Another Setting Radio: Body Rhythm #8
Photo: Grace Jones by Lynn Goldsmith (1979)
Made this mix on the heels of the Toronto launch of my friend Christian John Wikane's new book A Night At The Disco (ACC Art Books). Christian has interviewed so many artists and producers over the years and has put them to work for this beautiful book which tells the story of disco through its artists. Packed with well-sourced images and biographical details, it's a wonderful book for the budding or even the experienced disco enthusiast.
Interesting fact - Christian is the one who got me writing liner notes during the mini-boom in CD reissues, which seemed to last from around 2010-2015. Getting to interview artists and producers and tell their stories in print is without a doubt one of the high points in my ongoing journey of music fandom and writing. Needless to say, it was a pleasure to welcome Christian to our city and to lead a discussion and Q&A about disco and about the book itself. From the bookstore (Flying Books), we headed over to my favourite hi-fi bar, The Little Jerry, where I played disco records through the night for our little after-party. When it came time to make this mix, I still had my records out from the launch and after-party, so this month's selections are largely taken from those - mostly straight-ahead disco with a bit of disco-jazz in the mix.
Further details in the track notes below. Hope you enjoy!
Body Rhythm #8:
Tracklist:
The Chuck Davis Orchestra - The Spirit of Sunshine (Long Version)
Dexter Wansel - (I'll Never Forget) My Favorite Disco (feat. The Jones Girls) (12" Version)
Shobizz - I'm Gonna Live Till I Die
Grace Jones - Suffer
Roy Ayers - Fever
Cloud - Take It To The Top
Bobbi Humphrey - Sweet N' Low
Cerrone - You Are The One (feat. Jocelyn Brown)
Voyage - Souvenirs
Faith, Hope & Charity - You're My Peace of Mind (12" Version)
Gregg Diamond Bionic Boogie - Hot Butterfly (feat. Luther Vandross)
All the records played on show #8
Track Notes:
The Chuck Davis Orchestra - The Spirit of Sunshine (Long Version): Opening things with a lovely, impressionistic disco record which despite the anglo names on the label, is basically a French production. Written by a one
C. Carl Wing, an alias for French composer
Jean-Claude Pelletier, I'm reminded of the penchant for French disco records to use American-sounding aliases, as that seemed to sell better to French disco audiences at the time. The US release on
West End Records that I played here was mixed and finessed by the ever reliable
Tom Moulton. The Moulton mix is much more sleek and focused, omitting a lot of the brass solos present on the
original which is
available to listen on YouTube for comparison. The resulting mix feels a lot gentler, but also sounds deeper and freer.
Dexter Wansel - (I'll Never Forget) My Favorite Disco (feat. The Jones Girls) (12" Version): One of the finest disco singles from the late
Dexter Wansel, who
recently passed in May at the age of 75. One of the giants of Philly soul, besides his own albums, he's also the man behind records like
The Jones Girls' "
Nights Over Egypt",
Patti LaBelle's "
If Only You Knew," and among many others. The Jones Girls' heavenly voices are front and centre here too, an ode to the discotheque and also a musical record of some major American discos of the time. Though
Studio 54 is mentioned in the opening verse, I love that the discotheques mentioned are not just limited to New York - among those given tribute in the lyrics are Chicago's
B.B.C. (Bombay Bicycle Club), South Jersey's
Emerald City,
Osko's in Los Angeles, Philadelphia's
The Second Story and
Kim Graves, even
Charlie's Chili in Acapulco to name a few.
Shobizz - I'm Gonna Live Till I Die: One of my favourite tracks from singer/songwriter and dramatist
Rupert Holmes' one-off disco project called
Shobizz. Released 1979, the same year as his signature hit "
Escape (The Piña Colada Song)," I thought this was one of the more evocative tracks on that album and one which builds on the theme and feeling of the previous selection - the disco as escape, and especially your favourite disco as something close to heaven, if you will.
Grace Jones - Suffer: Going from heaven to purgatory here, perhaps? Easily my favourite track on
Grace Jones' third album
Muse from 1979. The third and final of her
Tom Moulton-produced disco trilogy, this track feels almost quintessentially Grace to me. Tough and tender, a strong groove that's also a little bit camp at the same time. Electric whips, cries and regret set to a disco bass (courtesy of
Jimmy Williams). This song also features the voice of the album's Icelandic arranger
Thor Baldursson in something of a sadomasochistic duet with Grace. Apparently Baldursson
lent his voice as a scratch vocal, which to his surprise, was left on in the final mix. You could probaly call that one of those brilliant happy accidents, because it actually works perfectly.
