Category: Music

Quarterflash: Quarterflash (1981)

Madonna: Erotica (1992)

Donna Summer: On The Radio (1979)

Try as I might, no matter how many times I listen, I just do not "get" Panic at the Disco.

Grace Jones: Bulletproof Heart (1989)

I woke this morning to Robbie Williams playing at angelic volume in my head.

Because the entertainment center on my MINI isn't exactly cutting edge, playing music from my iPhone requires an expensive (and frankly, ridiculous) adapter that both supplies power and allows playback simultaneously. It wouldn't be such a pain if Apple hadn't—in their infinite wisdom, dictating how we should use our devices—gotten rid of the headphone jack a few years back. Power and signal were two separate cables that worked even in my old MINI.

The other option with this system is to play music through a USB stick. This is the method I've been using because it works and only requires copying the music files over from my Mac.

The one feature I haven't been able to figure out until recently, however, was how to get my playlists from my Mac into the MINI. A bit of internet sleuthing and an inexpensive bit of software allowed me to export the iTunes (excuse me, Apple Music) playlists to that USB stick.

Problem was, they didn't work. In fact, they weren't even recognized by the MINI. It turns out it's because the playlists are based on the file structure on my Mac—not the structure on the USB. Looking at the actual text embedded in the playlists revealed that undocumented fact, so I've spent the last several hours correcting paths on the stick to reflect where the actual files are located.*

My dance music playlists are by year, and while editing these playlist files, I discovered I have a lot (and I mean a lot) of the same songs listed in multiple years. Horror of horrors, but it should be an easy matter of sorting them out, right?

Not so fast. Back in the day I could create mix cassettes and organize the tunes by seasons. Now I'm having trouble remembering what year these tunes were in heavy rotation—never mind if it was summer or autumn.

The original mix cassettes that would've definitively nailed this down are long gone and the friends I lived through this period with are long dead, so I can't reference either of them, so I've done what any normal, aging disco queen would do: I just left the lists as they were. I mean, does it really matter if Come Into My Heart/Baby Love was getting heavy play in 1978 or 1979? With so many other things going on in the world, this is the least of my concerns and I should just sit back and enjoy the tunes and the memories—even if I can't attach them to a specific month and year any more.

*It should be noted I haven't actually tested this yet, but I can't imagine the problem being anything else.

Donna Summer: Love To Love You Baby (1975)

Giorgio Moroder: E=mc² (1979)

B-52s: Wild Planet (1980)

…for not having this in my vinyl collection until now?

I recently discovered worldradiohistory.com, an absolute treasure trove of high fidelity magazines from back in the day. Besides getting teary-eyed at seeing all the old equipment advertisements and laughing uproariously at reviews that dismissed records now considered classics, it's also been fun running across the very serious articles found in these publications. In that vein of utmost seriousness, I give you…

DISCOMANIA

The hottest item at a rock-'n'-roll convention in New York City several months ago was a tee-shirt bearing an extremely obscene comment on disco. Most rockers just don't take kindly to disco music. They act as though its very existence were a personal affront, and they tell whoever will listen that it is soulless, mechanical, and likely to cause softening of the brain. One frustrated rocker known only as La Lumia has actually organized a nationwide movement called "Death to Disco." He provides buttons and bumper stickers bearing the grisly slogan, plus a manifesto stating his creed. (If you're interested, Mr. La Lumia is available for lectures and rallies.)

And it's not just the rockers who have gone off the deep end on the subject of disco. Jazz purists, too, complain that disco is not only a cheap form of music, but that it has robbed them of fine musicians who have "sold out" their art in crossing over to the greener pastures of commercial success it offers. The complaints come fast and furious: disco wipes out an artist's individuality, mashing his efforts into the pulp of its monotonous sound; disco is fickle and trendy-last night's hot platter is tonight's cold potato; and so on.

Even though it may be true up to a point, complaining is as futile as shaking your fist at a hurricane. Disco is an outgrowth of the times, which are confusing, often depressing, and not likely to change quickly. What disco provides is a little vacation from all that-and it's fun. It tends to be mindless fun, but therein lies its appeal. Its emphasis is on the feet, not the head, and dancing to it is an escape from the heavy burdens of both the day and the decade. Discotheques are glittering little fantasy worlds where elaborate lights and hypnotic music conspire to make every patron the star of his own romantic scenario for a night.

Disco does have its virtues. It has provided a shot of vitamin B12 to the careers of both new and established artists and to a number of small record companies. It has rejuvenated the night life of urban centers, boosted the fashion industry, added a little spice of glamour in places where there was none before, given many their only form of exercise, and probably trebled the income of Arthur Murray Dance Studios throughout the land.

Yes, some jazz artists have sold out for commercial success (hardly a new phenomenon, by the way). But some have simply temporarily gone after the rewards that, sadly, artistic integrity never brought them. Take the case of jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock, who was ripped into by jazz critics in 1973 for his first patently commercial (and enormously popular) album, "Headhunters." This year he had money in his pockets and the grin of a satisfied man on his face when the same critics who had mourned his loss to jazz were bowled over by his latest release, "VSOP."

Disco has resurrected and similarly rewarded neglected r-&-b performers like Thelma Houston and Loleatta Holloway, who have returned the favor by breathing life into its often rigid form.

