''Dance Little Dreamer'' by Bionic Boogie

[Marcio**]

According to Brian Chin ''Dance Little Dreamer'' by Bionic Boogie predicted the Chic vocal formula :o --->






Gregg Diamond, 1949*-1999

Gregg Diamond, disco auteur, combined a West Village and East Village mentality in dance hits that displayed, at once, punk/glam outrage, the latest street jive, and flawless musicianship. Diamond died unexpectedly on March 14 of gastrointestinal bleeding. Trained at the Berklee School of Music, Diamond drummed onstage for everyone from James Brown to Jobriath. But it was his strong piano playing and a decision to knuckle down at songwriting that resulted in the 1976 worldwide smash "More, More, More" by the Andrea True Connection.

Augmenting his band— Steve Love on guitar, Jim Gregory on bass, and his brother, engineer/coproducer Godfrey Diamond on drums— with the finest New York session players, he used the leverage of his hit single to create a series of albums under the names Bionic Boogie and Starcruiser that introduced some of pop's greatest singers to the dance floor. Gwen Guthrie, Zachary Sanders, and Ullanda McCollough starred in the dizzying "Risky Changes," and a song that predicted the Chic vocal formula, "Dance Little Dreamer," on 1977's Bionic Boogie.

The following year, Hot Butterfly ratcheted up Diamond's game stunningly, delivering street-vérité lyrics and surrealistic sleaze through a truly celestial choir: Sanders, Luther Vandross, Cissy Houston, and David Lasley. In the Lasley-led Beach-Boys-go-to-church "Paradise," Sanders's raucous "Chains," and especially Luther's first true star turns on record, "Hot Butterfly" and "Cream (Always Rises to the Top)," the vocalists were an accomplished ensemble under the assured direction of an innovative young lion— as if Diamond were setting out to make Pulp Fiction or Boogie Nights in the recording studio. His eye caught the crass and the beautiful, in lines like "Haddaya like your love?" and the one that many of us will treasure always, "Fly up in the sky, like a butterfly, baby." — Brian Chin



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[ol'skinflint]

sounds like you and I should be competing to determine who is the biggest Gregg Diamond fan! You didn't mention his production work for Gloria Gaynor, nor his album called "Gregg Diamond's Hardware" which I foolish bought and sold twice (I didn't consider it to be his best work but now wish I'd kept it to complete my collection). I also found an album in the bargian bins by an artist called "the Joel Diamond Experience" and keep wondering if he's a relative. And you're in for a treat if you haven't heard the St. Tropez cover of "Heart to Heart", it's sensual and sexy, while the version on the "More More More" album is quite different......