dsco's Podcast

101 Hippy Blood Sisters Take the Subway to G Spot

Women’s voices were the preferred disco delivery system. Culturally, they were afforded a richer spectrum of emotional expression, and they were more palatable as the voice of desire. They also invited the broadest array of listeners/dancers to identify with the song’s narrative. Woman and gay men could imagine themselves in the singer’s place; straight men could assume the singer was speaking to or about them. Creating association led to a preference for anonymity. The singers were nobody. They were everybody. They were you.

The converse was personality disco: recordings where the singer’s identity was central to the song. “Tonite” succeeds because it is unmistakably Eartha Kitt singing it (and, I’ll venture, because of the compelling interplay in the complex call and response between Eartha and her back-up singers). “Take Me on the Subway,” the dance drone with Middle Eastern flourishes by folk goddess Linda Thompson, stands out because it is singularly unlike anything else in her catalogue. “Get in the Sun” by the remarkable (and, of late, largely forgotten) Joan Armatrading is as close to disco as she came. What I find most surprising about the remade hits from Kylie Minogue’s Abbey Road Sessions is how damn well she sings them.

Speaking of astonishing performances, Sheena Easton’s journey from ice to fire, fire to melt down in “101” (a song Prince wrote for her, and here is a production/remix he fashioned) is perhaps unequalled. Sister goes nuts on this one. Sheena is one in a bevy of Prince-associated personalities, including Carmen Electra, Jill Jones, Mavis Staples and hippy poet Ingrid Chavez. Another purple associate, Madonna, ripped off Chavez by not crediting her for “Justify My Love,” a track Chavez created with Lenny Kravitz, who gave it to Madonna. They gave Chavez $500 to “go away.” She successfully sued and won an unconfirmed $12 million.

Can’t Get You Out of My Head—Kylie Minogue ’12 ※ Tonite—Eartha Kitt ’84 ※ Take Me on the Subway—Linda Thompson ’85 ※ 101—Sheena Easton ’89 ※ Confide in Me—Kylie Minogue ’12 ※ Hippy Blood—Ingrid Chavez ’92 ※ Justify My Love—Madonna ’90 ※ Could It Be Magic?—Donna Summer ’76 ※ Summer Renaissance—Beyoncé ’22 ※ The Sweetest Taboo—Sade ’85 ※ Get in the Sun—Joan Armatrading ’77 ※ G-Spot—Jill Jones ’87 ※ Fantasia Erotica—Carmen Electra ’93 ※ Sister—Tracey Thorn ’17 ※ Walking on Thin Ice—Yoko Ono ’81

Disco Therapy

Unpacking some baggage here. When Dr. John passed, I bought a 12" single of his, thinking his bent of New Orleans funk would likely translate well to disco. It turned out to be an unmemorable ballad. Feh! Later I stumbled on another disco disc from the Night Tripper, and the word “disco” even made it onto the b-side title, “Disco Therapy.” Surely this had to be pay dirt. Said b-side is here and lends its name to the episode. Country folkie Bill Amesbury was the first artist to grace Casablanca, still a few years away from its transition to the flagship disco label. Amesbury would transition as well; today she records as Barbra Amesbury. Rita Jean Bodine, who discofies folkie evergreen “Gentle on My Mind,” is best known in the world of disco as the performer who first brought “That’s the Kind of Love I’ve Got for You” to the light of day, a song that would be turned into a beloved dancefloor sizzler by Dusty Springfield. You’ll find it here in a single version from Nickey Barclay, taking a break from all-female funk/rock force Fanny. Santo Farina was half of Santo and Johnny. Tony Rizzi is a Vegas lounge act who, in 1977, put out a vanity pressing of smoking disco train instrumentals. Larry Henley is best known as co-author of “Wind Beneath My Wings,” although it isn’t the only entrant in his songwriting stable. He also provided vocals in a proto-disco falsetto screech on the Newbeats “Bread and Butter.” His 1975 album Piece A Cake is a real fooler. The cover features a slab of rainbow flag cake flying through air, the songs are suspiciously ungendered, it features a song called “Coming Out Party” and another, “Call It Love” that declares “Call it what you like, but love is love.” All seem to be red herrings. The album (and cake) predate the rainbow flag as a gay icon by five years. And “Coming Out Party” is about a quinceanera gone horribly wrong. Listening to Bohannon’s “Boogie Train,” I realized how closely it aligns with Kraftwerk’s train epic “Trans-Europe Express.” I would have thought them worlds apart, but they ride a very similar track.

