Disco Diehards

-
It’s disco time again! And some of the best disco comes from Germany, like the one in this mix from Su Kramer. The guy on drums is Keith Forsey. He played on records from Giorgio Moroder, Donna Summer and Sparks. Later on he produced the big hits for former punk rocker Billy Idol, like ‘Eyes without a face’. The song ‘Magic dance’ heavily borrows from ‘Was dog a doughnut’, the club classic from Cat Stevens. Sampling didn’t exist yet... A few years later the electro experiment from Cat Stevens was sampled by The Fearless Four ('It's magic' in 1982). Deichkind sampled 'Magic dance' for their hip hop track 'Bon voyage' in 2000.

The remixed version of ‘My house’ from Hercules & Love Affair came out last week. It uses a few beats from ‘Let’s start II dance again’, the Bohannon disco track (with additional raps from Dr. Perri Johnson and some very cool breaks!). It was one of the first rap tracks on the Dutch pop charts. Hamilton Bohannon was the bandleader for several Motown tours in the late sixties and early seventies. Marvin Gaye mentions his name on his very funky track ‘Checking out’. When Motown moved to Los Angeles in 1972, Hamilton Bohannon started a career of his own. I’m a big fan of his tight way of drumming ever since I heard ‘Disco stomp’ when I was a kid.

And don’t forget to listen to the last song, the very nice rework of ‘Give me the night’, the George Benson/Quincy Jones/Rod Temperton classic, sung by actor/singer Jamie Foxx who played Ray Charles very well in the movie ‘Ray’. It's from the album 'Q Bossa Nostra'. You only have to skip the Amy Winehouse track. She gives a very poor performance of 'It's my party', the Lesley Gore song that was produced by Quincy Jones almost 50 years ago. And did you know that British new wave band New Order (formerly known as Joy Division) worked with master Q on their 1988 remix of 'Blue Monday'? I included 'True faith' that went to #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987.

Enjoy these disco diehards! The mix is available for download on DJ History as well. A big thank you to Kyra for her very beautiful vinyl picture!

Tracklist:

Finis Henderson – Call Me (Motown/1983)
Second Image – Ovo Mexido [Egg Mix] (MCA/1985)
Patti Austin – Do You Love Me (Qwest/1981)
Yarbrough & Peoples – Heartbeats (Total Experience/1983)
Styrofoam – What’s Hot (And What’s Not) (Nettwerk Productions/2010)
Carol Lloyd – Dream Dancer (Earmarc/1979)
New Order – True Faith (Factory/1987)
Su Kramer – Magic Dance (Telefunken/1978)
Hercules & Love Affair – My House [Stopmakingme Remix] (Moshi Moshi/2011)
Bohannon – Let’s Start II Dance Again (Phase II/1981)
Network – I Need You (Rams Horn/1984)
Vicky "D" – This Beat Is Mine (Sam/1981)
The Quick – The Rhythm Of The Jungle (Epic/1982)
Giorgio Moroder Feat. Amor– On The Radio (Caus-N'-ff-ct/2000)
Quincy Jones Feat. Jamie Foxx – Give Me The Night (Interscope/2010)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hot Sounds From 1979: Yacht Rock, Soul & Billboard Hits

-
Image
Pexels Enjoy the songs that were hits, or at least should have been hits, in Europe and the US during the warm summer of 1979! The opening track by Bell & James is from the new compilation Thom Bell - Didn't I Blow Your Mind? The Sound Of Philadelphia Soul 1969 - 1983 , out on Ace Records. Both LeRoy Bell and Casey James had played in Special Blend before beginning to write songs together. At some point Bell's uncle Thom Bell got them signed to Gamble & Huff as songwriters for their Philadelphia International label. Through the years the duo composed for Elton John, MFSB, The O'Jays, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Freda Payne, Phyllis Hyman, The Three Degrees, and others. Eventually A&M Records took notice and signed them to a full album deal in 1978. Nobody Knows It is from their second album, Only Make Believe . Dance Awa y by Roxy Music was originally written by Bryan Ferry for his 1977 solo album In Your Mind , but did not make the final track listing. It...
Read more

1970 Best Of 70s Soul

-
Image
Cotton Comes To Harlem One of the tracks that I selected for this cloudcast is 'Band of gold' by Freda Payne. The song. written by Holland-Dozier-Holland after their split from Motown Records, went to number seven in the Netherlands and number three on Billboard in 1970, notching Payne her only Top Ten hit. It went all the way to number one in the UK. The lyrics are about a woman who has been let down by her guy on their wedding night... Speaking of Motown, according to Jason Ankeny (Allmusic.com), R. Dean Taylor (born 11 May 1939 in Toronto) "remains one of the most underrated acts ever to record under the Motown aegis." As a singer, American audiences know him best for his 1970 Billboard Top 5 hit, 'Indiana Wants Me', about an Indiana murder fugitive that featured police sirens in the intro and an outro that included more sirens and a police officer warning the fugitive that he is surrounded and to give himself up. The single hit #1 in Taylor's nati...
Read more

Sausalito Summer Night: Smooth AOR, Yacht Rock & Sun-Drenched Pop

-
Image
Unsplash The West Coast sound was not very popular in the Netherlands at the time, but it certainly has influenced some Dutch artists, most recently Martin & Garp. As Martijn Soetens wrote on his blog some time ago: “In the Netherlands an umbrella and a sweater are necessary almost any time of year. So it's quite natural that we need sunny music to get our vitamin D.” The most successful Dutch song that adapted the Californian sound is Sausalito Summernight by Diesel. It reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981 and it even became a #1 hit in Canada. In other countries, the track is known as " Sausolito Summernight ", as a result of a misspelling on the Dutch releases of the single and the album. This was corrected on the 1981 U.S. and Canadian releases. For some reason, the song charted only modestly in the Netherlands. Eventually the single sold 600,000 units worldwide. Diesel members Mark Boon and Rob Vunderink admitted on Dutch television some years ago that t...
Read more