Author: Mike A

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

THIS YEAR all disco record reviews come under the new heading of Hot Vinyl, so that no matter what the space/time situation, at least you’ll get to read about the week’s best releases regardless of where they come from — which should stop the “swings and roundabouts” situation! . . . Virgin’s Mick Clark was back from Philadelphia just before Christmas clutching a new Montana Sextet remix he’d created while there, but at the time he was undecided about any release for it . . . Morgan Khan snapped up Masurrati & Huey Harris for Streetwave release, PRT picked up the brilliant smash-bound Indeep . . . Ex Tras actually turn out to include the same Miami-based musicians as the Extra T’s, ‘Haven’t Been Funked Enough‘ now being due on full release this month on TMT (TMTT 1) . . . Motown’s two decades old US label Gordy gets its own identity here at last, debuting with the Bobby M album and ‘Let’s Stay Together‘ single . . . Steve Jerome is being produced by London-domiciled Isaac Hayes . . . Marvin Gaye’s follow-up as you’ve seen is not as previously advised (thanks so much, Greg!) . . . Margie Joseph ‘Knockout’ is now about as a remix . . . UK visitors over the next two months should include Rockers Revenge, Nairobi, Robert ‘Goodie’ Whitfield, Gap Band, Yarbrough & Peoples . . . Jon Williams is after local contributors to help with a planned new weekly soul fanzine for the Merseyside area — contact Jay D’s Boogie, 16 Waring Avenue, Birkenhead. Merseyside L42 6QH . . . Ilford Room At The Top’s John ‘Nick’ Osborne needs someone already running a successful gay night to help start one on Wednesdays, call him on 01 478 5588 Tues-Sat 9pm-2am (his jazz-funk night is back to Tuesdays) . . . Hotline ‘Fantasy’, highest new entry in the Boys Town Chart, is yet another Bobby “O” Orlando production . . . Sharon Redd’s ‘In The Name Of Love’ is actually nothing less than a discotized tango! . . . Ian Dewhirst, packing Leeds Warehouse six nights a week playing a total mixture of almost every type of music “as long as it’s great, new, trendy or absolutely classic”, points out it was he who originated the first Shalamar group’s debut ‘Uptown Festival’ Motown medley hit, co-produced by Simon Soussan (using session singers such as Rinder & Lewis of El Coco fame) — something that current histories of the present group conveniently forget . . . Feel’s ‘I’d Like To’ instrumental is such a sensational synch out of Indeep that I continually forget to fade the other record! . . . MoR jocks should note that Kids From Fame ‘Hi-Fidelity’ is a killer out of Human League ‘Mirror Man’, and also that Dire Straits ‘Sultans Of Swing’ is due on Vertigo 12in . . . Chad (Liverpool Cagneys) says Toney Lee’s acappella intro is brill over ‘Heavy Vibes’ Adrian D (Bournemouth Adams) revives Jackie Moore ‘This Time Baby’ (CBS 12in) and Suzi Lane ‘Harmony’ (Elektra 12in) at his gay venue — actually, he’d welcome offers of a London residency (not necessarily Boys Town) at 53 Markham Road, Winton, Bournemouth, Dorset . . . Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’, with its Van Halen guitar, has predictably got US ‘AOR’ rock radio raving (it was serviced on special promo-only 12in), except some stations are still so tightly segregated — sorry — formatted — that not all have dared “add” it yet . . . ABC ‘The Look Of Love (Remix)’ replaced Prince ‘1999’ as top US Dance/Disco hit, but in most respects our own various disco charts are way ahead of Billboard’s . . . Wallasey Jock Pez presents an in-store radio show on Saturdays to shoppers at Top Man (which side of the Mersey he doesn’t clarify), adding it makes a certain local radio DJ’s ‘Keep On Truckin’ sound like ‘All Our Yesterdays’! . . . I’d just like to point out (not necessarily to Pez) that any idiot can play all the brand new releases but that doesn’t automatically make him a good DJ . . . BBC Radio One’s Steve Wright should note that ten well chosen words are worth more than any amount of mindless Radio One chatter . . . Brian ‘Bazzer’ Mason’s Fridays funking Harrow Bobby Magees are going so well the doors have to be closed as early as 11pm to combat a residents late noise petition . . . Cosmic funks Basildon’s New Yorker on Wednesdays now, John Rush still doing Fri/Sats . . . Nick Aravis now gets help from Gary Kent not only funking Wednesdays but also doing Under-18 Mondays at Hornchurch Daniels . . . Larry Foster as well as funking Fridays has added party night Thursdays at Ilford Gants Hill Villa . . . Kishan, mobile around Harrow as All Jets Sound, has been resident at Swiss Cottage Finchley Road’s Les Elites Club (now redecorated) ever since Alan James Jewell departed for foreign climes (AJJ should be in Bangkok by now) . . . John DeSade’s moved into Central London on Fri/Sats at the Xclusiv . . . Chris Cole’s Fridays at Cranleigh’s Cranley Hotel are being enlivened by a giant new video . . . Chester Browton (Selsey) says that other Spanish holiday hit was probably Lime ‘Babe We’re Gonna Love Tonight’ (Canadian Uniwave/Matra/US Prism/German Polydor) . . . Showstoppers Adrian Webb hasn’t been masquerading on the quiet as Renato, has he?! . . . Tyrone Brunson and Whodini did well to hit amongst all the seasonal oldies/oddities in the Christmas week pop chart . . . now its welcome to the Gallup era . . . Mark Clark (Marylebone Cine Citta) says, some DJs use the rhythm method, others just SCRATCH IT!

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HOT VINYL

THE JAMMERS: ‘Be Mine Tonight (Instrumental)’ (US Salsoul SG 388).
Slow acoustic piano introed and then totally restructured sensational new 119bpm 12in instrumental treatment of the current smash, with two vocal remixes as well! If you love the original you won’t be happy without these . . . that’s a warning!

