Amanda Lear’s ‘Blood And Honey’ (Ariola) has been a massive Euro-hit, following on perfectly from Baccara, and is doing well in the Disco Chart. Evidently though it isn’t selling here or why else would Ariola ally themselves with a Doncaster-based promotion company to try to persuade disco DJ’s to change that situation.
Now it’s not as if this page didn’t review – indeed, predict success for – the record even before it came out here, but . . . for the past two weeks we have been inundated with potted reviews from disco DJ’s, all telling us what the bloody thing sounds like! Great, fab, but what’s the point?
Evidently BADJA, the promotion company, masquerades as a free association for DJ’s, and doles out records to its members. In doling out the Amanda Lear 12in (and also another Ariola single by Lynne Jones ‘Come Softly To Me’), BADJA asked all the recipients to write to this page with their comments about them. Had they come out in the open and asked the DJ’s to send in Disco Charts containing the records they could have been accused of hype. On the other hand those charts would have had to contain a dozen other records not necessarily issued by BADJA.
Amanda Lear’s is a good record which works well, and I use it myself. It has every right to appear in disco charts – if those are a true representation of dancers’ reaction. From the way this page is structured it should be obvious that we welcome correspondence from DJ’s which is then broken down to provide all the info that goes into each section of the page. What were we meant to do with all the BADJA members’ comments?
It really ought to be the duty of any DJ on a record company mailing list to justify his position. By submitting disco charts to Record Mirror regularly he can influence the whole country and not just his own piddling little venue. But he should not just list all the freebies he’s received, regardless.
Also, please realise that while I enjoy getting letters they are wasted unless they contain specific news or a chart that can he used on this page, and an SAE if an answer is required. End of lecture. Happy New Year!
No New Spins this week.
No Hot Vinyl this week. Continue reading “December 31, 1977: Why would Ariola ally themselves with a Doncaster-based promotion company?”
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