James Hamilton's Disco Page

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

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!

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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.

DISCO CONNECTION: ‘Rock Your Baby (Re-edit)’ (PRT 12P 269)
A bit late now for Forrest’s ‘Rock The Boat’, with which it mixes superbly, this similarly 114½bpm 12in vocodered George McCrae revival has finally surfaced in my suggested form, minus the awful phonetic countdown bits (although these are still on the Euro-edit flip). Continue reading “May 7, 1983: Karen Young, Tony McKenzie, Disco Connection, DeBarge, Prince Charles and the City Beat Band”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

DAVID JOSEPH ‘Let’s Live It Up (Nite People)‘ will be the follow-up in about two weeks, a bubbly 120½bpm jitterer tied to a busy more electronic beat and possibly less catchy as a pop crossover than last time — but sure to be big in the clubs . . . Steve Harvey is not on Elite but on Pressure, who share the same building, and released Norman Giscombe Junior’s debut in 1980 — meanwhile, Elite/Challenge’s Andy Sojka has kicked off the new extremely limited Blackmarketing mailing list (great name!) with a (needlessly?) remixed Craig Peyton ‘Be Thankful For What You Got‘ white label, which will be on Elite! . . . Island’s Bryan O’Connor, who claims “Galaxy is currently outselling David Bowie on 12in”, will be reviewing his mailing list soon and warns “anyone not pulling their weight will be knocked off” . . . Phonogram’s Jeff Young is joined by DJ/import distributor Mike Sefton as a similarly knowledgeable plugger from May 9 . . . Prince Charles ‘In The Streets‘ has evidently been remixed for Greyhound 12in . . . Gladys Knight is indeed on UK 12in (CBS TA3314) . . . George Clinton ‘Atomic Dog’ unseated ‘Billie Jean’ as top US Black single — and has a dynamite video, if you can catch it . . . Edwin Starr appears at Mayfair’s Gullivers for the next two Thursdays (28/5), sandwiching the Chi-Lites on Wednesday (4) — mmm-hmm! . . . Second Image continue touring at Preston Clouds (Thur 28), Retford Porterhouse (Fri), Harlow Benny’s (Sat), Purley Cinderella Rockerfella’s (Sun), Ilford Room At The Top (Tues), before supporting all the Maze concerts . . . Galaxy’s Phil Fearon PAs Saturday (30) at Peckham Kisses, where Froggy makes his first monthly appearance alongside regulars Steve Walsh, Lyndon T, Gordon Mac . . . Steve Walsh, Tony Jenkins, Owen Washington, Ian Shaw, Chris Ellis, Tim Westwood soul London Lyceum’s Bank Holiday Monday alldayer (2) — and mafioso Chris Brown joins the National Soul Festival line-up for the next one on May 30 . . . Capital’s cool talkin’ pin-up Gary Crowley joins George ‘Zorba’ Alexander for a return engagement at Harrow Leisure Centre on Friday (29) . . . ‘DJ Of The Year’ winner at Edgbaston’s Faces French was Franklyn Hughes (Long Eaton Donovan’s), runners-up being Mick McGinley (Wakefield Heppy’s), Ian Plant (Blackpool Raffles), Jimmy Franks (Birmingham Cagney’s) — all from north of Watford, you’ll note . . . Brian Cardno has started Saturdays (Thurs/Fri too when possible) at Berwick’s Red Lion in Castle Gate, pub hours (free admission) and as up-front as punters and finances will allow . . . Darryl Hayden has stopped managing nightclubs to concentrate on a mobile big-screen video show, which you can see at Wimbledon Tiffany’s (Thurs), London Lyceum (Sat), Mortlake Rumps (Mon) weekly — the Monday Rumps gig includes an audition slot for which two aspiring jocks are always needed, and incidentally John ‘Kojak’ Harvey has resurfaced at Rumps spinning soul oldies (what else?) on Thursdays . . . Dave Thomas has switched to Shrewsbury Tiffany’s on Saturdays, doing under-18s on Mondays . . . Steve Davies is part of a DJ team who pack 1,300 under-18s into Kirkcaldy Bentleys every Monday! . . . David Bryant however does over-23s at Camberley Splinters on Mondays — hey Dave, get hip! . . . Frank Samms is “now well established Sunday night at Addleston’s Holly Tree, and Mondays at London’s Maximus in Leicester Square playing rock and electro music” . . . Nick Ratcliffe & John Dene on Tuesdays at Guildford’s Cinderella Rockerfellas have gone mad on phasing, doing it to practically everything — and to my surprise I’ve had much praise for the phasing on my Wish remix, which I wouldn’t mind re-doing with less gimmickry . . . C.O.D. ‘In The Bottle’/Tyrone Brunson ‘The Smurf’ megamix begins with some electronic drum beats laid down by Streetwave’s resident engineer Rob Mallett (a big inspiration and help with the studio tricks), a quick ‘Smurf’ scratch before editing alternate beats into some “harmonized” instrumental, the “uno dos” countdown then synched over the music before it then synchs one bar apart, phases, adds Rob on electronic drum “gating” another synched copy, then runs the vocal over the instrumental before hitting the main “gated” break which segues into a similarly “gated” ‘Smurf’ before returning to a less tampered with but much re-edited mainly instrumental finale — so now you know! (“gating” is a trick that cuts out the body of the beat to leave just the peaks) . . . PRT or Streetwave must have something running slow, as somehow both my remixes have ended up 2bpm slower than anticipated . . . I-Level I am delighted to see has posed fewer problems to other jocks than experienced by me, when on its first play the floor just vanished — like gone, baby, goodbye! — which was upsetting as I’d only played it because I thought they were good . . . Frenchie (Blackpool) is not alone in noticing how Burgess Gardner’s album uses several old Al Hudson backing tracks, ‘Gemstone‘ in particular being nothing less than ‘Spread Love‘! . . . Catherine Harris (Preston — was that you at Gully’s last Saturday?) reckons Jeffrey Daniel is seen looking mean behind the first warehouse door in Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ video . . . David Grant took time out from his club PAs to look in at Gully’s and tell me to lay off with the “Jeffrey Daniel” comments — gulp! . . . Kev Hill (Brentwood) ended up gigging (playing tapes from his car) just for the booze at Easter on his fruitless trip to Cornwall, when asked to help make a “jazz-funk” night at Liskard’s Carlton Suite more accurately just that . . . ‘Darktown Strutters’ Ball somehow moved ‘Downtown’ in my party top 20 last week! . . . Danny & The Juniors founder Danny Rapp apparently killed himself on April 5 in Arizona, aged 42 — ‘At The Hop’ will never die, though . . . Derek Lawrence (75 Argyll Ave, Southall, Middx) needs copies of Maurice Starr ‘Let’s Dance’ and Lime ‘You’re My Magician (Instrumental)’, adding that some of his Saturday punters at Southall White Hart’s Friends refer to electrophonic phunk as ‘ET music’ — Extremely Tedious! . . . Adrian Dunbar (Bournemouth Adams Sun/Tues, Southampton Warehouse Thurs/Fri/Sat) says Julius Brown ‘Party‘ sandwiches perfectly with Sylvester ‘Be With You‘ / ‘Don’t Stop‘ — he also hopes for some mailing list recognition now he’s working five nights a week, playing up-front black as well as gay music (in fact he’s so busy he’s considering giving up his day job!) . . . Chester Browton (Selsy) says ‘Beat It’ is a killer mix with Ike & Tina Turner ‘Nutbush City Limits’ (150-154bpm), but somehow he hasn’t noticed we print not one, not even two, but actually three different types of disco chart! . . . DJs not on record pluggers mailing lists, or at least who buy a lot of their material, may have nothing much to gain by sending us their charts but those are the ones we especially want — please? . . . YOWSAH YOWSAH YOWSAH!

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HOT VINYL

BRASS CONSTRUCTION: ‘We Can Work It Out’ (LP ‘Conversations’ US Capitol ST-12268)
This one’ll blow you away! Already a monster for those lucky few serviced with promos, it’s a fantastic old-style ‘Movin’-type 117-119-118-117-116-118bpm hard driving leaper full of life (acappella fade finish), dominating the solidly trucking set’s 12in-issued 114½-116bpm ‘Walkin’ The Line‘ and the groovin’ movin’ 121-122-123-122bpm ‘I Do Love You‘, 118-119bpm ‘No Communication‘, 109½bpm ‘Physical Attraction‘, 111-114-117bpm ‘It’s A Shame‘, 130-131bpm ‘Breakdown‘, and nice mellow instrumental 0-98-100bpm ‘Easy‘. Ha cha cha!

STEVE HARVEY: ‘Something Special’ (Pressure PRESS 005, via PRT)
Perhaps significantly our top request at Gully’s already, an excellent insistently pushing simple sparse 117bpm 12in thwacker with nice little twiddles between the cool title line repetition, instrumental flip.

C.O.D.: ‘In The Bottle’ (Streetwave WAVEL 2)
The much loved/hated 117bpm vocal and instrumental electrophonic versions of Gil Scott Heron’s classic are here on 3-track 12in flipped by my own 115-116-115bpm ‘Special Megamix incorporating ‘The Smurf’ by Tyrone Brunson‘ (for full description see Odds ‘N’ Bods). Getting great floor reaction, this one I’m quite proud of. Continue reading “April 30, 1983: Brass Construction, Steve Harvey, C.O.D, Mary Jane Girls, The Chi-Lites”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

