I thought I'd dust off the blog long enough to commemorate this day - marking 21 years since Lawrence Philpot, better known as Larry Levan, perhaps one of the most legendary of disco DJs, passed away in 1992. I've often thought about why a singular figure like Larry Levan has come to have such a deep resonance with many people, including myself, who've come to appreciate disco long after the fact, people who were far too young to experience disco at its height, or even the Paradise Garage while it was still around. The reasons are undoubtedly many, and I could probably go on for pages and pages about the possible whys and hows, so I'll mercifully leave that for another time.. Simply put however, it's probably safe to say that Larry Levan has become a symbol of artistry and authenticity in a genre that has long been derided as anything but, and of what so many DJs dream of and aspire to. To command a loyal following and inspire the kind of loyalty that would allow that audience, that following, to let you take them wherever you want to, night after night..
Recently, while looking around on Soundcloud, I had found a 1 hour and 17 minute live recording of one of his sets at the Paradise Garage apparently from 1979 (although this recording contains tracks released later, so I suppose the time frame is debatable, whether this was even Larry at all has also been up for debate). Some might recognize the first part of the mix as Disc 2 of the "Larry Levan Live at the Paradise Garage" (2000, West End/Strut) double album that, speaking for myself, played a huge part in introducing me to the legacy of Larry and The Garage as a teenager, and was most certainly, in those days when file sharing and social networking had yet to really take off, the first time I had ever heard a genuine live disco mix. Not that he didn't and doesn't have his critics, who have sometimes bemoaned the lack of technical precision in his mixes. In fact after mixing things here pretty tightly in the first half, he takes a break from it in the second, playing full songs in their entirety. Ultimately though listening to Larry here and elsewhere proves, in my estimation, that time and time again, selection and feeling will always trump pure precision..
While the circumstances of Larry's final years were a long way away from the reverence his name inspires today, West End Records' founder and Paradise Garage backer Mel Cheren has a chapter in his autobiography from 2000 - "Keep On Dancin' - My Life & The Paradise Garage" about Larry's final years which despite a final triumphant stand in Japan, was a sad, emotional and sometimes frustrating read. It was often a picture of Larry at his lowest - penniless, professionally directionless and hooked on drugs. Towards the end of the chapter, Mel, who himself is no longer with us, nonetheless summed things up as succinctly and poignantly as probably anyone else has in the past two decades..
"We gave something to the world. Larry gave something that resonates to this day. Yes there are ghosts, yes there are many regrets. There were mistakes. But there is music, and joy, and acceptance and love. And today all over the world people remember. Young people, who were never there in person, are there today in spirit, dancing and singing, expressing their own hopes and dreams. That's what we gave... We could have done better. But then again, we could have done much worse."
Of all the things Grace Jones is infamous for, her penchant for lateness is about as notorious as her temper. As anyone who has followed Grace for any significant length of time might know it’s not unknown for the lady to be, as I've been told, hours late for her own shows yet still manage to win over the crowd by the end of it. It’s perhaps the sort of thing which led her former collaborator and paramour, Jean-Paul Goude to remark:
“Grace likes to party. In the end I lost her to it. She won’t work. She’ll show up whenever she feels like it. She has an entourage that encourages it…. Ironically, the fact that she’s fucked up her career only proves how genuine she really is.”