MAHOGANY: ‘Ride On The Rhythm’ (US West End WES 22150).
Truly solid sounding excellent slinkily grooving 109-108½-108-108½-108bpm 12in thudder with wailing chick weaving through great searing sax and simple little licks. Get it!

NEW YORK CITI PEECH BOYS: ‘Life Is Something Special’ (US Island 0-9928).
Heard best at volume out on the floor, which it fills (in the good clubs, anyway!), this disjointedly starting 110bpm 12in Larry Levan creation is very different from ‘Don’t Make Me Wait’ building remorseless intensity through War-like tribal ‘Roots’ chanting over a throbbing non-electronic rhythm — the ‘Special Edition‘ being less vocal and more subduedly electronic. Continue reading “January 8, 1983: The Jammers, Mahogany, New York Citi Peech Boys, C-Bank, Fresh Face”

And now the moment you’ve been waiting for . . .

THE HAMMY AWARDS 1982

1982 was a year in which music fans split into more different cliques than ever before, and controversy raged within the strictly soul camp about the merits or otherwise of the electrophonic influence.

With so many tastes to be catered for it is not surprising that the overall sales of every type of music suffered, but as the year drew to a close it appeared that disco was going through one of its periodic bursts of pop chart acceptance.

The mass of the general public obviously only want to dance to the records they know, and if they listen to the radio that means a very limited choice, but luckily during 1982 the media began to think of disco as being hip again, resulting in the widespread acceptance of such freak breakthroughs as Grandmaster Flash and Rockers Revenge.

Every few months there was the regulation crossover hit by a black lady, whether it be by the flavour of the summer, Patrice Rushen, or more often Evelyn King, plus the Sharons Redd and Brown, Raw Silk, Vicky “D”, Melba Moore, while a black Anglophile Los Angelean’s Kings Road trip to the barber’s gave Shalamar the key to superstardom.

Disco music wasn’t just about dancing in 1982, as a hefty dollop of real soul was returning to many of the hits too. However, more than anything else, it was undoubtedly the year of fierce electronics — and electrophonic phunk.

HIT OF THE YEAR: “D” Train – ‘You’re The One For Me’ (Prelude) — eight weeks at number one and, followed most importantly by the Peech Boys and Rockers Revenge, the most influential record of the year.

LABEL OF THE YEAR: Prelude, for the second year running.

RECORD COMPANY OF THE YEAR: CBS — the hits being (in ranked order) on Prelude, Streetwave, Epic, CBS, Tabu, Philadelphia International.

RUNNERS-UP (similarly ranked): 2) RCA (Motown/RCA/KR/Carrere/Ensign/Salsoul), 3) WEA (Elektra/Warner Bros/Solar/Atlantic), 4) Phonogram (Mercury/London/De-Lite), 5) Virgin (WMOT/Virgin/SAM), 6) EMI (Capitol/Liberty/EMI America/UA), 7) PRT (Sugarhill/Buddha/R&B/Excaliber/Becket), 8) A&M (Funk A&Merica/A&M), 9) Arista (Arista/GRP/Ariola), 10) Island (Ze/Island).

12in OF THE YEAR: Rockers Revenge – ‘Walking On Sunshine’ (London).

IMPORT OF THE YEAR: Extra T’s – ‘E.T. Boogie’ (US Sunnyview). Continue reading “January 1, 1983: The Hammy Awards 1982 / 1982 Year End Disco Chart”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

‘BILLIE JEAN’ will be the new Michael Jackson single, next month — no comment! . . . Sharon Redd’s current ‘Can You Handle It (Remix)‘ actually turns out be a UK concocted sequence of bits from three different earlier mixes . . . I’m once again putting together the 4 hour ‘Ain’t Nothing But A House Party’ tape which Capital Radio broadcasts between 10pm-2am over the turn of the New Year on the 31st, which’ll give you some idea of how I handle my mobile gigs if you can catch it — I understand cassettes of last year’s were a hot property! . . . Tony de Vit is presenting a special 4 hour Beacon Radio show on the evening of Monday 3rd January, recalling the best dance music of ’82 with plenty of mixes . . . Ian Levine & Colin Curtis reunite again in their old jocking partnership for a star-studded Manchester alldayer on May Day bank holiday Monday, when even some unexpected vintage US soulsters could be appearing too if all goes to plan . . . Capital’s dub plate reggaemeister David Rodigan recently surprised me by confessing that these days at his gigs he has to play sixty percent funky soul music, rather than pure reggae as that’s what his crowd want now . . . murderation! . . . Nick Ratcliffe has joined ace mixer John Dene on Tuesdays at Guildford Cinderella Rockerfellas easing funk-wards in the New Year, plus on Wednesdays in January he’ll be joining Dave Maskell there too . . . Phil Black (0222 595891) is now DJ and promotion manager at Cardiff’s new Chaplins, where he’d welcome doing some promotion nights . . . Cleveland Area DJ Association have a late night Christmas party on Monday 10th January at the Oak Leaf Club in Middlesbrough’s South Bank, with £2.50 tickets from Graham Murray on 0642 325112/470046 . . . Banbury’s Hospital Radio Horton have all sorts of high jinks planned over Christmas including a disco — for the patients? . . . Tony St Michael (01 609 3851 — ask for Peter) would like some gigs in the Oakham area of Rutland . . . Pete Alex at Oxford’s Boodles has arranged free entry to the club for any kosher DJ Association members Tues/Wed/Thursdays, and, while the venue is available to equipment-type companies for exhibitions, Pete is also thinking of staging an Oxford ‘Disco Fair’ — interested parties can reach him at Boodles, 35 Westgate, Oxford . . . Trevor John Hughes, out of action recently through illness (better than lead poisoning, huh?), recommends the good deals available to DJs at Wednesfield’s Max Millward Records and Wolverhampton’s Ruby Red Records . . . John Sinclair funks Reading Rebeccas on Thurs/Saturdays, having to incorporate the ‘Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now’ style of oldies to keep everyone (including the manager) happy . . . Rob Harknett still hits Ongar’s Haunt once a month, his longest running gig, since 1969 — and he now finds himself playing to the kids of those original 1969 members (shades of ‘Mr Chips’!) . . . Trademark ‘Uh-Huh!‘ (US Move ‘N Groove 12in), yet to do much here, turns out to be a new adaptation of the Invisible Man’s Band ‘All Night Thing‘ from 1980 . . . Chester Browton (Selsey) is trying to place two records he heard in Spain: ‘Rock Your Baby’ is obviously either Disco Connection (PRT) or the slightly slower Julius Green (German Ariola), but his guess at the title line of ‘Oh Baby Don’t You Love The Night’ has got me foxed over the other . . . Nick Davies (Watford New Penny) says Malcolm McLaren’s ‘Traditional Square Dance’ version goes great after ‘John Wayne Is Big Leggy’ . . . Wednesday 5th January is the next deadline for DJ’s charts ‘n’ info, and we’d really appreciate your effort (next week it’s Hammy Award time) . . . many thanks for all your cards — one that came from Spandau Ballet made the guys look such hunks I thought it must’ve been from Bolts! — and the very generous “drinks” . . . HEAVY HEAVY XMAS VIBES!

