James Hamilton's Disco Page

FLOWER POWER

SOME light relief – mainly, details about my own secret system for making flower displays and gardens look lovely in the dark!

I must confess that I’ve never really gone in for the more flashy types of disco lighting. Instead, over the years I’ve developed a rather theatrical method of using coloured filter gels on my lights to emphasize flower arrangements and architectural features in doors, and – on a much larger scale – whole gardens and houses out of doors.

The basis of this system, apart from miles of electrical cable and dozens of adaptors, is a time-consumingly assembled set of nearly sixty swivel-mounted Par 38 150 watt lamps, some spot but mostly flood, all fitted with Rank Strand colour frame holders (and If you can get any of them these days you’ll be lucky!). Indoors I use specially wired switching circuits that give me many ways of controlling the lighting, while out of doors the Par 38s are very often wired up in conjunction with 500 watt or 1000 watt floods (which I hire). Anyway, on to the principle of the idea.

Light casts shadows, and several sources of light cast several shadows. If the lights are different colours, they combine to produce yet another colour where they all overlap, and then the shadow of each is filled in by whichever other colours can reach it. The effect of a vase of flowers or anything else multi-faceted when lit, preferably from ground level, by several sources of different coloured light is one of distorted reality and incredible depth. In gardens, a border of flowers looks like a jewel box if each individual clump is lit with a different colour so that one stands out against another. All this is hard to explain without the benefit of some colour pics, but hopefully you can get some idea of the effects that are possible. I’ll try and expand on the methods and results at a later date.

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HOT TIPS

“Cinemoid” is the brand name of the moist commonly available coloured gel for use as filters in theatre lights, etc. A combination of the following Cinemoid colours will make most flower displays look incredible: – Number 16 Blue – Green, No.34 Golden Amber, No.12 Deep Rose, No.45 Daylight, No.26 Mauve, No.6 Primary Red, No.22 Moss Green, and – depending on the flowers – No.36 Pale Lavender (Surprise Pink), No.1 Yellow or a duplication of one of the others. Those are trade secrets, y’all.

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New Spins

UH-HUH!

K. C. & THE SUNSHINE BAND: That’s The Way (I Like It) (Jay Boy BOY 99) Casey and the kids get a crystal dear rhythm thing going and get to chanting “That’s the way I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh.” Millions will concur.

THE STYLISTICS: Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love) (Avon 6105039). Eddie Calvert lives!

SOUTH SHORE COMMISSION: Free Man (Pye 7N 25688)
Bunny Sigler penned/prod, Norman Harris arr, vocal group dancer with untypical Philly backing which sets it apart and has made it a big NY disco hit. Disco mix flip.  Continue reading “July 26, 1975: “My secret system for making flower displays and gardens look lovely in the dark””

Handy Hints

IT’S GREAT to see how many mobile jocks are prepared to please more than just the kids.

Tom Waller (operating from 45 Argyll Place, Aberdeen) has plenty of good hints to pass on: “One mistake Mobile DJs make is to shine their lights into people’s eyes – not really a good idea at bookings like wedding receptions, as most older people will only grumble. Try reflecting light shows off the walls – or even the roof!” I agree, and have myself made a big thing out of lighting flower displays – about which, more another time.

Tom continues: “Mobile operators should play some slowies during a party, as nothing is more frustrating than being unable to dance up close to a beautiful girl because all the DJ plays is ravers.” On the other hand. I find it’s good not to get too slow as not everyone who’s dancing necessarily feels that way about their partner! Tom anyway suggests a few fairly lively segues which he finds when cued up correctly run well together, viz: MR BLOE Grooving With Mr Bloe / CRAZY ELEPHANT Gimme Good Loving / TOMMY JAMES Mony Mony, or DAVID BOWIE Jean Genie / SWEET Blockbuster, or NORMAN GREENBAUM Spirit In The Sky / ALVIN STARDUST My Coo Ca Choo.

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HOT TIP

From Tom Waller (Aberdeen): Get the crowd to dance to the Hokey Cokey (JOE LOSS or many other “Party” records) – with a bit of help they will dance in circles, all ready in position for an Eightsome Reel (JIMMY SHAND, on a Parlophone EP). Och aye, hoots mon!