Virginia—Bill Amesbury ’74 # Gentle on My Mind—Rita Jean Bodine ’76 # That’s the Kind of Love I’ve Got for You—Nickey Barclay ’76 # Love Junkie—Larry Henley ’76 # Neon Moon—Brooks & Dunn ’92 # How Long/Shake—Glass Family ’79 # Pipe Line—Santo Farina ’79 # Long Train Running—Tony Rizzi and Disco Pacific ’77 # The Groove Machine/Boogie Train—Bohannon ’79 # Matador—Sylvia ’81 # Spanish Dancer—Kathy Barnes ’79 # Hell of a Woman—Paul Delicato ’77# Disco Therapy—Dr. John ’79 # Continental Square Dance—The Anvil Band ’78 # I Wanna Be a Cowboy—Boys Don’t Cry ’86

Bend Me Shape Me

Gilla is one of the many acts Svengalied by German super producer Frank Farian, best known for giving us Boney M and least loved for masterminding Milli Vanilli. This podcast started out as a collection of recent cuts twisted up to sound like old favorites. I next threw in a smattering of old school cuts that sounded like huge hits, but weren’t. A friend accused Lizzo of copping the best bits of everybody else’s songs. I see that as one of her better assets. She comes at us with a huge agenda made palatable by her unerring pop smarts. Silk Sonic sound like PIR masters who manage to mix contemporary with throwback Philly soul. They pair well with the OG Don Ho of disco, Dick Jensen; the 7' Honolulu tiki bar crooner’s 1973 PIR album features all the great Philly session cats, plus arrangements and penmanship by Bunny Siegler, Thom Bell and Gamble and Huff. It’s classic gloriously smoove Philly make-out magic with a truly notable exception. “I Don’t Wanna Cry,” a piece of solid proto-disco that is the only cut on the set that didn’t come from Siegler, Bell or G&H. Dua Lipa is the second act after White Town to sample the trumpet earworm from Al Bowlly’s “My Woman.” Kylie’s bit of “Cancel” culture is her outing with Pharrell Williams—undeniable hook with lyrics that skew surreal. I don’t remember Carly Simon’s “Tranquillo” having impact beyond being a solid album track, and I certainly didn’t know it had an extended disco mix. Now all the Gen Z flatbellies treat it as a holy grail. Her OG albums are going for $25 in the wild. Get out! “Roll Out” is a rare example of a comeback that doesn’t embarrass or sound dated; in fact, it sounds fresher than ever in these days of irresponsible Supreme Court activism. When I started this podcast way, way back, I could not imagine dipping my bucket into the Celine Dion well. Shows how much I know. My final rambling muse will be about “Love Pains.” It hit its true stride in a mix out of San Francisco that plays up that it is a cut with feet planted squarely in two worlds. The up-top arrangement and structure are pure old school diva disco. Underneath, adding cohesion and drive, is an early Hi-NRG electronic pulse. An overlooked masterpiece and game-changer.

Miss Chatelaine—k.d. lang ’92 :: Dancing Away in Tears—Yola ’21 :: Tranquillo—Carly Simon ’78 :: About Damn Time—Lizzo ’22 :: Skate—Silk Sonic ’22 :: Love Again—Dua Lipa ’20 :: Witchoo—Durand Jones and the Indications ’21 :: Flying on My Own—Celine Dion ’19 :: I Was Gonna Cancel—Kylie Minogue ’14 :: Love Pains (Castro Mix)—Yvonne Elliman ’82 :: Chipko Chipko—Asha Puthli ’21 :: Bend Me, Shape Me—Gilla ’78 :: Boom Boom—Nazia Hassan ’82 :: You Make Me Feel Good/Love Now, Hurt Later—Ann Joy ’80 :: Roll Out—Labelle ’08 :: Wave—Cordial ’79 :: I Don’t Wanna Cry—Dick Jensen ’73

