ExpatMichael's opinion of anything relating to disco, Italo disco, funk and boogie music. Promotion for my Ebay and Discogs stores which concentrate on the sale of Disco, Funk, Italo Disco, Hi NRG, New Wave, morning music, sleaze and anything pressed on vinyl. There's a link to my Ebay store on the bottom of the page, right under the counter widget. Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave comments. Follow my twitter and join the Disco Vinyl Fan Page on Facebook.
The white label promo was previously quite collectible but has become more common over the years. Ironically it was the B side to Undercover Lover though it was far more popular.
She later came to be known as Debbie Jacobs Rock and had a few more club hits. The most rare of which is her fantastic take on the Hi Nrg classic Maybe This Time. Which ended up with a very limited promo only release. Due to some complications with the label it was not formally released and so the far less enchanting versions by Norma Lewis, Viola Wills and others are the ones which got the most play. There are some copies of Debbie's version to be found however but they cost a few hundred dollars.
I'm providing you with a tasty zip file. It includes the extended promo twelve inch version, the alkalino edit and the extra long Clausell edit which is not easy to come by, and Italian DJ Moplen's edit.
One of the oddest jumps onto the disco bandwagon was The Osmonds in 1979. It was produced by Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees but still managed to flop. It didn't even enter the disco charts.
Another refreshed link post from a few years back.
Everyone knows The Main Event (fight) and her duet with Donna Summer No More Tears (Enough is Enough) but years before a special disco version promo only 12" by Babs was released. The Shake Me, Wake Me white label 12" was serviced to d.j.'s in 1975 by Columbia records. It was a made for the dance floor re-working of a track from her successful Lazy Afternoon l.p.
Arranged and Conducted by Rupert Holmes who later had a #1 pop hit with Escape (the pina colada song) it was a Holland Dozier Holland penned r and b song which previously had been a Top 20 pop hit for The Four Tops in 1966.
Not exactly one of those makes you run out to the dance floor crowd fillers, it's still a valid piece of disco history and rather hard to find. It might also be disputed that she didn't necessarily jump on the disco bandwagon as this is so early in disco history that not even commercial 12" were being produced yet.
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A Taste of Honey had a short blast of success. It included the massive #1 pop hit debut single Boogie Oogie Oogie in 1978 and the lovely Japancentric ballad Sukiyaki a #3 hit in 1981 (both hitting #1 on the R&B charts).
The quirky thing about the grammy winning group was that they were all female, after 1980. And these females played the instruments and wrote the songs. You go girls!
The group's first single, "Boogie Oogie Oogie," was inspired by an unresponsive audience during a date at a military base; Johnson believed the crowd was chauvinistic toward the group's two female guitar players. The notorious bass solo intro came about when Johnson was warming up before the recording session, unaware that she was being recorded. The single sold more than two million copies and topped Billboard's charts for three weeks in fall 1978. The follow-up single, the slinky and funky "Do It Good," went to number 13 R&B and number 79 pop, and A Taste of Honey went platinum.
My favorite Taste of Honey song is Rescue Me from their third album in 1980. It didn't chart in pop or disco but was a #16 R&B hit. It's their most collectible maxi single since it was only available as a PROMO. My late friend Greg Womack knew how much I loved it so he made me a great edit. I'm including it in my Taste of Honey zip with a couple other songs. TASTE MY ZIP
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We've had Andrea True posts before but this one includes some tasty edits.
Andrea Marie Truden has two particular distinctions to me as a disco diva. First of all she transitioned from adult film star (14 films between 1970 and 1975) to vocalist and she sang my all time favorite disco song More, More, More (pk. #4 U.S. #5 U.K. #1 Canada). She like me was Catholic school educated. I think this accomplishment sort of documents how much more progressive the disco era was then what we are living now. Can you even imagine an adult film star transitioning to pop star in 2014?
