L'Amour

Broccoli Rabe Records is still in business to this day, although now I believe the co-founder, Brian Drago, runs it as a post production and film scoring facility in it's home of Fairfield, New Jersey. Yet for a period in the early 80's Broccoli Rabe turned out some now much sought after east coast style synth funk and proto rap records.

I have seen L'Amour's Let's Make Love Tonight turn up elsewhere on the internet recently, but the vocal side that has been posted around is a little campy for my tastes, and I tend to play the 'remix version' on the flip, which is more of a dub with just extracts of the chorus. Hope you enjoy:

L'Amour (feat. Krystal) - Let's Make Love Tonight (Remix Version)
L'Amour featuring Krystal - Let's Make Love Tonight

Feel My Love 1980

I recently came to the realization that we haven't explicitly covered the band Slave here in the several years since BE's inception. Now our omission can be justifiable to a point. Slave is a rather obvious group from the era, but a damn important one at that. Hailing from Dayton Ohio circa 1975, Slave were one of a handful of 70's artists that set the foundation for the Boogie-Funk sound as we know it. A common record no doubt but thanks in large part to Steve Arrington's vocals and the bands top notch arrangement, Feel My Love delivers in a big way. As Slave continued to hit new peaks in the early 80's their "Fearless Leader" Steve Washington left the band to form the equally killer group, Aurra. By request I also am posting Baby Love a prime Aurra track from 1983 with a b-side Mastermix by Shep Pettibone to boot.

Slave - Feel My Love
Aurra - Baby Love
Aurra - Baby Love (Shep Pettibone Instrumental Mastermix)

The Sound That Blows Your Mind

This jam by The Bang Gang came out on Sugarscoop in 1981. It is an early track produced by the most prolific dance music producer of the 80s and 90s; Bobby Orlando. This track has a much more black and boogie oriented feel than the Hi NRG sound for which he is known. His most notable release was Passion by the Flirts. Bobby O has an interesting story. It turns out he was a religious, raging homophobe, but made the gayest music known to man. Being a short, sober man of epic self confidence, he set up lots of labels and produced lots of music just for the payday. I stumbled upon this amazing quote by the narcissist that was originally printed in music magazine The Face in 1987: "I regard each record I make as worthless and useless just like anybody else’s"..."Anybody who thinks that their music is something special is worshiping a false doctrine. There is nothing that any artist can say that is really of any importance because anything other than God’s word is laced with the evil and has to regarded as sin tainted." Click HERE for the article.

The Bang Gang - Street Music
The Bang Gang - Street Music (Instrumental)

Its Heavy

I finally unpacked my records, but managed to put each and every individual cable I needed to get the home rig set up in a separate box, as if I was, at the time of packing, playing a stupid joke on myself. It was quite funny, costing me a day of my stupid life. Look what I found though in the back of a an old microwave box marked as containing kitchen utensils, another New York scene synth classic.

It's Heavy! is the dub instrumental on the flip of Barbara Norris's Heavy Hitter, the vocal side of which I saw bootlegged in the UK or Belgium a couple of years ago, but the campy hi-nrg vocals don't do justice to the synth funk instrumental. I have no idea why the first couple of bars of my copy of the record sound so crackly and beaten, I remember it being pristine when I found it. Its probably just an indicator of how many times I have dropped this in a set, spilt beer on it, put an overweighted, thrashed club needle on it and enjoyed listening to it since first having the fortune of pulling it out of a crate in San Mateo:

Barbara Norris - It's Heavy

Can't Get Off My High Horse

Jocelyn Brown is a bad ass. The beginning of this song is just stunning and rarely has a song about two timing love been so upbeat. "Somebody Elses Guy" was released in 1984 and peaked at #2 on the US R&B charts. It's not exactly a difficult record to find, I found it in a dollar bin, but it's a song that has that sound, that hook and instrumentation that sticks with you and I can't help but clap and sing along "OoohhhhI can't get off my high horse aaand I can't let go. You aaare the one who makes me feeel soo reeal." The break down really takes the song into a cool groove that just makes it even more danceable, the kind where one closes their eyes and enjoys a few minutes in a zone on the floor.

