The Groove
Saturday July 6th, 2019 with Elorious Cain with Charlotte Cain
Real History of Disco pt. 2 (cont'd)
We are celebrating the 40th anniversary of THE GROOVE by offering THE REAL HISTORY OF DISCO!
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The objective of this show is to provide you with a guide that attempts to chronicle the development of the Disco medium and music spanning over the last 80 years.
As we don't pretend to know absolutely everything about Disco, this guide gives you information and recordings that will at least encourage a better understanding of the rich cultural and musical heritage of the medium.
| OK CHICAGO RESONANCE - 7" - SIROCCO |
| In 1974,BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS - a super-group which we introduced back in 1967, released a Funky Reggae song "I SHOT THE SHERIFF" which did very well. It even did better when the British ROCK guitarist ERIC CLAPTON did his own cover-version of it. BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS would systematically grow into a dominant role in the promotion of REGGAE as an international movement. His "unparalleled influence" and rich musical compositions would make their songs extremely important parts in the lives of millions throughout the America's, Europe and southern Africa. |
| I SHOT THE SHERRIF BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS - 7" - ISLAND |
| It was also in 1974 that a new dance craze became popular in North American discos. It was called 'The Bump" and most believe it was inspired by the FUNK song "Machine Gun" by THE COMMODORES: |
| THE BUMP COMMODORE - MACHINE GUN (LP) - MOTOWN |
| I FEEL FUNKY MATATA - INDEPENDENCE (LP) - PRESIDENT |
| Following "Machine Gun" was a Kenyan group called MATATA with their international hit "I Feel Funky". Not really part of the previously mentioned 'African Music Explosion', MATATA is one of the better examples of hundreds of artists throughout the African continent that did their own variations of FUNK or DISCO. Most of these groups did not get exposure outside of the African continent. In Nigeria a whole NIGERIAN DISCO scene developed with NIGERIAN DISCO easily becoming it's own unique Genre. Although some artists from Togo are also included in that. Some of the NIgerian artists like B.L.O. did very well in the United States while most of them were part of the Lagos disco sound. One of the most notable of the NIGERIAN DISCO artists was GERALDO PINO who put out three lp's: AFRO SOCO SOUL LIVE (LP) in 1972, LET'S HAVE A PARTY (LP) in 1974 and BOOGIE FEVER (LP) in 1978. Some Nigerians have told us that the BOOGIE FEVER (LP) really wasn't commercially available until early 1979. One of his most spectacular songs he recorded with his band THE HEARTBEATS is on the 1974 LET'S HAVE A PARTY (LP) called "Heavy Heavy Heavy": |
| HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY GERALDO PINO & THE HEARTBEATS - LET'S HAVE A PARTY (LP) - SOUNDWAY |
| KUNG FU FIGHTING CARL DOUGLAS - 7" - PYE |
| YOU ARE LISTENING TO THE REAL HISTORY OF DISCO ON CKCUFM - A CELEBRATION OF 40 YEARS OF THE GROOVE.
WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE INVENTION OF DISCO, CONGOLESE RUMBA, KOMPA, SKA, BOOGALOO, ROCKSTEADY, REGGAE, EURODISCO, FUNK, and the beginnings of AMERICAN DISCO and EURODISCO, the beginnings of SALSA , the 'African Music Explosion' and NIGERIAN DISCO. We have just finished listening to British singer CARL DOUGLAS with his international disco hit "KUNG FU FIGHTING". Produced by the Indian producer SU BIDDU; a producer we shall talk further about later, CARL DOUGLAS' "KUNG FU FIGHTING" has often been described as the first BRITISH DISCO song. Our issues with that assertion is connected with claims that many British sources have identified 1960's songs from artists like THE EQUALS, DUSTY SPRINGFIELD and TOM JONES to be examples of earlier BRITISH DISCO. "KUNG FU FIGHTING" became extremely popular in Europe where numerous answer records were produced. |
| EL BIMBO BIMBO JET - BIMBO JET (LP) - PATHE |
| "El Bimbo" was a massive hit for BIMBO JET in 1974 and 1975. We remember travelling across the Canadian province of Quebec in 1975 and everywhere we stopped, in different truck stops and small towns we could hear "El Bimbo" playing. BIMBO JET is a part of what some have described as "the Brazilian invasion" in France consisting of EURODISCO and tropical pop bands that often mixed early EURODISCO with SAMBA, BOOGALOO and SALSA. They included other artists like the CHOCOLATE BOYS, EL PASSADOR, MAGIC MERRY BAND and CHOCOLAT'S.
Before we leave 1974 we need to hear four important AMERICAN DISCO songs that left a profound influence. The first of the four was one of the earliest examples of what was celebrated as THE SUNSHINE SOUND. Coming from the Floridian labels for TK Productions, it was a Soulful blend of AMERICAN DISCO that offered widely popular songs from artists like TIMMY THOMAS, K.C. & THE SUNSHINE BAND, GWEN MCCRAE and her husband GEORGE MCCRAE whose 1974 hit "ROCK YOUR BABY" grow into a massive international Discotheque hit. In fact some sources at the time identified "ROCK YOUR BABY" as the 'ultimate disco song' sometimes implying that they would never be a better example: |
| ROCK YOUR BABY GEORGE MCCRAE - ROCK YOUR BABY (LP) - T.K |
| Also in 1974. another amazing cover-version was released that some sources have suggested to be the ultimate 'disco love song'. It was by CARL CARLTON, who in 1974 "re-owned" the 1967 song "Everlasting Love". CARL CARLTON's version was uplifting, compelling and sentimental. It became a central part of the emotional lives of millions. There are videos on YOUTUBE that show an older CARL CARLTON performing "Everlasting Love" live on a PBS fundraising concert series in the early 21st Century. If you watch one of these videos you will see an older audience absolutely freak out! You will see an auditorium filled with people in their 50's and 60's in a complete standing and dancing ovation, clapping, waving and cheering and crying in utter joy! I've included the link for that : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCaXEviQifc
Here now is the record "Everlasting Love" by CARL CARLTON: |
| EVERLASTING LOVE CARL CARLTON - EVERLASTING LOVE (LP) - ABC - - ABC |
| As we mentioned before, one of the three major sources of SOPHISTICATED SOUL was the romantic crooner and producer BARRY WHITE. His smooth and deep baritone spoken words and singing was emotionally enriching and magnetic. Apart from the success of "Love's Theme", he already had success in discos with the powerful "Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up" in 1973. His song from 1974 "You're The First, The Last, My Everything" was programmed more frequently: |
| YOU'RE THE FIRST, THE LAST, MY EVERYTHING BARRY WHITE - CAN'T GET ENOUGH (LP) - 20TH CENTURY |
| It's now the time on the REAL HISTORY OF DISCO to introduce THE QUEEN OF THE DISCOS, - at least the first QUEEN OF DISCO. Her name was GLORIA GAYNOR and she lived and recorded in the New York City area. The "big apple" was quickly trying dominate the AMERICAN DISCO industry. This is her 1974 hit "NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE": |
| NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE GLORIA GAYNOR - NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE (LP) - MGM |
| ARE YOU A RECORDING ARTIST, PRODUCER OR DJ? DON'T BE ALARMED IF WE ARE NOT PLAYING YOUR SONG OR MENTIONING YOU! THIS IS A GUIDE SPANNING 80 YEARS AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO INCLUDE EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED. MOST OF THE TIME WE ARE PROVIDING SAMPLES OF MUSIC AND SOME NOTABLE RECORDINGS. EVERY RECORD WAS IMPORTANT IN IT'S OWN WAY WHETHER IT WAS INCLUDED IN THIS GUIDE OR NOT.
