The dream team collaboration of vocalist Leroy Burgess with producers Greg Carmichael, and Patrick Adams yielded so many amazing recordings between their many different musical projects. The Universal Robot Band's tenure began in 1976 with the "Dance and Shake Your Tambourine" single and ended in 1982 with the release of the boogie masterpiece "Barely Breaking Even". The majority of Burgess's releases in the early 80's came out on Salsoul, but this single was released on the fairly obscure Moonglow imprint, which makes an original pressing much harder to come by. The 12 inch was reissued in recent years due to the track's high demand and influence in the disco universe.

Universal Robot Band - Barely Breaking Even (Club Version)

The Funhouse was one of the great discoteques of New York, it went head to head with the Paradise Garage with a mixed gay and straight disco crowd, but as the early eighties came around it became known as a niche dance club for early breakdancers and electro.

Jellybean Benitez was the resident DJ, and second only to sleeping with Madonna and bringing her onto the scene, this 1982 edit of Kaso's Key West is my favorite of his achievements. As the eighties wore on he rocked a look not unlike Kenny G's or Michael Bolton's, but this was just for the press and to help maintain a career image as a big pop producer, his roots were actually still deep in the underground disco scene. Key West is an italo number highly popular with the first body poppers, you can hear the crossover and emergence of tradional dance electro, this would have been played at volume from the Funhouse's giant clown head booth as circles formed on the dancefloor beneath ..behold.. the clown head..



Kaso - Key West (Jellybean re-edit)

Here are a couple of rare tracks from 1982 by the Italian group Amin Peck. Amin Peck was George Fyron, Leonard Parker, and Max Marne. The track Anxiety is particularly interesting with its crazy chorus drenched slap bass and comical synth line. It is a really well built track with a nice 808 breakdown in the middle with porn guitar and saxophone that rides out to the end. Girl On Me has a very unique, iconic sound that is wedged between pop and avant garde.

mp3: Amin Peck - Anxiety
mp3: Amin Peck - Girl On Me

Thanks to my good friend Alicia, I acquired about 40 Todd Terje Edits yesterday and I thought it would only be appropriate to drop a few of the best ones here for y'all to enjoy. Dig it.

Chaka Khan - Fate (Todd Terje Edit)
The Brothers Johnson - Ain't We Funkin' Now (TT Miks)
The Emotions - Love Vibes (Todd Terje Re-Kutt)
Afro Cuban Band - Something's Gotta Give (TT Re-Kutt)

Abaco Dream was a one off project circa 1970 by Bay Area soul legend Sylvester Stewart AKA Sly and the Family Stone. Not much is known about the project, but it is assumed that it was a way to try out a different sound. This is funky soul tune is proto-disco at its best. It comes on with so much authority and kills. I have no idea what G and A stands for so if anyone does, please let us know.

mp3: Abaco Dream - Life And Death In G And A

Starvue were a collective out of Chicago. The Upward Bound LP released in 1980 featured the slow burner single and 12 inch "Body Fusion" (which I am not going to share with you just yet as it is on a forthcoming mix that Black Shag and I have just completed) as well as the more upbeat "Love Affair". Released on the private label Midwest International Records, Upward Bound is a very sought after record and the Body Fusion 12 inch is even more rare. Credit has to be given to my friends at Lotus Land Records in Milwaukee as they turned up 15 sealed copies of the 12 inch and several of the LP a few years back. I managed to find my copy in a Chicago thrift store, but probably would have ignored it in the first place as the cover is arguably rather hideous (save the band name Starvue) and looks like a bad born again christian folk LP to me.

Starvue - Love Affair

In the past I've done some mixes for the weekly Laid Back Show on the local radio station FM Brussels as well, for instance 'Slow Disco 2' (http://www.laid-back.be/download/eddy14.htm or http://tinyurl.com/42fywq). But the weekly Laid Back Show has now become a 24 hours radio station on the web.

