Side On was a British band that put out only one release. The record came out on Beggars Banquet in 1982. This tune has a lot of charm. It has a boogie meets synthpop sound and a positive vibe that makes for a winning combination. The project was produced by band members Peter Maas and Everton McCalla and the tracks were written by Peter Maas and Derek Clark.
Oh, for god's sake I love this track. Pitch perfect lyrics sung by Esther Williams backed by smooth strings, genius guitar playing, just enough piano and horns and a tight percussive groove. It never gets old and it always make me move. Written by Willie Lester and Rodney Brown and remixed by Larry Levan, "I'll Be Your Pleasure" is prime for spring's rising temperatures and pheromones. Esther Williams: I'll Be Your Pleasure
Magnum's house party last night has left me unable to stare at this screen for too long without feeling nauseous, so I'm going to keep it brief. Ford model agency are doing a photo shoot in my backyard, a makeup artist friend who is working the shoot asked if they could use my space today, which I agreed to as I thought it would be cool to watch and a good story, but all the models are barely highschool age and turned up with their parents to watch over the whole thing. They are shuffling through my records and putting on whatever easy listening they can find, which if you know my crates happens to be plenty.
I'm going to escape into the sunshine with this dubbed out early eighties number from the Tyson records stable. Stop the taxi..
Here we are with a total mystery item. "Discovered" by Andrew at People's Potential Unlimited. A great later take on disco through the eyes of a seemingly all white cast. Magic City, in this instance, is referring to Miami. So put on your pink half shirt with airbrushed tits, and rollerskate to this one.
The year was 1987 and apparently Paris was an underground Milwaukee boogie artist heavily influenced by some other guy from the Midwest named Prince. The only thing I know about this 7 inch is that I own a copy and so do these guys. This release was so low budget they couldn't even spell the track title correctly.
Kleeer was a lazer soul group from 1979 through the early 80's. They went through a couple of different names and styles in the early 70's. They were first known as Pipleine, then The Jam Band, then Universal Robot Band (produced by Greg Charmichael and Patrick Adams), and finally, Kleeer. The new name came with a southern rock looking logo and self produced tracks. With their funky synth laden boogie sound, the band penned a bunch or minor hits for Atlantic in the early 80's. Here we have the slammin' boogie tune Tonight, and an edit I did of an obscure proto-house tune from 1982. Kleeer - Taste The Music (LeBaron Edit) Kleeer - Tonight
I wish I could tell you something about James 'Brafa' Bradford, but I can't, I don't have any other records by this man and can find out nothing about him. If he made anymore of these monster boogie tracks it probably wasn't under that name and the label only seemed to put out this one release, but wherever you are today James Bradford, thank you.
Disco Train is a sought after monster 45 of the sort I love most, minimal, indie, dusty and imaginative. You can take risks with your sound when you are answering to nobody I should think, not having produced any 80s disco independent disco jams myself.
This is one from my most prized stack, and now hopefully it will be helping inject some deep boogie into some laptop sets around the world:
Leon Haywood, of "I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You" fame, ran his own label called Evejim Records. While living in LA you will encounter many releases from this label, most don't really fly. This is definitely my favorite title from their extended catalog. Rare one off from this unknown band Private Joy (named after one of my favorite Prince joints).
The sun baked boogie lyrics make one feel like it 90 degrees at midnight, and time for a ice cold glass of cherry wine.
Omni must not only be lauded for making some fine boogie tracks, the guys wore really killer sweaters as well. Images such as this one were an obvious inspiration for our friends to name their free weekly Sunday Nite party at the Li Po Lounge in SF. Incidentally, Black Shag and myself will be the guest DJ's this coming weekend so today I felt it appropriate to lay down this piece of pure unadulterated Sweater Funk.
Visions Of Tomorrow were a mainstay of the Mobile, Alabama funk scene, led by Gerald Grant they gained acclaim at the many charity events and benefits in which they would frequently perform. They played a mixture of covers and originals, of which the instrumental 'Galaxy' was one of their standards. This sounds as fresh today as it ever did.. maybe even more so than it ever did.
