Month: October 1978

Disco News

Graham Thornton, Tea Council Young DJ winner, is confirmed as the early hours 2 to 6am Sunday morning man on Manchester’s Piccadilly Radio from next weekend (Nov 5), but meanwhile jocks this Saturday (28) at Boroughbridge Hotel Cottages . . . Polydor have imported 15,000 of Alicia Bridges’s US 12in to sell here at £1.25 . . . Phonogram beat the opposition to get Rahni Harris and rush it on 12in as soon as possible! Others from them include Crown Heights Affair ‘Gonna Love You Forever’ / ‘Say A Prayer For Two’ on remixed 12in next week and Village People’s ultra-gay ‘YMCA’ out mid-month . . . more for November are Shalamar on 12in, War ‘Youngblood’ 12, Voyage ‘Souvenirs’ (from the up-coming ‘Fly Away’ LP) flipped by ‘Lady America’ on 12in, Aquarian Dream LP, Diana Ross/Michael Jackson ‘Ease On Down The Road’ 7in next week and James Brown ‘Nature, Parts 1 & 2’ 7in the week after . . . Pulse ‘The Warrior’ (Ipi Tombi IPT 1S), an exciting 12in to mix out of ‘British Hustle’ or Manu Dibango, is available via Spartan Distributors (01-903 4753) – so tell your local shop if you’ve been having trouble . . . somehow my idea of disco radio is not incessant repetition of Dan Hartman, Sylvester and Sugar Cane, interspersed with Gordon Lightfoot, Barry Aldias and ads for a Byrds compilation, is it yours?! . . . Yvonne Marvil needs specialist rock jocks for her mailing list at Shaboodle Promotions Ltd, 148 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0LH, so send details of your rock gigs, while Andrew Bunker (currently working on Chrysalis disco product) invites all jocks to send him their work details at Leapfrog Promotions, Priory House, Kingsgate Place, London NW6 . . . Strathclyde DJ Assn challenge various local showbiz teams to a double-headed charity Five-A-Side football tournament this Sunday (29) at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall, starting 3pm . . . later that night at 8pm the South Eastern Disco Assn meet in Wrotham’s Spring Tavern . . . Chris Archer, founding father of the East Anglian DJ Assn, has resigned for personal reasons as secretary, which role will now be handled temporarily by Peter May of 4 Aerodrome Road, Thorpe, Norwich, Norfolk (Norwich 35084) . . . The DJ Federation-affiliated association for the central south east coast is the Solent DJA, c/o, Ray Hewins, 29 Allens Road, Southsea, Portsmouth (0705 28291) – OK, Andy Desmond? . . . guess what, Brighton Metro’s Grease promotion has been cancelled – but not, as DJ John Lewis hastens to explain, because people in jeans would be barred! . . . the original backers of proposed new DJ World monthly magazine have dropped out, but guiding light Garrell Redfearn still plans to publish, eventually – OK, Ashley Woods? . . . Enri Yori of Peckham Red Bull fame keeps reporting disgraceful rip-offs by record shops who ignore the advertised price of 12in issues and sell them at way above the proper price – something else that unlimited 12in runs should put an end to!

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New Spins

PHIL HURTT: ‘Giving It Back’ (Fantasy 12FTC 161)
Lovely happy Philly flier with an infectious almost conga rhythm, already a disco monster on import and now finally out as limited 6:00 12in or 3:45 7in.

MANU DIBANGO: ‘Sun Explosion’ / ‘Big Blow’ (Decca GFR 13810)
Typical happy fast afro jumper on 8:05 12in or 3:52 7in, with for the first time on UK 12in last year’s similar disco smash as 8.00 flip.

QUARTZ: ‘Beyond The Clouds’ (Pye 7NL 25797-12) (BNDA debut 7/22/78)
Incredibly powerful but simple electronic pounder has some crashing piano chords which help make it a well-proven floor filler (for me anyway), on well-cut 12in. Try mixing out of Cerrone ‘Supernature’!  Continue reading “October 28, 1978: Phil Hurtt, Manu Dibango, Quartz, Stanley Turrentine, Brothers Johnson”

