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Record World Black Oriented Singles – May 31, 1980 (Mixcloud Exclusive)

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Pexels Enjoy the soul chart from 20 to 1 on May 31, 1980, according to one of the leading American music magazines at the time, Record World ! The chart is a mixture of oldschool soul, funk, disco and just a tiny little bit of electro soul (S.O.S. Band). A new decade did not bring a big shift yet.  Donny Hathaway was probably one of the greatest soul singers/musicians of all-time. His career took off in the early 1970s, but it never led to a big breakthrough, mainly because of his mental problems. His desperate situation led to his suicide by jumping of a balcony in 1979, after being  paranoid and delusional during a recording session with Roberta Flack. He has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and won one Grammy Award from four nominations. Hathaway was also posthumously honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Tracklist: Leon Haywood – Don’t Push It, Don’t Force It Brothers Johnson – Stomp! Con Funk Shun – Got To Be Enough [Edit] Jerry Knight – Over...

Billboard Black Singles Chart – May 28, 1983

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Pexels Enjoy the rundown of this week's most popular soul songs 42 years ago, according to Billboard online ! 1983 was the year that seemed to be some kind of renaissance year for soul music. Exciting new artists (D-Train, Jonzun Crew, Mtume) popped up, old ones returned refreshed (Cameo, Gladys Knight, Chi-Lites) and two soul artists turned into real mega stars (Prince, Michael Jackson). However, the first house records were already successful in the underground scene (but not charted yet), most particularly Clear by Cybetron and within a few years the musical landscape would change radically. A stain on MTV's reputation is definitely that they did not show a single black artist in their early years. They defended themselves by calling themselves a "rock station", which was only partly true. In an interview with MTV, David Bowie complained about this and the interviewer mumbled something completely incoherent. It was only when Michael Jackson became a mega-artist in...

Smooth Sailing: Slow Disco, Yacht Rock & Sophisti-Pop

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C-Heads Magazine Enjoy this new part of the success series Smooth Sailing ! 😊 On Bandcamp a listener wrote about the album Merger by Canadian duo Rapallo: "This album is something very special that I believe people will be discovering and falling in love with for decades to come. It’s nothing like anything I’ve heard before - eccentric but accessible, exciting, tasteful, beautiful and fun. Favorite track: Nothing You Can Do." Tracklist: Ned Doheny – Think Like A Lover (1979) Steve Winwood ā€Žā€“ Second Hand Woman (1980) Rapallo – Nothing You Can Do (2024) Alessi Brothers – Put Away Your Love (1982) Men At Work ā€Žā€“ Who Can It Be Now? (1981) Dent May – Sea Salt & Caramel (2020) Pointer Sisters – What A Surprise (1981) Tim Green – Got More Love (1981) Chris Christian – Day Like Today (1981) Walkers – Rumour At The Honky Tonk (1979) Cotton Lloyd & Christian – Crying In The Rain (1976) McGuinn, Clark & Hillman – Little Mama (1979) Seals & Crofts – When I Me...

Billboard Dance/Disco Top 20 – May 12, 1984

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Pexels Enjoy the Billboard Dance/Disco Top 20 from 20 to 1, dated on May 12, 1984! The name of this chart is a bit misleading, though, For instance, the tracks by new wave/electro pop bands Culture Club, Wang Chung and Talk Talk on this chart cannot be categorized as dance or disco. A better name for this hit list would have been ā€œDisco, New Wave & Electroā€ chart.  The electro artists certainly dominated this week’s top 20 in 1984. Personally I love that specific mid-eighties sound, but it is hard to discover any other instruments than keyboards, synthesizers and electronic drums. So aren't there any guitars in it at all? Oh yes there are, exactly 18 seconds into this mix you hear the first one, a fantastic guitar solo in the intro of Laura Branigan’s Self Control . Luckily there are some others great guitar solos on this chart as well. Just check out Coming Out Of Hiding by Pamela Stanley! Tracklist: Laura Branigan – Self Control Womack & Womack – Baby, I’m Scared Of ...

