Month: September 1982

September 25, 1982: “Simon Cowell has 7,000 kazoos”, Raw Silk, Sharon Redd, Level 42, Nick Straker Band, Gang’s Back

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

SUDDENLY DISCO seems to be “in” again, to judge from the chart — and isn’t Evelyn King doing well? . . . David and Sketch are rumoured to have un-Linxed, and Pete Stringfellow it’s speculated has bought London’s Talk Of The Town venue (who else could afford the rates?) . . . ‘The Passage‘ is the Evasions return soon on Groove Production — it’s a send up of ‘The Message’ . . . Chris Hill is looking for a young guy, preferably a jock, to do disco promotion “in the old style” at Ensign (01-727 0527) . . . Teena Marie and Motown, her managers, and everyone down to the washroom attendant seem to be at legal loggerheads in the States currently . . . Solar next month in the USA launches a new label, Constellation, for white pop acts — but they’ll be produced by Solar’s usual black team . . . Rams Horn’s rumoured demise in Holland was evidently greatly exaggerated . . . Marvin Gaye’s now completed debut set for CBS has totally electronic backing, ‘Sexual Healing’ the first single reportedly being a real knee trembler (due next month) . . . Diana Ross’s next single from an upcoming LP is ‘Muscles‘, prod/penned by Michael Jackson! . . . The Quick are not now on commercial 12in after all, so wave bye bye to that . . . The Limit’s UK B-side, ‘Pop‘, turns out to be a really nice slinky 90bpm jogger with bright Heatwave-ish harmonies and jazzy instrumentation . . . Steven Fay (Darwen) and 15 years old Nigel Halkes (Portishead) both indicate Hi Voltage ‘Let’s Get Horny‘ has the same tune (mixing well) as the 1978-issued Quartz ‘Beyond The Clouds‘ (TK) — rummage, rummage! . . . CBS’s tactics with Sharon Redd’s UK 12in have upset record dealers now lumbered with the unsaleable initial batch . . . Level 42’s live B-side tracks, it will come as no surprise to regular readers of this paper, were recorded last May in Guildford (yup!) and Tunbridge Wells . . . Galaxy’s Phil Fearon stuns everyone at PAs by doing a standing forward flip, feet to feet, appropriately enough during his ‘Head Over Heels’! . . . Steve Naylor has organised a return visit here for hot New York mixing jock Dan Pucciarelli, of Brooklyn’s Dynasty disco, who’ll be at Blackpool Touchdown this Thurs/Fri/Saturday (23/24/25), at Leeds Warehouse next Fri/Saturday (1/2), with Mike Shaft and Colin Curtis at Manchester’s Hell on consecutive Tuesdays (28/4), and on Mike Shaft’s Sunday afternoon Piccadilly Radio show . . . Tony Monson now does a weekly bit on Phil Allen’s late Saturday night/Sunday morning Capital Radio disco soul show, which of course features the Monson-compiled bang up-to-date London sales chart at 1.45 am . . . Robbie Vincent, whose Saturday lunchtime Radio London soul show guest this week is Bob James, reckons it’s a good job he does buy his own records as he’s not on many mailing lists himself — and if even he isn’t, what chance is there for youth club jocks?! . . . Robbie actually thinks Rockers Revenge is a “great record” but prefers to play something in the time available which maybe could do with the exposure: he also recommends Chez Moi in Tunbridge Wells, where DJ Miguel works hard and there’s a good vibe . . . Johnnie Walker, the ex-pirate/Radio One jock and not the Frenchies jazz-funker, has returned to England’s airwaves at Radio West in Bristol . . . Rockers Revenge, only just into the US Black singles chart, is finally top of the Dance/Disco chart there (Evelyn at 2) . . . Yazoo dropped the “oo” to become Yaz in the States as there’s another group of the same name . . . I Level, huge on New York’s urban contemporary radio, has been remixed by John Luongo for US Epic release . . . Richard Jon Smith is climbing fast US Dance/Disco . . . Eddy Grant’s ‘California Style‘ and ‘Time Warp‘ have been sought after for so long in New York that they’re now selling bundles there on bootleg . . . Simon Cowell has 7,000 kazoos (count ’em) to give away to mobile jocks to help promote Joce & The Kazoo Band’s ‘Kazoo Kazoo‘ — send your disco details to him at Baby Records, 46 South Molton Street, London W1Y 1HE . . . Nick Ratcliffe (0344-882535 daytime), now working exclusively in clubs, has a 300 watt mobile disco complete with light show all housed in a large box trailer for which he’ll accept around £1,300 . . . JFM sounds like a profit making concern — but not for its DJs? . . . Flashback twiddled along to 92MHz . . . Peterborough’s Slickers now re-opens on Sunday 10th October, with a big 3rd birthday alldayer . . . Brixton’s Fridge delayed going gay but now welcomes guys on Fridays, with Keith Barker-Main at the decks . . . Watford’s New Penny has big screen video (and 40p a pint until 10pm Thurs/Fri/Sat!) . . . Alan Costa (Brighton Kings Club/Kings II) tips a couple of German Hansa singles, Barrabas ‘On The Road Again‘ and Frank Zander’s send up of ‘Da Da Da’, sung in German but about changing a “da da da” drooling baby’s nappy . . . Sylvester’s showing in the funkier Disco chart owes most to Scottish, coastal holiday resort, and East London pub jocks (in case you were wondering?) . . . Colin Irving (Llandudno Risboro Hotel) has Yvonne Elliman ‘Love Pains‘ at number one . . . Kool’s ‘Let’s Go Dancin’ is monstrous for me at Mayfair Gullivers thanks to the ethnic audience . . . Frenchie (Blackpool), reporting big punter interest in slowies, revives Jean Carn’s 1978 ‘Don’t Let It Go To Your Head‘ . . . Neil Saxon (Fridays) and Dave Collins (Saturdays) have six months in which to get the old Eclipse disco in Coulsdon back on the map or else it’ll be turned into a restaurant — it’s above the Rising Sun in Chipstead Valley Road, they both play hot toons . . . Paul Burnette on his latest visit to Gt Yarmouth Tiffanys not only forgot all his records but even left his Radio One coat and case on the car park roof — however neither item even made the reserve of 10p at auction so DJ Roger Dynamite returned them via Simon Bates! . . . Mark Millar (Woodcote Hall Woody’s near Newport on Fridays, amongst other Telford area gigs) offers his own services as entertainment after the big showdown between Mike Page and Trevor Hughes — trouble is, Trevor seems kinda quiet of late, not a squeak out of him since Mike got holstered up . . . Gary Oldis (Aycliffe Bee Jays) mutters that ‘Lofty’ Lofthouse should clean up his act (and, yes, Gary — he plays Shakatak!) . . . Andy Baker (St Asaph Flicks) grumbles that I didn’t visit him from Denbigh, but with nearly no sleep all week and a breakdown on the way I was certainly in no shape to go out! . . . Steve Humphreys (Headcorn After Dark mobile) is trying to identify a Eurodisco/Kat Mandu ‘I Wanna Dance’ — sounding song with the line “dance like Fred Astaire” — any ideas? . . . Deborah McGriff & Rita Saunders, the Jamaica Girls now, earlier were on Legacy’s ‘Word Up’ . . . ‘Poltergeist’ is set deep in ‘E.T.’ territory . . . Jay W McGee, spelt correctly for weeks, inexplicably had an “h” added at a most inopportune time last week! . . . Bob Jones, “jazz rock jock”? . . . Tom Browne ‘Funkin’ For Jamaica’ synchs sensationally out of Howard Johnson ‘So Fine’, and with lots of vari-speed Imagination ‘Heart ‘N’ Soul’ is great out of Shakatak ‘Invitations’ . . . Froggy (who it was that forgot to take the Rick James T-shirts to Hastings) uses two copies of Sharon Redd’s ‘Beat The Street’ remix, whilst playing the vocal repeatedly synching the very end of the instrumental so that during her closing chorus you hear the words “beat it — beat it” flying from left to right across the speakers . . . er, JUMP JUMP JUMP TO IT . . . HEY . . . BEAT IT BEAT IT!

