Month: June 1982

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

BLUE FEATHER is evidently about to have an extra previously unavailable ‘Club Instrumental’ added to make ‘Let’s Funk Tonight’ a 3-track 12in, while mixers should note their ‘It’s Love’ and D’Llegance have the same bongos . . . “D” Train’s ‘You’re The One For Me’ KISS remix is on one-sided Dutch Rams Horn 12in (RAMS 12-3106), their ‘Keep On’ being due here already as follow-up to ‘Walk On By’ . . . US Motown now know, so Stevie’s 12in can be acknowledged . . . 12in copies of Dennis Brown have been hard to find, which hasn’t stopped him being one of London’s top sellers . . . Light Of The World’s July album has been preceded by a 4-track promo 12in (hissily cut), their future ‘No. 1 Girl‘ being a 0-89-0-129bpm jogger with nice sax which suddenly switches into a fast Latin finish (are the lyrics really about coming home to Mum?), ‘Soho‘ a jittery 118bpm smacker with ‘Wikka Wrap’ outro, and ‘(Everybody) Move‘ a brassy 114 bpm jiggler . . . Donna Summer’s Quincy-produced ‘Love Is In Control‘ 7in is 133bpm pop . . . Harringey’s Bolts gay club starts next Thursday (1) a National Gay Disco Dancing Championship which’ll also embrace Manchester Heroes, Nottingham Le Chic Part Two, Brighton Bolts (Sherrys), Southampton Magnum Club before finishing back in Harringey — details on 01-802 0303/5959 . . . Leeds Warehouse owner Mike Wiand donated £800 to Radio Luxembourg’s recent charity telethon, buying a future half hour show on the station for the club’s DJ Ian Dewhirst . . . Steve Walsh is busy this Friday (25), guesting on Dave Brown’s BBC Radio Medway soul show, then jocking at both Battersea Queens and Soho Gossips . . . Chris Hill will be resident on Fridays when Dartford Flicks reopens . . . Fatman Graham Canter’s now doing regular spots at Piccadilly’s flashy Xenon, which gives receipts for all your drinks— good for expense accounts? . . . DJ Federation individual membership charges have been halved for the rest of 1982, costing now £12.50 — enquiries to DJF(GB), 6 Apsley Street, Keighley, West Yorkshire . . . Maze’s New Orleans video is evidently to be released officially . . . Level 42’s next single will possibly either be live, or have a live flip, or a free live extra single — according to Mark King, talking to Bristol’s Nigel Halkes, who also says “I wonder if someone could tell Froggy not to shout so much when he’s on ‘Steppin’ Out’, he does yell a bit” tee hee! . . . Staines Jacksons Nightclub needs established club DJs to guest on Friday nights with Dave Collins — call Marc Carter on Staines 53193 / Henley 5430 . . . Neil Fincham (Edinburgh Mad Hatter’s Speakeasy) revisits his Ipswich birthplace early in August and would welcome some free jazz-funk guests spots — call him (weekends) on 0368 63606 . . . Mike Page, now slipping in some jazz-funk at Telford’s Nell Gwynn, used to jock in Essex at the Essex Barn and Countryman with Bob Jones, and says “hi” to him . . . ‘Murphy’s Law’ composer credits read as James Hunt! . . . TV’s version of ‘Fame’ is less snappily edited than the movie but will obviously bear watching as it explores the diameters in greater depth (I hope) . . . Gary Numan’s image is of course that of Herbert Lom in ‘The Ladykillers’ . . . Beggar & Co’s ears have been burning, with everyone talking about their dreadful new single . . . Chris Britton (Watford Baileys) recommends Modern Romance to any promoter following their week with him . . . Cindy Ecstasy, Soft Cell’s female “voice” has been staying round my mate Sparrow’s gaff . . . Nightclub pop dance chart has settled down to a regular 65 places long — It would be nice to hear from more jocks who buy their pop records . . . Change is 115(intro)-116bpm . . . Mark Clark, Paul Major and others, note: when calculating Beats Per Minute, the beat at the moment you hit your stopwatch is “0” and not “1” — I always wind my hand tally counter back to ‘9999″ so that it hits zero as soon as I start clicking off the beats . . . Greg Edwards recommends unattached young ladies to go up to strange men in bars and say “Why suck on a strawberry cocktail when you can suck on my lips?” . . . KEEP IT TIGHT!