Clap Your Hands & Stamp Your Feet: Golden Years Of Glam Rock II (1972-1976) – Mixcloud Exclusive

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C Heads Magazine Clap your hands and stamp your feet, that is basically what glam rock is all about! 😊  The keywords for this seventies music style were fun, simplicity, energy and extravaganza. Marc Bolan, the frontman of T. Rex, accidentally put some glitters on his face for a Top Of The Pops performance in 1971 and glam rock was born. Although a few glam acts, like Gary Glitter and Sweet had some success overseas, the genre never became big in the United States. Enjoy this Mixcloud Exclusive ! ā€œ(…) one of the main reasons glam never caught on in the U.S. was that glam artists intentionally played around with gender conventions, dressing themselves up in outlandish, androgynous costumes and makeup.ā€ (Allmusic) Tracklist: Hot Chocolate – Funky Rock 'N' Roll (1974) Glitter Band – Let's Get Together Again (1974) Hello – New York Groove (1975) T. Rex – Telegram Sam (1972) Sparks – Something For The Girl With Everything (1975) Bonny St. Claire And Unit Gloria – Clap You...

Let’s Take It Nice And Slow On Sunshine Radio

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Pixabay Let's take it nice and slow on Sunshine Radio ! 😊 As you may have noticed, at the moment I am not able to upload a cloudcast every single week, unfortunately. Hopefully it will be possible again in the near future.  Actor, singer and guitarist Joy Carol wrote and recorded Baby, Won't You Touch Me on Oahu, Hawaii in 1981. When she entered the studio, she asked if they could get her an arranger to bring the songs to their fullest potential. The studio said yes and they thought Pat Demain was their best man for the job. The two of them became a couple later on. Baby, Won’t You Touch Me originally appeared on Music In The Wind . The song was recently re-released by Aloha Got Soul. When Elton John wanted to go in a different musical direction in 1977, without regular songwriter Bernie Taupin, he decided to work with Philly soul producer Thom Bell. Apparently, relations between the producer and the artist became sour rather quickly. Although John was eager to work with...

Sunny Breeze From The West Coast Part 11 – Ride Like The Wind

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Unsplash Enjoy part 11 of Sunny Breeze From The West Coast !  I promised you this one a few weeks ago, but I had some serious health issues and had to be hospitalized two times. I tried to promote yacht rock and soul there by playing music in my hospital room all day. A nurse responded enthusiastically to Sunshine by Greg Smaha, another one danced to Debra Laws and my treating physician thought Boogie Nights by Heatwave was ā€œnice funky stuffā€ 😊. The opening track by Young Gun Silver Fox is from their upcoming fifth album Pleasure : "As expected, ā€˜Stevie & Sly’ bears all the hallmarks of Young Gun Silver Fox’s trademark sound—soulful catchiness, masterful hooks, and a breezy warmth that makes it feel like it belongs on a mixtape wedged between Steely Dan and Hall & Oates." ( Westcoastsoul.de ) The closing track by Cosmic Crooner is from his new album European Vacation that will be released next month. Tracklist: Young Gun Silver Fox – Stevie & Sly (2025) C...

Billboard Hot Soul Singles – April 18, 1981

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Gideon Hezekiah Quite a soulful R&B Top 20 on April 18, 1981, according to billboard.com Enjoy! Aretha Franklin’s version of What A Fool Believes is nice and danceable, but for some reason it is not as intense and soulful as the one from Michael McDonald and the Doobie Brothers, even though Aretha is known as ā€˜the Queen of Soul’. It was recorded in the early 1980s, when Aretha did not know where to go to with her career. Her voice was still great at the time, but she also seemed a bit uninspired.  Tracklist: Deniece Williams – What Two Can Do Kleeer – Get Tough Shalamar – Make That Move Aretha Franklin – What A Fool Believes Chaka Khan – What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me T-Connection – Everything Is Cool T.S. Monk – Bon Bon Vie Robert Winters & Fall – Magic Man Quincy Jones – Ai No Corrida Kool & The Gang – Take It To The Top Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio – A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do) Slave – Watching You Sister Sledge – All American Girls Atlantic Starr – ...

Sunshine Radio: AOR, Yacht Rock & FM Pop

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Unsplash Hop in your car, tune in to Sunshine Radio and start driving! 😊  The track by State Cows is from their brand new album Closed Doors And Open Shores that came out last week. When Phil Everly had finished his Star Spangled Springer album in 1973, he sent a copy of it to the Hollies. He thought it would be fun if this British band did a cover of one his songs, because they always had expressed their admiration for the Everly Brothers. They actually did cover one of the tracks from the LP, but it was the one song that Phil Everly did not write. They recorded a version of The Air That I Breathe , a song that was composed by Albert Hammond and first appeared on his 1972 album It Never Rains In California . The Hollies made a worldwide success of it, which made Phil Everly and the team that worked on Star Spangled Springer a bit sour. Tracklist: Dave Lewis – We're Gonna Make It (1976) David Roberts – Wrong Side Of The Tracks (1982) Greg Guidry – (I’m) Givin’ It Up (1982) ...

