Professor Eddy

C-Heads Magazine Enjoy another part of golden years of glam rock! Expect seventies fun, energy, extravaganza and swopped genders. The genre with singalong hooks, out of tune saxophones and heavy drum beats became big in Europe in the first part of the decade and was fore fronted by Marc Bolan and his band T. Rex. Shortly after its decline, disco borrowed the looks from glam and punk the straightforwardness of the music. The New Romantic movement, which started as a fashion subculture in British nightclubs in the late 1970s, before becoming a mainstream music genre a few years later, was also inspired by the visuals of the glam rock era. And even some superstars of today, like Lady Gaga and Chappell Roan, are clearly indebted to glam rock in terms of their outfits.  “I drive a Rolls Royce 'Cause it’s good for my voice” (Children Of The Revolution) The single covers of the original German, Dutch, Belgian and Spanish releases show John Knowles (who later adopted the stage name John Ki...

Pexels Enjoy the Record World Disco File Top 40, dated on September 26, 1981!  In the 1980s the most authentic disco could be find on the Record World Disco File chart. Unfortunately the Disco File charts disappeared in 1982, while the Billboard disco dance chart became a strange mix of all kinds of genres over the decade. One of them was surprisingly British new wave. Names like Soft Cell, Simple Minds, Altered Images, Pete Shelley, A Flock Of Seagulls, Haircut One Hundred, Human League and Thompson Twins popped up. They were played a lot probably in the (alternative) clubs those days and although these acts recorded some very good songs, their music is neither disco nor dance.  On the Disco File Top 40 of September, 26 1981, electronics slowly took over the chart with acts like Lime, K.I.D, Kraftwerk and Patrick Cowley, which was a sign of things to come. Tracklist: Roger – So Ruff, So Tuff [Gazeebo Edit] Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Going Places [Zemix Version] Gwen M...

C-Heads Magazine Enjoy this new episode of Sunshine Radio , again with some long forgotten radio fragments! The tracks by Kim Et Moi, Giorgio Lopez and State Cows are brand new. Gary Fane (Geert Veen) was born in my home town Groningen in 1942. He seemed to come from nowhere when he launched his ambitious concept album Horoscope , his musical interpretation of the zodiac, in 1980. At the time only a few people were aware that he was the original singer of The Surfers, known for the European, Beach Boys inspired hit Windsurfin' a few years earlier. Like Milli Vanilli, the tv-performances of the single were lip-synced by models, because Gary Fane himself was already in his late thirties when this song about high school fun was on the pop chart. He passed away in 2019. Horoscope has recently been remastered and re-issued. Until this day Evie Sands remains a very underrated singer/songwriter, although she has received more appreciation in recent years, especially in the English North...

The Smooth Operators  (=Martijn Soetens & Professor Eddy) celebrate their upcoming 10th anniversary (October 14, 2025) with some superb seventies jazz-funk! 😀 One of the tracks is Summer Madness by Kool & the Gang. Khalis Bayyan of the band arranged the track that was originally called You Don't Have To Change . It was composed by trumpet player Robert "Spike" Mickens and Elton Taylor. Bayyan gave the track the significant sound with the Arp 2600, a new instrument at the time. After working for Motown, Larry and Alphonso (Fonce) Mizell started their own production company Sky High in the early 1970s. They began to work for several artists, like Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey and Johnny Hammond. The two brothers created a unique multi-layered sound that shimmered somewhere between funk, jazz, soul and disco. After having huge commercial success with A Taste of Honey ( Boogie Oogie Oogie ) at the end of the decade, the Mizell brothers suddenly stopped producing and p...

Pixabay Let’s just chillout on a sunshine afternoon, to paraphrase the song by Collage! 😊 The new EP by Glam Sam & His Combo marks the beginning of a new chapter for both Glam Sam (Mats Samuelsson) and singer Angelina. A few months ago, Mats came across Angelina’s soulful vocals while listening to the debut album from the Monks Road Social project. With tracks featuring artists like Dr. Robert of The Blow Monkeys and Mick Talbot of The Style Council, he was instantly struck by Angelina's voice, particularly in the song Golden Day which she had co-written with Miles Copeland. After hearing it, Mats was eager to connect with her: “I reached out to Angelina straight away. Her voice just bowled me over. It's so cool and unique. I just had to work with her.” Two years ago, the composer Skinshape met the young Brazilian talent Pedro Mizutani. From this chemistry comes a collaboration where the burning sands of Rio blend with the icy bricks of London. Their first EP, released a ...

