Songs from the school of the Love Unlimited

[remicks]

*****

Presently I can't get past playing this new discovery :

MILLIONAIRE by Dave Crawford I'm really enjoying its trueness in sound and spirit to that of the GenePage / Barry White compositions .

I'd like to make a CD of songs that might fall into the "sounds like" category of the Mighty Maestro. 8)

Disco Funk has already mentioned the exquisitely White-like HANG ON IN THERE BABY by Johnny Bristol ...

So I'm wondering if there are others that come to mind ??........

Remicks
*****

[Disco Funk]

The Gene Page produced stuff also uses the same Love Unlimited Orchestra sound and group of musicians. But they aren't credited as such on the LPs.

I thought that Floyd Smith song 'I Just Can't Give You Up" is very Barry White-ish (the melody even sounds like 'Satin Soul').

Black Light Orchestra also did a tune that was a tribute to Barry White called 'Tribute To Barry'.

Rick Dees did a parody of Barry White called 'Barely White' on his Disco Duck LP that obviously sounds like a Barry White/Love Unlimited Orchestra track.

Johnny Bristol used the same musicians on Feelin The Magic as well, but had distanced himself from the copy-cat Barry White sound. Still, it does sound like it could have been a LUO production.

Disco Funk

[Videoskooter]

The Fun Lovin' Criminals. Check out their site and be amazed by their version of "I Love N.Y." Verry Barry :lol:

Also take a listen to their "Love Unlimited (Barry White Saved My Life)"

http://www.flcnyc.com/

[remicks]

*****

Gene Page's WILD CHERRY might fit in ..... ( is that Angela Bofill ??)


this is not the lusher Love Unlimited sound I'm really looking for ....
but ....
Le Pamplemousse LE SPANK would mix well /has similar structure to ITS ECSTASY WHEN YOU LAY DOWN NEXT TO ME ... if I were to include that Barry White song ......

*****

[all*that*glitters*]

[/b] ...

So I'm wondering if there are others that come to mind ??........

Remicks
*****

this one might fight your compilation...
Felice Taylor -I feel love coming on /Bob Keene Orchestra -coming on again (instrumental of the same tune)
produced and written by Barry White in 1967, way before his own solo outings and very similar of his Love Unlimited work later on.
The intro sounds like 'standing in the shadows of love' and throughout the song flashes of 'you're the first, you're the last' pop up. Nice!
and yes, 'it's ecstasy' definitely is a must for any real Barry White fans...
all*that*glitters*

[mrbmarco]

I can think of three:

Just As Long As We're Together - Gloria Scott
Everlasting Love - Carl Carlton
Strange Funky Games And Things - Jay Dee

[remicks]

****
Thanks all !!!


I've got two more :


Fania All Stars ---DESAFIO1976

no wonder: written and produced by Gene Page ( this is classic Love Unlimited )

anyone know who these " all-stars" are ??? ....on Columbia .....
"desafio " gets whisperd like "do the hustle ' does on Van's THE HUSTLE ....what does it mean...... "challenge " ???


and
Real Thing --- YOU TO ME ARE EVERYTHING pye
with a British application of "the theme" .....


*****

[thommy2458]

[quote=remicks]*****

Presently I can't get past playing this new discovery :

MILLIONAIRE by Dave Crawford I'm really enjoying its trueness in sound and spirit to that of the GenePage / Barry White compositions .

I'd like to make a CD of songs that might fall into the "sounds like" category of the Mighty Maestro. 8)

Disco Funk has already mentioned the exquisitely White-like HANG ON IN THERE BABY by Johnny Bristol ...

So I'm wondering if there are others that come to mind ??........


Remicks-you must..MUST...check out "Love Song" by
Simon Said(a 45 on Atco-maybe1975?)a perfect
Love Unlimited faux morsel-with whispery,dramatic
spoken parts,lush strings and a gorgeous melody.
Thom

[visuals]

Remicks, While I don't know much that would sound close to Barry White & Love Unlimited, I just had to mention my favorite album by the Orchestra:



Another album that I still await a formal re-issue on CD. I truly feel that when an artist such as the great Barry White passes on, The legacy within the music left behind should be re-issued in it's entirety for the world to savor as well as respect and honor.