CAISTER’S BIGGIES apparently were Lonnie Liston Smith, Booker Newberry III and Brass Construction (at least these were heard the most by my spy!), Fred Dove’s videos dominated the final afternoon and PA’s by Galaxy’s Phil Fearon and the solo David Grant evidently went down a storm . . . Elite snapped up the hot Steve Harvey ‘Something Special‘ for imminent release, and also have the simmering Strike One ‘Can’t Touch Me Anymore‘ on the way . . . TC Curtis ‘Bump And Slide’ is another long range forecast tip . . . Streetwave’s version of C.O.D. ‘In the Bottle’ includes another of my “hit piggyback” remixes (and I do mean re-mix this time), amidst electronically altered “gating” it slips into Tyrone Brunson ‘The Smurf’ . . . Roy Ayers Uno Melodic product has been picked up here by Pinnacle, who also have future James Brown recordings from his Churchill label . . . David Grant’s 7in is wrapped in a real glamour-job colour poster, with four “Jeffrey Daniel” poses! . . . Peterborough’s Jeremy Payne, who also builds up mixes on a cassette deck with its pause button broken from over-use, more importantly edits an amazingly ambitious (and successfully so) fanzine called ‘Alternative Mix’ which is a crammed 20p-worth of all-embracing reviews, news, articles and charts — potential advertisers/contributors/subscribers will be equally impressed if they get a copy from Jeremy at The Willows, Spalding Road, Frognall, Deeping St James, Peterborough PE6 8SA . . . Steve Walsh starts this week funking Saturdays at Peckham Kisses, while on Tuesday (26) at Ilford’s Room At The Top he plugs PRT product with John ‘Nick’ Osborne, who in turn joins him and David Rodigan every Sunday at Streatham’s Cat Whiskers . . . David Rodigan, Capital Radio’s reggaemeister and currently co-star of BBC TV’s ‘Shackleton’ series, recently returned from a Jamaican jaunt to report that radio there plays more American soft soul than home-grown reggae (so it’s radio programmers versus the world there too!), and far more singles are just on 7in as people can’t afford the 12in size — in fact David’s UK 12in dub plates were a major excitement there, in what people think of as the home of reggae! . . . Glen Ricks’ sweet slow 35bpm ‘Heart Of My World‘ (Jamaican Black Jack 7in) currently mash up de nation murderation style, produced by Glen (real name Ricketts) and our own Curtis Simon with strings added in Canada, and brought back here by the box load in Rodigan’s baggage! . . . Soul On Sound’s Tony Jenkins & Chris Ellis join the National Soul Festival line-up of Walsh/Washington/Westwood/Shaw at the May 2 Lyceum line-up . . . Chris Hill & Colin Hudd play cops ‘n’ robbers at Dartford Flicks this Friday (22) . . . Second Image continue their tour at Birmingham Snobs (Thur 21), Leysdown Stage 3 (Sat), Luton Pink Elephant (Sun), Glasgow Henry Afrika’s (Tues/Wed), Preston Clouds (Thur) . . . Andy Baker is now fully occupied jocking seven nights plus lunchtimes at Rhyl’s Orange Peel disco (on the promenade under the Haven Hotel) — I hope he doesn’t go round the twist (geddit?)! . . . Rowdy Yeats, yes, has left PRT now, again . . . Claes Ockenholt in Denmark — where records are indeed expensive but professional DJs earn around £1,000 a month all in, so (as he charmingly puts it) “somebody must make some bacon”! — now stocks over 3,000 12in singles titles, Soul On Sound and the air-mailed RECORD MIRROR at Ding Dong Records, Silkegade (behind Illum warehouse on Stroget), Copenhagen . . . Danes evidently dance to anything by Divine, and a Dutch remix of Wham ‘Young Guns’ is hot too . . . Canadian reader Vince Degiorgio, boss of the new Power label (Ambiance ‘Na Na Hey Hey’), recently rang me from Toronto and nattered for all of twenty minutes! . . . Bill Fredericks tells me ‘Too Busy Thinking About My Baby‘ was recorded long before Forrest, but began by being much faster . . . JFM’s Dave Collins was particularly impressive in his latest fill-in role on Capital’s dawn shift last week, playing a lot of great music and being very listenable no matter what the material . . . Michael Jackson ‘Beat It’ as suspected is certainly not a big “black” record . . . Norman St John Stevas had a chat about mixing at my gig last Saturday, but is not noticeably a good dancer to today’s rhythms . . . Nick Ratcliffe reckons he must be the first DJ to do a 21st party for a girl who later frolicked in the nude in the sea in the sun in The Sun with Prince Andrew, Tracey Lamb (she’d celebrated at Haslemere’s Good Knight Country Club)! . . . Al Dupres recommends Cardiff’s apres-gig eaters should try the Goldburger in Guildhall Place, open until 3am — seriously, let’s hear about more, all, or at least late, night eateries around the country . . . Jonzun Crew’s import album is on lovely white vinyl but contains nothing of note that we don’t already know . . . Phil Mitchell (Newcastle-upon-Tyne Julies) has as a featured oldie this month, the Blackbyrds ‘April Showers‘ — couldn’t he have found a version of ‘Stormy Weather’ instead? . . . if you think this column’s going to end with “yes indeedy” again, NO SIRREE!

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HOT VINYL

LENNY WHITE: ‘Didn’t Know About Love (Till I Found You)’ (US Elektra 0-67923)
Superb creamily pulsating chick-sung 105-106½bpm jogger oozing class, on 3-track 12in with an instrumental version and the exotic slow 97bpm ‘Tell Him (Fala Para Ele)‘. A must!

INGRAM: ‘Groovin’ On A Groove’ (LP ‘Would You Like To Fly’ US Mirage 90075-1)
Ingram is the whole Ingram Family, not just James M Ingram, and while brilliant creators of musical texture they keep lyrics to a minimum (on all dancers bar the Bobby Womack-ish 106-109bpm title track), hottest newie being this irresistibly churning 121(start)-123bpm Peoples Choice-ish groove, not to forget the sensational 12in-issued 116-114-113-114-114½–114-114½-116½bpm ‘Smoothin’ Groovin‘, 108½bpm ‘DJ’s Delight‘ flip, and indecisively jolting 110-112bpm ‘We Like To Do It‘ plus some slowies. Lovely stuff!

WILTON FELDER: ‘Summer Nights In Rio’ (LP ‘Gentle Fire’ MCA MCF-3167)
Already rushed out here, the Crusaders saxist and Joe Sample kick up an infectious brassy 123-122-122½bpm Latin leaper with jazzy solos (also on promo 12in c/w Joe’s ‘The Hunter‘), mellow joggers being the lovely slinky 96-95-94bpm ‘Somewhere In My Past‘ and 94½bpm ‘Driftin’ On A Dream‘, but A Taste Of Honey’s two vocal tracks let the set down rather. Continue reading “April 23, 1983: Lenny White, Ingram, Wilton Felder, Joe Sample, Marcia Griffiths”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