Goude’s remarks may partly explain why it has taken nearly 20 years for her to show up with her latest album, “Hurricane” (2008, Wall Of Sound). With all the false starts and delays that have surrounded the release of a new Grace Jones album these past 19 years, this is practically Grace’s own “Chinese Democracy,” except of course, Grace’s hype is much less overwhelming, and the reception much more positive and rightfully so. “Hurricane” may not replace “Nightclubbing” (1981, Island) at the top of critics’ lists, but it will probably go down as one of the finest albums of her career. For a woman who, depending on whichever birth date (1948 or 1952) you believe, is at or nearing 60, pulling off a sound like the one she has on this album, at her age and after such a lengthy absence, seems rightly triumphant. For a survivor of the disco era, it’s certainly not the first time she’s had to pull this off. A model-turned-recording artist (not always a guaranteed career move, just ask Naomi) with an undeniable presence and personality, she also had the unconventional (some have even said limited) voice to match, which seemed to be both an advantage and a challenge. For her then producer Tom Moulton who was initially reluctant to take the job and who had once remarked that her voice reminded him of Bela Lugosi, it was perhaps more of the latter.. Yet, as much of a disco icon as she was, after 1979 whatever disco cachet she carried would have likely meant next to nothing; contemporaries like Sylvester, Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor had it hard enough, and even then, never quite eclipsed their disco success. If it weren’t for the vision of Island founder Chris Blackwell and his idea of pairing Grace with the team of Sly & Robbie, Alex Sadkin and The Compass Point All-Stars, Grace Jones the singer seemed destined to become yet another casualty of the times. The release of “Warm Leatherette” (1980, Island), however, proved to be the turning point. With it and the three albums that followed, the true potential of her distinctive voice, personality and presence were harnessed and showcased like never before. Emerging more artistically distinctive and relevant than ever, it was possibly the most successful reinvention of a disco act ever executed.
On a more personal note, and at the risk of sounding a tad fan-boyish, I’d have to say that discovering Grace Jones in my mid teens is probably one of those things that saved my life. Looking at her and listening to her felt like a portal to another place, another realm of possibility - into an urbane world of fashion, music, art and individuality that couldn’t have been further removed from the insipid oil money of the Calgary suburbs, the juvenile teenage punk of my peers, or the vulnerability of those early teenage years. While others may have found her cold, unrestrained gender ambiguity intimidating and threatening, to me there was something about her that felt incredibly, even radically liberating and inspiring at the time. I suppose the seemingly innate predilection of gay men toward iconic female diva figures (be them triumphant, tragic or both) likely goes a long way in explaining why myself and legions of gay men before me were drawn to her.. Cornering Grace's appeal among gay audiences and her symbolic stature in disco culture, the late Mel Cheren nailed it down pretty well in his autobiography (pgs 282-3):
"If there is anyone who, for me, epitomized the untamable, anything-goes atmosphere of those last disco days before AIDS, it was Grace Jones.... Although not a really a singer, at least not at first, she somehow convinced people to take a chance. Her first single, 'That's The Trouble,' quickly climbed the charts in the U.S. and became a smash. And Grace just as quickly became an icon for gay men... One time, early in her career, he [Tom Moulton] asked her about her direction, 'I want to be a star, darling,' she growled, which was honest enough. But she wanted stardom on her own terms, in a way that constantly raised eyebrows. People were shocked when she physically attacked London TV host Russell Harty on the air... They were shocked again when she posed nude in Hustler, entangled with another woman over the banner 'I have a lot of man in me.' They were shocked when she was simply being Grace... I adored her, but then, so did most gay men. It's hard to put your finger on exactly why. Perhaps because she, like we, defied convention at every turn. Perhaps because she rose above her roots. Because she turned the tables on society, using it's own techniques and methods to transform herself into a star. Whatever the reason, when someone asks me what or who best epitomizes those wild, wacky, sexy, wonderful days, I usually think of those animal eyes, that growl and say, if you want to know what it was like, look at Grace.”
If I recall correctly, my first exposure to Grace Jones came through a little review in XY Magazine (a gay teen magazine which I used to devour in those days) for the then recently released "Private Life: Compass Point Sessions" (1998, Island/PolyGram) 2 CD set. It was enough to get me to borrow a copy from the public library. Listening to the post-disco groove fused with cold renderings of Reggae and New Wave and just the overall clash of madness and elegance, it was nothing like I’d ever heard before - not even the Reggae I used to hear Saturday afternoons on the local University radio station, which came close but still didn't quite cut it. Getting past my initial perplexion after a few listens, I was hooked. It was one of those things that rarely left my CD player in those days and still remains a frequent player for me today. A year after I'd bought it, those discs were pretty well scratched up and worn out..