It's about time we check back with KOMPA music. By the early 1970's there was a super-group that was spreading their blend of KOMPA throughout the world. They've been called by names like the “indestructibles" or Les "Incognitos de Pétionville". They are Haiti's TABOU COMBO who were rapidly becoming the most popular and influential KOMPA band influencing hundreds of artists both in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora, and also artists in Europe, North America and Africa recording a varied selection of musical styles. They dazzled the world in 1974 with what would become one of their most popular songs ever named after the town they had recently started calling their home "New York City": |
| NEW YORK CITY TABOU COMBO - 7" - DECCA |
| FUTURE WOMAN LES ROCKETS - 7" - DERAM |
| That was the ROCKETS from FRANCE and ITALY with their chilling 1975 hit "Future Woman". I have to describe them. They really did look like five aliens, bald, with grey eyes, no eyebrows or facial hair, silver skin and space suits. At times they actually looked frightening. They were the undisputed KINGS of a widely popular movement on the European continent called SPACE. We are not playing anymore ROCKETS yet it is important to remember that their sound was a combination of Heavy Metal Rock and early Electronic Disco. The group put on quite the show! They launched a series of "phantasmagoric" live shows which involved lasers, space-age light effects, smoke and bazookas fighting flames. One Italian gentlemen told us about an outdoor nighttime festival he attended outside of Milan in late seventies where there were several guest deejays spinning SPACE music and the ROCKETS appeared live for two hours straight. He went on the describe that it was popular for the audience and dancers that attended the festival to dress up like science fiction characters. He finished his description of it all by saying "It was the best night of my life!" THE ROCKETS were the heroes of the SPACE movement. They have nine albums and they are still active. |
| GET DOWN TONIGHT KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND - KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND (LP) - T.K. |
| That was the most popular SUNSHINE SOUND song of all time - the 1975 international hit "Get Down Tonight" by KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND. That and the other hit by the group called "That's The Way (I Like It)" were common sounds in discos all over the world. By 1975 there was a rapidly emerging multi-billion dollar boom, partly brought on by the encroaching standardisation of dozens of competing styles of discotheque music. Thousands of disco records were being released with dozens of specialised labels releasing highly popular recordings that would further intensify the boom. We can only give you a hand full of examples in the 1970's from a list of thousands released. That list has been disputed continuously since the 1970's also. The basic disco sound of was considered to be very desirable in the mid 1970's. The sound literally mean't 'money to be made'. In hundreds of small cities, towns and hamlets all over the western hemisphere, Europe and certain parts of Asia and Africa there were small outfits with tiny independent labels releasing local DISCO records. Most of these didn't travel very far. At the time no one record distributor could offer everything that was being released. If you regularly went to a store that specialised in selling DISCO in the latter part of the 1970's, you were assaulted with a constant flood of new records and new artists every week. There was an exhausting variety of material. Most of which really wasn't very good.
Let's hear three notable AMERICAN DISCO records from 1975. The first was produced by a Los Angeles production team consisting of Laurin Rinder and W. Michael Lewis. With different names like EL COCO, LA PAMPLEMOUSSE, DISCOGNOSIS and the IN SEARCH ORCHESTRA they released music that developed the AMERICAN DISCO sound. Their EL COCO song "MONDO DISCO" was one of their anthems |
| MONDO DISCO EL COCO - MONDO DISCO (LP) - AVI |
| One of the great girl groups of the New York City scene in AMERICAN DISCO was THE RITCHIE FAMILY, named after it's founder - the producer and arranger RITCHIE ROME. The producer was JACQUES MORALI, a French producer that specialised in a New York City blend of AMERICAN DISCO. "Brazil" by THE RITCHIE FAMILY was his first success: |
| BRAZIL RITCHIE FAMILY - BRAZIL (LP) - ABLE |
| In 1975 there was still another new Dance Craze that became popular called "THE HUSTLE" and it was evidently inspired by New York's VAN MCCOY and his track "The Hustle": |
| THE HUSTLE VAN MCCOY & THE SOUL CITY SYMPHONY - DISCO BABY (LP) - AVCO |
| It is hard to describe the excitement and insanity of the International DISCO industry in 1975. This was a time of potency. With accelerating standardisation occurring, deejays were spinning an increasingly more focused concentration of beat-structures. It was also the time for visionaries to change things radically. With an American singer living in Germany and recording EURODISCO, that time had come. Her name was DONNA SUMMER and she already had a minor hit in 1974 with the team of GIORGIO MORODER and PETE BELLOTTE called "The Hostage". What this production team did with DONNA SUMMER in 1975 would radically dominate and change the Disco music industry. The song was a sensuous streamlined EURODISCO track with a simple electronic beat-structure called "Love To Love You Baby". DONNA SUMMER'S writing was suggestive and straightforward. Her suggestive message was draped over the throbbing beat. Upon hearing an early shorter version CASABLANCA RECORDS AND FILMWORKS, the label in the United States, requested it be lengthened. The singer and producer went back into the studio to extend the want further. The final 17 minute version would have a lengthy session of pseudo-erotica. Although we had heard pseudo-erotica before in European disco with "Jungle Fever" by CHAKACHAS in 1970, DONNA SUMMER's performance had a subtle alluring feel to it that made the whole recording feel completely relieving and revealing. They had created a masterpiece of recording wizardry that illustrated just one part of the vast potential of EURODISCO. Most 'disco' people could not get enough of it. The response to it in various parts of the public was varied. More personally conservative people thought it to be obscene. The EURODISCO industry already had been continuously fighting against a public perception which equated it with pornography. "Love To Love Baby" twisted those conservative perceptions around it's finger like a fat bandage. It was a wonderful musical statement for a hungry medium that soaked it all in. |
| LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY DONNA SUMMER - LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY (LP) - CASABLANCA |
| Between 1976 and 1979, DONNA SUMMER would record 5 more albums with GIORGIO MORODER & PETE BELLOTTE that contained some of best disco, of any Genre or style, ever recorded. She was considered to be the 'queen of disco'. |
| EXPENSIVE SHIT FELA KUTI & AFRICA 70 - EXPENSIVE SHIT (LP) - SOUNDWORKSHOP |
| We can't leave 1975 without getting into some "Expensive Shit". This is just part of what was the title track of FELA KUTI's 15th album released in Nigeria since 1970. Listen to the musical sophistication and subtle energy. FELA KUTI's current blend of AFROBEAT was already phenomenal.
