The La Bionda Brothers

updated links

Sicilian brothers Carmelo and Michelangelo La Bionda are known as the inventors of Italian Disco.  They began recording in 1973 but debuted even earlier as songwriters.  Their 1978 hit One for You, One for Me (a #9 pop hit in Italy) even managed to become a big pop hit in the U.K. among other countries.  That in addition to Deserts of Mars and Sandstorm are my favorite La Bionda tunes.

They went on to produce for other artists too.  Their seminal La Bionda album featured the influential disco hit Sandstorm.  It was covered by Darude in the 90's in a house version.  They also recorded as D.D. Sound and had other major disco hits including Cafe'.

In the 80's they worked on some soundtracks and with the Italian group Ricchi e Poveri.  Their collaboration with the dance duo Righeira in 1983 brought them their most famous hit Vamos a La Playa.  A huge record all over Europe.    The Bandido album  Fratelli La Bionda zip

I think that one of the main reasons I love La Bionda is that they seem to have a real sense of humor.  You could call it tongue in cheek disco.

Some of my favorite D.D. Sound (Disco Delivery Sound) songs are 1,2,3,4 Gimme Some More! Cafe and Hootchie Coochie. Their first album came out in 1977 and were quite active for two years.  The amazing single Disco Bass was a #6 hit in Italy in 1977 and 1,2,3,4 got to #6 in 1978.  4 DD Sound Albums

In 1985 they opened the music studio Logic in Milan and have had many huge stars such as Depeche Mode, Robert Palmer and Rihanna have recorded there.
ONLY LA BIONDA

Obscure italian Disco from 1978...Punky Monkey Sound

A 1978 disco maxi single release called Punky Monkey Sound is my latest obscure treasure for your listening pleasure.

It appears that Augusto Martinelli is well known in Italy.  I've lived here 20 years and I've never heard of him but at least the top picture seems to be from a t.v. show.

The guy doing the vocals Big Pierre is from Asti, you know of Asti Spumante fame.  He on the other hand is an obscure figure.

Punky Monkey Sound

I burned this record myself from my own collection.  About 10 years ago I had a neighbor who had a set-up capable of burning vinyl.  Last I remember they were taking him away on a stretcher.  He was an eccentric one indeed!

CLAUDJA BARRY

Claudja Barry was one of the few artists who had a very successful transition from the disco era right up into the 80's.  Born in Jamaica her family moved to Canada wen she was 7 and she was raised in Toronto.  Her first release in 1975 Reggae Bump didn't make much of a stir.  But the next year and signing to Salsoul brought out the classics Sweet Dynamite and Love for the sake of Love.

These Tom Moulton mixes are about as classic disco as classic disco goes.

In this post I've chose to give her a retrospective.  Her most well known disco classic is from 1978, Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes.  Another production by Jurgen S. Korduletsch, dancin' shoes really had that Euro sound that had burst wide open a few years before with Donna Summer's I Feel Love. Korduletsch her one time producer and husband had his hands on most of her releases.

1982's Work Me Over bridged the next gap from Euro to out and out High Energy.  And what would you expect with the production being trusted to the legendary Bobby O?  She was also the vocalist on one of his album cuts Whisper to a Scream.

The clubs I was going to in Washington, D.C. pumped Work me Over in a big way, in 1982 and 1983.  I remember dancing to it fondly.  It left it's mark.  The B side a Hi Energy version of the 60's hit I Will Follow Him also got play but not nearly as much.

I CLAUDIA LP Down and Counting in 1986 marked the first time she made it to #1 on the dance charts.  It was also part of her short lived period on a major, Epic.  Unfortunately she had no more big hits with them.  But she did come back with a Top 10 in 1991 on Radikal Records No La Di Da.

She's had 9 full length albums spanning the years 1976 to 2015, just under 40 years of dance music delights.

A Ton of Claudja

What a beautiful woman.  You can add her in Facebook.  She's very friendly and will engage with you.

Claudja

Tie Me Down Romance

I usually don't write about Hi Nrg.  At the time I have to admit I didn't appreciate it much.  I much preferred traditional disco and new wave.  But in D.C. where I was going to university Hi Nrg was huge.  So some of the songs seeped into my awareness and through their being ubiquitous I learned to love some of them.

Jessica Williams first release Queen of Fools came in at the tail end of the disco era in 1979.  She was also a member of Arpeggio who had a huge disco hit in 1978 with Love and Desire and then a few years later came back with some hi nrg releases.

But here I'm choosing to feature Romance with Tie Me Down nine minutes and twenty four seconds of infectious Hi Nrg at it's finest.  Great vocals by Jessica Williams and you have the recipe for dance floor success.  Albeit not as big as her 70's success but she got to work with Simon Soussan the Canadian she had worked with in Arpeggio and who also French Kiss and Charisma among other acts.  He was one of these controversial dance music svengali's not like Ian Levine.  Soussan also worked on the film Thank God it's Friday.