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UK NEWIES

REVIEWS Uh-oh, blown it again! I hope you can appreciate that during the less than 24 hours since finishing last week’s copy I have had to completely recompile not only everything in this issue but also everything in next week’s year-end round up too, including a 1982 Top 100 and the Hammy Awards which relate closely to the former’s contents. There has not been time for anything more than some overdue unprinted import reviews, and all the relevant BPMs that fit. Apart from keeling over for a while from exhaustion I haven’t slept in over 48 hours. Isn’t Christmas a gas? See you in ’83.

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IMPORTS

INDEEP: ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ (US Sound Of New York SNY 51 5102).
Potentially a pop crossover smash, this fantastically compulsive simple 110bpm 12in chugger features a slinky lady setting up the story situation, ringing phone effects, squealing brakes, flushing loo, and a rapping DJ saying how he “can do it in the mix” (great into Malcolm McLaren or Feel). Multi-banded with various dub versions, the flip even has the sound effects usefully on their own.

ELEANOR GRANT: ‘(I Am Ready) Sexual Healing’ (US Catawba CA 8000).
Less electronically created than Marvin but otherwise a straight female viewpoint 93¼bpm 12in answer version, in three versions including a mainly instrumental ‘Chimental Mix’.

MASURRATI & HUEY HARRIS: ‘Super Duper (Lovin’)’ (US Lioness Ltd MC-0001).
Incredibly infectious chix cooed sweetly swaying 116-115½-116bpm 12in tapper chugs gently along with lovely odd plopping noises, yowling guitar break and a huskily rapping chap before some more intense wailing. Continue reading “December 25, 1982: Indeep, Eleanor Grant, Masurrati & Huey Harris, Grover Washington Jr”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