As an aside, for San Francisco folks, we are playing the Sweater Funk party next Sunday, the 19th I think it is. I haven't played out in ages and this night is a unique experience and well worth checking out if only just to see it. Its down in the basement of the Li Po lounge in China town, everyone dancing in a fog filled, laser lit fire trap whilst guy's upstairs play mahjong next to a Buddhist alter. Come by.
These days I'm having fun taking good songs, and eliminating the good parts, leaving us with no meat, just the condiments. Here we are scraping up bun crumbs and relish bits that have fallen off of Ava Cherry's "You Never Loved Me" sandwich. Ava Cherry - You Never Loved Me (edit)
Before writer/producer Donald Burnside formed First Love (see the "Party Lights" post), he gave us the lone Air Power single on LA based disco label AVI Records. Soaring disco strings, funky clavinet stabs and endless percussion breaks make this one an essential piece of the late period disco puzzle. Another gem from 1979. Air Power - Be Yourself
Claudio Simonetti and Giancarlo Meo were one of the most important production teams in the italo boogie scene. They produced or performed in Goblin, Kasso, Crazy Gang, Vivien Vee, Easy Going, and many more. This is my favorite Capricorn track, it has much more soul than I need Love. It is a perfectly built dancefloor burner that has a Kano style vibe but with a creepy vocoder treatment. The instrumental is brilliant. Capricorn - Capricorn (Vocal) Capricorn - Capricorn (Instrumental)
Isn't she beautiful? laying there seductively like that, fresh and young, looking temptingly at us, with her near perfect European retro styling. Taking us back to an era when tasteful aesthetic seemed to come so naturally.
I even put a new cartridge on her, A Sumiko Bluepoint Special Evo III, and now she runs into a Musical Fidelity X-LPS which feeds lovingly into a MOTUUltraLite recording interface. Many a deep disco funk cut has been offered at the alter of her ginko wood plinth.
Zena Dejonay looks alright too.
Every time I hear this song I wonder why I didn't grow up listening to it on the radio, it had all the elements I think to have made it a mainstream smash rather than simply a club funk classic.
I'm putting up the dub version too as I think as far as euro boogie dub versions of the time go its pretty good, try working the choppy, delayed out sections into the vocal.
A brilliant new release of LA private press funk. New label Glydzone's first release is coming from one Damon Riddick, a Los Angeles funk legend hailing from Leimert Park. Analog synth glyding over sturdy drum machines. Funkmosphere Loyalists may remember a time when this tune was on Myspace.... around the same time I had sketched a preliminary flyer for Damon's dj night, then called 1983. Wave Length - Funk Dreams
What is a Polyphase? Is it a funky science party, a means to distribute alternating current electrical power, or a tribute to the 70's electro-harmonix effect pedal? You make the call! Anyways.
So there are tracks you get super excited about when you first hear them and they sort of fade from your consciousness over time. Then there are the cuts that just stay with you, meld deeply into your psyche, and never let go. "Polyphase" by Aaron Broomfield is the latter. One thing I enjoy so much about this track is the lyrics. Normally, I am not one to fault the simplicity of soul lyrics. In fact most of the time I prefer them to the majority of crap indie lyrics we have to endure, but the quirky lyrical concept in this song just works. Especially when put in contrast to Mr. Broomfield's somewhat limited range as a vocalist.
The instrumental B-side is a dancefloor killer. With an intensely tight arrangement, Broomfield obviously had nonstop ass shaking in mind when he constructed this monster. Make sure to check out the accompanying video complete with zoomed in crotch shots of his backing vocalist.
Aaron Broomfield is still on the scene and the Dance Classic Master has posted an informative interview with the man from a few years back. Broomfield's two releases on his own Miami based Mountain Records label are both considered to be very obscure pieces. "Polyphase" has been reissued directly by Broomfield from his master tapes and cheap bootlegs float around the internets as well. If you want to find the OG "Polyphase" just do a little research, there is a running time discrepancy on the label between the 1983 and 2004 pressings. It won't make much difference though, both pressings are rare as hell and quite pricey.
Look out for a Beat Electric post on Broomfield's first 12" Single "I'm Gonna Miss Ya" in the near future.