Pexels Some classic 70s yacht pop/rock, perfect to play on a boat trip along the West Coast with a drink in your hand and good company on your side!😊 The only exception is the track by Young Gun Silver Fox, which is from the new compilation Too Slow To Disco Neo: The Sunset Manifesto 2 . Enjoy! In the mid-seventies successful Dutch band The Cats went to Los Angeles to record with the best West Coast musicians around at the time. Top notch musicians like Jeff Porcaro, David Foster and Larry Carlton played on their LP Hard To Be Friends . The track How Did You Feel is a L.A. recording from the album, but I don’t know who actually played on it. I Know That I’m Dreaming by the mysterious The Exchange & Mart is from the compilation Occasional Rain by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs (Saint Etienne): “This is England, the day after the 60s. It’s a time of flux. On the cusp of progressive rock but without a rule book, many groups hold fast to psychedelia’s adventurousness and melodic deligh...

Tom Rompel Enjoy this new episode of Reeling In The Years as a Mixcloud Exclusive ! In 1977 yacht rock began to take shape with two pivotal albums: Aja by Steely Dan and Livin' On The Fault Line by The Doobie Brothers. The smooth sound started to spread like an oil stain. Photographer Tom Rompel about the Volkswagen Beetle: "Back then this was the reminder of the Nazi regime. The California boys turned it into the Beach Buggy in 1970s. And then times changed and we all remember how good it was to run that beach buggy on the skirts of a rising tides." Graham Nash wrote Just A Song Before I Go on a bet. David Crosby explained in the liner notes to their 1991 boxed set: "Graham was about to go off on tour. The guy who was going to take him to the airport said, 'We've got 15 minutes, I'll bet you can't write a song in that amount of time.' Well you don't smart off to Nash like that, he'll do it. This is the result." Going to the airpo...

Nereyda Bird Some ballads here and there, but mainly quality disco on the Billboard soul chart at the end of August 1979. Enjoy the list from 30 to 1! 😊 Peaches and Herb were known as the sweethearts of soul during the 1960s and had a string of hits, most notably Let’s Fall In Love in 1966. When the hits dried up, they decided to quit the music business. Herb Fame became a police officer, but after a few years he started to record again with Van McCoy and a newly recruited Peaches, Linda Greene. Their first record flopped, but when Herb called his old friend Freddie Perren and asked him to make a record together, they hit the big time. Their first single, Shake Your Groove Thing , went gold peaking at number 4 on the soul chart and number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1978. The follow-up single, Reunited , earned platinum status, holding on to the number 1 spot for 4 weeks on both the soul and pop chart. We've Got Love did best in the Netherlands, where it reached number ...

Pexels Enjoy the radio sound of the 1980s! Because of the warm weather in the Netherlands lately, I uploaded a bonus episode of Sunshine Radio this week😎 The track by Ava Max is some kind of mash-up I did with Michael Sembello’s Maniac.  The two songs are quite similar in a way.  The incredible guitar solo on Running With The Night by Lionel Richie was played by Steve Lukather, one of the founding members of Toto. Lukather sat down in the studio and the engineer played the basic parts of the song, for him to hear for the first time, so he could plan his solo. As the music played, he jammed along on his guitar. At the end of the track, he said to the engineer, "Okay, I'm ready for a take." Producer James Anthony Carmichael then replied, "That was a take." They'd been recording his warm up, and that's what you hear on the record. Richard Marx was one of the backing vocalists and Jeff Porcaro (Toto) played drums on the track. In the late summer of 1987 th...

Katie Rodriquez Enjoy this new episode of Sunshine Radio with some authentic AM & FM radio jingles and a sound clip from Bob Stewart on Radio Caroline! The tracks by Areray and Frank Pisani are from the new compilation  Box Of Delights Vol.1 . At the beginning of the 1960s, AM radio (mostly on the so-called "medium wave") was by far the most popular format. It was the more tightly programmed, singles-oriented band on the dial that played the hits of the moment . "Big bang" pop songs, like the ones from Motown, sounded good on portable mono radios and in Europe they were mainly played by off-shore pirate stations, like Radio Caroline. Around the mid-70s FM radio on stereo hifi equipment replaced the transistor radio and pirate stations disappeared one by one, due to government decisions. Eventually, FM radio that played longer album tracks as well and had the advantage of a better sound quality, became the new standard.  “AM Pop delivered songs by most of the be...

