Eva Robin's NOT JUST A TRANSEXUAL but a Disco Panther

This is one of my most popular blogs since I started Disco Vinyl in 2008 so I've refreshed the links.  ENJOY!
Eva Robins as Cassandra circa 1978.
Swarthy Italo Disco pioneer Celso Valli.


Roberto Maurizio Coatti was born on December 10, 1958 in Bologna, Italy. At puberty he developed breasts naturally and his features became more feminine.

In 1977 after extensive hormone therapy he became the showgirl Eva Robin's. She teamed up with Celso Valli the Italo Disco Wunderkind pictured above, who was responsible for The Passengers, Tantra, Macho, Azoto, Matia Bazar's Ti Sento and many more Italo Disco classics. They recorded Disco Panther using the name Cassandra. So the pairing of a trans gender and a disco version of a pop culture classic was created. Italy so often fashion forward was even one of the first places to have a Trans star.

EVA ROBIN'S
KOSHY'S DISCO EDIT

It's catchy but I have to admit I prefer the instrumental.

Eva is still around today and just as beautiful as ever. Here she is in a video with the Italian T.V. host and writer Platinette. This is a scene from the popular t.v. show Le Iene. One of their trademark gimmicks is the split screen interview with two people being asked the same question. Eva does not spare a moment from her sex kitten routine here.

I used to have this rare 12".  But I sold it on eBay years ago.

I didn't have the picture cover version pictured above. It's not a great shot of Eva anyway.

Italo Disco Classic Double A Side Reale Accademia and Karin Klark

This double A side on Out records from 1986 is highly collectible.  Both sides are brilliant.  But She's Mine touches me deep in my soft spot.  What a record!  

It sounds if Vangelis or Yes made an Italo Disco record.  Off-Kilter orchestral camp with a dance beat.  It's records like these that make me adore Italo sound.  There's even a bit of the robotic to give it an extra dose of the unusual.

THE COURT JESTER BRINGS TO YOU ITALO DISCO

Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!  Sing to me!  Sing to me!

Kiss me, I can’t stay without your love 
Like flowers needs sun 
Life patterns go in space with crystal air 
For the life 

Tell me what you gonna do 
Let you know I love you 
Tell me how you know to dream 
I feel to know my dear 

Look at me, look at me, look at me 
Sing to me, sing to me, sing to me 
She’s mine! 

Look at me a little time 
Say you’ll be there to will be mine 
We have feel the same old feelin’ 
And give me everything of you 

Look at me, look at me, look at me 
Sing to me, sing to me, sing to me 
She’s mine! 

Kiss me, I can’t stay without your love 
Like flowers needs sun 
Life patterns go in space with crystal air 
For the life 

Before they termed Italo Disco there was Navach

It was 1980 and italo disco hadn't really taken hold in Italy yet. So out comes this number. Sort of an Italian version of Chic or Abba. Maybe something worse. But certainly something different.

Navach's I'm Dancing all the Night on Dancer Records.
NAVACH ZIP

My Man Cruisin' Gang

MY MAN

Interpol does an italo disco Police medley

A fairly obscure italo release from 1983 on Full Time Records.

There was a moment there when the italo disco medley was hot.  Everything from Pink Floyd to the Police on this one Dancing on the Moon was consider fair game.

I actually did not like this record at all when I burned it from my collection in 2009.  But now I appreciate it a little.  In any case I love Italo Disco records from 1983.

The band Interpol, the one that was never famous

Changin' Ms. Sharon Ridley the ultimate morning music song

  Refreshed links from a 2009 blog post.  Enjoy!







In 1978 Ms. Sharon Ridley's Full Moon l.p. was released. Just the fact that Sharon required the Ms. in her name proves that extra attention was deserved. She's been getting it from vinyl collector's and Garage heads ever since.


Clearly there was no official 12" release but the song found it's way onto many important dj playlists especially those who embraced the sleaze, morning music genre such as Larry Levan, Lary Sanders and Robbie Leslie just to name a few.

The dates for the actual 12" presses are unclear. But in 1979 the Canadian label Singles, Ep's and eX-Hits release a 12" backed with the sublime Jean Carne song Was That All it Was. Kinda of a sleaze double whammy.


Then there are these test pressing promo's which don't have any writing on them and a black cover sleeve. Sort of like the one that John Davis Bourgie' Bourgie' white labels had but without writing on the black sleeve.


So some dj's hand wrote the title on the label. My copy was clean and fetched a respectable $181.00 on Ebay. Though there is a vendor who has it slapped up in his store for something like six months now at over $500.00 with clearly no bites. Probably works well for him though cause when you have a hot record in your store it brings in clicks and those people may peruse your wares.

Anyway for some unknown reason CHANGES is inscribed on the outgroove. Some clown on discogs actually went to the effort of making a post for the song calling it incorrectly Changes. Have you ever tried to post on that site? If they could be any more picky you could tear your hair out. But then they post stuff with errors and those stay up.

So then Tabu realizing they had a hot one on their hands that should have been pressed on a 12" in the first place pressed one to their Mixed Masters re-issue series on CBS.


Then in 1984 Hot Tracks had the great taste to do their own take on this sleaze classic.
HOT TRACKS MIX

So now we've got several different pressings and several different lengths. Course you want them all and that's why I've put them in a zip here.