If my appreciation wasn’t solidified by then, it was irreversibly so by the time I saw her One Man Show on video. I remember special ordering the VHS from the downtown HMV here in Calgary and really making an event of the day it finally came in. Skipping class one Friday afternoon in November '99 just to go pick it up, upon taking it home and playing it, I was transfixed. While her visual impact was certainly not lost on me before, One Man Show seemed to immortalize it on another level altogether. Seeing her perform “Warm Leatherette,” impeccably staged, contemptibly spitting out the song's lyrics, looking for all the world like the coldest, most ferocious, Amazonian bitch to ever live pretty much sealed it for me. At the time, for most of the gay guys I had come across, their default diva seemed to be Madonna, but for me, from that moment on, Grace was it.
I suppose, given the cold, aggressive image she has, Grace has always been something of an enigma. Having discovered her in the late 90’s during what will probably go down as her ‘wilderness years,' her enigmatic persona seemed that much more magnified at the time. For someone so distinctive, she seemed practically off the map for much of that time, having ‘gone underground,’ as she puts it. Aside from Compass Point Sessions, which seems to have gone a long way into reintroducing her iconic back catalogue to the public, the 90’s and early 2000’s seemed to be a mess of speculation, shelved album projects, sporadic single releases, botched deals, minor movie roles, punctuated by the occasional high profile appearance now and then. Although still performing quite regularly (three times a month, she claimed in 2000), little was reported in the press, aside from the occasional bout of air/train rage, rumoursabout her drug habits, gossip inches about her love life and occasional festival or fashion show appearance. Amidst all of that however, talk of a new Grace Jones album, although relatively low-key, never really seemed to die.
A return to the Island label, her 1993 single, the #1 Billboard Club Hit “Sex Drive” (a cover of Industrial duo Sheep on Drugs' “Track X”) produced by Mark Pistel and Philip Steir, two-thirds of activist rap/industrial group Consolidated was a blistering, snarling return to form, especially after her largely disappointing major label liason in the late 80's. Notably, the B-side of “Sex Drive,” “Typical Male,” a cover of a track which Consolidated originally did themselves, was my personal favourite of the two tracks. A searing feminist indictment of patriarchy, who better to deliver such a statement than one of the most feared women in pop culture, herself? Needless to say, Grace's version, backed with an aggressive aural clash of beats and samples and fronted by her combative delivery, was far more effective than Consolidated's original. Although this may have come some fifteen years earlier, it is perhaps the most direct precursor to the direction she would take, using her persona as a vehicle for social commentary, upon her re-emergence earlier this year with “Corporate Cannibal.”
Despite the positive reception to the "Sex Drive" single, the 1994 album project that was to supposed to follow, said to have been entitled “Black Marilyn” would eventually end up on the shelf. Grace briefly spoke about it in her interview from the December 2008 issue of Mojo Magazine:
“We had the whole album. Consolidated came in and ended up producing the whole record and I couldn't stand listening to it. I ended up crying. I just got like ‘Whaaaaaa!’ Then I started taking drugs. I think I was mixing everything. Just whatever I could find to kill the pain. Downers and uppers and whatever was new on the market.”
After the aborted “Black Marilyn” project, she seemed set to return once again with her much touted collaboration with Tricky and his Durban Poison label, reported in 1996 and plugged further a couple of years later by Brian Chin for his liner notes on the Compass Point Sessions set. Yet by the end of the 90’s that collaboration seems to have effectively collapsed amid rumours of creative differences and irreconcilable demands. To date, the only track to ever surface of the three or four that they had apparently finished (Grace once said three, Tricky reportedly alleged four) from their sessions was “Hurricane”. Apparently re-recorded and included as the title track for her current album, at the time, alternatively titled “Cradle To The Grave” by some, it ended up leaking in the late 90's via a bootleg white label with two versions said to have been remixed by DJ Emily, which are still widely available on the Internet. Tricky himself had also previewed another version – one which he had remixed himself on a radio show that he hosted in September 1999.. Given Tricky's involvement in this mix, of all the versions to have surfaced, this is probably the closest to the final version recorded by Grace and Tricky.
