Born Idle?!...

It’s a holiday week this week. I’ve got a couple of days without work but does that mean I’m going to sit still? No way josé... Maybe I should go to one of Tom Hodgkinson's lectures on being Idle, and proud of it.

There’s an annual winter festival in my hometown with literature, lectures, performances and music, which this year takes place in November. Tom Hodgkinson is the main guest this year and how appropiate, it’s on two locations this time so one can get stressed out, worrying wether one isn't missing out on something on the other location ;-).


So my program for the following days is as followed:

Wednesday 31st of October
Carlos Leitão – fado >> Gerrit Komrij – lecture >> Kim & Buscemi – DJ set >> Stijn Meuris interviews Tom Hodgkinson – The Idler >> Thou – pop >> 65Daysofstatic – rock >> Apparat – DJ set >> Dead Elvis and His One Foot Grave >> Raphael – DJ set

Thursday 1st of November
Again Komrij, but I’m probably going to skip this one >> Dez Mona – new Belgian popnoir revelation >> Rudy Trouvé septet – ex dEUS rock >> Drop Dead – stand-up comedy >> Murder – country folknoir from Denmark >> Marcel Vanhilt – former Arbeid Adelt and MTV vee-jay doing an 80’s DJ set

Friday 2nd of November
First Think of One at Trix – presentation of the fourth Marrakech album Camping Shâabi >> Then Tom Hodgkinson again, meets Jan Bucquoy, famous Belgian anarchist >> Bonde do Rolê at petrol – funk carioca or baile funk from brasil >> Mauro Pawlowski – DJ set, the first one I guess

Saturday 3rd of November
Tuff choice, Marc Moulin or Sabah Fakhri. I think I’ll go for some classic muwashahat from Syria. The man’s a living legend so off to Brussels >> next back to Antwerp for the closing night with Alter Ego – presenting their new album Why Not?! With a live DJ set.

And on Sunday I lay myself to rest or maybe I'll write this blog.

If I can't go to Dakar...
... Dakar will come my way

I'm going to see Orchestra Baobab in a couple of weeks. I'm very keen to see and hear them because they got a brand new record out and from what I've heard, the new versions they made of the old classics are really OK.
Matsuli Music has a special post with the new and the old versions put side by side for comparison.

I finally made some additions to the ZE post.

It now features some rare stuff by Cristina, thanks to PC over at Music From The Third Floor.

The rest will follow soon, I hope.

Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard - but I think…

On this very day it’s been 30 years that The Sex Pistols released their groundbreaking Never Mind The Bollocks. I could post some Sex Pistols but you probably can find that already somewhere else and in far better bitrates. That’s why I’m looking a bit further down the road and since I’ve already made a reference to the Mother of Punk, Nina Hagen, in earlier posts - I try to keep some conceptual continuity going here - I decided to get into a more riskier business and look at it from a women’s perspective, no madder how hard that is.

… oh bondage, up yours! is a famous opening line from a seminal punk single of 1977. It’s a real catch-phrase but what immediately caught my attention when I first heard it was the saxophone which was an atypical addition to the standard punk instrumental line-up of those days, and which became one of X-Ray Spex 's most distinctive features.
That saxophone also put a distinctive mark on the sound of another band, Essential Logic fronted by Lora Logic who used to play in X-Ray Spex. She left the first one in favour of school (she was only 16 back then) but soon afterwards, she formed her own band.

Polly Styrene and Lora Logic are both among the most memorable front-women to emerge from the punk and post-punk movement and certainly my favorite ones. Other’s are The Slits, the Raincoats, Delta 5, Ludus, Malaria from Germany and Kleenex from La Suisse.

So here’s a small random selection from the heyday and the offspring.

