Politicians - Love Machine

[QUINNY]

I have to start this post with a GRRRRRRR!!!!!!

After many years of waiting and searching I thought I'd landed this track on CD. I couldn't wait for the package to arrive. Yesterday it did and.......lo and behold the version on the CD is an inferior vocal one.

BITD, Love Machine by the Politicians appeared on a UK 7" single on the Hot Wax label with Free Your Mind on the other side (so far as my memory allows me to remember). I have to tell you that Love Machine was an absolute scorcher of a dance track, in its instrumental form (as on this 7") and we played it and played it to a packed dancefloor, back in '72/'73. However, it would appear that in the U.S. the vocal version was the 'A' side and the instrumental demoted to the 'B' side (I'm guessing). They are like chalk and cheese to my ears, with the official 'A' side (the version I now have on CD....Grrrrrr) not being a patch on the instrumental, which is much more solid, funky, danceable, likeable etc. If you really want to hear a record that shows the roots of Disco, grab a copy and listen to the instrumental mix. There are no strings BUT there are horns, a great funky bassline and ever so heavy syncopated drums and conga rhythm track sounding very Philly (although recorded in Detroit? ).

Anyone else have any info or anything to add?

[tony98]

I've not heard the Politicans in years i'll have to dig it out. Some other stuff i also liked on Hot Wax included. Honey Cone "Want Ads" &"While Your Out Looking For Sugar" Laura Lee "Rip Off" & Flaming Ember "Westbound #9".

[ashley_k]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

Anyone else have any info or anything to add?

Not sure what CD you have, but the “Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic” (the Hot Wax Sessions) Politicians CD that Sequel put out a few years ago may have the version you want, according to Dusty Groove it has a instrumental version of “Love Machine":

Info from Dusty Groove:
Incredibly messed-up funk -- a 70s instrumental classic that's delighted our ears for years! The set's got a cosmic sound that mixes together conventional guitar-based funky with some weird electronic touches at times -- going for a fuzzed-out moogy quality that really deepens the groove -- and which goes even further on those tunes that push the basslines all the way into the red! The group's headed by McKinley Jackson, and features some ex-members of Parliament -- all coming together in a full, rich sound that almost has traces of soundtrack sophistication at times -- yet which manages to come across with the burning energy of a funky 45! The album includes the classics "Funky Toes" and "Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic" -- plus the group's legendary take on "Free Your Mind", a sample classic from years back! Great stuff if you dig a fuzzy Westbound sort of funk groove -- and other tracks include "Church", "The World We Live In", "Everything Good Is Bad", "Speak On It", and "Politician's Theme".
Plus, the CD's got 2 bonus non-LP cuts -- the vocal and instrumental versions of "Love Machine"!


I’m going into London later today and I’ll see if I can get a copy of this CD and check it out.

[QUINNY]

Thanks for the info on the Politicians CD. I won't tell you the number of times I've googled Politicians + Love Machine and nothing/nada/zilch has ever come up about this CD release. Sooooo, many thanks again, I'll trcak down a copy.

This is what 1 site has to say about it: "worth the cost alone, for the instrumental version of Love Machine"W""worth the orth the price alone for Love Machine in it's instrumental form.
Rating 7/10


Worth the price alone for Love Machine in it's instrumental form.

[eddie]

I second that the instrumental of "Love Machine" is on the 1999 pressing of that CD.

The one problem with the net or Amazon is that you can not type in tracks and artists. If you type in "I love you" you will literally get 10,000 hits. There's no way to quickly cross reference that with an artist unless its on a various artists compilation and you type the artist name after the song .

[Disco Funk]

Originally Posted by eddie

I second that the instrumental of "Love Machine" is on the 1999 pressing of that CD.

The one problem with the net or Amazon is that you can not type in tracks and artists. If you type in "I love you" you will literally get 10,000 hits. There's no way to quickly cross reference that with an artist unless its on a various artists compilation and you type the artist name after the song .

Yup. The instrumental is definitely on the Sequel CD.

As Quinny said, it was the flip side to Free Your Mind. Interestingly, Free Your Mind was released in a remixed form as the flip to a track by 8th Day, and was entitled It's Instrumental To Be Free. Just a little useless trivia. :)

Disco Funk

[ashley_k]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

I won't tell you the number of times I've googled Politicians + Love Machine and nothing/nada/zilch has ever come up about this CD release. Sooooo, many thanks again, I'll trcak down a copy.

This is what 1 site has to say about it: "worth the cost alone, for the instrumental version of Love Machine"

That’s odd as I only googled Politicians “Love Machine” CD to see if the track was on a Sequel Compilation CD I have and the first link I looked at was the dustygroove link that mentions the “Love Machine" instrumental.

It looks like the CD is now out of print, no copies in the two big London stores I visited, still it shouldn’t be to hard to find a copy on the net, as it sounds like it’s worth getting a copy for this instrumental version.


On A mission...........wonder what it is?
Getting hold of a copy of the “Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic” CD

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/.../discomusiccom

[DISCODISK]

Originally Posted by Disco Funk

Interestingly, Free Your Mind was released in a remixed form as the flip to a track by 8th Day, and was entitled It's Instrumental To Be Free. Just a little useless trivia. :)

8th day must have been short of b.sides as they were giving theirs away, the instrumental to eeny meeny miny mo was the b.side of 'sittin on a time bomb' by lee charles entitled 'get your house in order'

[QUINNY]

This may be another case of a UK pressing soundind sooooo much better than the U.S. one, possibly due to differences in tape machine's speeds.

I received the above mentioned Politicians CD today and I was still dissapointed. The track sounded so lifeless, compared to what I remembered. At first I thought maybe it's because it's in MONO whereas the UK pressing was stereo, but no that wasn't it. However on comparing my UK pressing against this master tape another thing quickly became obvious. The UK pressing is sped up by about 3-4% AND it makes all the difference in the world. Horns that sound 'tired' on the CD suddenly sound zippy. What sounds like a slightly plodding rhythm track on the CD suddenly swings and that 3-4% takes it to 124/125 BPM.......the perfect Disco tempo.

It's rather like Chic's (deliberately sped up) Good Times all over again. I can't listen to it on all the compilation CDs I own 'cos it just drags @112 BPM, but play a copy of the UK 12" pressing (118 BPM) and I'm in Disco heaven.

Whether or not the Politicians was accidental or deliberate I don't know and I don't suppose anyone does now.

[Simon White]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

This may be another case of a UK pressing soundind sooooo much better than the U.S. one, possibly due to differences in tape machine's speeds.

I received the above mentioned Politicians CD today and I was still dissapointed. The track sounded so lifeless, compared to what I remembered. At first I thought maybe it's because it's in MONO whereas the UK pressing was stereo, but no that wasn't it. However on comparing my UK pressing against this master tape another thing quickly became obvious. The UK pressing is sped up by about 3-4% AND it makes all the difference in the world. Horns that sound 'tired' on the CD suddenly sound zippy. What sounds like a slightly plodding rhythm track on the CD suddenly swings and that 3-4% takes it to 124/125 BPM.......the perfect Disco tempo.

It's rather like Chic's (deliberately sped up) Good Times all over again. I can't listen to it on all the compilation CDs I own 'cos it just drags @112 BPM, but play a copy of the UK 12" pressing (118 BPM) and I'm in Disco heaven.

Whether or not the Politicians was accidental or deliberate I don't know and I don't suppose anyone does now.

I dug out the 45 the other day (a scan is in the relevant section) and it sounded very dull to me. It may be one of those tracks that sounds better live.