DAN HARTMAN or CERRONE

[paul]

It's interesting that you chose Dan Hartman & Cerrone 'cos their careers ran fairly parallel didn't they? They both jumped on the 'disco bandwagon' in the mid/late 70s making some of the best 'disco' records of all-time & then both made dreadful 'rock'-tinged LPs in the early eighties & then they beiefly went funkier & changed yet again to beome pop/dance by the mid eighties. I s'pose this was a fairly typical career path for many international music artists/producers at the time.

Exactly SD 8)

[Disco Funk]

I know this is a bit off topic, but I just recently bought that Culture DVD set. My favourite video is definitely Love In C Minor because it's my favourite Cerrone song, and there's plenty of disco dancing on there. It's hard to tell if that promo film was in its original form or if it was modified for its inclusion on the DVD set. Cerrone certainly was a funny-looking guy in those videos, with that goofy grin of his. But he plays a mean set of drums. I also like the video for You Are The One. I hadn't heard the '80 album from which it came, so I had no idea he went back to a real bass guitarist rather than synth bass. And Jocelyn Brown as the lead vocalist was a real coup. Is that her in the video too? I don't know what she looks like.

The real treat was the '78 concert footage which includes the 'Rocket In The Pocket' breakbeat performance. I guess this was the exact concert that was also turned into the vinyl record the DJs used to scratch, including Jam Master Jay on the Run DMC Raising Hell LP. Was that a bootleg only release?

What I also noticed was that Love In C Minor was very under-represented on the set. Other than the music video for that particular song, I don't recall it being in the concert stuff (I scanned through the performances quickly) or on the CD. I wonder why? Could it be because he has to pay royalties to Alec Costandinos?

Also with Love In C Minor, was there two edits of this track? I see that there is a 15 minute version listed, and then a 12" by Hot Productions with an almost 17 minute version. What was the difference between these two? Was the shorter one faded out sooner or remixed completely?

Disco Funk

[ol'skinflint]

comparing apples and oranges. Dan Hartman's influence and history reached FAR beyond dance music. He was, without a doubt, one of the most versatile writers and producers in the business. Though I adore much of Cerrone's music, and he wasn't limited to dance music either, I always got the impression that his collaborators contributed a lot to his sound. But in addition to making stunning dance music, Dan Hartman also wrote and or produced great music for Chaka Khan, James Brown, Tina Turner, Average White Band, Diana Ross and many others. And he also did music in many different styles, and did it very well. For a good example of his versatility, pick up a copy of "Shock Treatment", the second album he did with the Edgar Winter group. Hartman wrote 2/3rds of the songs. There's a blues song ("Easy Street"), sweet pop ("Maybe Someday You'll Call My Name"), raging rock and roll ("Some Kinda Animal") and even Led Zeppelin-style heavy metal ("Queen of my Dreams"). It scares me to think about how much more he could have done, but I think about him every time I hear "Living in America", the song he did with James Brown. And can anyone tell me why the "Instant Replay" album IS on CD, but the "Relight My Fire" album is not?

[Videoskooter]

The real treat was the '78 concert footage which includes the 'Rocket In The Pocket' breakbeat performance. I guess this was the exact concert that was also turned into the vinyl record the DJs used to scratch, including Jam Master Jay on the Run DMC Raising Hell LP. Was that a bootleg only release?

No, "Cerrone In Concert" was officially released in 1978 and is still available.
http://www.cerrone.net/

I was also struck by watching that DVD. I didn't know he was so damn good on stage. And I'm sure it was a live set and no technical wizzardry.

[SandraDee]

And Jocelyn Brown as the lead vocalist was a real coup. Is that her in the video too?
Disco Funk

No, it's definitely not Jocelyn in the video. Jocelyn was doing so much session singing work around 1980 that I think she didn't have time to appear in promo videos as well!

[Paulo]

It may be disturbing if we praise an album or an artist so much, and then along comes someone which says that it is nothing but crap.

Well... everybody is different and everybody has his own tastes.

I couldn't care less for Dan Hartmann but I love Cerrone. That album SUPERNATURE is awsome! SUPERNATURE, LOVE IS THE ANSWER & GIVE ME LOVE are so emotional.

I remember the energy that SUPERNATURE generated at the disco. That track was so loud and agressive like killer heavy metal. GIVE ME LOVE was also a powerhouse DISCO track. We would go wild whenever it played!