COUNTY SOUND, Guildford’s commercial station which hit the airwaves (96.6 FM/203 MW) on Bank Holiday Monday, is aimed at Surrey but reaches much of London and has a Saturday 6-9pm Street Life soul show hosted by Nigel Williams with help from Steve Walsh (yes indeedy, indeed!) . . . Steve Walsh this Saturday (16) scampers from Guildford to gig at Leysdown Stage 3, and from next Tuesday (19) weekly jazz-funks Ilford Room At The Top with John ‘Nick’ Osbourne . . . Showstoppers Caister XI is this weekend but sadly a mobile gig will keep me from it — still, four years on after attending 8 out of 10, I know what they’re like by now! . . . SEDA’s Spring Disco Fair VII is on Sunday (17) at the Great Danes Hotel (Ashford end of the motorway near Maidstone), noon-7pm, doubtless worth a visit if you’re into equipment and socialising with other DJs . . . Mike Shaft’s ‘TCOB NOW’ will be changing into ‘Groovi’ on 12th May, a monthly magazine to begin with, jointly edited by Mike oop t’north and Ralph Tee dahn the smoke, Ralph handling production — and he’s also currently compiling a fortnightly 8-page ‘Groove On’ give-away mag for Soho’s Groove shop (you get one per record purchase), so you can forget ‘Groove Weekly’ as it’s now ‘Fortnightly’ and ‘Monthly’! . . . Imagination’s hits have been remixed into dub versions for a ‘Night Dubbin’ LP released next month for only £2.99 (shades of Human League Unlimited?), promoed by a so far extremely exclusive 12in coupling (never to be commercially available) of the 0-128½bpm ‘Heart ‘n’ Soul‘ and dynamite 113¾-113¼bpm ‘Burnin’ Up‘ dubs . . . TMT’s initial pressing of the Rah Band ‘Sam The Samba Man’ had the same B-side remixes as the Red Label version, by mistake . . . Graham Gold (Mayfair Gullivers/JFM) has been getting rave reaction to an acetate of Steve Harvey ‘Something Special‘ — hot, hot, hot! — final label deal yet to be firmed although Phonogram have been in the running . . . Virgin put out next week on vinyl the previously moody cassette-only “new” ‘Stone Killers’ LP by Prince Charles & The City Beat Band . . . Polydor picked up the whole Mirage label, but evidently passed on Ingram — oops! . . . The Biz ‘Falling (Crash Beat Remix Pts 1 & 2)‘ has turned up on US Prelude 12in . . . Greg Kihn finally dislodged Michael Jackson from top of the US Dance/Disco chart at least . . . Ray Parker Jr (who started the trend), Prince and now Michael Jackson have learnt the best way to win pop radio play in the States is to make rock records — which is not on indictment of them, but of today’s radio programming policy . . . I reckon Rick James is the next most likely black superstar to follow them, if only to get his videos onto the MTV all-music TV channel, who (to paraphrase) insist their viewers don’t want no nigger music . . . Motown could never be ‘The Sound Of Young America’ in the ’80s! . . . Soul On Sound 015’s preview mix includes Kiddo ‘Thinking About Your Charm’/Muscle Shoals Horns ‘She Was Once My Woman’/Platinum Hook ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Without You’/Chew ‘Gimme Something’/Al Jarreau ‘Mornin’/William Robinson/Yarbrough & Peoples/Mtume/O’Bryan ‘Soft Touch’/Jimmy Cobb ‘So Nobody Else Can Hear’/Kashif ‘The Mood’/Indeep/Wish/Slim/Advance/Narada Michael Walden/Richard Jon Smith/Maurice Messiah ’50/50 Love’/Imagination ‘Burnin’ Up (Dub)’/Terry Burrus/Venna/Galaxy/Ingram/Transit/Lavias/”D” Train — incidentally, the Robinson bass break/Y&P makes a killer mix! . . . SOS stockists on the Channel Islands, Lady Jayne Records are organising Jersey’s very first jazz-funk alldayer on May 2nd Bank Holiday Monday, at Lord’s Disco with Smokey Joe, Melvyn John, Mad Munk & DJ Le Flem, tickets only £1 for noon-2am (bleedin’ eck!) . . . New York mixing jock Dan Pucciarelli is currently starring for the first few weeks at Ernie Priestman’s brand new Bunters club in Liverpool . . . Big Phil Etgart & Brian Bazzer Mason this Thursday (14) start a ‘ladies free’ night (fellars a quid) at South Harrow Bobby Magees, where also Lyndon T & Gordon Mac do elektro funk Mondays and Under-18s Tuesday (all nights the doors close at 11pm so get there early) . . . John DeSade does Under-18s Tuesdays/Over-18s Fridays at Rayleigh Crocs, the latter also still at Sheerness Woodys on Saturdays (he’d welcome other residencies on 0795 71543) . . . uh-oh, Bazzer Mason does Under-18s Mondays at Watford New Penny . . . Nick Aravis’s Under-18s Mon/Weds of Hornchurch Daniels are so popular the kids start queuing as soon as school is out (mainly ‘cos they’ve nowhere else to go!), two new tribes currently “getting down” on the floor with the descriptive names of the Hornchurch Bum-Biters and the Lady Thigh Biters (yer what?!) . . . Frenchie reports the Bank Holiday Preston Clouds alldayer was “absolutely packed” . . . Second Image kick off a tour at Dartford Flicks (Fri 15), Tolworth Recreation Centre (Sat), Southend Talk Of The South (Tues), Margate Winter Gardens (Wed), Birmingham Snobs (Thur 20) . . . Forrest plays Boscombe’s Academy in Bournemouth on Monday (18), ICQ jazz Camberley Frenchies on Sunday (17) . . . Sean French & Nicky Holloway recap Caister on Monday (18) at Bermondsey Dockhead’s Swan & Sugarloaf (lager 50p a pint), Nicky & Colin Hudd now also souling the Old Kent Road’s plush Green Man every Thursday . . . Phil Jay jazz-funks Tuesdays at the Barn Bar in East Horsley’s Horsley Hotel, pub hours . . . Paul Major makes a big switcheroo from Lincoln to Hinckley’s Bubbles, where he’ll have to be more cabaret star than DJ . . . Chad still starts the week (Mon-Wed) at Liverpool Cagneys but now mixes up all the hot newies Thurs-Sat at Wigan Pier . . . Darlington’s Bee Jays is in the midst of a complete revamp, new weekend jock being Dave Summers . . . Nicky King at the newly opened Harvester pub in Merseyside’s Withens Cantril Farm (I hope that makes sense) has £37,000 of sound and lights to play with . . . Chris Dinnis (Exeter Boxes) evidently is big in the Midlands! . . . Richard Scanes (London Dicks Inn venues) says Taco ‘Putting On The Ritz‘ (RCA) is getting renewed gay requests . . . Al Dupres (Cardiff) played Gilberto Gil’s old ‘Palco‘ (Warner Bros 12in) while warming up and was amazed he suddenly had a packed floor — incidentally, he’s desperate for 12in copies of Antonia Rodriguez ‘La Bamba’ (Magnet) and Baccara ‘Parlez Vous Francais’ (RCA — if 12in exists), call 0222-371406 afternoons/-613596 evenings . . . John Sinclair (Reading Rebeccas) wonders how a recent import (although serviced by Rush Release), Yvonne Brown ‘Goin’ Down‘ (US Montage 12in), never hit our chart — mainly because we only ever had two DJs “on” it, and that just ain’t enough! . . . I can’t understand why Patrick Simmons ‘So Wrong‘ (US Elektra 12in) hasn’t picked up any DJs other than myself yet . . . Big Phil Etgart is reeling from the speedy rush release of Rod, Cashmere, and Valentine Brothers! . . . Rubettes ‘Sugar Baby Love’ (Polydor 134-128bpm 7in) is a nice teaser for mobile/pop jocks if you rapidly chop its intro build-up in before David Bowie ‘Let’s Dance’ (EMI America 113-115bpm 12in/114-116bpm 7in), and Isley Brothers ‘Twist And Shout’ (DJM 125bpm 7in) is nice out of Bowie . . . ‘Street Sounds Edition 3’ features ‘Off The Wall’-type twinkling white sox on the sleeve — the flashy feet of Orin ‘Pzazz’ Cozier’ . . . Tony St. Michael (Holloway) recommends his local shop, Sounds To Go at 130 Holloway Road, for good UK prices (12in £1.15-£1.99/LP £2.99-£4.99), while Rayners Lane’s Record & Disco Centre (they advertise in RM as Harrow Disco Centre) confirm their import prices are currently 12in £3.99/LP £6.99-£7.25 (depending on supplier) — it ain’t cheap being a superstar import reviewer, I can tell ya! . . . John Wischhusen, ex-Groove Weekly club correspondent, says “Gullivers is now the only credible black club in London” — however, he met his future Belgian heiress bride at Xenon (the wedding’s in September)! . . . Medway megastar Nicky Peck marries Julie Phipps in May (a fair cop?) . . . Pete Tong has yet to reveal how many shares he has in I Level! . . . Pete Haigh (Standish Cassinellis — Thurs/Caton Scarthwaite Hotel — Sun) reports the hot disco phrase in New York is “Dick!”, shouted Italiano style as if by Robert De Niro in ‘Mean Streets’, especially appropriate whenever the DJ does a bummer and better by far than “yes indeedy!” — darling, anything is better than “yes indeedy!” (someone please tell Al Matthews!) . . . Paul Clark (Brighton Busbys) counters by recommending I close the column with the big nightclub phrase, he says, Pork swor . . . woops, no, on second thoughts — NO SIRREE!

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HOT VINYL

DAVID GRANT: ‘Stop And Go’ (Chrysalis GRANX-1)
A Steve Levine produced amalgamation of old Linx and current Michael Jackson noises blended into a burbling jittery 118bpm backbeater with an incredibly long instrumental start, gimmicky rhythm hiccups, and backward running tape half-way, on 3-track 12in with short and instrumental versions.

NEIL LOCKWOOD: ‘Tell Tale Heart’ (Red Bus RBUSL 76)
Fabulous bright and breezy British blue-eyed soul skipper, the best since Jerome’s last one, a happy little 114¼bpm 12in ditty with ridiculously catchy whistling, short snappy sax, tight percussion tricks, an ‘Ai No Corrida’-ish lilt, and above all a totally masterful vocal performance. Now it’s on radio, watch it smash!

BOOKER NEWBERRY III: ‘Love Town’ (US Boardwalk NB-99905-9)
Hottest import of the past fortnight, a great easily rolling 113-114-116bpm 12in swayer soulfully sung by a mellow gruff gent in Vandross/Benson style, flipped by the useful grittier 117-118bpm ‘Doin’ What Comes Naturally‘ (both co penned by Len Barry!). Continue reading “April 16, 1983: David Grant, Neil Lockwood, Booker Newberry III, Shirley Lites, Craig Peyton”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

KOOL’S INCLUSION with Wish could well start a fashion tor piggybacking into the chart by incorporating bits of other artists’ back catalogue (generating additional royalties for them) — the Kool move, made at my instigation, was eased immensely by Phonogram’s John Waller and the perhaps surprisingly ready co-operation of De-Lite . . . Kool & The Gang have been much on my mind actually, as I’ve also just put together the long anticipated ‘Twice as Kool’ greatest hits double album, which Polygram will be advertising on TV next month . . . Loraine Trent’s new assistant at CBS is a fellah this time, Steve Ripley . . . Orin Cozier is setting up his own label, called — as hinted last week — Pzazz! . . . Paddington’s Bluebird Records shop has a new Bluebird label, debuting next week with a 12in of the old much-sought Manfredo Fest ‘Jungle Kitten‘ . . . 21 Records’ ‘The Perfect Beat’ electrophonic compilation LP of Soulsonic Patrol Crew stuff in its cassette form has a bonus scratch mix by Froggy . . . Dave Rawlings at Basingstoke Martines has ‘outer space’ fancydress this Friday (8), when it’s also a pyjama party with Chris Hill & Colin Hudd at Dartford Flicks, and Dave ‘TG’ Brown funks Gravesend Woodville Halls . . . Sean French guests at Brighton Busbys on Sunday (10), when in Birmingham at the Powerhouse DJs Phil & Funky Dunk go gay with a Boys Town night . . . The Band AKA play Boscombe’s Academy in Bournemouth on Monday (11), and the Stylistics start a week at Watford Baileys . . . Cleo of Stringfellows fame (it says here) and Gaz Anderson are resident now at London’s new Bootleggers, in Margaret Street on the old Speakeasy/Xclusiv site, Gaz slipping in plenty of upfront tackle . . . Ozzie, long a chart contributor, has stopped gigging at such as Waltham Cross Gatsbys and Soho Ronnie Scotts to concentrate on song writing — and maybe rapping? — good luck! . . . JoBoxers, Style Council, Tracie, now Culture Club continue the ‘Northern Soul’ renaissance . . . Adrian (Bournemouth Adams/Southampton Warehouse) reckons that if other pop groups copy New Order’s hit (“a solid slice of hard gay disco”), then maybe gays will move on to something else — or alternatively perhaps big Boys Town stars like Divine or Bobby ‘O’ will cross over more easily . . . Gary Allan (Liverpool Concert Street/Warehouse) will pay any price for a ‘This Is It’ various artists mixer, so any record store with a copy should call 051 526 5407 . . . Adrian Martin (Rhyl) semi-seriously is looking for a minder, after a hotel owner practically beat him up for charging a client £50 in a privately negotiated deal, when other discos the manager would have recommended cost only £20 . . . Nick Ratcliffe (0344 882535) would like replacement Thurs/Friday gigs nearer London after Basingstoke Martines new manager told him his mixing and presentation “goes over the head of the punters — you’re just too upmarket for this crowd”! . . . Nick on a recent Sunday at Haslemere’s Good Knight Country Club did the following “early evening” mix on fixed speed decks with a bit of fancy finger work: Kashif/Celena Duncan/Whispers ‘Tonight’/Evelyn King ‘Get Loose’/Glenn Jones/Melba Moore ‘Mind Up’/Michael Jackson ‘BJ’/Toney Lee/Jerry Knight ‘Down’/Jazzy Dee/Inner Life/David Joseph/Forrest (twice)/Mezzoforte/Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’/Central Line/Indeep/Thompson Twins — after which, he pants, the packed floor could stand any amount of upfront stuff . . . Brian Goodacre (Lincoln’s The Lion) on vari-speed decks mixes Forrest/Jaluka ‘Scatterings’/Howard Johnson ‘Say You Wanna’/Michael Jackson ‘BJ’/Evelyn King ‘Get Loose’ . . . Perian Wynne says a big “happy birthday” to Bristol’s Martin Starr for next Tuesday! . . . Steve Martin (Edinburgh Madhatters) apologizes to record companies for his lack of reaction reports, he’s been on honeymoon . . . ooh we, sweet peas, mmm-hmm, that’s baad, uhhh, YES INDEEDY!