UK NEWIES

RAW SILK: ‘Do It To The Music’ (KR KRT 14).
Well, here’s a turn up — I didn’t expect it on KR! A huge seller on import, this chix cooed and wailed slinky 112-114-115-116bpm “do it do it do it do it” swayer (good fun with you know who!) has massive crossover appeal and builds through nice sax to a semi-“fierce” rhythmic finale, this element then being emphasized on 3-track 12in flip in an acappella started 0-114-115-116bpm ‘Dub Mix‘, and a now UK-only ‘Special Version’ which starts with ‘Poltergeist’-type noises.

SHARON REDD: ‘Never Give You Up’ (Prelude PRLA 13-2755).
Sensational value, as previously noted, this solidly smacking 112½bpm Evelyn King-ish A-side now being flipped on 3-track 12in by both the instrumental and vocal remixes of the electronically jittering smoother 118bpm ‘Beat The Street’!

LEVEL 42: ‘Weave Your Spell’ (Polydor POSPX 500).
Just like Shakatak these guys have sewn up a sound of their own, this particular glibly harmonised “thunderthumbs” bass pushed flowing 119-117-122(break)-118bpm 12in bounder erupting with jaggedly percussive bass halfway (it’s a remix of their LP version — full review next week), flipped by live versions of jittery 115bpm ‘Love Games’ and tranquil dreamy ‘Dune Tune’. Now if they can just stitch up Shakatak type sales . . . Continue reading “September 25, 1982: “Simon Cowell has 7,000 kazoos”, Raw Silk, Sharon Redd, Level 42, Nick Straker Band, Gang’s Back”

September 18, 1982: Jay W. McGee, The Limit, Melba Moore, Gary’s Gang, Kool & The Gang