JUDGE McHALE recently ruled at Snaresbrook Crown Court that promotional records marked “Not For Sale — Property Of (record company name)” can nevertheless still be sold by their recipients, which should make a lot of DJs happy (if not richer!) — however, the good judge’s finding does neglect one of the reasons why such records are marked thus, mainly because no royalties are paid on them, so doubtless an appeal will be lodged by the music biz . . . Central Line’s ‘Nature Boy’ vocal has been re-recorded and instrumental remixed for the future UK 12in, which’ll be a 3-tracker with the current US version on it too . . . Rockers Revenge ‘The Harder They Come’ UK 12in A-side will be a longer 11:25 remix different to the US version, and due promotionally before Christmas but not for sale until mid-January . . . Manu Dibango’s ‘Soul Makossa’ is now due on UK 12in for the first time too, like Nairobi’s version on London as well, flipped by ‘Big Blow’ . . . ‘Turn On Some Music’ is Marvin’s follow-up . . . White Label is a now promotion company servicing disco/radio DJs and, especially, specialist disco shops, their first effort being the Michelle Wallace/Brenda Watts 12in, but they’re not after more DJs as their books are full — instead they’re after product to promote, at 27 Pembridge Crescent, London W11 (temporary number 01-229 0248) . . . ‘E.T. Boogie’ import supplies have now evidently dried up for good, so if you still haven’t got it you’d better look sharp! . . . UK radio’s emphasis on the music from ‘E.T.’ seems surprising as the only bit you actually notice during the film is ‘Papa Oom Mow Mow!’ . . . David Rodigan meets superfly at Bristol’s Spencers Night Club in Colston Street next Thursday (23), jocking and judging an interesting sounding Rapping DJ/MC contest . . . West Surrey & Hants DJ Association have a Christmas binge on Wednesday (22) at Guildford’s Stoke Hotel, £3 tickets include a chicken supper (details 0483 67720) . . . Alex Lowes and Richard ‘Lofty’ Lofthouse (‘The North East Funk Fusion’) jazz-funk Durham City Rugby Club on Wednesday (22), £1 tickets from the jocks gigs or Gateshead 775976 (coaches welcome), plus there’ll be a similar but bigger do on Thursday 30th December in Chester-Le-Street ‘s Red Lion Ballroom . . . Hospital Radio Rush Green in East London are adding to their fund raising schemes with a sponsored continuous 48 hour broadcast (poor patients!) from this Friday evening (17), Capital’s Peter Young doing a guest DJ stint on Sunday afternoon, companies or individuals interested in sponsoring the hospital radio service being invited to apply to Radio Rush Green, c/o Porter’s Lodge, Rush Green Hospital, Romford, Essex . . . Tony Jenkins says a paranoid “bah!” to Chevaliers, as at Epping Forest Country Club he packs the place Thurs/Fri/Saturday playing solid upfront jazz-soul, and Froggy still does Mondays, making four nights of the music in a club outside London . . . Dartford Flicks owner Mike Keam interrupted Colin Hudd’s wedding reception to introduce the surprise reappearance of one-time Hudd protege, that dancin’ fool, the appalling Ian Moore — a little secret Colin had kept from his new in-laws! . . . Robbie Vincent actually wore a ‘Sexual Healing’ sweat shirt — what, only one?! . . . George Clinton hit London’s soul airwaves on Saturday, Robbie V’s more serious and well worked out approach being a far better foil to the Parliafunkadelicment thang’s leader than was Greg Edwards overly similar buffoonery . . . I’d kept my car radio tuned to Radio London after Robbie’s show but missed the following DJ’s name, however the ‘Breakthrough’ show on Saturday afternoons plays really exciting white-orientated dance music, with great authority . . . Hospital Radio Whittington soul DJ Richard Felstead, who used to partner Owen Washington at Le Beat Route and would fancy further gigs on 01-340 7870 (evenings), recommends ‘Where There Is Love‘ from the Whispers 1974 ‘Getting Louder’ Janus LP — meanwhile the Whispers annual Christmas LP release schedule pattern will presumably put a new import in the shops next week . . . Chris Ellis, ex-Staines Fusion Few, returned from careering (or should it be couriering?) around the Mediterranean with his name changed to Christopher Okada — but why was he snoring on the floor of Soul On Sound’s studio while I was assembling my latest preview mix last week? . . . Soul On Sound X features Bunny Wailer (airline stewardess intro)/Cold Crew/Brooklyn Express/Kleeer ‘Stonseee’/Slave ‘I’ll Be Gone’/Michael Jackson ‘Baby Be Mine’/Van Stratosphere/Indeep/Feel/Cashmere/Aurra/Lace/Maurlce Starr/Ex Tras/Vaughan Mason/Prince Charles/Eloise Laws ‘I’ve Got The Rhythm’/’More Room At The Top’/Trademark/ADC Band/Joe Freeman/Antoniou/Bo Boss/Gypsy Lane/RJ’s Latest Arrival/Mike McCray — and it flows nicely . . . Phonogram puts on a promotion night properly, unlike some companies, as witnessed by all the giveaway goodies last Friday for Kool & The Gang at Mayfair Gullivers . . . Epic, rather than cramming Heatwave’s “Hottest Hits” onto a ‘Power Cuts’ LP (EPC 25199), would surely have got greater mileage out of the group’s back catalogue by putting out extended remixes of even only half the number? . . . Morgan Khan’s ‘Street Sounds’ LP is on the new Streetsounds label (via PRT), not Streetwave (via CBS), yet the rest of the media seem oblivious to the fact . . . Dizzy Heights, whose flabbily produced 107bpm ‘Christmas Rapping‘ (Polydor WRAPX 1) has obviously been helped into the Nightclub chart by his energetic PAs, is not in fact Chris Hill — wrong shade of brown! . . . Michael’s ‘Thriller’ is a killer out of ‘Beat The Street’! . . . Indeep’s tyres screeched on the radio just as I braked last weekend — I nearly had a heart attack! . . . LPs may be slowing down but what a week it’s been for terrific 12in imports — not all of them on Catawba, either, although sometimes it seemed like it! . . . Wednesday next week (22) is now the date we need your charts and gossip/info for the first January issue, please do what you can in this busy season . . . HEAVY HEAVY JINGLE BELLS!

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UK NEWIES

ANTONIOU: ‘Street Sound’ (Elite DAZZ 17).
Incredibly good powerfully chugging largely instrumental ‘Beat The Street’ type 121bpm 12in remix of ‘Sound On Sound’, another new fiddle-introed 121-120-121bpm vocal version being the probably mislabelled flip (listen to check which is which). Not a pop hit, but pure disco perfection and Elite have a Spencer Jones ‘How High’ remix coming too!

EX TRAS: ‘Haven’t Been Funked Enough’ (ExcellenT TMTT 1, Via Greyhound now but soon on TMT).
Produced by King Sporty in New York and not in fact the ‘E.T. Boogie’ Extra T’s, this bass synth rumbled steadily ticking 0-111(start)-114-115-114-113bpm 12in chugger (two more versions on flip) drives along through extra terrestrial voices and sounds great out on the floor, less so on the radio.

NORTHEND: ‘Tee’s Happy’ (LP Various ‘Street Sounds’ Streetsounds STSND 001, via PRT).
If you’ve been reading this page you’ll know what the £2.99 LP’s other seven full length tracks are, this two years old Arthur Baker produced dynamite (slightly fluctuating) 115bpm jazz vibes, synth and guitar instrumental driver being what you call the big newie so far as first time UK release goes! Continue reading “December 18, 1982: Antoniou, Ex Tras, Northend, Leonard Chin, William DeVaughn”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