In my opinion the sound of that album hasn't dated.

[Disco Funk]

No, it's definitely not Jocelyn in the video. Jocelyn was doing so much session singing work around 1980 that I think she didn't have time to appear in promo videos as well!

Thanks for clearing that up!

Disco Funk

[Mr Kaplan]

I'm digging an old thread lol ...

Just to say that I'm not an Euro Disco fan (the musical genre was taking over creativity ...), but Cerrone co produced with Don Ray the track Standing In The Rain. Now that's maybe borderline (disco/euro disco) but I find this track quite funky, nicely produced.

What do the anti euro disco think of this song ?

[garrybcoston]

Instant Replay, Relight My Fire and I Can Dream About You were the best songs from Dan Hartman.

Love In C Minor, Give Me Love and Supernature were just a few songs, if not production with other groups that Cerrone took a part of. Kongas, Love and Kisses among others...

I'll take Cerrone in this battle!

Cerrone was one of my most favorite disco groups and production. Relight my fire was about the only disco song I loved that Dan Hartman did. Love in C Minor and Give me Love were from the "Cerrone's Paradise" LP I believe, and supernature was off the supernature LP; I could be wrong about "Give Me Love," it could've been off of the supernature LP; it's been a long time. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Garry

[garrybcoston]

I never thought of Cerrone's music as being 'sexy'. It was great listening, but about as titillating as a sterile hospital environment. But it was still good disco, even if it did lack a lot of the soul that, say, Dan Hartman's stuff had a bit of.

If we're talking about 'sexy' disco, I've always thought 'Don't Stop Now', the LP by The Brothers, had sensually sounding music, if that's even possible.

Disco Funk

A lot of Cerrone's music was sexy in that the female singers were seductive, oohing, ahhing, panting, etc. This was going on in most all of the disco productions and albums back then. And those album covers!!!!!! You could whack off to most of em!

Garry

[garrybcoston]

Quinny, I AM a Walloon, so you're my uncle :o :o ???? We are family? Great!!!! :D BTW, sex is over in 20 seconds? Nooooo!

The great Cerrone, Midney and Costandinos tracks fill complete album-sides. So, Jussik's right! It IS hot pounding sex. Cerrone is a Rolls-Royce, sophisticated, smooth, reliable, the finest leather, carefully elaborated wood! On one thing you are right, it doesn't make a jump start so that's why it's not fit to bop till you drop.

Silk sheets, dimmed lights, oil, 23 positions in a 1 night stand!

On the positive tip, I'm equipped with a whip
I don't have to spank you 'cause this is my ship
I will still be hip, when the words from your lip
Take a dip in the ratings

Quinny, you'll never know how much, how much I love you

I agree "Vid" I agree. Costandinos was much harder than Cerrone, though produced a lot of music together. Accidental Lover was one of my most favorite pieces as was "I found love (now that I have found you). Loved Boris Midney's productions as he reminded me more of a "hyped up" classical music orchestra with the layered string sections and orderly string compositions. Baby Love/Love's Comin by USA/European Connection is still one of my "fav's" by Mr. Midney; I'll still listen to that 15+ minute arrangement over and over until it's in pounding deep within my soul; love it!

Garry

[garrybcoston]

It's interesting that you chose Dan Hartman & Cerrone 'cos their careers ran fairly parallel didn't they? They both jumped on the 'disco bandwagon' in the mid/late 70s making some of the best 'disco' records of all-time & then both made dreadful 'rock'-tinged LPs in the early eighties & then they beiefly went funkier & changed yet again to beome pop/dance by the mid eighties. I s'pose this was a fairly typical career path for many international music artists/producers at the time.

Cerrone about 1976; Dan Hartman around 1978, just after disco had peaked.

Garry

[SandraDee]

And those album covers!!!!!! You could whack off to most of em!

Garry

:lol: That's the best praise anyone could ask for garry!

[garrybcoston]

:lol: That's the best praise anyone could ask for garry!

Hope I didn't offend anyone, but you know it SD, you know it!:D

Garry

[Lajazz947]

This is a tough one.