In regards of similar sounds, I would have to choose Curtom label's "Leroy Hutson". Hutson's stuff can at times be classified in the same vein as Mr.White in terms of "musical arrangement"..... beautifully placed violins and other exotic strings all over the place, a wah-wah guitar riff here and there and not to mention great drums all show Mr.Hutson in a style that seems to be patterned off of the same lush, fully orchestrated sound that was so elegantly parlayed by Barry White. I have gotten into quite a few arguments over this in recent past. Upon listening to Hutson's "Lover's Holiday" & I Do, I Do" and quite a few others from the Curtom stylist, One can't help but hear the influence. Love to them both.

[Mixmachine]

"make it last forever" by Donna Mcghee sounds pretty Barry White-ish to me with cow bell and all :-Pso is the remake by Inner City

Just recently re-discovered "Desafio" it's taken from the Columbia Album "Delicate & Jumpy" I wanna try to find this.

"Fania" was a famous NYC predominantly Salsa Music label, but also release other music including Latin Disco, ( LTG Express), the "All Star" ususally refers to recordings that used all (or many) the Label's musicians playing together live or in the Studio. Many great musicians in those days recorded or toured with Fania (some while signed by other label) , some familar names, Mongo Santamaria, Cheo Feliciano, Hector Lavoe, Jan Hammer (Miami Vice) Louie Ramirez ("Salsa"), Late queen of Salsa Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Willie Colon, and the list goes on and on. in 1973 Manu Dibango toured with Fania all star doing a wicket Soul Makossa.

[eddie]

Hey Visuals, I hear the similarity between Hutson and White even though Hutson is not a baritone. They are both indepedant artists who write, arrange, and give their songs a certain signature. Neither are truly funk nor disco and do not use political lyrics in their music. Both artists have ballads neatly crafted with strings and often feature instrumentals on their albums. They both use female backgrounds and augment their arrangements.

However, one artist that really traveled in Barry White's wake was Johnny Bristol. On tracks like "Hang on in there baby" one could easily hear how Barry was his main influence.

[remicks]

Hey Visuals, I hear the similarity between Hutson and White even though Hutson is not a baritone. They are both indepedant artists who write, arrange, and give their songs a certain signature. Neither are truly funk nor disco

Eddie Eddie Eddie ......I hate to seem like I'm forever coming down on ya friend ...but I simply can't just ignore these untruths being disseminated onto a thread of mine & irresponsibly leave them left uncorrected ...

besides .... I'm getting a might worried about you :-D:roll: and unless immediate remedial action is taken I'm afriad you'll wind up down some narrow little disco road not unlike the one Quinny travels ....................................:-P

There was so much variety to disco .....such a wonderfully wide range of sounds that to try to define "A" disco sound is quite reckless if not futile .

Now Marky does us all a great service by painstakingly producing the actual 100 per cent valid DISCO charts actually created during the days of disco by actual disco djs who spun actual disco music in actual disco clubs . It's the closest thing to a deliverance of truth from the tablets of Moses that we've got ....

So......... Barry White ! not disco? This has to stop !! Barry White is the godfather of disco ...the earliest mentions of the concept of disco never fail to include him

And this is where studying the disco charts is of such great value .....
......Once the Billboard disco chart was started in late 1974 .... surprise surprise .....look who perched his big ol' self none too soon right at the top :

COMPILATION CONSENSUS TOP 16
Chart #3: November 9, 1974

1) YOU'RE THE FIRST, THE LAST, MY EVERYTHING/ b/w MORE THAN ANYTHING, YOU'RE MY EVERYTHING (Instrumental) - Barry White
(20th Century 45) (22 total points/ charts ABC) (Last week: #2)

2) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - Gloria Gaynor
(MGM 45) (20/ABC) (#1)
3) GET DANCIN' (PARTS 1 & 2) - Disco Tex & His Sex-O-Lettes
(Chelsea 45) (20/ABC) (#3)
4) WHERE ARE ALL MY FRIENDS - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
(Phil. Intl. 45) (16/BC) (#5)
5) DOCTOR'S ORDERS - Carol Douglas

He bumped off Gloria Gaynor for crying out loud !!