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

SHARON REDD’S ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ has rapidly been re-pressed on UK 12in with both the instrumental and vocal remix versions of ‘Beat The Street’ as 2-track flip — this’ll kill her album, but boy what a bargain! . . . The Quick’s ‘Touch’ will now indeed be on full length commercial 12in . . . Morgan Khan’s Streetwave label next week puts out a 6-track £2.99 33 1/3rpm LP-type 12in called ‘Streetnoise‘ containing Hi Voltage ‘Let’s Get Horny‘, Weeks & Co ‘Go With The Flow’ (vocal and instrumental), The LIVE Band ‘A Chance For Hope’, Carol Jiani ‘You’re Gonna Lose My Love’, NY Skyy ‘Let’s Celebrate (Remix)’ . . . Weeks & Co is currently on US Prelude 12in as well as Canadian Black Sun, this switch to a hip label doubtless causing its sales surge . . . Capital Radio’s Greg Edwards must take credit for reviving Hi Voltage’s fortunes . . . Elite has licensed from Inner City for 4-track £2.50 12in the jazzy Lee Ritenour ‘Sugarloaf Express‘, Kazumi Watanabe ‘Gentle Afternoon‘, Don Latarski ‘Jennifer Anne’s Samba‘ / ‘Beginning Song‘ (Elite 4 PLAY 101) . . . ‘D’ Train ‘Walk On By’ is now remixed with a longer instrumental start on 3-track US 12in (Prelude PRL D638) with the herky-jerky c.124bpm ”D’ Train (Dub)’ and ‘Tryin’ To Get Over’ . . . Imagination’s single is ‘In The Heat Of The Night‘, which could be a bad mistake — especially as radio loves ‘Heart ‘N’ Soul’ . . . Fat Larry’s Band ‘Zoom’ is now on LP-length 12in (WMOT VS 546-12) with 2-track flip of the Rick James-inflected 115-116-115-116-117-119bpm ‘Traffic Stoppers‘ and ‘Jamming’-quoting 117-118bpm ‘House Party‘ . . . Alton Edwards next week issues ‘Shining Light‘, a 126bpm bright squeaky pure pop skipper which soul fans will hate, recorded because according to his manager Margaret Hamilton (no relation, though I wouldn’t mind!) CBS confess they can’t market disco material . . . BADEM’s exhibition featured an impressively created disco environment in which to demonstrate a well co-ordinated but slightly too long lighting effects display, while out on the stands the stacks of boring old lightboxes looked decidedly outmoded by the far more sophisticated (if more expensive) developments that have taken place in disco hardware — although the most welcome sight was the Cambridge Pianola Company’s cassette operated automatic piano, an oasis of old world simplicity . . . Roger Squire’s had a suite of their own in which to show their many wares, and over the road in a pub there was a rival ‘Discoextra’ exhibition featuring Cliff Wilding’s Lampseed lighting products amongst others . . . Rob Harknett (Roydon) expressed before the event his hope that this year more DJs would stop and chat to each other instead of brushing by in a world of their own, and I certainly talked to quite a few, including at length Chris Cole of the West Surrey & Hants DJ Assn . . . Paul Anthony, who arrived by motorbike from Wolverhampton Eve’s, wonders what awful secret prevents Radio One’s Steve Wright from appearing at his or any other Wolverhampton club . . . Ilford Room At The Top’s John Osborne is, I now realize, a dead ringer for Haircut 100’s Nick Heyward — down girls! . . . Room At The Top celebrated its 12th birthday this Wednesday (15), incidentally . . . Larry Foster packs Gants Hill Villa every Friday and does Stratford Reflections on Wednesdays, amongst other gigs, but has stopped doing Romford Lamps on Tuesdays and Thursdays and thus would like other work those nights (on 01-519 7280) . . . Travis, one of the dancers, has a Sunday afternoon 3-6pm dance and exercise session at Gants Hill’s The Villa (Ilford), take £3 and your ‘Fame’ togs . . . Steve Goddard, who now does Romford Lamps on Fridays, seems like an amiable loony to judge from what he says about his Saturdays and Mondays in the guise of The Soul Messiah at Barking’s Chains, where “anybody genuine enough to convince me of a more ‘in the groove’ venue gets a free Curly-Wurly bar and a photo of my Aunt Hilda of East Grinstead — Curly-Wurleys away, with a hip-hop, chow chomp, you don’t stop chomping till it’s all gone!” . . . “Harry” or “Big H” as he’s variously known, only jocking a year despite advancing age, has the mouth and confidence of another Chris Hill (although not the music) and could be fun to catch at Bagshot Pantiles, Ascot Belvedere Arms, Southampton Barbarellas amongst other regular gigs . . . South Harrow’s Bogarts is bulging with happy funksters every Thursday thanks to Chris Paul, who jams along on sax over the records — he’s also at Southampton Barbarellas on Fri/Saturdays, where they can’t otherwise hear or buy import soul . . . Direct Drive were evidently unaware of the PA they were reported as ignoring, but by actually naming a group even if they were as in this case innocent I hope the message was rammed home that lack of appearance can be