Why is E.G. Daily trying to be The Voice in 2013 when she has already had a full career behind her?

Have a Scotch an italo disco group that charted much better outside of Italy in the 80's

What I love about Scotch is that they are so damn campy!  They seem to get a real kick out themselves and I in turn do too in a big way.  I mean what does that even mean "baby you're my really disco band?"  ENJOY MY ZIP WITH SCOTCH IN IT

The group was created by Manlio Cangelli (composer, keyboard and drum machine programming), then were added Vince Lancini (vocals) and Fabio Margutti keyboards, joined by Franz Rome (keyboards, programming) for the second album Pictures Of Old Days.

Scotch are actually an Italian group but they seem like a duo who had a string of hits through the 80's including Disco Band and Penguin's Invasion.

Their 1984 hit Mirage was particular in that the chorus is actually sung in Italian. Quite rare for an Italo Disco record. A few years ago it was featured in a cell phone ad in Italy and got major airplay all over again. It's definitely one of those happy-go-lucky sip a pina colada while getting a sun tan on the sea shore kinda songs. 

Here in the zip I've included possibly their most famous song Disco Band which start with that campy Cough, two versions of Delirio Mind and a cut from 1987 called Loving is Easy.

Pop Success of Scotch in Europe:

• Disco Band [#28 Italy, #3 Germany, #20 Sweden, #4 Switzerland, #4 Portugal]
• Delirio Mind [#6 Germany, #5 Sweden, #19 Switzerland]
• Take Me Up [#19 Germany; # 11 Portugal]
• Mirage [#19 Italy, #56 Germany, #2 Sweden]
• Money Runner [#12 Sweden]
• Pictures' [#16 Sweden]

Clearly they were appreciated more in Scandinavia then in Italy.

Title	Album	Country	Peak position	Weeks on chart
"Mirage"	Best Of	Sweden	2	5
"Disco Band"	Evolution	Switzerland	4	15
"Delirio Mind"	Best Of	Sweden	5	5
"Take Me Up"	Evolution	France	10	19
"Money Runner"	Best Of	Norway	10	1

Kylie Minogue's international hit "Got to be Certain" was largely influenced by "Take Me Up".

Are Sugarmen really shy? Who in the hell are Jack's Project? Can a German record be Italo Disco?

Jack's Project had three maxi single efforts in the mid 80's.  The last of which was called Shy Shy Sugarman.  Released in 1986 this German Ariola Records twelve inch is not particularly well known but undoubtably has the kind of sound that fits in very well with the Disco Vinyl blog feeling.
versions of Sugarman here

I thank my dear Scottish friend Brian for calling it to my attention or it would have remained in that abyss of unknown Synth Pop, Italo style songs which have passed me by.  I'd be the first to admit there were many because during the height of the italo disco era I was at university and listening to a lot of alternative music.  I developed my passion for italo disco during my visits to Italy in those years and in my nights at the Roman discos.  Most of those were in 1983 but there were more visits in 1984, 1985 and 1986 until I had a pretty long break and then moved to Rome.  The D.C. clubs I went to in my university years played more Hi NRG then I would have liked, but a few Euro sounding records to break through.

Jack's Project also did a cover of the Hi NRG classic Wake up by Stop which had been released the year before.  An insanely infectious ditty in any version!

 But clearly by the time I moved to Rome it had been taken over by house music and the more Euro sounding dance sounds which owed nothing to Italo Disco and never hit me with the same passion.  Hence I have dedicated my blog to earlier dance music which tickles my fancy more then what I was dancing to during my peak of clubbing in the early 90's.

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HOT TRACKS VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3 1983

Sometimes it's just fun to reminisce.  It was a great transitional time for dance music.  Lots of new wave, more traditional style disco and then a nice chunk of Hi NRG.  1983 sure was a great year.  One thing this chart doesn't reflect is the great amount of fantastic italo disco that came out that year.

Phil Hurtt BOOGIE CITY (rock and boogie down) a disco throwdown from the mighty year of 1979

Phil Hurtt was an important part of the 70's soul scene collaborating with people like Jackie Moore and Bunny Sigler in The Young Professionals and later providing background vocals on the classic Eddie Kendricks l.p. Goin' up in Smoke. His songwriting skills were also prevalent as he wrote the #1 hit for The Spinners I'll Be Around.

He was also a featured vocalist in The Salsoul Orchestra. Undoubtedly the most important disco band in history. His two solo l.p.'s were not particularly successful, but this Fantasy 12" Boogie City (Rock and Boogie Down) released on Fantasy in 1979 is pure magic. Marty Blecman's mixing is ace, Blecman later went on to major high energy success with his Megatone label. The hoots and hollers are pure soulful disco throwdown minus any of the cheese and the beat doesn't spare in it's amount of funk in the disco boogie. Not a minimum of time was wasted on the production of this number. It rocks from the first second to the last and never lags.

I sold all three copies I had on ebay. But I will pay tribute to the boogie by posting it here for you now.

BOOGIE CITY

Phil Hurtt also has a new effort collaborating with many of his old cronies. It's called A Soulful Tale of Two Cities and may very well be worth checking out if you are into old school R and B with a new twist.

JUST AS LONG AS WE'RE TOGETHER a PRINCE debut

When Prince's I Wanna Be Your Lover became a smash in 1979 most people thought it was his debut single. But actually his debut l.p. was released the year before, 1978's For You.
Studio 54 d.j. Jim Burgess, who later went on to become a staple at The Saint did a tasty remix of the song Just as Long as We're Together. It has since become one of Prince's most coveted 12" singles to collector types. Likely because it was a PROMO only release.
JUST AS LONG AS WE'RE TOGETHER and as an extra treat the Greg Womack re-edit of the B side Soft and Wet just here below.
S AND W

Here's the Near Mint copy in my EBAY store.
MY PRINCE AUCTION

THE FORCE by NANCY NOVA

Do you know how much I worship this song?  A LOT.

A NANCY ZIP

ONE MORE SHOT C-BANK JENNY BURTON

Now I know the readers of this blog are not used to this kind of post.  But my tastes vary in a big way.  Believe it or not One More Shot is one of my absolute favorite songs of the 80's.  I'm a big fan of John Robie's work and find that if he's associated to a project 9 times out of 10 I love it.

The incomparable Jenny Burton

Jenny Burton's voice is fantastic.  She is perfectly accompanied by those frantic beats.

ONE MORE ZIP But for the completist why not include the hip hop version by MC Connection which also features the electro magic instrumental on Side B.

Matthew Drudge turned me on to John Robie.  Robie was his idol back in the 80's when we were in our early 20's on the scene around Dupont Circle in D.C. and well before Matthew became such a Libertarian wing-nut.  

Would you believe I hadn't even seen this before I wrote this blog....A DRUDGE TWEET