There were already dozens of competing AFROBEAT acts recording in Nigeria with astonishing results. One of these groups was THE SEMI-COLON who rocked Lagos discos with the song "ISI AGBONCHA" in 1976 |
| ISI AGBONCHA THE SEMI-COLON - NDIA EGBUO NDIA (AFRO JIGIDA) LP - EMI |
| KISS & SAY GOODBYE THE MANHATTANS - THE MANHATTANS (LP) - COLUMBIA |
| YOU'RE LISTENING TO THE REAL HISTORY OF DISCO IN CKCUFM. We are in 1976 and for many 'disco people' it was a golden age of romance. We've just heard the American vocal group THE MANHATTANS with their "Kiss & Say Goodbye". During the early 1970's there was a wonderful selection of Soul artists from mostly the United States releasing love songs that were slows or early AMERICAN DISCO variations like THE CHI LITES, HAROLD MELVIN & THE BLUE NOTES and THE STYLISTICS. "Kiss & Say Goodbye" was one of the most popular when it was released in 1976.
1976 has often been referred to as the golden age of romantic disco with dozens of example spreading around. Here are four really notable classics: First is the singer CANDI STATON with the unforgettable "Young Hearts Run Free". Referred to by many as the "First Lady of Southern Soul", she wasalready famous for her 1970 cover-version of TAMMY WYNETTE's "Stand By Your Man" and the song "I'm Just A Prisoner", CANDI STATON would continue with several successful Disco hits like "Run To Me", "Victim", "Destiny", "When You Wake Up Tomorrow", "Listen To The Music" and in the 1990's "You Got The love" which she recorded with THE SOURCE. Her distinctive vocals were often been referred to as 'an essential ingredient in the sound of American disco'. |
| YOUNG HEARTS RUN FREE CANDI STATON - YOUNG HEARTS RUN FREE (LP) - WARNER BROS. |
| There were several amazing male singers with romantic disco hits in 1976 and male vocal groups delivering heart-wrenchers. One of most spectacular was from the British Soul band THE REAL THING. Their deliciously ridiculous "You To Me Are Everything" took it all to new extremes: |
| YOU TO ME ARE EVERYTHING THE REAL THING - REAL THING (LP) - UNITED ARTISTS |
| For many young people going out in the mid 1970's there were certain songs that were humongous parts of their lives. SU BIDDU, the British based INDIAN Producer who had already brought out the successful "Kung Fu Fighting" by CARL CARLTON in 1974, produced a series of songs with the British singer called TINA CHARLES. He had already had success with TINA CHARLES in the discos with songs like "One Broken Heart For Sale ", "You Set My Heart On Fire" and "Dance Little Lady Dance" when he introduced her biggest hit in 1976. It was the catchy "I Love To Love" and it became one of the most popular songs in the world: |
| I LOVE TO LOVE TINA CHARLES - I LOVE TO LOVE (LP) - CBS |
| One innovation from the 1970's that really changed the disco industry, the medium and popular culture throughout the world was invented by the American producer TOM MOULTON. It was a 12" single - as opposed to a 7" single. More specifically it was made for deejays to usually offer an extended mix of a song. It gave deejay greater freedom for beat mixing, programming trickery and innovation at a time of frantic standardisation. The legendary New York City label Salsoul released the very first commercially available 12" single in 1976 featuring "Ten Per Cent" by the Philadelphia group DOUBLE EXPOSURE: |
| TEN PER CENT DOUBLE EXPOSURE - 12" - SALSOUL |
| TOM MOULTON was called 'the father of the disco mix". He mixed a massive list of AMERICAN DISCO gems along with European acts like the SPACE band ROCKETS. Another European act he mixed material of was a Paris based group that was a celebrated part of what we earlier called "The African Music Explosion". They were called BLACK SOUL and for a small label in New York called Beam Junction, TOM MOULTON mixed a couple of the BLACK SOUL songs: "Black Brothers" and what we will hear now , the TOM MOULTON mix of "Mangous Ye": |
| MANGOUS YE (A TOM MOULTON MIX) BLACK SOUL - 12" - BEAM JUNCTION |
| TOM MOULTON also created what, in a variety of different Genres of Disco is called 'the break'. That is an instrumental break in a song that is great for mixing other songs with a compatible beat-structure.