That was 1974 ....

....and currently Marky's revealing for us .... all that was disco in the middle of 1976 ---
and before too long here .... guess what ..... Barry White's gonna be back right in the middle of it all again ....and surprise surprise .... guess where he charges his big linebacker bad self all the way back up to on the disco chart ....yet again .....8)8)8)8) .... :-).....

Those wonderfully revealing & defining disco charts .... they hold for us these truths ... !!

OK I'm done .......................:roll::razz::-D


*****

[remicks]

"make it last forever" by Donna Mcghee sounds pretty Barry White-ish to me with cow bell and all :-Pso is the remake by Inner City

Just recently re-discovered "Desafio" it's taken from the Columbia Album "Delicate & Jumpy" I wanna try to find this.

"Fania" was a famous NYC predominantly Salsa Music label, but also release other music including Latin Disco, ( LTG Express), the "All Star" ususally refers to recordings that used all (or many) the Label's musicians playing together live or in the Studio. Many great musicians in those days recorded or toured with Fania (some while signed by other label) , some familar names, Mongo Santamaria, Cheo Feliciano, Hector Lavoe, Jan Hammer (Miami Vice) Louie Ramirez ("Salsa"), Late queen of Salsa Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Willie Colon, and the list goes on and on. in 1973 Manu Dibango toured with Fania all star doing a wicket Soul Makossa.

thanks for the info MM ......I will also be on the lookout for this one :D
Fania All Stars - http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/3245_0_2_0_C/

Remicks-you must..MUST...check out "Love Song" by
Simon Said(a 45 on Atco-maybe1975?)a perfect
Love Unlimited faux morsel-with whispery,dramatic
spoken parts,lush strings and a gorgeous melody.
Thom

I have other Simon Said's but not this one ....more to seek !!!8)8) thanx !!


*****

[QUINNY]

Remicks: One that might float your boat and remind you of Barry's Love Unlimited instrumental outings is.......

Nature Zone - Porcupine

What's this narrow road I'm travellin' down? I'm flabbergasted that some of you guys (Remicks) use chart action to blast someone's supposed bad taste/non-cred and then use those same charts to back up your own pet likes.

Barry White wasn't strictly Disco, but he was played in discos and the same applies to Leroy Hutson (with the exception of 'Feel the Spirit of '76' which was pure Disco).

Sure, I played Barry White, but I didn't ever feel (as a 22-26 year old DJ, already older than my core audience) that his music was anything more than over 40's sex olympics background music. All the letharios of this world loved it. Much of his output consisted of the same tunes re-written/re-scored and musically he never really moved on, once he'd hit upon his magic formula. Your quoted example (first, last, everything) had a rhythm pattern that wasn't anything like the Disco music that was being played at the time and for me, was the beginning of the end for him. It harkened back to soul records of the late '60's (out of date), was too fast (for the time) and was a pop hit primarily. Most of his big hits redefined cheese and syrupy sweet at the same time, but there were a few that were very good tracks. Overweight and overblown in my books.

[Nano]

Yes, "desafío" means "challenge", however it's not a word used in casual conversation often.

I'm reading this and I can't think of any songs but some time ago I saw this Barry White concert DVD from BITD, it was delighting and kitschy at the same time, you know? I mean, I LOL when I saw Barry's heavy perspiration all over his face... when all he does is walk talking on the microphone! And Glodean's nails! :-o Between the bonus features in the DVD there's a recording session circa 1980 in which her nails are several inches longer still (obviously she never cut them). The fake eyelashes, the wigs, you know... Of course the music is great!