GRANDMASTER FLASH & The Furious Five (somehow there were seven guys on stage) failed to get through to me on Sunday at The Venue although it was obvious a lot of other people found them an interesting contemporary phenomenon, at the very least — anyway, tying in with their visit, PRT’s Rowdy Yeats has compiled an intelligent selection of full 12in length Sugarhill rappers into a budget priced double album, ‘Rapped Uptight‘ (Sugarhill SHLD 1001) . . . Morgan Khan’s ‘Street Sounds’ LP/cassette includes a superior quality sweatshirt offer — mine kept me snug as a bug during the recent cold snap! . . . Montana Sextet appears on UK 12in in not two but three different versions . . . Modern Romance ‘Best Years Of Our Lives’ is on promo 12in in a jinglebell accompanied Christmas Mix . . . Prince ‘1999’ replaced Vanity 6 as top US Dance/Disco hit, Marvin Gaye has both top US black single and LP . . . Lyndon (01-863 0850) needs a DJ for a pub residency in Shepherds Bush, Mon/Tues/Wed evenings, Sat/Sun lunchtimes . . . Nic Wakefield (Sidmouth Carinas) says Exeter High Street’s Pitts Records now stocks the top selling imports with DJ/student discounts and the promise of a larger selection if people buy ’em — Nic’s recent Motown night at Exeter Tiffany’s incidentally pulled punters from all over Devon and even Bristol, and despite the obvious range of oldies the most requested records were Bobby Nunn and Willie Hutch . . . Martin ‘Spud’ Richards (Erith Phoenix mobile) however says Willie Hutch is a floor-clearer at mobile gigs, though Messrs Henderson/Clinton/Brunson all work well . . . Pez (Wallasey) similarly sez ‘Sexual Healing’ is a floor-clearer on the Wirral, Jinx Joynson from the same neck of the woods reckons Whodini ‘It’s All In Mr Magic’s Wand’ is the biggest request in the area . . . Frenchie & Pete Haigh report that the clinic on Blackpool’s Whitegate Drive has adopted ‘Sexual Healing’ as its theme tune — maybe that’s an address our agony aunt Susanne Garrett should note? . . . Kev Edwards of Manchester’s influential Spinn Inn record shop says my Soul On Sound preview mixes often include tracks previously missed but then bought as a result, citing in particular Billy Preston’s ‘Don’t Try To Fight It‘ as one which helped shift ten copies of a largely ignored album . . . Hobbs Of Mayfair’s ludicrously rich chocolate truffle cake (£6.60 whole/£1 a slice) should be mentioned for the way it sustains us at Soul On Sound — we eat it with spoons! . . . Michael Jackson’s ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ is actually probably the killer mix with Central Line ‘Nature Boy’ — I forgot my playing order last week — but ‘Thriller’ works with it too anyway . . . 12in pressings on US Mercury labels now suddenly seem to be at 45rpm . . . Gwen McCrae’s remix doesn’t actually improve on the song’s original unity of structure . . . Central Line and Torso featuring Gail Greer have been getting much DJ praise for their individual recent rounds of club PA’s . . . Stax founder Jim Stewart’s involvement with HCRC — Houston Connection Recording Corporation — must help explain the latter label’s soulfulness . . . Chris Dinnis warns Christmas visitors to the West Country who’d like tickets for Exeter Boxes jazz-soul Xmas Eve party to order ’em now on 0392-59292 . . . Neil Fincham funks Edinburgh Mad Hatters on Sundays now to capitalise on the misfortune of that city’s previous Sunday funker, Tom Wilson, who moved from Oscars after a brewery takeover to the Uptown, which has now burnt to the ground — tough luck, Tom! . . . Big Al, well known at Guildford and Purley Cinderella Rockerfellas, is now resident at Edinburgh Cinderellas . . . Brother To Brother wonder how come Morgan Khan never gets out to Stanmore’s Chevaliers in The Limes, Warren Lane, which they jazz-soul every Thurs/Fri/Saturday, claiming it as probably one of the only clubs outside central London playing the music three nights a week . . . Darrel Fogel & Dave Smith funk Mayfair’s Samantha’s on Monday (£1 cocktails), Wednesday (ladies night), Thursday (all the upfront newies) . . . Bradford’s Time & Place appears to be heavily into electrophonic phunk . . . John Sharples plays general stuff Fri/Saturdays at Preston Snooty’s Nightclub . . . Paul Coates’s gig in the Bentleys part of Stockton on Tees’ Bentleys/Buddy’s has just had a complete revamp . . . Graham Gold, burning up the JFM airwaves Monday lunchtime, had a guy ask him at Mayfair Gullivers for Kandldate’s ‘Never Say Bye‘, only to rave on at the guy about how great the group’s “new” lead singer was, before then playing the request — had he looked at the name studded in silver on the guy’s glasses (actually on the lens), and on his bracelet, medallion, shirt and for all we know jockey shorts, Graham would’ve spotted sooner it was the self-same singer, Viscount Oliver! . . . Glynn Warren, trying to get a gay night going in Plymouth at Snobs on Sundays, tapes most of his mixes at home as the club doesn’t have vari-speed decks . . . Tony Walton, whose mixing cassette from a Continental residency I mentioned a while back, as a result of that mention is now resident at Manchester’s Legend and does a guest night every Thursday at Wigan Pier . . . Theo Loyla reckons that now it’s a pop hit, Incantation (which you may remember me championing on its release) should soon be in our Nightclub chart — surely Theo, as a plugger, you’d agree its appearance there would have been more beneficial actually before it was a hit? . . . Rush Release’s Ian Titchener thinks I should emphasise that I actually buy all my imports and even some of the UK material that’s reviewed, just to correct a false impression evidently given by Theo (who I didn’t hear) at Edgbaston’s Faces French (whose new decor is very bitty and nothing like as nice as it was before) . . . DJs I’ve never heard of suddenly seem to be sending me their reaction reports which should be going instead to a plugging company called Coverpoint, who’ve obviously got some real geniuses on their books . . . in point of fact, if all the DJs who claimed on reaction reports that they send charts to us actually did so, we wouldn’t have to keep asking for more! . . . Christmas deadlines loom frighteningly soon, and in fact if you want any gigs mentioned between now and the 5th January you MUST send info off immediately to reach us by this coming Monday (13), anything after 5th January to reach us by Thursday 23rd December — these being the dates we’d like your charts too, please . . . Nick Ratcliffe (Winkfield) says, apropos our coolest running plugger, “Erskine Thompson, phone home”! . . . HEAVY HEAVY MONSTER VIBES!

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RADIO LUXEMBOURG’S whizz-kid mixer Alan Coulthard may have technology at his fingertips but he still does his mixes on a table in his bedroom! The decks he’s using are Technics SL-1500 digital readout vari-speed (no longer available new) while behind him on the bed is a TEAC 4-track open reel recorder. Studying law at University College London, 19-year-old Alan doesn’t have much time to spare for live disco work but would nevertheless like offers of one-off mixing gigs, or maybe one night a week, on 01-648 6411. Meanwhile, hear what he can do with these decks and a razor blade most Fridays at about 10.10pm on 208m MW.