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HOT VINYL

“D” TRAIN: ‘Music’ (US Prelude PRLD 654)
Their long awaited newie kicks off with a tinklingly backed short soulful acappella intro before typical synth textures and chunky beat powerfully bump this slightly untidy 120bpm 12in rumbler, surprisingly soulfully growled and hollered with ‘Keep On’-type chants (the lack of form and its commendably “black” quality may hold it back, in fact), although once again it’s the instrumental flip which drives and bumbles along a straighter and narrower path, with probably more appeal in this electrophonic age. Both sides are different enough to give it real double-sided value.

WISH: ‘Mr D.J.’ (Streetwave WAVEL 1, via PRT)
I must declare self interest as the 3-track 12in B-side ‘Special Mega-Mix Incorporating ‘Ladies Night‘ by Kool & The Gang’ is my own effort, and to my taste it is overly freaky, but that’s what was demanded. Revolving around repeated pleas for a DJ to play a song again, the chap ‘n’ chix on the original 107-108-107-106½-107-108bpm vocal version weave around a chugging Kool-type bass line, the harder 111bpm instrumental having great sax, while the scratch-introed 108-107-106-106½-108(Kool)-107-108-0bpm remix messes everything about and slips into ‘Ladies Night’.

GALAXY: ‘Dancing Tight’ (Ensign 12ENY 501, via Island)
Anticipated by distributors Island as their next David Joseph-like crossover hit, the debut release on new-look Ensign is a lovely creamily whomping 115½-116bpm 12in swayer with chix answering classy pent-up Phil Fearon’s vocal (including some freaky stereo panning) and a trace of that old Martini ‘Dancing Easy’ lilt, the acappella introed 117bpm instrumental flip having jazzier synth, sax ‘n’ flute. Continue reading “April 9, 1983: D Train, Wish, Galaxy, Indeep, William Robinson”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

DONNA SUMMER as a result of legal shenanigans will have her next new material once again on Casablanca here, something being due in a few weeks time, thus scuppering a re-release on 12in of her old ‘Love To Love You Baby’ — but not before promo pressings were sent out, consequently making them rather rare! . . . Jive Records have signed the soulful HCRC catalogue for Britain, debuting with Margie Joseph, while in other label moves Jimmy Young will be out here on Nite Life, Flowchart on Greyhound, T. Ski Valley ‘Sexual Rapping’ on Pama, plus Cashmere and Rod are belatedly due on Philly World and Prelude respectively . . . ‘Street Sounds Edition 3‘ (STSND 003) features current/recent disco hit A-sides by the Gap Band, Kashif, Jerry Knight, Richard Jon Smith, Angela Bofill, Gwen McCrae, Melba Moore, Cashmere, Steve Arrington (‘Approval’) . . . LPs on import includes a Jamaica-recorded Betty Wright ‘Wright Back At You’ (Epic), Denise LaSalle ‘Lady In The Street’ (Malaco), Dan Siegel ‘Reflections’ (PAUSA) plus three sets on Palo Alto Jazz by David Diggs, Richie Cole, David Lahm, and a 12in of George Howard ‘The Preacher‘ (PAJ PA 8035-12) . . . ABC ‘Poison Arrow’ has been remixed with a nice jazzy flute intro on US Mercury 12in (811 329-1) . . . “D” Train ‘Music’ (US Prelude 12in) is evidently now in the country, but football crowds in Wembley evidently prevented it getting through to Rayners Lane last Saturday! . . . Streetwave’s Morgan Khan with characteristic impatience hustled out test pressings of the Wish ‘Mr DJ’ remix (incorporating bits of Kool ‘Ladies Night’) before it had been properly balanced and EQ-ed, and with a final edit that was not my doing — wait for the finished cut! . . . Xenon in London’s Piccadilly, home of Fatman Canter and Peter Romer, had a star-studded first birthday party last Thursday which just about everyone was at, including David Joseph, Leee John, David Grant (with a spec-less, slimline, slicked back hairstyle new look), Patrick Boothe (in his old clothes), and all the pluggers you’d expect plus some you wouldn’t . . . David Joseph has hopefully opened up the pop chart to a hipper rhythm by getting so surprisingly high with a hard club sound . . . Radios Orwell & Saxon are about to have Medway soul jock Dave ‘TG’ Brown doing the Mon-thru-Thursday 10pm-midnight show, starting after Easter, Terry — oops, sorry! — Dave promising some soft soul and jazz amongst the easy listening . . . Ray ‘Raymondo’ Edwards may be down but not out at Radio West — he’s still got a funk show every Tuesday at 8pm . . . London’s Radio Invicta is planning to be back with a bang every Sunday on 92.4FM with amongst other things a gospel hour at 6pm followed by three hours of jazz in collaboration with Fusion FM . . . Capital’s Gary Crowley had the World’s Famous Supreme Team on his Saturday afternoon show last week but they were disappointingly unimpressive . . . Nick Sanquest (01-727 8676) is looking for jocks to do two weeks throughout the summer at a disco in Cork (Ireland) . . . Edgbaston’s Faces French next Thursday (7) hosts the national final of a Disc Jockey Of The Year contest, the title being decided there between Stuart Gensian (Ealing Madocs), Andy King (Brighton Busbys), Neil Fincham (Edinburgh Mad Hatters Speakeasy), Gary Oldis (Aycliffe Bee Jays), Mick McGinley (Wakefield Heppys), Ian Plant (Blackpool Raffles), Dave Maurice (Nottingham Isabellas), Jimmy Franks (Birmingham Cagneys), Franklyn Hughes (Long Eaton Donovans), Marcus Lee (Stowmarket Maltings), Phil Rees (Wrexham Shafts), Stuart James Rendle (Plymouth Boobs) . . . George Power & Steve Walsh headline an allniter at Peckham Kisses this Thursday (31) . . . Robbie Vincent, Colin Hudd, Tom Holland & John Rush have a charity allniter (for the elderly) on Good Friday at Dartford Flicks, with lotsa videos, and traditional English breakfast included in the £5 cost . . . Saturday (2) a weekly disco and fashion show starts at Birmingham city centre’s Vintage Room in Corporation Street, music by Frenchie-T and mixing Dr. P (Paul Dixon) . . . Bob James, Steve Allen, Jonathon Cleveland Anderson and more jazz-soul an Easter Day alldayer (3pm) at Peterborough’s Cresset Centre . . . Colin Curtis, Richard Searling, Mike Shaft, Kev Edwards, Frenchie, Baz Williams, ISIS “live” and more jazz-soul Preston Clouds alldayer (2pm) on Bank Holiday Monday when two rival evening events in Kent threaten to cancel each other out, best established being the 5th Kent Soul Festival at West Malling Greenways with Nicky Peck, Chris Kaye, Tom Felton, John DeSade, Kev Ashman, a Richard Jon Smith PA and more, while the 1st Kent Soul & Jazz-Funk Carnival at Bearsted Tudor House has Keith Kapri with unspecified guest DJs and Kabbala live . . . Ian Reading won’t be joined by Froggy on Good Friday at Southend’s Zero 6 as the club is closed, but it will be open until 1am on Thursday and Saturday — and interestingly the Zero 6 operates a coach service for punters from various East London/Essex areas (details on Southend 540117) . . . Steve Jason (0733 43161) — who does Peterborough’s Taverna Wine Bar in Bridge Street on Sundays with free admission before 9.30pm and cheap booze — is organising a coach for the Maze concert at Nottingham’s Rock City on Wednesday 11th May, with pickups on the A1 and A52 Peterborough/Stamford/Grantham/Nottingham route — call him days for details . . . Chris Dinnis is selling tickets for the Showstoppers Bournemouth bank holiday bash at Exeter Boxes for those who want to join the Devonshire funk contingent . . . Invicta’s Andy Bailey and Richard Felstead at Islington JR’s in Upper Street feature soul/jazz/funk/lovers rock Fridays, a wider range Saturdays . . . Steve Walsh stopped his Thursdays at Hammersmith Palais after a series of pop concerts disrupted the jazz-funk continuity, and then regretfully left the Lyceum after many years to enable Mecca to switch Saturdays to over-25s MoR in an effort to retain their lease (Andrew Lloyd Webber is after it to turn the venue back into a theatre — just what London needs with so many “dark” already, right?) . . . Gary Alan now doubles Thurs/Fri/Sat at Liverpool’s Warehouse but still has his “Sleaze ‘n’ Cruise” every Fri/Sat 7-11.30pm (free admittance) at McMillans — except this is now called Concert Street, after the street it’s in, and this Easter Sunday starts a Sunday lunchtime gay session in addition to the evening one . . . Edinburgh’s Fire Island gay club in Princes Street, featuring the Incredible Jason Horror Show on Easter Sunday, now sells a full range of import newies but does not intend operating a mail order service . . . Billboards US Dance/Disco Top 80 when last seen included only 18 non “disco” records, of which 13 were British and Michael Jackson still hogged the top (Black LP/Single charts too) . . . Orin Cozier is dusting off his flares — well a guy’s gotta have ‘Pzazz’! . . . Virgin’s Mick Clark huffily says I Level ‘Minefield’ is a floor filler at the clubs he’s visited recently . . . Shaun James (Aylesbury), who kindly defended our Disco coverage in a letter last week, looked in at Mayfair Gullivers last Saturday to say “hi” and request Ingram — the guy does have taste! (Gullivers incidentally is fully open on Good Friday, but I’ll be away this weekend) . . . Whiskers Casstoke should try the earlier unremixed Buddy Holly & Bob Montgomery version of ‘Pinky Blue’ it’s much more soulful! . . . Brian Cardno (Morpeth) and Tony Cochrane (Dundee Club Feet) both sent in a clipping from the Scottish Sunday Post about one Paul Johnston of Edinburgh suffering from “disco knee”, brought on by his over doing the Jeffrey Daniel-type body popping! . . . PRT to tie in with Chil Fac-Torr’s ‘Twist’ are toying with the idea of running a twist dance contest — and indeed they can count me in! . . . Cleveland, Ohio, DJ Doug Shannon in his USA-published book ‘Off The Record — The Disco Concept’ traces the birth of disco to the Paris of World War II when during the German occupation live jazz was banned, forcing jazz fans in their Left Bank cellar clubs to dance to amplified gramophone records — having spent my school holidays in Paris during the late ’50s, I knew that discotheques were fashionable there then (my parents used to go to one called L’Etoile with the Duke & Duchess of Windsor!), but I hadn’t realised they’d started like that . . . John Krenski, who wrote ‘The Cheater‘ for Bob Kuban & The In Men back in ’65, could profit by listening to ‘Boxerbeat‘ — Jo Boxers may not be the Bee Gees, but the two songs are sorta similar! . . . Kev Hill (Brentwood 223030) accepted from a Mr Wallace (think about it) to do a gig at ‘Sugars’ in Newquay, booked accommodation for himself and some mates, and then only when his confirmation letter and subsequent phone call’s failed to find a Mr Wallace realised that he’d been booked for April the 1st — Kev still doesn’t know who fooled him, but his mates think it’s VERY funny, and they’re all going to Newquay anyway even without a gig there (unless someone genuine wants him at short notice)! . . . Nigel Halkes (Portishead) says the old KID ‘Don’t Stop’ (Groove Production 12in) goes well with Man Parrish now . . . Frenchie (Blackpool Barons) is getting great response to the old Gene Dunlap ‘Before You Break My Heart‘ (Capitol LP) . . . Dave Stodart (Bridge Country Club) has started noticing how nubile young ladies seem to be getting prettier and less fully clothed, making him wonder if this means he’s becoming a dirty old man or whether it’s the fate of all DJs? . . . that’s right, baby cakes, mmm-hmm, ouch, YES INDEEDY!

