He made a couple but I remember buying the "Victim of Love" Disco Album in 1979 that Pete Belotte (who helped Donna Summer to fame and fortune) produced. Here is a quote from an online source regarding Elton's quest to put out a disco record:
"As disco was gaining momentum Elton was eager to cash in on it's sound which appealed to his flambouyant nature. In 1977, he attempted to make a soul/disco album using producer Thom Bell, known for his work with Philadelphia International Records, but it didn't work out. In 1979, John remixed three of the tracks and issued them on the album "The Complete Thom Bell Sessions." A 12" single of "Mama Can't Buy You Love," went to #9 on the pop charts. They didn't sound half-bad but Elton was still not charting on the club playlists.
A chance re-acquaintance between Elton John and producer Pete Bellotte led to his next album in late 1979. When Bellotte approached John to record a full-length disco album, he took him up on the offer. This was providing that John's contributions would be limited to providing vocals only. Bellotte, who had scored a slew of disco classics, would not only produce but do all the writing (except for a one track) and much of the instrumentation as well. The resulting album "Victim Of Love" would be Elton's first real taste of disco success. The title 12" single did quite well in the clubs and a second 12" single of the old Chuck Berry classic "Johnny B. Goode" did nearly as well. The album alienated John from his rock purist fans but endeared him to the club set, most notably his fellow gay dancers. His, and MCA Records, commitment to the album was proven when they released a special promo-only boxed set of 12" singles of the entire album to club jocks. The limited edition numbered boxes, (mine's #-0062), are extremely rare and highly sought after.
Well, that's the scoop on Elton's disco pursuit(s).
Unfortunately the Elton John's marriage with experienced disco producer Pete Bellotte was a commercial and musical disaster.
from mp3.com:
Throughout the mid-'70s, John's concerts were enormously popular, as were his singles and albums, and he continued to record and perform at a rapid pace until 1976. That year, he revealed in an interview in Rolling Stone that he was bisexual; he would later admit that the confession was a compromise, since he was afraid to reveal that he was homosexual. Many fans reacted negatively to John's bisexuality, and his audience began to shrink somewhat in the late '70s. The decline in his record sales was also due to his exhaustion. After 1976, John cut his performance schedule drastically, announcing that he was retiring from live performances in 1977 and started recording only one album a year. His relationship with Taupin became strained following the release of 1976's double album Blue Moves, and the lyricist began working with other musicians. John returned in 1978 with A Single Man, which was written with Gary Osborne; the record produced no Top 20 singles. That year, he returned to live performances, first by jamming at the Live Stiffs package tour, then by launching a comeback tour in 1979 accompanied only by percussionist Ray Cooper. "Mama Can't Buy You Love," a song he recorded with Philly soul producer Thom Bell in 1977, returned him to the Top Ten in 1979, but that year's Victim of Love was a commercial disappointment.
:)
♪♪♪ The music is higher/ I don't want to stop ♪♪♪ (Cerrone's Paradise)
Being an avid disco fan, "back in the day," I wouldn't say it was a disaster, but more of a disappointment for Elton; compared to his earlier success, it might be called a disaster.
I can't even remember the album or song, "Victim of Love," ever being played in the clubs. I bumped into the album about a year later, 1980, when record stores were frantically trying to sell disco albums (they were marked as low as $1.00 an album), and I was one of the ones buying up.
Anyhoo, we do know that he jumped on the disco bandwagon just like so many other rockers, etc. during that era; at its peak, disco robbed all other music genres whose artists and producers virtually had no choice but to "jump ship."
I kind of liked the album, especially the title song.
I remember checking this out after hearing how awful it was but I honestly kinda liked it, too.. I just had to hear it for myself after finding out that Pete Bellotte and the Munich Machine guys were on it..
Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but not entirely bad either.. I thought "Thunder In The Night" was one of Bellotte's better productions..
Anyway, I recall reading recently that, to this day, Elton still regrets doing this album...