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UK NEWIES

NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN: ‘You Ought To Love Me’ (Atlantic K 11739T).
Sensational to mix (with Larry Graham, Second Image — hell, just about anything!), this tumblingly rattling and lurching 116bpm smacker really cuts naggingly through due to its great simple bubbling synth twiddles and is now on extra strong 3-track 12in with his old classic 117-116(start)-114-115 (break)-114bpm ‘I Shoulda Loved Ya’ and 125(very start)-121-120-125(clap/horns)-123-121bpm ‘Tonight I’m Alright’. DJs previously plugging his LP’s ‘Summer Lady’ will be switching in droves!

CAPTAIN SENSIBLE: ‘Happy Talk’ (A&M CAPP).
The madly jaunty ‘South Pacific’ ditty — apart from being a surefire silly summer smash in this carefully created 100/50-0-100-0bpm 12in revival — amazingly blends into a funk set thanks to its solid bass! Try vari-synching it between Ray Parker ‘Just Havin’ Fun‘ and then (before it pauses slowly) into Kid Creole ‘Wonderful Thing’ — brilliant!

RICK JAMES: ‘Money Talks’ (LP ‘Throwin’ Down’ Motown STML 12167).
Beautifully packaged totally typical Rick James funk set, this 120-121-122bpm smacker synching perfectly out of ‘Standing On The Top’ and now to my mind being better than the 123-124-123bpm ‘Dance Wit’ Me‘, others in similar mould being the 121bpm ‘Hard To Get‘, 126bpm ‘69 Times‘, 129bpm ‘Throwdown‘, while Teena Marie joins him on the dead slow ‘Happy’. Continue reading “June 26, 1982: Narada Michael Walden, Captain Sensible, Rick James, Plunky & The Oneness Of Juju, Stevie Wonder”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