X-Ray Spex
Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
I Am A Cliché
The Day The World Turned Day-Glo

Essential Logic
Aerosol Burns
Quality Crayon Wax O.K.
Wake Up
Martian Man
Essential Logic (more recent output, but personnel favourite)

Slits
In The Beginning There Was Rhythm / Silence Is A Rhythm Too
Typical Girls
Ari Up – True Warrior (Slits vocalist gone solo)

Delta 5 1979/1981
Mind Your Own Business
Now That You've Gone
Colour
Singing The Praises

Malaria 1981/1984
Your Turn To Run I mist out on this one, the link has been prepared but clever people probably already found it in the germfree map on Divshare
Kaltes Klares Wasser
Zarah

Kleenex / LiliPUT
Do You Mind My Dream

Ludus
Breaking The Rules
Nue Au Soleil
My Cherry Is In Sherry

And suprise, suprise... so more Cristina

Cristina – Don’t Mutilate My Mink

Later on, Punks went Dancing…

Malaria – Your Turn To Run (Thomas Fehlmann remix)
Ike Yard - Dancing and Slaving
Malaria – Kaltesklareswasser (DJ Koze and The Tease remix)

Au Chocolat Show










I was planning to report you about Wednesday’s supersoul revue with Sharon Jones & the Dap-kings and The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker but something else come up. Out of the blue a friend of mine invited me to accompany her to a special soirée on Thursday for a taste of exclusive chocolates and assorted Italian wines. I don’t know much about wines and even less about chocolates but I know that Pierre Marcolini’s chocolates are among the finest in the world. Because it’s the season for Tartufo d’Alba, he’s currently producing a limited supply of chocolates with white truffles. Needless to said that this is pretty expensive stuff and worth a try if you can get it for free.

So, the whole idea of the evening was to invite people over to his factory in Brussels, show them the plant and the process of making fine chocolate, let them taste his new creation and some great wines to go along and tell them all about a book he’s currently making about his love for chocolate and which will be released in December. I was told that it was originally intended to be released at the same time as the soirée but 8 month’s of planning and preparing a high prestige publication is rather (too) short.

Anyway, it was a fun and a very tasteful experience. As a result, I was asking myself whether I could do something, music wise, with chocolate and it turned out to be the case. A quick check up showed me that I had quite a large supply of chocolate and candy related music.
It turns out to be a hot topic, especially among the French, in brasil and Latin America in general. A strange conclusion is the fact that cacoa, as a subject, is rather something for roots orientated and worldbeat music while candy on the other hand is something that mostly pop musicians deal with. It makes sense though, if you think of it.

Olivia Ruiz – La Femme Chocolat
Joe Dassin – Le Petit Pain au Chocolat
Hot Chocolate – You Sexy Thing
Chocolate Buttermilk Band – Can't Let Go
Kylie Minogue – Chocolate
Chocolate Puma – Always And Forever (original mix)
Chocolate Puma – Always And Forever (DJ Antoine mix)
Chocolate Puma – Always And Forever (Till West & DJ Delicious remix)
Sopor Aeternus – Some Men are like Chocolate
Snow Patrol – Chocolate
Xuxa – É De Chocolate

Special Others – Cacao
Alpha Blondie – Café Cacao
Chico Che – Cascarita De Cacao

Bow Wow Wow – I Want Candy
The Dramatics – Beware Of The Man (With The Candy In His Hands)
Iggy Pop & Kate Pierson – Candy
Cameo – Candy

As a little cherry on top, the videoclip for Olivia Ruiz', La Femme Chocolat.

Don't dance and drive...

I’m going to a live gig of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings tomorrow evening. Sharon Jones toured with Lou Reed for the Berlin shows and the Dap-Kings delivered the instrumental side of Amy Winehouse’s last album Back to Black and took it to a higher level. I’m expecting one very soulful evening!

Their label Daptone has a free podcast radio show with lots of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. So get over to the jukebox and listen to Binky Griptite's GhettoFunkPowerHour of pure Soul!

Everything is getting a bit messy around here. I don’t seem to be able to finish posts as I intended (the ZE Records post for instance) because new ones keep popping up on my way trough lalaland. And what’s even worse is that I don’t seem to be able to work my way trough my favourite blogs anymore. I have a hard time remembering their names and finding the right links. I think I’ll have to adopt more discipline in this, by arranging those links over on the right side according to the type or style of music. I mean, I have a list double as long that I still have to ad to this page. It’s beginning to get a bit to much, but there are so many great blogs out there.

