speaking of xxxxxpost Teena Marie, I really liked Congo Square, the last new album released before she passed--first few songs are pretty desperately philosophical more than anything else, but then she gets it together---and this transitional effect turns out to be very appropriate---wiki quotes:The album title references Congo Square, in the Tremé in New Orleans, an area in which, during times of slavery, slaves were "allowed to dance and sing in the wardrobe of their mother country on Sundays."[5] Teena Marie said of the album:
"I've been through quite a few trials and tribulations over the last two years. I spent many of those hours in prayer and felt like God was putting his arms around me. I started thinking about the music I grew up on—how inspired it was. Each song I was coming up with began to sound like the style of some favorite artist of mine from the past... Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye, Billie Holliday, the old Chicago soul of The Emotions and the new Chicago vibe of Kanye West... Ice Cube's bumpin' in the trunk vibe and of course, Rick James. It's all in there."[5]
Teena Marie also expressed her appreciation for Faith Evans, saying, "I've always loved Faith and her vocal style. She reminds me of me. Her correlation with Biggie—having a career with him and without him—reminds me of me and Rick James. I feel like she's a younger me. Of the younger ladies, she's the one I love most."
― dow, Thursday, 22 March 2018 19:41 (six years ago) link
my favorite tune from the donald byrd from the F.U.M.L. album is the closer. i listen to it for affirmation at least once a month. and one of the great walking bass lines out there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7z97XfHVoY
― andrew m., Thursday, 22 March 2018 21:47 (six years ago) link
and some more solar. i am absolutely in love lately with dynasty's "groove control." i think it's perfect in every way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgCUq0gdh0M
― andrew m., Thursday, 22 March 2018 21:50 (six years ago) link
davey: i was going to say that i don't think i've ever even heard of state of grace before and then it turns out that lol this one is already on my discogs want list...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE8ytsuYgHgState Of Grace - That's When We'll Be Free [Special New Mix] (1982)
and that dr togo song is sick! a nice uh chris rea vibe to that one (not an insult!) :D
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Thursday, 22 March 2018 22:26 (six years ago) link
when i was listening to lots of jazz as a teen, donald byrd was always way too slick sounding for me and i never really checked him out, but now every song i hear from him is just super nice, what the hell was i thinking?
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Thursday, 22 March 2018 22:31 (six years ago) link
and yes, dynasty have got some good stuff! the one i have is 'i don't wanna be a freak (but i can't help myself)'
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Thursday, 22 March 2018 22:33 (six years ago) link
oh nice milk bottle accompaniment on 'groove control'!
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Thursday, 22 March 2018 22:35 (six years ago) link
xxxp State of Grace is pretty good huh. I wasn't aware of their other output.
Here's another one I'd picked up recently. Not sure how obvious it is, since my knowledge of the genre isn't really deep, but it's funky as hell. It looks like there are some reasonably priced copies still on Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/Steve-Watson-Born-To-Boogie-My-Little-One/release/7554675
― davey, Friday, 23 March 2018 09:18 (six years ago) link
Oh and another bomb reissue: https://www.discogs.com/Touch%C3%A9-Just-Like-A-Doorknob/release/11079663
I love how strong the vinyl reissue scene has been, lately. My theory is that Discogs is a big positive influence, since it's made it easy to quantify how many people want out-of-print releases.
― davey, Friday, 23 March 2018 09:20 (six years ago) link
Pretty much the same path we all eventually follow with jazz-funk mastercuts fodder.
― "Minneapolis" (barf) (Eric H.), Friday, 23 March 2018 12:43 (six years ago) link
Word on the street is this is gonna get another pressing: https://www.discogs.com/Kiki-Gyan-24-Hours-In-A-Disco-1978-82/release/4080563?ev=rr
*rubs hands together*
― davey, Friday, 23 March 2018 21:40 (six years ago) link
And I'm just discovering this record now through Discogs' recommendation algorithm, and it is fantastic: https://www.discogs.com/Rim-And-Kasa-Too-Tough/release/2262081?ev=rr
oh that kiki sounds great on first pass! and rim and kasa too but that might be just a tad above my pay grade. i'm mostly a charity shop disco sort tbh, so i haven't really got properly stuck into any african stuff, but keep 'em coming by all means
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 23 March 2018 22:19 (six years ago) link
god the world is just full of vast amounts of incredible music isn't it?
