Keep It Coming featuring Lorna - K.I.C. (Keep It Coming) (1979, Unidisc)
Keep It Coming featuring Lorna - K.I.C. (Keep It Coming) (Instrumental) (1979, Unidisc)
Some more Can-Con for everyone..
This single is another little something I picked up a few months back.. This record is really nothing more and nothing less that a totally fun slice of Montreal disco curiously credited to an act named after the song itself. Although for whatever reason the 12'' single doesn't list any production credits, I'm assuming though that this is actually the first Canadian release of the act Hydro featuring Lorna (full name: Lorna Di Fiore, according to Discogs), given that this is the same version as on the Hydro featuring Lorna (1979, Prism) LP. According to the production credits on that album and on subsequent releases of this single under the Hydro name, this record is yet another one co-produced with the ubiquitous Joe LaGreca along with Joe Marandola. Marandola and LaGreca had also produced the studio act Kat Mandu as well as singer Melody Stewart, to name a couple. Given all that, not surprisingly, this record undoubtedly has that trademark Montreal sound: a little rough around the edges, but delivered with a real infectious energy along with a healthy portion of percussion..
One thing which I absolutely dig about this track is the horn section with that killer hook/refrain they've got going on. As far as the vocals go, well, not quite as much... Honestly though, it's really all about the horns on this one. With the way they totally work them into the groove on here, they coulda sang any ole thing and it really wouldn't have mattered.. Anyway, just in case someone out there thinks I'm dissing the vocals, really, I'm not.. Even though they aren't exactly the stuff disco divadom is made of, there is a certain, shall we say, imperfect perfection to them that totally works for this. A track like this one really needed no more than a uncomplicated vocal and lyric, and the singer is more than capable of that, at least. In spite whatever limitations she may have had (or that the song itself may have), her sound has a certain unpretentious, exuberant girlish charm about it that compliments things perfectly, even if she sounds a tad 'green' and fogged up in the mix.. It's as if somebody who was making a record knew a friend of a friend who knew another friend who knew someone that could possibly carry a tune and would be free for a quick session after work, say, Thursday night at six.. Or maybe I'm totally off-base and she was a much more accomplished singer then it seemed, who knows? Either way, whatever their shortcomings, the vocals are absolutely perfect for this, adding a good deal of energy and life to the whole thing.. That said, in case anyone wants to hear this track without the vocals, hopefully the instrumental version here will do it for you..
I also have to say that this record reminds me somewhat of Empress' "Dyin' To Be Dancin'" from '81 on the Prelude label. Although one's a template Montreal disco groove and the other has that early 80's New York post-disco boogie thing going on, both records have those unpretentious, girlish, and slightly off-centre vocals mixed with a fun, infectious party-down kinda vibe..
Strangely, despite being recorded in Montreal by Montreal producers and musicians, I have yet to actually find a Canadian release of the Hydro featuring Lorna LP. I haven't actually found one in person and all of the copies still available on the 'net are US releases on the Prism label, which evidently released a great deal of Unidisc product Stateside back in the day.. If anyone can confirm the existence (or non-existence) of a Canadian release of the Hydro LP, I'd love to know about it.. Update: A kind reader, Kris David just confirmed the existence of a Canadian pressing of the Hydro featuring Lorna album on the Unidisc label.. Thanks Kris! Evidently and ironically, Canadian pressings of the Hydro LP seem to be rarer than the US ones (at least in my experience, both online and offline)..
PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
A MOMENT OR TWO.. (TUESDAY MAY 8, 2007)
DISCO DELIVERY #35: MONTREAL FEATURING UCHENNA IKEJIANI (1979, SALSOUL) (WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 21, 2007)
LINKS:
KEEP IT COMING FEATURING LORNA - K.I.C. (KEEP IT COMING) 12'' SINGLE @ DISCOGS
HYDRO FEATURING LORNA LP @ DISCOMUSIC.COM
HYDRO FEATURING LORNA @ DISCOGS
HYDRO FEATURING LORNA @ DISCOMUSEUM
LORNA DI FIORE @ DISCOGS
JOE LA GRECA @ DISCOGS
JOE LA GRECA @ DISCOMUSIC.COM
JOE MARANDOLA @ DISCOGS
CATEGORIES: SIDE DELIVERIES, CAN-CON DISCO
