walking upstream…
Farley Jackmaster Funk
photo: architectofhouse · cc by-sa 4.0 ↗Farley Jackmaster Funk
Farley Keith Williams got his start as one of Chicago's Hot Mix 5 radio DJs on WBMX before his own productions — "Jack the Bass" and, above all, "Love Can't Turn Around" — helped carry house music out of the city's clubs and onto the UK pop charts in 1986. His cover of an Isaac Hayes deep cut, reworked with Jesse Saunders and belted by gospel-trained singer Darryl Pandy, became the first house record to crack the UK Top 10.
the sound in question
1986
Love Can't Turn AroundFarley Jackmaster Funk
walk the tributaries ↓
Isaac Hayes1970s · Soul / Funk / Orchestral soul
Farley's signature hit was built directly on top of Isaac Hayes: he and Jesse Saunders reworked Hayes's 1975 deep cut "I Can't Turn Around," keeping its melodic bones and hook while stripping it down into a house arrangement.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia — 'Love Can't Turn Around' origin (Isaac Hayes / Steve Silk Hurley / Jesse Saunders) ↗
1975
I Can't Turn AroundIsaac Hayes
1986
Love Can't Turn AroundFarley Jackmaster Funk
listen forThe soaring, gospel-adjacent vocal hook of Hayes's original survives note for note in the house version — the same melody, just re-engineered for a drum machine and a dancefloor instead of a live band.
Jesse Saunders1980s · chicago house
Farley worked the Chicago club and radio circuit alongside Jesse Saunders, whose "On & On" had already proven a stripped drum-machine bassline could carry a record — a template Farley followed on his own breakthrough single "Jack the Bass," and later teamed with Saunders directly to co-write "Love Can't Turn Around."
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia — 'Love Can't Turn Around' origin (Isaac Hayes / Steve Silk Hurley / Jesse Saunders) ↗
1984
On and OnJesse Saunders
1985
Jack the BassFarley Jackmaster Funk
listen forThe insistent, looping bass "jack" — a single repeating pattern with almost no other instrumentation — is the shared DNA between Saunders's foundational single and Farley's own early jacking tracks.
Steve "Silk" Hurley1980s · chicago house
Farley's breakthrough was a direct response to his onetime roommate Steve "Silk" Hurley's house cover of the same Isaac Hayes song: after hearing Hurley's version, Farley teamed up with Jesse Saunders to cut a competing take, renamed "Love Can't Turn Around."
listen: upstream & here
1986
I Can't Turn AroundSteve "Silk" Hurley
1986
House NationFarley Jackmaster Funk
listen forBoth versions share the same source melody and stripped house arrangement — listen for how close Farley's phrasing and rhythm track sit to Hurley's, cut the same year out of the same Chicago apartment scene.