YES INDEEDY — Greg’s back . . . Streetwave’s next “JH piggyback” is a mixed medley of Ingram ‘DJs Delight/We Like To Do It/Smoothin’ Groovin’ AND Greg Henderson ‘Dreamin’, on 3-track 12in this weekend with the two normal tracks — however the first 10,000 will leave out to my mind the climax of the whole mix thanks to meddling Morgan Khan thinking he knew better while my back was turned — bah! . . . Ingram’s UK LP will include the old ‘Mi Sabrina Tequana‘ and ‘Music Has The Power‘ — and while still in West Acton ‘Street Sounds Edition 4‘ will include Mtume/Gladys Knight/’D’ Train/C.O.D. megamix/First Light ‘Daybreak’/Class Action/Lenny White/Luther Vandross ‘n more — phew! . . . First Light’s 7in doesn’t include ‘Daybreak‘, the hot track! . . . Motown invite all jocks to send in for a mailing list application form, from Disco Mailing List, c/o Motown Records, 1 Bedford Avenue, London WC1 . . . Tony Monson unearthed a South African jazz LP by and called ‘Sakhile’ (SA Moonshine LP), only a few about at the moment, the title track being a delicately pulsing relaxed sinuous slow 99-100-99bpm tapper with gentle sax and some languid title chanting, hot for them that have it . . . Victor Tavares ‘Show Me‘ (US Malaco 12in) is another hot rarity so far . . . Vince Montana is re-recording lots of his oldies especially for the UK . . . Indeep’s US LP is a real old-fashioned “follow-up to a hit” rip-off, the only main new ‘Buffalo Bill‘ disco cut being heavily influenced by Malcolm McLaren . . . Jonny Chingas’ follow-up US 12in is the unbelievably awful fast c.130bpm ‘Ghandi’ Anglo (Anglo-Indian?) galloper . . . Hazell Dean PAs at Haringey Bolts this Friday (27), while incidentally Brighton Bolts has been at Coasters every Sunday during Sherry’s renovation . . . I Level PA at Edgbaston Faces French on Saturday (28), when at Charing King Arthur’s Court residents Kev Ashman & Nicky Peck wear everything white including their hair for a silly “white (k)night”! . . . Jonathon, Steve Allen, Paul ‘Jazzbo’ Murphy ‘n more plus a video room funk Peterborough Cresset Centre Slickers alldayer (4pm) this Sunday (29), when Adrian Dunbar and chums try out a Boys Town one-niter at Birmingham Millionaires . . . Bank Holiday Monday events include Greg Wilson, Mike Shaft, Colin Curtis, Simon Walsh ‘n Chad at Wigan Pier alldayer (2pm), Nicky Peck, Chris Kaye, Kev Ashman, Tom Holland, John DeSade etc etc at West Malling Greenways 6th Kent Soul Fest (6pm), Chris Brown, Paul Clark & Thomas Felton Esquire at Leysdown Stage 3 (6pm), Capital’s Phil Allen, JFM’s Graham Gold, Gordon Mac & Lyndon T plus star PAs at Peckham Kisses (4pm), ‘Top Club DJ 1983’ Franklyn Hughes, Ian White & Lloyd Earl at Oxford Boodles (3pm), Phil Jorge & Two Counties Radio’s John Terrett (playing all sorts) at Bournemouth Moat House Hotel (1pm) . . . Capital’s “wide boy” Gary Crowley starts a regular ‘Tuesday Club’ with Chris Paul next week (31) at South Harrow Bogarts, lotsa real star PAs — trumpet tootlin’ Chris Paul is at Paddington Morgan’s on Fridays too . . . Martha Reeves plays Mayfair Gullivers on Wednesday (1), followed in 2 and 3 weeks by Mary Wells and Jimmy Ruffin . . . Steve Harvey (no, I don’t think THAT one, he’d have told me surely?) upfront funks Hatfield Woodside Place Country Club, Bell Bar, every Thursday . . . Soho Fooberts (off Carnaby Street) in conjunction with Wrangler Jeans and Rockafellas eaterie are adding £750 of prizes for winners of the Malibu dancing heats at the club, between June 2-July 14 . . . Chris Hills quote at the opening Maze night said it all, “If Frankie Beverly could write a song as well as a killer rhythm track he’d have a hit!” . . . LET’S BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!