The idea behind 'Summer Grooves' was to make a sunny disco mix. Some joyful tracks from the late sixties to the mid eighties."
(intro)
Michael McDonald – I Keep Forgettin’ (1982)
Don Blackman – Heart’s Desire (1982)
Creative Source – Good Lovin’ Is Good Livin’ (1976)
Sugar Hill Gang – Apache [12”] (1982)
Mongo Santamaria – Get Back (1969)
Gene Chandler – Get Down [Rick Giantos Special 12” Mix] (1979)
Joubert Singers – Stand On the Word [Larry Levan Remix] (1985)
Jeff Perry – Call On Me (1977)
Sunrize – I Need You More Than Words Can Say (1982)
Cool Notes – Why Not (1985)
ABC – King Without A Crown (1987)
Five Star – System Addict (1985)
The Jacksons – Walk Right Now (1980)
Tony Orlando – Don’t Let Go (1978)
Theo Vaness – I Can’t Dance Without You (1979)
Heaven & Earth – I Really Love You (1981)
Jimmy Williams – All Of My Lovin’ [Eddy’s Edit] (1983)
Serge Gainsbourg – Sea Sex And Sun (1978)
Leo’s Sunshipp – I’m Back For More (1978)

Its time for another Paradise party. This time me and BT Magnum will be playing after Holy Ghost (DFA records), our friends from the Gemini crew and a live show from Sister Sledge. If you happened to come by for the last Paradise with Escort then you will remember what a great time it was, it was easily my DJ highlight of the year and I cannot wait for this one.

Saturday, May 17th, at the Mezzanine on Jesse street.

Above is the flyer, and below is my blog haus remix of Sister Sledge's He's The Greatest Dancer.

See! now Beat Electric is just like every other blog, shameless self promotion plus choppy nu disco remix mashup laptop edits. If this bums you out I do understand, all I can do is apologize and reassure you that its all for a good cause..

Sister Sledge - He's The Greatest Dancer (Black Shag's Greatest Bloghauser remix)

Fever was a SF Bay Area group that centered around Dale Reed, Joseph "Joe" Bomback and Dennis Wadlington. The group got together in 1978 and put out a 12" that was a cover of the Motown hit Standing In The Shadows Of Love. Their LP that followed is owned by at least 75% of your Beat Electric hosts and features the late, great Patrick Cowley on synthesizers. These posted tracks are from their last 12" on Fantasy Records from 1980. The guitar line in Dreams And Desire is so familiar but I can't think of where I have heard it before. There is a lot of Bay Area talent present on these records and this particular one is signed by the record's producer and Bay Area DJ legend John Hedges. I apologize for the recording of The One Tonight, I gave up after digging the groove 7 times. Tim apparently loved the track!

mp3: Fever - The One Tonight
mp3: Fever - Dreams And Desire (Jim Burgess Mix)

There is Eurofunk and then there is Euro Funk and they are the same group but they do not quite share the same sound. Hailing from Miami and fronted by Louie Shameea, Euro Funk released two 12 inches in 1981 on their own Eargasm Records. Besides the ridiculously amazing sleeves (only the sleeve for "Everybody's Dancing" is pictured here) the tracks are pure boogie gold.

Everybody's Dancing is a raw and funky rewrite of Jimmy Ross's "First True Love affair" complete with the same guitar and basslines, but layered with a new vocal melody and lyrics. "Dynomite" is my personal jam. Check the hypnotic guitar and synth melodies as well as the dubbed out bomb drop effects.

In 1983 Euro Funk became the one word Eurofunk and finally lived up to their moniker releasing the somewhat cheesey Italo track "Manshortage" on Pantera Records. Reissued as part of Morgan Geist's "Unclassics" series, "Manshortage" is much more ubiquitous, but doesn't hold a candle to the earlier releases on Eargasm.

Euro Funk - Everybody's Dancing
Euro Funk - Dynomite

Chemise released this track, "She Can't Love You" on Emergency Records in 1982. This track was mastered by the notable Herb Powers Jr and was written and produced by Rickie and Ron Muldrow. For the year it was made, this track has a very contemporary feel.

mp3: Chemise - She Can't Love You

This is a boogie monster.

