March 15 brings episode 4 of Body Rhythm to Another Setting Radio.
As always, there is disco in the mix. However, decided to start things and close things with some songs that I've long wanted to place in a mix somewhere/somehow.
The archived show is posted below with some further details on this month's song selections... Enjoy!
Body Rhythm - Show #4
Tracklist:
Sheryl Lee Ralph - Be Somebody
Amii Stewart - Working Late Tonight
Sister Sledge - Il Macquillage Lady
Denise LaSalle - Try My Love
Wanda Walden - Don’t You Want My Lovin’
Sal Panzera - No Stasera No
Roxy Robinson - Come On
Alides Hidding - Hollywood Seven (Mike Simonetti & Johnny Jewel edit)
Five Special - Why Leave Us Alone (12” Version)
Rhetta Hughes - Angel Man (G.A.) (Downtown Version)
Fancy Cake - Higher, Higher, Higher
Girly - Trouble
Barbara Mason - Darling Come Back Home
Judy Cheeks - Walking All Over My Love
Track Notes:
Sheryl Lee Ralph - Be Somebody: Starting things off with the side two opener from actor/singer Sheryl Lee Ralph's sole album from 1986. "In The Evening" was the hit and the title track from it, but this is probably my favourite song on the album. I'm not always a fan of the way reggae was incorporated into pop songs during this time, usually as a trendy production style. I consider this an exception though. To me, the synth-forward 80s reggae-style backing track works here without slipping into parody. The urbane melancholy of the song lyrics add a little weight and cut through in an unexpectedly affective and effective way.
Amii Stewart - Working Late Tonight: Another slice of urbane melancholy from a European pop perspective. Amii Stewart may have been considered something of a one-hit wonder in the US, but she continued to make a career in Italy cutting excellent pop songs like this. The drama of the music and lyrics are everything here, and no wonder, as this was produced by British film composer Simon Boswell, who was fresh from producing Italian superstar Renato Zero the year before.
Sister Sledge - Il Macquillage Lady: To my mind, one of the most interesting songs released by the Sisters Sledge. Putting some of their high school French to work here, this is probably the standout for me on their self-produced 1982 album, The Sisters. A song about a woman who uses her makeup as her security, as her illusion, "hiding in her mask of fantasy." Not your typical pop song subject matter and musically speaking, the sparkling synth work here elevates things even further. This song has gotten some extra mileage after being revealed as the base sample Daft Punk used for their track "Aerodynamic." Taken here from the B-side of a 7" single I had fished out of a dollar bin a while back. Their Motown cover of Mary Wells' "My Guy" was on the A-side, which to me seemed like the definition of a safe, pedestrian single choice, if there ever was one. Slowed the tempo down just a little bit here, which gave it a little extra impact.
Denise LaSalle - Try My Love: From what is possibly Denise LaSalle's most disco-oriented album I'm So Hot from 1980. The title track is the most sought-after cut, but this one's my personal favourite from the album. Cut in a minor key; the thick pulsing synths and sweetened strings just give it the right amount of sleaze and elegance. Was a single in Canada, but nowhere else it seems. For what it's worth, this one almost never leaves my record bag.
Wanda Walden - Don’t You Want My Lovin’: Wanda Walden's 1981 album Searchin' For Love was another one of those dollar bin finds for me. Which is to say, a little weathered but for $1, entirely worth it for this cut alone, which checks all the boxes of a top-tier Narada Michael Walden production from the time. In-the-pocket groove, Chic-esque guitars (that's American Idol's Randy Jackson on bass) and a killer break. As for the name connection, Wanda was evidently Narada's sister in-law, and this ended up being her only album.
Sal Panzera - No Stasera No: Meaning No, not tonight, this was a lovely bit of Italian disco via Montreal that Disco Segreta recently reissued, which is how I first heard of this. Originally issued in Canada in 1981 on a small run of 7" singles, Salvatore Panzera had immigrated to Canada in 1967 and would form a band that often played Italian weddings on the weekends in the Montreal area. One of his bandmates was Giovanni "Johnny" D'Orazio who would go on to be a prolific disco producer in Montreal. Though there are no production credits on this reissue or the original 7" single, D'Orazio is listed as a co-writer with Panzera here and it certainly bears all the economically catchy trademarks of D'Orazio's productions. Of the many interesting obscurities Disco Segreta has been reissuing lately, this one is among my favourites.
Roxy Robinson - Come On: From a Canadian single sung in Italian to an Italian production sung in English, this is the opening track from Robinson's sole album Silence and Other Sounds from 1977. I'd rate her album as one of my most satisfying record finds recently. So much so, I had made a post about it on Instagram recently. This song is one of the standouts on the album and one which sums the sensual and dramatic sound of the record. I wish I knew more about Roxy Robinson (sometimes credited as Rosalinda Robinson or just ‘Roxy’). She appears to have some other credits on Italian releases from the time, either as singer or songwriter. Produced and arranged by Enrico Intra, Pino Presti also appears on the record and this song was also recently reissued under Presti’s name by Best Record Italy.
