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.
Refreshed Links Casco means helmet in Italian and Casco is Salvatore Cusato. An Italian DJ and producer who passed in 2011.
Cybernetic Love the 1983 release on House of Music records came during the big boom of Italo Disco and it's cheery, spacey, vocoder perfection symbolizes all that's best of the Italo Disco sound. CASCOA CASCO ZIP
Interestingly the 1986 follow-up Son of my Father was a Giorgio Moroder remake and lacked any of the magic of the first release. It is in fact not even a collectible like Cybernetic Love and can be picked up for a song.
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.
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.
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 DenHarrow, 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.
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.
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.
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 COLOURSWanexainstrumental
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.
In 1983 I went on abroad program to Rome. I was a sophomore at The American University in Rome then returned to Washington, D.C. Those four years were the best of my life. But the time I spent in Rome was instrumental to my future.
To be a young guy partying several nights a week in the Roman discos was incredible that year. For many reasons other then the carefree attitude one has when you have no responsibilities and you are somewhere between child and adult.
1983 was also the best year for Italo Disco. It was just bursting. So many releases and so many fun records to dance too. Being in Rome I was in the middle of it all and just dancing the night away. At the time I didn't even think about the fact that these records were being produced in Italy and that in some other parts of the world they were dancing madly to these MADE IN ITALY productions too.
I fell in love with the city and told myself I'd return one day. I've been here for more then ten years now and I still get choked up when I remember 1983 and all the fun I had.
Come on Closer by Pineapples featuring Douglas Roop was released on Danse Records, Naples in 1983. It's one of those special Italo Disco songs for me. From that drum break to the deep and choclately vocal style of Mr. Roop. The story behind this one was that Douglas was a black American soldier stationed in Naples and he somehow met Roberto Ferrane who struck gold by meeting this untrained singer who really could sing. We've certainly heard our share of Italo Disco records sung by people who simply couldn't pronounce the English language or were actually just a pretty face that couldn't sing at all. Den Harrow (Manuel Stefano Zandri) being a prominent example (many of his hits were sung by Tom Hooker). Here's a recent photo of Den who owns a gym in Brescia. By the way that name Den Harrow actually comes from the Italian word for money denaro.
CYBERNETIC LOVE by CASCOSalvatore Cusato, Italian DJ and Producer was responsible for this piece of italo disco perfection also from 1983. Casco means helmet in Italian, by the way.
