Showing posts with label Barbara Mason. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barbara Mason. Show all posts

Monday, June 15, 2026

Another Setting Radio: Body Rhythm #7

Photo: David Bendeth by André Duval (1979)


Here is Episode 7 of Body Rhythm for Another Setting Radio, broadcast on Sunday June 14, 2026.

Went for a more straight-ahead disco sound all the way through this time. As per usual, kept things fairly loose, a combination of things I had recently acquired and others that were close by. Though most of these songs are from 1977-1979, even the latest selection (from 1984) is still quite disco-esque. A few obscurities may be present, some may be both obscure and well-known at the same time. You'll get what I mean if you listen back.

Further details in the track notes below.




Body Rhythm #7:
Tracklist:


David Bendeth - Feel The Real (Special Disco Version)
Teresa Carpio - Love Hangover
The McCrarys - (Do You Wanna) Dance With Me?
Richie Havens - Going Back To My Roots
Donna Summer - Journey To The Centre of Your Heart
Hello - Feel This Thing (12” Version)
Dennis Dean - Lady Change
Pisces - Touch Me
Jocelyn Brown - Hot Natured Woman
Chain Reaction - Sweet Lady (Dance With Me)
Soul Children - Butt La Rose
Barbara Mason & Bunny Sigler - Locked In This Position (12” Version)
Celi Bee - Alternating Currents


All the records played on show #7



Track Notes:

David Bendeth - Feel The Real (Special Disco Version): Artist/Producer/A&R and all-around music industry veteran David Bendeth released this classic jazz-funk tune in 1979 while working in Canada. Recorded in Toronto, this song eventually went on to become a classic particularly in the UK jazz-funk scene over the years. So much so, Incognito even covered it. Led by the smooth vocals of The Boyer Brothers, it's got a groove that almost perfectly anticipates what Jamiroquai would later do. Though its been revisited in covers and remixes over the years, the original still does it for me though, especially in the extended disco version here. For the curious, Bendeth has posted this song on his YouTube account and regularly responds to comments there.

Teresa Carpio - Love Hangover: From Hong Kong singer Teresa Carpio's 1977 album Songs For You, which I had picked up in a dolllar bin several years back. Sung in English, the album is basically a collection of straightforward covers of popular western songs from the time. Nothing particularly radical, her versions of "I'm Easy," "Fernando," and "Lovin' You" all stay pretty close to the originals. I suppose it's all very much in the vein of southeast asian karaoke culture and being half-Filipino myself, I'm fairly familiar. Of all the songs on the album, her version of "Love Hangover" stands apart for me. Even if they don't take too many liberties, they still lock into a really good groove here. Between the lovely work on the rhodes and Carpio's vocals, which may not be as flagrantly boozy as Diana Ross', but like everything else here - feel just loose and natural enough to make it all work well.

The McCrarys - (Do You Wanna) Dance With Me?: The gospel-inflected opening track from family group The McCrarys fourth album, On The Other Side from 1979. I had this album in storage for some years now, only recently pulled it out and gave it a good listen. Not sure what took me so long, but sometimes you don't need to dig any further than your own collection. The well-travelled Trevor Lawrence produced this album (note: he also produced the opening selection on Body Rhythm #4) and it's solid all the way through.

Richie Havens - Going Back To My Roots: Taken from folk singer Richie Havens' 1979 album Connections, which saw him making a stylistic pivot towards a more contemporary pop/soul sound. Produced by Charles Calello, I find it to be a pretty good effort. This song however, his version of Lamont Dozier's "Going Back To My Roots" is the major standout on the album. The grit and heft of Havens' voice over Calello's slick production turn this song into a real dancefloor burner. Personally, I'd go so far as to say that it even outclasses the original as the definitive version of this song.

Donna Summer - Journey To The Centre of Your Heart: While I'm not entirely sure of the divison of labour here, this feels and sounds to me like a perfect combination of Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte's individual production styles. It has those trademark Moroder synths, plus a full horn section behind it for extra energy and momentum, which reminds me of the work Bellotte was producing for Marsha Hunt and Melba Moore around this time. Additionally, Pete Bellotte's underrated lyrical style, lofty and cinematic are on full display here also. Easily one of my favourite album tracks off Donna's signature Bad Girls album.

Hello - Feel This Thing (12” Version): One of the last singles by British glam band, Hello, heard here attempting to keep up with the times in 1979. Written by the Allen brothers - Jeff who was a member of Hello and Chris (AKA Chris Cross) who was the bassist in Ultravox. Interestingly, producer John Hudson would also later work with Ultravox, Midge Ure, Five Star and Tina Turner among others in later years. Here though, they seem to be going for something of a "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" vibe, with the sax making things just a little extra sleazy. I found that the synth, sax and bass on this song mixed well with the same motifs present in the previous Donna Summer selection.