JENNIFER HOLLIDAY’S spine-tingling performance of ‘And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going’ from Broadway’s much awarded ‘Dreamgirls’ musical on last week’s televising of ‘The Tony Awards’ ceremony had to be the most truly soulful, gut wrenching song ever seen on British TV, and amazingly true of the ’60s from a 23 year old — Jennifer plays the “Florence Ballard” character whose weight problem gets her kicked out of the svelte Supremes-like ’60s girlie group The Dreams, and a shortened version of her showstopper from the cast album is currently halfway up the US soul chart (on Geffen) . . . Narada Michael Walden’s single, despite ‘Summer Lady’ getting by far the most DJ support, is apparently ‘You Ought To Love Me’ — flipped for comparison by ‘I Shoulda Loved Ya’! . . . Keni Burke’s LP review rather neglected the overall quality of the man’s voice even on the less immediately useful dance cuts, the whole set indeed hanging together very well for home listening, while such as the lovely 47/95-48/96bpm ‘One Minute More’, smoochy 31bpm ‘Who Do You Love’, jolting 111bpm ‘All Night’, bounding 126bpm ‘Can’t Get Enough’, and ‘Shakin’-style fast accelerating 134- 137bpm ‘Changes’ title track are certainly not without use (oh for a 30 hour day!) . . . Rose Royce’s LP similarly has created interest, albeit short lived, with the Chaka Khan-ish Ricci Benson-sung orchestrally sawing / vocally soaring (0-)123-122-124(jazzy piano)-123bpm ‘Still In Love‘, and to a lesser extent the fairly mundane 109-108bpm funky jiggler ‘Dance With Me‘ . . . B.T. Express’s album, apart from the already reviewed dynamite synth seared 106(start)-108-109-108bpm ‘Keep It Up‘ title track, includes the tunefully loping then emphatically cantering 120-121-122bpm ‘This Must Be The Night For Love’, chugging 109-110-111bpm ‘Let Yourself Go’, burbling 110-111-112-111bpm ‘Just Can’t Stop Dancin’, laser zapped throbbing 118-119-120bpm ‘Star Child’ and brassily accented 113- 114-115bpm ‘Dancin’ Dream’ — but ‘Keep It Up’ is the killer . . . Jessica Williams highly rated old frantically galloping gay 132bpm ‘Queen Of Fools‘ is about again on orange vinyl Mexican RCA 12in . . . ‘Every Way But Loose’ has had an instrumental remix with bass up / vigor down by Plunky & The Oneness of Juju (US Sutra SUD 007), while also on import 12in now are Michael Wycoff ‘Looking Up To You‘ (US RCA) and a remixed Chi-Lites ‘Try My Side (Of Love)’ (US 20th Century / Chi-Sound) . . . Mercury within a month release the US compiled ‘Platterama Medley’, edited together from snippets of the Platters original old hits ‘Only You / Harbor Lights / The Magic Touch / Twilight Time / The Great Pretender / My Prayer / Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’ . . . Derek Pierce (Bath Moles) infos that Bristol jazzers Groove Juice Special have a self-titled album on Bath’s Rival Records label containing Louis Jordan / Joe Jackson-type material . . . The McCrarys ‘Love On A Summer Night’ inexplicably dipped down out of the chart just as the weather got good, and just as it’s due on UK 12in — Alan Gaskell (St Helens) reckons it sounds like George Benson ‘Love X Love’, which mixes well . . . Funkapolitan ‘Run Run Run’ is evidently now on 3-track London 12in, which in common with some other recent mailouts has somehow eluded me . . . UK pressings spell in the singular, Blue Feather . . . New York District Attorneys are cracking down on bootleg “disco mixer” medleys, raiding retailers and distributors to seize copies of such as ‘Horizon One’ . . . Ernie Watts sax is on the Stones ‘Go Go’ . . . Tom Holland was first to turn most people onto Dennis Brown ‘Love Has Found Its Way’, but then Big Tom’s famous for finding ’em! . . . Bob Jones and Nicky Peck take a jazz boat around the Isle of Wight on Saturday afternoon, July 10th, £6 tickets from the jocks gigs beforehand or ring 01-723 1362 and ask for John . . . Gary Allan, Graham Carn, Terry Lennaine and guests attempt to bring a regular upfront music policy back into Liverpool every Thursday at McMillan’s — “Now it’s up to the punters”, sez Gaz . . . Gary also says another good ABC instrumental mix is with Alton Edwards ‘I Just Wanna’ instrumental . . . Bristol mafioso Martin Starr, while learning broadcasting up in London, wouldn’t mind some local gigs (offers on 01-286 5428) . . . ‘Cosmic’ Shiret, 18 year-old veteran of Zhivagos / Crocs / Quills / Westcliff Leisure Centre, spends about thirty quid a week on new releases to plug at his current Brentwood Lion And Lamb pub gig but can only afford so much, and would dearly love more consideration from mailing lists . . . New York’s Rockpool charges member DJs £31 per month for fortnightly record packages (labels aren’t charged but must supply product), while Rockamerica charges an annual £70 for their monthly hour long promotional video compilations — so UK jocks don’t know how lucky they are . . . America of course is a financially motivated country, and jocks actually get paid their worth . . . Paul Lewis (Neath), relax, Donna’s album will soon come . . . Ken Olsen (Manchester Pips) compiles from the previous weekend’s requests a Pips Disco 30 playlist chart to feature through the following week . . . Patrice loses one crown to regain another (check our two Disco / Nightclub charts) . . . Eyes & Ears certainly seem to be getting through to pop (Nightclub) jocks . . . Wham should be 114-115-118-117-118-117bpm, Congress 110-108-110bpm, Larry Graham 116bpm . . . Paul Major, what do you use to time your Beats Per Minute, a grandfather clock?! . . . WEA’s Rowdy Yeats currently sports an arm in plaster — he cracked a bone after taking on some kids at cricket . . . Rick James may be America’s biggest box office star right now, but only two years ago he was almost dropped from Motown for lack of hits — and was himself hustling New York disco DJs to play his current material (I saw him!) . . . Fatman neglected to say he needs so many records because he keeps scratching them! . . . Has a certain Phonogram man been getting his greens? . . . OK, so what’s a disco spider? — I dunno, ask ’em at the Record & Disco Centre in Rayners Lane! . . . Joe ‘Friend Of The Stars’ Adelman got me another Gene Chandler ‘Nothing Can Stop Me’, while amongst stuff uncovered during my marathon move I see my original copies of the Invitations ‘What’s Wrong With Me Baby’, Arthur Conley ‘I Can’t Stop’, Olympics ‘Secret Agents’ and Shorty Long ‘Chantilly Lace’ were lent to and never returned by a group called Neat Change way back in the ’60s — anyone any idea of their whereabouts now?! . . . Eric Fuller, our new Ed, could well be disco music’s best friend — overnight we’ve suddenly got almost a whole disco paper, this mainstream acceptance and treatment being just what disco needs to get it across at the same level as over-exposed rock ‘n’ pop . . . KEEP IT TIGHT!