Anyway, I’m not sure if these two are brand new or just the next episode in the Faze Action re-releases. I can’t keep track and maybe there are some releases in between but Juno Download presented me these two only recently. Again it’s deep funky cosmic disco house as only Faze Action can deliver it, A Giorgio Moroder bassline, crescending cellos, thermin-like sound effects, and a heavy percussion work out. A whole orchestra made by just 2 guys. There’s also another track called Disco warrior which is as good. You can find it over at American Athlete. Enjoy!

Faze Action – Stratus Energy (original mix)
Faze Action – Stratus Energy (special disco mix)

And something on the side… more crazy Nina on Classic Television Showbiz.

Der Jesus mit’nem Knarre

There’s some conceptual continuity going on in this blog, though. Nina Hagen’s stepfather is German lyricist Wolf Biermann and while I was preparing a kind of reminder for Ché Guevara’s untimely departure, I noticed that Wolf Biermann has made his own version of the famous tribute song Hasta Siempre, Commandante Che Guevara after Carlos Puebla’s song. He made an adaptation of it with an odd wry aside at the end to mock the star quality and cult for the former revolutionary.

Wolf Biermann – Commandante Che Guevara
Carlos Puebla – Hasta siempre comandante Che Guevara
Compay Segundo + Victor Jara + Inti Illimani – Hasta Siempre Comandante
Buena Vista Social Club – Hasta Siempre Comandante Che Guevara

If you can’t get enough of this Cuban classic, there’s lots more of it on Best of both worlds.

In my mind I was preparing a kind of statement dealing the issue whether we should be happy or sad that Ché did not finish his self appointed mission, but I didn’t find the time to write it all down. It’s, as always, a bit of both, really.
Meanwhile I was also preparing a post about ‘revolutionary’ music from Cuba. During the late sixties and early seventies many Latino and Hispanic musicians from the Barrio and all over the US were involved in so-called Chicano Rock. After the success of Santana’s band there was a market and a climate for a fusion of rock with latin, bugaloo, soul jazz and some funk with revolutionary social themes. I learned about this kind of music, first trough Santana off course but later on by the many compilation albums which were released over the last years, like the ones on the Souljazz label.
It was a small surprise to learn only recently with the Si, Para Usted compilation that this kind of musical blend was also occurring on Cuba at the time. It actually makes sense really. The content and social dimension of the music reflects the spirit of Cuba in that era but the Cuban version has less rock in it (except for the Irakere track).

Juan Pablo Torres – Son a Propulsion
Irakere – Bacalao Con Pan
Grupo Monumental – Si, Para Usted
Juan Pablo Torres – Rompe Cocorioco
Grupo Los Yoyi – El Fino
Grupo De Experimentacion Sonora del ICAIC – Sondeando

Arthur Russell tribute

Sunday evening, the end of the weekend.

I’m listening to Duyster on the radio. That reminds me that I bought me some related tracks on emusic in the past week. By chance I came across Four Songs by Arthur Russell in a cover version (emusic keeps track of your download history, that’s why they presented me this material). I only knew one of the covering artist, Jens Lekman. The others were complete strangers to me, that is, until I googled a bit. I turns out that this is a Jens Lekman tribute on behalf of Arthur Russell which he set up with a couple of friends.

A nice gesture I think, especially with such exquisite covers. I know that some people have a problem with Arthur Russell’s voice - or rather the lack of - or his cello. I don’t have a problem with either but for those people this initiative is a chance to get a pure taste of Arthur Russell, the songwriter.

