Professor Eddy

Marlena Shaw Latin soul mixed with laid-back dance, that’s the spirit of ‘Magnifica’. One of the tracks that I selected is 'Draggin' my heels' by The Hollies. Singer Allan Clarke of The Hollies (named after Buddy Holly) has a very distinctive voice and the three part harmony of the band is extraordinary. The Hollies had over 30 charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, and 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, with major hits on both sides of the Atlantic that included ‘He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother’, ‘Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress’ and the ‘The Air That I Breathe’ (written by Albert Hammond). They are one of the few British pop groups of the early 1960s that have never officially broken up and continue to record and perform. In recognition of their achievements, the Hollies were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. ‘Draggin’ My Heels’ was an underground disco classic in the New York clubs at the time. It was played many times by DJ David Mancuso at Th...

Enjoy the cool electro disco sounds on this new part of Grooves From The Crates ! When American disco faded away because of the ‘disco sucks’ movement by the end of the 1970s, European disco flourished, especially in Italy. The Italians created their own ‘italo’ sound with non-complicated sing-along hooks and keyboard sounds (often about space adventures). The British, Dutch, Germans, French and Belgians participated too. With some help from the American underground scene, the European countries filled the gap between seventies disco and the late eighties house explosion. With their ‘electro’ or ‘electric boogie’ records, the foundation was laid for hip hop as well (Rock Steady Crew). I collected a couple of those early 'electro disco’ tracks and some recent ones as well. John Morales is a DJ and mixer who helped to pioneer the use of editing for dance floor remixes of records in the 1980s. Morales mixed Tuxedo’s self-titled album, and returned to the master tapes to create hi...

Silver Convention are best known for their worldwide disco smash ‘Fly robin fly’. It was initially called 'Run rabbit run', but when German producers Silvester Levay and Michael Kunze heard a song on the radio called 'Run rabbit', they changed it into 'Fly robin fly'. The song with the sparse vocals, funky bass, hammering piano and repeating violins went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975. After topping the American and English charts, Levay and Kunze chose vocalists Linda G. Thompson, Ramona Wulf and Penny McLean to be permanent members of Silver Convention. The next year they had another huge hit with the title track from their second album, ‘Get up and boogie’. Then success started to fade. Their concept album ‘Madhouse’ (when American Rhonda Heath replaced Thompson) brought only a minor hit single with ‘Everybody's talkin' 'bout love’. The group's 1977 single ‘Telegram’, chosen to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest, ...

Picture: Joan Smalls Instagram Feel the September moods and laid-back grooves on this new episode of Smooth Sailing ! Jazz flautist Bobbi Humphrey signed with Blue Note in 1971 and released 'Flute in' soon afterwards. She recorded covers, like 'Ain't no sunshine' (Bill Withers) and 'It's too late' (Carole King) for the album. The latter is on this cloudcast. Humphrey's smooth blend of jazz, funk, pop, and R&B fit in well with the new sound of Blue Note, and her six albums for the label were all successes. In particular 1973's ‘Blacks and blues’ sold very well. She worked with the fabulous Mizell Brothers as producers for the first time then. The LP gave her a crossover pop and R&B audience. In 1974 her concert for the Montreux Festival in Switzerland was released as an album. Two years later she was named Best Female Instrumentalist by Billboard. In 1977 Humphrey switched record labels, signing with Epic and releasing 'Tailor ...