HOT VINYL
OLIVER CHEATHAM: ‘Get Down Saturday Night’ (LP ‘Saturday Night’ US MCA MCA-5410)
From the same production stable as Al Hudson (like everything else on MCA these days!) and full of songs not to be confused with any others of the same title, the gruff soulster’s set has immediately smashed into the chart thanks to this superb quietly stated jauntily tripping 116½bpm chunky finger snappin’ killer of a cut — which is not to overlook the Vandross-ish tugging 109bpm ‘Bless The Ladies‘ and 104bpm ‘Just To Be With You‘ (the 122bpm ‘Make Your Mind Up‘ is less good), while soulful slowies include the 66bpm ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, 71½bpm ‘Do Me Right’, 70½bpm ‘Through It All’. Rec-o-mmended!
THE FUNK MASTERS: ‘It’s Over’ (Funk-Master MF 004)
Streaking out of left field, a particularly attractive lazily jogging 101bpm 12in swayer with catchy strong melodic hook, soulfully wailed and groaned by (I believe) a Julie Roberts (rather than, as initially rumoured, US jazzer Judy Roberts!), with Gonzalez on horns, the whole thing having a lovers rock flavour but the beat of sophisticated soul (dub flip). Superb.
MARY JANE GIRLS: ‘All Night Long’ (LP ‘Mary Jane Girls’ Gordy STML 12189)
Already a singalong anthem for the real soul crowd and an absolute monster, this sultry cool whispering and wailing 98bpm rolling jogger (similar to Keni Burke’s ‘Risin’ To The Top‘) should be another ‘Young Free And Single’ / ‘Hold Me Tighter In The Rain’ once on single here, and meanwhile dominates an excellent Rick James-produced set that’s otherwise split between fast ‘Candy Man’ clones or superb Shirelles-ish slowies. Continue reading “May 28, 1983: Oliver Cheatham, The Funk Masters, Mary Jane Girls, Terri Wells, Imagination”
BOOKER NEWBERRY III: ‘Love Town’ (Polydor POSPX 613)
Possibly the most viable successor yet to ‘Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now’ (unless radio gets frightened by lyrics about a red light district), this monster import smash is a great easily rolling chunky 113-114-115- 116bpm 12in swayer gruffly souled in Vandross/Benson-ish style, with a useful (though so far overshadowed) 117-118bpm ‘Doin’ What Comes Naturally‘ flip, both sides co-penned by Bobby Eli & Len ‘123’ Barry.
THE PAUL SIMPSON CONNECTION: ‘Use Me Lose Me (Lose Me Use Me)’ (US Streetwise SWRL 2209)
Fabulous buoyantly bounding 115bpm rattler with whooping and wailing female lead vocal over a soaring ’70s soul flavoured feel, culminating in rippling vibes, on 5-track 12in featuring a strong very Montana-ish vibey instrumental, slow piano introed even vibier ‘Reprise Me‘, drumming ‘Dub Me‘, short ‘Acappela Me’. Get two copies or at least dig out again ‘Heavy Vibes’, ‘Oh I Love It’, Carol Douglas ‘You’re Not So Hot’ and even Greg Henderson ‘Dreamin’ to expand the groove!