Despite the apparent demise of her partnership with Tricky, there still seems to have been some resurgent interest at the turn of the millennium - a collaboration with Lil’ Kim - “Revolution” from her album ”Notorious K.I.M” (2000, Atlantic), a remix of “Pull Up To The Bumper” by Funkstar De Luxe (top 5 on the Billboard Club Charts in November 2000). Of all the one offs she did during this time, her finest would have to have been “Storm” from the soundtrack of the ill-received 1998 Avengers movie. Co-credited to frequent collaborator Bruce Wooley's Radio Science Orchestra and produced by Marius De Vries (U2, Madonna, Björk); with it's epic orchestration and Grace's larger-than-life cinematic presence, "Storm" sounded like the the Bond theme that she had never been given. With reports surfacing of yet another planned album project said to be entitled (appropriately enough) "Force Of Nature,” that track effectively seemed like an exciting preview for things to come..
Having signed a record deal in 2000 with an emerging web-based company, MCY.com (with planned distribution by EMI) - an early proponent of digital music distribution and one of the many short lived, ill-fated dot-com enterprises of the time, things seemed to be looking hopeful once again. A prominent press interview with The Independent (her first major press interview in 8 years, they claimed) and a less high profile one the year before for Australian webzine Seven Magazine both gave hints to an imminent album release, with the latter interview ambitiously citing the likes of Roni Size, Stevie Wonder, and P. Diddy (or Puff Daddy, as he was known then) as prospective collaborators. Around mid-2001, there were also somereports mentioning that "Storm" producer, Marius De Vries had been enlisted as a co-producer on the project. Not long after however, whatever hopes of an imminent album release seemed to be dashed with the project appearing to be all but scrapped, or as MCY reps claimed ‘indefinitely on hold.’ It would be another three years before anything more was heard from Grace on the studio front..
The buzz has really started to build (see some of myfellowbloggers) on this new doc by Gene Graham on co-founder of legendary disco independent West End Records, philanthropist, Paradise Garage backer and all-around disco pioneer, Mel Cheren.. In more recent years, the publishing of his autobiography "Keep On Dancin': My Life And The Paradise Garage," the relaunching of West End as an active label and his ongoing philanthropic efforts have done a great deal to solidify his legacy and contributions to disco and beyond.. Although I haven't actually posted any West End material yet, I'm a big fan of their output. Being one of the few disco independents still at it today; out of respect for them, so far I've taken their personal appeals for listeners not to file-share to heart, and besides, they offer much of their classic and current catalogue as digital downloads on their site anyway. So needless to say, in light of all that, I've been a little hesitant to post any of their material on here.
As a child, one of my earliest and fondest disco memories was dancing my lil' butt off to Karen Young's "Hot Shot" and trying (badly) to imitate those explosive, kick-ass ad-libs of hers.. I absolutely couldn't get enough of that song! Later on, I'd become familiar with much more of their excellent output, especially through their Larry Levan releases: "Classic West End Records Remixes" (1999, West End) and "Live At The Paradise Garage" (2000, West End/Strut). Those two sets in particular, were and still are very special to me, having played a huge part in my serious introduction to disco.. Perhaps one of these days I'll do a much more in-depth appreciation post about West End. As far as the documentary itself goes, here's an excerpt from one of the press releases out there:
The Godfather of Disco is a feature-length documentary based on Mel Cheren's powerful autobiography, My Life and the Paradise Garage: Keep On Dancin'.
Through a series of interviews with a who's who of the dance music community, The Godfather of Disco (G.O.D.) follows the arc of Mel's life to examine the early 70s musical and cultural currents that gave birth to disco; West End Records' contribution to that scene; and the rise of the Paradise Garage.