The best part is a little featurette in which Barry and Glodean show the house they are building for themselves. The couple show a big hole in the ground in which they will put their swimming pool. It's like those houses in Goodfellas, or that Ike and Tina had in the movie What's love got to do with it. Instantaneous Jussi material :icon_mrgreen:

[Mixmachine]

Remicks: One that might float your boat and remind you of Barry's Love Unlimited instrumental outings is.......

Nature Zone - Porcupine

Hey, Remicks Listen to old Quinny he's not lying. :icon_mrgreen::p:p



http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/7155_0_2_0_C/

Yes, "desafío" means "challenge", however it's not a word used in casual conversation often.

It could also be translated as a "Dare" as in an invitation to a duel over a question of honor. (in the old conquistadores days :-?)

[remicks]

Remicks: One that might float your boat and remind you of Barry's Love Unlimited instrumental outings is.......

Nature Zone - Porcupine

I will definitely seek out PORCUPINE 8)8)

What's this narrow road I'm travellin' down? I'm flabbergasted that some of you guys (Remicks) use chart action to blast someone's supposed bad taste/non-cred and then use those same charts to back up your own pet likes.

No need to be so flabbergasted :p .....
You are simply misstating my position .

Everyone is entitled to like whatever they like ....and I've never thought the charts had some special power to browbeat anyone into broadening their puny tastes..... :roll::lol:

BUT …. because someone doesn’t like a certain style of disco music ... be it European ... lush orchestration ...funk …. whatever ... that dislike doesn't then stop that music from being disco . That is my point.

….hate the Bee Gees all anyone wants ..... fair enough ... but , sorry ... still (often ) disco . Yech on ABBA? ...still (at times ) disco ....Barry White ??? same thing. All I can ever say over and over is thank GOD for the confirmation of these truths via the BILLBOARD DISCO charts .... Just check 'em out ... sho 'nuff ...there they all are ... Bee Gees , ABBA , Barry White , happily boogieing along amongst a wide assortment of musical acts ( Stones , Streisand , Stewart ) each with their own style of disco offerings ....

I can't figure out the resistance to this ????
Trust me disco fans ....this wide range of disco .... all this variety of disco to embrace .... this is a good thing !!
Broaden your narrow road !!!

Sure, I played Barry White, but I didn't ever feel (as a 22-26 year old DJ, already older than my core audience) that his music was anything more than over 40's sex olympics background music

So there it is ...that’s your own opinion and you're welcomed to it ( and you wonder what narrow road you’re easing on down !!! :p:p)

Still doesn't change reality .... FIRST LAST EVERYTHING was a #1 disco song baby !!
And no amount of negative opinions can now go back and reverse the irrefutable reality that in America: the discos loved Barry White’s disco music …
and unlike you with just an opinion of the situation …... I (WE ) have the charts 8) to confirm this truth …..



By the way .... ... I 've had to modifiy my own position on some music because of the charts .
I've always felt that Boz Scaggs’s LOWDOWN was the biggest con ever perpetuated in the name of "disco'... but I can't argue its disco chart performance which continues to be marginally impressive ......
OK then ...its disco ... not my style ... but that doesn't then stop it from being disco 8)....the charts ( derived from disco djs who played disco music in disco clubs during the disco era ) say so!
(see how that works) .....

oh well ..... it does have horns and strings I guess ... and a heavily featured Van McCoy favored piccolo /flute ........:roll:.... ....


*****

[Mixmachine]

[quote=thommy2458]

*****

Remicks-you must..MUST...check out "Love Song" by
Simon Said(a 45 on Atco-maybe1975?)a perfect
Love Unlimited faux morsel-with whispery,dramatic
spoken parts,lush strings and a gorgeous melody.
Thom

Yes, Simon Said's "Love song" is a cross between "Can't get enough" and "walking in the Rain" I was looking for the original 7" to see if Barry had anything to do with this one, but no luck, I have it on a CDR , is short only 2:46:???:

[tony98]

Somebody gave a namecheck for Gloria Scott,i've got the album in front of me now it's on Casablanca 1974 produced by Barry White ,arranged by Gene Page & Tom Brock.It's something worth looking for.