I thought it was a good idea for Elton John to experiment with different styles of music because he seemed to be moving too close to Manilow style schmaltz. I enjoyed his flirtations with folk/pop ("Pinky"), funk ("Yell Help!") blues ("Heart in the Right Place", "Stinker") electronica ("Too Low for Zero") and early flirtation with dance on "Wrap Her Up" and "True Love" (a duet with k.d. Lang). Maybe a few more listens to "Victim of Love" will change my mind but it sounds stiff and sterile to me, and John's singing sounds very uninspired....but give him credit for trying. I suspect his heart wasn't in the Thom Bell sessions either, but Bell drowned him in strings, horns and the Spinners to disguise that.
the couple of times I've TRIED listening to "Victim of Love", I couldn't help wondering if it might have turned out differently if Moroder had produced it, or Moroder and Bellotte co-produced it instead of Bellotte alone. My guess is that it probably would not have been different if the same songs were used (I sure can't imagine Moroder trying to re-do "Johnny B. Good". In case you didn't know, Moroder DID produce Elton before, on a remake of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", this time done as a duet with RuPaul.
the couple of times I've TRIED listening to "Victim of Love", I couldn't help wondering if it might have turned out differently if Moroder had produced it, or Moroder and Bellotte co-produced it instead of Bellotte alone.
I am a BIG Pete Bellotte fan! I believe he put-the-pretty into the Moroder/Bellotte productions. From studying his work, it seems his influence is most apparent on certain tracks. (ie: 3 Degrees "Falling In Love (with love again)", Roberta Kelly's "Innocent" and the "Zodiacs" medley, Donna's "Come With Me", "I Remember Yesterday"...) The more melodic, or richly orchestrated pieces, strike me as being more Bellotte, than Moroder.
Anyway... I'll admit, when it comes to his non-Giorgio involved productions, it's hit-or-miss. I didn't even keep my copies of the Elton stuff. The TRAX LPs were part-great, part-yaaawnn. Stainless Steel was probably a good idea, but when he got to the 10 minute mark on "Can Can" someone should have told him to "step away from the console"!. But the Marsha Hunt LP was brilliant from start to finish. (Listen to "I Know That He Knows" and you'll hear the seeds for Marathon's "I Wanna Dance", from TGIF.) The Keith Forsey influence was similar to Giorgio's, so that probably helped those projects.
I am a BIG Pete Bellotte fan! I believe he put-the-pretty into the Moroder/Bellotte productions. From studying his work, it seems his influence is most apparent on certain tracks. (ie: 3 Degrees "Falling In Love (with love again)", Roberta Kelly's "Innocent" and the "Zodiacs" medley, Donna's "Come With Me", "I Remember Yesterday"...) The more melodic, or richly orchestrated pieces, strike me as being more Bellotte, than Moroder.
Anyway... I'll admit, when it comes to his non-Giorgio involved productions, it's hit-or-miss. I didn't even keep my copies of the Elton stuff. The TRAX LPs were part-great, part-yaaawnn. Stainless Steel was probably a good idea, but when he got to the 10 minute mark on "Can Can" someone should have told him to "step away from the console"!. But the Marsha Hunt LP was brilliant from start to finish. (Listen to "I Know That He Knows" and you'll hear the seeds for Marathon's "I Wanna Dance", from TGIF.) The Keith Forsey influence was similar to Giorgio's, so that probably helped those projects.
Stephen: I also thought that the album Bellotte produced for Sue Ann Carwell was outstanding. But I just haven't heard many of Bellotte's other solo productions....the album I mentioned, the "Love to Love You Baby" and Elton John albums are the only ones I've heard. And I once saw an album by the disco group Gonzalez that credited Bellotte as producer but I haven't actually heard it. But it appears the albums I've heard that he produced alone aren't as bold musically as the ones he did with Moroder.
The albums Bellotte produced solo can be little disasters like the one he produced for Melba Moore, «Burn».
I don't feel like this album is a disaster at all! I like very much this album and is a favorite for me to play when going on long car trips.
Personally, my musical tastes lean toward soulful, happy and even "pretty" disco/dance music and I don't like at all rock music. This album has most definitely a harder edge and the most rock-like sound Melba had done up to the point of Read My Lips. So I surprise myself how much I like this album. Somehow, it all works and I really like every song on it.
A masterpiece? Perhaps not. A classic, most definitely.