Alides Hidding - Hollywood Seven (Mike Simonetti & Johnny Jewel edit): I had first heard Alides Hidding's version at least a decade ago while going down a disco rabbit hole on YouTube. One of those things I had saved to various wantlists and then basically forgot about. A few years ago, DJ Elvin T from Philadelphia plays this one night while he was guesting at Wax Candy Disco here in Toronto. I was working behind the bar that night and racking my brain trying to figure what this song was. I had to go up and ask him afterwards, and he tipped me off to this edit by Mike Simonetti & Johnny Jewel, the guys who founded the Italians Do It Better label. Needless to day, ended up tracking down a copy for myself soon after. Released on their edit label, Perseo, the A-side is a straight-ahead extension of Alides Hidding's 1980 disco version, which remains my personal favourite. I'm a sucker for a tragic, melancholy disco song and this fits the bill perfectly. The B-side of the Perseo release has three other versions, including the original by Jon English, done as a ballad, from 1976. Alides Hidding would end up fronting the Dutch group Time Bandits, perhaps best known for their hit "I'm Only Shooting Love."
Five Special - Why Leave Us Alone (12” Version): The major disco hit from Detroit band Five Special, expertly mixed for disco by Rick Gianatos. While I enjoy this song, didn't play it all the way through here. I loved the synth in the break and thought that would be the ideal point to segue from the previous track, so this one comes in on the latter part of the song.
Rhetta Hughes - Angel Man (G.A.) (Downtown Version): A disco tribute of sorts to New York City's Guardian Angels from 1983. While I'm not necessarily aligned with all the politics surrounding Curtis Sliwa and his organization, there's no question that they provided a measure of safety for ordinary New Yorkers at a time when the city was perhaps at its most dangerous. This is one of two disco tributes to the Guardian Angels that I know of. The other being "The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us" from 1979, sung by Margo Wiliams and produced by Patrick Adams. This particular single was produced by Kenny Lehman, who had a hand in Chic's first singles, and despite any of my misgivings over the Guardian Angels, I find it to be a pretty killer record. This was released later enough in thto the 80s to probably be characterized as Hi-NRG, yet there are enough elements here like the live percussion that also elevate it above a lot of others in that realm. This song ended up being a nice dance hit for Rhetta Hughes who had been a professional singer and Broadway performer for the better part of the previous decade. There was even a video for this song which is in itself a great time capsule of early 80s New York.
Fancy Cake - Higher, Higher, Higher: Speaking of high octane, I came across this recently while doing a little bit of virtual record digging (ahem) on Discogs. Between its rock guitars and the opening verse - "sitting here and waiting for some lover to come," I feel like this certainly took more than a few cues from Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff." While I can't say the lyrics are quite as coherent on this song, they are nonetheless infectiously catchy and sleazy as all hell. I'm not sure of the genesis of the act Fancy Cake, but the picture of the group on the 7" sleeve was enough to seal the deal for me. Produced by Peter Giesecke AKA Patric Perquee, Goudy Heavyface whose work I've played before on the first Body Rhythm show in December.
Girly - Trouble: An obscure Bobby Orlando production possibly from 1984, but released in 1987. Had no idea about this one until a reissue came up a couple of years ago on I.D. Limited. Timely as original copies were starting to go for a pretty penny. It's classic Bobby O all the way through, he's even a little self-referential here with the lyric "yesterday was passion, today it's just excuse."
Barbara Mason - Darling Come Back Home: Thought I'd start bringing the tempo down here with one of my favourite songs of Barbara Mason. From her sole LP on Prelude, I Am Your Woman, She Is Your Wife from 1978, this was the opener and the tour-de-force on the record. It's still perhaps too slow to be full-on disco, but it certainly approaches disco. This song was originally done on Motown by Eddie Kendricks and later by Philly group Love Committee, but Barbara's version is perhaps the best one for me. The moody instrumentation and production here is what takes this one a cut above. In particular, there's a distinctive horn/synth trigger sound here which was created, I believe anyway, by something called the cromulizer, invented by album's producer, Weldon A. MacDougal III.
Judy Cheeks - Walking All Over My Love: One of her more underrated songs, this was from taken from an album Judy Cheeks had done with Giorgio Moroder's right-hand man Pete Belotte in 1983 called Hard On The Heels of Love. That album only ever came out in Italy it seems, but one of the tracks, "Fascination" was released as a single in the Netherlands with this song on the B-side. This, to me is the song that really resonated. I've used the word 'melancholy' too much already, but it applies here just as well. It's that quality of the song, Judy's mournful performance and the synth hooks here - engaging without being overpowering, that really set this one apart. Sadly Judy Cheeks passed away late last year at the age of 71.
PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
another setting radio: body rhythm #3 (monday february 16, 2026)
another setting radio: body rhythm #1 (sunday december 21, 2025)
upcoming sister sledge reissues (friday august 10, 2007)
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