From that cultural heyday, the film then charts the onslaught of HIV/AIDS, its impact on New York City, and Mel's heroic efforts in the face of an epidemic through his work for Gay Men's Health Crisis and 24hrs for Life/LIFEbeat.
Mel has been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale. And, rest assured, he still does it all today. The Godfather of Disco makes a compelling case for how one's man's musical vision and AIDS activism helped push gay sensibilities into the greater culture--and how our world is better for it.
Pioneer. Activist. Survivor. Mel Cheren is The Godfather of Disco.
Anyway, this is definitely one documentary that I've got to see sometime.. Hopefully "Godfather of Disco" will be making it to a festival near you. Either way, even if it doesn't, there should be a DVD release to follow..
In the mean time, check out the trailer below for a little preview:
If you still want to see more, check out the official website www.thegodfatherofdiscodoc.com (link corrected) for further video previews, press reviews and screening information..
If there's anything that fits the bill of an 'undergound disco classic' it's got to be this single.. Although I'm sure it was popular in quite a few clubs back in the day, this single was evidently an iconic staple in the playlist of New York's legendary (some might also say infamous) gay nightclub The Saint. As a result, this record, particularly the A-Side "Without Your Love" became quite an anthem and something of a cult disco classic in quite a few disco circles. I can only go by second-hand knowledge here, but DJ, record producer and apparent 'Saint' devotee Ian Levine, in an interview with the DJ History website partially explained the hysteria:
The music at the Saint was so spot on. I can remember so many records: Souvenirs by Voyage, Sentimentally It’s You by Theo Vaness. Everywhere else went for the pounding of the beat. The Saint went for the beauty in the music. Rattling their tambourines, these guys with their shirts off with these huge fans. And it was packed. There was 4,000 people in there. I never saw it, even in the summer, with less than 2,000 there...... Just as northern soul discovered the records of the sixties and played them in the seventies, so the Saint discovered the records of the seventies and played them in the eighties. They made Gods out of the cult disco records of the seventies. Cut Glass Without Your Love. $200 a copy for the 12-inch on 20th Century. Charlie Grappone, of Vinylmania in New York, used to have them on the wall; these priceless 12-inch things. There was no bigger record in the Saint than Cut Glass.
Whether it was the biggest or just one of the biggest at The Saint (another one that comes up often is Marlena Shaw's version of "Touch Me In The Morning"), evidently the record was so popular at one point that someone even put out a bootleg 12" (on an apparently fictitious label called Earhole Records) in order to satisfy demand..
Cut Glass was essentially a guise for Detroit based producers Jeffrey Steinberg and Jeffrey Parsons, the same guys behind the excellent Hott City - Ain't Love Grand (1979, Butterfly/MCA) album. The voices behind Cut Glass were also none other than singers Ortheia Barnes and Mildred Vaney (AKA Millie Scott), both of whom had also sang on a good portion of the Hott City record (see Disco Delivery #20 for more on them and Hott City). As far as I know, Hott City and Cut Glass are the only two projects released by Steinberg and Parsons (certainly the only ones I've ever found) and this single definitely has their indelible stamp on it. Generally speaking, the sound of Cut Glass, for the most part, picks up where Hott City left off, albeit with less irony and more sincerity this time around..
As great as both tracks on the single are, the A-Side "Without Your Love" would probably be the standout here. After I first heard it, I don't know how many times I had caught myself humming that melody, singing that refrain to myself.. However, needless to say, it's not just that melody or those full, uplifting straight-to-church vocal harmonies, but the combination of those elements along with those cool, sharp and impeccable synth arrangements that make this record the ultimate combination of gospel exaltation and chemical trance. I suppose given the distinctly clean, sharp, glossy quality of the synths on this record (as well as on the Hott City LP), it's probably no wonder why this project was coined 'Cut Glass.' The crisp synth sounds and the warm, heavenly vocals of Barnes and Vaney combine to not only make this one killer record but one which exemplifes what disco did quite like nothing else.