As a producer TOM MOULTON triumphed with the stunning supermodel GRACE JONES. Her cover-version of EDITH PIAF'S "La Vie En Rose" from her 1976 PORTFOLIO (LP) was one of greatest earlier hits. This is now GRACE JONES with "La Vie En Rose": We have also provided a link on the playlist to a video of live performance she did on Chilean TV performing this song that really illustrates why we called her "stunning": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYBon06F45A |
| LA VIE EN ROSE GRACE JONES - PORTFOLIO (LP) - ISLAND |
| A disco record from Europe that was released in 1976 would quickly become one of the most popular songs in the world. In fact a variety of sources claim it to be one of the most popular songs of all time! While we are talking about it here on this show, this song ABBA's "Dancing Queen", is probably being played somewhere else in the world on the radio or on line. The Swedish EUROPOP band ABBA already had a list of international hits, some of which were programmed in Discotheques. "Dancing Queen" really established the group in the world of EURODISCO and the whole medium with a splash of which the effects are still being felt today. |
| DANCING QUEEN ABBA - 7" - ATLANTIC |
| THE TRAMMPS put out two amazing albums in 1976 offering discos with great songs like "Soul Searchin' Time", "Disco Party" and the uplifting "That's Where The Happy People Go". The most popular song they offered in 1976 became their 'signature song' it was the lengthy hard driving "Disco Inferno". Now in the 21st century, many sources use this song, more than any other song, to represent disco. |
| DISCO INFERNO THE TRAMMPS - DISCO INFERNO (LP) - ATLANTIC |
| ARE YOU A RECORDING ARTIST, PRODUCER OR DJ? DON'T BE ALARMED IF WE ARE NOT PLAYING YOUR SONG OR MENTIONING YOU! THIS IS A GUIDE SPANNING 80 YEARS AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO INCLUDE EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED. MOST OF THE TIME WE ARE PROVIDING SAMPLES OF MUSIC AND SOME NOTABLE RECORDINGS. EVERY RECORD WAS IMPORTANT IN IT'S OWN WAY WHETHER IT WAS INCLUDED IN THIS GUIDE OR NOT.
Before we depart from 1976 here on the REAL HISTORY OF DISCO, we're going to check in on EURODISCO. There was plenty of activity in West Germany with DONNA SUMMER, ROBERTA KELLY, STEVE BENDER, SASSY and CHRIS BENNETT, GIORGIO MORODER, as solo artist had also released his 3rd album KNIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN (LP), HANSA MUSIK PRODUCTIONS offered BONEY M. and JUMBO, JUPITER RECORDS offered SILVER CONVENTION, PENNY MCLEAN, FUNKY TURKEY, GRAMOPHONE REVIVAL, BIRMINGHAM EGGS and HOTROD FORMULA, there were also already releases from a rich variety of other artists like AMANDA LEAR, HOT BLOOD, CRYSTAL GLASS, RESONANCE, WEYMAN CORPORATION, BELLE EPOQUE and RAFFAELLA CARRA. All that is just the tip of the ice burg! Events would occur in 1976 that would change the very nature of EURODISCO and have a profound influence on the discotheque music industries everywhere. What radically changed disco in the 1970's was a collaboration with ( JEAN-MARC) CERRONE ; a French drummer and ALEC R. COSTANDINOS, a writer and producer who had already released a EURODISCO record in 1975 under the name RUDY STONE. CERRONE financed a recording session where the two would record "Love In C Minor" a highly developed EURODISCO recording with a strong throbbing beat-structure that was sprawling and sensuous. That record managed to sell millions of copies in a matter of months. It took discos in Europe and New York City by storm. Many sources in the United States say that this record is the beginning of what they called 'Euro-Disco". So popular and spectacular was the recording that CERRONE ended up being called "the KING OF DISCO". The French magazine PARIS MATCH even called him "the POPE OF DISCO". Yet the real story doesn't stop there. What CERRONE and ALEC R. COSTANDINOS had created wasn't a song. It was a concept. Now there were already "concept albums" in EURODISCO out there like THE TIME MACHINE (2LP) by RESONANCE. "Love In C Minor" took the idea to a whole new level. It was a bold conceptualisation that gave the deejay more programming options. Complete with a randy spoken-word introduction that simulated a conversation in a disco, a hard beat wrapped with orchestration and laced with pseudo-erotica, it was something that patrons in Discotheques got lost in, dancing away almost in a trance. So powerful was the impact of the record that, in a real sense, it started in new period in DISCO. Because of "Love In C Minor" the older way of recording songs in DISCO wasn't as lucrative as it had been. Producers were under greater pressure to communicate ideas and concepts in their music. Now we can't play all of "Love In C Minor" and some of the other long EURODISCO tracks because there is almost too much out there to cover. We encourage to seek these record out. But we'll at least play the introduction and give a size-able sample: |
| LOVE IN C MINOR CERRONE - LOVE IN C MINOR (LP) - MALLIGATOR |
| CERRONE would continue releasing 25 albums and release other records under names like CRYSTAL and KONGAS. He is still active!
From the CERRONE 3 (LP) this is his timeless classic "Supernature". LENE LOVICH wrote lyrics and the singer was CHI-CHI FAVELAS. Over the years, CERRONE'S "Supernature" has been remixed at least 18 times. This is part of the original: |
| SUPERNATURE CERRONE - CERRONE 3 - SUPERNATURE (LP) - COTILLION |
| COSMIC TRAVELER SUMERIA - GOLDEN TEARS (LP) - RAAL |
| ALEC R. COSTANDINOS would continue producing with a renewed focus and become one of most influential EURODISCO producers, gaining a tremendous amount of respect around the world! Under his own name he would release incredible albums like THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (LP), ROMEO & JULIET (LP), Trocadéro Bleu Citron (LP) and THE WINDS OF CHANGE (LP). Other important ALEC R. COSTANDINOS productions included 3
stunning LOVE & KISSES albums, the PARIS CONNECTION (LP), and two concept records with DON RAY: GOLDEN TEARS (LP) under the name SUMERIA. We are talking over "Cosmic Traveler" an instrumental from GOLDEN TEARS (LP) and the other concept album was under the SPHINX, the album was called JUDAS (LP) and from it here is part of "JUDAS ISCARIOT": |
| JUDAS ISCARIOT SPHINX - JUDAS (LP) - RAAL |
| A whole new level of production in EURODISCO ushered in a 'golden age of Eurodisco' with dozens of artists releasing music to compete with the likes of CERRONE and ALEC R. COSTANDINOS. Some examples include DON RAY (who had worked with both CERRONE and ALEC R. COSTANDINOS), TRAX, LA BIONDA, CHRISLAND, BACIOTTI, VOYAGE, QUARTZ, HOT R.S. (from SOUTH AFRICA), A'MBAR (from VENEZUELA) and EASY GOING. Older acts put out more aggressive material also like JUMBO and BELLE EPOQUE. In this bold new age of conceptualization amazing experiments brought spectacular results. French producers NICOLAS SKORSKY and JEAN-MANUEL de SARANO combined this new EURODISCO with Flamenco in a way where the two musical forms were fused into one. They had arresting male vocalists LEROY GOMEZ and JIMMY GOINGS provide strong lead vocals of SANTA ESMERALDA versions of classic ROCK songs like "DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD", the traditional American song "HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN" that THE ANIMALS reinvented in the 1960's, and "STREET FIGHTING MAN" by THE ROLLING STONES. The reaction to the first album featuring LEROY GOMEZ singing "DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD", on an international scale, was monumental. Their astronomical success spawned a whole new sub-genre in EURODISCO which most observers called 'the Santa Esmeralda movement'. Artists like YAN TREGGER's G.M.T SOUND, AMERICAN EAGLES and the SOUL IBERICA BAND did well with a comparable sound. Here is part of the first massive hit of SANTA ESMERALDA "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood": |
| DON'T LE ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD SANTA ESMERALDA starring LEROY GOMEZ - DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD (LP) - PHILIPS |
| When we talked about 1961 we played a CHUBBY CHECKER song "(At The) Discotheque". We said that back in the early 1960's, it was an anthem for European Discotheques. It is now 1977 and there is a boom in the disco music industry that was expanding in leaps and bounds. There are already at least 20,000 discos spread in various parts of the world. It was fine time that somebody should do a cover-version of that CHUBBY CHECKER gem. A collaborative effort between British producers and a EURODISCO producer did exactly that in 1977 under the name LIPSTIQUE.