This is my favorite of all the tracks that Charanga 76 covered. The original version was recorded by soul legend Ben E. King in 1979. It is less ubiquitous than their covers of Good Times and Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now and grooves just as well. It has the usual swagger of a Charanga 76 track and hand clapping rhythm that moves a dance floor. Charanga 76 - Music Trance
We try and keep BeatElectric within fairly narrow context, turn of the 80's underground dance etc, but today I'm veering away from two reasons, firstly I love psychadelic music of all sorts, psych rock, psych soul, psych disco and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the cleaner knocked over my turntable that I use to record and snapped the needle off my precious Dynavector 10x5 cartridge, so I can't record anything today, I'm just too heartbroken. As a result I'm putting up the live set from San Francisco's diggers OM and MAKossa's new international psych night with their kind permission.
This set varies from known Turkish seventies heavey groove classics, to bizzare eastern european private press funk rock that they wouldn't let me get a real look at. We walked in an were handed a pair of 3D glasses and watched to the musical backdrop as a three dimensional psychedelic sexploitation film was projected onto the walls, the storyline of which revolved around air hostesses (I think). Here is their sales pitch for the night and a little of what they have to say: AFREAKA! is a monthly night of rare psychedelic beats and heavy grooves from around the globe combined with psychedelic and sexploitation cinema (often in 3D with 3D glasses provided) where DJs sychronize the music to match the visuals creating a surreal experience. AFREAKA! is free and occurs every first Wednesday of the month at the Attic in the Mission district of San Francisco. It is hosted by DJ MAKossa and Deejay OM with guests that specialize in rare psych records; a night exclusive to vinyl for an authentic psychedelic analog sound.
The Attic 3336 24th St. (between Mission and Valencia) San Francisco, CA 94110
Gwen McCrae started out singing in the Pentecostal Churches of Pensacola Florida. As a Pentecostal Minister, she was heavily involved in the Church and in Gospel music. However, as she transitioned from musical expressions of the Church into those of clubs and mainstream music, she put her religion aside. Gwen was of course married to T.K recording artist George McCrae. They met in 1963 whilst he was in the navy in Pensacola. Their rather rocky relationship is cited by Gwen as one of the reasons she wasn't propelled into success in her singing career. This song, "90% Of Me Is You", written by Clarence Reid (who wrote a great deal of the songs Gwen sang) and Inez Kitts, appears to speak to just that dynamic between Gwen and George. The song is taken off her 1975 album "Rocking Chair", an album with quite a few choice tracks. "Move Me Baby" and the title track "Rockin' Chair" are two along with "90% Of Me Is You" that make this album for me. Gwen McCrae - 90% Of Me Is You
As far as my limited research suggests NYC label TNT Unlimited (Brooktown Records) was responsible for only three 12" releases in its very short run. I own two of them. The third release by a group called Fire and Ice is the rarest of the lot but the least essential in my opinion. Alternately, "You Can't Have It" by Stargaze (featuring a mix by Tony Humphries) and "Get Your Body Up" by Serena are pretty heavy tunes from the peak 1982-83 boogie era. TNT folded in '83 shortly after the Serena 12" dropped, leaving several collectible and sought after releases in its wake.
Ta'Boo was a one off synth pop project that was produced by Madonna producer Mark Kamins in 1983. This Dub version of the track has a great early garage house sound that meets nowave pop. The track features the Shriekback rhythm section and keyboard player, along with Change vocalist Tanyaette Willoughby. Ta'Boo - Over The Ledge (Rub Dub)
Here is a photo I took from a well curated stream on flickr . If you are the copyright holder, before you write in, do bare in mind that we host gigabytes of other people's music and never asked them permission either, so don't feel so bad. I think the tags on the wall are very early examples from the birth of that culture, before it became more stylised, I don't know much about it, but its appropriate as this bomb tune is another great boogie example that verges on early protohouse. I claim a lot of records to be my favorite West End release of all time, but this is the one that I enjoy the most out of my far from complete West End collection, and probably one of the rarest and most sought after.
One of a handful of releases on NYC imprint Park Place and the only collaboration between Greg Henderson (check the excellent "Dreamin' 12" on Sam Records) and L. Whitfield, "Dancin' To The Beat" is at the moment one of my top ten post-disco boogie joints. Of course these mental lists tend to change often but the stone cold guitar hook alone brings it back for me every time.