Jimmy Williams was from Philadelphia, lead singer of Double Exposure and bass player with the O'Jays, as well as session bass man on countless big disco era records. Jimmy is no longer with us, passing away in 1995.

'All Of My Lovin' is his most well known solo single and harks from the beginning of the boogie era, it is one of my all time favorite modern soul records and it is an absolute dancefloor smasher. Its a little rare to find, although it has seen CD re release by salsoul a few years ago, this mp3 is recorded from my virgin ramshorn release. If you can find it pick it up as the instrumental on the flip is also a useful tool for making other DJ's cry.

The French group Voyage has been covered here before when we featured their 1980 tune I Love You Dancer. Souvenirs is from 1978 and is a glamorous pure disco dance floor burner. This rare Hot Tracks remix from 1983 on Power Records attempts to put a modern spin on the sound and removes the vocals. While it is at a more gentle tempo, they removed a lot of what made the original track so great. On the end of the track it seems they added a bit of a Muzak version for good measure.

mp3: Voyage - Souvenirs (12" Version)
mp3: Voyage - Souvenirs (Hot Tracks Mix)

Many attempts by Latin artists were made to cover American Disco tracks pretty much from the inception of the genre. Charanga 76 were probably the most successful of the lot. I would stop short of saying that their covers were better than the original versions, but when you are up against an artist as influential and important as Chic, you better do a damn good interpretation. I would venture to say that Charanga pulled it off quite nicely. The slowed down, laid back groove and the dubbed out production sit very nicely with this cut. "Good Times - Comos Vamos A Gozar" was the first single from their 1979 LP No Nos Pararan. The album also included Charanga's fantastic cover of Mcfadden and Whiteheads "Ain't No Stopping us Now" which was featured on Dimitri from Paris's Disco Forever compilation released on BBE Records in 2000.

Charanga 79 - Good Times
Charanga 76 - Ain't No Stopping Us Now

Yellow Magic Orchestra was a Japanese electro band that got together in 1978. They are acknowledged as being forerunners in the synthpop, technopop and electropop genres. This track is from 1979 and it was way ahead of it's time. If you lust after giant Moog modular synths, check out this video.

mp3: Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technopolis

I had been wanting this record for a long time, it is some of the finest work by Patrick Adams. Not the LP pictured, but the 12". There it was sitting without a sleeve, getting pretty scratched up in a pile of heat that I picked up at a flea market in San Francisco. I had just bought the Keep On Jumpin' LP on ebay a couple of days before, and was happy to have a great 12" by Musique for 50 cents; even though it doesn't have the artwork. In the Bush, from a Disco Heat compilation was played at my wedding by one of my friends, so the song holds a lot of sentimental value for my wife and the guests. I was really excited to hear the B side, Keep On Jumpin' because it is a track that is on the amazing free download record Juiced by The Cansecos. Enjoy!

mp3: Musique - In The Bush
mp3: Musique - Keep On Jumpin'

This is the one and only release by Kym. "Give Me The Dance" came out on Award Records in 1983. There isn't much information about Kym as an artist, but if you are only going to release one track this is the way to do it.

mp3: Kym - Give Me The Dance

Alvin Cash was a soul singer and dancer that hailed from St. Louis, Missouri. Shortly after moving to Chicago in search of a record deal, former Motown producer Andrew Williams discovered Cash and helped him record his 1963 debut hit R & B Single "Twine Time". Cash went on to have a few more minor hits and supporting roles in several 70's blaxploitation films including Petey Wheatstraw and Black Jack.

Released as a 7 inch single in 1982 on St. Louis based private label, Gateway Records "Cash Dollars" is a raw soul number with a throwback funky vibe filtered through the more modern prism of early 80's boogie groove. Remaining on the fringes of popularity, Cash continued to make music and performed in the Chicago area regularly until his death from an ulcer in 1999.

