This was originally one of my oldest posts from when I first started the blog in 2008. I have brought it back with some refreshed links and some tracks it never had the first time around.
CHARLY ZIP
In my opinion there are two kinds of Italo Disco. The spacey, vocoder spruced, electronic type symbolized by classics like Robot is Systematic by 'Lectric Workers, Spacer Woman by Charlie and Cybernetic Love by Casco (DJ Salvatore Cusato) and the lite and airy high NRG tinged poppy type like Lunatic by Gazebo and You're my First, You're my Last by Linda Jo Rizzo.
Casco
Cybernetic Love
J.D. Jaber (GianLuca Bergonzi) seems to have been involved with both types. He was the engineer on Memory Records classics Japanese War Game by Koto and Do You by Duke Lake. As well as the vocalist on the more commercial sounding and cheerful Don't Stop Lovin' and Don't Wake Me Up.
Real Men
Below I have provided a link to a zip with both the original 1986 Memory 12" of Don't Wake Me Up along with the 1986 Swedish Remix on Beat Box records. Those Swedish remixes are quite cool and there are a lot of them. They remixed some major Italo Disco classics like Mirage by Scotch, Jabdah by Koto, Bad Boy by Den Harrow, Real Men by Tom Hooker and many many others. They also did some Freestyle remixes like Alisha's Stargazing and Italo House such as Don't You Love Me by the 49ers.
TOM HOOKERS BIGGEST HIT (USING HIS OWN NAME)
J.D. Jaber Zip
GARY LOW ZIP
We've heard me go on and on about Italo disco and 1983 before. But to know me is to know that I like to repeat for emphasis. To have a conversation with me can be frustrating. Every third line I say "what?" or "can you repeat that?" Way too many years of sitting on speakers at The Sound Factory or playing my music scary loud. But I'm just not feeling the hearing aid quite yet. The kind of Italo Disco in this post is just the sort of music I love to blast too.
SYSTEMATIC DOWNLOAD
ROBOT IS ZIP
These are examples of the darker more spacey Italo. Two releases from 1982 from Italy, Robot is Systematic by 'lectric workers on Disco Magic Records and Robot is.... by Message from the Future on Blood records. Most likely my favorite of this style is Spacer Woman by Charlie which came out in 1983 on Mr. Disc records, Italy. All true classics of the genre they greatly influenced a lot of Italo that came out after them. WBMX in Chicago was an early sustainer of this type of italo disco and so it went on to have a great influence on early house music too.
robots zip
Here above I provide a link for Robot Is.... cause it's one of the hardest to find and also Robot is Systematic, I've also thrown in Spacer Woman by Charlie down below. I've already blogged about that track seperately too. Hopefully you will enjoy this out there spaced out electronic lunacy as much as I do. I'd also like to give a shout out to the memory of CBS the cybernetic broadcast system because it brought a lot of this spacey stuff to my attention. I really miss listening to it on Sunday mornings as was a ritual for me for several years.
I was living in Rome in 1983 and out dancing many a night but I seem to remember much more clearly the campier Italo numbers like Disco King and Shine on Dance by Cararra, various dance records by Gary Low, like I Want You and the out and out Euro Disco of Paris Latino by Bandolero and No Controles by Ole' Ole'. But I may very well have danced to robot Italo and simply forgotten. Oh what i would give to get back some of those brain cells. I've placed a Gary Low zip above. CHARLIE ZIP i'm a spacer woman
Gigi Farina, Franco Rago, X. Monneret recorded as 'Lectric Workers, Atelier Folie, Decadance, Expansives, Message From Future, Wanexa and last but not least Cariocas. Now why they were inclined to use so many aliases if they weren't hiding from the authorities or on a spy mission I wouldn't know. THE MAN FROM COLOURS Wanexa instrumental
Regardless I'll have to thank them for their efforts. They are among my all time faves in the spacey italo disco genre. Batida released in 1983 on Proto records was a favorite of Cosmic Baldelli's and is another super synthy italo disco extraordinaire.
CARIOCA
Kudos to the art director on this 12" too. It's like something right out of Marvel comics.
More posts on Italo Disco to come soon. I also have some goodies in earlier posts so don't miss out.
9 comments:
"Robot Is..." by Message From Future (1982) is the rarest Italo Disco tune (hard to find). Aside from "Radio Rap" by Radio Band (1984).
Also "Robot Is Systematic" by 'Lectric Workers (1982) is now in it's full complete 9 minute form. Unlike the "I-Robot" compilation where they edited to 7 minutes.
Thank you so much for posting this. - San Bernardino, CA
Thanks so much for posting the full version of Robot Is Systematic, I only had the edited "I-Robot" version too. Personally I lean towards the darker cosmic futuristic tracks too....Spacer Woman is one of my favourite tracks full stop, those vocals are sublime. A great track to mix in with it is the 1978 French JP Massiera track "Space Woman" by either of his aliases "Herman's Rockets" or "Venus Gang"....They are both really similar in styles.
Thanks again for sharing such great Italo rarities in a high quality rip format, its very appreciated.
Your welcome. I'm actively posting again.
I just found this blog and this is the first post I opened.
I collected vinyl from '79 till '86 (and started again in '89 with house music). I owned over 6000 Italo disco, canadian, american and uk vinyls. Had to sell everything several years ago. Now trying to get as much as possible digitally.
Thanks for this blog. I am sure I will find a lot of my old music back. Nice to read some background information as well. A lot of things I know because I was/am a music freak my self, but in those days before the internet it was not always easy to to get more info about these artists.
greetz from Amsterdam.
That sounds cool. I hope you'll share some rare italo disco in 320 or .wav with me! My email is discovinyl@gmail.com
thanks Michael : you certainly know & love your subject. I feel I've sat and attended a sound & vision presentation on level-one Italo Disco. Do I qualify for the certificate? (much love) Ashley, Manchester, England xx
Great to see you posting again!
There is definitely a dividing line between the earlier (and in my opinion far superior) Italo-Disco music and the later more commercial material, I would say 1984 was the dividing year and I can count on one hand the releases I like after that!
I can't believe it's over four years since my comment above under my "saucer people" alias, time certainly flies when you are having... well... ;)
I thought anyone who came to comment should be rewarded with a high quality rip of the 2009 Franco Rago & Gigi Farina CD (it's an APE file so a CD can be burnt or use Foobar 2000 to convert the files).
http://dfiles.eu/files/9napuk7cz
A1. 'Lectric Workers – Robot Is Systematic
A2. 'Lectric Workers – The Garden
B1. Pleasure Discipline – For Hours Now (Remix)
B2. Expansives – Life With You ....
B3. Wanexa – The Man From Colours
This is not my rip, thank the mysterious Russian Fancy2202 for it.
As Ashley's comments show, Italo-Disco has been getting more and more recognition here in the UK over the last few years and it's long overdue.
@kosmikino Thanks so much for that link. Been looking for this version of Life with You forever but could only find the instrumental (whereas the vocals make the song *so* charming!). Made my day. Thanks for taking the time to post!
Freshened Links
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