USE ME ABUSE ME TIE ME DOWN TAKE ME CONTROL ME TIE ME DOWN!!!

Let's all Chant in Eyes of Laura Mars

I was only 14 when Eyes of Laura Mars came out and I was blown away by it.  Especially with the photoshoot scenes.  It was certainly unlike anything I'd seen before.  And the use of Michael Zager Bands, Let's all Chant in this scene above particularly.  I was crazy about that record.

The soundtrack for the movie was great too.  There was a particularly strong theme song by Barbra Streisand called Prisoner: Love Theme from The Eyes of Laura Mars that was not one of her biggest hits but a great tune all the same.  It also featured Native New Yorker and Shake Your Booty two huge disco records at the time.

Let's all Chant is on the soundtrack album for The Last Days of Disco and has been used in many commercials and a few films.  Many dance records have sampled it.

CHANT ZIP

Another fun fact about Let's all Chant is that there were 2 version one which went "Ooh-ah, Ooh-ah Let's all chant," and another that went "Ah-ah, eh-eh, let's all chant"  I was really only familiar with the first version at first cause that was the one on the single edit and the one which got all the radio play in New York City. The song is unique because it features both vocal hooks and a classical chamber music break in the middle.  It's nowhere near as bubble-gummy as it may seem at first.

The single actually went to number #1 on the U.S. disco chart, and broke the U.S. Top 40.  It had the notable fortune of having been the song to knock Cerrone's, Supernature out of the top spot.  In the U.K. Ireland, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy it even made the Top 10.  Belgium giving it its best showing with three weeks at #2.  It went on to sell 5 million copies, 700,000 copies in the U.S. alone.

In 1988 Gazuzu released Chant for You (Chant for Me) which features elements of Let's all Chant and La Bionda One for You, One for Me and Pat and Mick did a Hi Nrg cover which hit #11 on the U.K. pop charts.

Cheryl Lynn was a Super Talent

Refreshed links

From her discovery on the Gong Show, national touring member of The Wiz cast, to the background vocals she did for Toto, Cheryl Lynn remained a severely under-rated talent.  Oh the notes she could hit (a 4.4 octave vocal range)!  You gotta know she came from the church choir.

After earning a perfect 30 on The Gong Show for her rendition of "You are so Beautiful" she had the record companies come calling.  But that doesn't mean that she was able to become the superstar that she deserved to become.

I'm gonna have to say she suffered from the big girl syndrome, like Patti Austin, Martha Wash, Randy Crawford and many other huge talents.  Record companies did not know how to market them and ended up marginalizing the careers of many a full-bodied woman.  Adele has had the last laugh by becoming the biggest female vocalist of our time, but back then when Cheryl was releasing super high quality singles it wasn't easy.

Though her only huge pop hit was her debut single "Got to be Real" immortalized in the film Paris is Burning.  It rode up the U.S. pop charts peaking at #12 and was the first of two #1 hits on the R and B charts.  It took until 1984 with Encore for her to hit the peak again.  1981's smash "Shake it Up Tonight" produced by Ray Parker Jr. was another of her most memorable hits.  It also proved her best showing on the Billboard dance chart peaking at #5.

Star Love from her debut album went on to be a classic at The Saint.  I think of that one as a real Robbie Leslie record.  While You Saved my Day is a legendary gospel tinged disco record that didn't get much play and was brought to  my attention on a wonderful Frankie Knuckles compilation.  It went on to become my very favorite Cheryl Lynn song.  I still play it regularly on my iTunes and it always gets me worked up.  I've seen the 12" got for $200 on eBay.  It was a promo only white label.

Great Zip of Cheryl
even more Cheryl

On her 9 albums she worked with a lot of talents including Jimmy Jam and Terry lewis, Ray Parker Jr. Teddy Riley and Luther Vandross to name a few.  She also sang background vocals or duets with the likes of Luther Vandross, Richard Marx and Teddy Riley.  If this World were Mine her duet with Luther Vandross peaked at #4 on the R
and B charts in 1982.

To me she's the quintessential underdog.  9 album releases and if you asked the typical person if they've ever heard of her they'd probably say they hadn't.  Others even call her a one-hit wonder which she was clearly not.  She deserves so much more.  She's a true songbird of legendary status like the Gwen Guthrie's, the Minnie Riperton's and the Patti Austin's.  They may not have had the hits either but they got the respect, at least in the industry.

By 1990 she no longer hit the charts again, but people like me remember her fondly and hold her in the highest esteem.

This is one of those rare videos where they are actually dancing to the song stated.  I despise when people put footage on you tube and you can tell so clearly they aren't dancing to the song listed.


This music video for Encore is a camp classic.  This Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis jam was from 1983 my favorite year for music.  I was a teenager and feeling it deeply.

Gino Soccio

I've been a huge Gino Soccio fan since 1979.  His string of disco hits are all considered classics now. I feel an affinity to him too since he's an Italo Canadian like I am an Italo American.

