Herbie Hancock's Hodge Podge Collage

Herbie Hancock in my eBay store

Jazz keyboardist, pianist and composer Herbie Hancock has had a long career moving in and out of different genres of music. His foray into Disco was extremely successful and made for some very smart dance floor music.

In 1978 his vocoder laiden track I thought it was You was an early mix of Electro, Vocoder and Disco/Funk. 1979 was filled with gems from his Feets Don't Fail me Now l.p. with You Bet Your Love, Honey from the Jar and Ready or Not being pressed onto 12" vinyl.

1980 double A side of Go For It and the sublime Stars in Your Eyes has become his most coveted 12" single. The double A side with Stars in Your Eyes on both sides features the 11:21 version which is in the zip I provided above. I had two copies and I sold them both on Ebay about five years ago for just under $200.00 each. They have since become less coveted with I Thought it Was You often fetching the higher bids of the two. 1980's Monster l.p. was over the top. Gavin Christopher's vocal performance on Stars in Your Eyes, Saturday Night and Don't Hold it In were nothing short of perfection. Gavin had his own best chart showing more then ten years later when the House record Don't Lose the Magic went to #1 on the Billboard dance chart.

a couple Herbie classics


1981 was another hot year for Herbie Hancock with his dabbling in hip hop, Everybody's Broke which seems like it would be just as appropriate in 2009 as it was then. Also the phenomenal collaboration with Sylvester, Magic Number again fusing Funk, Disco, and R&B.

1982's 12" release was Lite Me Up while in 1983 with Electro and breakdance so prominent, Herbie had the biggest hit of his career with RockIt but I chose to stick to the disco era stuff in my zip.

Herbie Hancock is an ultimate chameleon.

Let's Clean up the Ghetto DISCO WITH A MESSAGE

MFSB created the ultimate voguers and house children classic with Love is the Message. The Danny Krivit edit becoming a classic at The Paradise Garage and all the voguing balls ever since. But in my opinion they reached the pinnacle of their brilliance with their collaboration with the Philadelphia International All Stars.

GHETTO
GHETTO .WAV
The 1977 promo only 12" of Let's Clean Up the Ghetto is soulful disco perfection. Dexter Wansel's arrangement, the lyrics by Gamble and Huff and the vocal stylings of particularly Lou Rawls and Teddy Pendergrass make this one of the deepest and most memorable disco records ever.

Kenny Gamble was married at the time to Dee Dee Sharp so she was one of the few female vocals on it. The O'Jays, Billy Paul and Archie Drell were on board too. All the proceeds went to a charity project but this beauty didn't get anywhere near the attention of later more schlocky super-group projects like Band Aid and U.S.A. for Africa. In fact it only charted for a month on the U.S. disco charts.

What are they dancing to in the States?

Love Money a Paradise Garage Classic BO KOOL or LOVE MASTERS

Love Money is one of those definitive Paradise Garage classics. In all it's inceptions. There is the original from 1981 released on a few different labels. Money (No Love) by Bo Kool and Love Money by the FunkMasters.

The lyrics about wearing a rubber glove were quite timely.

MONEY (NO LOVE)

There is also the 1986 re-mix which also includes the funky dubby Fort Knox.  In the next few days I will refresh the link for the 1986 remix.

Juliet Roberts who had several huge house records including Caught in the Middle was a vocalist in Funk Masters. Juliet also had several releases on Bluebird records U.K. which are relatively obscure. One of which was produced by John Rocca and another written by Sting.