Unfortunately, solo artists whose fame rests solely on disco tend to disappear in the overall crush of heavy orchestration favored by most disco producers. The vocals of Carol Douglas, Silver Convention, and the relentlessly loving Barry White, for instance, are reduced to pre-measured structural blocks slipped into pre-measured holes in assembly -line songs. Occasionally a Vicki Sue Robinson or a Savannah Band will appear with the ability to soar above the formula, but they are the exceptions.

But whether disco music makes your feet tap or your flesh crawl, it's here to stay for a while. As an industry, it grosses four to five billion dollars annually, second only to organized sports in the entertainment field. There are over 11,000 discotheques in the U.S., nearly 1,500 in Europe, and even the Soviet Union, at last report, sports a pair. Thirty-five per cent of the records currently sold in the U.S. are disco oriented, thirty million people listen to them, and approximately fourteen million dancers flock to discotheques every week.

For four days in September, Disco HI, a forum sponsored by the music trade magazine Billboard, brought home the growing clout disco has in all areas of the entertainment business. The panel discussions and exhibits left the impression of a young and booming industry delighted with its success and groping for a formula to insure it. Artists, producers, record -company representatives, club owners, disc jockeys, and equipment manufacturers participated, and some of the news they imparted was pretty impressive. If you thought disco was just an urban phenomenon, think again. Mobile discos have been bringing joy to hundreds of pairs of suburban and rural feet. The mobile units are equipped with sound systems, portable lighting equipment, and sometimes even with portable dance floors and smoke machines. Usually rented by schools, charitable organizations, and such, the units can set up a functional, parking -lot disco in nothing flat. The exhibit areas at Disco III featured other eye-opening developments. Many clubs employ the very latest in modern electronics, and the advanced sound systems, the astonishing array of lighting equipment, and the matter-of-fact use of holography, lasers, and large -screen TV projections were all but mind -boggling. Top disco acts (Gloria Gaynor, Tavares, and the SalSoul Orchestra, among others) provided entertainment each evening, and the four-day affair culminated in an awards dinner as boringly predictable as any tedious organizational function you can imagine. One high point (if one can call it that) of the awards ceremony was singer Grace Jones' acceptance of the Most Promising Female Vocalist plaque while her purse was being stolen from her seat on the dais six feet from where she stood. The incontestable low point was the seemingly endless parade of disc jockeys accepting awards (there must have been at least one platter handler from each state in the union).

In short, disco is not about to go away, so you might as well give in, dress up, and accept Irving Berlin's invitation to "face the music and dance." Who knows-you might just get to like it.

DECEMBER 1977

This was probably the third disco album I bought after venturing out to my first gay club. (The first being Thelma Houston's Any Way You Like It and the second, Cerrone's Love in C Minor.) I'd never heard music like this before, and I was hooked.

In many ways it seems like only yesterday, and yet…a lifetime ago.

Giorgio Moroder: From Here To Eternity (1977)

Madonna: True Blue (1986)

From Behind the Grooves:

"True Blue", the third album by Madonna is released. Produced by Madonna, Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray, it is recorded at Channel Recording in Los Angeles, CA from December 1985 – April 1986. After the massive whirlwind success of the "Like A Virgin" album and "The Virgin Tour", the pop superstar does not rest on her laurels, beginning work on the crucial follow up at the end of 1985. Working with long time collaborator Stephen Bray and new producer Patrick Leonard (Michael Jackson, Jody Watley), the album is praised upon its release as her strongest effort to date, and is widely regarded today as one of the best albums of her career. It spins off five top five hits including "Live To Tell" (#1 Pop), "Papa Don't Preach" (#1 Pop), "Open Your Heart" (#1 Pop) and the title track (#3 Pop). "True Blue" also marks the beginning Madonna's long association with famed fashion photographer Herb Ritts who shoots the LP's iconic cover photo. The original LP package also includes a poster of the album cover shot. As a promotion for the album, MTV sponsors the "Make My Video" contest, inviting viewers to submit their own visual interpretations of the title track. The winning entry comes from Angel Gracia and Cliff Guest, whose black & white clip is rotated heavily on the video channel. The pair are awarded a check for $25,000 by the pop superstar herself at MTV's New York studios. The alternate video directed by James Foley, featuring Madonna with close friends actress Debi Mazur and fashion designer Erika Belle is shown largely outside the US. Madonna also supports the album with the worldwide "Who's That Girl Tour" beginning in June of 1987. It is remastered and reissued on CD in 2001, with the extended 12" mixes of "La Isla Bonita" and the title track included as bonus tracks. The vinyl LP is reissued in Europe in 2012, including the original inner sleeve lyric sheet and poster featured in the original release. In October of 2016, a limited edition release of the LP pressed on blue vinyl, is issued as exclusive through the European supermarket chain Sainsbury's. "True Blue" spends five weeks at number one on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified 7x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

My unbridled love for this album and the accompanying quest to acquire it on "true blue" vinyl has been well documented on this blog, so I won't add anything more today and instead will sign off and go listen to it.

Elton John: Caribou (1974)

Damn, I feel old.

B-52s: Cosmic Thing (1989)

Prince: Purple Rain (1984)

Giorgio Moroder: Giorgio & Chris (1978)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeCPTZMdV_U&list=PL94gOvpr5yt2E6b_zKjMMhYwGuKV4cclp

Grace Jones: Fame (1978)

Alicia Bridges: I Love the Nightlife (1978)

Grace Jones: Slave to the Rhythm (4 disk box set, 2016)

Carpenters: Carpenters (1971)

I'm old.

This was the first Carpenters album I bought, and in many ways still my favorite.

Donna Summer: I Remember Yesterday (1977)