Professor Eddy

Jeremy Bishop A selection of AOR Disco and Mellow Soul by The Smooth Operators , perfect for a drive along the beautiful Californian Coast. Enjoy! One of the tracks on this new cloudcast is Drift Away by Mud. After their very successful glam rock years in the mid-seventies, this British band started to search for new directions. In 1978 they tried to jump on the West Coast bandwagon for one single only. Drift Away was originally recorded by John Henry Kurtz on his 1972 album Reunion . Kenny Loggins, Jim Gordon and Michael Omartian were some of the well-known musicians who played on the record. A year later Dobie Gray made a very soulful cover of the track, which reached #5 on the Billboard pop chart. Mud made some kind of combination of the two versions, but they did not reach a new audience and the song failed to chart. The single is on the recently released compilation album Mud: The Singles 1973-80 on Cherry Red Records. I will write more about it soon. Tracklist: Future Flight –...

Mike Haupt The feeling of a perfect summer, when global heating was far, far away… Enjoy the seventies summer edition of Sunshine Radio ! Next up is a new part of Smooth Sailing . Tracklist: Average White Band – A Love Of Your Own (1976) Donna Summer – Bad Girls (1979) Stevo – Pay The Price (1979) Elton John – Are You Ready For Love (1977) Faith, Hope & Charity – Mellow Me (1975) Eruption – I Can’t Stand The Rain (1978) Curtis Mayfield – Tell Me, Tell Me (How Ya Like To Be Loved) (1979) Rick James – Bustin’ Out (1979) Sugarloaf & Jerry Corbetta – Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You (1974) Kenny Loggins – This Is It (1979) Frankie Valli – Grease (1978) Janie Fricke – Week-End Friend (1978) William DeVaughn – Be Thankful For What You Got (1973) Walker Brothers – No Regrets (1975) John Travolta – All Strung Out (1974) Mark Capanni – A Day In The Blue (1975) Jeff Harrington – Kristi (1975) Dolly Parton – Jolene (1973) Evie  Sands – You Can Do It (1979) Motors – Airpor...

The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) pay tribute to the early days of disco, before The Bee Gees helped disco explode when they released the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. Most of the first disco hits were initially picked up by clubs, before radio-dj’s discovered them as potential hit records, like Rock The Boat by Hues Corporation. The influence of club-dj’s started to grow and it became even bigger, when disco took over the pop industry by the end of the decade. At that point dance music was not a niche market anymore, but a new, lasting value in popular music. Tracklist: The Spinners – I’ll Be Around (1972) Andrea True Connection – More More More (1976) Barry White – Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe (1974) The O’Jays – For The Love Of Money (1973) Eddie Kendricks – He’s A Friend (1976) The Three Degrees – Can’t You See What You’re Doing To Me (1973) Frankie Valli – Swearin’ To God (1975) Billy Paul – Thanks For Saving My Life (1973) George McCrae – Rock...

Pexels A selection of the best aor, yacht rock and eighties inspired music in 2023 so far. Enjoy! “It was hot. The sun was piecing through the driver’s side window, turning his cheek pink as he drove onward towards the sea. The road ahead was completely empty. South Australia has a mysteriously vacant and magnetic mood out along It’s shore-line highways. A light breeze brought the mythical scent of summer.” ( Soft Rock Summer / Surahn )  Tracklist: Lewisofman & Empress Of – Highway Clémentine – Coincidences Lars DK – København Chromeo – (I Don’t Need A) New Girl Super db – Down Town City Girl Kaiser Snap – So Beautiful Jessie Ware – Hello Love Young Gun Silver Fox – Tip Of The Flame [12” Disco Mix] Glam Sam & His Combo – Private Detective Funk Girl Ray – Everybody’s Saying That Natalie Gray – The Me I Pretend To Be Work Drugs – Ships In The Night Surahn – Tomorrow Thundercat & Tame Impale – No More Lies Rio 18 + Young Gun Silver Fox – She’s In L.A. State Co...

Pexels The Disco Action Top 15 compiled from this week's Melody Song Shops record sales in 1975, introduced by Tom Moulton in Billboard Magazine on July 19th. Songs about dancing, loving and… kung fu! 😊 Enjoy this Mixcloud Exclusive ! Tracklist: Eddie Kendricks ‎– Get The Cream Off The Top Frankie Valli – Swearin’ To God South Shore Commission – Free Man [A Tom Moulton Mix] Banzaii – Chinese Kung Fu Crown Heights Affair – Dreaming A Dream Esther Phillips – What A Diff'rence A Day Makes Joneses – Love Inflation [Part 1] Boogie Man Orchestra – (Theme From) Lady, Lady, Lady (Are You Crazy For Me?) Eddie Kendricks – Happy Willie Hutch – Love Power Supremes – Where Do I Go From Here Ritchie Family – Brazil Jimmy "Bo" Horne – Gimme Some Jackson 5 – Forever Came Today People’s Choice – Do It Any Way You Wanna [A Tom Moulton Mix]

Unsplash Enjoy the songs that were played in discos, way before Saturday Night Fever was shown. I was inspired by Bob Stanley’s new compilation album Tribal Rites Of The New Saturday Night on Ace Records: “Before there was Saturday Night Fever there was underground disco. DJs across America went out and found the music to play; dancers went out and found the clubs. At this point, in the early seventies, the disco was the venue and not a genre of music.” (Bob Stanley) Around the mid-seventies, before the blockbuster movie Saturday Night Fever changed the game forever, most of the disco songs sounded different from what we categorize now as “disco”. The tracks were soulful, well-orchestrated and had subtle percussion breaks. Most of the first disco hits were initially picked up by clubs, before radio-dj’s discovered them as a potential hit records, like Rock Your Baby by George McCrae. The so-called Philly soul sound (First Choice, Three Degrees, MFSB, etc.) dominated the clubs durin...

Burst Some smooth soul and disco combined with a couple of yacht rock classics to enjoy! DJ Supermarkt once defined yacht soul as a R&B cover of a yacht rock song, so there’s one yacht soul track in it as well, Get It Up For Love , Maxine Nightingale’s cover of Ned Doheny yacht rock classic. One of the tracks is the disco-ish Wiggle That Wotsit by The Hollies. This British band 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. They started very successfully in the 1960s, but the Hollies were at their creative peak in the 1970s, with songs like He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother , Long Cool Woman In  A Black Dress and The Air That I Breathe (written by Albert Hammond). They even had some success on the dancefloor with tracks like Draggin' My Heels , Daddy Don't Mind and the forementioned Wiggle That Wotsit from their 1976 album Russian Roulette . Lead singer Allan Clarke, who left t...