ODDS ‘N’ BODS
JULIE ROBERTS, who was replaced by some dolly bird when the Funk Masters did Top Of The Pops, has her own ‘Fool For You‘ on white label prior to Bluebird release in a fortnight — John Rocca-prod/Steve Jerome-penned, it’s an attractive 109bpm rhythm box jerked summer tempo with good singing and sax, if a bit repetitive . . . Michael Lovesmith’s sinuous synth growled swaying summer tempoed 107bpm ‘Just Say The Word‘ is actually hitting first off his LP reviewed last week . . . PRT’s claim to the new Bohannon ‘Let’s Start The Dance III‘ has been disputed by ‘Let’s Start II Dance Again’ — owning London, who nipped repressed stock of their oldie into the shops . . . Club House, due on Island now, already has a less good Continental cover by Slingshot, while Pink Project have similarly blended ‘Billie Jean’ with ‘Jeopardy’! . . . The O’Jays imminent ‘Put Our Heads Together’ UK 12in flip was due to be a mixed oldies medley until axed by the US . . . Streetwave picked up the recent Blue Magic set to compile a 4-track 12in, and follow-up Ingram with ‘We Like To Do It‘ / ‘Groovin’ On A Groove‘ (no remix!) — Morgan Khan incidentally is plugging and advising Arista/West End black product . . . Our Price record shops stopped stocking imports and have been selling all they had left (up to current releases) at giveaway prices — hurry, as the word spread fast . . . Yellowman’s live Capital Radio concert (aired as it happened) was terrific: especially effective was the way he suddenly changed the mesmeric tension of his droning reggae raps by slipping into such oldies as ‘Mr Lonely’, ‘It’s Now Or Never’, even Teddy’s ‘Turn Out The Lights’ (not to forget a reggae singalong ‘Get Me To The Church On Time’!) — while DJ David Rodigan must have been chuffed the amount his surname got woven into lyrics! . . . Midas Records have revived a much tried idea, putting pay-for-play new (in this case, soul) releases onto promotional-only cassettes which are then distributed to shops, DJs, wine bars and the like for background play: called ‘In-Store Music’, the cassettes have a stronger selection than the Disco Mix Club previews and make great in-car listening! . . . I continued exploring sunny South-West Wales last week accompanied by cassettes of Bob Jones and Jeff Young at Oct ’81 Caister, and even lots of early Greg Edwards (sounding like Al Matthews, mmm-hmm!) . . . Al Matthews incidentally plays the fire chief in ‘Superman III’ . . . Aberystwyth University’s Malayan soul society president Nick Abdullah, now he’s on long vac, is bringing all his friends to Mayfair Gullivers — where last Friday he bumped into his better publicised oppo from Loughbrough University, Eddie Gee (both discovered they’re reading economics!) . . . Sunday seemed the weather to trek into Sussex to Stan & Jayne Barrett’s Sheffield Arms at Sheffield Park where the really elegant Music Room disco is extremely impressive — and much more is planned . . . Sunday star there Chris Hill, long the Funk Mafia godfather, now really is godfather to Paula ‘n’ Bob Geldof’s new little bundle of joy . . . Sho Pro big cheese Adrian Webb should note that even eye-witness Pete Tong reported on Chris Hill commandeering a bus to get punters back to their South of France flats safely through the darkened streets — and anyway, Ada, where did I say anyone had a horrid time there (apart from some battered wives!)? . . . Justin Lubbock should note that Canute himself gave me his record well ahead of any organised promotion (which I’ve yet to encounter, anyway!) . . . Jimmy Brown (Euston Travel) is selling one Technics SL 1400 quartz digital readout vari-speed deck on 01-688 2434 . . . London’s mixing Mastermind Roadshow learnt the hard way that in New York they like their mixers HOT! . . . Graham Gold at Gullys did (his words) “an unreal long running mix out of Kurtis Blow into Herbie Hancock — I’ll never be able to repeat it!” . . . Arrow ‘Hot-Hot-Hot’ has been massacred for 7in, editing out all the most catchy “olay olay” bits . . . Kitty Grant ‘Glad To Know You‘ is evidently now selling fast on remixed 12in — thanx for getting one to me (I don’t think), IDS! . . . Tania Maria is at London’s Dominion this Sunday (17) . . . Central Line producer Roy Carter looks amazingly like a younger version of the current Lou Rawls album sleeve photo! . . . David Grant methinks doth protest too much — he’s always on the defensive about his new look even on telly . . . War called their track ‘U-2’ after being amused to see the group U-2 with an album called ‘War’! . . . Walter Jackson, a polio victim since childhood whose crutches often featured in photographs, sadly died three weeks ago of a heart attack — debuting on OKeh in ’64 with much influence from Curtis Mayfield (who wrote for him), Walter stuck with regular producer Carl Davis through to his recent and ironically best known record here, ‘Touching In The Dark‘ . . . Attitude’s rapid rise and much album activity in the charts shows mainly what happens when Fred Dove services his WEA mailing list jocks . . . hey hey hey, LET’S KEEP COOL OUT THERE!
HOT VINYL
THE CHI-LITES: ‘Changing For You’ (R&B RBL 215)
Thankfully refusing to die despite overdue release here, this superb summer tempoed 101bpm swaying jogger goes great with ‘All Night Long’ etc and is ultra, ultra soulfully sung with a cool acappella harmony intro and punchy brief rap halfway, hopefully a Billy Griffin/Sunfire-style smash now it’s on 12in here with their chunkily jittering fun-filled funky 103bpm ‘Bottom’s Up‘ US hit as flip.
THE RAKE: ‘Street Justice’ (US Profile PRO-7024)
Charles Bronson’s ‘Death Wish’ movies set to music, this lyrically searing 110bpm 12in rapper overnight suddenly makes ‘The Crown’ sound silly and trite. Preaching the vigilante message, it’s a harrowing tale of a guy whose family gets violated and raped, so he swears “gotta meet the punks on the battle front — gotta beat the punks, street justice” as the courts have let the perpetrators walk free. Radio won’t like it, but this really does carry on ‘The Message.’
GEORGE BENSON: ‘Feel Like Making Love’ (Warner Bros W9551T)
His album’s smash, Roberta’s oldie gets a great subtle yet smacking 112bpm dance groove (much better than ‘Lady Love Me’) on 3-track 12in with — incredible surprise value! — the terrific flute ‘n’ scat 117bpm long instrumental import hit 12in-only version of Kashif’s ‘Inside Love (So Personal)‘, plus the gradually unfurling delicate 51/102bpm ‘Use Me‘. Possibly his biggest ever. Continue reading “July 16, 1983: The Chi-Lites, The Rake, George Benson, Aretha Franklin, Skyy”
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