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!

STOP and LIVIN' IT UP not your ordinary italo disco tunes...HOLY GRAIL

As I've been writing this blog for almost 10 years now occasionally I go back and re-fresh old links that don't work anymore.  Below are new ones for one of the best double sided Italo classics of all time.9
B.W.H. was an alias for Stefano Zito and Carlo Favili.

Stop and Livin' it Up by B.W.H. were released on House of Music Italy in 1983 and are truly the top of the genre.  Makes me wanna dance!  Another rare thing about this special record is that it is a double A side.  If you've already downloaded this from me before, you're gonna want this new zip trust me.

BIG B.W.H. Zip

STEFANO PULGA was one of the masterminds behind Gaucho's Dance Forever

refreshed links

This song makes me think of the Caribbean or at least people on a limbo line.  It's got an infectious happy time feeling that borders on hokey.  

But since italo disco puts a smile on my face this one never fails to please.
Gaucho Zip
The b side version of Dance Forever called the DJ version is a bit more of a serious groove.  If Side A is too hokey for you then Side B should satisfy.

Love Taker

Gaucho is yet another Italo Disco project featuring Bruno Bergonzi, Luciano Ninzatti, and Stefano Pulga who have quite a prolific output in the genre.  I think Stefano Pulga's Love Taker had more then a few spins at The Saint.  
  

Dario Dell'Aere, Fockewulf 190, Italo Disco Rarities, EAGLES IN THE NIGHT, FRED VENTURA SINGLES

refreshed links


eagles in the night
AN EAGLES ZIP
EAGLES IN THE NIGHT
HEARTBEAT FRED VENTURA
LEAVE ME ALONE FRED VENTURA
THE YEARS GO BY FRED VENTURA
IMAGINE FRED VENTURA 1987 TIME RECORDS
Body Heat
Fockewulf 190 using the voice of Fred Ventura came out with Eagles in the Night by Dario Dell'Aere in 1985 on Market Records Italy. It is now one of the most coveted Italo Disco 12" in existence and in my opinion one of the very best. It is the epitome of Italo Disco kitsch. The male vocals are completely off and he seems to yell "oh wacky co-co" and then after when she sings "oh I will become an eagle that flies only in the night" and he comes back "Uh ho Uh ho." It is simply classic nonsensical Italo at it's best. Why would someone want to become an eagle that flies only in the night anyway?

I was trying to put my finger on what makes the sound of the music so unusual and then it dawned on me it sounds as if in the background they are playing a children's xylophone. Yet the synth work is top notch.

Frank Tavaglione with the ultra rare 12" Tumidanda is also Fockewulf 190. Aliases in Italo Disco seem more common then they would be in a spy movie! Body Heat was their release from 1984 on Market Records. Ironically they wrote on the sleeve of the 12" that Dario Dell'Aere did the vocals but it was actually Fred Ventura (Federico Di Bonaventura).

The 12" cover art work by Tiziana Dell'Aere for Eagles in the Night is quite interesting too and probably ups the value as quite a few collectors I've come in contact with are quite partial to picture sleeves. Especially those who collect Italo Disco.

My love for Italo Disco came quite late in life. Because at the time going out in Rome in the 80's that's the music I heard in clubs and most nights it didn't seem quite so remarkable to me. But now considering how coveted and rare many of these tracks have become and then reading about how many of them had a strong influence on early house music and were staples on the legendary WBMX of Chicago, I realize that I really was quite fond of them after all. It's just that here in Italy in many cases they were simply Top 40 radio fodder so they seemed quite common.

But in the past decade I've become a rabid collector of Italo mp3's.  I guess because I've already accumulated so many of the disco and morning music ones that I wanted to get. Also due to the fact that for several years Italo disco labels like il discotto, Memory, Time, Market, Baby and others were quite prolific it would be almost impossible to know the majority of the releases. Many fell by the wayside during that period and many others were licensed by ZYX records in Germany and those got promoted heavily even though in many cases they were not the best ones.