Professor Eddy

Bradley Cooper & Amy Adams ( American Hustle ) The night is the best part of the day! The Smooth Operators ( Martijn Soetens and I) pay tribute to the 1970s FM radio sound with our series Mellow Moods . Enjoy this new chapter: Mellow Night Moods! In this edition we try to make the night pass as pleasant as possible. For some reason the only Karen Carpenter solo album was shelved for almost 17 years. It was recorded in New York in 1979 with producer Phil Ramone but it remained unreleased until 1996. It was also the only album Karen Carpenter ever recorded with a producer other than her older brother Richard. Ramone, who worked a lot with Billy Joel at the time, prefers a looser, more spacious sound than Richard's note-perfect, clean cut pop sound. It is refreshing to hear Karen's dusky, melancholy alto in a more relaxed and jazz-influenced setting. Arrangements are by jazz-funk greats Bob James and Rod Temperton, and the musicians include most of Billy Joel's back...

Chaka Khan This latest volume of my AOR On The Radio series is my medicine for a Saturday night hangover, Most of the tracks are either by ladies (they are definitely in a minority on AOR Disco) or about them. For example, 'Arianne' by The Neville Brothers was the song that gave me the inspiration for this mix. I don't quite understand his exact relationship to her (“she’s the smell of coffee brewing, on a quiet, rainy Sunday”), but this is one of the best love songs ever. The track is from their self-titled album that came out in 1978. It took courage to make a country soul album in the midst of the disco heyday. The original version of ‘Arianne’ is from soul singer Johnny Mathis. The song appeared on his 'Killing Me Softly With Her Song' album that was released in 1973. Rod McKuen, who recorded the song two years later, wrote on his official site that the song is a translated French poem. He sadly passed away in January last year. McKuen will mostly be remembe...

Théo Gosselin Enjoy this soft focus edition of ‘ Groovy, sexy and soulful ’! The track by Aura will be on a soon to be released compilation album called ‘ Aloha Got Soul: A compilation of funk, disco, AOR, and soul in Hawai‘i 1979-1985 ’. Despite great musicianship and high quality studios, many of the recordings never made it to the mainland. Compiler Roger Bong of Aloha Got Soul brings together 16 rare tracks on one album for the first time. One of the leading bands from Hawaii's 1970s scene, Aura rose through the ranks in military clubs and similar venues. A family band consisting of eight siblings at its core, by the mid-1970s they had become the first local group to perform at the hottest disco in town, The Point After, where they remained the club’s headlining act for the next 10 years. Isaac Hayes enjoying female company Few figures exerted greater influence over the music of the 1960s and 1970s than Isaac Hayes. After laying the groundwork for the Memphis soul sou...

Kandace Springs I went down to the vaults from Capitol and affiliated labels, like Blue Note, EMI, Stateside, Liberty and United Artists again. Beautiful singer Kandace Springs (picture) is one of the upcoming flag bearers of Capitol/Blue Note. About two years ago Kandace Springs sat down at the piano at Capitol Studios and sang an impassioned version of Bonnie Raitt’s ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me.’ Stunned by her arrangement and performance, Blue Note Records President Don Was offered her a record deal on the spot, after hearing only one song. Prince heard her cover of the Sam Smith song ‘Stay With Me’ online and asked her to perform at Paisley Park on the weekend celebrating the 30 year anniversary of ‘Purple Rain’. Kandace is working on her debut solo album with some big names, like abovementioned Don Was and Eli Wolf (Norah Jones) for quite some time now. For some reason the release must have been postponed, because it was announced for 2015. Tracklist: Mystic Merlin – Just...

Mayer Hawthorne The Smooth Operators ( Martijn Soetens and I) pay tribute to the heyday of the 1970s FM radio sound with our series Mellow Moods . Enjoy this new chapter: Mellow Valentine Moods! Sadly two singers passed away recently: Maurice White, founder of Earth, Wind & Fire and Colin Vearncome aka Black. Maurce White passed away last Thursday, aged 74. He was one of the soul and funk pioneers in the 1970s. He died in L.A. after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was diagnosed in 1992 and his condition deteriorated in recent months. Maurice White started his musical career as a session drummer for legendary Chicago-based labels OKeh Records and Chess Records. He can be heard on records by Etta James, Fontella Bass, Billy Stewart and Ramsey Lewis. With the help of legendary producer Charles Stepney he created EWF and made it one of the supergroups of the 1970s. They combined high-caliber musicianship, a wide-ranging musical genre eclecticism, and multicul...

Shante Slagle Enjoy another set of Grooves From The Crates ! The tracks by Mary Mundy and Betty Everett are from a brand new compilation album called ‘Disco Love 4’. Aside from releasing his own tunes and edits on Million Dollar Disco,Al Kent also dabbles in the fine art of compiling for BBE Music. It's the fourth time he's been picked to pull together cuts for the label's ‘Disco Love’ series. As you'd expect, this is choc-a-bloc with odd, hard-to-find B-sides from the late 1970s through to the early 1980s. His own edits are the perfect thing for DJ's who own the originals, but who wish them to be a little bit straighter and more kick driven. The closing track is a new one by beautiful singer Mary Lake: https://marylake.bandcamp.com/releases Tracklist: BT Express – Can’t Stop Groovin’ Now, Wanna Do It Some More (1976) Cassiano – Central Do Brasil (1976) Mary Mundy – Love Is Gone (1982) The Entertainers – Pour Your Little Heart Out (1983) Ripple – ...