Andrea also had some major luck with having at least two major disco luminaries on her side. Both Gregg Diamond and Tom Moulton were instrumental in bringing the Andrea True Connection sound to the dance floors.
N.Y. You got me Dancing was her only other entry on the pop charts peaking at #27 in 1977, though she did have more success on the Billboard Disco Charts.
During her heyday as a porn actress, around 1975, True was hired by a real estate business in Jamaica to appear in their commercials. During her stay in Jamaica, a political crisis gripped the island, and no one was allowed to leave with any money. Not wanting to lose the pay she had earned from the real estate ads, True asked her friend, record producer Gregg Diamond, to travel to the island and produce a track for her, which she would finance locally using that money. Diamond arrived with a composition in hand, to which True added her vocals. The result of their collaboration was "More, More, More." (thank you wikipedia for that juicy tidbit.)
Four major disco hits on the disco charts and even one, More, More, More which shot all the way up to #4 on the pop charts and went platinum. Andrea's chart success only happened over a two year period. So by 1979 she was back to making adult films. Sort of sad when you think of it but Buddah cancelled her contract after they had earned millions off of her. The follow-up album White Witch failed to cause a spark and remains somewhat obscure. Her 1980 album War Machine was released in Europe only. Believe it or not it was a hard rock album.
Her stage names included Inger Kissin, Singe Low, Sandra Lips, Andrea Travis, and Catherine Warren.
Born in Nashville it sure was to our fortune that she didn't pursue a career in country and western. In 1999 the Canadian group Len sampled the instrumental break from "More, More, More" in their own hit single, "Steal My Sunshine". Around 2000 she was living in Boynton Beach, Florida working as a psychic reader as well as a counselor for drug and substance abusers.
When Andrea True left the stage in 2011, on November 7 she was 58. She had since moved to Woodstock New York. I've seen her in a couple disco related documentaries. You can also find her in a few mainstream films, including the documentary Inside Deep Throat. She was even an extra in The Way We Were. ANDREA'S IMDB PAGE In later years she really seemed to have let herself go. But when you are this much of a beauty in your youth it must be quite a battle to retain your looks.
As much as I love to spotlight Italo disco up in here I also don't want to ever forget that there was a time when you could hear morning music at the club. As my mind fills with cobwebs and I forget more and more I need to pull one out here and there for my readers to enjoy.
Dutch group Peru who also recorded as Nova produced some very cool atmospheric numbers that got spun as morning music at The Saint. One to especially note here is 1988's Africa. Which also happened to be the last year of The Saint's existence.
The band started in 1979 and put out albums until 1993. I don't know much about them but they are definitely worth looking more into.
Queen's N.Y. based, Gary's Gang sprang on to the scene at the end of 1978 with the single Keep on Dancin' an all out disco ditty with some super happy accents on the xylophone tip.
They continued to chart dance up until 1983 without ever really having an impact on the pop charts.
Let's LoveDance Tonight was apparently a real Paradise Garage favorite. Though it didn't get anywhere near as well known as Keep on Dancin' which even had some R&B chart success.
The later songs were a bit more on the Hi NRG tip and were spun regularly at clubs like The Saint.
One called Makin' Music I discovered on a tape of a night at The Saint as spun by I think Shaun Buchannan. It caught my ear quickly and I just had to know who it was.
The band went through a few cast changes but the drumming and vocals of Gary Turnier remained a constant.
Sam Records actually released a compilation that had new edits on it. I thought most of them were lousy. But I wanted there to be variety in the zip so enjoy there are 12 items in it.
She later came to be known as Debbie Jacobs Rock and had a few more club hits. The most rare of which is her fantastic take on the Hi Nrg classic Maybe This Time. Which ended up with a very limited promo only release. Due to some complications with the label it was not formally released and so the far less enchanting versions by Norma Lewis, Viola Wills and others are the ones which got the most play. There are some copies of Debbie's version to be found however but they cost a few hundred dollars.