Concerning this project, I found the following lines by Lekman explaining the affinity and the Four Songs project:

I first met Arthur Russell when I was 19. I had just graduated and all my friends had gone to London or Paris. I was left alone with exactly 126 euros and I knew I had to go somewhere. The only thing I could find for that money was a bus trip to the Mosel Valley in Germany. Unfortunately it turned out to be a wine-testing trip for old people. I was highly disappointed at first, I had expected some kind of adventure, but after a while I just started walking around in the hills with my walkman. A friend had made a tape with songs from Arthur Russell's "Another Thought" and so that week the most beautiful voice I'd ever heard accompanied the most beautiful landscapes I'd ever seen. I burned my neck really bad.
Four years later I was playing shows here and there and I often played Arthur's "A Little Lost" on my kalimba. I had suggested to my friend Victoria Bergsman that maybe we should make a cover single or EP of Arthur's songs. She put me in touch with Verity Susman from Electrelane (as Vera November) and I brought in Joel Gibb from the Hidden Cameras. At this point we felt there was a certain symmetry between us, we could've brought in a few more and made a tribute album but tribute albums are boring in my opinion and tend to lose focus halfway through...
For me, the choice of song was never a question as I'd been playing "A Little Lost" on and off for three years. I managed to make my kalimba sound like drops of water and just recorded it in a few hours at home.

Our Last Night Together by Vera November
A Little Lost by Jens Lekman
Make 1,2 by Taken By Trees
That’s Us/Wild Combination by Joel Gibb

Tu das noch einmal, Micha, und ich geh'!

More from Nina. It’s been a while that I listened to Nina Hagen's DDR debut from 1974. Those video’s made me listen back and I realised that it’s actually a curious experience to hear Nina sing rather normal or let's say less eccentric for once.

Du Hast Den Farbfilm Vergessen 1974

There’s one song on the album, Rangehn, which was redone on her classic western punkrock debut from 1978. It’s fun to hear the differences between the DDR version and the western punkrock version.

Rangehn 1974
Rangehn 1978

Discotime, she says. And discotime she gets. I simply had to ad these two soulful deephouse tracks by Dennis Ferrer.
The original mix…
Dennis Ferrer feat. Mia Tuttavilla – Touched The Sky
and a remix…
Dennis Ferrer feat. Mia Tuttavilla – Touched The Sky (Yass Remix)

Intermezzo

Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk is one of my all time favourite classic guitar oldies. Here you have it in a very fine live version from 1959.



Ennio moricone – Metti Una Sera a Cena

Slick – Space Bass

A Legowelt oldie and a great vintage style video. Legowelt – Disco Rout



Disco Dancer – Jimmy Adja. This is where M.I.A. got the mustard. No Indian wedding can go without. There's more where this one come from. Who's going to take up the task of making the Bollywood backcatelogue popular in the west?



Buscemi - Bollywood Swing King

Overpowered

I’m at this very moment listening to Roisin Murphy’s new album Overpowered. It comes out in a couple of weeks and I’ve got my ticket for her show on the 21st of November in Brussels, but I just couldn’t wait to hear it. After a bit of searching on the web I found a link at Debaser @ Wordpress. Take your chance while it lasts.

I don’t know what to think it yet. I read that it was going to be more mainstream but boy, how slick can you go! It’s catchy as hell but that’s not necessarily always a positive thing. I really liked her first solo album Ruby Blue and the last Moloko album, but apparently that first album was a bit to weird for some people. I miss a bit of an edge on the new one. It surely has it’s moments - especially at the end of it - but most of it is very straightforward. I wonder which one will stand the test of time?

The graphics and visuals are again great, as ever. That reminds me that there are lots of video's on youtube.

Overpowered (and overdressed, great opener for the new album)


Sow Into You (my favourite song from the first album)


Let Me Know (last single of the new album, it grows on ye and settles pretty deep, I must admit).


If We're In Love

And the beanshead in the last video reminds of an other one...

Somethin' else or maybe not... I grew up mit Der Nina and this is an old vintage film from Nina's formative years in Der DDR before she ran off to the West in 1976. It's a young Nina Hagen who looks pretty much the same as on the cover of her first western album. You can really hear that she's just singing at the very bottom of her capacities. She's a trained operasinger and boy, what a voice!

This one is about the time before digital pictures. They're back from makin' holidays and she finds out that Michael has made black and white (east Germany) pictures instead of coloured ones (west Germany).