Disco News

Heatwave’s reggae remix of ‘Mind Blowing Decisions’ will now be B-side of their ‘Always And Forever’, due on 20,000 copy limited edition 12in this Friday (GTO GT 12 236)! . . . Sylvester ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’ is finally confirmed as his follow-up here on Nov 10, while a week earlier, Chaka Khan’s great ‘I’m Every Woman’ is set for 12in release . . . Commodores ‘Three Times A Lady’ is currently about on 6:31 Dutch 12in, with ‘Brick House’ as flip, and there’s evidently a Mick Jackson “extended” remix 12in on yellow vinyl . . . Parliafunkadelicment tour in early December with three nights at Hammersmith Odeon, which mean Funkadelic’s 11 minute remix 12in of ‘One Nation Under A Groove’ could be out here then . . . Thames Valley DJ Assn members meet at noon in the Tower Arms, Richings Park, Iver. Slough, to meet WEA’s Fred Dove and Phonogram’s John Waller, and learn about crime prevention – hmmmm, if I’m awake I could make it too!

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New Spins

Once again pressure of events have made me late with the deadline, so there was no time to listen to the newies – sorry! However, these look like being the week’s most interesting:

PHIL HURTT ‘Giving It Back’ (Fantasy 12 FTC 161) on full 12in remix or 3:45 7in; MANU DIBANGO ‘Sun Explosion’ / ‘Big Blow’ (Decca GFR 13810) on 12in at full 8:05 and 8:00; QUARTZ ‘Beyond The Clouds’ (Pye 7NL 25797-12) (BNDA debut 7/22/78) great electronic 12in goes well with Cerrone; VELVELETTES ‘Needle In A Haystack’ / ‘He Was Really Sayin’ Somethin’’ (Motown TMG 1124) classic stompers; AFRO-CUBAN BAND ‘Rhythm Of Life’ (Arista ARIST 12-214) (BNDA debut 9/2/78) on 5:46 12in or 3:24 7in; BUNNY MALONEY ‘Baby I’ve Been Missing You’ (Gull GULS 65) great reggae; PETER TOSH & MICK JAGGER ‘(You Gotta Walk) Don’t Look Back’ (EMI 2859) pop-reggae; TIMMY THOMAS ‘Freak In Freak Out’ (TK TKR7505); RICK JAMES ‘Mary Jane’ (Motown TMG 1121) heavy funk; FINISHED TOUCH ‘Need To Know You Better’ LP (Motown STML 12095) mid-tempo title track remains most popular; PAUL JABARA ‘Keeping Time’ LP (Casablanca CAL 2029) (BNDA debut 8/26/78) includes original of ‘Last Dance’; EASTBOUND EXPRESSWAY ‘Never Let Go’ (Pye 7NL 25798) (BNDA debut 10/28/78) on 9:55 12in; STEVE KHAN ‘The Blue Man’ LP (CBS 83146) with jazz-funk ‘Some Down Time’; DONNA MCGHEE ‘Do As I Do’ (Anchor ANC 1061) on 12in and 7in; KRAFTWERK ‘Neon Lights’ (Capitol 12CL 15998) on luminous 12in; KEBEKELEKTRIK ‘Kebekelektrik’ LP (Epic EPC 83005) (BNDA debut 6/24/78) with 8:07 ‘War Dance’; CONSTELLATION ORCHESTRA ‘Perfect Love Affair’ LP (CBS 83004) (BNDA debut 7/1/78) with 7:20 ‘Perfect Love Affair’, 7:07 ‘Cosmic Melody’ and 6:40 ‘Funk Encounter’; INNER CITY EXPRESS ‘Spring Rain’ (Ebony EYE 15) cover of Silvetti; CLAUDJA BARRY ‘Down By The Water’ (Lollipop LOLLY 3) Boney M sound-alike; MADLEEN KANE ‘C’est Si Bon’ (Decca FR 13805); SWITCH ‘There’ll Never Be’ (Motown TMG 1123); TYRONE ASHLEY ‘Don’t Stop Dancing’ (UA UP 36431); M. J. WILLIAMS ‘Only Your Love Can Save Me Now’ (Ariola ARO 136); WEATHER REPORT ‘River People’ (CBS 6743); GIL SCOTT-HERON ‘Show Bizness’ (Arista ARIST 215); HARVEY MASON ‘Pack Up Your Bags’ (Arista ARIST 208); IN CROWD ‘A Little Bit Of Reggae’ (Cactus CT 114); VIVIAN WEATHERS ‘Hip Hug’ (Virgin Front Line FLS 114); ZAP POW ‘Let’s Fall In Love’ (Island WIP 6451). Full reviews next week, hopefully.  Continue reading “October 21, 1978: “Parliafunkadelicment tour in early December with three nights at Hammersmith Odeon””