damaging to both the act and the club — however beware the old con where a promoter bills an act as appearing for a PA without first having actually booked the act, and then expecting the act to turn up so as not to disappoint the fans . . . John Grant, until recently one of the North-West’s most revered jocks, has moved his harbour mastering location from Newhaven to the far hipper Brighton, where the Vinyl Demand record shop had the good fortune to buy up his entire jazz-funk collection — they may even have some of it left, if Paul Clark hasn’t bought it all! . . . David ‘Rowdy’ Yeats is at liberty (with a small “l”), not Liberty the record company — ie: he needs a gig! . . . Soho’s Le Beat Route in an effort to cut costs have perhaps unwisely stopped using any DJs who actually charge proper money, hence, and it’s a wrench, my Tuesday ’60s soul night is no more — and I’d love another somewhere else! . . . Fatman Graham Canter hosted an early evening party last week for music biz liggers at London Piccadilly’s Xenon, which turned out to be nowhere near as big or flashy as I’d expected . . . Showstopper Promotions take over Luton’s Caesar’s Palace premises for another of their Pink Elephant Fun House venues, to open in December as a companion to the similarly revamped Southgate Royalty . . . Sandy Martin (Swindon Brunel Rooms) was playing his Soul On Sound cassette’s preview mix so loudly in the car that he didn’t know he’d lost a hubcap until someone flagged him down a mile later! . . . Soul On Sound’s next preview mix, which took me 26 hours to create, flows as well as the last one with 28 record snippets blended into 22 mins 55 secs, but lacks a similar overall strength of material and has to hiccup slightly to accommodate Kenny G and Carl Carlton — however listen out for the Pressure Drop/Sharon Redd instrumental / “Q” and the Alfie Silas/Suzy “Q”/Nighthawk instrumental/Donald Byrd sequences, and then tell me which record is which ‘cos I’m still not sure myself! . . . Beats Per Minute fine tunings for some of last week’s Imports are Jamaica Girls 119-121-120-120½bpm, New Jersey Connection 116½-115-113-115-113-115-113bpm, West Street Mob 113-114-115-116-117-115-116bpm, Began Began 0-124-122-124-122-124-0bpm . . . American black music has always shifted in style and sound through the years — under the general euphemistic labels of “race music”, “sepia sounds”, “rhythm & blues”, “soul”, and now “black” or “urban contemporary” — and if what black American funk musicians are now getting into in a big way is electronics then I don’t see how we are in a position to pontificate and argue about the relevance to “soul” of this move: it’s on a par with gospel purists in the ’50s being upset about their favourite singers switching to the devilish blues — which brought about “soul” in the first place! . . . Robbie Vincent leads the field of those DJs now too hip to play Rockers Revenge — I hear he says it’s a “youth club record” . . . Rotherham Tiffanys’ Paul Barron hopefully has better luck with the horses than he has with the Gee Gee’s! . . . Tom Wilson (Edinburgh Oscars) can’t wait to see plugger Erskine Thompson’s new film, ‘E.T.’! . . . Mayfair’s Rockafella’s late nite eaterie (next to Samantha’s) currently has Maggie Thatcher’s Swiss holiday chef Jack Garlic cookin’ in the kitchen while waiting to start at a new restaurant being opened by Maggie’s hubby’s company . . . Yazoo on its US-pressed Sire 7in singles is now appearing as Yaz, a mistake (or intentional move?) which has been carried over into the Billboard charts — who took the “oo” out of Yazoo?! . . . I alone seem to have been right in my spelling of Jay W McGhee, where everyone else had him as JW . . . Orin Cozier’s “Ladies’ Man” influence seems to be spreading at Streetwave to Morgan Khan and now Patrick Boothe! . . . Adrian Martin (Denbigh Bamboo/Towyn Jollie Nights) is the North Wales DJ who started the local demand for Pete Brown’s ‘Can’t Be Love‘ 12in — he’s had offers of £25 and £30 for his copy . . . Van Martin revives Johnny Guitar Watson ‘I Need It‘ at Ernie ‘Whitehouse’ Priestman’s new Touchdown Tavern in Blackpool’s Talbot Road . . . Paul Major (East Anglia) revives Philadelphia International All-Stars ‘Let’s Clean Up The Ghetto‘ out of ‘The Message’ . . . Richard ‘Lofty’ Lofthouse (Chester-Le-Street Whispers) re-recommends Callers Records in Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s Northumberland Street for good import prices to bona-fide DJs . . . Adrian Dunbar (Bournemouth Adams) is mixing Lime ‘Agent 406‘ with Sylvester/Cowley (incidentally UK 7in pressings of Sylvester are slower than the import 12in and I’ve not heard the UK 12in), Derek Pierce (Bath Moles) mixes Soul Sonic Force and Giorgio ‘The Chase‘, Ian Levine (London Heaven) mixes Carl Carlton and Carol Jiani ‘You’re Gonna Lose My Love‘ . . . JUMP JUMP JUMP TO IT . . . HEY . . . DO IT DO IT!