As I'm especially drawn to the space disco sound his tunes many of which were in this vein with the added joy of super disco diva vocals made him a favorite.

His two biggest disco hits on the Billboard dance charts, Dancer his debut maxi single in 1979 and Try it Out in 1981 both remained at the top for six weeks making them a couple of the biggest disco records of their respective years.  It's Alright in 1982 managed to stay at #2 for five weeks and was also a major success.  His association with the soul singer Erma Shaw proved to be quite fruitful and brought about some of his best collaborations.

Gino though a huge disco star really didn't get to receive the kudos of a major cross-over to pop hit.  Though Dancer and Try it Out did chart on the R & B charts which is quite a feat in itself, for a white Canadian.  He was also the first artist signed to Ray Caviano's seminal Warner Brothers disco imprint label RFC.  A label which was sort of just coming up as the disco movement was nearing it's end.  Which Gino believes was orchestrated by the rock department guys who were jealous and hateful about the sound and it's aficionado's who were often minorities or gay.

Gino Soccio was also the man behind Kebekelektrik (a huge Paradise Garage record) and Witch Queen two other acts which scored huge disco hits and he brought some disco success to fellow Montreal native Karen Silver.  He was pretty prolific for a disco artist with four full length albums in his three years of charting.  There were also a few singles which weren't on any album.

In an interview with Wresch Dawidjan back in ’78, Gino commented, “The reason I went over to Disco was that it seemed to be the only type of music where I could really be free. There are no limits to what you can do with disco.”  Wresch would later go on to own a very popular dance music record store, 12 inch Dance Music in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. which happened to be on P street in the middle of the gay neighborhood.  I spent a lot of money in that store, and my buddy at the time Matt Drudge worshiped the guy and used to spend lots of time hanging out and shooting the breeze with the employees there.

A fabulous image is Gino Socio at Studio 54.  

His last single release Human Nature from 1985 flopped and Gino Soccio was deeply disappointed.  He basically decided to drop out of the scene altogether.

A Delicious Gino Zip

The Crazy Kitsch of Nancy Nova

Had this up a six years ago!  Figured it was time to freshen the link.
LOTS OF NANCY







British born singer/actress Nancy Nova had her first release with No Way in 1978. Later that year she also recorded the theme song for an Italian t.v. show Akiri Non Stop and even appeared in a few episodes. It's follow-up Heaven was her debut into the Electronic spacey disco style in her super high pitched warble.



But she is best known for 198l's disco camp new wave classic The Force in which she sings in a demented voice and says the silliest things. But believe me it's incredibly catchy. Two listens and you're hooked! How I wish they had made a video for it. Nevertheless it became a gay disco classic as gays tend to appreciate and embrace the off-kilter more willingly.

She was meant to be part of Total Coelo but previous commitments kept her from joining this new wave kitsch classic group who were best known for I Eat Canibals. Which I have in my Ebay store right now. Go to the link at the bottom of the page and use the search function in my store to get to it.



Fortunately there was a video for Made in Japan, released in 1982. It doesn't disappoint.

1982's No No No is not quite as danceable but continues to work her sound. It also features a brilliant 45' sleeve.

Her last single was Lifeline from 1983. I've never heard it nor do I know which style she was working at that point.

This zip contains the remarkable gay disco classic The Force and No, No, No. In 2004 a cd was released entitled The Force on FX records U.K. and includes all of her notable successes except for the more obscure Akiri Non Stop which you can enjoy in it's video form at least.



She now lives a quiet life on her farm in Devon, U.K. where still she still writes songs.

01. Akiri Non Stop

02. No Way

03. We Found Love

04. Tip For The Top

05. Day And Night

06. Turning It Over

07. You Shot Me Down In Flames

08. Lonely Without You

09. There's No Tomorrow

10. Baby Come Home

11. Goodbye

12. I'm Giving It Up

13. Heaven

14. Heaven (Extended Version)

15. The Force

16. The Force (Extended Version)

A TASTE OF HONEY weren't one hit wonders

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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WEEK END by CLASS ACTION "tonight it's party time, it's party time tonight"

Week End by Class Action is an example of how the remake is better then the original.  Now I know a lot of DJ's that would dispute this but I have a strong feeling they are all about five years or more older then me.  You see in 1978 when the Phreek version was out I was too young to go out clubbing.

But by 1983 when the Class Action version was out I was not only out I was out practically every night.  And I certainly was hoping to find a friend to spend at least a few minutes...

It's not like Christine Wiltshire should complain she's the voice on both versions.  In my zip I also include a Larry Levan remix and a more revamped version by the illustrious John Morales who used to mix as part of the fabulous M & M mix with the late Sergio Munzibai.
your weekend zip

I might add that the Class Action version was much bigger on the dance charts but I know most people don't judge success or quality by charts.

Anyway I ask you to always click on my ads to show your appreciation for my disco vinyl blog.  If I begin to see an increase in clicks I will also write more posts.  Eventually those pennies google gives do add up.

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.