Jocelyn Brown - Somebody Else's Guy

Feel My Love 1982

Just when I thought I was out of high caliber boogie records to post I went digging through my crates tonite and found this jam on Prism subsidiary Snowflake Records. Another one off track by the husband and wife team of Curtis and Laurice Hudson, Feel My Love apparently got a good amount of airplay on Kiss FM in NYC during the hottest summer for music on record, 1982.

Laurice Hudson - Feel My Love
Laurice Hudson - Feel My Love (Instrumental)

Passion

I moved into a new apartment this week, so all my crappy records are still in boxes, unmarked boxes with mixed and bizarre content, 7"s getting destroyed by free moving kitchen equipment and cookware. I messed up and didn't pack until the morning the movers were set to arrive. This made it hard finding something to post today, and to compound the problem I also have a gig tonight at the Mezz and so far have only managed to unpack a few boxes of classical music and weirdy jazz.

Fortunately though I did come across Passion's 'Don't Stop My Love' retrospective LP whilst looking for my toothbrush (true), as well as the 12" instrumental version of the title track.

Recorded in Miami by Ray Martinez, Passion had the pleasure of including amongst it's members fruit loop cult leader, and Beat Electric favorite, Dr. York! as always, go check out his wikipedia entry.

Passion - Don't Stop The Love (Instrumental)
Passion - You Can't Hide It

Kinky Foxx

After hearing the disturbing news that several mp3 blogs were decimated last night by our friends at Skynet, I am stepping out of my cave this evening to mourn and wallow with some oblivious party toddlers. Therefore I ask forgiveness for the brevity.

So Different is a modern soul stepper on Sound of New York Records from Kevin Bassett aka Kinky Foxx. Complete with a "Sure Shot Mix" by Tony Humphries, this was Foxx's only known release. I suppose if you are going to cut only one single in your career, might as well make it a winner.

Addendum:

Our friend Matt from Montreal shared an email he received about the band from a gentleman that worked at the club where Kinky Foxx kept a residency in the early 80's. Here goes:

I worked at Checkers from '81-'87, and the Kinky Foxx effect took hold maybe in '82. Their big heyday was maybe for the 2/3 years following, though they kept showing up as long as I worked there.

When they first came up, Johnny Kemp was the lead vox but he left 'em when they more or less moved up here, and was replaced by Vincent Lilly (who sings on So Different.) Personally, I liked 'em more with Johnny, as Vincent was a bit of an MJ clone, but they were still a fierce live band (and I mean live: trap drums, percussions, slap bass, Jimmy Nolen-style rhythm guit & Ernie Isley/Eddie Hazel wailing lead, keys...) Rhythm guit Kevin Clarence Basset (who wrote So Diff) sang great lead on a few, which were the highlights for me: Champagne's Try Again, Rick James' Ghetto Life etc.

As a live band they were every bit as good as Cameo, or whoever you might name from that era, but they never got the break to get out of the bars. They worked a fuck of a lot in bars, though.
One night I turned 'em all onto 'shrooms, which (to my surprise) they'd never encountered in NYC: half of them loved it, and the other half wanted to kill me!

It was intense times to be around for sure, but just think: if you'd been there then, you'd be old (or dead) now! I still have some pretty much equally intense times, but obviously everything's that much larger than life when you're 20 than when you're more'n twice that.
I wish I'd taped a few KF shows: I still remember them really vividly, but I can't make you a dub of that!

Kinky Foxx - So Different (Tony Humphries Sure Shot Mix)

Good And Tight

This is a heavy cosmic disco track that is almost guaranteed to get you laid this Valentine's Day. Demis has had a long and storied career of swooning schmaltzy tunes but he put out a couple of great disco records. You can find another one of his tracks in the tags section. Also here is a slow jam to help you seal the deal.