Madness

I’ve decided to throw my hands in the air like I just don’t care and celebrate the complete chaos and anarchy that seems to be our for-certain plight at this point. Let’s Go CRAAAAAAZY! Two flavors here, songs about craziness and songs from folks who seem to be, well, pretty nuts. Paul Delicato was a Jersey boy who sang with enough of a twang that the folks at AVI records decided he should cut a C&W-flavored disco album. My copy of the album came from either a radio station or a deejay pool, and written on the back is “Based on Side Two, this isn’t for us. Throw it out.” I beg your pardon, but whoever was listening to this must have been deaf, because side two kicks off with one of my all-time favorite nutty disco numbers, a medley of “Train of Thought” and “Mystery Train,” which just in concept alone is brilliant, but Paul’s read on this is quite good. Not as good as Cher’s ballsy version of TOT, but still good. (N.B.: if Elvis had recorded this, I think it would have, er um, shot to #1.) Who doesn’t love a song from the POV of a freshly dead person? Another triumph of psycho POV is a very recent discovery, “I’m Cindy,” released by an obscure act, Pulse 3, on a French-based label. It’s sung by a duo of female vocalists (split personality?) from the POV of a woman who was shunned in her ugly duckling youth, returning (to the dancefloor, one assumes) to claim her vengeance and at least make sure everyone remembers her name. Really disturbed—and fun! (It’s become my new soundtrack when I deal with dating apps.) And to make sure you get the point, Pulse 3 follows that with a song called “Crazy Girl” that’s not nearly as amazing, but is on here nevertheless. Another twofer comes from the Glass Family: “Crazy” as a jazzy throwback and “Crazy” as a dancefloor burner. The Glass Family first emerged in the late 1960s as a hippy jam band. In the early ’70s, they released a 45 that was an ode to weed (it’s on at least one of my podcasts) that became a surprise disco hit. Glass Family then became a hippy disco band (I love those!) and put out two pretty decent albums.

Madhouse—Silver Convention ’76 ☻ She Drives Me Crazy—Fine Young Cannibals v. Monie Love ☻ I’ll Wake Up Screaming in the Middle of the Night—D.C. LaRue ’78 ☻ Losing My Mind—Pet Shop Boys ’91 ☻ Train of Thought/Mystery Train—Paul Delicato ’77 ☻ Crazy Girl—Pulse 3 ’79 ☻ Goin’ Out of My Head—Gloria Gaynor ’78 ☻ Screaming—Pet Shop Boys ’99 ☻ Lost in Music—Sister Sledge ’79 ☻ Going Bananas—Side Effect ’77 ☻ Crazy (Jazzy)—Glass Family ’79 ☻ I’m Cindy—Pulse 3 ’79 ☻ Crazy—Gnarls Barkley ’06 ☻ The Visitors—ABBA ’81 ☻ Crazy—Glass Family ’79

Let’s Share Love

I was all set for my next set to focus on Arthur Russell, but then got, um, distracted by Demis Roussos’ club cover of Mammy Blue that somehow lost an M in translation. Also of note is Sue Ann, who is Minneapolis’ Sue Ann Carwell. I learned not long ago that Warner Bros. teamed her with Prince somewhere between For You and the second album. Those tracks have yet to see the light of day, however Warner Bros. did spring for Donna Summer’s proven winners—Keith Forsey and Pete Bellotte—to spearhead Carwell’s album debut. Liquid Pleasure managed to produce a mere disco 45, but what a killer track it is. I’m surprised it isn’t better known. Tourist Raffaella Carrá is quite the fish out of water in California (a track that really resonates with me as I have been tripping of late to Spark’s brilliant The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman—really, has there ever been a more under-rated band?). I had no idea that Hedwig and the Angry Inch had been reduced to a pumping house anthem until I found this cheap and decided to give it a whirl. Yikes. This kind of pumping, Aryan dance floor techno fodder has never been my cup of tea, but this totally is in on the joke, I think. Imagine a floor filled with crystal meth pumped M(a)DMA(en) writhing to this, oblivious to everything, especially the irony.