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Funky airmail

FUNKY American disco hits sent airmail from New York every week – that’s the new service just announced by Record Source International. Many DJs, writers and broadcasters will be familiar with the other RSI services of Top 100, Soul, Country and Easy Listening hits sent in packets of ten each week. Now RSI are going to add a Disco Starter Package and a weekly Disco service: the Starter gives you fifty singles and ninety albums of disco standards and current hits to establish a basic library, while the weekly service is two brand new albums and three singles each week – all selected by Billboard’s disco research team. Cost of the service varies depending on whether surface or air mail is used, but the Starter package is 295 dollars plus air freight and the weekly service is 658 dollars airmail for one year. Other deals exist, so write for details to Record Source International, 1 Astor Plaza, New York, NY 10036, USA, enclosing an International Reply Coupon. Tell them we sent you, then maybe they’ll advertise!

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New Spins 

Now it’s Jolson

CLIVE BALDWIN: Now It’s Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Alice Cooper, Elton John (Mercury 6167170)
Dawn’s old Levine & Brown team have tied their yellow ribbons round the sound of Al Jolson and his Mammy on this very Dawn-like happy bouncer all about an old codger coming out of a 25 year coma and finding himself badly out of touch with contemporary music. Can’t fail MoR, and I fear it’s a serious rival to Harry Hasting’s other bit of summer madness.

HARRY HASTING’S PALM BEACH ORCHESTRA: She’s A Great Great Girl (Bell 1434)
OK, enough teasing – It’s rush-released this Friday! An old 1920s ditty of uncontrollable jollity, done up with synthetics and a crazily treated vocal at the very end, this Is MoR silliness of the Who’s Been Polishing The Sun/The Sun Has Got His Hat On variety. Amazingly it’s Phil Cordell and not Jo King who’s behind it all.

ROY ORBISON: Oh Pretty Woman (Monument MNT 1054)
One of the greats, from 1964 and in stereo. I nearly always segue it out of the false fade in the Beatles’ Get Back, and synchronize my lights to the stomp bits. Continue reading “July 19, 1975: Clive Baldwin, Harry Hastings, Roy Orbison, Jackie Wilson, Lenis Guess”

Party Pieces

GOOD LETTERS are coming in about the difference between mobile and club D-Jing . . . thanx!

Martin Peters (Worksop Tiffanys, Notts), a resident DJ who goes mobile on his night off from the club, has these sensible things to say: “One good thing about mobile work is you can give your best on mobile gigs – play your best records and crack all your best jokes – whereas in a club you tend to play the same discs because you know what music the customers like and expect you to play. In my disco it’s mainly Soul.”

A point that I’d like to raise here: club work probably keeps a DJ more flexible as he’s playing to much the same crowd all the time, while a mobile jock’s carefully worked out “party pieces” will seem fresh at every gig unless he’s on a very restricted circuit.

I’m afraid that some of my special record sequences have been the same for years . . . but then they do get requested in their own right! As he’s the first DJ to mention the more lunatic records that he uses to liven up his show, Martin’s choice is this week’s Hot Tip – and the best thing in his whole letter is what he says about his choice: “Some people might pull faces at these names, but to see your audience smile when you play ’em is fabulous.

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HOT TIP

From Martin Peters: FRANKIE HOWERD AND JUNE WHITFIELD’S comedy version of Je T’Aime (Pye); PETER SARSTEDT’s Take Off Your Clothes (UA); DICK EMERY’s comedy Conga-type You Are Awful (Pye); plus various tracks from Benny Hill’s Ernie LP (Columbia), which Martin says is a knockout. Now then, don’t pull faces!