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UK NEWIES

DENNIS BROWN: ‘Love Has Found Its Way’ (A&M AMSX 8226).
My favourite record of the year so far, this incredibly beautiful smoothly flowing 98-100-101bpm soul-reggae swayer glides effortlessly into your mind and is now on smash-bound 3-track 12in with the good but less exceptional 73bpm ‘Why Baby Why‘ and 70bpm ‘I Couldn’t Stand Losing You‘, all from the compulsively play-it-again ‘Love Has Found Its Way’ LP (AMLH 64886), off which — if any have to be isolated — you could try the 75-76-77bpm ‘Halfway Up Halfway Down’, 77bpm ‘Weep & Moan’, 84bpm ‘Handwriting On The Wall’ and Chuck Jackson’s old 91-90-91bpm ‘Any Day Now’. Both single and album, incidentally, are rapidly climbing the US soul charts — something of a breakthrough there — while here the single won Capital Radio’s People’s Choice. Give your ears a treat, hear it!

BLUE FEATHER: ‘Let’s Funk Tonight’ (Mercury MERX 109).
This terrific mind-nagging sinuously weaving 118bpm 12in Dutch drifter starts out with weazling synth and some lightweight vocals which can be easily skipped, to toughen up about a third of the way through into a dynamite instrumental with jazzy solos from guitar, keyboards, scat, synth and percussion building the tension as it drives along (to an abrupt finish). UK pressings now have the very similar but less subtle 122bpm ‘It’s Love‘ as flip, which becomes another percussion rattled instrumental weaver once the initial vocals are over, and vari-mixes well out of the A-side.

A TASTE OF HONEY: ‘We’ve Got The Groove’ (LP ‘Ladies Of The Eighties’ Capital EST 12173).
Great jauntily jolting brassily braying 113bpm Latin-flavoured choppy rattler repeats the LP’s title line amidst much floor-filling jollity, while ‘Diamond Real‘ is a bassily thrusting 108-106bpm backbeat version of the Michael Wycoff-recorded song, the 7in-issued ‘I’ll Try Something New‘ a gorgeous tremulous ‘Sukiyaki’-style 50bpm revival of the Miracles 1962 slowie, and ‘Sayonara‘ a lurching 107bpm smacker. Continue reading “June 19, 1982: Dennis Brown, Blue Feather, A Taste Of Honey, Fatback, Majik”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