Unsplash Enjoy familiar songs in a comfortable Latin jacket. The warm sounds fit these warm days of summer 😎   Probably the first one who made Latin versions of well-known songs was German composer, musician and producer Uwe Schmidt, also known as Señor Coconut. Meant to be rough sketches, Uwe Schmidt started to program a couple of Kraftwerk cover versions in traditional cha-cha-cha arrangement and decided to make this the second Señor Coconut album. Entertained by the result of the first recordings, he produced a total of 4 songs which he sent to some record companies. One of those, Tōwa Tei's Akashic Records, immediately licensed the album, entitled El Baile Alemán , releasing it upon completion of the production in 2000. Uwe Schmidt obtained official permission by Kraftwerk themselves to release the album, though had to remove his version of Radioactivity . European and North American record companies remained uninterested until triggered by the hype El Baile Alemán had c...

Enjoy the 4th part of Reeling In The Years , the history of yacht rock, as a  Mixcloud Exclusive ! 😊 This time we shine a light on the year that yacht rock was in full bloom, 1981. Yacht rock radio stars were still at the height of their powers and MTV did not rule the world yet. Only two years later flashy video stars had taken over control and yacht rock became out of fashion. Singer Princess Freesia wrote about yacht rock on her website recently: “It’s the kind of vibe that you drink in during Summer days and which promotes feelings of leisurely pleasure with an air of sophistication. The musicianship alone is nothing short of hand-picked session genius. It harnesses a sound and an energy that habituates heart soaring romanticism with permeations of soulfully woven story telling.” Tracklist: Twilight – Straight To My Heart  Tom Huntington & Mike Baumann – Time  Paul Skyland – Give Me Your Love  Byrne & Barnes – Never Gonna Stop Lovin’ You Pages – Tell...

Enjoy the 30 most popular soul songs in the warm summer of 1981, according to the most popular music magazine at the time,  Billboard ! Very Special by Debra Laws was the title track of her first album, and features her brother Ronnie with call and response backing vocals. The song reached only number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it peaked at 11 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. On that chart, it ranked as the 64th biggest hit of 1981. The track has been most notably covered and/or sampled by Big Daddy Kane and Jennifer Lopez ( All I Have ), and has been the subject of lawsuits in this regard. Next up is a Mixcloud Exclusive for subscribers .  Tracklist: Unlimited Touch – Searching To Find The One [Edit] Phyllis Hyman & Michael Henderson – Can’t We Fall In Love Again Shalamar – This Is For The Lover In You Gino Soccio – Try It Out Klique – Love’s Dance Carl Carlton – She’s A Bad Mama Jama Strikers – Body Music Fatback Band – Take It Anyway You Want It Pointer Sis...

C-Heads Magazine Enjoy this new part of Sunshine Radio ! Again I used some authentic jingles and air checks to recreate the feeling of retro summer radio. The opening track by Barracade is from the upcoming compilation album  Bob Stanley Presents Chip Shop Pop : “Compiled by Bob Stanley from his sizeable collection of 70s 7" singles, ”Chip Shop Pop”  revives records on Bell, UK, Young Blood and Bradley's, labels that were home to these unabashed radio-friendly sounds that would disappear when first disco, then punk, came along later in the 70s.” (Ace Records) The track 1979 by Luna Soul is taken from First Move , the debut album by this German-Spanish duo. Their summer pop song is inspired by the melodic and groovy sounds of 1970s and 1980s soul, adding some yacht rock elements to it as well. The track is produced by Joel Sarakula. That's Why God Made The Radio by The Beach Boys is my tribute to Brian Wilson who recently passed away. The song is from their 2012 same title...