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LOOK, MA NO HANDS

NOTHING’S TOO good for the Disco Page, and to prove it the classy chassis pictured here could set you back by between £1800 and £5000, depending on the amount of luxury extras you want with it. A Rolls-Royce amongst Minis, this superb console’s most exciting gimmick is possibly its remote push – button start for all three record decks and tape deck. Definitely not a mobile unit, it’s designed for permanent use in clubs, pubs, liners and the like by BACCHUS International Discotheque Services of 30 Redan Street London W14 OAB (01 – 602 6292). The whole desk comprises such items as three Goldring Lenco GL78 turntables with Shure SC35C cartridges, AKG mike and cans, two 100 watt EMI PW101 power amps (driving two Tannoy 15inch. HPD 85 watt speakers), mixer with full pre-fade cueing on all inputs, standby mixer, switch panel for fifteen lighting effects (which are extra), controls for additional background music speakers, and built-in record storage for 100 albums and 600 singles. The storage bins are raked so that the sleeves can be found at a glance. Now, how much is your club manager prepared to spend on you?!  Continue reading “July 12, 1975: Harry Hastings Palm Beach Orchestra, Eruption, Intimate Strangers, The Reflections, Dr. Feelgood”

Dance to the lyrics!

LAST WEEK I began a discussion about the many differences between dee-jaying in clubs and at mobile gigs. Until you’ve had time to join in – as I hope some of you other D-Js will – I’ll just continue with a few more of my own observations.

The primary aim of a discotheque is to entertain its audience, whether in a club or at a party. Obviously it’s a great buzz to turn people on to as yet unknown sounds, but unfortunately most people want to dance to tunes that they know. One of the very first things that I worked out when I started was that – amazing though it may seem – your average audience doesn’t dance to the music, it dances to the words. People dance to their memory of a song!

In clubs it’s much easier to play something that’s not well known – the speakers are likely to be mounted up higher and to have better penetration than at a mobile do. At many parties, people want to talk while they dance and are less likely to concentrate on the music. Consequently, unless you’ve got a super-hip crowd, at a mobile gig it’s always best to keep it obvious and simple with lots of hits to begin with – then later, when the talk has quietened down and you have felt out the crowd’s prevalent taste, get more adventurous. There can be no hard and fast rule of course other than to keep ’em happy and keep ’em dancing, but if you can entertain them AND yourself at the same time you should be really cookin’!

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HOT TIP

A perennial fave since its release in ’71, Burundi Black, Part Two – that’s the un – mucked – about – with African drums B -side of the BURUNDI STEIPHENSON BLACK single (Barclay BAR 3) – has just started to get much requested again, presumably as a result of its recent re-issue. Skip the chanting intro and segue (or dramatically cut directly into it) from another suitable raver. You shouldn’t be disappointed, although following it can be a trick!

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New Spins

Lynsey’s whimsey wins

LYNSEY DE PAUL: Rhythm And Blue Jean Baby (Jet 755)
One reaction report coming up: It works! Lynsey’s bit of thumpalong candyfloss whimsey may be lightweight but in a mixed age group setting it has just the right happy beat and straight Pop gaiety. That doesn’t mean you must rush out and buy it today . . . just wait until it hits which it will!

GRIMMS: Backbreaker (DJM DJS 393)
Silliness from the Scaffold / Bonzos refugees, this Mud / Showaddywaddy / Rubettes send-up about a wrestling girlfriend is not only very funny but also great doo-wop singing that’s worthy of the Marcels / Rivingtons / Excellents. My fave of the week, except the next two are kinda nice too.

AL MATTHEWS: Fool (CBS 3429)
For a UK production (by writer Pierre Tubbs), this bouncily clomping Four Seasons / Philly vocal group gem is remarkable. Not to be missed – In fact do your darndest to make it the smash it deserves to be! Compulsive play it again quality.  Continue reading “July 5, 1975: Dance to the lyrics!”

Hello again

Gee, but it’s great to be back home! Has it really been ten months?

Welcome, anyway, to this, the first of a regular weekly page devoted to fax & info for regular disco DJs, dancers and super sharp record freaks in general.

Just to give it all some credibility, I’d better explain where I’m coming from. I’ve been a discotheque DJ myself for over 13 years, having started out as a club jock in London and New York. During the mid-60s my main interest was soul music – and, in fact, when I was doing the weekend allniters at Soho’s The Scene in ‘65/’66 I played nothing but Northern Soul . . . on its first time around!

When I went mobile in 1968 I soon saw that an all-soul policy was too restricting, and also that as most other mobile discotheques were aimed at the kids it would make sense if I set out to win over an older age group. Older audiences, incidentally, are usually richer and more appreciative of the trouble you take. Consequently I now tend to play to very mixed age groups, for which I carry a vast range of music. There are even occasions when I don’t play a single current chart record – mainly because modern music really does sound so dull in comparison with the sort of crazy “party” music I’ve made my specialty.