BIG SHARON ZIP


Finally in 1987 Columbia Records put out the Compilation, Let's Dance! and had the good taste to include Changin' this one a mix by F. Byron Clark running 6:18, probably the shortest version yet.


A Mel Cheron favorite which Larry Levan often played just to please his buddy. In fact Larry was known to simply slip it into a set and dramatically change the tone. But The Paradise Garage was Larry's home and he didn't have to play by the rules

More recently it was brought to the attention of Linda Clifford. Logically Linda flipped over it and it became a release on the newly incarnated West End label in 2001. Given all sorts of mixes by Blaze and even the remix king Tom Moulton it didn't really create that much of a stir. But then again you can't improve perfection. Here below are the Pound Boys (more traditional house) and Tom Moulton's (lavish, dramatic) mixes of Linda Clifford.


LINDA CLIFFORD VERSION

Just in time for Halloween Goblin Tenebre Remix Claudio Simonetti Italo Disco Gem

So you might not know that I your writer of Disco Vinyl is also a big horror buff.  So I thought I'd give you something in time for Halloween a bit different then my usual posts.  You can however consider this 1982 remix genuine Italo Disco.  In the lower part of the post where the rest of the soundtrack is you should probably find some value too.

TENEBRE REMIX



TENEBRE SOUNDTRACK WITH BONUS TRACKS

Savin' Myself Eria Fachin

Canadian Hi Nrg artist Eria Fachin' only had a couple of dance hits.
SAVIN' MYSELF FOR YOU

But the first one Savin' Myself from 1986 is the one which I have the most affection for.

I actually had a weird relationship towards Hi Nrg at the time.  I felt like it was forced upon me because a lot of the clubs I went to at the time were playing it.  I much preferred alternative/new wave or traditional disco.  Later realizing that it was the Italo Disco that I really loved.  But now I have to admit that some Hi Nrg songs are cute to me.  Savin' Myself is a perfect example of cheerful NRG that puts a smile on my face.

Mozzart

another zip for you
Mandy B. Man, Paul Lander and Mozart are aliases for this Euro Disco artist.
I LOVE A FEMMY VOICE ON A EURO DANCE RECORD ZIP

A bit more on the Hi Nrg type then something I would ordinarily write about.  I do find his songs to be fun.  His debut single was Malice and Vice in 1985.  I especially enjoy how camp the lyrics are to this one.  It's my favorite today on refreshing some links.  When I originally wrote this a few years ago I was leaning towards another one.

Then Money came out in 1987 and Devil's Rendezvous was from his solo l.p. from 1988 called Jasmin China Girl.  I'm tempted to say I found Devil's Rendezvous the most enchanting.  Did you have a favorite Mozzart song?

FACES and FEEL THE FIRE and especially EYES by CLIO

 Moved up to the front again because I'm pineapples crazy.
another fruity file Maria Chiara Perugini is Clio.  Guess where she's from?

Clio was a tasty italo disco double A side released in 1985 on Crash records.  Superior production, great synths and pleasant vocals.   GET YOURSELF SOME CLIO

Her debut single Eyes from the year before is even better.  It directly bites my pretty much all time favorite italo disco song Come on Closer by Pineapples AND if that wasn't enough she seems to have a chorus in a made up language.  I CAN SEE YOUR EYES

If that wasn't enough here we have a zip of Clone's re-release of Eyes along with a French Version and a newer edit....only one word necessary...HAWT!!! CLONE THOSE EYES

I guess I didn't realize there were samples in 1984.  Here's my Pineapples zip listen for yourself.  I LOVE PINEAPPLES For more info. on this gem just go to search above as I've blogged Come on Closer before.

THE BEST ITALO DISCO RECORD OF ALL TIME THE PINEAPPLES

REFRESHED LINKS (an anonymous poster claims that my file is not in 320.  I go to great lengths to provide pretty much only 320 or .wav on my blog.  I have done so for years.
TRY THIS ONE it's almost 15 MB so I'd find it hard to believe it was not a high quality file
O.K. I hate when people speak in absolutes.  It's so fourth grade.  But damn if Come on Closer by the Pineapples featuring Douglas Roop isn't the most sublime slab o' Italo Disco Vinyl ever pressed.

PINEAPPLES ZIP
It has absolutely every element necessary to perfect Italo Disco.  The difference is that Douglas Roop, who was an American soldier stationed in Gaeta near Naples, Italy has a great manly voice.  No cheesy poorly pronounced vocals on this disk.
And what is that persistent instrument throughout? Is it a xylophone?  It sounds like one of those plastic piano's that infants bang on.  Probably a synthesizer, in any case, but it's so hot and infectious it's chilling.  It's like a bag of hot buttery popcorn!

Roberto Ferrante went on to have a career in Italo Disco but he made this record at the ripe age of 18.  The seminal but now defunkt Cybernetic Broadcasting System listed Come on Closer in it's Top 10 italo disco tunes of all time.
1983 will go down in history as the ultimate peak of Italo Disco.  There were so many gems released that year and I'm happy to say that I was one major punter of the Roman scene that year and many of these songs make me ripple with joy.  They bring me back to cheerful dance-floors with great music.

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