WICKETT: ‘Can’t Get Enough Of You’ (US Mr T Records Mr T-1002)
Wicked (well, it had to be — and really is!) great jerkily driving jittery 115bpm 12in rattler with staccato David Joseph-ish title line chants and some squawking sax all buried under the ‘Get Her Crazy’ beat (which can be made to mix usefully with Paul Simpson Connection too), ending with sparser vocodered Smurf effects (shorter vocal remix flip). Dyn-o-mite! Continue reading “May 21, 1983: Booker Newberry III, The Paul Simpson Connection, Wickett, Shirley Lites, Strike One”
MORGAN KHAN’S latest smash ‘n grab for Streetwave release imminently is nothing less than Ingram, 12in and LP (plus he’s muttering about getting the older ‘Mi Sebrina Tequana’ too)! . . . Steve Harvey has indeed signed a major label deal with London . . . Michael Jackson thankfully follows up with ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ . . . Jeff Young at Phonogram isn’t being “joined” by Mike Sefton — Mike’s taking over as plugger alone because Jeff’s moving over to A&R (for yet more ‘Young & Strong’ strategies?!) . . . Midas Records are updating their DJ and — especially — specialist record shop mailing lists, so send relevant truthful details to 104 Harley House, Upper Harley Street, London NW1 4PR . . . Jive will be packaging the next Richard Jon Smith single with a cassette of his oldies specially remixed by myself (using multi-track master tapes at last!) . . . Soul On Sound 016’s preview mix features Cameo ‘You’re A Winner’/Mary Jane Girls ‘All Night Long’/Chi-Lites ‘Changing for You’/Lenny White ‘Didn’t Know About Love’/Tony McKenzie ‘Ha-Chica’/Hurt ‘Em Bad ‘The Boxing Game’/Gladys Knight ‘Save The Overtime’/Vaughan Mason & Butch Dayo ‘Party On The Corner’/Craig Peyton ‘Be Thankful’/Raymond Harris ‘Under Your Spell (Inst)’/Booker Newberry III ‘Love Town’/Luther Vandross ‘You’re The Sweetest One’/Marcus Miller ‘Suddenly’/David Diggs ‘Gentle Thoughts’/First Light ‘Daybreak’/Maze ‘Right On Time’/Brass Construction ‘We Can Work It Out’/Brass Construction ‘Walkin’ The Line’/Leon Haywood ‘I’m Out To Catch’/Anthony Franklin ‘Hot Number’/Shirley Lites ‘Heat You Up ‘/David Joseph ‘Let’s Live It Up’/Prince Charles ‘Bush Beat’/Ingram ‘Groovin’ On A Groove’ — pretty hot stuff, and a good Mix Master sequence in itself (although today I’d have substituted Dick Smith ‘Sunny’ for Marcus Miller, the latter used after five hours spent trying to get neatly out of Luther Vandross — who, ever so soulfully maybe, sings across virtually every bar progression mix point the bum!) . . . Maze seemed less exciting than last year on their opening night at Hammersmith, and the obviously well primed audience reaction less spontaneous, Frankie Beverly not exactly helping the mood by chopping short the admittedly somewhat forced ‘Joy And Pain’ singalong to then go into the dreadful fast ‘Running Away’ (their own, not Roy Ayers’) amidst total audience apathy, before getting back to the groove with ‘Before I Let Go’ — and I hear he was still doing this at the weekend . . . next! . . . London’s Xenon club literally tore up the guest list for last week’s awards night, which was over-subscribed by exactly twice the number of punters allowed, leaving many invited dignitaries out on the pavement and those lucky (?) ones crammed downstairs struggling for breathing space — which I and several others found in the bar upstairs . . . Eugene Record & the Chi-Lites were excellent at a packed Mayfair Gullivers later that night, but — ooo-er! — hadn’t rehearsed ‘Changing For You’ (don’t worry, I told ’em) . . . Edwin Starr the previous week at Gullys was joined by Ben E King, Bill Fredericks, all the Drifters (except Johnnie Moore), plus the inevitable Clem Curtis, Carl Douglas & Gene Latter, fourteen singers in all on stage — however, at his less packed second appearance there, Edwin did a great soulful set leaving out all his hits and instead making a reggae tempoed slow ‘The Girl Is Smooth (Rude!)’ last half an hour . . . Terry Davis, Ian Clark ‘n more return this Saturday (14) for more ’60s soul at the site of their first successful ‘Function At The Junction’, Lavender Hill’s The Cornet