This is an aspect of disco dee-jaying that I hope this page, with your participation, will bring out into the open. There are – or ought to be – huge differences of approach to dee-jaying in a club and on a mobile date. In a club you know that the audience has paid to be entertained by the musical specialty of that club, whereas at most private parties the audience is totally uncommitted. Thus in a club it would be suicide but at a mixed age probably a sensation if you managed to work in a knees-up or Scottish reel, for instance.

Let’s hear from you, the dee-jays, about some of the more lunatic records that you to liven up your presentation. Every week we’ll run a hot tip with a suggestion about record sequences or other tricks that work for you. To kick it off, try this:

HOT TIP

When you’ve misjudged and the disc you’re playing isn’t going over well, turn it to your advantage. Don’t just fade the record out: switch off the deck and let the disc grind to a halt as you start the next one. You’ll get a laugh!

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From obscure to unlikely

Together with the first weekly Disco Page, here is the Record Mirror’s very first National Disco Chart, compiled from the returns of all the disco dee-jays who recently registered as contributors to it.

It was obvious from the very first glance at all the completed chart forms that Van McCoy’s ‘The Hustle’ would come out on top . . . but then that could have been predicted anyway, right? What is really interesting is that amongst all the more usual current chart names, some of the contributing DJs have placed really quite obscure or unlikely records. All the submitted charts make interesting reading, so let’s see what some of the less likely records are.

Dougall DJ of Twechar, Kilsyth in Scotland earns my respect for including Pete Wingfield’s great doo-wop cum sweet soul parody, ‘Eighteen With A Bullet’ (Island WIP 6231), which if it isn’t a hit here will certainly be one in America, where the music trade jargon will mean more to the radio-listening public. Dougall DJ also includes A Raincoat’s ‘I Love You For Your Mind Not Your Body’ (EMI 2289), which is almost as witty although in a totally different musical style, this being kinda Roxy/Sparks/Harley-type staccato and modern . . . and good.

Pete Brown of Seasons Discotheque from Wembley, Middlesex, is right on the spot in my estimation – he’s got ‘El Bimbo’ at number one already (as an import)! As he’s evidently well into the soul sound – listing such as the Brothers, Joe Bataan, Earth, Wind & Fire and Miami – I wonder if he realised at the time that Bimbo Jet are Spanish?  Continue reading “James Hamilton’s first Disco column: June 28, 1975”

James Hamilton had been writing weekly US singles reviews for Record Mirror since early 1969. This is the last week that his reviews would appear, and it marks the start of an eight-month absence from the publication.

James’s contributions to Record Mirror would resume in June 1975, with the launch of the Disco section.

SINGLES US

MILLIE JACKSON: In The Wash; How Do You Feel The Morning After (Polydor 2066466).
A surprisingly subtle stomper, “In The Wash” is officially the B-side yet deserves the top billing it gets in this column. Just listen to the way in which all the different ingredients gradually appear, and then thrill to Millie’s great Gospelly voice! Definitely a compulsive play-it-again side, unlike the boring slow plug-side. R&B PICK.

GREGG ALLMAN: Midnight Rider; Multi-Coloured Lady (Capricorn 2089002).
Capricorn having switched to Polydor here, this old Kinney pressing with a new number stuck on it must be taken to be no more than a promo for Gregg’s reissued album. However, after “Please Call Home”, this aptly “Laid Back” atmospheric slowie remains the best thing on it and still deserves some success here. Delicate slow undercut. LAZY PICK.

ALICE COOPER: Under My Wheels; Desperado (Warner Bros K 16127).
A minor US hit from the start of 1972 and out here originally before Cooper-mania struck, this agreeable aggressive chunk of churning noise is out again to act as a trailer for Alice’s new “Greatest Hits” album. Excellent intro, although overall it may be a bit dated for the chart this time around. Mannered self-consciously “strange” flip. ROCK PICK. Continue reading “August 31, 1974: James’s final US singles review column”

Stateside Newies

GENE DOZIER & THE UNITED FRONT: Give The Women What They Want (Mercury 73603).
Starting with an incredible “what the blankety-blank was THAT?” noise, Eugene’s latest hunk o’ funk (yet to be charted) is a choppily clomping chanter propelled by a metronomic beat, some ridiculously “dry” guitar and, latterly, lots of brass. As I seem to remember that Mr. Dozier is a keyboardist, I assume that he’s in control of some sort of synthetics as well. Sure is a good sound, y’all . . . and it’s even due out here soon, too.