L’unica Chance—Adriano Celentano ’73 ^ Stop Bajon—Tullio de Piscopo ’83 ^ All Night Long—B.B. & Band ’82 ^ Mamy Blue—Demis Roussos ’89 ^ My Baby My—Sue Ann ’81 ^ Let’s Share Love—D.D. Sound ’77 Take a Little—Liquid Pleasure ’76 ^ What Can I Do to Satisfy Your Love?—Gary Sharkey ’79 ^ Mar de la Tranquilidad—Azul Y Negro ’81 ^ Maybe This Time—Norma Lewis ’83 ^ D-Train’s Down Town Master Mix—D-Train ’85 ^ California—Raffaella Carrá ’78 ^ Angry Inch (Club Mix)—Hedwig & the Angry Inch ’99

Extentions

Extended versions and remixes dominate this episode. You’ll find everything from versions that don’t fade as soon (Bee Gees) to songs that have been completely reimagined (Donna Summer). Three are from bootlegs, including the Diana Ross that is a completely different vocal take and arrangement, slipped out to jocks back in the day. The found-in-the-wild source for this must have been popular, because it was beat harder than a drag queen’s powder puff. I had to do more than my usual amount of clean up and reconstruction to bring it to you, and it still sounds rough in patches.

Before Donna Summer teamed with producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte to alter the course of history as we know it, she did musical theater and session work in Germany. She provided vocals for pop songs produced and originally credited to band leader Veit Marvos, including a cover of Steam’s “Na Na, Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye).” Marvos, in turn, would later produce some early disco sides with Blue Light Orchestra. The Marvos/Summer tracks have been reissued in several configurations; what we have here is from a Dutch release (likely bootlegged) where the tracks have been extended and tricked out for the late-’80s dancefloor. Many work far better than they ought to.

After Donna Summer’s incredible run of four top-selling double albums in a row, she jumped from the sinking Casablanca ship to Geffen and tried for a fifth with 1981’s I’m A Rainbow. It was shelved because execs thought it strayed too far from her winning formula (read: it was tired and boring), despite the presence of Moroder, Bellotte and others who had helped deliver past home runs. Geffen wasn’t wrong for scotching it. It finally was released in 1996, and I found it pretty hard to get through. There were moments, but no cohesion and nothing that sounded even close to a hit. Word came out in 2020 that the album was being configured and re-sequenced into the tight single album it should have been. I was skeptical, but damn if the new, reimagined Rainbow doesn’t sparkle!

Kylie Minogue didn’t wait nearly as long to correct her initial errors on 2021’s Disco. Despite some great tunes and moments, it was a weirdly tame affair that semi-tanked. Kylie jumped behind the console herself, and to date has released a new version of white-hot remixes, a special guest–list edition and an internet-streamed live version. This mix of “Say Something”—the original album’s standout track—features the House Gospel Choir and transforms pretty swell into truly celestial.

In 2020, Tom Moulton (in his 80s!!) took on master tapes from the Spring and Event labels, turning a handful of solid soul/r&b underperformers into epic Philly Soul workouts that are as solid as any PIRC classic from back in the day. He should be named GOAT and given a parade already. His extension of Millie Jackson’s read on the Ashford and Simpson–penned “Don’t Send Nobody Else” is a standout for me, but everything Moulton retouched became blessed.

Lastly, the Jams. You probably know the story already, so I’ll spare you. Thanks to ABBA (and others) whose songs were sampled w/o clearance, this isn’t supposed to exist. All copies were to be burnt. And yet, like a bad penny…. The source here is a fairly widely available Dutch re-release. After all, once something is justified and ancient, there’s really no keeping it down.