DARTFORD FLICKS caught fire a fortnight ago while Morrissey Mullen were playing, the fire spreading from a kitchen extraction unit and mainly damaging the roof, but thanks to proper fire drill and no punter panic (for which DJ Colin Hudd gives thanks) all 700 inside were outside in three minutes — no disasters so no national press coverage of a disco blaze that ended well, huh? — all of which means that Colin’s gigless and Flicks is closed for a couple of months until the revamped “space age” reopening . . . ‘Orange Grove‘ has appeared in the plural (‘Groves’) as by Ranson/McKenzie & Friends on finished label Smokey 12in (SMJD 005), the 131-132bpm jazz-funk flier having hit on white label as by Ransom, MacKenzie & Friends . . . other white labels about include Second Image ‘Star‘, a Roy Carter-produced cleanly striding 120-121bpm smacker (due next week on Polydor); Congress ‘You Gotta Get It Right‘, a Gonzalez associated chap-sung building 110-118-110bpm bumbling soul shuffler with “you can get it girl”-type whispering group refrains (Tooti Frooti); Linx ‘Plaything‘, disappointingly starts as a convincing beefy Walden-ish 0-120bpm smacker before dissipating in a sub-Jacksonian jumble of directions which so far have cleared floors fast (Chrysalis); Chris Hunter ‘Keep This One In Tune’, a jerkily bounding inconsequential 120bpm thudder with nice sax by sessioneer Chris but about as much actual vocal tune as Patrick Boothe (Polydor); plus there’s an extended 118-119bpm promo remix of Rose Royce ‘Best Love’ (Epic) . . . Dennis Brown and Change are evidently about on UK 12in now . . . First Light ‘Horse With No Name’ should be 129bpm . . . Incognito really blazed on their instrumentals at Gullivers recently, while last week Elixia lived up to all the raving that’s been going on in Essex, although their proposed ‘Changing Me Over’ debut single (on cassette) could be more adventurous and less typically Britfunk . . . Streetwave’s Morgan Khan has passed his driving test, so if you see a flash Cadillac behaving erratically, run for cover! . . . Bristol jazz-funk mafioso Martin Starr is on a production and presentation course at the National Broadcasting School in Soho’s Greek Street, so not surprisingly he, Superfly and myself met up outside Groove last week . . . Froggy’s evidently remixing releases on Record Shack . . . Neil Fincham (Edinburgh Mad Hatter’s Speakeasy) says Morrissey Mullen ‘Come And Get Me’ is great out of ABC ‘Part 2’, and recommends as a reliable source of imports in Scotland (to order only, 2-3 day delivery) Glasgow’s Disca’s at 1139 Pollockshaws Road . . . Kev Hill, just before quitting the now pop-orientated Basildon Sweeney’s, by chance got great revived action from Finished Touch ‘I Love To See You Dance’ (US Motown, 12in, c.1978) . . . Pete Davis (Derby) warns, re the Sharon Brown remix, “Ignore the sticker and listen first, ‘cos some copies were the original (that’s the swizz!)” . . . Martin Platts, now reputedly working in North Wales (has he really got a gig anywhere?) has been running up Snowdon with a 90lb pack on his back in an effort to raise another £10,000 for charity . . . Sunday 27th June’s National Soul Festival at Margate Winter Gardens features Shakatak and Second Image plus Steve Walsh, Dave Brown, Owen Washington, Ian Shaw, Dave Collins, CJ Carlos and, doing a mixing set, James Hamilton (who’s he?) — come and see how I compare with my 11 years old photo! . . . Tony Howard wonders whether there are any jazz-funk clubs in Worthing: well, Paul Clark does the Montague every Thursday, Tony . . . Nick Ratcliffe has swung Tuesday’s at Camberley Ragamuffins around to black funk, and moves Wed / Fridays to Basingstoke Martines . . . Tony Cochrane has opened the “modern dance” Club Feet in Dundee’s Tay Hotel with DJ Dancing Dick Dastardly on Fri / Saturdays (10pm-2am), plus Under-18s early evening Saturdays . . . Robb Jones’s soul show hit the Hereward Radio airwaves just as I dial tuned driving past Peterborough going home for Whitsun, fading away short of Newark, and sounded more soulful than disco (Saturdays 10pm-1am) . . . Diana Ross threw a wobbler because what she was singing didn’t make the audience boogie, amongst other reasons, and was full of tantrums on her opening Wembley gig — the fact that she got her act together on subsequent nights can’t have helped those original £20 ticket holders . . . ‘The Microphone Boom Of Laura Mars’? . . . Rayners Lane’s Record & Disco Centre, which gets hot imports fractionally early as they’re nearer Heathrow, both hires and sells a comprehensive range of equipment — look out for their special Disco Spiders, a snip at three for £42.90! . . . Martin Kent lost his Truro Penalty Spot gig as the club’s for sale minus one licence, so he’d welcome offers of work at 36 Malabar Road, Truro, Cornwall . . . Paul Major, who’ll need a Svenson himself if he keeps abusing his own hair so, is now nosing for a funky South-East / South Coast gig (who isn’t?), offers to 119 Higher Drive, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, Suffolk . . . Martin Richards (Erith’s Phoenix mobiles) protests that mobile jocks, just because they give people a good time at MoR gigs, are not themselves (necessarily) Wallys, and I agree, being very much an MoR jock myself when doing parties . . . Tony St Michael (Finsbury Park) wonders whatever happened to — and then lists a thousand names: everyone’s a star for 15 minutes, although many he mentioned are still around . . . Nick Mahon, regrettably, “No” . . . There’s so much product about right now that most of it must, inevitably, get lost (however, maybe now my more recent reviews will finally appear!) . . . Pop Orientated Dance has become the Nightclubbing Chart but is still compiled as before, like the blacker Disco Chart, from DJ’s returns: to contribute, send your dancefloor reaction Top 20 (or more, preferably) to arrive by the Wednesday of the week prior to publication (remember this time lag if enclosing gig info) on your own paper addressed to James Hamilton, Record Mirror, 40 Long Acre, London WC2E 9JT . . . Level 42 as predicted are bigger Nightclub than Disco . . . KEEP IT TIGHT!