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 23 March 2018 22:20 (six years ago) link
just when you think you know stuff, you realise you were just fart-arsing about in the ante chamber the whole damn time
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 23 March 2018 22:23 (six years ago) link
this is a pretty nice one that i found for like a pound or something a couple of months back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW1L9-GTOTcVera - Take Me To The Bridge (1980)
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 23 March 2018 22:36 (six years ago) link
anyone got any veras?
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 23 March 2018 22:39 (six years ago) link
and this one has become a huge favourite of mine too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhCf2L2-jwwPhyllis Hyman - You Know How To Love Me (1979)
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 23 March 2018 22:44 (six years ago) link
that flute! that little thing that the guitar does every now and again! that voice!
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 23 March 2018 22:45 (six years ago) link
so fucking sad reading about phyllis now though :(
one million xps. that shalamar tune is amazing, i don't think i've heard it before
― Louis Jägermeister (jim in vancouver), Friday, 23 March 2018 22:49 (six years ago) link
an obvious one that i'll nonetheless take the opportunity to remind you all of:
the brooklyn, bronx & queens band - on the beat
dutch 80's funk from heaven:
the limit - she's so divine
played this at a house party and the chorus got my pals jumping:
chas jankel - 109 (chasanova album version)
the bassline (put headphones on if you're listening on laptop so you can hear it!) on this song, and really the way the whole intro comes together, is out of this world:
can-dee - lucky day
― flopson, Friday, 23 March 2018 23:22 (six years ago) link
also gonna crosspost this Shintaro Sakamoto track i posted in the japanese boogie thread cuz its my favourite boogie discovery in like a year
'80s japanese boogie/r&b/freestyle
― flopson, Friday, 23 March 2018 23:24 (six years ago) link
hey Nick, there are other editions of the Rim & Kasa record that are much cheaper & still available.
i swear i've seen that BB&Q band record. my roommate has a few of the records posted itt, probably that one's in there too.
i just got this one in the mail today, heard it first in a breakbot mix on youtube: https://www.discogs.com/Empire-2-Projecting-Lisa-Freakman/release/1419039
― davey, Saturday, 24 March 2018 01:19 (six years ago) link
"She's So Divine" is one of the greatest songs ever
― had (crüt), Saturday, 24 March 2018 02:29 (six years ago) link
totally. could’ve been a mega smash hit too
― flopson, Saturday, 24 March 2018 03:23 (six years ago) link
I got these Rim & Kasa edits when they came out a couple of years ago. Nik Weston's Mukatsuku label reissues some great stuff. https://www.discogs.com/Nik-Weston-Presents-Rim-Kasa-Rim-Kwaku-Obeng-Mukatsuku-Vs-BBE-Official-Edits/release/8176789
― mike t-diva, Saturday, 24 March 2018 11:27 (six years ago) link
I've also been playing that Phyllis Hyman track out a lot - the original, not the big new remix.
― mike t-diva, Saturday, 24 March 2018 11:28 (six years ago) link
Mike, I want to THANK YOU. SO. MUCH. for that James Hamilton blog. I went all the way back to the beginning and am reading every page chronologically while listening to the tracks. Music history is unfolding before my eyes. What a goldmine.
Davey, if it's not too much trouble, could you post links to YouTube instead of Discogs?
― ArchCarrier, Saturday, 24 March 2018 16:08 (six years ago) link
xxp - My favorite BB&Q jam is 'Starlette':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ_gG78WJYc
― ArchCarrier, Saturday, 24 March 2018 16:09 (six years ago) link
Some good ones from James Hamilton's first couple of months (mid-1975):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fudV-od6-c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Ro0B9RETM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m48wpxFPHQU"Instrumental flip minus groans." - LOL
And who knew Demis Roussos did disco?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzOI_IxB7NA
― ArchCarrier, Saturday, 24 March 2018 16:58 (six years ago) link
Sorry, 'Rendezvous' is for a different thread.
