HAPPY CHILDREN paolo pelandi as P. Lion ITALO DISCO PERFECTION

Generally I try to go at least partially obscure with my posts.  But this time I'm going right for the hit.  In 1983 you could not get away from Happy Children anywhere in Europe.  1983 was the year of the italo disco explosion but few of the singles broke the way this record did.  P. Lion also had the luxury of being on the quintessential italo disco label, Discomagic.  Happy Children was produced by Davide Zambelli of the band Scotch, italo disco stars in their own right.

P. Lion zip

It bring back joyous memories and it's one of those records I never ever get sick of.  It was #31 in the year end tally for 1983 in Italy and peaked at #7 so I think it was more a matter of longevity then that high peak number on the charts.

P. Lion (Pietro Paolo Pelandi) had one semi hit after Happy Children with Dream, but it did not come anywhere close to the success of his debut single.  It's also got that quality that I enjoy in Italo Disco records, the semi-off pronunciation factor.

P. Lion was actually from a noble family.  His father was a Count.  He started playing the piano as a child and even writing his own music.  Luckily his parents were quite supportive.

He still plays around the world milking his two hits.  He'd have to consider himself pretty lucky!

NEW MIXES OF CLASSIC ITALO DISCO NOT TO BE MISSED!!! DJ FRICTION

Here is his MixCloud page where you can hear his last two italo disco mixes.  FRICTION MIXCLOUD

Here just below his pics is the fabulous track list for the mix which I am providing you the download link for.  If you ask nicely maybe Friction will upload the other two.  As you can see he doesn't joke, this is serious italo disco for the lovers of space italo.  GRAB MIX #3 HERE

VISIT HIS DISCOGS PAGE  LIKE HIS FANPAGE

1.Boss Man

bySteel Mind

2.Deep

byFlexx

3.Systems Breaking Down (Dub)

byANNA

4.Africa (Dub)

byKey Of Dreams

5.Revolution

byMartinelli

6.Space Operator

by4M International

7.On And On (Fear Keep On) (Dub)

byDecadence

8.Funky Now

byFlyrox

9.Gee Wiz

byDoctor’s Cat

10.Xenon Galaxy (Theme Version)

byXenon

11.Self Control

byRAF

12.Keep On Music

byDanny Keith

13.Mi Amor

byPlasic Mode

14.An English 93

byI.M.S.

15.Penguins Invasion (Hot Version)

byScotch

16.End Title (Theme From Blade Runner)

byHypnosis

17.Droid

byMito

18.Not Love

byTrilogy

19.The Ultimate Warlord

byThe Immortals

20.Catch

bySun La Shan

21.Dirty Talk (Original & Dub)

byKlein & M.B.O.

22.Robot Is Systematic (Frico Edit)

by`lectric Workers

Have a Scotch an italo disco group that charted much better outside of Italy in the 80's

What I love about Scotch is that they are so damn campy!  They seem to get a real kick out themselves and I in turn do too in a big way.  I mean what does that even mean "baby you're my really disco band?"  ENJOY MY ZIP WITH SCOTCH IN IT

The group was created by Manlio Cangelli (composer, keyboard and drum machine programming), then were added Vince Lancini (vocals) and Fabio Margutti keyboards, joined by Franz Rome (keyboards, programming) for the second album Pictures Of Old Days.

Scotch are actually an Italian group but they seem like a duo who had a string of hits through the 80's including Disco Band and Penguin's Invasion.

Their 1984 hit Mirage was particular in that the chorus is actually sung in Italian. Quite rare for an Italo Disco record. A few years ago it was featured in a cell phone ad in Italy and got major airplay all over again. It's definitely one of those happy-go-lucky sip a pina colada while getting a sun tan on the sea shore kinda songs. 

Here in the zip I've included possibly their most famous song Disco Band which start with that campy Cough, two versions of Delirio Mind and a cut from 1987 called Loving is Easy.

Pop Success of Scotch in Europe:

• Disco Band [#28 Italy, #3 Germany, #20 Sweden, #4 Switzerland, #4 Portugal]
• Delirio Mind [#6 Germany, #5 Sweden, #19 Switzerland]
• Take Me Up [#19 Germany; # 11 Portugal]
• Mirage [#19 Italy, #56 Germany, #2 Sweden]
• Money Runner [#12 Sweden]
• Pictures' [#16 Sweden]

Clearly they were appreciated more in Scandinavia then in Italy.

Title	Album	Country	Peak position	Weeks on chart
"Mirage"	Best Of	Sweden	2	5
"Disco Band"	Evolution	Switzerland	4	15
"Delirio Mind"	Best Of	Sweden	5	5
"Take Me Up"	Evolution	France	10	19
"Money Runner"	Best Of	Norway	10	1

Kylie Minogue's international hit "Got to be Certain" was largely influenced by "Take Me Up".