The vocal version was all set to be posted several weeks back when we received a random email looking for a rip of the instrumental. Unfortunately at the moment I was running out the door to catch a plane to Southeast Asia and did not have the time to record it. It was my bad, this particular instrumental should never have been left out in the first place. So here we have the vocal and instrumental mixes, both equally brilliant and fully capable of rocking even the squarest honky dance party. Problem is I can never decide which side to play. Henderson & Whitfield - Dancin' To The Beat Henderson & Whitfield - Dancin' To The Beat (Instrumental)
Farley Jackmaster Funk got his break in 1981 as one of the Hot Mix 5 DJs on WBMX, in Chicago. He was a guest DJ at the Warehouse and resident at the Playground. This mix from the mid 1980's will blow your mind. It is amazing to hear so many styles of mixing done by one DJ. There are edits, mashups, and scratching along with straight mixing. Imagine hearing something this cutting edge on the Zapco stereo in your Datsun lowrider circa 1986. Farley Jackmaster Funk - Jack Party Volume 1.
Here we are again, examining the tail end of what was once the disco era. One thing all of these bands had in common was that they released very few records. Not one of them got signed to a major label during the extent of their career under this name. Closest would be The Tutt Band outta Phoenix, AZ, who had 2 singles on TK.
While many veteran soul men from the states threw in the towel during the "drum machine / rap" era, these steadfast musicians all persevered AND managed to hit the music equipment stores, effectively changing the sound of soul music at that time. This mix would be a celebration of persistence, foresight, and limited access to engineering. Boogie squared.
-Disco Tom
LIGER MUSIC 01: SPRING FORWARD MIX
JBC Band - So In Love McDouglas & Whitaker - Noise Break Dorian - Stacked to the T McDouglas & Whitaker - Prynce Birth Tutt Band - Get On It Initials - Message in the Music (Edit Side) Silver Platinum & Gold - SPG Theme Fresh Idea - One Time to Make it Bright (TomNoble Edit) Vernon Cheeley - Get to the Point Assignment - Jammin' to the Beat Command Performance - Breakdance (TomNoble Edit) Prophet - Stick it Emerson - Sending all my Love Out Liger Music - Spring Forward Mix
Now talking about anything on the internet your not an absolute expert on is a dangerous thing, especially in music trivia terms, and especially when you want to rap about some genre or other of world music form a place with a population in the billions, there are millions of people just dying to correct and school me. So I'm going to save myself any embarrassment and just say that in terms of Indian dance music of the early eighties, there is one producer I know of and enjoy (out of I'm sure many that existed at the time), named Bappi Lahiri. I think he is well known in back packer hip hop circles for producing a lot of indian funk backing tracks to bollywood flicks early in the seventies. Anyway, later in the day he got drum machines and synths and went to work.
The thing about bollywood classics is that these were part of the mainstream not just in india, but all over africa and asia as well. I'm not just posting these to be quirky, they are dusty sounding, abstract and dope. I always especially like the Billy Jean inspired 'Jeena Bhi Kya Hai Jeena'.
To anyone who knows this stuff, I'm not posting I'am A Disco Dancer or Jimmy Jimmy Aja, I think they got well exposed after the M.I.A cover version dropped.
Oh yeah, avoid putting things in the trunk of cabs if you can in anyway bring it with you into the back seat, as you may forget them and be bummed out at yourself all evening. Just thought I would mention.
Right. It's Thursday. We are rapidly approaching the weekend and the time to shrug off responsibility, grab a drink and take a break from the news of demise, recession and global crisis. It's blindingly gorgeous in SF this week and hopefully something of like where ever you may be located. So, with all these things in mind, here is Grey and Hanks "Dancin'". It's not a terribly complex tune or a hard to find record, but it is upbeat and a sweet one to shake it to. I always laugh a little when the male vocal starts, you'll see why. That said, it never ceases to make me tap my foot, sing along and get dancin'.