Disco News

Manu Dibango ‘Sun Explosion’ is due on Decca 12in any day (GFR 13810), while La Bionda ‘One For You, One For Me’ is finally on full-length 12in now (Mercury 9199895) . . . following last week’s wail, Curtis Mayfield ‘No Goodbyes’ probably will be out here after all! . . . Grey & Hanks ‘You Fooled Me’ is on RCA 7in next week . . . Rumours confirmed, Radio Luxembourg is indeed broadcasting a Disco Format already, with Tony Prince’s Disco Top 30 going out on Sundays from 9-11pm and forming the playlist base – although other musical styles get plenty of slots too . . . Pinnacle Records needs new disco-type acts to record, so send audition tapes to Paul Lynton at Pinnacle, 62 Grosvenor Street, London W1 (that’s musical acts, not DJ’s, dummy!) . . . Roger Squire’s London Disco Centre at 176 Junction Road, Tufnell Park, is running a big clearance sale on certain equipment lines, so call Nigel Morris on 01-272 8463 for up-to-date details . . . Disco Power of Newport, South Wales, are expanding into larger factory premises so that their sound and lighting lines can be distributed in bulk by a larger dealer network, rather than just selling locally in their South Wales Disco Centre shop . . . also in that area, the South Wales DJ Assn application form is even more complicated than RCA’s Disco Direction booklet! . . . Martin Starr of Bristol has teamed up with fellow funk jocks Malc Haynes and Larry Speed to form the solidly funky US Soul Roadshow (Bristol 694156), with plans for a local soul club to open soon and also the need of a venue for a soul all-dayer – any offers? . . . I told you Crown Heights Affair would be good, and at Hammersmith their ‘Say A Prayer For Two’ was the most gospel-wailing, soul-searing thing I’ve heard for ages – but from that point on their energy level went into overkill and my mind went numb after a while! . . . In Brighton last week after the Crusaders gig, I tried visiting DJ John Lewis at Metro but was barred as my photographer was wearing denim jeans (pressed with knife-edge creases though!). I wonder how Metro will cope with the Grease promotion due there on the 25th! Would Travolta be barred too?

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New Spins

DAN HARTMAN: ‘Instant Replay’ (Blue Sky SKY 6706) (BNDA debut 8/19/78)
Rocket countdown to disco dynamite at its utmost with the ex-Edgar Winter rocker shrieking like Sylvester as the sax soars, however, the brilliant US 12in will ludicrously NOT be out here although it contains all the main power. Whatever you do, get the import if you can, as at 3:25 this is silly in comparison!

MUSIQUE: ‘In The Bush’ (from LP ‘Keep On Jumpin’’, CBS 83173) (BNDA debut 7/29/78)
Out here at last, the mindlessly metronomic import smash is a dead simple 8:20 girlie group jumper that builds into a catchy “push push, in the bush” chorus, with a rhythm that locks perfectly onto Dan Hartman. Zingier but similar title track is useful too.

SYLVESTER: ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’ (from LP ‘Step II’, Fantasy FT 549) (BNDA debut 7/8/78)
Exciting 5:50 stormer spurts into a series of short gaps containing freaky effects, but it and the 6:30 ‘You Make Me Feel’ are not the US 12in mix.  Continue reading “October 14, 1978: Dan Hartman, Musique, Sylvester, Ashford & Simpson, Teddy Pendergrass”

