more disco for my lucky ears

[usagi-san]

My ears have been so happy! In the past week or two, they have thrilled to:



Disco Forever (Dimitri from Paris 3 CD collection)

Alex R. Costandinos and the Symphonic Orchestra featuring Alirol and Jacquet

Manu DiBango-Soul Makossa

Cerrone-Love In C Minor

El Coco-Greatest Disco Hits

Black Sun-Disco Heat

Sparks-Number One In Heaven

Sparks-In Outer Space

Sparks-Music That You Can Dance To

Junie-The Westbound Years

[Move2This]

Good to see Sparks getting a mention there. I don't remember them being much discussed on these boards, yet they did some great stuff in the 80s.

[sirius]

About Sparks: Do you know the Album from NOEL

"Dancing Is Dangerous"...it´s absolutely crazy and overdrive...

SIRIUS & DARKTUNES...

[markydefad]

Ah, since Noel has been mentioned...I'm gonna drag this Disco Urban Legend out again.



Both Jussi & Boodi (my gossip buddies) have asserted at different times that Noel, produced by the Mael Brothers who comprise Sparks, was actually Russell Mael in drag and minus the Hitler mustache. Now at first I thought they was a kiddin', but then I read it again, so I pulled out my copy of Noel. Now the "woman" on the cover could be a man in drag--sorta looks like Laura Nyro in a blonde wig and is wearing gloves and totally covered in a blue jumpsuit ( this is the 12")-- I can't hear a man's voice in the vocal, unless they sped up the recording to sound more feminine. I mean there is an Amanda Lear quality to the voice, but it doesn't sound like a man to me. Also, I saw another Noel record from the early 1980's at a record store last weekend. Does anyone know about a second LP release?



As for Sparks themselves, I love their stuff beginning with the Giorgio Moroder produced "Tryouts For The Human Race", "The Number One Song In Heaven", "When I'm With You", and the stupendous "Beat The Clock" (a big fave at Trocaderon in SF). Their later stuff was great too--""Cool Places", "Music That You Can Dance To", "Modesty Plays", "Dance Goddamit", "All YOu Ever Think About Is Sex", etc.



So, Jussi & Boodi, please explain your Noel comments and let's get to the bottom of this .

[sirius]

Ooh la la! I never heard of this rumour...

I thought noel was a french female singer.

I have this LP called "Dancing Is Dangerous"

and the 12" of "I Want A Man"...the cover

shows the woman in green lurex and black

gloves. And maybe this rumour could be right

because he´s able to sing sopran. Anyway,

this "woman" looks beautiful and the sound

too. Instead Amanda has a deeper voice, that

is alt...because she was transsexual...but

that is another story like Romy Haag or Bibi

Anderson. I hope you know the Sparks-LP

"No.1 In Heaven" and the alternative mixes

of "Beat The Clock", because Giorgio was very

innovative on this record. Also the Song

"When I´m With You"(1980) is very nice, al-

though it´s more new romantic to me. GIORGIO

also produced JAPAN´s "Life In Toyko"...

another pre-new-romantic-track.

Cosmic Love & Kisses From SIRIUS & DARK TUNES

[JussiK]

Did I really claim Noel was not what she apperared to be-? Well, like Amanda Lear, she was obviously born a woman. On the album cover the impression is a bit hazy but if you look at that shapely derriere on the sleeve of the Dancing is Dangerous 7" there's not doubt about anything. As for true trannies and sex-changelings look for two Stars from Germany, Louise Leshter and Romy Haag. The former had a hitette with DESHABILLE-MOI in 1979 - a nice Munich-style affair with a sleazy LOVE MONEY on the flip of the euro pressing. Romy Haag is a legendary Ann-Margret lookalike Berlin gender illusionist who enjoyed brief dance club popularity during the early 90's with SUSSE KIRSCHEN. This, like Culture Beat's fab DER ERDBEERMUND, was based on the ribald rhymings of the 1400-century poet Francois Villon and had the Diva reciting in German over mellow beats and synth strings. Romy also sang a tune in the kinky Charlotte Rampling thriller MASCARA during the same period.

[sirius]

About ROMY HAAG: She had a night-club in

Berlin in the 70ies and was together with

stars like David Bowie etc. She had a big

hit with the EuroDiscoTrack"Superparadise"/"

Hermaphrodite"...the rest is history. About

AMANDA LEAR: Although she´s dementing being

a man, she was a man, because Romy had her

acting at CHEZ ROMY. And Amanda was Salva-

dore Dali´s fave-model for long time...be-

cause she was a transsexual. But the question

is...is this really important, especially in

this DiscoPage. Certainly LOUIS LESTHER is

also very interesting...but we should not

forget our beloved SYLVESTER!!!What about

GINA X PERFORMANCE, with her three Drag-Queens...I think DISCO was much more, then

MainstreamABBA and Bee Gees...