For those in SF this weekend, come to Paradise for Prince Language, myself and the lads from I Can't Feel My Face. Good times are guaranteed. Grey and Hanks - Dancin'
2009 is shaping up to be a good year for the boogie/modern soul sound Indeed. Fresh off the heels of Dam Funk's Rhythm Tracks LP and forthcoming vocal record we see a killer entry from Manheim, Germany's First Touch. The German duo's eponymous debut is out now and features ten smoothed out, Kashif-era boogie joints. I think (hope) we are starting to see the very niche boogie genre ooze its way ever so slightly into the collective consciousness. Maybe now the mainstream R & B producers will switch it up a bit and take some props from this timeless genre. Actually at this point I would settle for everyone to simply give the autotuned vocals a well deserved rest.
Often it is said that the days of the dollar bin 12" are a distant memory within the confines of San Francisco. A golden era, when Funk's ugly cousin was sought after by only a handful of 90's house scene burnouts and a few collectors in search of gay scene nostalgia, and now of course you have bandwagon riding assholes such as myself and others in the mix, sucking the cities crates dry in between trips to buy organic groceries and $4 espresso drinks. And in many way I a agree with that sentiment, but to the contrary of that line of thinking I pulled this out of an old box at a thrift store a while ago for a dollar USD and although not a grail, it is a coveted and slept on traditional Miami sound disco banger of the sort I hardly ever post.
Everything about the arrangement on this track works:
It's been one of those weeks that just won't quit. So, it seems fitting to offer up some Heavy Vibes courtesy of Montana Sextet. There's so much to love about this track. It's mastered beautifully by Mr. Herb Powers Jr. It's got wicked vibe playing, a unique random vocal, amazing percussion, genius breaks, and to be honest, the general groove is just divine. Be sure to listen through to the end as the track has a nice twist right in the last moments.
This is a big tune from a very big dude. Demis Roussos is an ethnic Greek via Egypt who played in a bunch of bands including the prog rock group Aphrodite's Child. Fellow bandmate, Vangelis (whose full name is Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou for those of you keeping track) arranged this and may other of Demis' tracks. Demis has had a very long career singing in every European language you can imagine, but most of that does not concern us. He came out with a great disco record in 1977 called Magic and a 1978 folow up self titled LP with the brilliant and highly saught after track L.O.V.E. Got Ahold Of Me. This rip comes from the French 7" of Mourir Aupres De Mon Amour (a tender panty dropper) where it is a B side.
I have added Who by Odyssey, which is the original version of the track. Odyssey was a one off project featuring Vangelis.
So Gino Soccio and his hits are standards, vets, diggers and collectors will smirk at the notion that I would post such 101 offerings. And its true, I should be villafied, if it wasn't of course for the case that this is Gino Soccio's own megamix of his greatest work, designed and packaged as a workout routine musical backing for the body concious Canadian ladies of 1982.
Gino spliced this together himself, and the mix on the A side is entitled 'Get It Up' and is made up of the tracks 'Dancer' , 'Try It Out' and 'Its Alright'. The B side is a cool down, stretching, hippy yoga mix entitles 'Detente'.
The best part about this short mix is that not only does it flow so well between tracks that really represented the benchmark of production quality at the time, but it also gives you 13 minutes and 12 seconds in which you can leave the DJ booth and go pee or have a smoke and everyone will go home claiming that was probably the best 13 minutes of your set, none the wiser.
Minnie Riperton had a short but very esteemed career in music. In her teens Riperton was the lead singer of a band The Gems and was affiliated early on with Chess Records. Riperton is likely best remembered for her song "Loving You" where her five and a half octave vocal stylings were highlighted. In this track, "Young, Willing and Able", a more funky side of Minnie is expressed. This song, released in 1977 on Epic, was produced by Freddie Perren who was known for producing two tracks on the Saturday Night Fever album, "I will Survive/Substitute"(produced with Dino Fekaris) and many of the Jackson Five's first hits. Minnie's sultry vocals are perfectly backed with a sprinkling of horns, electric guitar, cascading synths and smooth strings. This song just drips with sensuality. So good.