Although these days there is much less, if hardly any gulf between R&B and elements of electronic music with the likes of Timbaland and Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins (among others) combining elements of both in their work (and having the lucrative hit making careers to reward them for it), yet some 20-30 years before them this single (albeit in a different context) similarly combined elements of both and perhaps went even further. Combining both a European-inspired (read: white) electronic, synthesized, melodic element with those distinctly American (read: black) soulful, gospel-inspired vocals in such uncompromising purity, this record achieved what was probably one of disco's greatest legacies: that bringing together of diverse, even disparate elements together into what was a beautifully distinctive sound and experience.
If the original 12'' version of "Without Your Love" doesn't display that contrast clearly enough, the Hot Tracks mix drives it home like a sucker-punch.. The remix by Hot Tracks founder Steve Algozino doubles the length of the original (among other things), taking it all the way up to some twelve or so minutes. I'm not too well versed on the output of remix services like Disconet, Hot Tracks etc., but so far, along with the Disconet mix of ABBA's "Lay All Your Love On Me" this has got to be one of the best mixes that I've heard from either outfit. The highlight of the Steve Algozino remix has got to be that Patrick Cowley-inspired trance-inducing, out-of-this-world, spaced out synth break right in the middle. Easily taking up half of the mix, it takes that contrast, that juxtaposition between the cool electronic sheen and warm uplifting vocals to a whole new level altogether. Once choice moment in that break would be right around the 7.30 mark; just when you wonder if things are going to come back down to earth, an additional layer of piercing, knock-out electronic hypnosis kicks in, taking things higher and farther than you expect it to.. When the melody comes in again, on that major key with those great vocals on top, it comes in at such a perfectly timed moment it becomes less of a reluctant come-down and more like a warm, affirming ray of sunshine..
"The dance floor was circular and huge, and above it rose the planetarium dome, diaphanous and semi-transparent, high overhead. When lights were projected onto it the effect was unlike anything you ever saw. Up there you were in a completely other world, a world without angles and walls and restrictions, a circular world where you could whirl like a drugged dervish and swim in sound and light and beauty.......The balcony was essentially a big orgy room.......Virtually everybody up there was looking for sex, and most were finding it. Then, after trysting up there in heaven, and smoking a dusted joint or snorting some coke, you'd come back down to the dance floor for another round."
Judging from that alone, I couldn't think of a more perfect soundtrack to that than this record, particularly the remix.. The vocals and melody with their 'light and beauty', complimenting that almost spiritual high of the communal dancefloor along with those icy synth-scapes bringing to mind those darker, more illicit pleasures. I'm not even sure whether the remix version was given any significant play there, but those contrasting elements in the mix seemed to mirror the same sort of things that might have been experienced at The Saint. If anything, it certainly seems to compliment the sheer intensity that such a place must have embodied.
While "Without Your Love" may have been the prominent track here, the B-side, "Alive With Love" is an excellent record as well.. Although "Alive With Love" may not reach the same heights that "Without Your Love" does, it also has a similarly strong, full vocal; a memorable melody and refrain and that same beautiful combination of synths (so cool, they're hot) and fiery, uplifting vocals.. The Hot Tracks remix aside, out of the two tracks on the original 12" single, I have to say this one probably has the more satisfying synth break, starting out cool and sparse coloured with those light guitars and then gradually culminating into a beautifully layered, glistening soundscape.. Both tracks on the single are listed together as peaking at #16 on the Billboard club charts, so I'm sure both got ample play regardless of which was on the A-side. With it's passionate vocal, peppered with just the right amount of grit and glory along with it's slightly slower tempo and seductive sleaze-appeal this one is perhaps less bold than the A-side, but sublime and equally satisfying nonetheless..
Just to further cement the status of these two tracks, both tracks would be covered later into the 1980s. The best of the bunch would probably be Tina Fabrique's cover, "Alive With Love (A Love Letter)" (1984, Prism). Produced by John Morales and Sergio Munzibai, Tina Fabrique's version ably updates the track to the Hi-NRG sound of the time, while putting her own stamp on it with her own excellent vocals (thanks to qdearl for offering and to DungeonDJ for letting me hear this).