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HOT VINYL

CHILL FAC-TORR: ‘Twist (Round ‘N’ Round)’ (Philly World PWSL-109)
Now as huge on the floor as it’s been in the shops on import, and surely headed for novelty pop smash status, this is a brilliant adaptation of Hank Ballard’s Chubby Checker popularised ‘The Twist’ disguised for much of the time by being stretched and spaced out into a still twist-tempoed cool 183-91½bpm 12in funk framework, the original lyrics only meshing recognisably with a burst of the vintage arrangement for a while halfway, the slow acappella vocal side and instrumental flip both taking most of their power from a superb sax duet that soars, honks and squeals in stereo.

AL JARREAU: ‘Mornin’ (LP ‘Jarreau’ US Warner Bros 23801-1)
Already on import 7in, this superb classy 90bpm swayer has all the potential to be another ‘Hold Me Tighter In The Rain’, and is the standout dancer on an obviously excellent listening set (fuller review when more time).

CLASS ACTION Featuring Chris Wiltshire: ‘Weekend’ (Jive JIVE T 35)
In the same 4-track format and at 33 1/3rpm as in the States, this revival by its original girl singer of the Patrick Adams Phreek disco oldie is an exciting Gwen McCrae-ish ever changing fast seeming though only 122bpm 12in galloper, the Sergio Munzibai & John Morales-mixed ‘Weekday Side‘ on the flip being most soulful while the Larry Levan-mixed ‘Weekend Side’ A-side is a zingier pop/gay concoction, there also being dub and acappella versions. Bright enough to break out overground. Continue reading “April 2, 1983: Chill Fac-Torr, Al Jarreau, Class Action, Yarbrough & Peoples”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

STREETWAVE’S REMIX of Wish ‘Mr DJ’, due imminently, will incorporate a snippet of the actual Kool & The Gang ‘Ladies Night’ in amongst its similar bass line — which could be a first of its kind, barring bootleg mixers and full-length medleys! . . . Second Image’s limited edition twin-pack 12in sold fast last week — if any are left you’ll find the bonus free single has Pete Wingfield’s vigorously leaping 121-122-121bpm ‘Can’t Keep Holding On ’83‘ remix and the gently drifting 82-84bpm ‘Images‘ . . . Ensign’s first release via Island in a fortnight, Galaxy ‘Dancing Tight‘ has been getting much soul radio play on acetate and is now on white label: it’s a lovely creamily whomping 115½-116bpm swayer with chix-answered classy pent-up Phil Fearon vocal, or a jazzier synth, sax ‘n flute 117bpm instrumental flip . . . Chris Hill and I feel the Ingram whose ‘Smoothin’ Groovin‘ has exploded on import despite also being called James, is unlikely to be the Quincy Jones-produced James Ingram (who would surely weigh in with a vocal ballad rather than a jazz-funk instrumental) — this one must be the Ingram of ‘Mi Sebrina Tequana‘ fame, probably the keyboard/sax/flute-playing Jimmy Ingram of the mid-’70s Ingram Family whose ‘The Ingram Kingdom’ album on US Excello I chanced upon while browsing through my newly shelved record collection . . . US Atlantic are re-releasing the original Patrick Adams Phreek ‘Weekend‘, LP version and a remix, on 12in . . . Polydor look like losing the race here having picked up The System’s original ‘You Are In My System‘ — they should have gone with ‘Sweat‘ . . . Alan Omokhoje Jr’s new Move label is putting out Aural Exciters ‘Chinese Rap‘ (via Pinnacle), bone fide DJs can contact Alan at 70 Gloucester Place, London W1 (01-935 8980) . . . US 12in imports last week also included Omni ‘All For The One‘ (Fountain), Rocket ‘Here Comes My Love‘ (Canadian Quality — the slinky goodie from their album, c.103bpm I seem to remember), Jonzun Crew ‘Space Cowboy‘ (Tommy Boy — dreadful, c.101bpm), while LPs of limited interest include the very cerebral Manhattan Transfer-ish Rare Silk ‘New Weave’ (Polydor — their reading of Richie Cole’s ‘New York Afternoon‘ has specialist jazz jocks jumping), soulful stuff by Blue Magic (Mirage — they revive the Dramatics ‘In The Rain’), and a 4-track set by Blackbyrds drummer Keith Killgo (BWI — he revives Tommy James & The Shondells ‘Crystal Blue Persuasion‘) . . . Lonnie Liston Smith’s other big instrumental track is the bassily snapped then smooth 118bpm ‘Mystic Woman‘, while the O’Bryan slowie with excellent muted trumpet is the (0-)51½/103bpm ‘Soft Touch‘ . . . Patrick Simmons, whose terrific ‘So Wrong‘ mixes sensationally with Nile Rodgers ‘Get Her Crazy‘, turns out to be a Doobie Brother . . . Michael Jackson ‘Billie Jean’ is rumoured to have been remixed by US Hot Tracks but then banned by Epic, making any copies scarcer than hens teeth . . . San Francisco’s hot new gay label Arial has snapped up 250 old “disco” classics, many previously promo-only remixes, for reissue gradually over the next three years — and American DJ pool members are going to have to buy them, as that will obviously be their main market (some UK labels could learn from that) . . . Motown “plan” to release a brand new studio album by Stevie Wonder in April — they wisely don’t specify April 1983, though! . . . Johnnie Wilder stand-in Keith Harrison has reportedly left Heatwave to join the Dazz Band . . . Soul On Sound 014’s preview mix features Sunfire/Lorita Grahame/Shock ‘San Juan’/Tania Maria ‘Come With Me’/Patrick Williams ‘Too Hip For The Room’/Chill Fac-Torr/Rah Band/Wuf Ticket/Chi-Lites/Fatback ‘Is This The Future?’/Whispers ‘Keep On Lovin’ Me’/Omni ‘All For The One’/Electric Smoke/Chaka Khan ‘Best In The West’/Walter Jackson/Harry Ray/Ellie Hope/Earth Wind & Fire/Greg Kihn Band/Imagination ‘Changes’ remix/Charles Earland ‘Street Themes’/C.O.D./Nile Rodgers ‘Get Her Crazy’/Patrick Simmons/Jimmy Young/Lonnie Liston Smith ‘Rainbows Of Love’/Joe Sample ‘Wings Of Fire’ — 27 cuts in less than 21 minutes . . . Paul Lewis has re-established jazz-funk on Thurs/Saturdays at Swindon Brunel Rooms Ampitheatre (Sandy Martin does the Ballroom) . . . Tom Wilson is now full resident at Edinburgh Northumberland Hotel’s Pzazz Nitescene — with a club name like that, does the manager wear flares? . . . Mike Page reports from Telford that due to people saying they’ve nowhere to go during the week, Shifnal’s Nell Gwynn now operates on Monday too . . . Robbie Vincent jazz-souls Peckham Kisses this Saturday (26) — I bet he doesn’t play Forrest! . . . Steve Walsh seems to be cutting back on his residencies, or shall we say rescheduling his appearances? . . . Rush Release’s Nick Titchener, who plays Nightclub music with Pete Tong at Dartford Flicks on Thursdays, thoroughly recommends the Mattel Synsonics electronic “drum kit”, at just £99 or less, run on batteries or mains transformer and really impressive used with a bit of reverb, quoth he . . . Kilburn’s Cafe Lexi, just down from The National Club, is my current tip for apres-gig gorgers — nice food, reasonably priced, open until 6am seven nights a week . . . Easter deadlines mean that chart contributing DJs should get ’em in the mail RIGHT NOW, please! . . . Dave Lewis writes as manager of Bedford’s WH Smith record shop to say that thanks to these pages, his is one chain store that does stock all the hot new dance records (on UK release) and will order any DJ’s request . . . Tricky Dicky Scanes has now moved his entire stock from Disco Music in Mile End to the Record Cellar at 18 Newport Court, near Leicester Square tube station . . . I had raised eyebrows from some import buyers after last week’s mention of £6.99 as the current LP price — that’s what they are in Rayners Lane and at many other up-front stockists, so you may be shopping at the wrong place . . . Dave Phillips & The Hot Rod Gang ‘Tainted Love‘ (Rockhouse SP 8303, via Pinnacle) is a must for mobile jocks — a rockabilly backed but still Marc Almond accented 177bpm boogie! . . . Ellery Phillips (Bury St Edmunds) is desperate for the Canadian mixer (mentioned last summer by someone from the South of France) which “expertly dovetails Beatles rockers with added bass and drums” — any offers (vinyl or tape)? . . . Kevin James, currently based in Denmark at Tordenskjold Kobling, is happy to supply Continental records but warns they’re very expensive (7in £2.50, 12in up to £5) — contact him at Gronnedalen, 168 St m f, 7100 Vejle, Denmark (he also says the Danes reputedly seem to drink more than anyone else in Europe except the Germans, and they all seem to drink it at his club!) . . . Coggy (Lincoln) — no Khemistry didn’t come out here . . . Capital’s assistant librarian and Cruiser DJ ‘Disco John’ Leech, known to some as Leee(ch) John, doesn’t often get radio credits but always jocks the opening 8-9.30pm happy hour of Friday’s ‘Best Disco In Town’ at London’s Lyceum (“everybody go whoa-ho!”) . . . ooh-wee, that’s (UHH) baad, sweet peas, mmm-hmm, YES INDEEDY!