Smooth Sailing: Laid-Back Seventies Boat Trip

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C-Heads Magazine Enjoy some yacht rock with a small touch of disco here and there! One of the songs is from British sixties pop group The Hollies. In the mid-seventies they released Latin inspired Draggin’ My Heels that became extremely popular at legendary discotheque The Loft in New York City. Tracklist: Randy Vanwarmer – Just When I Needed You Most (1979) Muscles – Love Is All I’ve Got (1977) Synod – Anchors Away (1978) Darrell John – Write Your Lucky Number (1979) Leder Brothers – I'd Like To Touch A Star (1978) The Waters – If There’s A Way (1977) Barnaby Bye ā€Žā€“ Can't Live This Way (1974) The Faragher Brothers – Baby When You Make It With Me (1978) Average White Band – School Boy Crush (1975) The Hollies – Draggin’ My Heels [Louie Vega Edit] (1976) Udell – Won't You Try [A Tom Moulton Mix] (1977) 5000 Volts ā€Žā€“ (Walkin' On A) Love Cloud (1976) Hello – Night Watcher (1978) Kalapana – When The Morning Comes (1975) Leo Sayer ā€Žā€“ Easy To Love (1977) The Imp...

All You Need Is Love: Soul Stompers & Sixties Sing-Alongs

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Washington March 1963 Enjoy these northern soul stompers and sixties sing-alongs! 😊  Northern soul is more or less the opposite of smooth soul. It is a subgenre and dance movement that surfaced in clubs in Northern England and the Midlands during the late 1960s and the early 1970s. It is basically lesser-known Motown-influenced music from the mid-sixties with a heavy beat and fast tempo (100 bpm and above). Although many of the lyrics of the late rock ā€˜n’ roll era sound quite innocent and were mostly about falling in love and getting married, there was certainly a dark side too. At the time no one seemed to care, but songs about schoolgirls were quite common, even when they were sung by 30-year olds, like Chuck Berry. In 1962 he was even sentenced to three years in prison, because he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines for the purpose of having sex. When the musical landscape changed in the mid-sixties, fore fronted by the Beatles, the lyrics of the pop hits chan...

Billboard Disco Top 20 – February 23, 1980 (Mixcloud Exclusive)

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Pexels Enjoy the most popular disco tracks ranked from 20 to 1, according to Billboard on this day 45 years ago as a Mixcloud Exclusive ! The track by Janice McClain is a remix from DJ legend Larry Levan. It is the norm now, but at the birth of modern dance music in the 1970s, DJs, producers and remixers were rarely the same person. Tim Lawrence writes in his book Love Saves The Day about Larry Levan that he was the first well-known DJ to become a remixer and producer: "Even at the early stage of his remixing career the Garage DJ had created such an important canon that even when he wasn't spinning. it was more than likely that somewhere else he was being spun." Tracklist:  Shalamar – The Second Time Around Theo Vaness – I Can’t Dance Without You Rufus & Chaka – Do You Love What You Feel THP – Good To Me Spinners – Working My Way Back To You/Forgive Me Girl Phyllis Hyman – You Know How To Love Me Sylvester – Can’t Stop Dancing Trussel – Love Injection Janice...

Sunny Breeze From The West Coast Part 10 – Palm Tree Soft Rock

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Elijah Hiett Close your eyes and imagine yourself on Highway 1 in a convertible with palm trees on one side and the ocean on the other 😊 The opening track by Rapallo is from their debut album Merger that came out last year. They are a Montreal-based duo that stands out with playful duet vocals and witty lyrics. According to Bandcamp, their music explores the weirder corners of yacht rock, synth funk, and experimental pop. Tracklist: Kikimora – You Don’t Know [Eddy's Edit] (2025) Rapallo – Play To Lose (2024) The Smoothies – Springtime Jubilee (2024) John Miles – Close Eyes, Count To Ten (1983) Twilight – Straight To My Heart (1981) Looking Glass – Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne (1973) Tom Huntington & Mike Baumann – Time (1981) Dee Dee Sharp –  I Love You Anyway (1980) Seals & Crofts – Hummingbird (1975) Paul Skyland – Give Me Your Love (1981) Gary Hyde – Waste Of Time (1974) Cream And Sugar – Between Us (1980) Byrne & Barnes – Love You Out Of Your Mind (1981) Sant...