Here is part of the 1977 cover-version of "At The Discotheque": |
| AT THE DISCOTHEQUE LIPSTIQUE - AT THE DISCOTHEQUE (LP) - MERCURY |
| TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS KRAFTWERK - TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS (LP) - CAPITOL |
| Already being celebrated as one of the greatest 'Electronic Bands', the German group KRAFTWERK was being heavily programmed in Discotheques with their 1977 song "TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS". The group had enjoyed some earlier success in the clubs with their "Autobahn" in 1974, but the hypnotic nature of "Trans-Europe Express" was addictive to many dancers. Pure Electronic Music was finding it's way back into the Discotheques in a big way. This was the year that the ELECTRONIC DISCO genre really started taking off. There were various SPACE groups using it like ARPADYS, HERMAN'S ROCKET and the French group that simply called themselves SPACE. Their hit "Magic Fly" would be covered by various other acts like SATURNE EA 1 and Canada's KEBEKELEKTRIK. Some have suggested that "Magic Fly" was the first Trance song. |
| MAGIC FLY SPACE - 12" - ABLE |
| The first CHILL movement in 'mondo disco' was part of the SPACE movement. Often at SPACE clubs and special events separate quiet rooms existed with deejays spinning quiet electronic music like ENO or HELDON and mix it with JEAN-MICHEL JARRE's OXYGENE and SPACE groups like HERMAN'S ROCKET and SPACE ART.
Also in the late 1970's on the beaches of the Portuguese colony of Goa on the western coast of India, deejays were spinning for parties for vacationing European tourists and adventurers. They also played the OXYGENE (LP), ambient SPACE music and mixed it with ROCK like PINK FLOYD and early MOTHERS OF INVENTION. From their second album from 1977 TRIP IN THE CENTER HEAD (LP), this is SPACE ART with "Eyes Shade": |
| EYE'S SHADE SPACE ART - TRIP IN THE CENTER HEAD (LP) - CARRERE |
| The single most exciting event in the history of ELECTRONIC DISCO occurred in 1977 when the production team of GIORGIO MORODER & PETE BELLOTTE released "I Feel Love" by DONNA SUMMER. It, more than any other recording shows why we insisted upon calling EURODISCO 'one of the most powerful and influential GENRES OF DISCO of all time'. "I Feel Love" has changed the very nature of popular music forever. In fact the actual effects of it are still being felt. Sure, there were plenty of pure electronic recordings that were very popular before it. But they were usually either intellectual studies or superficial and silly musical knick knacks like the various versions of "Pop Corn". "I Feel Love" was instantly outrageously popular. It spread like wild fire around the planet. For the very first time billions were experiencing a tangible emotional reaction to a stunning simple love song that just happened to be completely electronic. Electronic music had never before reached so many people and captured their imaginations or tugged at their heart strings. It enabled thousands of future electronic recordings to matter. After "I Feel Love" electronic music suddenly became acceptable and palatable, even in the most commercial environments. |
| I FEEL LOVE DONNA SUMMER - I REMEMBER YESTERDAY (LP) - CASABLANCA |
| 1977 was also a very good year for SALSA. There was a surge in the openings of Discotheques that only played SALSA. It was also a good year for one of contemporary SALSA's initial innovators, WILLIE COLON. He released a collaboration with "The Queen Of SALSA" - the formidable CELIA CRUZ. The brilliant album was appropriately titled ONLY THEY COULD HAVE MADE THIS ALBUM. We'll start this following set with the song "Usted Abuso" from that, and then we shall hear an incredibly popular song he recorded in 1977 with RUBEN BLADES called "Plantacion Adentro" |
| USTED ABUSO CRUZ & COLON - ONLY THEY COULD HAVE MADE THIS ALBUM (LP) - VAYA |
| PLANTACION ADENTRO WILLIE COLON PRESENTS RUBEN BLADES - METIENDO MANO! (LP) - FANIA |
| THE BULL THE MIKE THEODORE ORCHESTRA - COSMIC WIND (LP) - WESTBOUND |
| YOU'RE LISTENING TO THE REAL HISTORY OF DISCO - A CELEBRATION OF 40 YEARS OF THE GROOVE. WE ARE IN THE LATE 1970'S.