Demis Roussos - L.O.V.E Got A Hold Of Me
Zapp - Computer Love

Lady Bug - The Remixes

With its anthemic backing track and trippy sped up vocals, Lady Bug is considered by many to be a definitive disco banger. I have always been somewhat dubious of the chipmunk style vocals but Patrick Adams and Greg Carmichael's incredible production work definitely breaks through. There were many 12" versions pressed upon its release in 1978, including the original on Greg Carmichael's Red Greg and a later RCA pressing featuring remix work from two of New York City's hottest DJ's at the time: John Morales and Larry Levan. These were both very early remix gigs for Morales and Levan and in my humble opinion Morales's hypnotic dancefloor mix shines brighter than Levan's more sparse version. UK label BBE recently issued a stellar comp featuring classic Morales remixes and a bunch of unreleased M&M session mixes from the era.

Bumblebee Unlimited - Lady Bug (John Morales Mix)
Bumblebee Unlimited - Lady Bug (Larry Levan Mix)

Mirage

Legendary dance music label Mirage Records was formed in 1980 by brother Bob and Jerry Greenberg, Bob holding down the West coast and Jerry setting up office in the East. Jerry had previously been the youngest ever major record company executive, moving to the top position at Atlantic Records at age 32, and both brothers had storied careers in the music and entertainment industry that continues to this day. They have restaurants in Vegas and Jerry was involved in Michael Jackson's music rights holding company, sitting as chairman for Michael throughout the 90's.

Mirage was famous for producing underground electro funk and freestyle records that successfully crossed over to the mainstream. A couple of years ago John Morales remastered a selection of Mirage releases from the original tapes for the small indie re-release label FTG (Funky Town Grooves) records, which released them as an under the radar CD compilation series in the UK. They look like low quality bootlegs from the photoshopped, cheaply printed covers, but they are legit. Please seek these out and buy all 3 volumes so I don't feel so bad about posting a few of these great remasters.

Wait.. I don't feel bad, here is the music:

Break Machine - Break Dance Party
First Love - Can I Be With You Tonight
Terri Jones - Do It Again Tonight
First Love - Give Me Your Love
Norma Jean Wright - Love Attack
Blue Magic - Magic Number
Ingram - Smoothin Groovin
Ingram - When You're Hot Your Hot
The System - You Are In My System

Shadow Dancin'

These tracks may be a bit too smooth for some of you, but Valentines Day is coming up so all you foos better get with the program. Cecil and Linda Womack make up the husband and wife duo Womack & Womack. Linda Womack is the late Sam Cooke's daughter and Cecil's brother Bobby Womack is a well known R&B artist. There are quite a few scandals that surround the family and as it turns out, Linda is Cecil's niece through marriage.

Womack & Womack have a very unique sound that seems to blend modern soul, country, and pop seamlessly. There is a lot of Sam Cook influence in there as well. I first heard Conscience of My Conscience in the Henrik Schwarz DJ Kicks and it remains one of my favorite jamz. I picked up the Strange and Funny 12" a while back and I love its country soul vibe. Teardrops is a dancefloor ready tune that was recently covered (and surprisingly, not in an "ironic" indie way) by the xx.

Womack & Womack - Conscience Of My Conscience
Womack & Womack - Teardrops (Extended Remix)
Womack & Womack - Strange And Funny

The Bull

Using a picture of a tricked out, synthesizer laden studio from 1987 is a little misrepresentative of a orchestral disco track from 1977, but I like pictures of machines and the artist behind the track in question, Mike Theodore, doesn't have many redeeming mug shots laying around the internet. I did find one from Soul And Blues Magazine, but it makes him look like a cheerful college professor and doesn't give him the druggy, edgy, party genius sheen that we like to impose on our borrowed remembrance of every figure form this era. The photo was all in focus and he was smiling.

The Bull is from Cosmic Wind, The Mike Theodore Orchestra's debut LP. It was used as the entry music for an NFL player of the time, also nicknamed The Bull, and would play whenever he ran onto the field, the vocals were sung by a local belly dancer the guys in the band had met at the Playboy Club whilst on a night out shortly before recording.

This one is self indulgent and fun.

The Mike Theodore Orchestra - The Bull