in Lavender Gardens (South London) . . . Greg Wilson, still doin’ the poodle dog at Wigan Pier (Tues) / Manchester Legend (Wed), has left all other residencies to give Manchester a “viable Saturday funk venue” at Berties (formerly Hell) . . . Gary Allan’s gone a hundred percent Boys Town on Fri/Sat at Liverpool’s Concert Street, so he’s now only doing guest spots at The Warehouse there . . . Jon Alsop has made Mondays at Edgbaston Faces French Club Jardine into modern music/modern fashion night (no dress restrictions), featuring local groups live weekly (Katu on Mon 16) . . . Martin John (Bromley Bibas Fri/Sun) does Saturdays at Deptford Cheeks, where he’s also trying to build a Thursday funk night with free admission as some inducement (but no jeans/trainers) . . . Cosmic currently handles the hen night Thursdays at Basildon New Yorker . . . Brian Mason (South Harrow Bobby Magees) has dropped the ‘Bazzer’ from his stage name — though his mates still call him Baz — and now adds Saturdays at St Albans Adelaide Disco Wine Bar (where Chiltern Radio’s Martin Collins props up the bar Wednesdays) . . . Mezzoforte play Boscombe Academy on Monday (13) . . . Gary Oldis’s two Bee Jays residencies at Aycliffe and Darlington have both just had refits, the latter being due to reopen about now . . . Dave Rawlings follows the hula hoop with ‘space hopper’ racing as the new craze at Basingstoke Martines . . . Trevor Hughes hopes the crowd’ll be into imports at Wellington (Telford) Gallys, where he starts this Saturday (14) . . . Paul McGeown, studying in Glasgow, reports that Beacon’s Mike Baker has a rival in Radio Clyde’s Mark Goodier, who also features nothing but 12in dance cuts of all types (plus live concert recordings of bands on tour) on his Tuesday 8-10pm ‘Check It Out (Music Of The ’80s)’ show . . . I actually listened to Mike Baker on Beacon while driving down from North Wales last Wednesday (from somewhere around Knutsford clear to the M1), and was pleased to hear him and rock segment co-presenter Mike Davis refer to the bit in Record Mirror even at that late stage! . . . I looked in on Rhyl jocks Andy Baker and Al Taylor on the Monday, but having arrived too late for the weekend missed anyone else — however, holidaying late, I got the sun! . . . Nick Ratcliffe recommends new dance group Attika (3 black guys/2 white gals), bookable on Crawley 31620 and evidently a wow the other Saturday at Guildford Cinderella Rockerfellas (hi, All) . . . Rob Harknett (Croydon) features a track sent to him by Zambia DJ John Nkonjera, the reggae ‘Sound Of Africa’ album (EMI Zambia) . . . Fatman Graham Canter has quit London’s Xenon, saying “They didn’t give me either the money or the musical freedom I deserve — but watch out for the re-emergence of Le Beat Route!” . . . Greg Edwards, looking great, has lost so much weight he’s having to wear old clothes! . . . DJ/plugger Theo Loyla and LP sleeve designing spouse Joy have returned to Herne Bay (02273 64806) . . . Soul On Sound’s resident wind-up artiste Chris Ellis has done a bunk (he says to Corfu, but if you believe that . . . !), probably because the taxman cometh, and in parting says a sincere thanks to all those in the soul world who have helped him, especially Chris Hill, Ralph Tee, Tony Jenkins, Anthony Bernards (collapse of half London in hysterics) . . . London’s late nite eaterie Rockafella’s (off Regent Street next to Samantha’s) has finally reopened after £30,000 of fire damage, evenings/nights only . . . John ‘Nick’ Osborne (Ilford Room At The Top) warns other jocks that a PA by Set The Tone may not be exactly what you or your punters expect (unless you’ve got gross tastes!) . . . Anthony Franklin of ‘Hot Number’ is, like Jennifer Holliday, from the cast of ‘Dreamgirls’ . . . Gladys Knight & The Pips album credits contradict their 12in, making Rickey Smith producer of ‘Overtime’, and the Sylvers Bros arrangers only . . . Simon Walsh finally reveals why The Webboes ‘Under The Wear‘ was so big at Bradford’s Time & Place club — it coincided with the launch of a new beer, called Webbo! . . . Northern Soul star/black Elvis imitator/Eddy Grant mentor Gene Latter