We've just heard an excellent example of AMERICAN DISCO producers doing quite well competing with EURODISCO successes like those of SANTA ESMERELDA called "The Bull" by the MIKE THEODORE ORCHESTRA. Like the previously mentioned DENNIS COFFEY, MIKE THEODORE was part of the very successful Detroit Disco sound in the late 1970's. So many AMERICAN DISCO records were released in 1977,1978 and 1979 that it's physically impossible to mention all of the records and artists involved. Some of the artists like T. CONNECTION, TAVARES, DAN HARTMAN, D.C. LA RUE, FIRST CHOICE, MIDNIGHT RHYTHM, MACHINE, LEOLEATA HOLLOWAY, CAROL WILLIAMS and the SALSOUL ORCHESTRA were amazing. A great deal of them were not very good at all. We can only feature some notable examples. Three movies were released that were called by many sources 'the disco movies'. They were THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY from 1979, THE STUD from 1978 and most noteworthy of all - SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER from 1977. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER was the most popular of all. It's impact on the AMERICAN DISCO industry ultimately became devastating. Because of that movie a new level of interest in DISCO almost immediately appeared. It suddenly seemed as if everybody and their dog wanted to go to discos. Hundreds of new investors wanted to establish themselves in the growing industry. One patron of a disco in Hull, Quebec sarcastically said in 1978, "Thanks to that stupid movie our disco has been invaded by tourists". It made a complex and increasingly more volatile situation even more complicated. There were already great pressures on the American Disco industry. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER's popularity and the interest it generated over exposed it's dark side and revealed it's weaknesses. Major record companies, many of whom already were releasing AMERICAN DISCO suddenly started pumping more money into it. Expectations of instant success were getting extremely high. When the results were, more often then not disastrous, the ensuing wrath was astronomical. The press started turning on the disco industry. For some of us who really loved and followed it all, hearing certain BEE GEES songs from THE SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (LP) on the radio for the tenth time in the same day was dreadful. It was a constant reminder of the mess the MOVIE had inadvertently caused. That ill feeling has never gone away. This now is "You Should Be Dancing" by the BEE GEE's that is on the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (THE ORIGINAL MOVIE SOUND TRACK) 2LP. It is actually from 1976 and best disco song that the group ever recorded. |
| YOU SHOULD BE DANCING BEE GEES - SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (THE ORIGINAL MOVIE SOUND TRACK) 2LP - RSO |
| GLORIA GAYNOR, the first DISCO QUEEN, did extremely well in 1978 with the love song "I Will Survive'. A song about emotional survival, "I Will Survive" is one of a handful of AMERICAN DISCO songs from the late 1979's that remains part of the collective human psyche even today. Even in weddings and other parties using in deejays today there are other AMERICAN DISCO songs that persist upon being requested. JACQUES MORALI, who was already doing well with THE RITCHIE FAMILY, created a camp male vocal group inspired by the thriving Greenwich Village gay scene in New York in 1977 called the VILLAGE PEOPLE. Their first album did well in discos with songs like "San Francisco (you go me)" and "Hollywood (Everybody Is A Star)". The latter of which was heavily sampled in megamixes at the time. In 1978 two VILLAGE PEOPLE songs did very well: "Macho Man" and "Y.M.C.A.". A version of the group is still touring. "Y.M.C.A." can be heard in a variety of different functions with a deejay in even the 21st century. |
| I WILL SURVIVE GLORIA GAYNOR - LOVE TRACKS (LP) - POLYDOR |
| Y.M.C.A. VILLAGE PEOPLE - CRUISIN' (LP) - CASABLANCA |
| CHASE GIORGIO MORODER - 12" - CASABLANCA |
| This is "Chase" by GIORGIO MORODER. One of two instrumentals by that incredible artist and producer from 1978 that caught many imaginations. The other being "Evolution" from his Music From "Battlestar Galactica" And Other Original Compositions (LP). Still sampled and programmed by deejays today, "Chase" was engaging demonstration of solitude of motion that dancers simply got lost in.
Inspired by the intensely popular "I Feel Love", hundreds of AMERICAN DISCO and EURODISCO recording featured a comparable circular pattern in their beat-structures. The group SPACE released a love song in 1978 featuring the vocals of MADELINE BELL called "Save Your Love For Me" which used such a structure. It remains one of the most popular ELECTRONIC DISCO recordings even today. |
| SAVE YOUR LOVE FOR ME SPACE - JUST BLUE (LP) - CASABLANCA |
| More than any other EURODISCO record released in 1978, the engaging "Disco Circus" by the group MARTIN CIRCUS has been sampled in dozens of records in different GENRES of DISCO during the 1980's and 1990's. Some people have been convinced that it was a HOUSE MUSIC record when it was being programmed on one of Chicago's popular HOUSE MUSIC radio shows on commercial radio during the late 1980's: |
| DISCO CIRCUS MARTIN CIRCUS - MARTIN "DISCO" CIRCUS (LP) - VOGUE |
| Electronics were having a profound effect on discotheque music in various parts of the world by 1978. New styles and beat-structures were being introduced that challenged the domination of the standard "four-on-the-floor" beat-structure. One of those was ELECTRO. Most sources insist that two recordings from 1978 really popularised a sound most often referred to the early 1980's. We're going to play both of them side by side. The first was from KRAFTWERK, that intriguing ELECTRONIC band from West Germany that had Discotheque hits like "Autobahn" in 1974 and "Trans-Europe Express" which we featured from 1977. KRAFTWERK never used that standard "four-on-the-floor" beat-structure or the "circular pattern" associated with most of the ELECTRONIC DISCO popular at the time. Many sources have labelled their music as "ELECTRO-POP". For their explosive 1978 The Man Machine(LP), they offered a heavier and cleaner version of their sound that proved to be wildly popular in discos with songs like "The Model"; of which their would eventually be several cover-versions made in years to follow. The whole album is a brilliant tribute to the possibilities of ELECTRONIC MUSIC that is fun and bursting with an almost tangible android personality. By far the most popular song from The Man Machine (LP) was "The Robots" |
| THE ROBOTS KRAFTWERK - THE MAN MACHINE (LP) - KLING KLANG MUSIC/CAPITOL |
| COMPUTER GAME YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA - YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA (LP) - HORIZON |
| That second ground breaking ELECTRO track was from Japan's YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA. Their first name sake album in 1978 really popularised JAPANESE DISCO in Europe and North America. Between 1979 and 1983 a variety of artists recorded ELECTRO DISCO songs. Italy would become most widely acclaimed for that. |
| JERKY RHYTHM EROTIC DRUM BAND - ACTION 78 (LP) - UNIDISC 