What do you get when you mix B.T. Express and Brass Construction? This is the only track by Garnett Mims & Truckin' Company; but Garnet Mims (with one t) was a soul singer from Ashland, West Virginia in the mid 60's. It was produced by Jeff Lane from B.T. Express and Randy Muller from Brass Constructionin 1977. The back track sounds very much like any from Brass Construction's self titled LP, but with screaming guitar and funky proto-rave synth work. The guitar can be a bit much, but I am a sucker for tambourine. Garnett Mims & Truckin' Company - What It Is Garnett Mims & Truckin' Company - What It Is (Part II)
Ok, I recorded this entire album twice as I suffered a grand technical failure the first time around, and as such the evening is wasting away so I'm going to keep this short so I can make my rendesvous.
Many of you may be familiar with the popular dark electro classic '112 BPM' . It came from this album, More Jive Rhythm Trax, the follow up to the equally sought after (but not quite as deadly in my opinion) Jive Rhythm Trax. A series of albums produced by Jive records consisting of dark, dubby instrumental covers or 'versions' of popular electro and new wave tracks of the day. I have three albums in this series, one with a blue cover, this one with a red cover, and one with a yellow cover entitled something like Jive Scratch Trax. They were all intended to be used as DJ tools, and might be the first example of a mass produced record purely intended as a utility for DJ'ing. I find them all amazing.
If you can, try and spot the original inspirations for these instrumentals:
This short lived Italo-disco gruppo had a member of Kirlian Camera in it and these tracks were in fact produced with Italo kingpin Koto. Although enmeshed in Italo-ness, their inspiration came from Greek god of synth pads, Vangelis (born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou), the composer responsible for the Chariots of Fire soundtrack. I suppose it is true Italo-disco fashion that Hipnosis produced mainly covers...there also is a cover of Oxygene by J.M. Jarre, the French version of Vangelis. Both of these cuts below will provide some drama to the dancefloor and if you are lucky, Pris will come cartwheeling out out from the corner...
As Safety Scissors and myself sat down several hours ago to rip "What's In It For Me" by Zalmac we came to a very simple consensus. The vocal mix was too "vocal-y" and the instrumental mix (somewhat ironically) was missing the instrumental breakdown we both enjoyed on the A-side. So here it is. Produced in less time (and infinitely less effort) than this "edit" actually runs, this can not be clearly defined as an edit, but rather a cut and paste of the instrumental and the vocal breakdown section resulting in the ideal mix that just now sees the light of day. Neato!
The original 12" was released on the private TSOB imprint in 1982. An image of Zalmac's only full length LP entitled "Whatcha Gonna Do" is pictured above. I really need to add dude's sleeveless leather jacket to my collection stat. Zalmac - What's In It For Me (Cut And Paste)
Here is another Cameron Paul jam under his Layizon moniker. This, like the other, is an odd bird packed with awesome sounds and freestyle flavor. The video inspired me to make a mega-mix of Cameron Paul produced tracks. If anyone can make some monitors like that for the Beat Electricians, please let us know! Layizon - The Ride Inside Cameron Paul - LeBaron's Janky Megamix
Ann-Margaret was born in Sweden and came to America in 1946. In the 1960's Ann-Margaret began a recording career in addition to her already notable film career. While her music ventures didn't prove as successful, she did have a song "I Just Don't Understand" peak on the Billboard Charts at #17 in 1961. Much later, she had this song "Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes" released in 1981 on First American Records. The song was popular in clubs and reached #22 on the charts. "Everybody..." features brilliant production and writing by Paul Sabu and highlights the soft and throaty qualities of Ann-Margaret's voice. "Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes (Part 2)" is percussive, with just the right amount of horns and synths.
Queen Constance Records was owned and operated by Peter Brown, of P&P records fame, so the sound of University Dances of 1978, a recording by the then house band, should come as no surprise. Gritty, stripped down seventies deep disco. Just look at the cover, those two deeply in love university scholars are doing the New York Freak, possibly to the vocal cut, or maybe even the instrumental version, both of which I'm posting in devotion to the memory of St Valentine and the love the binds us all. Such an image makes you ponder, perhaps the young man on the cover enjoyed the company of his date beyond the hours of dancing academia, and sensitively laid her down to the extended percussive breaks of the Pigeon Hustle.. one can only hope.