UK NEWIES

JAY W. McGEE: ‘When We Party’ (Ensign ENYT 231).
If at first this doesn’t hook you, hang on in there, as the surprisingly subtle GQ-ish jauntily pushing 120-121bpm 12in kicker builds through ultra catchy “uptown downtown” chants (now in fact tagged on in brackets after the title on UK labels) to truck through a buoyantly instrumental last half, the deep soul slow ‘I’ve Been Checking Out (Too)’ flip being a goodie (too).

THE LIMIT: ‘She’s So Divine’ (Arlola AROD 285).
Given such a low profile UK release by Ariola that I haven’t even had a copy or seen it advertised, this Dutch originated successor to Blue Feather is a superb resonantly loping easily soulful 116bpm 12in romp through the song previously done by Jan Akkerman but now remade by its original writers. Huge on import already, it evidently has a flip here called ‘Pop‘.

MELBA MOORE: ‘Love’s Comin’ At Ya’ (EMI America 12EA 146).
Prod/penned by Paul Lawrence Jones III to sound just like his ‘I Can’t Stand It’ on Evelyn King’s LP, this carefully controlled 114bpm 12in judder and thud-filled cool slinky smacker is also extremely like Howard Johnson — but then they’re all from the same production team. Continue reading “September 18, 1982: Jay W. McGee, The Limit, Melba Moore, Gary’s Gang, Kool & The Gang”

September 11, 1982: Sharon Redd, Dennis Brown, Freddie James, Pressure Drop, New Jersey Connection