Un Peu de l'Ame Pour Combattre la Migraine

Âme (pronounced Ahm), which is French for soul, is the name of a German duo from Karlsruhe, Frank Wiedemann and Kristian Beyer, that’s responsible for some of the finest electronic music around. Their biggest hit up until now is Rej from 2005 which has been christened by Louie Vega and Danny Kravit as the new millennium’s equivalent of Jay-Dee’s Plastic Dreams.
Their influences range from Moodyman, Underground Resistance, Carl Craig, Blaze, Metro Area, Chateau Flight, John Tejada over to IG Culture and even Jazzanova but they never copy. They have a distinctive style. Âme's sound is easily accessible without getting boring or shallow. It’s deep, bold but not harsh.

Rej has a nice chilly sound but with dark undercurrents. It’s one of those tracks that grows on ye. I’ve been hearing it for 2 years now because it still keeps popping up occasionally in different settings. I never get tired of it, well mentally at least :-).
Mifune is an older track from 2004. I don’t get it why Rej got so much attention and Mifune stayed rather obscure. It’s equally good.

Âme – Rej (original mix) download / buy
Âme – Mifune download / buy

Jay-Dee’s Plastic Dreams


And while you’re here, get a taste of the latest warm, melodic and ultimately danceable crops from Tiger Stripes, Booka Shade and Lopazz on Get Physical and Guy J on Bedrock Records.

Tiger Stripes – Mad At Me download / buy at Beatport
Tiger Stripes – Survivor download / buy at Beatport
Booka Shade – Numbers (extended vocal mix) download / buy at !K7
Booka Shade – Numbers (radio edit) download / buy at !K7
Lopazz – Discogs download / buy at Beatport
Guy J – Save Me download / buy at Beatport
Guy J – Night Loss download / buy at Beatport

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Greg Wilson on Friday was great!

Greg Wilson time

Discotime again tonight. UK DJ legend Greg 'Haçienda' Wilson is coming to the Make-up club in Ghent tonight. After Danielle Baldelli Greg Wilson is the second old skool master that they're inviting. I hope they're turning it into a nice habit.

If you want a taste of Greg Wilson, there are lots of mixes on the Six Million Steps site as a form of tribute because he's celebrating 30 years of playing. They will be adding a new mix every month starting from January 1976. So, that's a long way to go, to get to the present day. But that’s fine by me.

And now for somethin’ completely different

The upload is a bit slow today so no Latin tributes so far. That’s why I’m posting somethin' else that I already uploaded before and was still lying around, unused, but came relevant just now.

I saw 2 shows last week. One was a long anticipated show by brazilian pop star deluxe Caetano Veloso. His last album Cê from last year isn’t that great but there’s always at least one track that’s memorable. If not immediately than at least after a while and certainly now, after I saw him perform a couple of them. Odeio você is that type of song. It has a quite modern rather dance or rave oriented sound with a clear message: I hate it or you.

It’s a funny experience to hear a entire concert hall sing I hate you over and over again. It was even the encore song at the end of the show. Probably because it’s just simply a great song to play live. It creates a vibe and it’s easy going.

Caetano Veloso – Odeio



The other show was by the Belgian musician Jan De Smet. He’s a member of De Nieuwe Snaar. They play all sorts of mostly roots oriented music within a cabaret or music hall type of setting with usually funny mainly Dutch lyrics. They’ve toured around Europe for many years with their dynamic, sometimes even acrobatic live shows.

On this occasion he was alone and just playing some records from his extensive record collection. I think that he’s probably one of the biggest record collectors around these parts and he’s mainly interested in so-called incredibly strange music or exotica. He has a nice collection and told funny stories about the records he was playing, the artists and how he came in touch with them. He sometimes had the chance or luck to meet some of these people.

Here are some tokens of what he played and commented that evening. I had these myself since I’m also interested in this type of novelty stuff. Especially the PDQ Bach track is funny and really amazing. It’s a report about Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony but from the perspective of a sports reporter reporting a baseball game or horserace. The whole idea is that modern listeners lose track of this kind of music because they’re no longer used to listen to something that’s longer than a 3 minute popsong and no longer understand the codes or the musical language.