Disco News

Curtis Mayfield ‘No Goodbyes’ will – amazingly – NOT be out here in any form, despite it being his best disco dancer since 1971’s ‘Move On Up’, so you’ve gotta get it on import! . . . Sweet Thunder’s 12in remix will be issued here at last, but – wait for it – on unlimited 33 1/3 rpm 7in, as the 12in (i.e. LP) presses are all tied up with Xmas album product! . . . Brothers Johnson ‘Ride-O-Rocket’ will be on Funk A&Merica soon, with ‘Rocket Countdown’ as a bonus extra on the 12in version only – and Atlantic Starr ‘Stand Up’ will be on extended US remix form on Funk A&Merica too . . . Quint ‘9 To 5’ is also on 12in (RCA PC 5114) . . . Rus Phillips offers a half-price import LP to any DJ spending £25 at his disco department (open Friday evening & all day Saturday) at ‘Ere For Music in Manor Park Broadway – he also needs Passport and Slave on 12in, so any swapsies? . . . Heatwave ‘Always And Forever’ / ‘Ain’t No Half Steppin’’ will be on 20,000 12in and Stanley Turrentine on 10,000 12in, both within a fortnight! . . . London’s LODJ Assn meets this Sunday (8) at 4pm in Three Wheatsheaves, 52 Upper Street, Angel . . . East Anglia DJ Assn, with 80 members from Norfolk/Suffolk/Cambridge, plans to expand, so contact Chris Archer on Norfolk 860241 if interested . . . in answer to persistent doubters, Mick Jackson wrote and originated ‘Blame It On The Boogie’, NOT The Jacksons . . . United Artists’ new policy switch away from disco product means that Ian Levine stops his UA mailouts but is currently compiling a US-style segued LP that mixes imports and oldies . . . Frenchies’ Palm Beach restaurant in Worcester Park turns up the funk-jazz volume control and has star PA’s every Saturday from 11am until early next morning, making it what they call the only all-dayer in a restaurant! The Frenchies beach party is again on Christmas Day at Camberley’s Cambridge Hotel, and in fact all hotel accommodation has already been booked by funksters from Bournemouth and Tottenham . . . Dublin’s gay Le Spank club is in the process of moving premises.

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New Spins

Tough new deadlines (or actually the old ones kept to!) have not left me enough time to listen to any records for the last two weeks, for which many apologies.

Anyway, these are the most significant of the new disco releases:

SYLVESTER: ‘Step II’ LP (Fantasy FT 549), with full 6:39 ‘You Make Me Feel’ and 5:54 ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’; JOE THOMAS: ‘Plato’s Retreat’ (TK TKR 6049) (BNDA debut 8/12/78) on 4:46 7in only; TEDDY PENDREGRASS: ‘Only You’ (Philadelphia Int’l PIR 6713) on 7:58 remix 12in; OLYMPIC RUNNERS: ‘Get It While You Can’ (Polydor RUN 012) on longer 12in; ROY AYERS: ‘Get On Up, Get On Down’ (Polydor AYERS 12) finally out; ASHFORD & SIMPSON: ‘It Seems To Hang On’ (Warner Bros. K 17237) on 3:40 7in; GAP MANGIONE: ‘Time Of The Season’ / ‘Mellow Out’ (Funk A&Merica AMSP 7377) on 12in but minus ‘Sister Jo’; CAROL DOUGLAS: ‘Burnin’’ (Midsong BURN 12) (BNDA debut 9/9/78) on longer 12in; BONEY M.: ‘Rasputin’ (Atlantic K 11192) on 4:39 7in and 7:33 remix 12in; DONNA SUMMER: ‘MacArthur Park’ (Casablanca CAN 131) (BNDA debut 9/23/78); SUPREMES: ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ (Motown TMG 925); FOUR TOPS: ‘I Can’t Help Myself’ / ‘It’s The Same Old Song’ (Motown TMG 1120); SWITCH: ‘Switch’ LP (Motown STML 12096) with ‘We Like To Party . . . Come On’ and good slowies; AFRO-CUBAN BAND: ‘Rhythm Of Life’ (Arista ARIST 214) (BNDA debut 9/2/78) on 3:24 7in; LAURIN RINDER & W. MICHAEL LEWIS: ‘Envy (Animal Fire)’ / ‘Lust’ (Pye 7NL 25779) (BNDA debut 4/8/78) on 12in at 9:54 and 7:09; J.A.L.N. BAND: ‘Universal Love’ (Magnet MAG 131); MARSHA HUNT: ‘The Other Side Of Midnight’ (Magnet 12MAG 130) (BNDA debut 1/14/78) on 4:00 7in or 4:47 12in; QUINCY JONES: ‘Love I Never Had It So Good’ / ‘I Heard That’ / ‘Body Heat’ (Funk A&Merica AMSP 7385) on 7in and 12in with 3:20 or 5:14 A-side.

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Continue reading “October 7, 1978: “Tough new deadlines””