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

AND WHAT sort of shape do we find you in this morning? (You can see what shape we are now!) . . . BADEM’s disco equipment exhibition public days are Sunday/Monday (12/13) at London’s Bloomsbury Centre Hotel, no details of timing but afternoons obviously. I’ll maybe see you there sometime late-ish Sunday . . . Joe Tex died of a heart attack aged 49 last month — best remembered by the present generation for his ‘Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)’ smash in 1977. His real heyday as a soul star was the latter ’60s, when his incredible microphone catching acrobatic stage movements were amongst the most exciting of all . . . Hot Quisine ‘Keep That Same Old Feeling‘ has had a complete Rockers Revenge-style remix (if not remake?) full of fiercely flanged flutter echo claps, but unfortunately they didn’t change the rushed tempo . . . Michael Wycoff’s ‘Diamond Real‘ has shown up on US RCA 12in with instrumental flip, c.109 bpm . . . Push ‘My Heart‘, recently circulated on white label promo, will be remixed on Excaliber in a month . . . David ‘Rowdy’ Yeats, after just four months of working in largely undefined ways on Solar product here, suddenly finds WEA reckon they can promote Shalamar without him — thus he’s at Liberty on 01-874 4003 . . . London’s Barracuda in Baker Street has suddenly become an Arab club, on Saturdays anyway, turning away scores of dejected funksters when they turned up as usual . . . Capital’s Graham Dene must take most credit for constantly plugging Fat Larry’s ‘Zoom’ on his weekend breakfast shows over several months . . . Lloyd Charmers, or rather his wife, gave birth to twins Debbie & Donna at Paddington’s St Mary’s Hospital — if it’s good enough for Chuck & Di, what? . . . Josh Wedgewood-Benn, son of the ex-Lord Stansgate, drums with Buddhist reggae group Ozo . . . Chris Hill returns for just one night on Wednesday 22nd September to the Lacy Lady, or at least to its original site at Ilford’s Kings . . . Greg Wilson’s half-hour mixing spot comes up on its three-weekly rota this coming Monday (13) on Mike Shaft’s TCOB soul show, 8-11pm Piccadilly Radio . . . I hope my Soul On Sound mix out of Rockers Revenge into Norwood B ‘You’re On The One‘ (Philly World 12in) draws more deserved attention to the latter . . . Nick Davies (Aylesbury 87970), keen to buy/swap Ashton Gardner & Dyke’s old ‘Resurrection Shuffle’, had Wham bring acetates of their new Kid Creole-ish ‘Young Guns’ into his Watford New Penny gig . . . West Surrey & Hants DJ Assn members meet this Monday (13) at 8pm in Guildford’s Stoke Hotel, all DJs welcome — oh, and Chris Cole, WHAT T-shirt? . . . ‘E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial)’ is a nice little movie full of good vibes, not a blockbuster, but just nice . . . Harvey Fuqua, now known as a record producer, turned up on TV screens last week in his original guise as one of the doo-wop singing Moonglows in the movie ‘Rock Rock Rock’ — young Harvey was the tallest of the backing vocal trio standing at the end . . . Afrika Bambaataa somehow loses a “k” and an “a” on UK labels of Soul Sonic Force . . . Polydor seem to have someone called Adam Vincent servicing DJ mailouts . . . Richard ‘Lofty’ Lofthouse packs Chester-Le-Street’s Whispers every Sunday, claiming it as the only regular black music gig in the whole North-East (it’s currently running a disco dancing competition too), and wonders why more pluggers don’t visit . . . Reading Rebecca’s now has free admission before 10pm every Thurs/Fri/Saturday but a tighter dress code — no jeans, trainers, T-shirts etc . . . Rayners Lane Record & Disco Centre’s bronzed Andy Mann reports that in Greek discos, the decor of which would shame most UK clubs, the jocks spend all night mixing brilliantly — plus there’s no admission charge, you just pay for your drinks (not that licensing laws would allow that here) . . . Leslie Hill (Chippenham), also back from Greece’s Thassos Island, says the likes of Human League, Soft Cell, Haircut 100 and Bob Marley are big with the locals, but luckily the Just In Time disco was supplied with all the moderately current UK disco biggies . . . I blew a core plug on the M1 going up to Denbigh for the bank holiday weekend, and four tows and ten hours later eventually arrived there thanks to the AA’s Relay service — which, had it been a gig would not have got me there in time, but at least does get your vehicle wherever you want it for free (or at least a small subscription) . . . Jim ‘Ripper’ Kershaw (Sheffield Fanny’s Scene Two) revives to great floor activity the old Spencer Davis Group ‘Keep On Running’, currently the basis of a loo-paper commercial . . . Tricky Dicky’s younger gay crowd are well into Yazoo, Soft Cell and now Billy Idol . . . Yazoo ‘Don’t Go’ was inadvertently missed out of last week’s Gay Top 20, while Stateside their ‘Situation’ remix is still top Dance/Disco hit and Aretha Franklin the new top Black single . . . Boris Midney is reported to have done one of his “disco suite” jobs on the ‘Dreamgirls’ score . . . Greg Edwards was really cookin’ on his Capital soul show’s continuous last half hour on Saturday . . . Andy Baker (St Asaph Flicks) mixes Rockers Revenge ‘Acappella Sunshine’ over the intro of Sly Cabell ‘Special Club Mix’, Tom Wilson (Edinburgh Oscars) mixes Sylvester/Patrick Cowley with Kat Mandu ‘The Breaks’ (yeah, well it is Scotland!), Neil Fincham (Edinburgh Mad Hatters Speakeasy) mixes Chic ‘Le Freak’ out of the Tom Tom Club rhythm break . . . JUMP JUMP JUMP TO IT!

UK NEWIES

SHARON REDD: ‘Never Give You Up’ (Prelude PRLA 132755).
Just as good, though currently not quite as hot, as ‘Beat The Street’, this more Evelyn King-ish chunky 112½bpm 12in disco roller is the UK singles choice and chiefly remarkable for its amazing rhythm track, flipped by the stolid 101bpm ‘Send Your Love‘.

DENNIS BROWN: ‘Halfway Up, Halfway Down’ (A&M AMSX 8250).
More traditionally reggae than ‘Love Has Found Its Way’, although just as catchy, this lazily looping Marley-esque 75-76-77bpm 12in swayer is flipped by the superbly subtle floating 77bpm ‘Weep & Moan‘.