Alvin Cash - Cash Dollars

Starpoint was one of the greatest lazer soul bands to grace the 80's with their jams. They were originally called Licyndiana, which is not pronounceable because it is a acronym of the band members' names. They have a similar sound to that of Aurra and hail from Maryland. With the late Renee Diggs' amazing voice and Ernesto and George Phillips' thick pipes, their songs are filled with emotion. Kayode Adeyemo and Ernesto Philips co-wrote much of the songs. The funky synth work and disco guitar are standard fare. They put out records from 1980 till 1990. Kayode went on to write Milli Vanilli's hit, Girl You Know It's True.

I recently found Kayode online and he says, "This is the song that got it all started back in 1980!"



mp3: Starpoint - Wanting You
mp3: Starpoint - It's All Yours

George Duke wore many hats during his long, diverse career and this was his easily his best. Featuring a fantastic lead vocal by Lynn Davis, "I Want You For Myself" is a flawless disco tune composed and produced by a musician more well regarded for his jazz/fusion work. 'Nuff Said.

George Duke - I Want You For Myself

Aaah the things we do for pure disco pleasure. I had to run my precious Grado stylus over this record two times to dig out the groove before I could get a good recording of this fine and rare record. Beat Electric plans on building a pair of record washers in the near future; I have just the decks to make it happen and I have just the right record cleaner to do it. For more details on how to buy our highly specified high grade record cleaner, email us.
Ok, this is a Disconet mix of Madmen's Discotheque by The Chaplin Band by Casey Jones. Disconet records are prized possessions by record collectors and DJs because they feature unique extended mixes and edits by the top DJs from back in the day. DJs like Bobby Guttardo and Tom Savarese were regular remixers. Disconet was a record pool and their releases were not available to the public.

mp3: The Chaplin Band - Madmen's Discotheque Part II (Disconet mix)

"Walking Into Sunshine" by Central Line is by far their biggest hit. This mix done by Larry Levan has reserved use of synths, perfectly catchy vocals and a lackadaisical beat all of which create a super balanced mix. Not rare, hard to find or even expensive, just a nice solid anti-nine to five tune.

mp3: Central Line - Walking Into Sunshine

'I Can Feel Your Love Slipping Away' has a long title and a lovely vocal line, but for some reason the instrumental version is far more sublime, with hints of the vocal chorus used sparingly throughout on top of the hook heavey and unique synthlines.

Recorded in 1984, there is not much to tell you about the artists other than that they were probably a collective of Detroit area session musicians, brought together as a side project by Michigan area producer and gun for hire Bruce Nazarian (his 80's Detroit disco credits include Was Not Was), who is no doubt responsible for the great synth work. Bruce still works today, writing popular books on DVD production techniques.

Daniel Wang sampled the track to great effect in his 1995 classic 'Not Feeling It', and Black Shag puts it in his all time boogie top 10, so it must be ace..

Samson & Delilah - 'I Can Feel Your Love Slipping Away'

I don't think I have heard a disco record with a more pronounced four on the floor. The mix is virtually buried under the stomp of the bass drum. This club classic from 1979 by Colleen Heather means business and is a good example of a record that was made for a dance club and would not work on the radio. I wonder what this would have sounded like on an RLA system back in the day. I recently got a DBX boombox, and have seen this record shake the house first hand. Colleen is backed by The Rubber Rock Band and the track was mixed by Walter Gibbons on West End Records. Walter Gibbons was the first DJ to sit at a mixing desk when he lent his ear and mixed Ten Percent by Double Exposure in 1976 on Salsoul records as the first 12" single to ever be sold.

mp3: Colleen Heather - On The Run (Long Version)

Sea Level was formed by Allman Brothers band members Lamar Williams, Jaimoe, and Chuck Leavell in 1976. After the release of the first album, Cats on the Coast, the band added musicians Davis Causey, George Weaver and Randall Bramblett. In 1979 they released this 12" on Capricorn, "Sneakers (Fifty-Four)", a smooth, jazzy, midtempo track with excellent guitar, sax and piano playing.

mp3: Sea Level - Sneakers (Fifty-Four)

Sunday 4:07 PM EST. Sitting in a Miami roach motel with a killer hangover. Brutal trance remixes creeping in from the mega hotel next store. DJ Fucknuts 5000 on the decks 24 hours a day. Must cleanse the soul with some quality boogie. AM-FM to the rescue.