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HOT VINYL

INGRAM: ‘Smoothin’ Groovin’ (US Mirage 0-99920)
Unlikely to crossover in a big way but immediately huge with “hard toon” lovers, this superb sophisticated gently flowing and pulsating 116(intro)-114-113-114-114½-114-114½-116½bpm 12in jazz-funk semi-instrumental shuffler packs a surprise punch out on the floor and sounds like a future classic, the more sombre jiggly monotonous 108½bpm ‘DJ’s Delight‘ making a good if less crucial flip. See ‘Odds ‘n’ Bods’ for an enquiry into Ingram’s identity.

LAVIAS: ‘Do You Wanna Dance’ (US Golden Pyramid GP 1208)
Lavias appears to conceal the identity of Mike T. teamed again with saxist Joe Thomas on a killer hard driving 123bpm 12in jazz-funk instrumental groove, breaking halfway for a nice mush-mouthed mellow rap which then picks up and kicks up the beat (terrific between Transit and Kabbala) — all this relating to the far hotter flip, as the nice enough vocal A-side lacks the sax.

TRANSIT: ‘Dance Groove’ (US Storm ST-519)
Out a while with (as I can testify!) proven grow-on-you appeal, this Gene Redd-produced (he’s Sharon’s brother) infectiously bounding 120-119-120-119½bpm 12in leaper starts excitingly with happy chaps and stabbing brass before exploding into a dynamite jittery but fluid bass break that then motivates most of the record. Continue reading “March 26, 1983: Ingram, Lavias, Transit, Marvin Gaye, Valentine Brothers”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

DAVID JOSEPH has been remixed for US Mango 12in (MLPS 7804), but the result is slower (c.115bpm), more percussive and less bright, with a similarly remixed instrumental flip, unlikely to cause a stampede here (in fact, shades of the US version of ‘Hi-Tension’?) . . . Kashif, Change, Champaign, Muscle Shoals Horns all have new import LPs, which you may want to fork out £6.99 for but I don’t . . . Epic have already issued the Tyrone Brunson ‘Sticky Situation’ LP (EPC 25291), very uninteresting and only with the vocal, no instrumental, of the title track . . . C.O.D. ‘In The Bottle’ has been snapped up here by Morgan Khan for Streetwave . . . Chill Fac-Torr is now coming through strongly on the dancefloors, following increased familiarity and radio plays — could it herald another Twist revival? . . . South Eastern Discotheque Association hold their seventh well organised equipment exhibition, SEDA 83 Spring Disco Fair, on Sunday April 17 at the Great Danes Hotel near Maidstone, followed by a dinner and cabaret — call Dave Pullen for details of stand space on 022779 2041 . . . Sunday 1st May (Bank Holiday weekend) sees the promised marathon ‘Ritz Revival’ alldayer at Manchester’s Rotters with living legends Ian Levine, Colin Curtis & Richard Searling spinning ’70s soul before at midnight switching into an allniter situation with the addition of Northern Soul pioneers Tony Jebb, Les Cokell, Kev Roberts & Simon Soussan plus two as yet unspecified US acts (veterans of the Mirwood label looking likely) — now that is one that I’ll definitely try to get to! . . . Ian Levine is currently donning suit and tie and lugging all his records across town to do “up market semi-gay” Sundays at Kensington High Street’s Gardens, kinda like New York’s Studio 54 before it became ultra-commercial, sez he . . . Tonie Walsh reports from Dublin that Flikkers is the only gay disco in the city although pubs and other venues abound . . . Duncan ‘Funky Dunk’ Finlayson of Birmingham’s Top Ten shop in Bristol Road, Selly Oak (where they sell the music), is organising a one-off night of Boys Town Disco music on Sunday April 10 at the Powerhouse . . . Chris Lucas (Earls Court Copacabana) says Azul y Negro and New Order once synched stay together on the beat for ages . . . Friday at Mayfair’s Gullivers the headphones weren’t working but even so, just by matching the LED cueing lights I amazed myself by getting two copies of Forrest perfectly synched so the percussion break phased all the way through (something easy to do with cans — but without, a sheer fluke!) . . . Graham Hardy, hitting Basildon at Raquels on Fridays and Sweeneys on Saturdays, has for his own use run off a computer read out listing of an odd assortment of old BPMs from this page . . . T. Evans (Sunbury-on-Thames), mobile for 15 years and mixing since before it was called that, warns fellow mobile jocks that at most gigs their own fave funk raves are unlikely to be appreciated (too true!): “your record purchases should be regarded like angler’s bait — you won’t get far playing the latest hip album track to Aunt Maud at a wedding just because it’s your only gig of the week” . . . Lawrence E.A. Flowers said it himself last week — he’s got 39 pages in which to read about the Eurythmics, Malcolm McLaren and similar pop stuff (the most danceable of which shows up in our Nightclub chart), as well as Radio One on which to hear it whenever he chooses, so he shouldn’t begrudge soul fans their bit of space (after all, where would the Eurythmics be without Grace Jones, or McLaren without the World’s Famous Supreme Team Show — and come to think of it, where indeed is ‘Soweto‘ without the latter?!) . . . Barry ‘Bazza’ Neale & Richard Searling host an ‘Upfront American Soul Session’ every Thursday at Manchester’s luxuriously equipped Sandpiper in Wilbraham Road . . . Martin Collins, Joe Field & Ralph Tee jazz-soul Hemel Hempstead’s Dacorum College tonight (Thursday 17), Joe Field & Mike Allin moving across town to the Whip & Collar pub for soul oldies on Sunday (20) . . . Adrian Thomas (0248 723054) has managed to establish Friday for jazz-funk-soul at Minnies in the Min-Y-Don Hotel at Red Wharf Bay way out on Anglesey, where he reckons a record company promotion night would help really put it on the map (gotta lotta Gallup chart shops on Anglesey, then?) . . . Paul Travis (90 Queensway, Moss Bank, St Helens WA11 7BY) has taken on promoting party nights on Thursdays at Wigan Pier, where he’d welcome some celebrity PAs to go with the various drinks company sponsored themes . . . Dave Rawlings this week adds Fridays as well as Saturdays at Basingstoke’s hula-hooping Martines (do they hula to Chill Fac-Torr yet?) . . . Graham Hunter (Basingstoke 771 238 evenings) is looking for a mid-week residency between weekend mobile gigs — he has a large varied record collection but prefers disco-jazz-funk . . . ‘Big’ Phil Etgart now does Saturdays, Brian ‘Bazzer’ Mason Fridays, at South Harrow’s Bobby McGees, early evening being most upfront soul-wise . . . Rose Royce play Watford Baileys for the week from Monday (21) . . . Pez (Wallasey), updating his home sound system with vari-speed Technics 1200 decks for possible use at a new venue later, reports Chris Currie is now similarly equipped at New Brighton’s Chelsea Reach . . . Tandy hi-fi shops have a vari-speed Realistic deck in their current sale at £79.95, but whether it’s any good for disco use I don’t know. . . Sandy Martin (Swindon Brunel Rooms) is having fun experimenting with a £75 ‘Rhythm Box’ which keeps the beat forever (he reckons more expensive models offer even greater potential), and now hankers after a hand ‘drum kit’ played with the fingers, at around £320 . . . I finally got all my British Standard Steel shelving up in a marathon session aided by my father last week, which means my vast record collection will soon be propertly sorted and housed, but also means the next Soul On Sound preview mix will either be rather short or else reach you late again . . . Phonogram staff have inside info that their John Waller is in line for ‘Ghandi II’! . . . Luther Vandross on video looks not unlike the young Jimmy James (of Vagabonds fame), while certain shots of King Kong in a remake (recently reviewed on video) remind me of a certain lady hit maker on Prelude (especially her current 12in sleeve!) . . . Robert Perono, late of the defunct Shock dance troupe, appears briefly in ‘Extro’ — he’s killed off in the first reel . . . Prelude incidentally have really gone off the boil, to judge from most of the label’s current releases . . . WEA press officer Barbara Charone sent me a 12in of Modern Romance ‘Cherry Pink’, lickety spit — many thanks! . . . Mark Herstell’s “that’s life, c’est la vie, mon cheri” song query was in fact Gina X ‘No G.D.M.‘ info courtesy of Ann Ovenden (Northolt), Stewart Swan (Sheffield), Russell Davies (Worthing 0903 35904 — looking for jocking jobs in Sussex), Anthony Godden (23 Redcliffe Square, London SW10 — he volunteers to track down almost any oldie given time) . . . ooh-wee, that’s baad, sweet peas, mmm-hmm. YES INDEEDY!

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HOT VINYL

LONNIE LISTON SMITH: ‘Never Too Late’ (LP ‘Dreams Of Tomorrow’ US Doctor Jazz FW38447)
Bob Thiele’s independent label returns to vinyl the jazz-funk keyboardist whose following is probably greater here than in the States. Co-produced, mostly penned and played on by bassist Marcus Miller (whose one solo LP is due on import), Lonnie’s set features his vocalist brother Donald on this lovely Luther Vandross-ish 120½(intro)-121-121½-120½bpm soul swayer, his other likely vocal being the slow jogging 89½bpm ‘A Lonely Way To Be‘, the monster specialist jazz instrumental being the busily backed but fluidly bouncing 124bpm ‘Rainbows Of Love‘.

CHARLES EARLAND: ‘Street Themes’ (LP ‘Earland’s Street Themes’ US Columbia FC 38457)
Another fave jazz-funk keyboardist returns with a good Dunn Pearson Jr-produced set, featuring a lot of vocals (fuller review next week), the immediate standouts being this Ramsey Lewis-ish pattering 115bpm piano instrumental which breaks from an early flow into piercing percussion for a while, and the 7in-issued gently pent-up purposeful jiggling 105-107-108bpm ‘Be My Lady (Tonight)‘ vocal.