You Stepped Into My Life – the Bee Gees ’76 ⁂ Say Something – Kylie Minogue ’21 ⁂ Brooklyn – Donna Summer ’81 ⁂ Love Hangover – Diana Ross ’76 ⁂ Don’t Send Nobody Else – Millie Jackson ’73 ⁂ I Want Your Love – Chic ’78 ⁂ Na Na, Hey Hey – Veit Marvos (Donna Summer) ’72 ⁂ Raspberry Beret – Prince and the Revolution ’85 ⁂ My Friend Jack – Boney M ’80 ⁂ Move Away – Culture Club ’86 ⁂ American Pie – Madonna ’00 ⁂ The Queen & I – the Jams ’87 ⁂ My New Boyfriend – Carly Simon ’85

STUFF

I would have run screaming from Facebook years ago if I didn’t still enjoy my membership in a couple of music groups and if my job didn’t require that I keep an eye on what’s said about us on social media. (Although, I am happy to note, they really don’t much care anymore.) I wouldn’t be surprised if ol’ Zuck’s Bad Pandemic Advice Platform and Home for Mean Girls Tweeting (Lindsey and Donald, I’m talking about you) was no longer around as we know it in the next five years.

But FB did influence this iPodsode. Music nerds rhapsodizing about what may be Sir Paul’s funkiest moment—“Arrow Through Me”—made me think that the tune might link up nicely with Bill Wither’s most disco moment, “You Got the Stuff.” And since we were on the topic of stuff, why not throw in what surely has to be one of the sleaziest moments in a joyously sleazy genre: Nino Tempo’s “Hooked on Young Stuff.” Deep Purple meets tender pink, wrapped in junkie argot. What’s not to lo(v/ath)e?

Social media also led me to Durand Jones and the Indications, one of my happiest discoveries in 2021, and for my disco dollar the hands-down winner of the recent retro-soul race. Also, while I was well aware of Hott City, I was too taken with the whole of the B-side until someone on FB pointed out just how good A-side lead-off “Feelin’ Love” is. I stumbled upon Nazia Hassan in the wild while crate digging, and I likely would have walked on by, but I noticed that “Disco Deewane” was a Biddu joint. Well, clearly it was coming home with me. And while I was a bit let down that Deewane wasn’t some guy from Philly, the disco turned out to be a pretty decent Tina Charles in Bollywood workout.

I’ve had “Speak Well” in the dsco queue for some time. It never made the cut until now; surprising as it’s a great cut and it takes aim at “shawties” everywhere. Never mind the length of the pencil, it’s how you write with it. And you ain’t got no lead. Finally, should I ever get around to making a disco desperation compilation, “Please Love Me Again” will be on it.

Windy City Theme—Windy City ’77 * Chance of a Lifetime—The Four Tops ’79 * Hooked on Young Stuff—Nino Tempo and 5^th Ave. Sax ’79 * You Got the Stuff—Bill Withers ’79 * Arrow Through Me—Wings ’79 * A Place Called Tarot—Tantra ’82 * Disco Deewane—Nazia Hassan ’80 * Up the Down Stairs—Wilson Williams ’78 * Witchoo—Durand Jones and the Indications ’21 * Give It If You Got It—Rendezvous ’79 * Speak Well—Philly U.S.A. ’77 * Nothing Compares 2 U—MXM ’90 * Please Love Me Again—V.I.P. Connection ’76 * C’est Le Rock—Bazuka ’79 * Feelin’ Love—Hott City ’79

Good Year for the Roses

Roses are supposed to thrive in ash, so as the ash-heap that may well be 2022 settles upon us, let’s sift through the rubble looking for silver linings.

Before Tom Moulton and Grace Jones began their courtship dance, he had an idea for a groundbreaking disco version of Edith Piaf’s iconic “La Vie en Rose.” Rather than hit you with disco’s now-standard four/four thud, he developed a track that would move bodies with its sensuous sway and simmering percussion. He cut a demo of it with session vocalist Teresa Wiater. Moulton wanted to release the track—even cutting a few acetates (or not stopping whomever did). Wiater at that point didn’t want to be a disco diva, so she didn’t sign off for release. (She would later see the errors of her ways and did try to go disco, sinking without a trace.) Enter Miss Jones. She loved the track and told Moulton she wanted it on her debut album. Allegedly he told Jones that he didn’t think she was up to cutting that particular Grey Poupon. That was all the gauntlet that needed to be tossed down to set Grace off. She busted her chops to learn it. Her rendition proves that Moulton was technically right (for that matter Wiater struggles a bit as well), however I think neither G nor T realized at the time that Grace’s pitchy/gutsy/gonzo performance would work so well as much needed sandpaper to rough up the beautiful backing, providing tension and suspense. Will she hit the high note this time? No, she never does.