FREDDIE JAMES: ‘Don’t Turn Your Back On Love’ (Arista ARIST 12489).
Dangerously late out here, the excellent Tony Green-prod/Tee Scott-mixed simple strong straight ahead 113bpm 12in disco roller builds through nagging vocals in very mixable familiar fashion, with a slightly fiercer instrumental flip. Continue reading “September 11, 1982: Sharon Redd, Dennis Brown, Freddie James, Pressure Drop, New Jersey Connection”

September 4, 1982: Shalamar, Zapp, Passion, Sharon Redd, Brenda Taylor

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

BADEM’S 1982 disco equipment exhibition is at London’s Bloomsbury Centre Hotel next weekend, Sunday/Monday 12/13th September being public days and Tuesday/Wednesday for trade visitors, the largely Pernod-sponsored show including a ‘Superdisco’ exhibit combining various brands of hardware with music, dancing girls, and doubtless the odd drink or two! . . . Howard Johnson’s ‘So Fine’ romped home on Capital Radio as last week’s listeners-voted People’s Choice — but then they have had a while in which to get used to it . . . Evelyn King’s album, meant to be out here ahead of US release, has been delayed (wouldn’t you know?) but is sure to thrill you with its um-yum photos of the lovely lady! . . . Junior’s follow up, due soon, couples the Tee Scott-remixed ‘Let Me Know’ / ‘I Can’t Help It’ . . . London are releasing a cassette version of Rockers Revenge, but to qualify as a single it’s only 10 minutes each side . . . Motown’s hot shot plugger Robert Blenman lost his driver’s licence so can’t get around much any more, yet remains the label’s hippest contact . . . Direct Drive and other bands should realize that if they commit themselves to doing a PA at a club, they should then appear even if subsequently offered a more lucrative engagement elsewhere — PAs may only be promotional appearances but if handled right they are meant to benefit those doing them, are likely to have cost the venues in advertising and effort, and are hopefully an attraction for potential fans who turn out on purpose to see them, so that non-appearance can do nothing but harm to reputations . . . Dartford Flicks’ excruciatingly tight restaurant seats, fixed too close to the tables, were a design fault (no?) and are being repositioned . . . Flicks resident Colin Hudd and Brighton’s Paul Clark replace relatively “new boy” Nicky Peck and, surprisingly, the long serving Tom Holland on Showstoppers Xth Caister bill . . . Woking’s Tristins wine bar in Chertsey Road, under new ownership, is jazz-funked Fri/Saturdays by Paul Hazelle, who also funks Camberley’s Cambridge Hotel in its Splinters guise (rather than Frenchies) on Thursdays . . . Mark Clark has sold his big Bracknell-based Back Chat roadshow to turn resident at Marylebone’s Italian/French-orientated Cinecitta in Welbeck Street, where he needs more Eurodisco material . . . Bazzer mutters that a twiddle to 92.2 FM around North-West London every Sunday 2-11pm (and especially 4-6pm, when he’s on!) could be an aural flashback . . . Martin Starr seems thoroughly ensconced in London now, jazz-funking Neasden’s Level One Thurs/Sundays (pop-funk Mondays) and just returning to Bristol at the weekends to join Superfly at Spencers on Saturdays until he gets a good weekend gig up the Smoke . . . Michael Bird (01-272 0310) offers his services as a relief DJ — is that oral or manual? . . . Chris Cole now writes and types most of the West Surrey & Hampshire DJA’s ‘Disco’ magazine, despite evident dyslexia . . . Mark Summers (Hackney Marshes Flappers) recommends East Ham’s Imaginations record shop for low import prices and DJ discounts . . . Andy Baker (0745-591 135), resident at St Asaph’s refurbished Flicks (formerly The Stables) in North Wales, pleads for a 12in copy of Peter Brown ‘Can’t Be Love‘ — I’ll have been staying just down the road over the Bank Holiday but can’t oblige . . . Neil Wiltshire, pre-match DJ at Billericay Town FC, reckons a recent Alan Coulthard mix on 208 slavishly copied (from ‘Lovers Holiday’ onwards) a bootleg mixer 12in called ‘Another One Madly‘ — how’s about it, kid? . . . I pretty well taught myself tape editing for the current Soul On Sound preview mix medley (easy enough after watching Capital’s Roger Scott in action), not that any of the mixes themselves are tape edits . . . Mike Allen, in a different musical context, last week played a ravishing segue sequence of John Williams ‘Cavatina’, Dire Straits ‘Private Investigations’, Marvin Gaye ‘Trouble Man’ . . . Trevor Hughes (Telford Redeye Roadshow) says he’s taking his pet hedgehog for a walk to see his flat mate on the M11 . . . Trevor then challenges Mike Page (Shifnal Nell Gwynn) to shoot it out on stage each using his own gear (sometime in November when Trevor’s not booked), the loser dancefloor activity-wise then forfeiting his share of the takings and paying for the hall — this is the stuff we want, pick up the glove Mike! . . . Karl (Barnsley Rebecca’s) miaous that Nick Bradman (Sheffield Maximillions) ought to lay off Tight Fit for periods of more than ten minutes and get some people into the club if he wants to get record company mailouts — more of the stuff we want, that could be another challenge there! . . . Steven Fay (Darwen) revives Bell & James ‘Living It Up‘ (A&M 12in), which I seem to remember broke first and always was hottest in the North-West . . . Alen Gaskell funks St Helens West Park every Sunday, and every other Thursday (next week 9th) does Widnes Tigers Rugby Club which he’s thinking of renaming Tardis (back in time), as the punters still think Diana Ross’s ‘I’m Coming Out’ is the hottest dancer . . . Flash Gordon (Bristol Misty’s) reckons our Nightclub chart should be relabelled Hype & Wally, while Paul Barron (Rotherham Tiffanys) grumbles that not enough alternative dance tracks show up in it now — I know, I know, but we can only work with the charts we get and if you don’t send ’em how can we change things? . . . Alan Jones, who does the groundwork in compiling the disco charts, actually has a new scheme which should soon improve the Nightclub situation . . . Paul Barron incidentally, rather than his club’s manager, recently won a £500 holiday incentive prize for doing the best promotion for Club Continental Holidays — not often that the DJ gets the recognition . . . Tricky Dicky (London Dicks Inn discos) has noticed the Gay Top 20 is already stagnating — the trouble with any chart is that they tend to be self-perpetuating over a period of time, even though as in this case we’re getting quite a good turnover of regular contributions . . . Progressive Discos is another publication’s euphemism for their gay chart — Retrogressive Disco would be more accurate to my mind, considering the rhythms and even the songs are all so old . . . ooh! . . . Adrian Dunbar (Bournemouth Adams) is surprised Yvonne Elliman, especially, and Lime have not been issued here as in common with so much “gay material” they’re basically just Wally fodder . . . Donna Summer’s album hasn’t exactly set the disco world on fire . . . I never cease to be amazed how in the middle of my very obviously ’60s Soul Tuesdays at Soho’s Le Beat Route people still ask for ‘Come On Eileen’ or modern disco . . . Dave Rawlings (Reading Rebeccas) suffers from the current complaint, asking “Is it just me or do all DJs have trouble finding enough time in a night to play all the records they want to?” . . . DO IT DO IT . . . HEY . . . DO IT DO IT!

