Billboard Disco Action Top 15 – June 26, 1976

-
Cottonbro
Enjoy the Billboard Disco Action Top 15, dated on June 26th 1976! I believe the best disco was made in 1976, just before the big “Saturday Night Fever bang", when it all became too commercial. In 1976 the line between up-tempo soul and disco was very thin. Disco meant soul music for the dance floor, nothing more and nothing less. It all ended when the movie Saturday Night Fever became a massive success and everyone tried to get a piece of the disco pie.

The Philly track by Eli’s Second Coming (MFSB guitarist Bobby Eli) was surprisingly released by T.K. Records, which was based in Hialeah, Florida. The name "TK" was inspired by the initials of sound engineer Terry Kane. He built a recording studio on the second floor of founder Henry Stone’s office. T.K. Records is closely associated with the early rise of disco. In 1974 the label released Rock Your Baby by George McCrae, the second bona fide disco song (after The Hues Corporation's Rock The Boat) that reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The company also released all the big hits by KC & The Sunshine Band. Bobby Eli passed away last year. He was for a great deal responsible for the Sound Of Philadelphia as guitarist of house band MFSB and played on songs from The O’Jays, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and The Trammps.

Next week the legendary Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) will return! 😊 We will again present some real yacht rock classics and yacht rock songs that we think should have been classics.

Tracklist:

The Whispers – One For The Money
Side Effect – Always There
Jimmy James And The Vagabonds – I'll Go Where Your Music Takes Me
Barrabas – Desperately
Diana Ross – Love Hangover
Roberta Kelly – Trouble Maker
Impact – Happy Man
Tavares – Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel
Liquid Pleasure – Take A Little
Eli's Second Coming – Love's Chant
Donna Summer – Could It Be Magic (Love Trilogy)
The Supremes – I’m Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking
Jesse Green – Nice And Slow
Double Exposure – Ten Percent
The Trammps – Where The Happy People Go

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Disco Knockouts!

-
Image
Apart from the picture of Sharron Davies, there are two songs that inspired me to make this mix. One of them is a recent track from Duck Sauce. The repetition of the female vocals reminded me of Stars On 45 (I believe they both sampled 'Gotta Go Home' by Boney M). The other one is from Dutch singer Dee Dee. I heard ‘I put a spell on you’ on a recent episode of Tim Sweeney’s ‘Beats in space’. In the accompanying video she looks a little bit like a sex doll, but I love the song! I like the closing track from soul veterans the Drifters, but isn’t it strange to hear guys who were in their thirties at the time sing about schoolgirls? Different times, I guess, when no one had heard of R. Kelly yet... One of my personal favourites is ‘Night time’ from Maggie MacNeal. I bought the 7” which was produced by Michael Lloyd (known for his work for the Osmonds, Lou Rawls and Solomon Burke) way back in 1979. Maggie MacNeal was one half of successful Dutch duo Mouth & MacNeal. Their bigg
Read more

The Smooth Operators Present Classic Yacht Rock

-
Image
Unsplash The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) introduce you to yacht rock songs that you must have heard at least once in your life! We present some real yacht rock classics and yacht rock songs that we think should have been classics. Harden My Heart by American pop/rock group Quarterflash was written by guitarist Marv Ross and included on the band's debut album, Quarterflash (1981). The song was originally released as a single in early 1980 by Seafood Mama, Quarterflash's predecessor band. Quarterflash's version became a top-10 hit in the United States, peaking at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1982. Guitarist and songwriter Marv Ross remembered that a friend of his had given him the title and that he came up with the lyrics very quickly. Last Monday Michael McDonald, front man of the Doobie Brothers, celebrated his 72th birthday: "Emerging from the laid-back California rock scene of the '70s, McDonald found his niche in a unique blend of
Read more

West Coast Sundown: Yacht Rock, Late Night Pop & Sunset Soul

-
Image
Unsplash Enjoy the soundtrack to a West Coast sundown! 😊 The closing track by Matt Duncan is brand new, by the way. It sounds like a lost recording from The Nightfly sessions by Donald Fagen. At the time critics sometimes called David Cassidy’s music bubblegum pop. That was simply defined  music manufactured to sell as much records as possible and it was mostly aimed at a very young audience. Bubblegum's classic period ran from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies. At that point disco music took over the single market. However, David Cassidy certainly made some very good records, although in later years he found it difficult to shake off his teen idol image. “His wispiest, breathiest hit was called ‘I Am A Clown’. Poor, sweet, forlorn sexy David – marshmallows could’ve bruised this sound.“ (Bob Stanley in his book Yeah Yeah Yeah )  Midas Shadow by Al Stewart is from his classic 1976 album The Year Of The Cat . The message of this song is that when a successful businessman stops
Read more