MAN PARRISH: ‘Hip Hop Be Bop (Don’t Stop)’ (Polydor POSPX 575)
Better late than never, this terrific flutter flanging Tyrone Brunson/Extra T’s-type 115bpm 12in electrophonic phunk instrumental is long established as one of the best of the bunch — in fact right up there with the two already mentioned. Continue reading “March 19, 1983: Lonnie Liston Smith, Charles Earland, Man Parrish, Fatback, Patrick Simons”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

MORGAN KHAN (to continue from last week’s Hot Vinyl) has taken his Streetwave label away from CBS to join StreetSounds being pressed and distributed by PRT, although the Hudsons will stay leased to CBS, his first acquisition given this new full independence of operation being Wish ‘Mr DJ’ — for which your own James Hamilton is creating a special remixed bonus third track . . . DJs Chris Brown & Mike Sefton will soon be circulating moody white labels of ‘We’re All Right Tonight‘ by Pagoda, a Greg Knowles-led splinter group from the Inversions . . . CBS release Visual in a fortnight and could be picking up Steve Shelto, this latter really now having taken off and despite my initial doubtful opinion of it, I too cracked it by mixing in the sequence David Joseph/Jazzy Dee/Jimmy Young/Steve Shelto . . . Polydor passed on C-Brand but Phonogram got it for inclusion on a future 4-track/4 artiste 12in, the C-Brand 116-115½bpm having been misprinted recently (I even used a nice new black typewriter ribbon last week but still didn’t win!) . . . Montana Orchestra is actually 123-122-123-126-124-126-124bpm, after careful consideration, and the Rah Band 97½-97-96½-96bpm — final commercial TMT copies of the Rah Band will contain other remixes either in addition or instead of those already included on Red Label copies . . . I originally thought the Nile Rodgers B-side, ‘Get Her Crazy‘, was too monotonous to be truly a dancer but now the somewhat electronic tempoed 116½bpm repetitive tribal chant jitterer is fast becoming the hot side . . . PRT have followed my suggestion and totally re-edited Disco Connection ‘Rock Your Baby’, the similarly and Belgian recorded original inspiration for Forrest ‘Rock The Boat’ — and Adrian (Bournemouth Adams) makes a back-and-forth medley of the two his current high spot of the evening . . . Island’s Bryan O’Connor has been circulating white labels of a 110½bpm cover version of ‘You Are In My System’ as by the R.P. Band — vocals (better than The System original) quite obviously by Mr R.P. himself, Robert Palmer! . . . Kinsman Dazz, now called Kinsman Dazz Band, have their classic 1979 album reissued on import US Casablanca (810 312-1 M-1) . . . Polydor’s Verve label has reissued the 1967 ‘Get It While You Can’ album by Howard Tate (Verve POLD 5096), who I saw at the Apollo in Harlem at the time when the title track and (included) ‘Look At Granny Run Run‘ were hot soul singles — he was on a bill with Peaches & Herb, The Fascinations, Robert Parker, Oscar Toney Jr, Mighty Sam, Albert King and more, July ’67 . . . Polo Records, up-dating their DJ mailing list, are looking for demo tapes from new artistes — contact their A&R office at 351 Edgware Road, London W2 (01-402 6954) . . . Theo Loyla’s recent DJ survey also revealed that 85 per cent of disco DJs use independent record shops rather than chain stores, the assumption being that as DJs buy mainly new releases they must reckon they get better service from indies (not that this really needed a survey to discover!) . . . Quincy Jones must be chuffed (and rich), his Michael Jackson LP and single are not only top of the LP and singles charts here but also in America, where they top the Black LP, Black singles and Dance/Disco charts too — a stupendous and unique grand slam — and not only that, it was the Quincy-produced Austin/Ingram duet which had been holding Michael from the top US singles slot until last week! . . . Loraine Trent’s assistant at CBS, Caroline Douratsos leaves this Friday with her husband to live on the Greek island of Syros — we’ll miss her muchly (but what a nice holiday destination, hint hint!) . . . Epping Forest Country Club surprised some at Soul On Sound’s alldayer last Sunday by not being a bigger venue, but had nice rooms for withdrawing into (some of the fellahs were even queuing in the Ladies!) — which was just as well as it was full to capacity, making the frequent PAs (by David Joseph, The Biz, Richard Jon Smith, Animal Nightlife and many more) difficult to see unless like the TV camera crew you were on the stairs . . . Manchester jocks Colin Curtis and Kev Edwards had to leave with their coach party at 9pm so the drivers were back within tachometer time, which upset all their punters . . . I celebrated my 20th anniversary as a DJ by playing one of the first records I’d used in March ’63, James Brown ‘Night Train‘, which actually got a round of applause, shortly followed by Tony Jenkins unexpectedly presenting me with a ‘Happy 20th BPMs’ birthday cake — thanks for both! . . . Soul On Sound’s next event could be in either Preston or Glasgow, incidentally . . . Chris Hill, well known Afrika Bambaataa fan, plays captain to a motley “crew” of mafioso at a Bournemouth Beach Party on Easter Monday in Boscombe’s Academy, promoted by Showstoppers (whose April Caister weekender is totally sold out) . . . Maze return for four nights at Hammersmith Odeon in May, but don’t bother trying to get tickets as amazingly they all sold out in an incredible stampede on Saturday following Robbie Vincent’s announcement of the dates on Radio London — however, Maze also play Manchester Apollo, Nottingham Rock City and Birmingham Odeon for one night each . . . ‘TCOB North Of Watford’ issue number 2 is a much better more substantial read than the first edition of Mike Shaft’s quaintly yclept fanzine . . . ‘Surface Thrills’, the less than startling new import Gordy LP by the Temptations, ought to be retitled ‘Surface Noise’! . . . Rush Release have been passing on (is that the right expression?) an hilarious new ‘Golden Circle’-type chain letter, only this one guarantees within one month to give 35 million people a dose of herpes! . . . Dave Rawlings reports the latest craze at Basingstoke Martines on Saturday nights is a hula-hoop competition, with all the local toy shops scouring the country for stocks to keep the practising punters supplied . . . West Sussex & Hants DJ Assn have an open night and equipment demonstration at Guildford’s Stoke Hall this Monday (14) at 8.15pm . . . Denise Williams stars at Watford Baileys for three nights from Thursday (10), while Viola Wills makes an exclusive London gay club appearance at Mile End Benjys on Sunday (13) . . . Terry Davis, whose monthly soul oldies show co-hosted with Clive Richardson on JFM this Sunday features a New Orleans special, has a ’60s soul ‘Function At The Junction’ on Saturday (12) at Lavender Hill’s The Cornet in Lavender Gardens (get there before 10.45pm) . . . Wigan Tiffanys has a marathon oldies alldayer/niter with a cast of thousands this Friday lunchtime right through until Saturday breakfast, while Friday evening finds yet more Northern jocks having a ‘Rare Soul Fling’ at Wolverhampton Old Vic Hotel’s Cavendish Suite, several of this mob plus others then moving on Saturday for a ‘History Of Northern Soul’ allniter at Burntwood Recreation Centre — d’ya reckon anyone will need artificial stimulation to keep going? . . . Neil Rushton tells me that the parallel ‘Modern Soul’ underground scene up north, for comparison with the south’s soul revivalists, has made a big floor-filler out of the Australian-recorded cover version of ‘I’ll Be Around‘ by Doug Parkinson . . . Pete Haigh & Steve Naylor do an ‘Urban Contemporary Dance Mix’ night on Thursdays at Standish Cassinellis near Wigan (M6 exit 27) . . . I found rather unnerving during my obviously all-mixed set at Epping Forest all the northerners clustered around the DJ booth watching my every move — hey chaps, it’s just a way of making the records flow, it’s no big deal you know . . . Joe ‘Minimix’ Field and Mike Allin have moved their jazz-soul Sundays to Hemel Hempstead’s kinky sounding Whip & Collar pub in Two Waters Road (free admission, and they get a good crowd) . . . Chris Kaye this week (12) adds Saturdays as well as Wednesdays funking the Eagles Nest at Badgers Mount in Kent (what names we’re getting this issue!) . . . Radio Horizon’s Barry Jameson now co-funks Fridays at Hackney Flappers with Mark Summers, who’s started a series of star PAs at the club on Thursdays . . . Steve Day, just engaged to Dawn Westbrook, now joins Larry ‘Daddy’ Foster on Tuesdays funking Stratford Reflections . . . Chris Bangs presents TC’s Latin/Jazz Fusion on Wednesdays at Kingston-on-Thames Jesters in Crown Passage . . . Buddy Lucas, jazz-souling Bermondsey Old Kent Road’s Dun Cow (Wed)/Green Man (Fri/Sat), says from reaction he gets, the nine-or-so months old Gene Chandler ‘I’ll Make The Living If You Make The Loving Worthwhile‘ (US Chi-Sound 12in) should be put out here . . . Lofty Lofthouse (Gateshead), amongst its many critics, says The Band AKA “at the tragic mixing point between ‘Joy’ and ‘Grace’” empties the floor . . . Simon Walsh at Bradford’s Time & Place is still hangin’ in there with the Webboes at number 2 in his chart, and this under-rated electrophonic phunker is showing further signs of life now . . . Ray Edwards (Raymondo of “sorry ‘baht that!” fame on Capital’s old ‘TV On Reggae’ show) has been replaced on Radio City’s weeknight late show by Brian Chalker, who despite his Country & Western background is reported by Cardiff listener Al Dupres to be continuing the slot’s soulful tradition . . . Capital’s Saturday evening soul show, currently presented by ‘The Baad’ Al Mathews (mmm-hmm), this week moves from 5-8pm to just 7-9pm — and it was the news of this curtailed time shift, no matter what else you may have heard, that discomfitted the show’s previous incumbent… Al’s actually calming his act down now . . . YES INDEEDY (MMM-HMM!).

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HOT VINYL

PATRICK WILLIAMS: ‘Too Hip For The Room’ (LP ‘Dreams And Themes’ US PCM Records PAA-1001)
Already my favourite album of the year purely for listening, this composer/arranger/conductor’s beautiful jazz instrumental set features Tom Scott and all “the men” in subtly voiced brassy rather ’50s big band-type mood (try the lovely slow ‘Times’ for a great example), and I seem to have spent the whole weekend turning people onto it following in turn from Hertfordshire DJ Mike Allin turning me onto this particular featured track, a A fabulous sleazy good-time lurcher which takes off through 95-92-93-97/194-200-95-0bpm with a fast central section making that part ultra-specialist. The opening passage has produced squeals of delight every time I’ve chopped it out of the drum rolls that punctuate Tania Maria’s ‘Come With Me’, and then before the fast bit I chop into Chill Fac-Torr ‘Twist’. However that’s not all, as Williams composed the theme for ‘Lou Grant’ and, sho nuff, here’s the most definitive Tom Scott-played 95bpm ‘Lou’s Blues‘ that one is likely to find (as several readers have subsequently pointed out), while the multi-tempoed ‘Agave‘ is getting specialist Latin action. Give your ears a treat!

JOE SAMPLE: ‘Wings Of Fire’ (LP ‘The Hunter’ US MCA MCA-5397)
It’s a goodie! Totally independent of any fellow Crusaders, jazz pianist Joe’s self-penned instrumental set has returned one’s faith in his abilities at least, this melodic 119-120-121-120-122bpm adrenalin charger being the best dancer although the (0-)115-116-117-118-117-118bpm title track, 113bpm ‘Beauty And The Beast‘ (reminiscent of ‘Many Steps’) and (0-)91bpm ‘Night Flight’ are sure to get some attention too.

