THERE'S MUSIC IN THE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!

This is another example of Italo disco perfection in my book.  Super catchy chorus, fun loving music and that real mid 80's European sound.  It's a great example of how some of the best italo disco was not even made in Italy. 

Hans Joachim Werner, Kalle Trapp, Klaus Stoltefuss, Lothar Thorwesten, Rolf Köhler are Solid Stranger and as you can see they are all German.

 MUSIC IN THE NIGHT
Music in the Night by Solid Strangers was released in 1985.  It was the second of four twelve inch by the band.  ZYX records was one of the most prolific italo disco labels in the 80's.  They did a lot to promote the sound and distribute it throughout the world.  Italo Disco owes a lot of respect to this label.

BEAT BOP RAMMELLZEE

In 1990 Rammellzee was my downstairs neighbor in Tribeca.  I'd almost say we were friends.  We definitely had a mutual respect for each other.  He even made me a graffiti painting of my name.  I have it in storage.  I've never gotten it appraised and don't really know anything about art anyway.

I never had this original pressing of Beat Bop which came out in 1983 on Tartown Records.  Apparently it's ultra rare because it came out as a 500 copy only limited edition with artwork by his friend Jean Michel Basquait who not long after died of a heroin overdose.  According to discogs.com a copy actually went for $1500 a few year back.  Basquait actually produced and arranged the tune.

I had this Profile records white label promo and it too is valuable.  The track is now considered an Electro Hip Hop classic.  It's definitely creative!  BEAT BOP is JUST OVER TEN MINUTES LONG

Still In Love extended version Rose Royce

From the time they were introduced to us in 1976 on the hugely successful Car Wash soundtrack Rose Royce were a force to be reckoned with.  Just the fact that such great music came out of a flop film is a case in point.

They were deeply talented musicians and those Gwen Dickey vocals were nothing short of amazing.  Her voice became an iconic part of the late seventies and into the early eighties.

STILL IN LOVE TWELVE INCH VERSION

There were really so many songs I could have chosen for this blog post.  But I chose Still in Love because it's one of the best boogie tracks from 1982 and yet made no dent on the pop charts so Rose Royce is in no way remembered for this track in particular.  It's a sizzler all the way through.  Clinging to all the best elements of disco yet funkin' out in an early 80's way.  Rose Royce was a band often able to refresh their sound but rarely able to take it up high on the charts.  Though certainly they did a bit better on the R&B charts and ironically for an L.A. based band they found some decent success on the U.K. charts.  In any case they were responsible for one of the definitive songs of the disco era with Car Wash.  There is no mistaking that hand clap intro. that shot it straight up to number 1 in the U.S. and Canada and Top 5 in several others.  Their songs were later covered by artists as prominent as Mary J. Blige and Madonna.

As an example of how huge Rose Royce were in the U.K. their greatest hits album released in 1980 actually made it to number 1, while in the States it didn't even chart.  1980 was of course the year that the word disco went out of style and suddenly anything with the label got the kiss of death.  In Europe they were not quite as cruel to the genre and disco or what many called boogie still had a couple good years.

Christina Aguilera also re-made Car Wash but let's not go there.

Works For Me