It’s a pretty eloquent and accurate report and so funny. You can hear that they know what they are talking about. You really get a clear picture why this piece of music is something special or extra-ordinary. Just enjoy!

P.D.Q. Bach / New Horizons – Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

The next Spike Jones track is the one that started the whole thing for him. When he heard this song somewhere in the late sixties he knew he had to get a hold on it and learn more about this type of music. He was hooked for live and who wouldn’t! Spike Jones is really an underrated artist, as so many involved with comedy.

Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Hawaiian War Chant

A small dislocation from the right track… serious dub funk and reggae grooves hitting n° 200 for ya disco hoppers.

I actually planned to ad this weekend more stuff from ZE Records but twists of faith have persuaded me to do otherwise (Someone was asking me for Was (Not Was)… it’s coming, don’t ye worry).

Now, what changed my mind was the fact that I’m currently deeply involved with ‘everything Cuban’.

1. I’ve just finished reading a biography about Anacaona, a legendary all female Latin band from Cuba which coloured the international scene from the thirties up to the late fifties.
2. I also just watched Walter Salles’ Diarios De Motocicleta or The Motorcycle Diaries about Che Guevarra’s trip around Latin America as a doctor/student that changed his life and let him to take up arms for the divided and repressed people of the continent.
3. And what a coincidence, on Wednesday it will be 40 years that Che Guevarra was captured and executed without trial in the Bolivian jungle.
4. On top of that, I also just recently find out about some great 60’s and 70’s Chicano Rock from… yes Cuba on a compilation album called Si, Para Usted - The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba Vol. 1, so there’s more to come, nice!
5. And finally, to finish things off, I’ve got a friend who just recently married a guy from Cuba and now she’s fighting the well nurtured offspring of Kafka’s legacy to get her husband over for Christmas or if not Eastern.

But does that mean I’m a fan of Ché and I’ll be posting Latin music for him? No, that’s for next week.

The magic word for today is Salsoul because the weather forecast still spells Disco. UK DJ legend Greg Wilson from ‘Hacienda fame’ is coming to the Make-up next Friday so I’d better prepare myself. And besides that, going through al those ZE Recordings made me come across various other Disco outfits.
In the booklet accompanying the Mutant Disco CD’s, the reviewer in charge, Kevin Pearce starts his story with a reference to a specific song to state his brief outline about ZE’s subtle dislocation of the norm. The song in question is a cover version of For The love Of Money by The Disco Dub Band. I knew I had this song somewhere but I couldn’t find it right away until yesterday. I found it back a compilation album called Jazz-Funk Sessions in the Sessions series (It turns out it's on Spaced Out on Disorient as well).
Now, I still don’t quite understand why he make’s a reference to this song, I’ve got an idea, but it’s off course always a nice occasion to bring this little gem into the spotlight ‘cause it simply brilliant.

A small search on the web reveals that the Disco Dub Band was actually a reggae band who recorded this cover of Gamble & Huff's For The Love Of Money back in 1975 in NYC. The arranger was Davitt Sigerson who later recorded 2 albums for ZE Records.
Formed for one session the reggae outfit cut a seminal slice of dance history. The producer Mike Doraine was one of the first UK reggae producers to experiment with the dub sound embellishing the drums with a deep backbeat roar. Recorded in half an hour the group filled their bass drums with… CONCRETE, to create that heavy bass rolling sound. Using a Rickenbacker bass they were able to reinterpret the O'Jays Phillysoul classic and give it a dub/funk edge.
The new version was an unique blend of funk, disco and dub, hence the name Disco Dub Band. It has since achieved the status of cult record and rare groove anthem with it's groundbreaking production and dub sounds, a foretaste of things to come in the early 80’s.

One blogreviewer stated that … Until recently this song topped my "I heard it at a club but I don't know what it's called" list… the same goes for me. It took me a few years to figure out what it was until I heard on the Sessions compilation album and bingo! Another fav’ in the pocket (still a zillions minus one to go though).