Cosmic Love & Kisses From SIRIUS & DARKTUNES

[BrunoRepublic]

What about

GINA X PERFORMANCE, with her three Drag-Queens...I think DISCO was much more, then

MainstreamABBA and Bee Gees...

I love Gina X Performance... but... isn't it a bit of a stretch to call them disco? "No GDM" is really the only thing by them that sounds disco-y at all... I think of them as some sort of proto-New-Wave act.



Supposedly "Nice Mover" was released on CD at one point... anyone ever seen this? I'm hoping to find this, or at least a European pressing of the LP... I have two Canadian copies, but the sound quality leaves much to be desired. This is one of those albums that I love just for the production.

[sirius]

It´s strange, but several artists made by

the end some of semi-newwave-disco-trax:

GINA X PERFORMANCE is one of them...I have

4 Albums from her...mostly produced by ZEUS

B.HELD...I´ve heard that she´s now married

to him! For me "No G.D.M.", "Do It Yourself"

or "Striptease" is very euro-disco-stylish.

But do you remember IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS

with "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" and

"Reasons To Be Cheerful". I mentioned JAPAN´s

"Life In Tokyo" before. What about BLONDIE´s

"Heart Of Glass", "Call Me" or "Rapture"?

Aha, make me tonight...Atomic?It´s funny:

Grace Jones sounded in the early 80ies more

NewWave than some NewWaveArtists themselves.

I think had done this change from full-orche-

strated Sound to more electronic Styles...but

for me that´s not New Wave.And then about

1981 the NewRomanticsMovement came along...

[JussiK]

Romy and Salvador and Bryan Ferry and millions of others fell under Amanda's spell but the truth is she is a woman and nothing else, a woman with a husky voice but a woman nevertheless. Before the Dali and Haag period, before any tongues started wagging about her gender and prior to recording LA BAGARRE Amanda worked as a fashion model, sometimes nearly nude. As she has specified herself recently, just check those pics if you're still entertaining any kinky fantasies. And, there are the family photos of the teenage girl, plus shots of her as a kid. She could not have undergone any operations at the age of six, could she now...? Not that Amanda had anything against the rumours, quite the contrary. She always used them to her advantage, creating an alluring mystique, one so strong that here we are, discussing it today in 2002 !

[sirius]

O.K. my dear... I don´t give up: ROMY HAAG

has written a book "Eine Frau und mehr", which can be translated as "A woman and more"

and on page 206 is the story about AMANDA

She worked at "Chez Nous" and became a record

contract, if she´s saying, that she was a

female. All the other transvestites were very

angry about her. As transvestite she had the

ArtistName PEGGY DE OSLO. Later Amanda became

famous, and didn´t want to recognise Romy any

more...I hope there´s a english translation

of this book, because Romy writes also about

Grace Jones, David Bowie, Rudolf Nurejew and

so many others. And by the way, there are

also full-nude-pictures from Romy inside, and

you will not believe, how this thing between

the legs can be hided...because I was also a

DragQueen or transgender too..

I hope, you´re not to shocked too much...

Cosmic Love & Kisses from Sirius & Darktunes

[Boodikka]

I'd always heard that "woman" on the album covers was one of the Mael Brothers...I wasn't there so I can't confirm or deny it with authority. It is indeed a "Disco Urban Legend", the same as the woman on the cover of "Romeo and Juliet" being a pre-DALLAS Charlene Tilton (look at the cover closely and you'll see how that one got started).

The reason that I jumped into the fray is because someone confused this Noel with the late 80's freestyle singer Noel (who is a male Bronx Boricua) of "Silent Mourning" (sic) fame....or infamy.

[Leanmean]

Thanks for clearing that up Boodikka! I was just about to ask if the was the same Noel who did "Silent Mourning." So, I guess it isn't!

[Funky Dude]

Speaking of the Sparks, I've got a one of their rock performances on Top Of The Pops 1974 doing "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" and I must say this is one unusual performance because of the way Ron Mael (guy with the moustache playing was keyboard) doing those weird stares into the camera. I wonder is this Ron's trademark, does he do those funny stares in to the camera in all of their clips?

[Mixmachine]

I met Amanda Lear in my record pool in one of her promotional tours down here, the rumors preceded her and up and close she/he didn’t convinced me otherwise, her music didn’t do well in the clubs I was playing at the time so I never was a big fan, in any case I’m saving my autographed album copy for a rainy day.

[JussiK]

An autographed copy of an Amanda Lear album...? Sell it, sell it to me!

[Mixmachine]

Jussik, I’m holding on to this copy for a while longer, it is the “I am a Photograph” LP (1977) with the “Blood and Honey” hit, it is in mint condition, I doubt it was ever played, unfortunately I penciled on the cover the date she signed it (1-17-78), stupid me, but back then I never thought about “collectors value”.