Roy Ayers - Fever: Not the only time the signature hit of
Little Willie John and
Peggy Lee has been covered in disco fashion;
Sylvester also did a great version for his 1980
Sell My Soul album. Nevertheless,
Roy Ayers' version here is also one I enjoy. Produced by Ayers and singer
Carla Vaughn off his
1979 album of the same name, I thought this particular song was perfectly adapted to his style and to the disco demands of the day. Though I can't say the same for some of the other selections on the album; I don't think I'll ever need to hear a disco version of "
Take Me Out To The Ball Game" again, for instance. I imagine a lot of the jazz critics of the day weren't especially thrilled with this direction, but speaking for myself, this one's always done it for me.
Cloud - Take It To The Top: Came across this lovely bit of disco-jazz from 1981 by the brit-funk group
Cloud in a local shop a few weeks ago. Took a listen to it and had to pick it up straight away. This record still slaps, as they say. The vocal is minimal (basically an occasional gravelly recitation of the title), but the groove here does all the work.
Bobbi Humphrey - Sweet N' Low: Continuing in something of a disco-jazz vein here, this was also something I had recently picked up, at the same time as the previous selection actually. I've been increasingly curious about flautist
Bobbi Humphrey's recordings and when I found a nice copy of her 1979 album
The Good Life, I had to pick it up, especially after and hearing all of its disco overtones. This track is among the most danceable on the album, with all the groove and syndrum (
pew! pew!, pew! pew!) you could possibly want. Produced by noted percussionist and
Ralph MacDonald and
William Eaton, who also wrote this track.
Cerrone - You Are The One (feat. Jocelyn Brown): A pairing of two titans of disco here. The opener and title track of
Cerrone's
seventh album from 1980,
Jocelyn Brown is the featured vocalist on this and all of the songs on the album. Recorded between Paris and NYC's
Power Station (
Chic's home base), it's perhaps Cerrone's most 'American' sounding record, yet ironically enough, has never actually been given a proper US release. My copy is the Canadian
Black Sun/Unidisc pressing and even that's not one I see very often around here. Besides Brown on vocals,
link hereVoyage guitarist
Slim Pezin is on this record, as is noted French bass and synth player
Sauveur Mallia, along with
Dave Letterman's bandleader
Paul Shaffer. Over the years, this song has emerged as a favourite of mine in both Cerrone and Jocelyn Brown's oeuvre. It's disco on the surface, yet in a way I also feel like it's also one of the most convincing pop songs Cerrone has put out.
Voyage - Souvenirs: Thought this went well with the previous track, especially given that there are some musicians in common and that it's also one of the most evocative disco songs out there. Hearing this is almost like an emotional trigger, regardless of whether you lived through the time period or not, but perhaps especially so if you did. Voyage cut their teeth as Paris studio musicians who also regularly released
library records/production music. Some of those records, often as
Disco & Co., are even getting proper reissues now. This song though, at least to me, remains the pinnacle of their output. The lyrics and vocals bring forth the feeling of the disco as a kind of utopian vision, of the dancefloor as a place to imagine and enact albeit temporarily, community, celebration and freedom. "
'Cause all we need is a world of dreams. Forgotten feelings come back in streams. Come join us, don´t hesitate. Just be yourself, be free, let´s be free..."
Faith, Hope & Charity - You're My Peace of Mind (12" Version):
Van McCoy is obviously best known for "
The Hustle," one of the penultimate disco hits; but I feel he doesn't get quite as much credit for the poignant, soulful songs that he was writing and producing for the group
Faith, Hope & Charity or
David Ruffin at this time. This song being a case in point. From
Faith, Hope and Charity's 4th album
Life Goes On from 1976, it's a song radiating with positivity but with a hidden undercurrent of melancholy inside. "
You're my peace of mind, that's what you are to me, baby you're my sanity," that undercurrent revealing itself in the line, "
when everything's dismal and dark." The disco mix I played here, which extends the song from 7 to just over 9 and a half minutes, is also one of Fire Island DJ
David Todd's earliest disco mixes.
Gregg Diamond Bionic Boogie - Hot Butterfly (feat. Luther Vandross): From 1978 and the title track of
Gregg Diamond's
second Bionic Boogie album, this is probably one of Gregg Diamond's finest songs which
Chaka Khan would later make famous. Led here by
Luther Vandross, with
Cissy Houston on the background chorus, though there are some slight differences in the lyrics and interpretation, it basically strikes the same wistful notes of love and yearning as Chaka's version. Both are interpreted beautifully, and I thought this would be a fitting way to end things here. Interestingly, both Luther Vandross and Cissy Houston would also appear as backing vocalists on Chaka's version, two years later.
PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
another setting radio: body rhythm #7 (monday june 15, 2026)
disco delivery mix #15: music you can ride on (thursday june 27, 2024)
disco delivery mix #12: wheels begin to roll (wednesday july 05, 2023)
more, more, more, the pre-moulton mix (friday march 06, 2015)
disco delivery mix #5: midnight rendezvous + beam me up 2nd anniversary & bring your own record night (friday september 12, 2014)
LINKS:
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another setting radio: artist bio - thomas del pozo
simon & schuster canada: a night at the disco
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