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UK NEWIES

THE JAMMERS: ‘Be Mine Tonight’ (LP ‘The Jammers’ Salsoul SA 8556, via RCA).
Dynamite “D” Train-type synth introed then chick sung almost Brass Construction-ish 119bpm groove, now due on 3-track 12in (SALT 101) with the slinkily subdued subtle 0-116½bpm ‘What Have You Got To Lose‘ and one or other mix of the 118½bpm ‘And You Know That‘, leaving just the less than necessary 0-113½bpm ‘Straight Down To The Bone‘ of their current chart titles on the actual LP.

MICHELLE WALLACE: ‘Jazzy Rhythm’ (System SYS/L 101).
Arthur Baker produced (and as good as you’d expect) jiggling steady 116bpm 12in groove, not jazzy despite the title, soulfully wailed over nagging synth and grunting guys, flipped in an odd move by the totally separate BRENDA WATTS: ‘Who Needs A Love Like That‘ a boringly tempoed 0-108-109-110- 111bpm jolting judderer, which will in fact remain the flip — Northend ‘Tee’s Happy’ now only being available here on the ‘Street Sounds’ LP.

GEORGE CLINTON: ‘Atomic Dog’ (LP ‘Computer Games’ Capitol EST 12246).
Amusing good jiggly 107½bpm P’funk chanter with “bow-wow-wow-yippee-yo-yippee-ay” chorus (an interesting synch with Malcolm McLaren), the more straightforwardly P’funky 113bpm ‘Man’s Best Friend‘ seguing straight into the here also 113bpm ‘Loopzilla’, ‘Get Dressed‘ at 108bpm being another with words well worth studying. Continue reading “December 11, 1982: The Jammers, Michelle Wallace, George Clinton, RJ’s Latest Arrival, I Level”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

IMPORT PRICES must be due for a big increase as dealers’ margins are squeezed by the low dollar exchange rate . . . Cargo ‘Holding On For Love’ is now on EMI Zonophone (12Z 38), Mighty Diamonds ‘The Last Dance’ on KR (KRT 16) . . . CBS join the low cost disco LP race next week with a £2.99 6-tracker of full length Francois Kevorkian mixes from Prelude, ‘Beat The Street‘, including Sharon Redd’s title track instrumental and ‘Never Give You Up (Remix)’, ‘D’ Train ‘Walk On By (Remix)’ / ‘D’ Train Dub’, Striker ‘Contagious (Instrumental)’, Nick Straker Band ‘Straight Ahead’ . . . I stirred up a can of worms with my mentions of Northend ‘Tee’s Happy‘ — Morgan Khan snapped it up for his ‘Street Sounds’ LP, and a panic struck Marvin Howell then confessed he’d never even heard it before and having done so immediately planned putting it on Michelle Wallace’s flip after all, despite already having pressed 5,000 copies coupled by Brenda Watts! . . . ‘Tee’s Happy’, in case you forgot, was the killer vibes ‘n guitar instrumental flip to Michelle Wallace’s earlier ‘Happy Days‘, produced (as is ‘Jazzy Rhythm’) by a certain Arthur Baker — talk about hot! . . . David Grant sent jocks a very nice sweetly reggaefied 0-77bpm 7in promo of ‘Have Yourself A Very Merry Little Christmas‘ which now rightly, following favourable response, will be commercially available on Chrysalis . . . Motown have done a promo-only 12in of Stevie Wonder’s dull 88bpm ‘Front Line‘ in an effort to generate further sales of the ‘Original Musiquarium’ set . . . Phonogram/Decca disco plugger Jeff Young is updating all his DJ mailing lists — send full honest work details to Youngy at Phonogram Limited, 50 New Bond Street, London W1Y 9HA . . . Fred Dove has stopped sending albums to most jocks as so few LP sales result for WEA from the disco play that DJs claim to give the albums they’ve received — I must say it’s very obvious the way that every LP sent out from Fred always seems to have DJs charting just about every track but none of them all on the same track in depth (Bill Wolfer is this week’s example), bearing out Fred’s suspicion that DJs merely list tracks at random to keep him happy instead of actually using the darned thing! . . . Bryan O’Connor (another Orin Cozier/David Grant lookalike!) is now R&B promotion manager at Island — who will have the Peech Boys follow-up, incidentally . . . RCA, despite DJ pressure, especially from the North Midlands, are not releasing ‘A Puppet To You‘ but instead hope to break Alfie Silas here with a ballad in the new year — bah! . . . Diana Ross ‘Muscles’ has been remixed for US 12in (RCA PD-13382), the main difference being an extended fingerpopping “whoa-oh-oh” break two-thirds through . . . ‘E.T. Boogie’ was London’s second biggest disco seller last week — meanwhile Steven Spielberg’s own Quincy Jones scored ‘E.T.’ storybook LP is in trouble in the States, CBS trying to stop the MCA-released set because despite an agreement it has come out before Christmas, and before Michael Jackson’s own LP, MJ being featured narrator and vocalist on the Stevenberger spieler . . . Sunday’s DJ Convention at Edgbaston’s less than breathtakingly redecorated Faces French was a good meeting place as usual but dull in other respects, apart from veteran DJ and now top club owner Pete Stringfellow’s rousing “have a go for yourself” speech in which he recommended DJs to start their own clubs . . . Steve Walsh otherwise dominated the event (mainly because you could actually hear him) with his queue marshalling during his product distribution freebie handouts best was “You’ve got to be gay to get this one” — while Jeff Young rather too late in the day dished the dirt in a promotion man’s eye view of BBC radio DJs, and told disco jocks to be honest in their reaction reports . . . Risan did a great PA, and really deserve radio play so you can see them on TV as the cute little chick could give Sheena Easton a run for her money while her two flanking fellas came on swathed like bandits from the Khyber pass! . . . Ilford’s John Osborne even got the girls at Faces thinking he was Nick Heyward . . . Martin Starr fell over drunk in Spain, knocked all his teeth out and broke his nose, but has been put back together again and is now home in Bristol at Spencers on Tues/Wed/Sat . . . Erskine G has reverted to his real name of Derek ‘The Kid’ Lawrence funking Slough Studio 1 (Fri) and Southall Friends (Sat), but would like offers for other nights on 01-574 2458 (office hours) . . . Paul Major has left Gt Yarmouth to be resident at Lincoln Cinderella Rockerfellas (the Rockerfellas room), Wednesday being the funkiest night . . . Steve Martell, still at Blackpool’s Jenks every weekend, now funks Chester Maxwells on Wednesdays, Wigan Chaplins on Thursdays . . . Dave See presents an oasis of jazz-funk in Bolton’s Slickers disco-pub every Tues/Thur/Fri/Sat/Sun . . . Stuart Hamilton & Roscoe now do Liverpool’s Hollywood Club, under new ownership, Stuart also being at the New Coconut Grove on Tuesdays . . . Nicky Holloway apologizes that the Old Kent Road Astoria is completely closed, but enthuses that his Mondays at Bermondsey’s Swan & Sugarloaf are so good the manager actually wants to go to the next Caister! . . . Frank Clark, 23 Redcliffe Square, London SW10, has two copies of Peter Brown ‘Can’t Be Love — Do It To Me Anyway‘ for sale to the highest bidders (OK, North Wales mob, look sharp!) . . . Kool & The Gang’s current attire is not a cash-in on Kid Creole, its a copy of the way Cab Calloway dressed in the ’30s when he originated the “hi de hi” phrase . . . JFM were breaking up a bit but solidly funky all day last Monday around 94.2/3 FM, London’s FM airwaves being well worth checking these days for soulful sounds at all sorts of odd times — oh, and JFM listeners are packing Mayfair’s Gullivers on Sunday nights too, at the moment . . . Patrick Boothe is not only working on productions with Gregg Parker, they’re both collaborating now with the UK-residing Isaac Hayes! . . . Soul On Sound IX may be slightly late this week, as there was a delay (due to too many parties!) and my preview mix had to be rushed more than I’d have liked: some of the material didn’t blend particularly well in sequence, but it contains Tyrone Davis/Grover Washington ‘More Than Meets The Eye’/Eleanor Grant/Grace Jones ‘My Jamaican Guy’/Sylvester ‘All I Need’/Fearless Four/Malcolm McLaren/George Clinton ‘Atomic Dog’/Kool/Stanley Turrentine ‘Paradise’/Bill Wolfer ‘Nobody Knows’/Grover W ‘Can You Dig It’/Chaka Khan ‘Be Bop Medley’/Margie Joseph/Sandy Kerr/I Level ‘Remix’/Webboes/Toney Lee/Central Line ‘Nature Boy’/Masurrati/Bros Johnson ‘Welcome To The Club’/Rod/Roy Ayers/Syl Johnson ‘Groove Me’ . . . A. Michael (Tooting) — just because a BPM is printed on a record label doesn’t mean it’s right, y’know, whereas I’m doing ’em all the time and am as close to completely correct every time as is possible — so there! . . . ‘Shogun’ is sho’nuff pillowing good, ain’t that the “honto”?! . . . Brian ‘Bazzer’ Mason says, DJs USE THE RHYTHM METHOD!