WHISPERS: ‘Keep On Lovin’ Me’ (LP ‘Love For Love’ US Solar 60216)
Worth the wait for its sheer quality as a self contained album if not so much as a dance set, their completely down tempo second side has a mellow resonance reminiscent of vintage Flamingos and is dominated by the deep soul 0-71-73bpm ‘Do They Turn You On‘, while the most impressive dancer is this classy 112bpm smooth chugger with nice little adlibs towards the end, the more laid back 0-106bpm title track also being good. The most obviously ”up” tune, on US single-issued A-side, the catchy 114bpm ‘Tonight‘ is in Britain coupled with the older 108bpm ‘Turn Me Out’ as 2-track flip to the slow Lionel Richie-influenced ‘This Time’ on 12in (Solar E 9878T). Surely that should have been the 7in plugside, but ‘Tonight’ would have made more sense alone on 12in A-side? Continue reading “March 12, 1983: Patrick Williams, Joe Sample, Whispers, C.O.D., Omni”

ODDS ‘N’ BODS

THIS YEAR’S World Disco Dancing Championship, for the first time sponsored by Malibu (coconut flavoured rum), will begin with 82 heats throughout Britain during April-June before culminating with no fewer than eight nationally televised shows on Channel 4 directed by Mike Mansfield, including the internationally shown hour-long World final, all the dancing being to actual records with some heavy involvement by London DJ Steve Walsh — and there are still some venues needed for the preliminary heats, interested club managers/DJs wishing their club to be considered should contact either Steve Walsh or Jon Osborne at Concorde Management on 01-735 8171 . . . Greg Edwards may be in radio limbo at the moment but he certainly left a legacy in Forrest, which he alone broke (and which CBS seemed to have run out of last week!) . . . JFM’s Dave Collins has turned up in the pre-breakfast slot on Capital for a trial run . . . UK acts are breaking so big via video on TV in the States (where the comatose audience must have been waiting for just such a new excitement) that in fact maybe “urban contemporary” radio will soon stop playing them, to make some difference in format from ‘Top 40’ . . . I’ll be interested to see if the new Compact Disc laser-tracked digital audio system will include split-second dubbing and vari speed facilities! . . . Extra T’s ‘E.T. Boogie’ is now belatedly about on somewhat less expensive continental import, in picture sleeve . . . Harry Ray ‘Love Is A Game’ has been remixed for UK 12in . . . Earth Wind & Fire ‘Spread Your Love’ will only be on 7in, although DJs are being mailed the same version on 12in promo . . . Spencer Jones’ undeservedly ignored ‘How High‘ is hitting the US Dance/Disco chart on Next Plateau, while Culture Club ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me’ is a Black US hit . . . Soul On Sound’s current issue is running late, as suggested lest week, but should be about by now, my preview mix as promised finally catching up with some of the faster electrophonic stuff (I actually did the last part first this time, to be sure of getting ’em in!), comprising: Fatback/Steve Arrington ‘You Meet My Approval’/Wish/Whispers/Kashif/Salsoul Orch/Visual/C-Brand/Micronawts/The System ‘Sweat’/Aural Exciters/Tyrone (Tystick) Brunson/Attitude ‘We Got The Juice’/ . . . Soulsonic Force/World’s Supreme Team Show/Contact-U/Jonzun Crew ‘Pack Jam’/Coco Du Jour ‘Dancin’ In The Darkness’/Quadrant Six ‘Body Mechanic’/Klein & MBO ‘Wonderful’/Jonzun Crew ‘Space Is The Place’/Reggie Griffin & Technofunk/Orbit/Instant Funk ‘No Stoppin’/Ray Slyy ‘Hey You’/Thrust ‘Can’t Wait To Get To You’/Prince Charles ‘In The Streets’/“D” Train ‘”D” Train Dub’ . . . SOS’s Epping Forest alldayer this Sunday (6) is advance ticket only, no admission at the door, so if in a flap call 01-629 5897(11am-6pm) for details . . . Capital’s four hour long New Year’s Eve party show is still valid as the records were chosen for a timeless, general, appeal . . . Prince Charles’s ‘Gang War (or the Acid Funk Syndrome)’ is fine, it’s side one’s 121 bpm ‘Rise’ and similar 121 bpm ‘Move Your Feet (To The Beat)’ that are less substantial . . . Percy Sledge’s ‘Percy!’ LP is all new, Percy being the ’60s soulster of ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’ fame . . . Stevie ‘CJ’ Craven is the Edinburgh Annabel’s jock, and Tim Arnold the DevonAir soul show host . . . Record Mirror’s soul/funk orientated Disco chart is as up-front as possible bearing in mind the national spread of our DJ contributors, while the Nightclub chart is possibly bogged down by having most contributors of all, but for real upfront reaction you can’t beat the Boys Town Disco listing as that is compiled from only a handful of influential venues, several contacted by phone every weekend and currently including: Charing Cross Heaven, Earls Court Copacabana, Mayfair Napoleons, Mile End Benjys, Haringey Bolts, various Dicks Inns, Manchester Heroes, Liverpool McMillans, Bournemouth Adams . . . Rawle James at Toronto’s Rooneys is a Canadian reader of these pages, but apart from expatriate Brits have we any US-based readers? . . . Carl Kingston, now home in Hull at Mecca’s Peppermint Park, always used our Disco reviews for buying records unheard from Britain while working all over Europe for the IDEA agency, and says “I have never been disappointed” . . . Nicky Holloway, still going strong with guest soul DJs every Monday at Bermondsey’s Swan & Sugarloaf (in Dockhead), asked for some oldies in this column and got ’em the very day the paper came out — “It pays to write to you”, sez Nicky . . . Mark Summers of Hackney’s Flappers (01-590 1825) is after McFadden & Whitehead ‘Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now’ on 12in, to buy or swap for Peter Brown ‘Can’t Be Love — Do It To Me Anyway’ — this latter he’ll sell for £1.99, and it’s also offered for sale by Anthony Godden of 23 Redcliffe Square, London SW 10 . . . Mile End’s Disco Music has shifted its stock of thousands of soul/disco oldies (12in/7in) to the basement of 18 Newport Court, just off the Charing Cross Road behind Leicester Square tube station, which should be convenient for a rummage even by out-of-town visitors to London . . . Bensons Of Henley is the new name for Wheelers, at Remenhan Hill in Henley On Thames . . . Cloud play at Stanmore Chevaliers this Saturday (5) . . . George Alexander funks Harrow Weald’s Middlesex & Herts Country Club every Tuesday now Lyndon “T” currently funks Peckham Kisses (Fri/Sat), Slough Studio 1’s Club Creole (Thurs), ladies night at Soho Fooberts (Wed) . . . Kool ‘Ladies Night’ is a killer, as suspected, out of the vocal version of Wish ‘Mr DJ’! . . . Charlie Brown, mobile from Walton On-Thames, joins Phil Jay for a jazz-soul oldies spot on Sundays at Byfleet Carafino . . . Robbie Collins funks Saturdays at Watford New Penny . . . Neil Fincham, Steve Martin & Ray West have established a late night (’til 3am) Sunday Soul Night at Edinburgh Mad Hatters — where the new term for “punters” is “hillmans” (Hillman Hunter, punter!) . . . whaddya mean, you’re too young to know what a Hillman Hunter was?! . . . Stateside reports suggest the O’Jays are so broke after two years without a record out and only a few gigs that they couldn’t come up with the cash for a court action . . . JoBoxers current pop hit is nothing less than Northern Soul thinly disguised . . . Paul Major (Lincoln Cinderella Rockerfella’s) raves that Cori Josias ‘Takin’ It Straight (Dub)‘ mixes superbly with Donna Summer ‘I Feel Love’, Space ‘Magic Fly’, Sharon Redd ‘Beat The Street’, Electrik Funk ‘On A Journey’, LOTW ‘Time’ . . . Adrian (Bournemouth Adams) finds Yarbrough & Peoples ‘Heartbeats‘ synchs perfectly through the Vincent Price outro of Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ . . . Davy D’s decks on his recent Top Of The Pops appearance were supplied by EMI Music’s Rob Sawyer, who does weddings and bar mitzvahs on the side! . . . Modern Romance should note that I’d review their records (the early ones of which I used to champion) if only I received them before they’d hit the pop chart — in fact I’m still waiting for a 12in of ‘Cherry Pink’! . . . Mark Herstell (Knutsford) is trying to identify a chick-sung song that goes “that’s life, c’est la vie, mon cherie” — it certainly looks familiar, any ideas? . . . Dick James Music seem to have started a magazine supplement — or am I wrong? . . . Al Matthews denies he’s offering a prize for anyone who accurately counts the number of times he goes “mmm-hmmm” on Capital’s soul show? . . . YES INDEEDY!

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HOT VINYL

CHILL FAC-TORR: ‘Twist (Round ‘N’ Round)’ (US Philly World PWR-2010)
Already selling like crazy although tricky to introduce to dancers at first, this is nothing so much as a brilliant adaptation of Hank Ballard’s Chubby Checker popularised ‘The Twist’ (appropriately again on a Philadelphia label), stretched and spaced out into a still twist tempoed (and dead difficult to mix!) cool 183/91½bpm 12in jazz-funk framework, with the slow acappella started vocal side and instrumental flip both featuring some superb duetting saxes soaring, honking and squealing in stereo. A novelty pop smash if released here, it’s another haunting Johnny Chingas!

THE BAND A.K.A.: ‘Joy’ (Epic Streetwave EPC A13-3145)
Catchy enough singalong (and along and along) 114bpm 12in soul swayer takes a while before finally reaching the band’s strong point, their great sax, which for me makes the more instrumental flip a better bet — but, this now is followed by a horrendously clumsy segue (beats going all over the place!) into their old ‘Grace’. Truly awful, a simple edit from sax to sax would have been better — but then Streetwave’s Morgan Khan couldn’t care now as the label’s leaving CBS/Epic (Contd. next week).

KASHIF: ‘I Just Got To Have You (Lover Turn Me On)’ (Arista ARIST 12521)
Super producer Kashif actually has some vocal support from Evelyn King herself as they struggle valiantly not to sing the words of ‘Love Come Down’ to this spacious 117½bpm 12in cool burbler (instrumental flip), which sounds just as you’d expect. Continue reading “March 5, 1983: Chill Fac-torr, The Band A.K.A., Kashif, Jerry Knight, Glenn Jones”