I've been waiting for this date to fall upon a Friday...Waiting in the dark cabin and I've cut the power or waiting in the woods and your flashlight is running out of batteries. Yes, you are cute in your ripped up mini shorts and I'm not so hot and smell like lake water. No, I'm not promoting the new movie, just the one from 1982. Er, rather just the soundtrack from this movie...I actually liked the second one more.
We rarely mention modern artists here at BE, but we make an occasional exception when we find something that garners our attention. Our friends in Codebreaker recently constructed a cover of the Jimmy Ross classic "First True Love Affair" for a website called Buffet Libre. Unfortunately the track got a little bit buried amongst the 80 or more other artists that they commissioned to cover a classic track for their Rewind 2 series. Anyways, Codebreaker dug a little bit deeper than the rest and did a fine cover, staying true to the original whilst adding a few modern touches. All in all, they produced a solid version of the 1981 Jimmy Ross/Kano masterpiece. Codebreaker - First True Love Affair
Eumir Deodato is a very accomplished arranger, producer, and keyboard player from Brazil. In the late 60's and early 70's he was mainly known for jazz and jazz funk and pressed records for CTI Records. His records never sold very well and eventually CTI folded. In the Mid 70's he signed to MCA and then pressed records on the Warner Brothers label in the late 70's. In addition to recording tracks under his own name, he produced tracks for Kool and the Gang, Gwen Guthrie, and the Dazz Band; among others. He has recently produced and arranged for Bjork.
This 1982 track shows how well he excelled as a boogie producer. It is super smooth with a funky bass up front, spacy synths in the background, and subtle vocals.
I just put the picture for this post up and realized that the two punk new wavey kids pictured probably wouldn't have been caught dead listening to David Joseph. In fact, its a shitty choice of imagery now I think about it for a boogie instrumental, but I couldn't find any good pictures of second wave eighties skateboard pro's, which is predominantly what I most enjoy looking at, so I used this pic instead. Aren't they sweet?
This is another big UK tune from the king pin of the London scene. I have been seeing the instrumental appearing on big name DJ playlists the past few years, and its a fun track to work into a set at there is a big pay off at the end of the long mixable drum intro that always kicks the energy up a notch.
I feel so hungover and sick I want to die, which I think I may now go and do. Please download this track and play it loud in my memory.
Under the guidance of legendary NYC DJ Walter Gibbons, "Set It Off" by Strafe was a massive underground club hit upon its release in 1984. Gibbons (who mixed the track) was co-founder of the Jus Born imprint which was basically formed as a catalyst for the "Set It Off" single. The track had such a profound impact that they went on to produce a female vocal version in 1985, a 1986 remix 12" as well as "Set It Off II" in '87. With its stark groove, the original version was a masterful blend of early electro, house and techno styles. Still, I quite enjoy the single as it evolved over the next several Jus Born releases.
Strafe aka Steve Standard still performs in NYC to this day. The late great Walter Gibbons (pictured above) died in 1994 and donated his massive record collection to an SF based aids charity where it was auctioned off. Many pieces of his collection are still floating around the Bay Area.
This is one of my favorite italo records. It was released on Vedette Records in 1979 with subsequent releases on Rams Horn and 1981 re-releases on Carrere and CNR. Azoto was first known as "Lucrethia And The Azoto 14,008." Azoto was produced by Celso Valli, who produced and arranged many italo classics such as personal favorites: Self Control by RAF and Walking in the Neon by Peter Richard.
This five cut record has no fewer than four classic italo tracks. All the tracks except Exalt, Exalt share a space disco meets traditional folk music sound that is a magical combination. San Salvador warps Bee Gees-esque falceto, protohouse piano, and gypsy folk into a peak hour disco masterpeice. Exalt, Exalt is just simply brilliant with a dark minimal sound and perfectly placed accents. The tune was way ahead of its time and set the stage for mid 80's italo electro.
Side On was a British band that put out only one release. The record came out on Beggars Banquet in 1982. This tune has a lot of charm. It has a boogie meets synthpop sound and a positive vibe that makes for a winning combination. The project was produced by band members Peter Maas and Everton McCalla and the tracks were written by Peter Maas and Derek Clark.
