Last Call!

Jolo - Last Call
Uploaded by leynnad

Another one of my latest YouTube obsessions.. Before I stumbled upon this, I never would have guessed that this song had a video..

Jolo was essentially Jo-Carol Block and Lauren Carter who had sung back-up for most of the major acts on Megatone like Patrick Cowley, Sylvester, Paul Parker and Modern Rocketry.. They, along with a third singer, Carol McMackin, would start out as the Patrick Cowley singers. As Jolo, they would release a few singles and no album, so image-wise they were a little anonymous; watching the video now though, they come across kind of like a Hi-NRG version of Wendy & Lisa, if you will.. True to the Megatone sound, this record marries both an driving, edgy electronic production with an undeniably gay sensibility, which is probably most obvious in the sheer drama in those vocals, especially in the intro. Not to mention the lyrics; somehow I can never buy that scenario in the video, those cruisy lyrics just sound specially tailored for the boys. To top it all off, it looks like the video was filmed in San Francisco's legendary I-Beam..

I believe "Last Call" would be their best known song, and if anything, a classic example of that unique San Francisco Hi-NRG sound, with those great synth buildups and background hooks. The record was released in 1984 and produced by Barry Beam (AKA Barry Blum) and John Hedges, both of whom also produced "Jump Shout" and "Rocket To Your Heart" for Lisa. In the 90's, John Hedges would become the last president of the Megatone label. Sadly, in 2003 Jo-Carol Block (then known under her married name, Jo-Carol Davidson) would pass away from a brain aneurysm.

Last thing: Be sure to check out the girls at the 4 minute mark, and also the leather man at 3.10.. some of my favourite parts of the video..

LINKS:
JOLO - LAST CALL 12'' @ DISCOMUSIC.COM
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: JO-CAROL DAVIDSON: DISCO SINGER, PRESERVATIONIST (OBITUARY) (THURSDAY JUNE 5, 2003)
TRIBUTE TO JO-CAROL DAVIDSON
DJ'S PORTAL - INTERVIEW WITH JOHN HEDGES
JOHN HEDGES @ DISCOMUSIC.COM
THE I-BEAM @ DISCOMUSIC.COM
THE I-BEAM TODAY

CATEGORIES: VISUAL DISCO