Easy Listening Disco (reposted)

This is one of my favourite selections so decided to give it a second posting. Hope you enjoy it.

I've called this selection Easy Listening Disco because that's just what it is - something like a Radio 2 playlist perhaps (but a good one, of course!).

South Side Movement is a recent discovery for me and we kick off with a nice funky instrumental. Next up is The Cutter - a fun Rediffusion library track, linking on to Eddie Kendricks early disco sound with Date with the Rain.

A bit of celebrity disco at track 4, but Johnny Mathis does it so nicely we can forgive him! Then at track 5 something interesting - an uncredited female singer on Sounds Like Soul's version of Son of a Preacher Man (another Rediffusion library track), and I must say whoever she is she gives Dusty a run for her money.

Going way back in time next for the Frank Sinatra track. This and the end track are from an EP that's been lying about since I was a child. Usual classy vocals accompanied by a very uptempo and swinging Billy May Orchestra on these two tracks.

A soulful sound from session singer Rosetta Hightower next, and some more funk from LTG Exchange, then on to another track from the 1980 film Prom Night. This track accompanies the dancing at the prom disco just before all the carnage begins!

We finish up with some classic pop from one-hit wonders Ace, and some late 60s northern soul from Marilyn Powell before ending with the second Frank Sinatra track.

1.	00:00	South Side Movement - Mud Wind	1972
2.	04:25	Vick Flick - The Cutter
3.	06:29	Eddie Kendricks - Date With the Rain	1972
4.	15:02	Johnny Mathis - Gone, Gone, Gone	1979
5.	21:22	Sounds Like Soul - Son of a Preacher Man	1969
6.	23:44	Frank Sinatra - Dancing in the Dark	1959
7.	26:06	Rosetta Hightower - Friendship Train
8.	29:51	LTG Exchange - Waterbed	1974
9.	35:22	Paul Zaza - Love Me Til I Die	1980
10.	39:58	Ace - How Long	1975
11.	43:06	Syd Dale - Time for a Change	1974
12.	46:30	Marilyn Powell - Something to Hold on To	1968
13.	49:14	Frank Sinatra - Baubles, Bangles and Beads	1959

Please note this mix is presented for information and demonstration only in a low bitrate mono stream

O Michel

For some reason I've had this 1979 Patsy Gallant track on my mind for a few days. Don't know why as it was never one of my favourites, but it made me get the album out and give it another spin.

Typical late 70s disco really, though there's something about it I like. The lyrics seem quite amusing, and I love the idea of a "disco cafe" - I wonder what they were like!

Patsy is only really known for "From New York to LA" in the UK, though she had a longer career in her native Canada, and I hear is still going strong, having appeared in a film there a few years ago.

Enjoy the track!



http://www.divshare.com/download/10326236-6d4

Grooveroom Talking - 2 January 2010

Welcome to the first show of 2010, and Happy New Year to everyone!

Some good stuff in this show - we're looking at the 1979 Joan Collins film The Bitch, as well as sampling some music from an early 70s porn film.

And of course we could hardly talk about 70s porn without playing the Andrea True Connection classic More, More, More.

Hope you enjoy it - look forward to reading any thoughts, suggestions etc on the comments!

1.		Andrea True Connection - More, More, More	1976
2.		Karen Silver - Hold On, I'm Comin'	1979
3.		Players Association - Turn the Music Up	1979
4.		Skatt Brothers - Walk The Night	1979
5.		Pattie Brooks - My Heart Belongs To You	1979
6.		Herb Alpert - Rise	1979
7.		Don Argott - If It Ain't Easy, It Ain't Sleazy	1972

Grooveroom Talking - 18 December 2009

Welcome back to my third radio show!

Carrying on the theme from previous shows the celebrity disco track this week is Gone, Gone, Gone from Johnny Mathis, and our music from the movies is the Julio Gutierrez version of Last Tango in Paris.

We also have some tracks exploring the boundaries between easy listening, jazz and disco, and finishing with a great favourite of mine from Eddie Kendricks.

Hope you enjoy listening - the weekend starts here!