Dennis Dean - Lady Change: The second Can-Con entry on this mix, sung by Dennis Dean, who I don't know a whole lot about but who had apparently sang in a group called Black Connection with Geraldine Hunt and Pierre Perpall. Produced by Georges Monnier and Michel Daigle, the most promiment name on here, who had produced a number of Montreal disco records. Somehow the title of this song seems like an error, since he's clearly singing "lady chance," not "lady change." Either way, I thought the noodly synth and heavy vibes worked well coming off the previous selection.

Pisces - Touch Me: Getting a little more sensual here, this is my favourite track from a South African disco record called Disco 6 by an outfit called Pisces. One of those records from labels like EMI's Music for Pleasure imprint, consisting of studio band/s covering mostly popular hits. This particular song is one of the exceptions on the record, a killer original that completely hits the spot for me - deep and sensual with a strong disco tempo. No credit for the vocalist, but produced by Mike Pilot, who had done a number of albums of hit parade re-recordings as well as some now notable disco obscurities like Rene Riche and Blush.

Jocelyn Brown - Hot Natured Woman: A little sleeper track from one of the iconic voices of the past 40+ years in disco and dance music more broadly. This was from the EP bearing her major hit "Somebody Else's Guy," on the Prelude imprint Vinyl Dreams. Though this version was released in 1984, the string sweetening here gives this song more of a classic disco feel than the year would suggest. Interestingly, this song was originally released a couple of years prior in 1982 under the moniker Love Connection, with Jocelyn's vocals initially uncredited. The two Love Connection tracks with Jocelyn's vocals (this song and "Hot Blood") were both remixed and included on her Somebody Else's Guy EP. Though now using a mobility scooter, Jocelyn has been performing again in the UK recently and reminding people about some of the shady business behind her signature hit. All these years later, and she reportedly hasn't seen a dime from it.

Chain Reaction - Sweet Lady (Dance With Me): One of only a few singles released on the Jam Sessions label, and a slice of funky American disco from the band Chain Reaction. Likely led by drummer (and the record's producer) Harold Sargent, Chain Reaction released a handful of singles from 79-89, including what may be their best known (at least to me anyway), "Dance Freak" on one of Peter Brown's P&P labels. As far as this single goes, the groove chugs along so well here, I had to play it until the last note. This also happens to be an early Jellybean Benitez mix, which may also be part of the reason why.

Soul Children - Butt La Rose: Recently picked up a nice copy of Soul Children's second-to-last album, Open Door Policy from 1978 on Stax. Ended up buying it in large part after hearing this song. Written by black country singer/songwriter Obie McClinton the lyrics are frankly silly, extollng the virtues of "Butt LaRose [who] wears them sexy clothes." The groove is undeniably funky, though. "When she starts walkin', the streets start smokin'."

Barbara Mason & Bunny Sigler - Locked In This Position (12” Version): The title track of Barbara Mason and Bunny Sigler's 1977 duet album on Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label, this is one I haven't really played a whole lot. Co-written by T. Life (he who produced Evelyn "Champagne" King's "Shame") and featuring Bunny Sigler's signature tight and busy production style, it goes hard, fast and funky in a way that I love. Grooving at a good 126 BPM, and extended to a generous 10 minutes on the promo-only 12" (I didn't play it all the way through here), it's full-tilt boogie on this one.

Celi Bee - Alternating Currents: Taking things way down here with the title track of Celi Bee's Alternating Currents album from 1978. Recently picked up a nice copy, and this was one of the highlights of the album for me. Lyrically, I'm not sure if I'm enough of an elecrician to fully get the metaphor, but it's sung and arranged well enough that it doesn't fully matter. Lovely piece of slow disco, if you will, with a bit of a latin feel.


PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
another setting radio: body rhythm #4 (tuesday march 17, 2026)
another setting radio: body rhythm #3 (monday february 16, 2026)
disco delivery #64: melba moore - burn (1979, epic) (saturday april 14, 2012)

LINKS:
another setting radio
instagram: another setting radio
soundcloud: another setting radio archives
another setting radio: artist bio - thomas del pozo


CATEGORIES: BODY RHYTHM, CAN-CON DISCO

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Another Setting Radio: Body Rhythm #4

Photo: Alexandra Hutchinson (l) of Dance Theatre of Harlem and India Bradley (r) of New York City Ballet by Ye Fan, 2023


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


All the records played on show #4


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.
To my ears, that was probably one of their most pedestrian single choices but a decent hit for them at the time. Slowed the tempo down just a little bit here, for 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 politics aside, 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, AKA 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 by 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 in 1973 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 haunting 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 Bellotte 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. Needless to say, consider this another instance of the B-side resonating with me more strongly. 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)

LINKS:
another setting radio
instagram: another setting radio
soundcloud: another setting radio archives
another setting radio: artist bio - thomas del pozo


CATEGORIES: BODY RHYTHM, CAN-CON DISCO

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