MUSIQUE

[Masdefi]

Hi folks, I got two LPs from Musique, "Keep on dancin'" and "Musique 2". I think "Keep on Jumpin" just as one of the most interesting LPs of disco, Jocelyn Brown was grown in there.

Is there anyone out there who has any other LPs of this group? I only know those two.

[BrunoRepublic]

To the best of my knowledge, there are only the two LPs. Musique II came out in '80, and we all know what happened to disco then.



If "Keep On Jumpin'" is not the best disco LP ever, it's gotta be in the top 5.

[Boodikka]

I always thought "Summer Love" was the best song Musique ever did, and it may have been one of the best songs of 1978.

Musique appeared at a disco nostalgia show at the Palladium in NYC in September 1993. Others appearing were The Trammps and The Village People, as well as other acts. Musique's live version of "Summer Love" was easily the highlight of that evening, IMHO.

The second Musique album sounds like a rushed hodge-podge, especially "Love Massage", which sounds like it was written and produced during a coffee break.

[Giovanni]

Musique did only two LPs and some 12", the most famous ones being PRL D 154 (Keep on jumpin' / in the bush) and PRL D 163 (Keep on jumpin' / in the bush - Francois K remix).

PRL D 163 is the first record ever mixed by the french maestro.

To be honest Musique was only a studio project of the great Patrick Adams, as Marvin Schlachter (Chief at Prelude) explains (quoted from http://www.disco-disco.com/labels/prelude.html)

"I think the producer was the creative talent there and in most of them, but not in every, the artist was treated as an instrument. And quite frankly, there was no artist named Musique, when Patrick Adams produced that for us. It was only after the record started to sell very well that we created a group. So again, these were just session singers that were hired to do the vocals and then ultimately we turned around and created a group and there was obviously a group called Musique.

[Paulo]

Hello:



Regarding Giovanni's post... One of the complaints from rock acts against disco is exactly that: while rock bands really existed, created, played and produced their music by themselves, disco acts simply did not exist... they were the fictional products of the minds of some old fat producer... in other words, a sell out. The fans would be worshiping nothing...



Personally I don't see things that way. I know that many disco bands did not really exist (Musique, Ritchie Family, Saint Tropez, El Coco)... The singers and even some players were studio musicians who were hired and changed by the producers. But that's no demerit at all. This only proves the important value of the producers. Everything was up to them. They wrote, created, arranged and produced the whole album... (singers are only a part on the overall music)... I think ultimatly they were the real invisible disco stars.



Maybe even flesh and blood singers like Donna Summer would not have happened if it wasn't for the invisible producer behind her (not so invisble in her case).



This is one also a difference between 70's disco and 90's dance: DISCO MUSIC was about producers/arrangers, opposed to nowadays music which is about DJs.



Bye

Paulo

[usagi-san]

On 2001-11-24 03:29, Paulo wrote:

Hello:



Regarding Giovanni's post... One of the complaints from rock acts against disco is exactly that: while rock bands really existed, created, played and produced their music by themselves, disco acts simply did not exist... they were the fictional products of the minds of some old fat producer... in other words, a sell out. The fans would be worshiping nothing...



Personally I don't see things that way. I know that many disco bands did not really exist (Musique, Ritchie Family, Saint Tropez, El Coco)... The singers and even some players were studio musicians who were hired and changed by the producers. But that's no demerit at all. This only proves the important value of the producers. Everything was up to them. They wrote, created, arranged and produced the whole album... (singers are only a part on the overall music)... I think ultimatly they were the real invisible disco stars.



Maybe even flesh and blood singers like Donna Summer would not have happened if it wasn't for the invisible producer behind her (not so invisble in her case).



This is one also a difference between 70's disco and 90's dance: DISCO MUSIC was about producers/arrangers, opposed to nowadays music which is about DJs.



Bye

Paulo

Excellent point Paulo, about the talented producers. I think the studio musicians' vocals were great, too. And I am sure there were some uncredited studio musicians helping out on some rock albums, too.

I think disco fans were a lot more gracious to rock and roll than vice versa. I never heard of a disco DJ organizing a rock records bonfire or starting a "rock sucks" movement. The Village People's "Live and Sleazy" album had a song "Rock & Roll Is Back Again." I never heard of a rock band doing a song with a title like "Disco Is Back Again." In the 1970s I liked rock and roll but I liked disco more. One of the rock bands I liked was Sweet, then they did a song "Discophony" that went "Can't stand that disco music..." I guess maybe they never thought maybe a few of their fans liked both styles of music. Paul McCartney was supposedly back to his rock roots with his "Flaming Pie" album, but I was thinking, "How about a whole album of dance music in the vein of "Goodnight Tonight"?

By the way, I have both great Musique albums too, though "Keep On Jumpin' is my favorite. I also have the 12" of "Keep On Jumpin/In The Bush", and 7' singles with shorter versions of both.

[Paulo]

Hi Usagi-san



I also think that disco fans have a much more broadened mind than rock fans. Disco fans have no prejudice against other musical formats, but the rock press and fans are extremely radical. I have never seen a heavy metal or a punk fan digging also Gloria Gaynor or Donna Summer.



Although I prefer disco music by far, I also like some rock. From the 70's I like Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, ELP...(progressive rock stuff). From the 80's I love Prefab Sprout and The Smiths.



I have a friend who is a rock lover and he is always at me saying he can't understand how I can listen to a Pink Floyd album and then switch to Supernature by Cerrone. I don't have any problem with that at all. In the end, although the rock press and fans don't aknowledge this, to me disco is a much more sophisticated form of music than rock. If rock fans doubt it they should just check the orchestral and keyboard arrangemets by disco producers like Constandinos, Midney, Rinder & Lewis, etc...

Bye

Paulo

[JussiK]

On 2001-11-23 20:05, Boodikka wrote:

Musique appeared at a disco nostalgia show at the Palladium in NYC in September 1993. Others appearing were The Trammps and The Village People, as well as other acts.

Boodikka, I don't believe this! I was there too! I was the one jumping up and down right at the front, singing along to "Midnight love affair" as loud as I could, getting a funny look from Carol Douglas. I just could not help it and got completely carried away with the excitement. Didn't you love Sharon Redd! I liked when Sharon told the audience it was like a homecoming for her singing there, and then she picked up a guy to do the hustle with her on the stage. - I also thought Tavares were very good and even liked the slowie they performed. - It's a small world!

[Masdefi]

On 2001-11-23 21:11, Giovanni wrote:

And quite frankly, there was no artist named Musique, when Patrick Adams produced that for us. It was only after the record started to sell very well that we created a group. So again, these were just session singers that were hired to do the vocals and then ultimately we turned around and created a group and there was obviously a group called Musique.

In fact, if you check Musique II's cover, you'll find different people listed as singers vs Musique's first LP. Jocelyn Brown disappeared. Amazing, but I think lot of groups were not really existing or maybe we couldn't really consider as that. Anyway, in spite of that, I consider "Summer love theme" as a pillar in the disco history. I remember to found it in a second hand shop in Milan, Italy, in 1987.

And I agree about rock people scorn about disco. I remember when I was twenty, rock music was at the max, a lot of friends of mine criticized me, but I answered them to carefully listen at rock with Dolby OFF position, otherwise they would have listened nothing at all! In other words I said: rock is just noise. But that was not true, I was only annoying tham because I liked also some rock tune, but they have never agreed with me on some disco track. I remember alsoi that in the "Tartaruga" club dj spinned Undisputed Truth with.....QUEEN's "Dragon attack"! Therefore I agree with Paulo, rock people have in general not broadened mind.

But, after years, if we could make an inquiry, who is more alive between disco and rock?







<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Masdefi on 2001-11-25 10:37 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Masdefi on 2001-11-25 10:39 ]</font>

[Boodikka]

A small world, indeed, Jussi! I also enjoyed Tavares singing that live version of "Penny For Your Thoughts" that evening.

What intrigued me that evening was seeing two distinct groups of people there that evening....30plus types like my group who knew and enjoyed most of the songs, and an 18ish demographic that only seemed to know the "wedding disco" material. The over-30s danced and enjoyed themselves, while the boppers....well, I have no idea what they were doing, and I doubt if they knew themselves. It was a fun night, indeed.