AM-FM - You Are The One

So everybody knows Gino Soccio's 'Dancer', part of the standard cannon, and for good reason. It has been covered several times, most recently I heard Escort do it live and no doubt over the years there have been versions I have yet to hear, but of those I do know (including the original) Starflight's is my favorite.

Most people sweat this record because the other side Contains 'Dance To The Beat', a track that appears on mixes all over the place and got an Automan bootleg re-release, but few mention the Gino Soccio cover version. It keeps the original's driving disco edge but with an 808 breakdown and subtle turbtable scratch bridge that indicates that it is now 1983 and things have moved on four years since Gino first penned the track.

Starflight - Dancer

mp3: Spice - You' re So Nice (Latin Spice) Extended Version

Infatuation came out on New York's small Silver Cloud Records in 1983. Look out for anything on Silver Cloud, its all boogie gold, and although the label and their number of releases were small they seemed to have enough distribution that their output will now run you between $7 and $70 for the rarer cuts.

This is perhaps their best known release, alongside the highly sought after Heavy Hitter by Barbara Norris that came out on parent label United Performers, which has been turning up on trendy italo/electro disco bootleg comps over the past couple of years. Both tracks share production by Edward Colon, who I believe still had house music credits dating up until the late nineties.

Up Front - Infatuation

Not much to say other than that I am glad this exists. This is a very campy and very driving disco tune that was produced by cheesemeister Michael Lloyd. Lifted from the internet:
"*(Mitsuyo "Mie" Nemoto, Keko "Kei" Masuda) Known as "Pink Lady", these two female Japanese rock singers were introduced to American television via this comedy variety hour [Pink Lady and Jeff]. Mie & Kei may have been popular in Japan, but their U.S. debut quickly fizzled out. One reason the series disappeared: the stars spoke very little English and had to be guided through the program sketches by American comedian Jeff Altman."

mp3: Pink lady - Kiss In The Dark

Barry White really needs no introduction.
This track is a sultry, slow disco tune that kicks back behind his vocals quite nicely.
Released in 1977 as a single on 20th Century Records from the album "Barry White Sings For Someone You Love".

mp3: Barry White - It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me

I feel like just about every post I write these days is about a one-off artist and Elite are no exception to that rule. Released in 1980, "Rock The House" fell into that nice roller-disco sound that Vaughan Mason and Crew helped pioneer just a year earlier on Dakar's parent label, Brunswick Records. By no means a rare gem, "Rock The House" is a fine party jam with a sort of heavy, yet minimal groove.

I would love to brag that this track lights up the dancefloor whenever it gets dropped at one of our epic Beat Electric DJ sets. It is probably safer to say that almost every time without fail someone dressed straight out of an Old Navy catalog circa 1997 comes up and requests that I play something from the '80's instead. In fact, one time a babe sporting a tube top and true religion jeans once asked our guy LeBaron to "play some Michael Jackson" while he was in the middle of spinning "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough". I can definitely respect that.

Elite - Rock The House (Part 1)
Elite - Rock The House (Part 2)

Powerline is a collaborative effort between Andy Sojka and Jerry Pike. This track, "Double Journey", is a 13+ minute musical endeavor released on both Elite and Prelude Records in 1981, then again by Françios K.'s label Wave Music in 1998. The bassline in this track is perfectly laid back yet driving. The track was mastered by famed Herb Powers Jr. and it is a true pleasure to listen to. There is a rather hard to find promo release of "Double Journey" on Prelude which is what is posted here.