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| It's long overdue for us to talk about the ninth GENRE OF DISCO from the Western Hemisphere called the MONTREAL SOUND. In 1978 it was already going strong and some sources suggest it started in 1974. Most MONTREAL SOUND was recorded and released in Montreal, Canada. It was considered to be the only unique Canadian GENRE OF DISCO. With the sole exception of the legendary INDIAN DISCO album by RUPA called DISCO JAZZ (LP) which was recorded in Calgary, most Canadian Disco recorded outside of Montreal; like that of the T.H.P. ORCHESTRA, was considered part of AMERICAN DISCO or EURODISCO, as in the case of CLAUDJA BARRY. The MONTREAL SOUND had a specific feel the was remarkably unique. Although obviously North American, it was often described as a fusion of French and Italian influences. It was especially remarkable because there was a great range of sub-genres offering a staggering variety. There was the ridiculous DISCO GAG often featuring silly "discofied" versions of Quebecois folk songs and national anthems with artists like PAUL VINCENT, GERRY BRIBOSIA, and the group MONTREAL SOUND who had a Discotheque hit already in the United States and Europe with their exhilarating instrumental "Music", the rich orchestral sound of artists like THE BLACK LIGHT ORCHESTRA and CHATELAINE, Electronic artists like CHARLIE MIKE SIERRA, KEBEKELEKTRIK and THE MONTREAL SYNTHESIZER ORCHESTRA, and dozens of other acts like PATSY GALLANT, FUSSY CUSSY, GERALDINE HUNT, and NANETTE WORKMAN. That is the tip of the ice burg. We are listening to "Jerky Rhythm" from the EROTIC DRUM BAND LP "ACTION 78". In 1979 the whole MONTREAL SOUND got extremely popular in the United States and Western Europe with artists like FRANCE JOLI with romantic gems like "Come To Me", MARTIN STEVENS with his sentimental "Love Is The Air", GINO SOCCIO from KEBEKELEKTRIK with driving tracks like "The Visitors" and "Dancer", THE BOMBERS and GERALDINE HUNT's son FREDDIE JAMES who stormed the discos with hits like "Everybody Get Up And Boogie". The most popular MONTREAL SOUND recording in 1979 was a tribute to the TOM MOULTON invention "The Break" by KAT MANDU. Like the EROTIC DRUM BAND, KAT MANDU came from the Unidisc label. It, After decades, this instrumental is still being programmed and sampled. MONTREAL SOUND, according to many observers outlasted the AMERICAN DISCO industry. We'll revisit it in the 1980's. At the end of "The Break", just to be difficult, we'll play a bit of the remix that was released the later year: |
| THE BREAK KAT MANDU - 12" - UNIDISC
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| THE BREAK (REMIX) KAT MANDU - 12" - UNIDISC
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| In the late 1970's there some American producers releasing an American EURODISCO. It was a highly desirable sound. The best of which came from two producers. One being RAY MARTINEZ in Florida with the AMANT (LP) and the other being New York City's legendary BORIS MIDNEY who, from 1978 to 1982, released several incredible records under names like USA/EUROPEAN CONNECTION, BEAUTIFUL BEND, CARESS, DOUBLE DISCOVERY, COMPANION, FESTIVAL, and MASQUERADE. Here is his FESTIVAL hit from 1979, a cover-version of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina": |
| DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA FESTIVAL - EVITA (LP) - RSO |
| One listening to the clean brilliance of BORIS MIDNEY's production of that FESTIVAL song might have, in 1979, been tempted to ignore that the fortunes of the AMERICAN DISCO industry were radically changing. Dozens of production companies and labels that specialised in AMERICAN DISCO were going bankrupt. There was a backlash against DISCO rapidly growing, especially in the United States where the press widely publicised "anti-disco rally's". Although it went back to the early 1970's, the expression "DISCO SUCKS!" really started becoming common in 1979. The medium itself was getting very demanding, largely due to the effects of deejays playing a sharper concentration of beat-structures on the largest and most concentrated scale than ever before. Discos were getting wilder. There was a great deal of illegal drug use, especially with cocaine, both in the clubs and in some of the recording studios and record company offices. There was a message prevailing through the various levels of interactive communication in Disco that, more than ever before, promoted various applications of sexual activity. Apart from the great 'highly suggestive' EURODISCO classics like "Love In C Minor" contributing to that effect, there was steady flow of suggestive AMERICAN DISCO records like "In The Bush" by MUSIQUE and the extremely sexual "Come On And Do It (Special Disco Remix)" by POUSSEZ!.
Many news stories in 1979 really started focusing on outrageous activity in Discotheques like New York's Studio 54; a club popular among politicians, the business and social elite, movie stars and successful recording artists. It is very important to remember that these effects were being felt in discos all over the world. The behaviour, that is still being talked about by various sources; that was found in Studio 54, was not really that unique. An American news media obsessed with the rich and famous concentrated on Studio 54. Now some sources that offer other historic accounts about Disco talk only about Studio 54, almost as if it was the only Discotheque at time. There was an intensifying revulsion in various sectors of the public to the AMERICAN DISCO industry as if it was something that was extremely sleazy and possibly dangerous. That usual sound of AMERICAN DISCO was loosing ground. There was a popular BRITISH DISCO song in 1979 that many at the time had the oddest reaction to because it seemed to mock those pressures of the day. This is it, the LOVE DE-LUXE hit "HERE COMES THAT SOUND": |
| HERE COMES THAT SOUND LOVE DE-LUXE With HAWKSHAW'S DISCOPHONIA - 12" - - WARNER BROS. |
| WE ARE FAMILY SISTER SLEDGE - WE ARE FAMILY (LP) - COTILLION |
| That was the girl group SISTER SLEDGE with "We Are Family", one of their successes in 1979. "We Are Family" is still played on many commercial radio stations and at some wedding receptions. It was produced by the legendary BERNARD EDWARDS & NILE RODGERS. Their band was CHIC. They had already done well in AMERICAN DISCO with explosive hits like "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" and "Le Freak". In 1979 CHIC released one of the most important records of the late 1970's called "Good Times". The beat-structure was a refined FUNK structure that gave the song a mesmerising yet cooled presence. Why it was so important is that ended up serving as a structural template for dozens of other records in the 1980's. It, more than any other recording, started a slide in much of the shrinking AMERICAN DISCO industry towards highly standardised variations of FUNK. |
| GOOD TIMES CHIC - 12" - ATLANTIC |
| "Good Times" by CHIC is also so extremely important because one of those records that was based on it was the first commercially successful examples of the 10TH GENRE OF DISCO from the western hemisphere that is called HIPHOP. It was slowly created during the 1970's by deejays like DJ Kool Herc in youth parties in the New York City area by mixing and chopping Dub and instrumental FUNK records together so that young people could experiment with the tradition of spontaneous SOUND SYSTEM rapping and toasting that had been occurring for over a decade. Talented teenagers started finding themselves endeared with the concept of "re owning" music as a tool to verbally communicate something. Some have called it RAP MUSIC or RAP/HIPHOP. It would become one of the strongest forces in American popular music and eventually the world, influencing Popular culture everywhere.
