Joe Gibbs’s reggae labels are now being serviced to suitable jocks (some breakthrough, huh?!), so if you feature much reggae send your work details to Winston Edwards or Ann Leid at Joe Gibbs Record City, 29 Lewisham Way, New Cross, London SE 14 (01-691 0070) . . . National Association of Youth Clubs, in conjunction with guess which over-promoted movie are scouring their 5,000 youth clubs for a big competition to find the top disco dancing teams of three to six kids, local round winners working towards regional and then national finals in October and December . . . Norwich Cromwells start a big East of England Group Competition in a month’s time to find quality musicianship worthy of recording by Arista and a £1,000 first prize: groups from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Lincs, Notts, Leics, Cambs and Beds can apply for forms to Mr. Tartt, Cromwells, Edwards Street, Norwich.
New Spins
RICK JAMES: ‘You And I’ (Motown TMG 1110) (BNDA debut 5/13/78)
Powerhouse smash funky whomper stamper, edited to 3:08 for UK 7in but bound to be huge.
IDRIS MUHAMMAD: ‘Boogie To The Top’ LP (Kudu KU 38) (BNDA debut 5/6/78)
Relentless jazz-funk thumping title-track smash leaps along for 10:25 of musical shifts within an almost afro rhythm. ‘One With A Star’ and ‘S-E-X’ are hot, too.
Thames Valley DJ Assn members meet at noon on Sunday (21) in Windsor’s Thames Hotel to discuss affiliation with the DJ Federation, meet DJF and Polydor’s Theo Loyla, and hear Ian Webb demonstrating tape use. Also, on Tuesday (23) the TVDJA broadcast on Radio 210 Thames Valley in an 8:30 pm access programme, discussing discos and the Fever phenomenon . . . Project Electronics have expanded into a new factory near their Ealing showrooms to handle demand for their Simms discos and LS808 light mixers – which accounts for any delay in delivery . . . Rick Stevens of Leicester’s Oasis Discos gigged recently at the East Midlands Custom Car & Bike Show where the local cruisers put on “Bar Stool Racing”, scooting around the stage at 30mph on electronically-driven bar stools . . . with no brakes! Rick had a ball with the commentary, and a fall from his stool . . . Record exporters Midnight Records of 32 Charlwood Close, Elms Road, Harrow Weald, Middlesex HA3 6DW, specialize in servicing overseas jocks. For example, all current UK singles are 80p (including postage), while oldies at 90p (less in bulk) can be chosen from the vast Lightning catalogue costing £2. This same catalogue costs only 25p from The Record Emporium, PO Box 4, Neston, South Wirral L64 9YE, whose domestic mail order service offers UK 45’s at 70p and imports at 95p, plus postage (ie: 30p for 10 singles). Contact both for details before ordering . . . Dublin’s Phoenix, the largest gay disco in Ireland, is now called Le Spank. Seems appropriate!
New Spins
ROD STEWART: ‘Ole Ola’ / ‘Que Sera’ / ‘My Mammy’ (Riva 15)
Sensational authentic Brazilian knees-up and dynamite singalong rock flip, all with superimposed TV commentary and effects. Watch it smash!
REAL THING: ‘Let’s Go Disco’ (Pye 7N 46078)
From ‘The Stud’ and out now on 45 partly at my instigation, this untypical happy clapping disco bubbler could be just the tonic they need between stereotyped “official” releases. Make it a biggie and spare my blushes, please!
Last Monday’s funky all-dayers did their best to show that not everyone in Britain suffers from media-induced Saturday Night Fever, although Radio London’s Dave Simmons let the side down by playing the Bee Gees at Camberley’s Frenchies. He won’t be asked back again!
Purley Tiffanys was packed even fuller than before, with an incredible atmosphere which reached a crescendo of whistles and whoop-whoops before Hi-Tension finally appeared, delayed by a hitch in the revolving stage. They had to do ‘Hi-Tension’ three times to keep the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd happy. Mooning human pyramids kept collapsing until a twisted ankle – the first casualty – caused them to be stopped. And an example of boobing by a black beauty caused Chris Hill to be reprimanded by the management!
Tom Holland and Sean French consolidated their growing reputations as prime funk spinners, alongside Chris Brown, Robbie Vincent and Froggy – while Froggy’s massive array of roadshow gear sounded superb and won more praise than practically anything.
The Dimloes crowd from Wellpond Green, complete with banners and a chartered bus, rivaled the Candles crowd and definitely won with their display of the new dance sensation, the Dimloe Shuffle. Best done to Gary Criss’s ‘Rio de Janeiro’, the line dance consists of a waddle forward like a pixelated penguin, four hops back and a waddling turn. Teach that, Arthur Murray! For the oldies finale and traditional O’Jays ‘I Love Music’ climax, the audience was divided by Chris Hill and Robbie Vincent into sections one, two and three, each then instructed to out-whoop the others . . . so that the eventual catch-phrase to emerge from the whole festival had to be “Section 3” (spot that on badges soon!).
At Frenchies, the Olympic Runners appeared in full force for the first time to mime zanily and create havoc, while the music was piped at softer volume into the luxurious bars away from the crush – making it a very nice place to be. The crowd was a bit commercially-orientated though, according to some mutterers. At Crackers in London’s Soho the crowd was much blacker than at the other gigs, with 1,200 funksters turning up during the day to hear Paul Gratue, George Power and Bob Jones.
Next bank holiday Monday now looms close, May 29th, with repeat events and similar line-ups at all three venues. In addition, the day will start with a fancy dress all-nighter between midnight and 5am at Harlow Tiffanys, starring Tom Holland, Les Knott and Chris St. John. Heatwave headline at Purley – but beware as ticket numbers 1-500 for Purley, printed on blue, have been stolen and are invalid (new ones will now not be on blue). At Frenchies the car park next to the Cambridge Hotel will be covered in a marquee to make more space, and ticket sales have started (£2) from 11 Roslyn Court, Woking, Surrey (04862-66555). Finally, there’s also the possibility of two separate funky all-dayers at North London’s Alexandra Palace in early June.
New Spins
MASTERMIND: ‘Hustle Bus Stop’ (CBS 6329)
Long-awaited 4:08 import smash has whoop-whoops, Hi-Tension beat, Fatback feel and everything else it takes!
SUN: ‘Sun Is Here’ / ‘Dance’ (Capitol CL 15979)
Usefully edited hit funky LP track with confusingly real-sounding whoop-whoops, slicker flip.
ROBERTA KELLY: ‘Getting The Spirit’ LP (Oasis OASLP 505) (BNDA debut 4/8/78)
Sensational happy gospel-disco side-long segue of ‘Oh Happy Day’ / ‘To My Father’s House’ / ‘My Sweet Lord’, taken lickety-split with Giorgio Moroder’s usual gimmicks added to a superb bouncy beat and some real soul singing!
MAYTALS: ‘Toots Presents The Maytals’ LP (State ETAT 16)
Full 5:52 version of the clever ‘Disco Reggae’ hit is longer in every different musical section, and has many great progressions that are missing completely from the edited 12in single. The rest is straight reggae with plenty for purists to use.
James Hamilton's Disco Page 