My apologies for such a poor photo, I am clearly not a strong swimmer when it comes to the photographic arts.

mp3: Powerline - Double Journey

Jeanette "Lady" Day burst onto the scene in 1981 with this killer entry on the excellent Prelude label. The track is laced with raw sexed-up vocals, a super tight arrangement and some stellar percussion breaks as well as a fine mix by the one and only Francois Kevorkian. Once again we have another one hit wonder soul diva here. She dropped this gem of a cut and disappeared quickly into the disco nether, never to be heard from again. Damn.

Jeanette "Lady" Day- Come Let Me Love You

Driving drums with a lot of reverb, check; electronic toms, check; simple well executed melody, check; incredible vocoded vocals, check. This is an italo electro track that does everything that Chris Menace and Fred Falke want to do, but did it in 1985. Produced by Italian dudes A. Zanni (who was also in Faxe) and S. Cundari (who produced Hipnosis, Koto, and a Ken Laszlo track which was previously posted here.) This must have blown people's minds when it came out.

mp3: Cyber People - Void Vision (Slow Version)
Get a sped up version at The Red Room here

Aurra was a modern soul group from Ohio that got together in 1979. The project was a spin off of Slave and it allowed the talented songwriter/producer/arranger Steve Washington to bring twice the heat (and make twice as much scrilla) to two separate labels. The singers, Starleana Young and Curt Jones have a playful and conversational way of singing the songs which really make the songs special. It is almost like you are listening to an argument between a married couple sometimes. Aurra disbanded 1986 due to a legal dispute, after which Young and Jones went on as Déjà.

mp3: Aurra - Nasty Disposition
mp3: Aurra - Checking You Out
mp3: Aurra - Such A Feeling (LeBaron Edit)

Dazzle is the collaboration of Leroy Burgess and Stan Lucas. There wasn't too much in terms of releases from these guys, one LP, one promo 12" and a 7", but what they did release is pretty fantastic. "You Dazzle Me" is the B side to "Walk Before You Run" on the 12" promo release on De-Lite Records in 1979, and is far and away the hit. This is a very upbeat track and the production is spot on.

mp3: Dazzle - You Dazzle Me

Five Special formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1978 and disbanded circa 1981. Their only hit "Why Leave Us Alone" reached #9 on the Billboard R & B charts in 1979. This very soulful, epic disco number was a favorite of Larry Levan's and is featured on 2006's Journey Into Paradise compilation (NOT the Levan mix) on Rhino Records. The only 12 inch version listed on discogs is a mix by Rick Gianatos. I happen to have an Elektra red label copy with a 10:17 Larry Levan and Billy Kessler mix. I couln't seem to find any information online about this particular pressing or mix. I would have put a photo of the label up here but my digital camera is on its last leg and I couldn't get a proper shot. My guess is that this pressing is a complete rarity. Nonetheless, "Why Leave Us Alone" takes it to the next level.

mp3: Five Special - Why Leave Us Alone (Larry Levan + Billy Kessler Mix)

The beginning of this record is simply perfection.
Patti LaBelle released this powerhouse track, "The Spirit's In It", in 1981 on Philadelphia International Records as part of the same named LP. Philadelphia International also released an extended version of the track as a reasonably elusive white label promo 12". The backing band delivers an epic performance with guitars, sax and a horn section that further lifts her vocals.
From start to finish this track is full force.

mp3: Patti LaBelle - The Spirit's In It

This is a really heavy italo boogie track that is a powerhouse of soul. The positively iconic horns and Chic like guitar make this a track a secret weapon. This tune is loaded with charm while having none of the cheesiness that is rampant in much of the italo tunes from this era. I am 90% sure the singer doesn't speak a word of English.

mp3: Ose' Jang - Shake Me (Extended Version)

Rather ironic due to their moniker, very little is known about Legacy. The band released two private label 12"s and the "Word Up" single on the more ubiquitous Brunswick label in 1982. "Word Up" is a tight Boogie track featuring killer synth-bass, an awesome staccato guitar line and driving cowbell. This heavily sampled cut is probably best known as the blueprint for "Peter Piper" by Run DMC. The track also probably has one of the best lyrical/vocal arrangements of the era. Just listen for the "Raawwwr" and "Say What??" lines. Classic!