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PATRICE RUSHEN, pretty as a picture, has finally been replaced after seven weeks by Odyssey as London’s best seller, but she’s still hanging on in our chart after a similar stretch during which not only was her single number one, but her album peaked at number two as well! Is this a record?

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UK NEWIES

LARRY GRAHAM: ‘Sooner Or Later’ (Warner Bros K 17925T).
An immediate monster on promo white label, the sharply smacking simple semi-instrumental 116bpm synth swayer (with just the vocodered title line repeated to occasionally answering chix) is now rush released on 3-track 12in with the vigorously enunciated vocal version and dead slow lovely old 36bpm ‘One In A Million You’ smoocher (these last two alone on 7in). Likely to be vying with Odyssey at the top soon.

RICK JAMES: ‘Dance Wit’ Me’ (Motown TMG 1266).
Promoed on 3-track 12in (with short versions of ‘Give It To Me Baby’ and ‘Super Freak’) but so far commercially only on 7in, this typical though superior smacking 123-124-123bpm hunk of funk drives along with bags of bounce to reach (Pt.2 on 7in) a Roy Ayers vibes break and some searing sax. Try mixing ‘Standing On The Top’, his LP’s ‘Monkey Talks’, then this!

HEATWAVE: ‘Lettin’ It Loose’ (Epic EPC A13-24143).
Barry Blue / Johnnie Wilder-produced Rod Temperton-penned full bodied uncomplicated heavily thudding 109bpm 12in jolting thumper with raunchy rhythm and sleazy Bob James-ian touches, quite incredibly good before BLT’s ‘Tighten It Up’, flipped by the slow rolling 0-93/46bpm ‘Mind What You Find’. Continue reading “June 12, 1982: Larry Graham, Rick James, Heatwave, Shep Pettibone’s Mastermixes, Billy Griffin”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

FRED DOVE’S promotional ploy with Larry Graham seems to be playing off, the pre-sale orders evidently are already higher than Patrice Rushen’s . . . Capitol have re-released the first two albums by Maze, 1977’s ‘Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly’ (CAPS 1839) and 1978’s ‘Golden Time Of Day’ (CAPS 1840) . . . Steve Collins, DJ on the in-store Radio Top Shop, says that as the radio stations in Oxford Circus’s Top Shop and the West One Shopping Centre are “going commercial” they need more full-time professional DJ’s with previous broadcasting experience, capable of running a programme and self-op commercials: apply with tape and CV to Sue Hutcheson, Personnel Manager at Top Shop, 214 Oxford St, London, W1A 2LP . . . Touch are available for PA’s, call Andy Sojke at Elite on 01-963 6385 . . . Fatman Graham Canter returns to Mayfair’s Gullivers weekly from next Friday (11), when he will be promoting his own ‘Fatman’s Fun House’ with his own sound and lighting installation downstairs — this will not affect Graham Gold and myself upstairs in the funk rooms . . . Graham Bond guests on Radio Tee’s ‘Morning Call’ programme this Friday (4) to discuss the DJ Federation . . . Nick Ratcliffe (Winkfield) raving about Level 42 live, says they announced their Guildford Civic Hall gig was being recorded for a live album . . . Sandy ‘Cardboard’ Martin (Swindon Brunel Rooms) raves about a recent appearance by Sticky Stuff, whose own self-penned jazz-funk material went down a storm . . . Pete Tong’s playlist for the Peter Powell soul show last week does look more tuneful and together than the last one I heard and commented on, much more the influential direction they should be heading . . . Dazz Band’s feat Rick James-ian ‘Let It Whip‘ is the US Soul number one and big Disco there too . . . Deodato has a 7in on import, but hang on there’s a 12in (and eventual album) coming here soon . . . Boney M freak Gary Andrews from Bawtry (which is where I go shopping in the market, when with my parents nearby!) recommends two “very danceable” German 12in releases ‘My Friend Jack‘ (Hansa 609 233-213) “faster than the British version with untypical horns and ‘Searching’ type inserts” and ‘Boney M For Dancin’ (Hansa 301 500 565) with terrific very valuable versions of ‘Felicidad‘ / ‘Children Of Paradise‘ . . . Chris Ellis reports from Athens that, fashion-wise, Greek leather goods are very good, as are woollens — although too mega-hot for them right now . . . I’ve been dieting again after accumulated “bloat bloat” excesses, and what with heavy house moving exertions and meat-only intake, I’m able to get into my summer clothes again after only ten days!

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UK NEWIES

STEVIE WONDER: ‘Do I Do’ (Motown TMG 1289).
Dynamite old style happily swinging ever changing 114bpm groove with Dizzy Gillespie sitting in on trumpet. His hottest dancer for ages.

ODYSSEY: ‘Inside Out’ (RCA RCAT 226).
Remember Slave’s ‘Wait For Me‘? You will when you hear this pleasant loudly rolling 113-112bpm 12in jogger, their most musically and aesthetically “together” offering in a while, never stretching a muscle to achieve the effect, while the ‘Love’s Alright‘ flip’s another low-key 111bpm swayer that’s nice too if less distinctive.

ERNIE WATTS: ‘Chariots Of Fire’ (Qwest K 17958T).
Quincy-produced good subdued 111bpm 12in ‘Dance Version’ of the Vangelis movie smash by the super-session saxist, easier to synch for some good mixes than a first hearing might suggest, flipped by the 0-38bpm ‘Slow Version’. Continue reading “June 5, 1982: Stevie Wonder, Odyssey, Ernie Watts, Lisa Hill, Angela Clemmons”