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MORGAN KHAN held a launch party last week for his latest brainchild ‘Street Sounds’. Intended as a monthly £2.99 album/cassette series, Edition 1 will now contain Raw Silk ‘Do It To This Music’, Greg Henderson ‘Dreamin’, Peech Boys ‘Don’t Make Me Wait’, Grandmaster Flash ‘The Message’, Inner Life ‘Moment Of My Life’, Northend ‘Tee’s Happy’, Dunn & Bruce Street ‘Shout For Joy’ and Kadenza ‘Let’s Stay Together’ — not quite as hot a line-up as originally planned, but all in full 12in length and so a snip at the price. On Morgan’s latest label, Streetsounds, via PRT, the set should be in your shops by next weekend (STSND 001 — LP, ZCSTS 001 — cassette).

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UK NEWIES

MICHAEL JACKSON: ‘Thriller’ LP (Epic EPC 85930).
Here’s one you’ve been waiting for! An extremely strong set, killer dance cuts being the spooky effects introed and Vincent Price finished 118bpm title track, the ‘Shake Your Body’-ish 122bpm ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin‘ and ‘Rock With You’-ish 109bpm ‘Baby Be Mine‘, while ‘Billie Jean‘ is a Bee Gee-ish 117bpm tapper, ‘P Y T. (Pretty Young Thing)‘ an urgent 127bpm strutter, ‘Human Nature‘ a Marvin-ish 93/46½-0bpm slowie, ‘The Lady In My Life’ a 36bpm smoocher, ‘Beat It’ a fast 0-138bpm whipper with Van Halen rock guitar, all perfectly produced by Quincy Jones. (The flip to his 81bpm Paul McCartney duet single is not in fact included).

MONTANA SEXTET: ‘Heavy Vibes’ (Virgin VS 560-12).
What a week for UK releases — all up against each other and all equally vital! This dynamite sophisticated cool and simple 114bpm 12in jazz-funk instrumental in two versions is already an absolute monster on import and not to be missed.