can now also describe himself as a 3 hour marathon runner . . . Burgess Gardner’s ‘Gemstone‘ is painfully awful — I knew there was some reason I didn’t review it . . . Second Image’s LP has of course the 118bpm vocal version of ‘Special Lady’ while other correct BPMs are ‘Life Is What You Make It’ 145-72½bpm, ‘Is it Me?’ 119½bpm . . . RM’s record deck, used for some reviews last week, resulted in some other errors: correct now are Mary Jane Girls ‘Boys’ 122bpm, Chi-Lites ‘Making Love’ 75bpm / ‘I Love’ 72bpm, Earl Klugh ‘Back In Central Park’ 103-104-0bpm, DeBarge ‘I Like It’ 88-87bpm, Dynasty ‘Does That Ring A Bell’ 113bpm / ‘Give Your Love To Me’ 104bpm — oh, and thanks to the decks in Rayners Lane evidently running slow you may need to add up to 3bpm to last week’s “c” (for circa) figures . . . Nick Abdullah, president and chief bottle washer of the University College Of Wales in Aberystwyth’s ‘Steppin Out’ soul society (it’s considered “alternative” music amongst the unsoulful students), wonders about BPM-ing: I use a 30 second sweep stopwatch (giving greater space between seconds for split BPM accuracy) and a hand tally counter to click off the beats in time with the music, the counter — very important this — set to 9999, so that as soon as I hit both watch and counter it reads 0000 (the beat where you start counting is obviously not “1”, but “0”, this mistake probably accounting for most published inaccuracies elsewhere, especially where the error is magnified by multiplying up from a short timed segment) . . . Booker Newberry III, due here on Polydor next week, has done sensationally well to top the Disco chart while still only on import . . . J. Walter Negro/Nicky Tesco is drearily tempoed, not “freakily” . . . Adrian Dunbar (Bournemouth Adams/Southampton Warehouse) reckons I Level needs a harder mix — good lad! . . . Eyes & Ears and Rush Release mailing list jocks please note, we do not — repeat NOT — want two separate charts from you unless you work different nights at totally different music venues — we’ll decide whether your chart is Disco or Nightclub, thank you, and if you’re playing funky soul records at the same gig as pop and rock, that’s fine, just put ’em all together (the longer the chart the better) . . . Island’s Bryan O’Connor has just come through with some hot poop that’ll break many a heart across the country — yup, roving record plugger, Pzazz boss, (old-style) David Grant lookalike and, above all, ladies man Orin Cozier has announced his intention to marry one Sue Stockley of this parish! . . . ‘Hill Street Blues’ fans staying in on Saturday to watch ‘Naked City’ would have spotted a young Michael Conrad last week . . . BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!
BREAKFAST MUSIC — those wonderful Warner Brothers have now put Al Jarreau’s cereal commercial, ‘Mornin‘, on 3-track 12in with his older ‘Roof Garden‘ and ‘We’re In This Love Together‘ (U9929T).
HOT VINYL
DAVID JOSEPH: ‘Let’s Live It Up (Nite People)’ (Island 121S 116)
Happily jumping 120½bpm 12in chanter with electronic (but not “electro”) backing, sensational mixed out of Shirley Lites or Nile Rodgers ‘Get Her Crazy’, a bit repetitive which may limit it to being a dancefloor smash although there’s an infectious sort of updated Gibson Bros-ish pop appeal (interesting instrumental flip).
MTUME: ‘Juicy Fruit’ (Epic TA 3424)
Tawatha sensually wails an electronically backed stately slow 0-96¼bpm 12in slinker with the killer line ‘I’ll be your lollipop, you can lick me everywhere’ — but even sexier is the 7in B-side ‘Reprise Part II‘, which now thankfully also shows up as ‘The After 6 Mix’ on the Reggie (Sunfire) Lucas-partnering James Mtume’s self-named group’s import ‘Juicy Fruit’ LP (US Epic FE 38588), on which best disco dancer is the punchily smacking 114½bpm ‘Green Light‘ although more interesting is the scat, electro and swing melding 94bpm ‘Hip Dip Skippedabeat‘ (very much an updated ‘Jack That Cat Was Clean‘!), while all with the same dry electronic drive are the 121bpm ‘Your Love’s Too Good (To Spread Around)‘, 0-106½bpm ‘Hips‘, 103bpm ‘Would You Like To (Fool Around)‘, 91bpm ‘Ready For Your Love‘.
