Episodes
Friday Dec 28, 2012
East
Friday Dec 28, 2012
Friday Dec 28, 2012
Disco and Bruce Lee movies “came up” together, little wonder then that cod-orientalism would become an early genre gimmick. Opener “Kung Fu Fighting” was a huge hit that led to at least two copy-cat responses, all filled with Hollywood-score Asian-leitmotif clichés. It’s fitting that no one involved with “Kung Fu Fighting” was Asian: singer Carl Douglas was Jamaican and producer Biddu Appaiah was an Indian living in the UK. Biddu returns here with the more ethnically appropriate “Nirvana” and “Unfinished Journey,” although for my money nothing tops Italian act Tantra and “The Hills of Katmandu” as the apex of the Eastern mysticism disco sub-genre. Of course international poseurs Amanda Lear and Malcolm McLaren would deliver Eastern exotica. The podcast, does, however, feature at least one “authentic” Japanese disco act: the very Western-leaning Pink Lady. The two tracks by post-disco Japanese artist Kahoru Kohiruimaki were partially written and produced by none other than Prince (and are the rarest among his give-away tracks). Finally, Sparks’ “No. 1 Song in Heaven” (re-made with Jimmy Somerville) finds its way here because I believe this version comes from a Japanese-only release. It also allows me to structure a podcast that moves from the ridiculous to the sublime.
Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas ’74 Ԓ Chinese Kung Fu - Banzaii ’75 Ԓ My Chinese Girl Likes Fighting - SSO Orchestra ’75 Ԓ Nirvana - Biddu Orchestra ’77 Ԓ Desert Disco - Orient Express ’78 Ԓ Orient Express - Voyage ’77 Ԓ The Hills of Katmandu - Tantra ’79 Ԓ Unfinished Journey - Biddu Orchestra ’78 Ԓ Mindbells - Kahoru Kohiruimaki ’89 Ԓ Computer Game - Yellow Magic Orchestra ’78 Ԓ Japanese Boy - Aneka ’81 Ԓ Love Countdown - Pink Lady ’79 Ԓ Queen of China-Town - Amanda Lear ’77 Ԓ Bliss - Kahoru Kohiruimaki ’89 Ԓ Madam Butterfly - Malcolm McLaren ’84 Ԓ No. 1 Song in Heaven – Sparks featuring Jimmy Somerville ’97
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