I remember first hearing Cerrone with my 16 year old girlfriend when I was 18. I heard Cerrone's Paradise and although I was totally into Disco and had heard everything under the sun I was FLOORED. I had never heard anything as good as that. To me it ipitomized the Disco sound and it still does.

Now I listen to Cerrone on my IPOD at the ripe old age of 49.

I first heard Instant replay a few years later and again I was floored. I really cannot pick between the two other than to say that I think that Cerrone had a little more of the classic Disco sound. Slick, danceble, the kind that made you want to go out on the dance floor and swing someone around in classic Disco style.

Dan Hartman made me more or less want to do aerobics and run, not necessarily dance disco style.

I love them both though and until very recently I thought that Instant replay was the best Disco record ever.

I miss those days tremendously.

[paul]

Glad to see some of these old threads still have life :grin:
I've been playing a lot of Hartman's music lately. I think it's time for me to dig out my Cerrone stuff and see how I feel about them now. 8-)

[Lajazz947]

Getting back to something Videoscooter wrote:

Yes, listening to Cerrone and watching his girls always made my mouth water for a menage a troi.

In my humble opinion his music could not have been more aptly described.

[garrybcoston]

Yeah LaJazz947, those were my feelings as well when I first heard Cerrone's paradise; Love in C Minor was great, but when I heard Cerrone's paradise in 1977.......!

I was in the Navy then. We were on our way (on an aircraft carrier) overseas to the Mediterranean Sea (Europe area). We first stopped into a City called Rota, Spain. They allowed us to go off the ship and see the city and I went into a disco there, and that was the first song playing. The disco was sleek, and had a lot of light and technology for its time. There were small spotlights coming out of the ceiling all over the disco pointed at the tables, and certain spots. The beat and that bass still echos in my mind and seeing the girls, everyone dancing (europeans danced differently than Americans back then, they had their own moves which in my opinion was more sexy). And of course the background vocals of the girls on all his albums were just mind boggling and goose bumping. A 10+ for this album; and of course the european album covers were always more provocative and sexier than the American album cover; this album cover for cerrone's paradise was no different; of course the european version had this naked girl on a refigerator with cerrone kneeling below; the American version had purple and other colors of artwork without any sexy pics or notations except for cerrone's pic on the back I believe, if I remember correctly. Great album!

[SandraDee]

We first stopped into a City called Rota, Spain. They allowed us to go off the ship and see the city and I went into a disco there, and that was the first song playing.

Wonder if it was the disco where Quinny worked in Spain?

[White Raven]

Well, interesting discussion. I not so hard to compare them, because, they are different in their music roots. (It’s something like to compare ABBA and Boney M.) Cerrone is playing funky with mighty sound of strings and brass, his drums are pumping the sound. The music of Dan Hartman is more adapted for easy&light dancing, it’s too poppy and it’s for feet, but Cerrone made music for head!!!


Cerrone brought the avant-garde and progressive sound in DISCO, but Dan Hartman is only mainstream writer. He’s more producer than a musician, because he thought too much about the commercial purpose of the music he made, but Cerrone played what he wanted, it was the danger, but he win and brought a new breathe in DISCO sound. Cerrone, beening the white, played the funk&soul of black very near to bottom of their souls. He had more deeper feeling in disco sound than Dan Hartman.


Cerrone has his individual and recognizing sound everytime and everywhere. One time listening him You’ll never forget and confuse him with anyone. I can’t say such about Dan Hartman.


P.S. And what a good musicians played with Cerrone: Mo Foster – legendary baseman from AFFINITY – protoprogressive rock band in 1968-1970, or Keith Forsey – mighty drummer from jazz-fusion ROLLAND KOVACH SET in 1973-1974…

[pipecock]

"instant replay" is only an alright record. "veritgo/relight my fire" is a hell of a record, maybe better than any single record that cerrone did. but how much of it is dan hartman's fault and how much of it has to do with loleatta holloway giving an awesome vocal performance?

cerrone has been involved with many projects mentioned here that had many good songs, in addition to his own awesome solo jams. for consistancy and overall excellence, cerrone is definitely the winner IMO.

[SandraDee]

Dan Hartman certainly was a prolific record producer re his work with Average White Band, Holly Johnson & James Brown amongst others in the 80s. Cerrone also worked with other artists such as Colonel Abrams in '85 but I think Cerrone has other interests other than music such as meeting the Dalai Lama!:-? :-o