― ArchCarrier, Saturday, 24 March 2018 17:02 (six years ago) link
Glad you're enjoying the blog, ArchCarrier. I have made dozens and dozens of amazing discoveries through doing it, which led to me pitching a weekly Friday night gig at the bar up the road, playing a lot of the records I've recently bought. The night's going great, and is funding more purchases. Here's one I bought today - the 1980 debut single from Freeez. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT6acsV353M
― mike t-diva, Saturday, 24 March 2018 17:12 (six years ago) link
hey archcarrier, if you don’t know it there’s another HUGE demis disco banger called ‘I dig you’ which has this funked-up eastern med melody and big squiggly disco synths and strings. was a b-side originally I think but it’s also on the classic charity shop staple ‘the demis roussos magic’ (has a boring mauve coloured cover, looks like a shit box of chocolates)
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Saturday, 24 March 2018 17:43 (six years ago) link
this is 'i dig you', it's a monster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kx-lj02_z4
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Saturday, 24 March 2018 19:23 (six years ago) link
flopson prompted me to check out the rest of the limit's discography (didn't take long, it's only 1 album and 4 singles). had heard 'say yeah' before, think it was a minor hit over here but it doesn't really do an awful lot for me tbh. this one does sound pretty good though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvhohToyGh0
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Saturday, 24 March 2018 19:25 (six years ago) link
that can-dee tune is totally new to me - fucking hell, dopamine rush or what? :D
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Saturday, 24 March 2018 19:28 (six years ago) link
omfg, 'freakman' is an instant hit here too, thanks davey!
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Saturday, 24 March 2018 19:31 (six years ago) link
sounds like she's *really* enjoying that cornish pasty on that intimate strangers track
and i bought a freeez record today too! 'melodies of love' reissue came out this week, what a song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3QHpUVjuK4
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Saturday, 24 March 2018 19:40 (six years ago) link
xxp - Wow, 'I Dig You' is indeed fantastic. I only knew Demis from Aphrodite's Child and a couple of ballads ('My Friend the Wind', 'It's Five o'Clock', both great, 'Lovely Lady of Arcadia' not so much), but I guess it makes sense to think of him as the eccentric Greek cousin of the Bee Gees.
Digging a little deeper, I see there's also this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO_lAbitUNg
― ArchCarrier, Saturday, 24 March 2018 20:51 (six years ago) link
I wish there was a bar down my road that would let me play disco every Friday...
― ArchCarrier, Saturday, 24 March 2018 21:05 (six years ago) link
ArchCarrier, this Demis Roussos edit was one of my most favorite records last year! The a-side is great as well. I saw that "L.O.V.E. Got a Hold on Me" is getting a re-issue soon, too, but it's 30 bucks for pre-order on pbvinyl.com, and that's just wrong. https://youtu.be/gU1wm4uOuow
― davey, Sunday, 25 March 2018 10:10 (six years ago) link
this Demis Roussos edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU1wm4uOuow
― davey, Sunday, 25 March 2018 10:11 (six years ago) link
Ooh, that's a good one!
― ArchCarrier, Sunday, 25 March 2018 21:17 (six years ago) link
This is the opposite of a deep cut, but I've been watching reruns of 1985 TOTP and this boogie banger is always a highlight. Had no idea they were Dutch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KyM6rCUOiM
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 30 March 2018 09:40 (six years ago) link
Don't forget to check out the Dutch TopPop channel for much more Mai Tai.
On today's James Hamilton blog he mentions one of my favorite disco covers. Never fails to produce a couple of smiles in my direction whenever I play it in front of a crowd:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nwa2YtZRGs
― ArchCarrier, Friday, 30 March 2018 10:33 (six years ago) link
(Not sure about the grammar in that last sentence but you get the idea...)
― ArchCarrier, Friday, 30 March 2018 10:35 (six years ago) link
Oh cool, need to check that out!
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 30 March 2018 13:05 (six years ago) link
Fabulous thread, just saw----this band may have already been mentioned, but can't resist quoting a late great ilxor, as already quoted on Amazon, re Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band s/t debut:
Disco rarely got more musically or lyrically sophisticated than on this self-titled debut album. Long before he took up the role of Kid Creole with the Coconuts, wordsmith August Darnell cushioned small, perfect truths--singer Cory Daye promises to get her "equivalency diploma" in love in "I'll Play the Fool"--in knowingly retro sounds. Stylish, honest, and completely one of a kind. --Rickey WrightSpeaking of Cory Daye, check out her solo album, Cory and Me w Dr B etc. input--the last I heard, she and a bunch of them are still performing together.
Speaking of Africa, don't miss Rough Guide To African Disco, esp, w bonus disc. Disc 1's opening track is weirdly generic, but the rest of it takes disco expectations on a trip.