THE STAPLE SINGERS: City In The Sky (Stax STA 0215).
Up in the sky at 4 R&B (only 85 Pop), Mavis and the Family Staple are in their usual formularized groove, although this time the tempo is somewhat slower and Mavis wheezes less. Song’s pretty dull, too.

SIMON STOKES: Captain Howdy (Casablanca NEB 0007).
Captain Howdy was the name of the little devil being exorcised in – oh, you guessed it! However, this vaguely amusing modified Bo Diddley beat pop ditty has little to do with “The Exorcist” other than in very general idea: it’s full of advice to kiddies about what to do if the Captain visits them . . . and, as his main interest now seems to be scaring little girls in the street, he sounds pretty harmless. Simon Stokes, as probably no one remembers, led the Nighthawks who scored in the Southern States with “Voodoo Woman” at the end of ’69 (issued here on Elektra), and then led the Black Whip Thrill Band. With credentials like that, he might have been expected to come up with something more bloodthirsty than this! Still, he’s been bubbling in and out at the bottom of the Hot 100, and the flip (which started out as the hit side) does happen to be a complex tale entitled “I Fell For Her, She Fell For Him And He Fell For Me”. Continue reading “August 24, 1974: Gene Dozier & The United Front, The Staple Singers, Simon Stokes, Billy Preston, Diana Ross & The Supremes”

Stateside Newies

THE STYLISTICS: Let’s Put It All Together (Avco 4640).
Following the monstrous success of their “You Make Me Feel Brand New”, now being repeated here, Russell Thompkins and the guys stay in their tender sweet dead slow mood . . . but there’s a big difference, even so. Goodness knows what’s happened, as, instead of Thom Bell being at the creative helm, they are now being penned for and produced by Hugo and Luigi, Messrs. Peretti and Creatore, heads of the Avco label and industry veterans from way back. Where’s Thom, and his co-composer, Linda Creed? There is some consolation for the freax though, in that the arranging chores are now handled by Van McCoy, who has a legion of fans himself (and who, coincidentally, is plugging along about halfway up the Easy Listening Chart with an instrumental called “Love Is The Answer”, as by Van McCoy and The Soul City Symphony on Avco 4639). It must be said that without the Thom Bell touch this Stylistics slowie is a bit more bland than usual, which may be influencing its comparatively (after such a smash) slow Chart climb – after four weeks, at 30 R&B, 38 Pop.

STEVIE WONDER: You Haven’t Done Nothin’ (Tamla T54252F).
Somehow on hearing his new bossa nova album I knew that Stevie’s first single from it would be this boring rehash of his “Superstition” formula, on which the Jackson 5 are reputed to help sing the “doo doo wop” chorus – not that they’re audible (except possibly to dogs with sharp hearing!). Quelle drag, and it really does drag leadenly, especially when there’s an overpoweringly good ‘n funky dancer elsewhere on the album called “Boogie On Reggae Woman”, which simply shouts out to be played in discos. Still, the single’s at 32 Pop, 51 R&B.

NILSSON: Many Rivers To Cross (RCA PB 10001).
Virtually unheralded on its release and just bubbling under the Chart for one week only, Harry’s version of this Jimmy Cliff oldie is – wait for it, Beatles freax! – arranged and produced by no less a celebrity than John Winston Lennon. From an album called “Pussy Cats” (d’you suppose they wear diamond collars?), it’s very, very much in the old Lennon “Imagine” style – slow, anguished, lurching along like a drunkard bouncing from wall to wall down a corridor. Oh yeah, Lennon seems to do a fair bit of singing too, in behind Harry and alternating the lines towards the end, all the while creating a Liverpudlian aura. How come this hasn’t attracted more attention? It’s only high class pop, but I like it. Continue reading “August 17, 1974: The Stylistics, Stevie Wonder, Nilsson, The Osmonds, Ray Stevens”