In addition to that, in 1985 San Francisco Hi-NRG idol Paul Parker would also cover Cut Glass with his own decent version of "Without Your Love" produced by Ian Anthony Stephens (who had also worked with Madleen Kane and Hazell Dean). Later on in 1989, Ian Levine himself would also produce a cover of "Without Your Love" as part of his ill-fated Motorcity project with one of the original vocalists, Ortheia Barnes reprising her role. Although I'm not really a fan of the recordings that came out of his ambitious Motorcity project (which are a mixed bag to say the least), he accomplished quite a feat in getting a virtual constellation of former Motown stars back in the studio, some well known (The Marvelettes, Syreeta, Mary Wilson, Former Ladies of The Supremes) others not as much (The Sisters Love, Chris Clark, The Elgins). Although never signed to (or at least never recorded for) Motown as far as I know, Ortheia Barnes, a prominent figure in the Detroit music scene was also included in the Motorcity project. Although the 1989 remake doesn't even come close to eclipsing or standing out from the original, Ian Levine has very recently put many of the tracks and videos from his Motorcity project up on YouTube, this one included (click here to view the video).. The production values of the video are quite amateur to say the least, largely consisting of Ortheia doing her thing in the studio, nevertheless it's a treat to at least see one of the faces behind these tracks..
More recently the UK club mix factory, Almighty Records had done a remix of the song in 2003 which I haven't heard yet, although given that it's on a CD single with Evelyn Thomas' "High Energy," I'm assuming the remix is most likely based on Ian Levine's '89 remake, as opposed to the original...
Although Parsons and Steinberg were far from prolific disco producers, their few disco releases under the guises of Hott City and Cut Glass (at least the ones that I've heard so far) displayed such a distinctive sound and style that it seems rather unfortunate that they weren't more prolific. Although these tracks came fairly late in the game as far as disco is concerned, both sides are great examples of not only the diversity within disco, but as one of the best things to come out of that musically odd transition period just after it's height.. Personally, I see this single as musically notable not just on it's own terms, but with it's elegantly synthesized style replacing what would probably have been a sweeping string section on an earlier disco record, it also seems to represent a kind of bridge between the classic disco sound that preceded it and the Hi-NRG dance music that would replace it in the '80s.. That transition period at the dawn of the '80s saw some, if not many disco acts and producers experimenting and often times putting out sub-par, uninspired records to distance themselves from disco's tainted shadow. However, there were inspired moments like this that, even to this day, not only sound unusually fresh and distinctive but which also realized the best of what disco had to offer..
Parsons and Steinberg would produce one more single under the Cut Glass guise, a cover of the Grey & Hanks tune "Rising Cost Of Love." From Millie Jackson, to the Supremes' Jean Terrell, to the Tom Moulton project Loose Change and others I'm sure, "Rising Cost of Love" was one song which really seemed to make the rounds in the late '70s. Unfortunately, it's one single that I don't have yet, but certainly something I'd be curious to hear one day.
Just to note: both tracks from the original 12" were ripped from my vinyl copy, however the Hot Tracks remix was a file that I had downloaded elsewhere a while back.. I believe the Steve Algozino remix was released on the 5 CD "Hot Classics Box Set" that Hot Tracks put out in the early 90s. Long out of print and produced in limited quantities, it's pretty hard to come by but given the quantity of mixes on it, it's evidently highly sought after these days.. Although I don't have this next set either, former Saint DJ Michael Fierman included "Without Your Love" on his double-CD mix compilation "Fire Island Classics, Vol. 2" (1999, Centaur), which I believe is the only place where any of the original Cut Glass recordings have been officially put on CD..
Another side note: Given that I've invoked it quite a bit on here, for more insight on The Saint, see former Saint DJ Robbie Leslie's interview with DJ History as well as some of the others in the second section of links, below..