Ditto this Nicky Siano comp---I'm told he hated the d-word, didn't want it on here, but Soul Jazz insisted---but disco-and-boogie is a handy tag for it---he really likes songs that tell stories that you can/have to dance to:
Siano the TimesMercury rising as disco evolves out of its prior knowledgeby Don AllredJanuary 11th, 2005 2:14 PM Issue 02
Blissed-out, but not always totallyphoto: Courtesy of Nicky SianoNicky Siano's Legendary the Gallery: New York's original disco 1973-1977Soul Jazz import
In the early '70s, a teenage DJ named Nicky Siano traveled the space-wisedancefloor of David Mancuso's Loft, before launching his own Gallery. (Gallerykid Larry Levan later levitated Paradise Garage; he and Siano also worked with disco mystic Arthur Russell.) Despite acid, balloons, andthe food bar, the Gallery wasn't always totally blissed-out. As described in his CD notes, Siano's sound design, influenced by Mancuso's approach, was logicallybased on and changing with the rooms and scenes he performed in as the feast moved around NYC.The Gallery opened in the summer of '73. Couch-potato arena rock ruled. There and elsewhere, DJs and dancers (especially blacks,Latinos, gays) were among those, at times closely observed, who chose to carve fresh heat from the vinylbeast. Spinning out of this disc, the Gallery is mercury stillrising, through crosstown funk, soul, and one gospelsong, personalized: Gloria Spencer proclaims, "I got it! I don't understand it! I gotit!" A jet blasts (like, "Amen!") out of Exuma's "Obeah Man." The Temptationslay down the "Law of the Land": "You might not like who you are, but youbetter start. 'Cause you sure can't be nobody else." But the music rumbles and clatters like aroulette wheel. Meanwhile, turns out that Bonnie Bramlett's "Crazy 'Bout MyBaby" is crazy like a tambourine and a fox, shaking in wait for that slowhanddobro.Loleatta Holloway, Bobby Womack, Bill Withers, the Isleys,and Undisputed Truth also make the most of prior knowledge and surprise.Without waiting for the remix: These are original (full-length) LP tracks andseven-inch singles. Yet great breaks burst out of (and roll through) goodgrooves, good songs. Often.Also see http://www.nickysiano.com/ and http://www.timlawrence.info/.
.
― dow, Friday, 30 March 2018 14:55 (six years ago) link
And xgau almost nailed this one:Midnight Rhythm [Atlantic, 1979]At last a whole disco album that actually brings off all the disco tricks--exploding out of the speakers, washing over the room, and so forth. The thump of the bass drum never dominates the rhythmic pulse, and the lyrical tag lines avoid the words "dance," "dancer," "dancing," "dancin'," and "disco"--until an orgasmic break (repeated once) that goes "Dancin', dancin', dancin', dancin'." Monofunctional but potent. A- "almost nailed" because dunno that it was really the first, though obv. he heard more than most people, certainly me, but yeah at the time it was kind of like back when Jefferson Airplane's After Bathing At Baxter's was the first whole acid-rock album I heard that sounded like all those psychedelic posters etc. looked. . Also dunno about "monofunctional," because some of it was good for tripping as well as dancing; I had flashbacks to it when first heard Algiers.
― dow, Friday, 30 March 2018 15:07 (six years ago) link
found this for a pound last weekend, super glad i picked it up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3tMFHZxHfM
Fiona Franklyn - Busted Up On Love
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Friday, 10 December 2021 13:23 (two years ago) link
same sort of vibe as this amazing song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t48Q-nhiFbg
Patris - Love Oasis
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Friday, 10 December 2021 13:28 (two years ago) link
and this was today's best find in the quid bins - hadn't heard this before but the production credits for don was, john robie and todd rundgren grabbed my attention. from 1984 but has a real proto-house feel to it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipxNP2subss
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Saturday, 11 December 2021 20:39 (two years ago) link
that's Jules - When Love Surges btw
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Saturday, 11 December 2021 20:40 (two years ago) link
exquisite chaz jankel-produced rarity from UK, 1986:
Rocky Winters - Vicious Circle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6muOAaO8WhE
― donna rouge, Tuesday, 23 August 2022 17:59 (one year ago) link
just remembered that geraldine hunt, who sadly died last weekend, wrote and produced this masterpiece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5WmKv4OVwwCheri - Starstruck
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 21:51 (one year ago) link
apparently this was pretty well known BITD but I had never heard it before
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpr9qvuodVA
― sleeve, Tuesday, 1 November 2022 21:53 (one year ago) link
big ol’ hit for sure
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 23:06 (one year ago) link
and it slams
just remembered that geraldine hunt, who sadly died last weekend, wrote and produced this masterpiece:📹Cheri - Starstruck
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 23:10 (one year ago) link