FROM HERE TO ETERNITY GIORGIO MORODER

Hansjörg Moroder (Giorgio) was born in Ortisei, Italy a beautiful mountain village in South Tyrol, The Dolomites.  A place I love and have skied in.  It is the part of Italy where most people still speak German as it used to be the southern part of Austria years ago.

What can I even say about this man and not sound banal?  I mean he is the king, the God of electronic disco.  Those of us who adore disco owe so much to him.  His innovative style and his perseverance in pioneering with the synthesizer just means EVERYTHING.

And just to think that he really got his peak of fame over the age of 70 with his work with Daft Punk that brought him to such an audience that had never even been born when he was cranking them out during the disco era.  He actually claims to have been a fan of one of their earlier hits One More Time.

I thought it would be only right to spotlight one of his most important solo masterpieces.  The seminal 1977 electronic romp FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.  A record which was from the album of the same name and strangely enough was not even released on a 12 inch maxi single. Here I bring you 250 mb.'s of versions.  From more recent edits to the original versions.  SO MANY VERSIONS OF IT

Who else out of the disco era has three Oscars and three Grammys?  No one else that's who!

Giorgio's first output on vinyl was in 1965.  He often collaborated with lyricist Pete Bellotte.  They worked together on his biggest projects including of course Donna Summer.  I Feel Love is of course the definitive masterpiece of electronic disco as well as the incredible theme from Midnight Express "The Chase" released in 1978.  Not many know that Munich Machine was actually Giorgio Moroder under another name.  Their track Get on the Funk Train was a definitive Paradise Garage classic.  Under this moniker he also used a variety of great vocalists.  

Blondie's biggest hit, #1 of the year when it came out, was from the film American Gigolo, Call Me was of course a Giorgio Moroder collaboration.

He recently worked with Kelis and is in the process of working with Lana Del Rey who is just about my favorite current female vocalist.  So I'm pretty well chuffed about that.

Most recently he's been touring as a DJ and doing gigs.  Considering the popularity of EDM not a bad move.

Running Information Society mid 80's perfection

Minneapolis band Information Society first release in 1983 the Insoc. ep is purely new wave but flopped.  It's not really anything to write home about and sounds like a lot of the new wave of that period.  But not many can claim to have a lyric as stupid as "I believe that Exxon saved my soul."

Then the next year they struck pay dirt.  Running is undisputedly one of the 5 most important records of the 80's.  First release on the tiny Minneapolis label Wide Angle it was later picked up by Tommy Boy where it was revamped and it became the quintessential sound of ELECTRO and a perfect example of early latin freestyle.  Though they were not latin and not from Miami or New York, go figure.
A RUNNING ZIP

The Tommy Boy versions featured freestyle royalty, The Latin Rascals, Albert Cabrera and Tony Moran on the edits (it was all about the edits).  And it was one of Little "Louie" Vega's earliest remixes along with Joey Gardner.

Honestly it's almost difficult for me to write about this record.  I feel so emotionally attached to it.  It features all the qualities that I adore about top-notch freestyle from the yearning vocals to the melancholy vibe to the highly danceable electronic perfection.  Oh the breaks!

I know that they had more pop success and even dance chart success with later hits (even hitting #3 pop and #1 dance in 1988 with What's on Your Mind) but for me this band peaked and and made it's mark with Running.  The only song of theirs that's an absolute must.

In 2001 a new version took them to #2 on the dance charts, as did a new version of What's on Your Mind took them up to #4.

Roy Thode D.J. Mix Sets Studio 54, Saint, Ice Palace D.J. Extraordinaire

I am a huge Roy Thode fan.  He was a fantastic DJ but a troubled man.  To think that he committed suicide during the prime of his career fills me with sadness.  Here in dedication to him some of his mixes are presented for you to enjoy.

He spun at The Flamingo, Studio 54 and The Ice Palace but he made his real mark at The Saint which was then still a relatively new club but quickly establishing it's legendary status in New York nightclubbing.

The first release to bear his name is ironically also the first to bear Larry Levan's name.  It's the 12 inch release of C is for Cookie on Sesame Street Records.  Both master DJ's took a stab on the song and both did a marvelous job.

Though he didn't have a huge studio output a few of tracks he did were among my favorites of the disco era including his delightful take on Poussez! Come on and Do it from 1979.

I blogged it a couple years back here in Disco Vinyl so if you go up to the search function above you can get to it in all it's glory. It's in .wav so don't miss out, or click just after this period.  POUSSEZ! HERE TO HEAR  BEN LIEBRANDS UPDATE ON IT  DISCONET REMIX  EROTIC MIX

THODE MIXES
That right there is almost 900 MB of Roy's mixing.  This includes the legendary Land of Make Believe party and other sets from The Saint.  This also includes a mix from March 15, 1981.

This next link below includes Summer 1981 at The Ice Palace Cherry Grove, Fire Island and a mix from December 5, 1981 at The Saint.
ROY MIXES HERE
On the 21st of May 1982 he committed suicide.

Why didn't Jamie Principle become a huge star?