168 Disco Dub Band – For The Love Of Money 1976

The main roots of Disco are Philly Soul, funk and Latin and what better way to symbolize that fruitful marriage than the Salsoul Orchestra. It was formed in 1974 in NYC and disbanded in 1982. Led by Vincent Montana, Jr it included up to 50 members with instrumental section, arrangers and conductors. It was the house band of Salsoul Records founded by the Cayre brothers. From 1974 to 1985, Salsoul released about 300 disco 12-inch singles, and a string of albums. The Salsoul Orchestra provided backing tracks for many of the label’s artists. Instant Funk, Loleatta Holloway, Carol Williams, Jocelyn Brown, Double Exposure, First Choice, Joe Bataan, Inner Life, Skyy, and Charo were at one time part of their roster.

The label's name was conceived by Joe Bataan, who recorded some of the earliest sessions for the Cayre brothers (predating the label's formation). "Salsoul" was street lingo for the musical culture of urban Latinos in the Barrio who were absorbing African-American popular music and infusing into their own culture, as well as vice-versa. Bataan had chosen the name for an album he made for the Cayre brothers.

Ken Cayre admired the era’s sound of Philly soul and hunted down the genre's best session musicians. He was lucky finding the key players, behind Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International Records label, home of Philly soul, in dispute with Gamble and Huff over business matters, and Salsoul quickly put them under contract.
The key musicians among these Philly soul artists tapped for Salsoul were Vince Montana (orchestral arrangements and vibes), Norman Harris (lead and rhythm guitar, arrangements, songwriting and production), Ronnie Baker (bass guitar, arrangement and production), Earl Young (drums and percussion), Bunny Sigler and others.

Baker and Young are now widely credited for being the rhythm section that crystallized the sound and structure of a disco record. Young's insistent use of the Hihat cymbal made it easy for DJs to mix records in noisy clubs, as the high frequency of the cymbal stood out over the background noise and could be easily heard in the headphones of the DJ. Baker would plant his key bass notes on top of the kick drum of Young, making for a solid and thunderous bass sound.

This prime Disco big band was a big influence in inspiring club music (and later on house music). They where the first to fuse Philly Soul, Funk and Latin Music in a danceable disco sound. Their widely-imitated signature style is best heard on the record Love is the Message with MFSB. MFSB, short for Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, was a loose conglomeration of other studio musicians from Philadelphia soul recordings who later released other successful singles and albums as a stand-alone recording act.

169 Salsoul Orchestra feat. MFSB – Love Is The Message (Danny Krivit re-edit)

The Cayre brothers also chose to record at the top-notch Sigma Sound studios in Philadelphia (one of the earliest facilities to install 24-track equipment and in possession of one of the most admired live rooms for accommodating small orchestras). This is why it is virtually impossible for the untrained ear to tell an MFSB recording from a Salsoul Orchestra recording (the key players, arrangers, and recording facility were mostly the same).

170 Inner Life & Jocelyn Brown – Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Larry Levan mix)
171 Loleatta Holloway & Salsoul Orchestra – Hit and Run (Walter Gibbons 12 inch)
172 Instant Funk – I Got My Mind Made up (You Can Get It Girl) (dance mix)
173 Joe Bataan – Rap o Clap Proto hip-hop
174 Vincent Montana Orchestra – Heavy Vibes (Salsoul Club Mix)
175 Loleatta Holloway & Salsoul Orchestra – Dreamin' (original Salsoul 12 inch mix)
176 Rafael Cameron – All That's Good To Me (12 inch)
177 Ripple – The Beat Goes On (Salsoul 12 inch)
178 Salsoul Orchestra – Keep on dancing

179 First Choice – Armed and Extremely Dangerous (1973 version)
180 First Choice – It's Not Over, Let No Man Put Asunder
181 First choice – The Player (Tom Moulton long version)
182 First Choice – Hold Your Horses (Tom Moulton mix)

Baker, Harris and Young had the girl group First Choice under contract, and brought them along to Salsoul. Led by Rochelle Fleming, the group had moderate success on the Philly Groove label with Armed and Extremely Dangerous (which Salsoul acquired and would re-release amongst its classic catalogue in the 1990s - leading to the misconception that it was a Salsoul recording). For Salsoul, First Choice would record a string of classic disco anthems, most notably Dr. Love and Let No Man Put Asunder.