Enjoy the 25 best soul tracks on July 12, 1980, according to American music magazine Cashbox , the main competitor of Billboard back then. What I like about these kinds of charts, apart from the classics, are the surprises that are in between. For example, the songs from Five Special and Rockie Robbins were never released in the Netherlands at the time. And even the number 2 by soul legend Gladys Knight did not make it to the charts in our country. In this way, making this cloudcast became a very interesting journey of discovery. Next up a new part of Sunshine Radio !  Tracklist: Isley Brothers – Here We Go Again Five Special – Jam (Let’s Take It To The Streets) Teena Marie – Behind The Groove Commodores – Old Fashion Love Temptations – Power  Chaka Khan – Clouds George Benson – Give Me The Night Brothers Johnson – Light Up The Night Gene Chandler – Does She Have A Friend? Natalie Cole – Don’t Look Back [B-side] Stacy Lattisaw – Dynamite Fatback – Gotta Get My Han...

C-Heads Magazine Enjoy this fresh smooth sailing summer trip! 😊 Sand In Your Shoes by Al Stewart from his classic album Year Of The Cat only became a hit only in South Africa: "I was convinced this would be the single. I went to the record company and said, 'Please release 'Sand In Your Shoes' as the single.' And they did... in South Africa. It was a hit in South Africa but it was not a hit anywhere else in the world. This was the beginning and the end of my ability to pick singles. I still think in some parallel universe this is a hit." (Al Stewart) Released in March 1977, Easy by The Commodores reached number one on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart and number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is a slow ballad about a man's emotions at the end of a relationship. Lionel Richie sings that he is not depressed about the break-up and claims that he feels "easy like Sunday morning". Jonathan Coulton did a good job to sound exactly like ...

Pexels Enjoy light-hearted soul, pop and (yacht) rock from the seventies on this new Sunshine Radio episode! Again songs from the era mixed with original jingles and air checks. The track by Sly & The Family Stone is my tribute to Sly Stone who recently left us. His death was a bit overshadowed by the passing of another musical genius, Beach Boy Brian Wilson two days later. Sly Stone was the first one to blend rock, soul and funk in an extraordinary way. It’s good to know that the two surviving original members of British success band Mud, Rob Davis and Ray Stiles, still occasionally perform live as Mud. They did a gig at the Factory Live venue in Worthing last year. They played most of their hits, but forgot to perform their best single, Drift Away,  released in 1978. Five years earlier the song was made successful by Dobie Gray, but it was originally written by Mentor Williams (brother of famous songwriter Paul Williams) and first recorded by Mike Berry in 1972. This was a f...

Pexels Enjoy this exclusive soul chart from 15 to number 1 on this weekend in 1986, based on  Billboard ’s survey of sales and broadcast play!  Cavin Yarbrough, one-half of the R&B act Yarbrough & Peoples, died at the age of 72 last week, due to heart complications. On this chart they are at number 7 with I Wouldn't Lie . The duo were one of the most successful acts of the 1980s, mostly known for Don't Stop The Music . Although their time at the top of the charts was somewhat brief, Cavin Yarbrough and his wife Alisa Peoples were surely pioneers of electronic dance music. For instance, contemporary R&B duo The APX definitely learned the trick from them. Tracklist: S.O.S. Band – The Finest Johnny Kemp – Just Another Lover Jeffrey Osborne – You Should Be Mine   Five Star – Love Take Over Tease – Firestarter  Run D.M.C. – My Adidas 52nd Street – Tell Me (How It Feels)  Meli’sa Morgan – Do You Still Love Me? Yarbrough & Peoples – I Wouldn’...

Pexels Enjoy part 12 of Sunny Breeze From The West Coast!   😊 Vanessa Falabella released her album Yacht Rock ‘N’ Bossa last year and wrote about it on Bandcamp: “If you don't already know the slang term “Yacht Rock”, it is connected to a state of mind, a genre of music, and associated with a lifestyle, close to the sea, that began in Southern California. Some artists represent this musical moment (from the 70s, 80s and even the 90s), they are: Christopher Cross, Toto, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers, Michael McDonald, Fleetwood Mac, Kenny Loggins, songs like “Sailing”, “Lotta Love”, "Love will keep us Together”, but the styles of soft rock, jazz and rhythm and blues are present in the DNA of Yacht Rock.” Tracklist: Darling Tarling – Sunset California (2024) Vanessa Falabella – Lotta Love (2024) England Dan & John Ford Coley – Keep Your Smile (1979) The President – You’re Gonna Like It (1984) Powerplay – Make It Alone (1982) Silvertwin – You Only (2021) Eric Kaz ‎– Com...