Ginger & Eddie were sadly missing in Oldham on Sunday when the Funk Mafia family descended on Romeo & Juliet’s for an alldayer, so my social notes will have to be incomplete.
However, despite a less well attended rival event in Liverpool, this experimental showcase for star Southern DJs Chris Hill, Sean French, Chris Brown, Tom Holland, Jeff Young and Froggy managed to attract a good crowd of rather serious funk fans who have yet to learn how to silly like the Southerners do.
Few (apart from the jocks) were in the intended Cowboys & Indians fancy dress, and – despite a piggyback “horse” race the only real silly was a traditional finale of ‘Mulberry Bush’, ‘Shout’ and ‘Bring The Family Back’ culminating in a massive hand-holding human chain forming a complete link as it raced around the entire club.
Oddly enough there was nobody actually from Oldham, the locals being from Manchester, with coaches coming from Liverpool and Doncaster, while the Champers and Frenchies tribes from West London and Camberley had also come up in coaches.
Froggy’s flawless mixing proved that he’s now as good as any top New York jock, and in fact I was surprised at the amount of mixing all the others were doing too. Reaction from the Northerners seemed to be a surprise at the DJ’s playing what the dancers wanted to hear instead of obscurities just to please themselves, and awe at the solid sound from Froggy’s roadshow equipment.
It was certainly a jazz-orientated day, with many of the hot sounds being oldies that were new to the Northerners, whose nostalgia for jazz-funk is necessarily limited by the recent emergence of the music locally. It seems that when Northern Soul switched from oldies to the then current fast New York material and Esther Phillips/George Benson jazz hits of the mid-70’s, the DJ’s missed out on the funkier hits that were big in the South.
Consequently while the music was a nostalgia trip for us it was a voyage of discovery for those new to it. Finally though the Southerners had the biggest shock of the day when, going against all the stories of how ahead the Northern jazz-funk scene is meant to be, the biggest floor-filler turned out to be Atmosfear!
Odds ‘N Bods
This Thursday (6) Froggy the Master Blender & Megamix the Mighty Chopper (that’s me!) start a major new mixing night at Erith 2001, which’ll be as funky as they’ll let us be . . . UK Disco chart this week sees an exceptionally strong Top 20, in which even most of the titles now slipping have in fact increased support . . . Music Week’s trade-aimed disco chart has been showing several alarming discrepancies from our own recently, thanks to the activity of a certain independent disco plugger whose promotion methods have cast doubt on several possibly legitimate chart titles – however, words have been had and hopefully the situation is now normal . . . Wilson Pickett ‘Groove City’ (EMI America 12EA 104) and Janis Ian ‘Fly Too High’ (CBS 12-7935) are now on 12in, the latter up a notch at 128bpm . . . Azymuth ‘Jazz Carnival’ and Prince ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ are due imminently on 12in, followed by Sonny Rollins ‘Harlem Boys’, Kinsman Dazz ‘Keep On Rockin’’, while Prince’s even more commercial ‘Sexy Dancer’ LP track is being kept back in case of a later US 12m remix . . . Ilford’s Room At The Top has made its £3 membership a once and for always life-time payment . . . Walsall’s well-fitted new Max’s club in Bridge Street should be just about open now, with Paul Anthony and Paul Reeves jocking . . . DMF Studio Sound at 9 Tournerbury Lane, Hayling Island, Hampshire PO11 9DH (Portsmouth 23798) make personalised DJ jingles to individual requirements, from scratch . . . Chris Dinnis, although still busy around South Devon, wants more soul/funk/jazz gigs, with or without roadshows, in any area – Sean French says his heart is in the right place, so call Chris on 06476-271 . . . Infinity Records has already gone and Electric/Cube are going, so grab their product while you can . . . Rokotto, old touring partners of Brass Construction, have been playing much of BC’s new material for months, and even did ‘Shakit’ on roadshow Disco . . . Showaddywaddy’s inclusion on a supposedly disco bill may seem to widen the event’s appeal but may I fear put off more than it attracts . . . Chart File’s Alan Jones is busily compiling a year-end 1979 Disco chart, so there’s no need for others to bother (as some so kindly have in the past) – thank you Keith Howie (Londonderry) for your early effort, with ‘Boogie Wonderland’ at number one . . . Bob Jones (Chelmsford) wonders whether Sir John Roberts is the same John Roberts wot dun ‘Sockin’ 1-2-3-4’ in the ‘60s? . . . POP TEN (titles outside UK Disco 90): 1 Specials, 2 Dr Hook, 3 Dooleys, 4 Janis Ian, 5 Police ‘Message’, 6 Buggles, 7 Queen, 8 Jam, 9 Specials ‘Gangsters’, 10 Sparks.
UK Newies
GEORGE DUKE: ‘I Want You For Myself’ (from LP ‘Master Of The Game’, Epic EPC 83951) (BNDA debut 12/15/79)
Lovely smoothly pushing 121bpm oogie chugger with tootling flute, squeaky chix and pretty piano is a current jazz-funk biggie, while the Funkadelic-type 116bpm ‘Games’ mixes perfectly (minus intro) out of ‘Knee Deep’. Other cuts were reviewed in depth on import.
BILLY OCEAN: ‘Are You Ready’ (GTO GT 12-259) (BNDA debut 12/13/80)
Michael Jackson meets KC on a totally derivative but bright sounding and obviously powerful 118bpm 12in smacker that should mix well between ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ and Rose Royce.
LAKESIDE: ‘Pull My Strings’ (from LP ‘Rough Riders’, Solar FL 13490) (BNDA debut 5/24/80)
Isleys-inspired group with a staccato changed bass-snapping 123bpm “rock” clapper, while after a galloping hooves intro the smacking 133-134bpm title track is very like ‘It’s A Disco Night’ and ‘From 9:00 Until’ is a 114bpm funk chugger. Continue reading “December 8, 1979: George Duke, Billy Ocean, Lakeside, War, Herbie Hancock”
James Hamilton's Disco Page 