Salsoul Records is off course not the only brand of genuine classic Disco. Here are some other random and/or Salsoul related classics pointing in various directions like electro and house music.

183 Philly Cream – Fun Fun Fun
184 Philly Cream – Motown Review A sentimental, melancholy number reflecting on how many of the cultural and political things that defined the 60’s were long gone during the disco era.
185 Philly Cream – Jammin' At The Disco

No, not the cream cheese, but Philadelphia’s cream of the crop on the Fantasy label. Fantasy didn't have a lot of major disco stars but it’s contributions to disco in the late '70s and early '80s are embodied in one of disco's true heavyweights: Sylvester, whose Fantasy singles Dance (Disco Heat) and You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) went down in history as textbook examples of exuberant gay disco-soul.

186 Ingram – Mi Sabrina Tequana (My Sister's Daughter)

Ingram was a self-contained group of sisters and brothers from Camden, New York, deeply rooted in gospel.They came out as the Ecstasies before becoming just Ingram. Barbara Ingram sang backing vocals at Sigma Sound Studios in the early '70s, most notably for Thom Bell and Gamble & Huff projects, but nearly every producer in town employed her at one time or another. They got a deal with Excello Records, a label more noted for blues than rhythm & blues, and cut an album. After that, they signed with H & L Records in 1977, which resulted in a second album, That's All, which achieved its greatest popularity in the UK with Mi Sabrina Tequano. H & L went belly up resulting in a long inactive period because the bankrupt label owned their surname Ingram for recording purposes.
Norman Ingram started producing others artists including Philly Cream, Barbara Mason, Stylistics, Blue Magic, David Simmons, Brandi Wells, and Ronnie Dyson. Ingram resurfaced in 1983 for one last shot, spawning two albums on Mirage Records. Streetwise Records licensed the tracks in the UK where they received again more recognition than in the States. James Ingram resurfaced with the classic club track Yah Mo B There.

After Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide

187 Love Unlimited Orchestra – Welcome Aboard (12 Inch)
188 Raw Silk – Just in time
189 Ashford & Simpson – Stay Free
190 Archie Bell And The Drells – Let's Groove (12 inch)
191 Archie Bell And The Drells – It's Hard Not To Like You (original version)
192 Babe Ruth – The Mexican (long version)
193 Charles Earland – Coming To You Live
194 Powerline – Double Journey
195 Powerline – Shake Your Groove Thing
196 Gino Soccio – Dancer (original 12 inch)

197 Charlie – Spacer Woman (vocal edit) some spaghetti dance / Italo Disco


And the wonders of youtube: one video leads to another fav' oldie...

Sheila & B.Devotion - Spacer1979 Extended Version


This song was inspired by Harrison Ford as Han Solo,according to Chic’s Nile Rodgers: 'We saw Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip do some silly thing in Britain - 'I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper' - so we thought we'd use a little Sarah Brightman, a little 'Star Wars', and a little Ziggy Stardust. So we took the character of Harrison Ford as Han Solo flying around and made it a romance'.

Sheila & B.Devotion - Love Me Baby


There’s a Madonna link in here somewhere. Madonna spent her time dancing with Patrick Hernandez on Born to be alive in the late seventies so maybe she met French disco star Sheila ... and heck, Madonna must have remember this one when she did her latest disco queen reinvention... they even looks a bit the same, don't they?

Since the Disco Dub Band was a reggae band playin’ Disco/Philly soul, which sounds like a strange combination, I’ve added some more soulful and danceable stuff from Jamdown.

198 Third World – Now that we've found love (Baia Sound 12'' extended mix)
199 Peter Tosh – Buk-In-Hamm Palace
200 Ken Boothe – African Lady