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.
Loving You, Losing You the first track on Phyllis Hyman's self-named 1977 l.p. has become one of the definitive morning music/sleaze tracks. I've included it in a previous mega-post about morning music. Here I have a zip with more versions including the Lary Sanders edit. LOVING DOWNLOAD
Written and composed by the genius Tom Bell who is responsible for so much great music, the song has more of a bittersweet feel then ever due to Phyllis Hyman's suicide on June 30, 1995. Though the song is from her debut l.p. it's not her first single. Tall dark and lovely Phyllis was quite the looker! I really hate to think about the pain she was going through to have taken her own life. She did have a difficult career. I think she had some bitterness over the fact that no label ever really was able to give her the huge success that she deserved. Though she did have a few R and B hits, even a #1 in the early 90's and her talent and constant touring brought her to play at some prestigious venues. I remember when living in N.Y.C. in the 90's she seemed to play pretty often. I regret never having gone to one of her shows as I also greatly regret never seeing Angela Bofill another songbird who I adore. Angela too had a hard time and suffered from a paralyzing stroke, that left her hardly able to speak.
That honor goes out to the one off single on Private Stock from 1975 called Leaving the Good Life Behind. Mixed by the master Tom Moulton it only came out on a 7" single and remains highly collectible and mostly unknown. Her second album Sing a Song from 1978 is the most collectible Phyllis costing hundreds of dollars if you can even find it. Expensive even as a re-issue
Of course it took until 1979 to make her disco legendary the Mtume and Lucas produced and written gem You Know How to Love Me is certainly considered one of the best records of the disco era.
You're the One is a previously unreleased track from her disco years. It has recently seen the light of day and can even be downloaded on Amazon. YOU'RE THE ONE
German artist Drafi Deutscher recorded this song using the alias Masquerade and came up with a huge pop hit all over Europe in 1983. Being that certain d.j.'s at The Saint in N.Y.C. were well traveled and had a taste for Euro they made this import a sleaze classic. It brought the punters a swaying from Fire Island to Provincetown and back.
While we are on the subject here's an interesting analysis, here's what Chicago D.J. Mark Vallese has to say about the subject. Maybe you've had the pleasure of hearing him spin at The Dunes resort in Douglas, Michigan. What's the difference between "morning music" and "sleaze"? If you ask 100 people this question, you'll get
100 different answers. The term "sleaze" has been around since the 70's
and is most commonly used to describe the down tempo music that was
played toward the end of the night (or the end of the party). It's
usually very melodic and pretty. Most of the songs were vocal pieces
with a few notable exceptions. The lyrics tended to be very
emotional in one way or another, often describing the joys of love,
or the pain of losing it. Here's some examples of classic "sleaze"
music, first the joyful, happy songs...
Under The Influence Of Love - Love Unlimited lary sanders edit
La Vie En Rose - Grace Jones Tom Moulton mix
Be Thankful For What You Got - William DeVaughn get it now
Take Off Your Makeup - Lamont Dozier larry sanders edit
Dance Little Dreamer/Hot Butterfly - Bionic Boogie chanson
Darling, That's Me - Judy Cheeks/Loose Change JUDY
Just Us - Two Tons Of Fun enjoy Just Us and for added fun I GOT THE FEELING Disconet Mix
Rock Your Baby - George McCrae an edit
Somebody's Eyes - Viola Wills 2 versions of a Viola beauty
Wrap Your Arms Around Me - Agnetha Faltskog an Abba beauty
Take Me Down/Hang On In There Baby - Johnny Bristol
Music, Harmony and Rhythm - Brooklyn Dreams featuring Donna Summer's husband Saturday Night, Sunday Morning - Thelma HoustonEnjoy it
Most Of All - Gloria Gaynor/Saint Tropez
Here's some classic "rip yer heart out" sleaze (termed by some as
razorblade/slit your wrist music)...
Throwing It All Away - Rhetta Hughs
Stop (Your Tearing Out My Heart) - Bob-A-Rella stop and download this
And, here's some of those notable instrumentals. ..
Love's Theme - Love Unlimited Orchestra (there's a fairly rare
vocal version of this too) rare vocal version
Rise/Manhattan Melody - Herb Alpert check out G's hypnotizing groove edit
African Symphony - Henry Mancini African
Anambra - Ozo (the vocal version of this song is called "Anambra
River") ANAMBRA DOWNLOAD
Tubular Bells - Champs Boy Orchestra Listen
Livin' In The Jungle - John Tropea A .wav of Jungle
Somebody asked about "Walk The Night" by the Skatt Brothers, wanting
to know if that's sleaze. Well, technically, it's not. It could, and
is, played in morning sets, but it's an example of "sleazy" music,
not "sleaze". Sexual overtones in the lyrics don't automatically classify a song as sleaze. Sleaze lyrics tended more toward love and
emotion rather than blatant sexuality. There are some exceptions to
that rule, let's not forget Donna Summer's nearly 14 minute long
orgasm in "Love To Love You Baby"! There were a few creative DJ 's
who would take a song that wasn't sleaze and turn it into one by
playing a 45rpm pressing at 33 1/3. Two songs that come to mind,
that worked perfectly when played that way, were "Souvenirs" by
Voyage and "Magic Bird Of Fire" by The Salsoul Orchestra.
Unfortunately, true "sleaze" music is mostly a thing of the past.
The few new, or recent songs that could fit in that category are now
usually classified under the much broader term "morning music".
In the early to mid 80's the term "sleaze" started to fade out, to
be replaced with the much broader term of "morning music". While
this was still the music played toward the end of a club night or
party, "morning music" did not describe a specific genre of songs
like "sleaze" did. The term started describing the "type" of
music that was played at a certain time or part of the night, rather than
describing the actual "sound" or "feeling" of an individual piece of
music. One way to put it is that all "sleaze" music can be
classified as "morning", but not all "morning" music can be
classified as "sleaze". While the term became much broader, it
started encompassing music with a faster beat and also music with a
darker, more electronic sound to it. This also coincided with the
demise of "live" instruments being used in making most dance music.
One thing that didn't change a whole lot was the use of vocals in a
majority of the music, but the lyrics often became lighter, with
less of an emotional punch to them. Here's a few examples of
classic songs that were among the first to be classified with the brand
spanking new term of "morning music" ...
One interesting thing that started happening when "morning music"
became more and more popular was that older songs which were
originally classified as plain old "disco" when they came out, were
now being relabeled and refiled in people's "morning music"
sections. Songs like Foxy's "Party Boys", Lipps Inc. "How Long"and "Dancing In Paradise" by El Coco are all examples of this
reclassification.
Unfortunately, the quantity and quality of "morning music" has faded
drastically over the past few years. That's not to say there isn't
any current "morning" out there, but you really have to search to
find it and search even harder to find somewhere to dance to it...
outside of your own living room. I'll close this with a list of some
of my "morning music" favorites from then and now...
Lastly, here's a few recent "morning" songs for ya...
Baby Of The Year/I Can't Believe It's Over - Bent get bent
Sing It To Your Heart - Jimmy Sommerville STAYlisten to Sing it
Home (David Harness Taboo Vocal) - Simply Red
Still (Kelly G Club Mix) - Tamia
Looks Like Heaven - Peas
Lotta Love 2005 - Nicolette Larson a whole lotta Nicolette
Midnight At The Oasis 2005 - Maria Muldauar lovely
In going through this blog you will find many from the list. In the future I might even post some more. Happy Downloading! Don't forget to click on the ads. They are a way of showing your appreciation and as you can tell I spent a long time and used up a lot of effort making this the comprehensive post that it's become.