Legacy- "Word Up"

Easily the most satisfying moment in my years as a music promoter came in the fall of 2006 when I had the opportunity to bring legendary band ESG to perform in San Francisco for the very first time. It is still unbelievable to me that it took this extremely influential band almost 30 years to make it out to SF. It was quite inspiring to see three ladies well into their 50's deliver a completely stellar performance.

One of the things that amazes me about this band is that they never tinkered with their sound. They survived through so many different trends and musical shifts over the years and never pulled away from the punk/funk/disco sound that they so well helped to define. Just listen to the bands recent release "Keep on Moving" on the fantastic UK label Soul Jazz Records. You cannot tell if those tracks were produced in the year 1980 or 2006.

Released on the Popular Records imprint in 1988, the 12 inch single "Party Music" seemingly came out of nowhere during a fairly inactive period for the band. "Party Music" is my favorite ESG track and showcased a band throwing down super hard 10 years into their career and deep in the mist of strange and different musical climates. This cut is a disco tour de force years after the genres decline. This is my kind of party!

mp3: E.S.G. - Party Music (Party Mix)

Lamont Dozier is likely best known as 1/3 of the songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland. "Goin' Back To My Roots" is among his finest solo records. Originally released on the "Peddlin' Music On The Side" (Warner, 1977) album, the track was also released by Warner that same year as a promo 12". Elektra also released the track with audiophile remastering and backed with David Williams "Come On Down Boogie People" as part of their Dance Classics series, while not as rare as the Warner 12", it is still a pricey little gem.

mp3: Lamont Dozier - Goin' Back To My Roots

Slick was a spin off project of the funk outfit Fat Larry's band, consisting of elements of the the rhythm section from said group and managed by 'Fat' Larry James himself as well as also being signed to Fantasy records. Slick was an opportunity for the Philadelphia collective to experiment with a purer instrumental disco sound, carrying the same jazz tinged edge that the Fat Larry Band were instrumental in bringing to seventies funk.

Space Bass is a known classic and is nothing if not appropriately named. This was major underground hit on the UK club scene '79, laden with trippy hooks and the sparse, authoritative production that keep disco tracks popular on the contemporary dance floor even with the uninformed. It has pop cred to spare. I'm pleased with how this recording came out, the vinyl was virgin with a 1983 release with a Patrick Cowley mix of Two Tons Of Fun on the other side, although you can find it on bootleg and it frequently turns up on famous name DJ's comps and cd mixes.

mp3: Slick - Space Bass

This is a quick lazer soul mix for you to listen to while you jump start you weekend. It is only a half an hour long, so you can listen to it while you are picking out which cowboy hat you want to wear tonight. The Colonel is more proto house than lazer soul, but it is one of my all time favorite tracks and fits with all the machismo in this mix.

1. Simplicious - Let Her Feel It
2. "D" Train - You're The One For Me (Instrumental)
3. The Gap Band - Early In The Morning (long Version)
4. Dazz Band - Let It All Blow (Long Version)
5. Colonel Abrams - How Soon We Forget (Extended Version)
6. Lakeside - Make My Day

mp3: Lazer Soul Mix

Atmosfear were a British collective that had widespread success in 1979 with their first single "Dancing in Outer Space" The track was a sort of jazzy disco fusion number which has been heavily sampled over the years. The 8 piece band was fronted by mastermind Guitarist/Producer Andy Sojka. By the early 80's they had switched gears towards a more boogie oriented sound and released the 12 inch single "Xtra Special" (featuring guest vocalist Beverly Skeete) on their own Elite label. As is the case with so many of these artists, the band hit their high water mark with this release in 1982 (the peak year for modern soul music) and the results interest me way more than their earlier jazz leaning noodlings. Atmosfear continued on with varying levels of success until Sojka's untimely death in 2000.


mp3: Atmosfear - "Xtra Special"