SECOND IMAGE have a new Pete Wingfield-produced 12in due in a fortnight, ‘What’s Happening‘, a bushy tail wagging little pent-up 101bpm jiggler full of scarcely suppressed vocal eagerness (and not a little hint of Pete’s own bright harmonies).

What’s more, we have six autographed copies of the exclusive white label promo, PLUS six special red and white Second Image caps, to award to the six winners (one of each).

In this simple competition! Answer the following: 1) Name the first Polydor single by Second Image. 2) What link is there between Second Image and David Grant of Linx? 3) Which past producer do Second Image have in common with Central Line?

Send your answers with your name and address to Second Image Competition, Record Mirror, PO Box 16, Harlow, Essex — the first six correct entries opened get the goodies!

UK NEWIES

SHALAMAR: ‘There It Is’ (Solar K 13194T).
Strong and obviously smash bound jiggly slow thudding 103bpm 12in half-stepper (remixed) with an immediately recognisable typical slinkily sinuous tune.

ZAPP: ‘Dance Floor’ (Warner Bros K 17990T).
Kings of subtly shifting repetitive electrophonic phunk. Roger’s Family Troutman hit a steady 110½bpm 12in vocodered groove that just don’t quit, flipped by their similar original first 105bpm ‘More Bounce To The Ounce‘ hit from two years ago (when it went well with ‘Oops Up Side Your Head’).

ZAPP: ‘Do You Really Want An Answer?’ (LP ‘Zapp II’ Warner Bros 1-23583).
Ignored when the rest of the set was reviewed as not immediately a dancer, this fantastic 119-0bpm doo-wop soul vocal group swayer has seared its way into everyone’s mind thanks to repeated radio soul show play and should indeed be heard by all true soul fans. Continue reading “September 4, 1982: Shalamar, Zapp, Passion, Sharon Redd, Brenda Taylor”