(re) Disco-very # 004 : Kano (1980)

[fabio]

(re) Disco-very # 004 : Kano

Introduction
Let’s start with a very short prehistory of Italo Disco: In the summer of 1978 La Bionda had a very successful track called "One For You, One For Me" . They went on to produce several Italo Disco songs in the 80's. Righeira is the most popular example. La Bionda also produced Aida Cooper “Stand Back” and Robert Bravo “Love Me Like I Do”. In a song like "One For You, One For Me" it is already possible to hear what would be known as “the Italian sound”. I could not find mention of any of these tracks in the “Hot Dance/Disco” book so I take that they didn’t enter the US Disco chart.

With American produced disco music nearly coming to a complete halt in 1980, club goers looked to Europe for new material. The U.K., Holland, France and most importantly Italy, provided fresh new grooves for American dancers.

In 1983 the term Italo Disco was heard for the first time. The German record company of Bernhard Mikulski published their first double album of the series "Best of Italo Disco". They invented the word "Italo". Of course "Italo" is known in the meaning of "coming from Italy". But the Mikulski-company created that first combined term - Italo Disco.
But before 1983 there was already Italo Disco made. The difference is it wasn’t called that way. It was just disco music out of Italy.

In The beginning…
The first wave of Italo Disco, was brought on by Mauro Malavasi and Jacques Fred Petrus, Celso Valli, Claudio Simonetti, Giancarlo Meo and Quelli Del Castello.

1978:
Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi made records with Revanche: Music Man/ Revenge (Disco chart peak no 25 in 1978), Macho :I'm a man (US peak no 6 in 1978) and The Peter Jacques band: Fire Night Dance (LP all cuts US Disco Chart peak no. 6 in 1979).
1979:
Mauro Malavasi was also involved with Tantra in 1979 "Hills Of Katmandu" (US DC peak no 2 in 1980)
"San Salvador" and "Soft Emotion" by Azoto are also releases of 1979. It was released on VEDETTE RECORDS and the producer was Celso Valli.
1980:
Claudio Simonetti and Giancarlo Meo as “Capricorn” released a song called "Capricorn" (US DC peak no 22 in 1980).
They also worked with Easy Going on the track “Fear” and “ I Strip You” (US DC peak no 29 in 1980) and Vivien Vee with “Give me a break” (US DC peak no 9 in 1980).
In my opinion the most successful production Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi ever made was for the studio band Change.

The second wave of Italo-Disco was heralded by Stefano Pulga. Pulga an Italian producer and musician, would later have his own solo career.

Kano:
Luciano Ninzatti - Guitars
Stefano Pulga - Keyboards
Dino D'Autorio - Bass
Julius Farmer - Bass
Flaviano Cuffari - Drums
Maurizio Preti – Percussion


They burst on the scene in 1980 with "I’ Ready" (US DC peak no 8 in 1980).
The fresh exciting sounds produced by Pulga, Luciano Ninzatti and Matteo Bonsanto struck a deep chord with dancers across the globe. The Baby records 12" single found it's way to Canada first where Unidisc licensed it and when American D.J.'s picked it up Emergency Records optioned it for American consumption. It became one of the handfuls of 1980 club hits to achieve "classic" status.
The album, "Kano," chocked full of extraordinary tracks, followed the same route into America's hungry hands. The second 12" single (Unidisc/Emergency) was the crisp "It’s a War" The heavy synthesized, sparsely vocalized tune became their second chart entry for the year peaking at number 2 in October 1980. Unidisc went for a third 12" single with the release of "Now Baby Now" and everyone missed the boat on the albums best track, "Cosmic Voyager."
Caught by the unexpected success in America, Pulga and co-hosts mulled over their options for a second release. The next sound from the group was the 12" single of "Can't Hold Back" (US DC peak no 20 in 1981). For unexplained reasons Emergency either lost their distribution or switched ownership and they were forced to let it be relicensed. The Atlantic subsidiary Mirage snagged it and released it in the late summer of 1981. With a downbeat decidedly different sound the song had trouble finding a massive audience. Mirage forged ahead and released the second Kano album "New York Cake."
Following the release of the album, Mirage put out another 12" single. "Don't Try To Stop Me" found a much larger audience due to the songs uptempo nature. The song was identical in style and substance to their previous hits, but would be their last.

Although many consider Kano “only” Italo Disco, it also served as a bridge to electro and breakdance later in the 1980's.

Pulga also achieved success in America around the same time with his producing and playing on the Jimmy Ross hits before releasing his own self-titled recordings in 1983.


Thanks to the usual w’s dot Jahsonic and A. Vroomen, discogs, billboard and ***********.com

[remicks]

Originally Posted by fabio

The album, "Kano," chocked full of extraordinary tracks, followed the same route into America's hungry hands. The second 12" single (Unidisc/Emergency) was the crisp "It’s a War" The heavy synthesized, sparsely vocalized tune became their second chart entry for the year peaking at number 2 in October 1980. Unidisc went for a third 12" single with the release of "Now Baby Now" and everyone missed the boat on the albums best track, "Cosmic Voyager."

I'll have to dig this out to give that cut a renewed listen.

Thanks for a great read fabio. I enjoyed it!


*****

[fabio]

I’m glad you enjoyed the reading. I don’t want to take the credit for the writing, which is a remixed version of various notes I found on the net.
Please check also the people mentioned at the end of the article.