Professor Eddy

When the 1970s came to a close, commercial pop, like soul/disco and yacht (soft) rock had to compete with new low-budget underground music, like new wave and hip hop. This competition seemed to give those then popular genres an extra boost to survive. Eventually, soul/disco and soft rock would lose the battle in the beginning of the 1980s, but in 1979 quality productions, big budgets and craftmanship were still leading. For instance, Earth, Wind & Fire made their masterpiece I Am with their dark disco song Boogie Wonderland (composed by Allee Willis and Jon Lind) and Donna Summer’s Bad Girls is still a classic today. Let’s go back 40 years in time and enjoy that sound of 1979! "The Sugarhill Gang changed Hip Hop forever when they released “Rapper’s Delight” on September 16, 1979. Produced by Sylvia Robinson, the single is credited as introducing Hip Hop to a mainstream audience." ( Hiphopdx ) The tragedy of The Jones Girls was that they made quality disco in an era ...

In these last days of September we are sailing away from the summer and moving straight into the autumn… Enjoy this slightly melancholic Smooth Sailing trip! Year of the Cat , the seventh studio album by British singer Al Stewart, was produced and engineered by Alan Parsons, who would later become known for his Alan Parsons Project. The title track, described by AllMusic as " one of those 'mysterious woman' songs ", peaked at #8 on the Billboard singles chart in the spring of 1977. The other single from the album, On the Border, can be heard on this cloudcast. According to the singer the lyrics are about “ the decline and fall of the British empire ”. The first lines are about Basque freedom fighters: “The fishing boats go out across the evening water Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border The wind whips up the waves so loud The ghost moon sails among the clouds Turns the rifles into silver on the border” The song reached #42 in the United Sta...

Unsplash Let’s say goodbye to the summer of 2019 with some late summer softness… Drummer/guitarist Leroy Bell met guitarist/bassist/keyboardist Casey James while both were members of the band Special Blend from Philadelphia. After the band disbanded, the duo began a songwriting partnership. With help from Bell's uncle, Philly soul producer Thom Bell, they started writing songs for Philadelphia International Records (The O'Jays, MFSB, Teddy Pendergrass, Elton John). In early 1978 they were signed to A&M and recorded hits like Livin' It Up (Friday Night) and You Never Know What You've Got . Both singles were from their 1978 self-titled debut album, just like Don’t Let The Man Get You that I selected for this cloudcast. On the album played MFSB, the house orchestra of Philadelphia International. Their second album was Only Make Believe , which spawned the R&B charting singles Shakedown and Only Make Believe . Bell & James would record one more album in...

Schekinov Alexey Victorovich CC BY-SA 3.0 Enjoy this brand new part of Eddy's Eighties Grooves ! It's disco pop from, but mostly inspired by the 1980s. I chose to play some old school tracks as well to show you the similarities with the ones that were made 30 years later. Pay special attention to the track by Skylephant that sounds a bit like New Order in their heyday. Don't forget to listen to Sunshine 70s on KX Classics this Saturday from 20.00 to 21.00 hrs CET. It's an episode I made with Martijn Soetens ( the Smooth Operators ). We selected lots of great tracks from the golden era of pop! "All the memories of you, they bleach with the sunshine..." Next up is a new episode of Smooth Sailing . Tracklist: Fragile ‎– We've Got Tonight, Boy (1986) Le Flex & Ali Rose – Take Good Care Of My Heart (2019) FM-84 Feat. Ollie Wride – Never Stop (2017) Michael Sembello ‎– Maniac (1983) Brandon (Feat. SJBRAVO) – She's On Fire (2018) G...