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Thursday, August 10, 2017

SOUND OF MY HEART SLEEPING LIONS

REFRESHED LINKS from a 2009 blog
A SLEEPING LIONS ZIP
SOUND OF MY HEART



1983 CBS RECORDS U.K.
SOUND OF MY HEART
THE SLEEPING LIONS





Ordinarily I wouldn't post someone else's story but I think this guy's opinion really sums it up for me too. Cause this record really tugs at my morning heart strings.  There's something about the strings, the harps, whatever they are.  On a good day they bring tears to my eyes, tears of joy.  To anyone familiar with this blog you know I am always going on and on about 1983.





Sound Of My Heart

Well . . . there are so many, but the first that comes to mind occurred on the 1st Sunday night in October of 1983. The DJ was Shaun Buchanan, a young new DJ from England who had recently begun playing Sunday nights. I had gotten there early because I really had nothing to do and just decided to go hear this new guy. The crowd was sparse, but serious. You see, it was about this time when 'Euro-disco', HIGH-NRG, and a lot of what people were calling 'new wave' that later was called 'dance oriented rock' which was causing quite a battle between the 'Disco-classists"' and many of the new younger members. And Shaun was very good with this 'new' music, especially with his Morning Music. For the first part of the evening I just sort of sat around on the banquettes that surrounded the dome, watching the magnificent light show until one of my many 'dance-partners', Will, showed up out of the blue. So here we were dancing where I almost always danced - between 4 and 6 o'clock near the center of the dance-floor - when all of a sudden the most incredible song came out of Sharon Redd's "In The Name Of Love" with strains of what sounded like an entire orchestra of strings climbing higher and higher until the vocals began. The look on Will's face, not to mention the faces of the other dancers on the floor, was sheer astonishment. It was something new, something fresh and beautiful. Of course, when the song was finished, I had to go up into the DJ and lighting booth - something I rarely did - to find out what that song WAS! Shaun, was delightful as ever - he was ALWAYS a very cordial and a delightful man - handed me the cover, and it read "SOUND OF MY HEART" by The Sleeping Lions, a group from the U.K. Within a couple of weeks it was a SAINT standard, being played almost every night THE SAINT was open, being mixed up, down, and every-which-way. And, like so many songs that where played at THE SAINT, it was absolutely incredible and I think of it as a SAINT-song. Also, like so much of the magic music from that time you rarely hear it anymore, except at oldies parties. It's such a shame because, well, one of the things that made The Saint-well THE SAINT. THE SAINT was a place where the DJs were not afraid to play the old songs mixing them with new songs and mixing styles - which became very important in the '80. The other thing that made THE SAINT, THE SAINT was that certain songs where almost always played there from when the doors opened in 1980 to when they closed in 1988. Songs that reached back as far as the early days of disco in the '70s and became classics, like "Take Off Your Makeup" and "Hot Butterfly". Of course, as new music came out, they were added to THE SAINT canon of music (why do you think that THE LAST PARTY took three days?) just as each DJ had his (or her) own style. The people who danced as at THE SAINT expected certain music to be played. They came to know each song inside and out, and that way they could dance to it better. They relied on the DJs to play the music they loved, rather than trying to find the newest music faster - where yesterday's hot song is all but forgotten today -Oh, like, hell, I can't even remember the name of one. It's too bad there isn't a place like that anymore where you can count on the certain that make your night special . . . just like that first Sunday night in October in 1983 . . .


4 comments:

david said...

God I remember the saint well....your story brought me back to the dancefloor...ahhh

xiaomi said...

thanks for preserving this story, so beautiful, so important to preserve stories like this with so many people from The Saint having passed on ♡♡♡♡♡♡

Unknown said...

This song is fantastic. Is there anyone that has an archive or a link of images or photo gallery of the men dancing at The Saint in the early 80s? Would love to see all the men dancing in their Clone look and Levis. Hope anyone can help.

david said...

I remember this song being played at the saint. I can remember running up to the booth and asking the dj what it was and he held up the cover and the very next day I bought it. Those were the days! Glad I was part of them