While “I Need a Man” busted open the disco door for Grace, “Rose” still remains the highlight of her original disco threnody, and it’s still a signature track for her. Story goes that in her early in-discotheque appearances, she would introduce it with “Here’s a track that made me who I am, and I want to thank the stupid w---- b---- who recorded it first but refused to sign a contract.” What you hear in this podcast was taken (by me) from an original Wiater acetate. I’m thrilled to have found it.

The medley of medleys at the center of this podcast starts with Kylie Minogue’s sizzling mash-up of her own “Slow” with Donna Summer’s “I Love to Love You, Baby” that she delivered as part of a livestreaming all-disco concert last year. It’s followed by two examples of one of my crate-digging guilty pleasures: anonymous “sounds-like” cheaply issued covers that often were released as a soundtrack for instructional disco dancing. I especially love it when the artists attempt not to ape the originals as much as take them somewhere new, as happens here. And hats off to whomever had the crazy idea of pairing “I Feel Love” with “Hava Nagila.”

I recently scared up a copy of The City Streets’ sole release, 1979’s Livin’ in the Jungle. Every track on it smokes, including an inspired/insane WTF-inducing dancefloor version of a 1968 c&w novelty tune about—I kid you not—condom-less sex called “Plastic Saddle.” (Check out both Jerry Reed and Nat Stuckey’s versions from back in the day.) I suspect that City Streets’ aim was to become an urban Village People, given that the boys sing about rough, sleazy sex,; leather; being on the down-low; and even coming out of the closet (to have a good time, yeah right. I know an atomic dog whistle when I hear one.) Bringing this whole thing full circle, country star Ronnie Milsap cleaned up the album’s opening rough, sleazy sex number (“Get It Up, Get It In, Get It Off and Get It Out”) just enough to put it out as a country disco single.

Finally—I love the Hamilton Affair track! Chugging Philly soul about adolescent disco angst delivered by an honest-to-God adolescent in a quavering, beautifully artless delivery. Sheer imperfection!

Elle et Moi—Max Berlin’s ’78 ʘ La Vie en Rose—Teresa Wiater ’77 ʘ You’re My Man—Sex O’Clock USA ’76 ʘ Slow/I Love to Love You, Baby—Kylie Minogue ’21 ʘ Fame/Latin Hustle/7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Blow Your Whistle—Nonstop Discotheque Party Dance, circa ’78 ʘ Get Up and Boogie/I Feel Love/Hava Nagila—Disco Hustle ’79 ʘ Get It Up—Ronnie Milsap ’79 ʘ Plastic Saddle—City Streets ’79 ʘ Get Another Love—Chantal Curtis ’79 ʘ Flamenco Dance Man—The Jan Davis Guitar ’78 ʘ Boogie Breakdown—Boogie People ’79 ʘ Psyché Rock (Fat Boy Slim remix)—Pierre Henry & Michel Colombier ’97 ʘ How Can I Keep in Touch with You?—The Hamilton Affair ’76

Disco Metaverse

Disco is bested only by rap and country as a genre that takes itself on. Here, I’m looking at acts who namecheck each other and themselves. The centerpieces are two versions of Barbra Streisand; the original was constructed from a heavy Boney M sample. Boney M turned right around and did it themselves. And then Madonna got into the act and incorporated the Boney M riff into the delicately titled Bitch, I’m Madonna. (Subtle she never was.) Not that we would ever mistake her for Streisand.

Howard Rigberg is My Robot Friend. For his opening act in 2001, he dropped We’re the Pet Shop Boys which is purported to be the result of Rigberg subjecting Pet Shop Boys lyrics and music to computer analysis and creating an algorithm to construct the ultimate Pet Shop Boys song. The Boys themselves were so taken with it that they recorded it themselves. And then they worked with Robbie Williams to record it again. I’ve jumbled all three versions, and I’m quite happy with the result.