1.		Sly and the Family Stone - Dance to the Music	1968
2.		Grey & Hanks - Dancin'	1978
3.		Geraldine Hunt - Can't Fake the Feeling	1980
4.		Cheri - Murphy's Law	1982
5.		Johnny Mathis - Gone, Gone, Gone	1979
6.		Julio Gutierrez - Last Tango in Paris	1973
7.		Syd Dale - Disco Tek	1973
8.		Silver Convention - Save Me	1975
9.		Steely Dan - Time Out of Mind	1980
10.		Shakatak - Easier Said Than Done	1981
11.		Eddie Kendricks - Date with the Rain	1977

Grooveroom Talking 11 December 09

This is number two in my series of disco oriented radio shows and I had great fun putting it together. I'm going to try and make these shows a weekly event as long as time permits!

I've got some great tracks from disco's earlier days to start us off, a curiosity from Ethel Merman, and this week's cinema spot looks at the 1970 British film "Groupie Girl" and the track "Sweet Motion" which is featured in the film.

We follow that with a couple of italo-disco tracks from around 1980 and finish with a slow dance to Barbra Streisand's "Guilty" from the same year!

Don't forget to leave me a message on the blog if you've got any suggestions for future shows - I'd love to hear from you!

The tracks I'm playing and talking about this week are:

1.		Steely Dan - Do It Again	1972
2.		Zulema - Giving Up	1973
3.		Love Unlimited Orchestra - Love's Theme	1973
4.		Patti Jo - Make Me Believe in You	1975
5.		Ethel Merman - There's No Business Like Show Business	1979
6.		Salon Band - Sweet Motion	1970
7.		Passengers - I'll be Standing Beside You	1979
8.		Pino D'Angio - Ma Quale Idea	1980
9.		Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb - Guilty	1980

Grooveroom Talking

Felt like trying something new this time, so instead of just stringing the music together I thought I'd talk about it too - a bit like a radio broadcast, so hope you find it entertaining! Apologies for any blips in the sound - this was something of a tryout session as far as my equipment goes. Anyway looking forward to reading any comments you want to make about the show, so please don't be shy!

The tracks I'm playing and talking about are:

1.		Final Edition - Betcha Can't Love Just One	1980
2.		Harlow - Movie Queen	1980
3.		Alan Hawkshaw - Beat Me 'til I'm Blue	unknown
4.		Love De-Luxe - Here Comes that Sound Again	1979
5.		Paul Zaza - Love Me 'til I Die	1980
6.		Banzaii - Chinese Kung Fu	1975
7.		O C Smith - Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp	1968

A Trip to the Early 80s

Some of the tracks in this selection show how disco started to change in the early 80s. At number 2, for example, we have Harlow, a Canadian group who made quite a splash at the turn of the decade. Disco had already started to retreat back to the underground at this time, so tracks which were big on the dance floor were no longer likely to be chart hits. As far as I know, all of Harlow's music comes from the same album called Taking Off, and they all seem to have a happy, slightly wistful quality which I love.

The D-Train track was unusual in that it was both a chart hit and a dance floor hit. Very much a sound of the changing times when it first came out, I love its chunky beat and that electronic keyboard hook!

Slightly more laid back sounds from Ronnie Dyson and Geraldine Hunt next. Geraldine Hunt was another Canadian-produced performer, from a time when Canada was a real force for change on the disco scene. Not only did she have some great dance tracks of her own, but so did her children - Rosalind Hunt and Freddie James. Rosalind went on to be form the group Cheri who gave us the annoying but catchy Murphy's Law in 1982.

A classic at number 8 from Loleatta Holloway - you know it's good when 8 minutes just flies by and you still want more!

Right back to the late 60s to finish. The Sly Stone track is among many nominations for the "first disco record". In my view Dance to the Music has a better claim to the title than many!

A slow track to finish from one of my favourite singers, Madeline Bell. She didn't have that many hits under her own name, this cover of I'm Gonna Make You Love Me being no exception. However, to quote Peter Jones from the notes to her retrospective CD collection "Doin' Things" Madeline was able to "offer personal interpretations that neither differ radically from the originals, nor particularly remind one of them either." And I take that as praise!

1.	00:00	John Forde - Stardance	1978
2.	04:27	Harlow - Movie Queen	1980
3.	10:17	Grey & Hanks - Dancin'	1978
4.	16:52	D-Train - You're the One for Me	1981
5.	21:48	Ronnie Dyson - All Over Your Face	1983
6.	27:38	Geraldine Hunt - Can't Fake the Feeling	1980
7.	32:32	Loleatta Holloway - Runaway	1977
8.	40:54	Muscle Shoals Horns - Breakdown	1976
9.	44:16	Sly Stone - Dance to the Music	1968
10.	46:53	Madeline Bell - I'm Gonne Make You Love Me	1968