re Satisfied’) peaking the highest at Number 2 in 1974. Their other two Billboard top 40 entries were ‘Express, (1974-Number 4) and ‘Give It What You Got’ (1975-Number 31.) B. T. Express also charted on the Billboard ‘Hot R&B’ chart on eight occasions, with ‘Do It (‘Til You’re Satisfied’) and ‘Express’ both making Number 1. They also charted on six occasions on the Billboard ‘Dance Club Songs’ chart, where ‘Express’ also topped that countdown. In the UK their only top 40 single is ‘Express.’

Jeff Lane who was one of the main players in the bringing together of B. T. Express, who are best remembered as being one of the groups at the forefront of laying down the foundations for the ‘Disco’ era, would later go on to work with ‘Brass Construction,’ who were another Brooklyn based ‘Funk’ group. Jeff Lane was the producer of ‘Brass Construction’s’ 1976 Billboard Hot 100 Number 14, and Billboard Hot R&B Number 1 hit ‘Movin.” Lane would later go on to produce Albums by Eddie Kendricks, (Vintage ’78-1978) and Wilson Pickett (Right Track-1981.)

One of the musicians recruited by B. T. Express in 1974 was the keyboard player, and vocalist Kashif Saleem, who was born Michael Jones, on December 26th, 1956, in New York City, New York, United States, he died on September 25th, 2016, of ‘undetermined causes.’ Jones who studied Islam, and changed his name to Kashif Saleem, was considered a pioneer in ‘urban music,’ rated alongside Stevie Wonder, because of his specific synthesizer technology approach, and the introduction of ‘MIDI’ in his production. Kashif stayed with B. T. Express until 1978, and then in 1983 he signed with ‘Arista Records’ as a solo artist, releasing seven Albums, and 18 singles between 1983-2004. Kashif was also a music producer, and songwriter for other artists including Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King, (I’m in Love-UK Number 27-1980) and Whitney Houston, (You Give Good Love-Billboard Number 3-1985) he also dueted with Whitney Houston on the track ‘Thinking About You,’ which he co-wrote and produced, on Whitney Houston’s self titled debut Album in 1985.

‘Express’ was the third of four singles released from ‘Do It (‘Til You’re Satisfied,’) which was the debut studio Album released by B. T. Express, from November 1974, all of the band members at that time are given writing credits, with Jeff Lane being the songs producer. ‘Express’ is a mainly instrumental track, with only the lyrics ‘Here comes the express, chuggin, chuggin, chuggin, chuggin, chuggin, uh’ being repeated, which once again begs the question, when is an instrumental not an instrumental? (see also best songs 985.)