STATUS IV: ‘You Ain’t Really Down’ (US Radar RDR-12003)
Eric Matthew/Toney Lee-created excellent rumbling and finger snappin’ 118bpm 12in ‘Reach Up’-type episodic jitterer with exceptionally soulful male vocal group work and some soaring trumpet, instrumental/acappella flip, which dancers may need to hear a few times before it’s massive. Continue reading “May 14, 1983: David Joseph, Mtume, Status IV, Nile Rodgers, Gladys Knight & The Pips”
BOOKER NEWBERRY III despite being on the CBS-affiliated Boardwalk label in the States has somehow been picked up here by Polydor . . . Phonogram follow Street Sounds lead with a 7-track £2.99 full-length disco album, due mid-May, made up exclusively of stuff unreleased here and called ‘Wired For Clubs (Club Tracks Volume 1)‘ on the new Club logo, containing Fatback ‘Is This The Future?’, current 12in imports by C-Brand, Bar-Kays, ConFunkShun, Yarbrough & Peoples, Stephanie Mills, plus Brooklyn Dreams 4-yrs-old original ‘Touching In The Dark’ — if successful there’ll be follow-ups every two months (this concept replacing the previously mentioned 4-track 12in scheme) . . . IDS will be distributing what can now be described as “a typical Roy Carter smacker” in the shape of Warner’s 118¼-119-119½bpm ‘Live And Learn‘, so far only on unidentifiable white label (the 102½-103½bpm flip isn’t bad either) — how about more detailed info, guys? . . . Steve Arrington’s Hall Of Fame ‘You Meet My Approval‘ / ‘Nobody Can Be You‘ is rather belatedly about on promo 12in . . . Leon Haywood’s Karen Roberts-sung 115bpm ‘I’m Out To Catch‘ is now on remixed US 12in . . . 12in singles incidentally were the only record format (apart from cassettes) to register an increase of sales in the States last year — hardly surprising when the Jonzun Crew can claim a quarter million 12in sales for ‘Pack Jam‘, which wasn’t exactly a smash in radio-regulated “chart” terms (and let’s not forget the notorious case of Frankie Smith’s ‘Double Dutch Bus‘, which if I remember right was at two million-plus the biggest seller of 1981 yet barely scraped into the top 40) . . . Rhetta Hughes briefly topped the US Dance/Disco chart for one week before David Bowie claimed the crown — thus doubtless halting our own David Joseph at impressive number 2! . . . America’s current Black hits, with a few obvious exceptions, are quite remarkably the opposite of what’s currently popular here in soul circles . . . Sunday (8) sees Bradford Time & Place’s Simon Walsh make his alldayer debut alongside Greg Wilson, Colin Curtis, Richard Searling, Soul Sam & Cleveland Anderson at Sheffield’s Leadmill (2pm) . . . Larry Foster is promoting himself, John ‘Nick’ Osborne & Robbie Collins at Hackney Flappers next Wednesday (11), £1 before 10pm/£1.50 after, smart dress — hopefully the start of a series of dances — while on Saturdays at Tottenham’s Mayfair the huge cult oldie for Larry is El Coco ‘Let’s Get It Together (Remix)‘, with punters searching fruitlessly for it in local record shops (hint hint, PRT?) . . . Oxford’s Boodles has an alldayer on Bank Holiday Monday May 30 with Devonair’s Tim Arnold & Nic Wakefield (a long way from Devon!), Ralph Tee, Ian White & Greg Parrott — entrance by £3 ticket available locally from record shops or on Oxford 730529/245136 from Greg Parrott . . . Edwin Starr don’t forget is at Mayfair Gullivers again tonight (Thursday 5), and Sylvester is live at Harringey Bolts on Friday (6) . . . Capital’s Phil Allen joins John DeSade Wed (11) at Canning Town’s International Club . . . Chris Dinnis starts playing lovely down-tempo deep soul and jazz on Sundays at Exeter’s Nosey Parkers, on The Quay near Boxes — a listening/non-dancing venue, but with video games for the more dimwitted! . . . Ian Shaw souls Fridays at Mortlake’s new Rumps disco fun bar . . . George E Scott (wasn’t he good as ‘Patton’?!) is resident jock at Chelmsford’s Dee Jays now, playing the hits but with a party slant . . . Brian Brindle revives great ’40s/early ’50s swing, R&B, rock ‘n roll and ’60s soul every Thursday at the Cat Flap (great name!) in Fulham Old Town Hall — that sounds like real music! . . . Soho’s Maze