He's too good to believe..

First heard this bit of elegantly funky early 80s late-period disco on Stevie Kotey's ace rarities compilation "Disco Diva Delights Vol. 1" (2009, Ambassador's Reception) a while back. Produced by Tony Green, the Montreal producer best known for his work with France Joli; this is one of those intriguing one-offs pairing Green who wrote, produced and contributed vocals, with an apparently unknown, or at least uncredited singer, who coos and sighs her way through this like a French-Canadian Debbie Harry, minus her well-cultivated sense of irony; which all seems entirely appropriate, as the song itself sounds like a glammed up, close cousin to Blondie's "Rapture." While the images of swank restaurants; suave, smooth jet-setting operators and breathless fawning chicks are a long way from the urban alien apocalypse in "Rapture"; with those guitar hooks, tolling bells and whistles, and all the bits of light, embryonic rapping in between, the resemblance is otherwise unmistakable.

Listen: Satin & Green - Spectacular (12" Version 1) (1982, RFC/Quality)
Listen: Satin & Green - Spectacular (12" Version 2) (1982, RFC/Quality)

After living with the version on "Disco Diva Delights" for a while, I'd finally come across the 12" single nearly a year ago now and discovered that the two mixes on the 12" are both longer than the version on "Disco Diva Delights," where the song is edited down to 4.23, from the 7.15 and 6.30 versions on the 12". Either the version Kotey used was based on one of the 7" versions (which are timed at 4.10 on the A-side and 4.15 on the B-side), or perhaps edited specifically for the compilation. Either way, a nice bit of Can-Con that while slightly derivative perhaps, is overflowing with just enough charm and soft-focus fantasy, you almost wished he'd have saved something like this for France Joli back in the day.

As far Tony Green AKA Anthony Mazzone goes, he evidently remains active in both music production and increasingly, filmmaking. Writer, filmmaker and France Joli fan Kelly Wayne Hughes published a wide-ranging interview with Green on his website just over a year ago. Apparently, after his success with Joli, Green was in the running to produce Aretha Franklin's ultimately ill-recieved disco album (covered here earlier, for those who are curious). Whether that was a dodged bullet or a missed opportunity depends entirely on your perspective, I guess; however that was just one of the many intriguing bits shared in the interview, which is well worth a read for any disco nerds out there.

PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
FUNKYTOWN, MONTREAL (WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21, 2009)
DISCO DELIVERY #60: ARETHA FRANKLIN - LA DIVA (1979, ATLANTIC) (SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2009)
STRANGE PASSION (SUNDAY JULY 1, 2007)
DISCO DELIVERY #35: MONTREAL FEATURING UCHENNA IKEJIANI (1979, SALSOUL) (WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 21, 2007)

LINKS:
DISCOGS: SATIN & GREEN - SPECTACULAR
DISCOGS: TONY GREEN
KELLY WAYNE HUGHES - TONY GREEN'S DISCO MACHINE (INTERVIEW) (JANUARY 25, 2012)
DISCOGS: VA - DISCO DIVA DELIGHTS, VOL. 1
AMBASSADOR'S RECEPTION

CATEGORIES: MINI DELIVERIES, CAN-CON DISCO, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO..