MODERN SOUND CORPORATION - SAFARI

[QUINNY]

Just dragged this record out to be transferred to digital and was taken by surprise. :o

It's a disc that's very difficult to pigeonhole as it has real cheesey elements (the vocals/lyrics), is jazzy big band (sounding like a big band of old timers) in places, caribbean (steel drums) AND (this is the really surprising bit) a most amazing 15 seconds of an incredibly tough sounding bass and drum groove that if it had been more pronounced (i.e. more of it) might have elevated the track to cult status. The groove in question is just like Miroslav Vitous' New York City...only better and at a similar 130/131 BPM?

BTW: The 'B' side is even more far out in that it is instrumental, has dubby elements (mixed by Casey & Finch no less as is the 'A' side), even has some broken beats elements, is 4 minutes longer AND, get this, has a FADED IN intro. Altogether a side that could be played today alongside more modern records, I guess.

The track was licensed from KTel, Sweden, of all places.

Anyone remember playing it BITD? By looking at the centre hole on the (longer) 'B' side, I see that I didn't give it too many spins as by the time it was released, 130 BPM Disco had had its day and the 'B' side probably would have been just too rhythm based to have been widely accepted (even in London).

[Disco Funk]

I don't know about back in the day, but today it gets top dollar on Ebay! I was lucky to find it for a lower price than it usually goes for, but it was still expensive (I'm referring to the 12" by the way).

To me the vocals are cheesy, and are in a heavy accented English, an African vocalist? I think the instrumentation is cool. Lots of percussion, and that kalimba sounds great.

I love the B side echo/dub mix. Sounds ahead of its time.

Was there ever an LP released by Modern Sound Corporation? Or was it just the one off single?

Disco Funk

[QUINNY]

So, it gets biggish money on EBay? That's a little surprising. Sounds like it already is a minor cult record.

I could imagine this record going down well with quite a range of people nowadays. It has pure pop disco appeal, solid rhythm and (the 'B' side) enough interesting bits to keep trainspotters happy too. Not often you come across tracks that have all of that.

[Zef]

Great B side version. I remember it well from back in the day, as some of my schools friends played it for me and I had to hunt it down because it certainly had status in Hackney London England at that time.
I must dig it out again, funnily I saw it recently at a car boot sale for the grand sum of about 50p. If only I had known about the ebay factor, I would have snapped up another copy as fast as....

[Disco Funk]

I don't know what it's going for today, since I haven't shopped for it on Ebay for a couple of years, but I imagine the demand is still high. I think it was getting big bucks because it was included on some DJ's dance compilation a few years ago (I forget the name of it). I wouldn't be surprised if that's what made it a cult item, like Jakki's 'Sun Sun Sun' after being included on that Larry Levan comp.

Disco Funk

[QUINNY]

Personally, I've never understood why anyone would rush out to buy Sun, Sun, Sun. It is one of the weakest records I have ever heard, with sooo many half baked ideas. It ends up sounding less than musical.

Zef: Aah!!! I forgot about places like Hackney and Brixton. I was working in the West End when the record came out, playing to a reasonably hip crowd and judging from the marks around the centre hole, probably gave it a few dozen spins before assigning it to the 'played but forgotten' crates. The 'B' side is soo contemporary sounding it's uncanny.

It's listed on an Idjut Boys mix CD (Saturday Night Live) and Disco Strut Vol.2, but nowhere else, so far as I can see.

I'm surprised no-one else remembers this track.

[RetroRuss]

I have a couple copies of this record and they all reside in my 'Doesn't Float My Boat & Never Will' crate put their a few years ago. I have to be honest and say I probably played the 'A' Side and when I saw the 'B' side say Instrumental I probably thought more of the same - so I will enter the vault, dig it out and give it a spin.

[QUINNY]

I have a couple copies of this record and they all reside in my 'Doesn't Float My Boat & Never Will' crate put their a few years ago. I have to be honest and say I probably played the 'A' Side and when I saw the 'B' side say Instrumental I probably thought more of the same - so I will enter the vault, dig it out and give it a spin.

It'll be interesting to see what you think of it with fresh ears on. I'd always had it down as a 'never ever' type of record, but was fairly gobsmacked when I listened to it again. The 'B' side is for fairly serious groove merchants.

With your radio appearances you could start a brand new buzz on it. :D

[RetroRuss]

It'll be interesting to see what you think of it with fresh ears on. I'd always had it down as a 'never ever' type of record, but was fairly gobsmacked when I listened to it again. The 'B' side is for fairly serious groove merchants.

With your radio appearances you could start a brand new buzz on it. :D

Well I recall it as one to archive but then again I found in a crate last week a 12" called 'Superlover' by Rena Scott and it ended up on both my shows. I am going to have a sore back tonight, after lifting & shifting then sifting through the crates again tonight!!

[RetroRuss]

Well I have given it a whirl....it still doesn't 'float my boat', although the B side was more interesting, I did like the dub style. I have to say some of the beats are very House music style - and it's BPM probably appeals to those DJ's that mix old with new.

As it's out of the box now I'll give it a spin on Smoke this Thursday for all to hear!

[Disco Funk]

I think the demand for the Safari record is propelled by the B side dub mix, which was the version on the compilation I was referring to. The vocals are weak and hurt the record. It's still a nice slice of african-disco. I like the percussion arrangement.

As for Sun Sun Sun, Quinny, are you talking about the 9 minute 12" track or the LP? I didn't like the LP when I first heard it. The vocals are really badly done. The guy sounds like some off-broadway singer in a stage show. But I found the instrumentation really good. The 12" version of the Sun Sun Sun track is pretty good, but not worth $80 or more US. The breakdown section is kind of odd and sounds like an afterthought. I think it was recorded after to link up Parts 1 and 2 from the 45 mix, because they are next to impossible to cleanly edit together to make an extended version. Too many change-ups (chords; arrangements) which is unusual for a disco song.

Disco Funk

[JussiK]

The b-side of the white label re-edit of "Trinidad" by Joe Gibbs has a great edit of "Safari", a long bass&percussion break that churns on and on at 132bpm. No vocals, just intense drumming.

[QUINNY]

It's interesting that it's been released on t'other side of the Joe Gibbs track. This serves to highlight another odd thing about Safari.I t ended up sounding more Caribbean than African (especially the 'A' side). How did they get it sooo wrong, one wonders?

[Disco Funk]

Maybe it was supposed to be a Caribbean/African fusion? Or perhaps the musicians were from the West Indies so they inflected their own sound. The horns sound 'African' if that makes sense, plus they have the kalimba (that metallic instrument that sounds like it came out of a wind-up music box), and the lead vocalist.

Disco Funk

[QUINNY]

Maybe it was supposed to be a Caribbean/African fusion? Or perhaps the musicians were from the West Indies so they inflected their own sound. The horns sound 'African' if that makes sense, plus they have the kalimba (that metallic instrument that sounds like it came out of a wind-up music box), and the lead vocalist.

Disco Funk

With a title of Safari and the lyrics, do you really think it was deliberately made as an Afro/Caribbean fusion? Why they changed from Marimba (that is a Marimba isn't it, NOT a Kalimba?) to Steel drums is anyone's guess, but I don't recall steel drums being African, whereas Marimba most definitely is. They just got it hopelessly wrong! :D

I reckon maybe Casey & Finch added the steel drums and possibly some of the horn stabs at the remix stage. That would make sense. When I listen closely to it, the horn playing doesn't sound like the same people or the same arranger at different parts of the track. The vocal chorus piece with guitar at the beginning is very Afro sounding, but that vibe is quickly lost. Some of the subsequent horn stabs aren't brilliantly played and are relatively simple; then after that there's some very jazzy/big band sounding horn sections, which are much more intricate and well played. It sounds odd just to have a saxophone section doing the intricate horn parts...very big band and probably shows the true origins of the track.

Part of this track's appeal is the mish-mash of sounds and styles. That could be a recipe for disaster (e.g. Sun Sun Sun), but somehow this track never quite gets into the relms of ridicule or non- musicality.

I guess, either by accident or design, it doesn't really know what it wants to be, eh?

[Disco Funk]

With a title of Safari and the lyrics, do you really think it was deliberately made as an Afro/Caribbean fusion? Why they changed from Marimba (that is a Marimba isn't it, NOT a Kalimba?) to Steel drums is anyone's guess, but I don't recall steel drums being African, whereas Marimba most definitely is. They just got it hopelessly wrong! :D

Were there steel drums on the track? I'll have to check it out again. The kalimba is that reverbed chime instrument that increases in volume at the end of each bar; it sounds like vibes. Earth Wind & Fire liked to use the instrument quite a bit in the early to mid 70s.

I reckon maybe Casey & Finch added the steel drums and possibly some of the horn stabs at the remix stage. That would make sense. When I listen closely to it, the horn playing doesn't sound like the same people or the same arranger at different parts of the track. The vocal chorus piece with guitar at the beginning is very Afro sounding, but that vibe is quickly lost. Some of the subsequent horn stabs aren't brilliantly played and are relatively simple; then after that there's some very jazzy/big band sounding horn sections, which are much more intricate and well played. It sounds odd just to have a saxophone section doing the intricate horn parts...very big band and probably shows the true origins of the track.

To me the horns sound like something you'd hear on, say, a Manu Dibango track. It is possible that Casey Finch changed part of the arrangement, especially the drum track and the percussion, to give it a more disco sound.

Part of this track's appeal is the mish-mash of sounds and styles. That could be a recipe for disaster (e.g. Sun Sun Sun), but somehow this track never quite gets into the relms of ridicule or non- musicality.

I guess, either by accident or design, it doesn't really know what it wants to be, eh?

That's the beauty of some of the most appealing dance tracks - you can't pigeon-hole the exact sound!

Disco Funk

[Noman]

Modern Sound Corporation was Swedish!!.

They existed 1978 - 1980. Some of the members where of west indian and african origin. That also explains the odd accent, not rasta or african, more like "swenglish".

Thats also why it is the K-tel Label Quinny. It was also released on T.K. label.

[QUINNY]

Modern Sound Corporation was Swedish!!.

They existed 1978 - 1980. Some of the members where of west indian and african origin. That also explains the odd accent, not rasta or african, more like "swenglish".

Thats also why it is the K-tel Label Quinny. It was also released on T.K. label.

Duh!! I think I'd already put 2 and 2 together. :D
Any more info on MSC, as the writer has a vaguely French sounding name.

Was K-Tel a particularly Swedish label or particularly big in Sweden?? I've only ever known it for cut price compilations, some of which were very dubious. Hence my :o mild shock at seeing 'licenced from K-Tel International, Sweden'.

[Noman]

K-tel had a big swedish branch and I've seen it so much so I think of it as a Swedish label, but it's not. It's an international (US) company.

As you say they released a lot of compilations in the 70's ("20 Power Hits, 36 Super Gold Hits, Disco Mania, Disco Rocket, Disco Fire etc etc) and also the "Hooked On" series.

I see what I can find out about MSC.

[Disco Funk]

KTel compilations sacrificed length and quality for quantity. They were great if you wanted a sampling of music from a particular year, but they'd take a 3 minute single mix and literally edit it down to 2 minutes so they could squeeze more cuts onto the records. I think they were more like samplers.

Back to Safari, you guys mention how Part 2 of the 12" was contemporary sounding. I now recall having bought the 7" first, liking it, as Part 2 was just an extension of Part 1, not a dub mix like on the 12". So when I thought about getting the track on the Idjut boys CD, I was completely put off! I thought the Idjut version, which was a 6 minute edit of the 12" Part 2, had been altered by the producers of the CD!! I was pretty annoyed. So later, when I finally bought the 12" I realized that I was completely mistaken about the CD version being altered. That's how contemporary the dub mix sounded to my ears.

Disco Funk