[eddie]

Remicks:

Let me refine my context. What I was saying is that neither White nor Hutson are out and out pure funk or pure disco or pure Quiet Storm. I meant that as a compliment to these artists because it was a grave insult to for a soul or Black artist to be considered DISCO BITD. I was just trying to point out some similarities that I noticed in their sound, writing, style, and production.

Yes I do travel down a narrow road when it comes to what I spend my time listening to and spend my money on. I have about 7,000 discs all of which are soul or jazz related but many are heavily influenced by DISCO. I do have about 6 Hutson discs and about 20 Barry White discs and enjoy most everything they do. I have all Love Unlimited albums on either vinyl or CD.

I do have a bit of difficulty defining disco when some insist that Richard Rogers' "Can't stop" isn't disco. I've been told by Euro-disco fans that much soul music that I would consider disco is the blues/down-tempo soul (ie Johnnie Taylor, PIR). I view the world from the soul and jazz perspective and have to stop and think (at times quite hard) what soul music is actually considered DISCO, New Jack, Northern soul, ect.

IT SEEMS LIKE THE BEST UPTEMPO SOUL SONGS HAVE SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF ONE OF THE 3 PREVIOUS STYLES JUST MENTIONED BUT DOES NOT PURELY DEFINE THAT GENRE!

This is an interesting thread but I don't want to split hairs. Where would you put something that's pure funk on the disco chart?

[remicks]

I meant that as a compliment to these artists because it was a grave insult to for a soul or Black artist to be considered DISCO BITD

Bullshit !! :p:p
.....and even James Brown wanted to be called the original discoman by 1979 !!! :p:p:p

however ...I do agree with you that it wasn't the artist that was "disco" .... it was the music itself ... each song ....and artists usually ran a range of styles .

This is an interesting thread but I don't want to split hairs. Where would you put something that's pure funk on the disco chart?

I can't put something that's pure funk on the disco chart..... because I can't put anything on the charts ... they are what they are . The disco DJ's from the actual disco era decided what was disco ....and they oughta know !!!!
So whatever funk songs made it ...there they are .... by Rick James , Ohio Players , Prince , Gap Band , James Brown ....the charts don't lie...8)

By the way ...who's Richard Rogers .....:roll::roll:


*****

[remicks]

*****

Remicks:
I meant that as a compliment to these artists because it was a grave insult to for a soul or Black artist to be considered DISCO BITD.

I just had another thought about this Eddie . Why don't you start a thread listing these ******* Quiet Storm/Soul type artists who thought being considered disco BITD was a "grave insult" ... :p:p:p:p ... I think that'd be most interesting .......


*****

[tony98]

On the theme of soul singers putting Disco down,one of my favourite singers was quoted as " staying true to my roots" and not making a Disco record. Step forward Bobby Womack, didn't you record -I feel a groove coming on- and -Roads of life-you can't get any closer to disco than those 2 tracks.In the 70's a lot of artists tried Disco and i bet they had fun doing it.

[the disco kid]

Hey, Remicks Listen to old Quinny he's not lying. :icon_mrgreen::p:p



http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/7155_0_2_0_C/

NATURE ZONE IS MORE IN STYLE WITH THE SILVER CONVENTION THAN LOVE UNLIMITED, IMO.

CHECK OUT "BEST LOVE" BY ROSE ROYCE, LUO STRING ARRANGEMENTS ABOUND IN THE TRACK.

[QUINNY]

NATURE ZONE IS MORE IN STYLE WITH THE SILVER CONVENTION THAN LOVE UNLIMITED, IMO.

Where yo' ears gawn?