TYRONE BRUNSON: ‘The Smurf’ (Epic EPC A13-3024).
The biggest and best of all the electrophonic phunkers, an incredible 0-118bpm 12in offbeat jitterer terrific on its own but especially good for mixing with just about everything — ‘E.T. Boogie’ and ‘You’re The One For Me’ go excitingly well. Continue reading “December 4, 1982: Michael Jackson (Thriller), Montana Sextet, Tyrone Brunson, The S.O.S. Band, Central Line”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

PATRICK COWLEY, gay disco’s synthesizer star, died two Saturdays ago of a nasty form of cancer — just as his marathon remix of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ finally saw the light of day here . . . Morgan Khan’s latest project, unveiled at Mayfair’s Gullivers to a big trade party on Tuesday, is an 8-track full 12in length £2.99 collection of current soul hits called ‘Street Sounds — Edition 1‘ on the new Streetsounds label via PRT (CBS couldn’t get it pressed before Christmas on Streetwave), on LP but with most emphasis placed on the cassette version — slogan “C60 packs of the latest dance tracks” — containing Greg Henderson, Raw Silk, Peech Boys, Grandmaster Flash, ‘Message’, and more “heavy” surprises — some value, huh, kids?! . . . Marvin Howell is releasing imminently on System 12in an odd back-to-back coupling of Michelle Wallace ‘Jazzy Rhythm‘ and the less interesting Brenda Watts ‘Who Needs A Love Like That‘ — what a pity he couldn’t have used Northend ‘Tee’s Happy’ instead, as that is now turning into a monster all over again! . . . Record Shack have evidently picked up Scherrie Payne’s current gay chart topper . . . ABC fans if they’re very quick (and really lucky) might just find in a few shops a special DJ-only 12in version of ‘The Look Of Love’, given a brilliant much emptied out 120bpm “scratch” remix full of clever freaky tricks . . . Edgbaston’s Faces French (in Auchinleck Square by the Five Ways roundabout) holds its 3rd annual DJ Convention this Sunday (28) starting at 2pm, £3 admission at the door — see you there! . . . Thames Valley DJ Assn’s big Shownite 83 celebration to mark their 5th anniversary on 17th January at Hounslow’s Red Lion Hotel will feature the Cold Hand Band live, awards and many major label promotions, tickets at £3 but all DJs will have guest invitations from TVDJA, PO Box 39, Staines, Middlesex . . . Planet Patrol appears to be the new name for Soul Sonic Force . . . Steven Spielberg’s action against ‘E.T. Boogie’ (which hasn’t stopped it being one of London’s top disco sellers last week) seems unfair now that so many other inferior ‘E.T.’ records are coming out — or will they all get solicitor’s letters too? . . . ‘Car Wash’ on telly last week probably prompted a revival of the Rose Royce oldie, the LP version being 110-113-115-117-119-123(break)-121-124bpm (Gwen McCrae varies down beautifully out of the break!) . . . Rick James’s disastrous UK visit also included a PA at Charing Cross’s Heaven on his first night in town, but he was greeted by boos when all he did was throw out a few album sleeves and then walk off . . . Marvin Gaye’s LP does indeed feature a frequency which creates an acoustic feedback-type effect over club speakers, and unfortunately every copy of Sonny Charles’s great ‘Can’t Get Enough’ LP track has a groove that jumps (unless using next to no pickup weight) . . . Mike Ward (Sheffield 0742-879882) will happily supply legitimate London area radio and club jocks with 12in copies of various down home US soul singles, none of the ones he’s sent me quite coming up to the production standard that it takes to make a disco hit but all are of interest . . . Pez, busily funking Mondays with Steve Murphy at Birkenhead’s Chelsea Reach (upstairs), is after upfront alldayer work on 051-639 5746 . . . Dobie Gray’s 147bpm ‘Out On The Floor‘ Northern Soul classic has been re-released on Inferno (via Pinnacle) to tie in as the title of an upcoming BBC Play For Today all about a Northern allniter . . . Graham Hunter “The Rapping Funky Scot” (Basingstoke) got a free copy of ‘Kilimanjaro’ from Virgin’s Danny Goodwin . . . Terry Lennaine has belatedly been given (he never bought it of course!) a copy of the Gunchback Boogie Band ‘Funn‘, which he’s now flogging to death on BBC Radio Merseyside . . . Kev Hill (Basildon 0268-702626 daytime) offers money for the full LP length version of Major Harris ‘Love Won’t Let Me Wait’ . . . Colin Harris (Fareham), having trouble buying Wham, recommends Radio Victory’s Saturday evening 6-9pm Funkadelic show . . . Teesvalley Roadshow roadie Alistair Jones’s dad died of a heart attack just before Alistair had to go to a gig, but putting on a brave face he lived up the old showbiz dictum and the show went on . . . Evelyn King’s current 7in is flipped not by ‘Shame’ but by ‘I Can’t Stand It’, which must blow its chances as the most logical follow-up . . . 50p 12in picture discs have now been followed by current singles dumped in the ’30p each/4 for £1′ bin as a route to the charts, I see . . . Wolverhampton’s Eve club has a bad case of paranoia . . . “As the fly hit the windscreen, what went through its mind?” — “Its backside!” . . . PUSH IT!

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UK NEWIES

MALCOLM McLAREN & THE WORLD’S FAMOUS SUPREME TEAM: ‘Buffalo Gals’ (Charisma MALC 12).
A pity in a way that it’ll be this somewhat opportunistic single which will make everyone aware of the New York DJs freaky “scratch” gimmick (as on ‘Mt. Airy Groove’), but this compulsively extraordinary clucking and smacking 108½bpm 12in amalgamation of funk, rap and square dance (really!) is a mindblower regardless, with a less dense vocal mix plus a straight 135bpm square dance version (great party fun) on 2-track flip.

NAIROBI: ‘Soul Makossa’ (London LONX 17).
Arthur Baker triumphs again with a brilliant totally electronic and vocodered 118bpm 12in remake of Manu Dibango’s classic, with alternative rap and instrumental versions on 2-track flip.

NEW YORK SKYY: ‘Let Love Shine’ (Epic Streetwave EPC 13-2957).
Morgan Khan in putting this slick emptily soulful 120-121bpm lickety-spit shuffler on the 3-track 12in A-side has hidden the far more impressive sweet then worryingly pent-up 115-116-117bpm ‘Won’t You Be Mine‘ on the flip, along with yet another (claimed as “the ultimate”) 116-117bpm Shep Pettibone remix of ‘Let’s Celebrate’. Continue reading “November 27, 1982: Malcolm McLaren, Nairobi, New York Skyy, Rod, Toney Lee”