70's Deodato vs 80's Deodato

[eddie]

Fans, which Deodato do you prefer? The one from the 70's who was always fusing classical with disco or the groove oriented one from the 80's?

[Videoskooter]

Very difficult choice. I love many of his 70's outputs where he fused Disco, Jazz and Classical.

So I would prefer this period but his 80's stuff is not bad either. His own productions and certainly the absolute classics that he produced for Kool & The Gang.

Mmmmh, let's go for the 70's. :D

The same question goes for K&TG. The Discojazzy 70's or Discopoppy 80's? If I HAVE to choose: also the 70's

[FrontPage22]

"Nightcruiser" is my fave Deodato cut...is that more his 80's stylee? :o

[eddie]

I really dug the 1984 vocal track "Are you for real" featuring Camille. It took me years to figure out who that was.

Wounded Bird has reissued all 5 of his albums on Warner from 1978-84. This titles include Knights of Fantasy and Night Cruiser on 1 disc. On Night Cruiser, Deodato employs more horns and less spacy synths which is very tight and in the vein of Kool and the Gang. On Happy Hour and Motion which are also paired on 1 disc, he ventures into contemporary soul with much success. Reviews vary by opinion but I believe his arrangements worked.

I never really cared for his 70's work. Again he is a very ecclectic artist who can't be pigeonholed. "Bachmania" from Knights of Fantasy is a medly of classical fused with his former hit "Whistle Bump". 1978's Love Island doesn't seem to go anywhere for me. There's a cover of a Strayhorn's Take the A Train and a lame rehash duet with some members of EWF. Melody mirrors that of "That's the way of the world."

I heard rumored that a couple of his CTI classical disco fusion albums were reissued using the incorrect masters. I don't know how true that is but I have 2 different pressings of George Benson's CTI Body Talk Lp and the track times are
physically different when played.

What are the traits that listeners like in his 70's music because I'm not hearing them?

[discorecordplayer]

70s

[Diskos]

Hi,
I don't know whether it's usual to reanimate old posts, but I wanted to put in my two pennies worth. To me his early works from the early 1970s are unsurpassed, and from 1975 or 1976 onwards it's still good, often great, but the tracks seem to be simpler in structure. This becomes especially clear in the 1980s, which is already very poppy stuff and which lacks the depth I find in his earlier works. To his early-1970s work that I really adore, I would also count his works as an arranger, as with some Jobim albums for instance.

[PierreConstantin]

When "Fire in the sky" was released in 1984, I absolutely loved the song -and by the way never understood why the 12" version was basically a + 30 sec. re-edit of the lp version with a part of the intro moved to the break.