Stateside Newies

RAY STEVENS: Moonlight Special (Barnaby B604).
After the ghastly “Streak” it’s great to find Ray back in a groove that is both funny and musical. But let me explain, as to British ears the relevance of his new US hit (73) will be lost: on US telly there is a late night rock show called “The Midnight Special”, sent up here by Ray as “The Moonlight Special”. OK? Well, much in the style of his “Bridget The Midget”, he introduces the show’s host, the Sheepdog . . . howling dee-jay Wolfman Jack, right? He in turn introduces Mildred Queen and the Dips . . . Gladys Knight and the Pips, huh? What happens though is that the Dips keep repeating (in perfect soulful harmony) everything that Mildred says, including things like “how come y’all sing everything I sing . . . cut that out! . . . stop that!” Then, amidst appropriate howls, the Sheepdog introduces Jerry Joe Harry Lee Jimmy Baby, the king of the piano rockers himself . . . er, Jerry Lee Lewis? What makes it all so good is that Ray’s every impersonation is devastatingly accurate (within limits), and extremely funny. But this ain’t gonna capture the general public’s imagination like “The Streak” did. Does that matter?

ISAAC HAYES: Title Theme (Enterprise ENA 9104).
Is it safe to claim these days that Isaac Hayes has come up with a worthy follow-on to his “Shaft” theme? This swirling phased cymbals-dominated gruffly-sung beater is the theme from a movie called “Tough Guys”, for which Ike penned the score (as he did also with the recent but short-lived “Truck Turner”), and it certainly sounds fresher than his other post-Shaft work – possibly on account of his use of synthetics instead of that earlier omnipresent yet trendsetting wukka wukka wah-wah. It sounds good to me, but isn’t doing too well R&B, where it’s slow-moving at 85.

EARTH, WIND & FIRE: Kalimba Story (Columbia 4-46070).
So, what is a kalimba? EW&F leader Maurice White plays it, and it’s obviously the instrument that gives so many of the group’s songs their oddly plopping resonant noises. On this jauntily bouncing funky chanter it naturally comes through loud and clear, but I’m still undecided between some form of ethnic vibes or finger piano. It’s a great sound whatever, and is at number 10 R&B, 61 Pop. In this country, you can get it on their great new album, “Open Our Eyes” (CBS 65844). And, thinking of great albums, “up” for ages as I got off Marvin Gaye’s new “Live” one. Stevie’s newie’s got some nice Bossa-Novas, too. Continue reading “August 10, 1974: Ray Stevens, Isaac Hayes, Earth Wind & Fire, Jim Stafford, Billy “Crash” Craddock”

Stateside Newies

DIANA ROSS AND MARVIN GAYE: Don’t Knock My Love (Motown M 1296F).
Taken from their “Diana and Marvin” album, the dynamic duo’s latest US hit (45 R&B/53 Pop) is their revival of this old Wilson Pickett pounder . . . and, despite their previously docile duets, they really do manage to knock the hell out of it! Marv has the chance to get in a few of his old Gospel screams, Di keeps her vocal tone down lower than usual, and together they fill the bouncy beater with excitement.

WILSON PICKETT: Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It (RCA ABP0 0309).
Mama Pickett’s little boy himself is in his usual grunt, wheeze and holler mood on his own latest hit (slow moving at 77 R&B), and the medium paced lurcher is a bit too leaden to whip up much enthusiasm. A pity, as a decade and more ago, Wilson used to be THE most exciting Soul singer there was.

RUFUS: Tell Me Something Good (ABC 11427).
Something of an oddity, this hit (7 R&B/19 Pop): sung by a white chick (of the sweaty whisky-swigging school) and what I understand to be a multi-racial band of blokes, it’s the Stevie Wonder tune slowed and stripped right down to its bare bones. The result is very angular and rather unattractive . . . but decidedly different. I’m surprised to see it doing so well in the R&B Chart, actually, as although the sparse backing contains the mandatory synthetic noises the lead-singing chick does sound so incredibly white. And mundane. Continue reading “August 3, 1974: Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye, Wilson Pickett, Rufus, Ecstacy Passion & Pain, Poco”