Far Away Places: A Funky Chillout Experience

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Pexels Yesterday a lot of snow fell in my hometown of Groningen and this cold weather inspired me to create something warm 😊 Enjoy! In Heaven Magazine the enigmatic Cosmic Crooner tells about his upcoming second album: ā€œLast summer was a beautiful time. I recorded a lot of material with legendary musicians in the dunes near The Hague. For those songs I was inspired by jazz and progressive soul by Curtis Mayfield, among others. But what I especially listened to and was captivated by was Brazilian music. That makes my new material feel like a big sultry summer evening.ā€ Next week we are going from far away places back to California for a new part of Sunny Breeze From The West Coast ! Tracklist: Burt Bacharach – Touch (1981) Cosmic Crooner – Never Wear Your Own Merch (2024) Everything But The Girl – One Place (1991) Raffi Quijano – Baby Come Back (2008) Bellestar – Best Of My Love (2016) Sarah Menescal & Eve St. Jones – Break My Heart (2023) Mina Okabe – Maybe One Day (2024) Cl...

Sunshine Radio & Calypso Drip FM Present Sunlit Eighties Pop

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Pexels I like that upbeat, electronic eighties pop sound a lot and that’s what I wanted to catch in this new part of my imaginary station Sunshine Radio . I used some authentic jingles and air checks to recreate the feeling of the decade. The Calypso Drip FM intro is from an album about a fantasy station with the same name by retro wave artist Gryff. Enjoy! "I knew I wanted a project that reminded me of radio stations of decades past... especially the type you would have on GTA: Vice City. The accessibility and discovery of lost music to the new generation deeply resonates with me." (Gryff) Paris Is One Day Away by British band The Mood stalled at number 42 on the UK singles chart in 1982. Two places higher might have got them a slot on Top Of The Pops and might have catapulted these three good looking guys to world fame, but they did not have the same luck as Wham! Their Young Guns (Go For It) sold badly upon its initial release in November 1982, reaching just number 42 as...

Billboard Black Singles Chart – February 4, 1984 (Mixcloud Exclusive)

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Enjoy this week's Billboard soul chart from 1984, ranked from 20 to 1 as a Mixcloud Exclusive ! We are approaching the mid-'80s and almost all of the classic soul artists have disappeared from view, with the exception of one of the all-time greats, Patti Labelle. Her Philly soul ballad If Only You Knew is even at number 1 on the chart ! 😊 The list is dominated by a tight electronic sound. Some hip hop is also emerging with Twilight 22, still categorized as ā€œelectroā€ at the time. It was clear that some big changes in the musical landscape were going on. The track by Patti Labelle is from her LP I'm In Love Again that was released in November 1983. It received critical and commercial success after the album became LaBelle's first to chart the top 40 of the Billboard 200, peaking at number 40 and reaching number 4 on the R&B albums chart, her highest to date at the time. With sales of over 500,000 copies, I'm in Love Again was certified gold by the end of 198...

Disco File Top 15 – January 31, 1976

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Pexels Enjoy the disco chart from 15 to 1 on the last day of January 1976, according to one of the leading American music magazines at the time, Record World ! In those days disco was essentially still a short term for upbeat soul and funk. The influence of discotheques grew strongly at the time. Almost half of the tracks on this disco chart were not released as a single yet, but dj’s already knew which songs from albums would become successful. Only one of them, Dance Your Troubles Away by Archie Bell & The Drells, would never see the light of day as a single, not even as a B-side. The infamous Salsoul label was founded by ex-MFSB vibe player Vincent Montana, Jr. He also led The Salsoul Orchestra. Their Ooh I Love It has been sampled in hip hop tracks, such as 50 Cent's Candyshop and Eric B & Rakim's Paid In Full , but most notably in Madonna's Vogue .  After playing in a band with Jimi Hendrix and a brief period as a schoolteacher, Hamilton Bohannon was recrui...

Sunny Breeze From The West Coast Part 9 – Golden State Treasures

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Unsplash Enjoy some Golden State treasures and affiliated songs that will bring you back to the golden days of the West Coast scene! 😊 Recently, a large number of artists have been severely affected by the terrible fires in Los Angeles. Fortunately, singer/songwriter Stephen Bishop who is on this cloudcast, was spared this fate. He lived in the Hollywood Hills for 48 years, but moved to Colorado not long ago, leaving the L.A. house to get ready for sale. On Facebook he wrote: ā€œWe are safe for now, but it’s been a harrowing ordeal trying to move what’s left out of the LA house. My songbooks, guitars, and other important items that hadn’t been moved yet—thankfully, we were able to get them all.ā€ British singer Steve Harley is best known for his 1975 UK number 1 Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) . In the late 1970s he moved to Los Angeles, after his friend Rod Stewart advised him to do so. He tried to crack the US market, but it did not work out the way he had planned. On his album Hobo...