The whole group of genres involved with HIPHOP numbers in the hundreds, now representing millions of recordings in 67 different languages. This is part of the SUGARHILL GANG with their legendary 1979 hit "Rapper's Delight": |
| RAPPER'S DELIGHT SUGARHILL GANG - - 12" - SUGAR HILL |
| In 1979, SANTA ESMERALDA released the second of two tributes to ENRIQUE JORRIN'S "CHA CHA CHA" we're going to feature in this guide. It was called "Another Cha-Cha" and it fused a combination of SALSA and Cuban CHA CHA CHA wrapped tightly around an uptempo EURODISCO structure like a wildly successful scientific experiment. It offered an exhilarating rush: |
| ANOTHER CHA-CHA SANTA ESMERALDA (starring JIMMY GOINGS) - ANOTHER CHA-CHA (LP) - FOREIGN EXCHANGE |
| Two other EURODISCO records released in 1979 were extremely important. The first was the BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB (LP) which was by a French teenager called BERNARD FEVRE. who made it manually in a recording studio using synths, occasional tape loops and a drummer. It offered six mixed compositions of brilliant ELECTRONIC DISCO that were dark, emotionally complex and stunningly unique. The more we listened to that album the deeper our obsession grew. Black Devil had a deep majesty in every beat and every vague or distorted vocal. Thousands of young minds offered their own personal interpretations. No other record offered so much personal freedom and inner strength. It was just as popular in private homes as it was in the Discos.
The only proper way to listen to the DISCO CLUB (LP), for many, was to: wait for the complete darkness of the night, turn out every light and play the whole BLACK DEVIL album very loud while laying on the floor, staring into the darkness. It was the Electronic Disco underground's holy grail. BERNARD FEVRE would release more comparable records in the 21st Century under the name BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB. Here from that first legendary album is "We Never Fly Away Again" and part of the instrumental "Follow Me" |
| WE NEVER FLY AWAY AGAIN BLACK DEVIL - DISCO CLUB (LP) - RCA |
| FOLLOW ME (INSTRUMENTAL) BLACK DEVIL - DISCO CLUB (LP) - RCA |
| The other EURODISCO record released in 1979 that was extremely important was the HILLS OF KATMANDU (LP) by TANTRA. Produced by the Italian production team La Drogueria Di Drugolo and Quelli Del Castello. It was a brilliant uptempo ITALODISCO track that was dreamy and sophisticated. What it did is inspire many deejays and producers in years to come. Here is part of TANTRA's "Hills Of Katmandu": |
| HILLS OF KATMANDU TANTRA - HILLS OF KATMANDU (LP) - PHILIPS |
| ARE YOU A RECORDING ARTIST, PRODUCER OR DJ? DON'T BE ALARMED IF WE ARE NOT PLAYING YOUR SONG OR MENTIONING YOU! THIS IS A GUIDE SPANNING 80 YEARS AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO INCLUDE EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED. MOST OF THE TIME WE ARE PROVIDING SAMPLES OF MUSIC AND SOME NOTABLE RECORDINGS. EVERY RECORD WAS IMPORTANT IN IT'S OWN WAY WHETHER IT WAS INCLUDED IN THIS GUIDE OR NOT. |
| MONEY THE FLYING LIZARDS - THE FLYING LIZARDS (LP) - VIRGIN |
| That was the British band THE FLYING LIZARDS with a brutal ELECTRONIC version of an old Motown single. THE FLYING LIZARDS were part of refreshing youth oriented movement in the late 1970's and early 1980's called THE NEW WAVE that promoted alternative ideas in various parts of society, especially with music. We're not talking about BOSSA NOVA music from Brazil in the late 1950's here. This was a movement that actually involved a multitude of different styles of music like PUNK and new versions of ROCK-A-BILLY, SKA, FUNK, DUB and a spared down version of ELECTRONIC DISCO that was called SYNTH-POP. Along with THE FLYING LIZARDS , there popped many new groups in Britain like ILLUSTRATION, DEPECHE MODE, THE THE, SOFT CELL, B MOVIE, BLA BLA BLA, JELL, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, NEU ELIKTRIKK, BLANCMANGE and NAKED LUNCH. Some of these groups would end up having very successful Discotheque hits in the 1980's. DEPECHE MODE would become a major source of ELECTRONIC DISCO and they are still active!
Another source in the NEW WAVE was from a collection of outrageous song writers and performers who offered their own unique takes on Disco like IAN DURY & BLOCKHEADS and the wildly influential LENE LOVICH. Her "Lucky Number" song spread around the world: |
| LUCKY NUMBER LENE LOVICH - STATELESS (LP) - STIFF-EPIC |
| By far the most colourful figure in the New Wave, German singer NINA HAGEN gained international recognition with two NINA HAGEN BAND lps in 1978 and 1979. UNBEHAGEN - the second of which contained a German language version of the LENE LOVICH hit "LUCKY NUMBER". That cover; renamed "WIR LEBEN IMMER... NOCH", created a tremendous amount of excitement. Many thought it to be amazing and spectacular. There were plenty of others who thought it to be obnoxious and overdone. Never in the history of disco had a cover-version created so much controversy. It fed the popularity of it and NINA HAGEN herself. |
| WIR LEBEN IMMER NOCH NINA HAGEN - UNBEHAGEN (LP) - CBS |
| I SHOT THE SHERIFF BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS - 7" - ISLAND |
| COULD YOU BE LOVED BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS - 7" - ISLAND |
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7:04 PM, July 6th, 2019