James Bratton and Joel Washington are probably best known for their garage and New Jersey scene house of the late eighties, but thats sort of outside of my wheelhouse and I haven't really heard much of what they did later in their careers. I know them for their first project, Illusion Of A Band, an electro funk act that put out a couple of records in 1985, which had a definite proto house sound.

'Work Me' is the one Illusion Of A Band cut that I own, and I don't own the 12" with the club mix on, but the 7" I have does have an instrumental, which the 12" doesn't. So I tell myself its better.

Illusion Of A Band - Work Me (Vocal)
Illusion Of A Band - Work Me (Instrumental)

Has anyone made a football-themed boogie mix? I don't have enough songs for a solid mix yet but maybe with help from readers we can put one together. Here is one quality track recorded by five members of the San Diego Chargers in 1981. To me there are two strong tracks on their LP with lyrics that could be about romance or football.  If you are down to participate please drop a comment with your favorite (quality) boogie tracks made by football players or about football. Please no "Superbowl Shuffle".

Hi-Five - We Came To Play.mp3

 The Earls are a Doo Wop band from The Bronx, New York. They still play, and their blue eyed soul is still popular on the oldies circuit. Sometimes its overlooked that past decades also had their revival movements, and I suppose The Earls rode a wave of Doo Wop nostalgia in the late nineteen seventies, re-forming and putting out a few releases that included this contemporary disco number for the kids.

Lead singer, Larry Chance, currently has an album out entitled 'Larry Chance Sings Country', which I checked out on youtube and will be reviewing in a future post.

The Earls - The Continental