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Smooth Sailing: Slow Disco, Yacht Rock & Sophisti-Pop

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C-Heads Magazine Enjoy this new part of the success series Smooth Sailing ! 😊 On Bandcamp a listener wrote about the album Merger by Canadian duo Rapallo: "This album is something very special that I believe people will be discovering and falling in love with for decades to come. It’s nothing like anything I’ve heard before - eccentric but accessible, exciting, tasteful, beautiful and fun. Favorite track: Nothing You Can Do." Tracklist: Ned Doheny – Think Like A Lover (1979) Steve Winwood ‎– Second Hand Woman (1980) Rapallo – Nothing You Can Do (2024) Alessi Brothers – Put Away Your Love (1982) Men At Work ‎– Who Can It Be Now? (1981) Dent May – Sea Salt & Caramel (2020) Pointer Sisters – What A Surprise (1981) Tim Green – Got More Love (1981) Chris Christian – Day Like Today (1981) Walkers – Rumour At The Honky Tonk (1979) Cotton Lloyd & Christian – Crying In The Rain (1976) McGuinn, Clark & Hillman – Little Mama (1979) Seals & Crofts – When I Me...

Billboard Dance/Disco Top 20 – May 12, 1984

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Pexels Enjoy the Billboard Dance/Disco Top 20 from 20 to 1, dated on May 12, 1984! The name of this chart is a bit misleading, though, For instance, the tracks by new wave/electro pop bands Culture Club, Wang Chung and Talk Talk on this chart cannot be categorized as dance or disco. A better name for this hit list would have been “Disco, New Wave & Electro” chart.  The electro artists certainly dominated this week’s top 20 in 1984. Personally I love that specific mid-eighties sound, but it is hard to discover any other instruments than keyboards, synthesizers and electronic drums. So aren't there any guitars in it at all? Oh yes there are, exactly 18 seconds into this mix you hear the first one, a fantastic guitar solo in the intro of Laura Branigan’s Self Control . Luckily there are some others great guitar solos on this chart as well. Just check out Coming Out Of Hiding by Pamela Stanley! Tracklist: Laura Branigan – Self Control Womack & Womack – Baby, I’m Scared Of ...

Clap Your Hands & Stamp Your Feet: Golden Years Of Glam Rock II (1972-1976) – Mixcloud Exclusive

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C Heads Magazine Clap your hands and stamp your feet, that is basically what glam rock is all about! 😊  The keywords for this seventies music style were fun, simplicity, energy and extravaganza. Marc Bolan, the frontman of T. Rex, accidentally put some glitters on his face for a Top Of The Pops performance in 1971 and glam rock was born. Although a few glam acts, like Gary Glitter and Sweet had some success overseas, the genre never became big in the United States. Enjoy this Mixcloud Exclusive ! “(…) one of the main reasons glam never caught on in the U.S. was that glam artists intentionally played around with gender conventions, dressing themselves up in outlandish, androgynous costumes and makeup.” (Allmusic) Tracklist: Hot Chocolate – Funky Rock 'N' Roll (1974) Glitter Band – Let's Get Together Again (1974) Hello – New York Groove (1975) T. Rex – Telegram Sam (1972) Sparks – Something For The Girl With Everything (1975) Bonny St. Claire And Unit Gloria – Clap You...

Let’s Take It Nice And Slow On Sunshine Radio

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Pixabay Let's take it nice and slow on Sunshine Radio ! 😊 As you may have noticed, at the moment I am not able to upload a cloudcast every single week, unfortunately. Hopefully it will be possible again in the near future.  Actor, singer and guitarist Joy Carol wrote and recorded Baby, Won't You Touch Me on Oahu, Hawaii in 1981. When she entered the studio, she asked if they could get her an arranger to bring the songs to their fullest potential. The studio said yes and they thought Pat Demain was their best man for the job. The two of them became a couple later on. Baby, Won’t You Touch Me originally appeared on Music In The Wind . The song was recently re-released by Aloha Got Soul. When Elton John wanted to go in a different musical direction in 1977, without regular songwriter Bernie Taupin, he decided to work with Philly soul producer Thom Bell. Apparently, relations between the producer and the artist became sour rather quickly. Although John was eager to work with...

Sunny Breeze From The West Coast Part 11 – Ride Like The Wind

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Unsplash Enjoy part 11 of Sunny Breeze From The West Coast !  I promised you this one a few weeks ago, but I had some serious health issues and had to be hospitalized two times. I tried to promote yacht rock and soul there by playing music in my hospital room all day. A nurse responded enthusiastically to Sunshine by Greg Smaha, another one danced to Debra Laws and my treating physician thought Boogie Nights by Heatwave was “nice funky stuff” 😊. The opening track by Young Gun Silver Fox is from their upcoming fifth album Pleasure : "As expected, ‘Stevie & Sly’ bears all the hallmarks of Young Gun Silver Fox’s trademark sound—soulful catchiness, masterful hooks, and a breezy warmth that makes it feel like it belongs on a mixtape wedged between Steely Dan and Hall & Oates." ( Westcoastsoul.de ) The closing track by Cosmic Crooner is from his new album European Vacation that will be released next month. Tracklist: Young Gun Silver Fox – Stevie & Sly (2025) C...

Billboard Hot Soul Singles – April 18, 1981

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Gideon Hezekiah Quite a soulful R&B Top 20 on April 18, 1981, according to billboard.com Enjoy! Aretha Franklin’s version of What A Fool Believes is nice and danceable, but for some reason it is not as intense and soulful as the one from Michael McDonald and the Doobie Brothers, even though Aretha is known as ‘the Queen of Soul’. It was recorded in the early 1980s, when Aretha did not know where to go to with her career. Her voice was still great at the time, but she also seemed a bit uninspired.  Tracklist: Deniece Williams – What Two Can Do Kleeer – Get Tough Shalamar – Make That Move Aretha Franklin – What A Fool Believes Chaka Khan – What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me T-Connection – Everything Is Cool T.S. Monk – Bon Bon Vie Robert Winters & Fall – Magic Man Quincy Jones – Ai No Corrida Kool & The Gang – Take It To The Top Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio – A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do) Slave – Watching You Sister Sledge – All American Girls Atlantic Starr – ...

Sunshine Radio: AOR, Yacht Rock & FM Pop

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Unsplash Hop in your car, tune in to Sunshine Radio and start driving! 😊  The track by State Cows is from their brand new album Closed Doors And Open Shores that came out last week. When Phil Everly had finished his Star Spangled Springer album in 1973, he sent a copy of it to the Hollies. He thought it would be fun if this British band did a cover of one his songs, because they always had expressed their admiration for the Everly Brothers. They actually did cover one of the tracks from the LP, but it was the one song that Phil Everly did not write. They recorded a version of The Air That I Breathe , a song that was composed by Albert Hammond and first appeared on his 1972 album It Never Rains In California . The Hollies made a worldwide success of it, which made Phil Everly and the team that worked on Star Spangled Springer a bit sour. Tracklist: Dave Lewis – We're Gonna Make It (1976) David Roberts – Wrong Side Of The Tracks (1982) Greg Guidry – (I’m) Givin’ It Up (1982) ...