Club (upstairs at Ronnie Scott’s) has turned Tuesday into amateur comedians night . . . Dave Rawlings finally presented the Golden Hula Hoop Award at Basingstoke Martine’s to Lynne Oakley, who not content with a single hoop then went on to hula with two — some hip action! . . . Al Dupres (Cardiff) says a current “silly” going well is La La ‘Jolie Fille D’Alger‘ (Charisma) . . . Phil Lynch & Nicky Burnell with their Clouds roadshow currently put on a party-type show Tues/Wednesdays at Shepherds Bush pub The Wellington, where a biggie is — no relation — Lee Lynch ‘Famous Shamus‘ (but what’s the label?) . . . Keith Yershon’s Old Gold label has just reactivated eight double-sided Four Seasons hits on 7in — most vital for DJs now being ‘Sherry’ / ‘Dawn’ (OG 9276), ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ / ‘Walk Like A Man’ (OG 9277), ‘Let’s Hang On’ / ‘Workin’ My Way Back To You’ (OG 9278) — while other new revivals essential for MoR jocks include 1910 Fruitgum Co ‘Simon Says’ / Ohio Express ‘Yummy Yummy Yummy’ (OG 9293), Neil Diamond ‘Cracklin’ Rosie’ / ‘Sweet Caroline’ (OG 9324), Eydie Gorme ‘Blame It On The Bossa Nova’ (OG 9302), all orderable along with the label’s full range (get a catalogue) by your local record shop on 01-969 0155 . . . ‘Tricky Dicky’ Scanes at his Record Cellar (Oasis Records), 18 Newport Court behind Leicester Square tube station (entrance through boutique) is currently charging only £3.70 for all the Boys Town import 12in hits — and adds that at his gigs the latest “drag” smash is Norma Lewis ‘Maybe This Time‘, many punters going into a full mime act as soon as the vocal starts . . . Mark Clark’s Mark One Records in Wokingham (is that 23 Peach Street?) does £3.99 import 12in/£6.75 LP, with discount for most jocks provided they buy a copy of Soul On Sound to qualify! . . . Thames Valley DJ Association’s current Disco Action newsletter has much sensible advice about advertising and promoting a mobile disco — TVDJA also appear to be national in scope now, so doubtless you can apply for membership details on their newly installed 24-hr ‘Tivvyphone’ on Ashford (Middx) 58881 . . . Alan ‘Gibbo’ Gibson, ex-Edgbaston Faces, appears to be following the Alan James Jewell route from Oslo’s Leopard out to Bangkok . . . ConFunkShun obviously hope some of Kool & The Gang’s success will rub off on them by getting Deodato to produce their next album . . . Andrew ‘The Funky Shepherd’ Macey (Adisham) presumes that Leysdown Stage 3’s Tom Felton is reviving the punk funk image in freaky T-shirt and spiky hair, and also wonders when Charing King Arthur’s Court regular Kev Ashman will buy new needles for the decks — well, that’s two venues Andrew’s going to be welcome at! . . . Eric Hearn (long time no hear?) in the second issue of Merseyside’s Soulblowin’ fanzine suggests that all of Liverpool tunes in to Manchester’s Piccadilly Radio on Sundays 3-7pm to hear Mike Shaft’s soul show rather than endure their own local variety . . . Capital’s Al Wilson — mmm-hmm, uhh, make that Matthews — recently announced Ingram as “Ingrid” and made Lenny White into a “Ms.”! . . . Al’s a nice guy actually, currently in the position of having to play the part of a DJ, as if an actor — so don’t blame him . . . NO SIRREE!
HOT VINYL
KAREN YOUNG: ‘You Don’t Know What You Got’ (Dutch Ariola Dance Records 600.790)
Hottest newie before last week’s early Bank Holiday deadline (much more stuff expected by the weekend), an interestingly soulful weaving (slightly fluctuating) 123½bpm 12in roller at a cantering Class Action type of tempo with long burbling break leading to nice sax, instrumental flip, possibly needing a few listens for its quality to sink in.
TONY McKENZIE: ‘Ha-Chica’ (US SAM S-12357)
About for a while as ‘Ah-Chica’ on Holland’s Cash label but only now taking off (reputedly in a different mix) after US copies arrived, this Kid Creole influenced 106½bpm happy party rattler is set to electronic drums with lots of percussion between amusing lyrics. On 3-track 12in with freakily altered strong ‘Instrumental Remix’ and ‘Short’ versions, a likely crossover hit.
James Hamilton's Disco Page 