Chic (Everybody Say)—Chic ’82 ꝏ My Name Is Prince—Prince ’92 ꝏ Daft Punk Is Playing at My House—LCD Soundsystem ’05 ꝏ Giorgio Moroder—Daft Punk ’13 ꝏ Shut Out/Heaven Is a Disco—Paul Jabara ’77 ꝏ Donna—Andre Gagnon ’77 ꝏ Est-Ce Que C’est Chic—Chic ’77 ꝏ MFSB—MFSB ’75 ꝏ Barbra Streisand—Duck Sauce ’10 ꝏ Barbra Streisand (The Most Wanted Woman)—Boney M ’11 ꝏ We’re the Pet Shop Boys—My Robot Friend ’01/The Pet Shop Boys ’03/Robbie Williams ’08 ꝏ She’s Madonna—Robbie Williams ’08 ꝏ Bitch, I’m Madonna—Madonna ’14 ꝏ When Smokey Sings—ABC ’87

Just Wanna Make You Dance

I’ve been revisiting Results, the album the Pet Shop Boys put together for Liza Minelli. When it came out, I thought it was perhaps the ultimate in camp, but that’s too glib an assessment. Time has been kind to it. Liza was meant to sing “Rent,” and the Pet Shop Boys were meant to goose Sondheim. For that alone, it has staying power, yet those two no longer strike me as the sole highlights. “So Sorry, I Said” and “I Want You Now” are top-drawer Tennant/Lowe compositions. Also making an imprint is another non PSB-penned number. “Love Pains” was first introduced by Yvonne Elliman, who seems eternally fated to toil in the shadows of the Brothers Gibbs and Our Savior Jeebus. I think her “Love Pains” was a minor hit with the cognoscenti and proved it had staying power: PSB remembered it and knew it would fit Liza like a glove. Their arrangement didn’t stray far from the one provided here by an emerging Michael Omartian, who—based primarily on his work with Donna Summer—always struck me as at best workmanlike and at worst career cold water. But this is the song I would slap on to illustrate how disco morphed into high NRG; it has a mechanical propulsion, and more or less jettisons strings or horns for sweetening. But its structure and hookiness all were learned on the classic disco dancefloor. I find Results to be La Liza’s only completely successful album, and it blows my mind that she recorded it in the evenings after playing a residency in London with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. In fact, Neil wanted Ol’ Blue Eyes to duet with Liza on So Sorry, I Said. Even the prospect of it makes me giddy.

Fire were a trio whose material was penned and produced by K.C. and Richard Finch; sadly it’s brought down by rather muddy production. Dream Disco is Max Berlin’s’s magnum opus. The trio Maxxi had a regional hit with Just Wanna Make You Dance before James Brown and the JBs took it over; they did keep Maxxi around for the vocals. All-in-all, one of the Godfather’s better disco efforts. Teresa Wiater is almost up there with Pete Best in the apex of the rock ’n’ roll hall of what could have been. She cut the original vocals for Tom Moulton’s masterwork, La Vie en Rose. She decided she didn’t want to commit to disco, and wouldn’t sign on for release. Grace Jones—who was sniffing around Moulton at the time—heard the demo tape, recognized its brilliance, and announced she wanted to take it on. Moulton, who had a reputation for his bluntness, told Grace he didn’t think she was up to it. She won out (how could you lose a battle with Grace Jones?), and her wildly pitchy performance proved that Tom knew what he was talking about, but Grace was such a force that it work well nevertheless.

I’m wild about set closer Three Steps, and I didn’t know the Reflections at all until I picked up a recent comp that complied the disco hits, focusing mostly in the U.K., of 1975. It was a very good year.

I Think I’ll Do Some Steppin’ on My Own—Sandy Barber ’78 + Love Pains—Yvonne Elliman ’79 + In Love with Love—Debbie Harry ’87 + You Treat Me Good—Fire ’78 + Estrelar—Marcos Valle ’83 + A Little Bit of Your Love—Doris Duke ’75 + Dance On (Disco Darling)—Randy Raider ’78 + I Feel Good—Boney M ’84 + Icare—Bertrand Bergalat ’18 + Dream Disco—Max Berlin’s ’78 + Just Wanna Make You Dance—The JBs with Maxxi ’79 + Once and for All—Teresa Wiater ’78 + Get It Up and Dance—New York Disco Orchestra ’78 + You’re All I Need to Get By—Jaisún ’77 + Three Steps from True Love—The Reflections ’75