Championed early on by the Godfather of House Frankie Knuckles, Jamie Principle was responsible for a few of the most haunting and delightful early Chicago house records.

JAMIE PRINCIPLE ZIP

Jamie was of course at Frankie's memorial just a few days in Chicago.

You're all I've Waited 4 was like a big comeback for Jamie after the few hits he had in the 80's.

Donna Jones is Pussyfoot

Donna Jones is Pussyfoot.  She was formerly a member of the Australian act The New Seekers.

Her 1978 release on EMI Canada is a favorite of mine in the space disco cheese vein, Dancer Dance. PUSSYFOOT CLICK HERE

There were a few other releases using the Pussyfoot name and then under her own name but I have only heard one other one, Lay your love on the Line from 1979.

This above is a disconet remix.

Paul Thomas is the Man...Circle City Band

Indianapolis singer songwriter Paul Thomas took advantage of a gospel labels expansion into r and b and brought three great singles to Circle City Records as the Circle City Band. Each was picked up later by Becket Records too. For me they are the epitome of quality modern soul, funk, boogie. The best parts of disco being brought to the next level and into the freshly started 80's.

Magic the first single from 1983 was hot indeed, so hot that BET (Black Entertainment Television) chose it as it's theme song.

Back when Ebay bidders had more money to shell out this 12" often shot up well above $100.00 especially for the Promo on Circle City Band records. Now it gets about half that amount.
"That MAGIC from the sparkle in your eyes makes me realize, I know that you're the only one for me.
The true devotion from the feeling in your heart, means we'll never part, you know that I'm the only one you need.
That MAGIC from the sparkle in your eyes makes me realize I know that you're the only one for me.

Hot baby. Hot baby. Girl you're makin' me hot baby. ALRIGHT!"

The follow-up from 1984 My Place is funkier and features vocoder which I personally have a deep weakness for. As do many a collector of Boogie and Electro. The lyrics are fun but not nearly as catchy and smart as Magic. 

The 3rd single Party Lights (shake your body get loose) is probably my least favorite of the three. It is clearly more Electro and vocoder Funk in that Newcleus, Aleem kinda way. There is some very tasty sax work though. Paul Thomas also seems to channel his inner falsetto as he varies the pitch in his vocals on this track more then he had with the previous two. The chipmunky sounding retort "shake your body get loose" reminds me a lot of the Newcleus "wicky wicky wicky" which was very Electro hot in the same period.

I'd rate all three songs growers. They take repeated listens to really appreciate and personally I think all three kick some major ass!

CIRCLE CITY ZIP

KOTO ITALO DISCO PIONEER, from Chinese Revenge in 1982 throughout

HUGE KOTO ZIP

Anfrando Maiola is the main component of classic Italo Disco act Koto. He was born in Parma, Italy in 1954 under the star sign Acquarius and married a German woman named Martina.



Beginning in 1982 with Chinese Revenge and continuing throughout the 80's, he released quite a few happy italo disco synthesizer ditties.

Whoever was responsible at his record companies, and he did bounce around to a couple made some great decisons on the graphics. Spacey and futuristic images that were fun to look at. He actually lost the rights to his recording name when it was sold to ZYX records Germany but he recently won the rights back.





I've stuffed some italo magic into this zip including Chinese Revenge, Japanese War Game, The Visitor, Jabdah and Mechanic Sense. Japanese War Game was the one I really grooved out on when clubbing in Rome in 1983.

In 1989, a German record label ZYX has bought rights to all Memory Records catalogue, including the rights to "KOTO" music and name.


In 1990 he released a very capable cover of the Kraftwerk classic Trans Europe Express. It's not so well known and surely after his italo disco peak but it works for me.

Jabdah in 1986 was another high-point again featuring campy italo disco sounds with spacey elaborated vocals. Something tells me that Anfrando was a bit Star Wars obsessed and most likely a trekkie too. You can get directly to my listing for Jabdah in my ebay store by clicking the title of this particularly blog entry.

Memory's 1987 release was a Koto mix. It's yet another italo disco medley.

Koto was asked in an interview what was his favorite italo disco artist and his favorite italo disco song. He said. "In the past I surely listened to italo disco music and I really like the voice of Tom Hooker, I also like Self Control and Dolce Vita but my preferred italian artist is Vasco Rossi with Vita Spericolata.
Visitors, Chinese Revenage, Jabdah etc. Each song is real masterpiece, but Visitors made so big success."

I love that he's modest too! I think that Koto is among the campiest of Italo Disco acts too. It's the perfect blend of cheese, full stop Velveeta, but it's not lacking in the boogie department either. His synthesizer genius has surely influenced a lot of the dance music that came out after his years of success.





Check him out now:
http://www.myspace.com/kotomaiola



Lately, Anfrando Maiola has won back the rights to "KOTO" name, but the music he produces in 2003 is far from synthdance genre, it's rather in Techno and Dance style.

If you appreciate my blog please click on the ads.  Click on the title of this post and it will bring you right to my ebay store, the italo disco section where I add things weekly.