Let Your Hair Hang Down: Golden Years Of Glam Rock (1971-1977) – Mixcloud Exclusive

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Adam Holtrop Relive the golden years of seventies glam rock as a Mixcloud Exclusive ! 😊 John Lennon once called glam rock ā€œjust rock & roll with lipstick onā€, according to David Bowie in an interview. The keywords for this seventies music style were fun, energy and extravaganza. Popular acts were Slade, Sweet, Mud, David Bowie and the inventors of the genre, T-Rex. Marc Bolan, the frontman of the band, accidentally put some glitters on his face for a Top Of The Pops performance in 1971 and glam rock was born. Around the mid-seventies tables turned when disco and punk gained popularity in favour of glam rock, although disco and punk borrowed heavily from the genre. Disco took the looks and punk the simplicity of the music. The New Romantic movement, which started as a fashion subculture in British nightclubs in the late 1970s, before becoming a mainstream music genre a few years later, was also inspired by the visuals of the glam rock era. And today’s superstar Chappell Roan is cle...

Cashbox Black Contemporary Top 40 – January 16, 1982

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Enjoy the R&B Top 40 from 40 to 1, dated on January 16th 1982, according to American music magazine Cashbox , the main competitor of Billboard at the time. There are quite a few veteran artists on this chart, like Bobby Womack, Curtis Mayfield and Gladys Knight, but a new, more electronic oriented generation is already knocking on the door, most prominently Prince. In the aftermath of their dispute about their copyrights, Daryl Hall claimed in a recent interview that almost all of the Hall & Oates songs are his compositions. According to him only three songs were collaborations with Oates, She’s Gone and Out Of Touch being two of them. John Oates said that he had the initial ideas for both songs and that they worked them out together. Daryl Hall sketched out the basics for I Can’t Go For That one evening at a music studio in New York City, in 1981, after a recording session for the Private Eyes album. Being on his own he randomly switched on the Rock 1 knob on a Roland drum...

Sunshine Radio’s Breezy Seventies Sounds

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Pixabay Enjoy light-hearted soul, pop and (yacht) rock from the seventies on this new Sunshine Radio part! Again songs from the era mixed with original jingles and air checks.  The title of this cloudcast is partly inspired by a very violent scene in Quintin Tarantino’s movie Reservoir Dogs with a radio playing Stealers Wheel in the background (the radio show is called Super Sounds Of The Seventies ) and I included a sample from that scene as well. The funk band Street Feet released only one album and then teamed up with singer Sharon Robinson in 1977. At the time she was reluctant to use her own name on her album for tax shelter issues with her label. Since her middle name is Terea, as it was said, this became the project name as well. Later on Sharon Robison toured as background vocalist with Leonard Cohen and wrote songs for big names in the industry like Diana Ross, Patti Labelle, Brenda Russell and Michael Bolton.  In 1978 Dane Donohue, the lost prince of yacht rock, r...

Eddy’s 80s Grooves Part 50 – Get Down Saturday Night

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Pexels Let’s start the new year with a celebration of the 50th part of Eddy’s Eighties Grooves ! 😊 The Zapp family group of brothers Roger, Lester, Larry, and Tony Troutman caused a stir in the early 1980s with Roger's innovative use of the so-called "talk box". More Bounce To The Ounce , Dance Floor and I Want To Be Your Man by Roger solo were big hits. Roger also played a significant part in Dr. Dre & 2Pac's hip hop classic California Love in 1996. The Zapp story ended in tragedy on April 25, 1999, when Roger was shot to death by Larry, who then turned the gun on himself, supposedly because of a money issue. Tracklist: Zapp – Heartbreaker (1983) Timex Social Club – Rumors (1986) Loose Ends – Mr. Bachelor (1988) Haywoode – Roses (1985) Point 3 FM – So Delicious (1987) Lakeside – Fantastic Voyage (1980) Shalamar – Make That Move (1980) California Executives Feat. Ronald Dudley – The Same For Me (1987) Unique – What I Got Is What You Need (1983) Chas J...