I am a BIG Pete Bellotte fan! .......Stainless Steal was probably a good idea, but when he got to the 10 minute mark on "Can Can" someone should have told him to "step away from the console"!.
Funny to see this one mentioned. I got my hands on this LP this summer, and the track "It all comes down to love" has turned into one of my favorite tracks. I just love the strings & synth, and the overall melancholic mood.
I actually picked up the album because the cover screamed disco, and Geoff Bastow and Pete Bellotte finished convincing me to give it a listen.
"Can-Can", the title track, which is a 14+' waste of side 1, seems like it could be the actual cause for the whole Disco Sucks movement. It's uninspired, silly, and downright stupid. If Steve Dahl only listened to this disco track when he launched the whole backlash, I wouldn't blame him; it's that stereotypically stupid. Needless to say I really don't like it.
On the other hand, all 3 tracks on side 2 are pretty decent in comparison, the last one being a little gem of a track.
Elton John makes his first disco chart appearance on January 15, 1977 "bubbling under" the Top 40 with this track: "Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance)" which even boasts a "A Tom Moulton Mix"
She slid down to the city limits
Monkey time in fifteen minutes
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Don't let me down
Please stick around
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Strobe light on the funky feet
Soul children in the disco heat
Top dog, top cat
Move that muscle and shake that fat
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Strobe light on the funky feet
The soul children in the disco heat
Top dog, top cat
Move that muscle and shake that fat
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Chicago, L.A.
Every place, every way
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Illinois, Santa Fe
Do what I say
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Last edited by markydefad; October 2nd, 2009 at 05:14 PM.
Elton John makes his first disco chart appearance on January 15, 1977 "bubbling under" the Top 40 with this track: "Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance)" which even boasts a "A Tom Moulton Mix"
She slid down to the city limits
Monkey time in fifteen minutes
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Don't let me down
Please stick around
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Strobe light on the funky feet
Soul children in the disco heat
Top dog, top cat
Move that muscle and shake that fat
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Strobe light on the funky feet
The soul children in the disco heat
Top dog, top cat
Move that muscle and shake that fat
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Chicago, L.A.
Every place, every way
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Illinois, Santa Fe
Do what I say
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Chicago, L.A.
Every place, every way
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Illinois, Santa Fe
that's right ....you ain't nothin' 'til you get those disco dancers groovin' in ............. SANTA FE !!!!:icon_razz::icon_razz::icon_razz:
who in the world wrote this ???? :icon_razz:
& What dingle- berry region charts it ??? (ain't one for Santa Fe)
.... Chicago ?????
worse yet
Please don't tell me this clever ditty gets precedent over
DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY ! ......in the clubs of Seattle !!!!!
Chicago, L.A. Every place, every way Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance Illinois, Santa Fe
that's right ....you ain't nothin' 'til you get those disco dancers groovin' in ............. SANTA FE !!!!:icon_razz::icon_razz::icon_razz:
who in the world wrote this ???? :icon_razz:
& What dingle- berry region charts it ??? (ain't one for Santa Fe)
.... Chicago ?????
worse yet Please don't tell me this clever ditty gets precedent over
DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY ! ......in the clubs of Seattle !!!!!
( I know .... all will be revealed !! )
***** shake that fat !!
Not in Chicago.... but close to Santa Fe is.....the iconoclastic Phoenix.
Then later...... Seattle, of course!
Sounds like Elton's "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" to me. Not very diso-ish.
Yes well in Marky ...SIR Elton did have minor success with the bite your lip track.
The Victim of Love LP also was promo'd on 4x12" in a picture cover box set......and was Recommended in Vince Aletti's Record World column.
Whilst he is not known as a DISCO artist, Elton was capable of turning a good dance tune now and then which got play in disco's of one kind or another.
Saturday...Crocodile rock, Bennie and the Jets, I'm still standing,honky cat, bitch is back...and don't forget ARE YOU READY FOR LOVE !!
She slid down to the city limits
Monkey time in fifteen minutes
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Don't let me down
Please stick around
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Strobe light on the funky feet
Soul children in the disco heat
Top dog, top cat
Move that muscle and shake that fat
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Strobe light on the funky feet
The soul children in the disco heat
Top dog, top cat
Move that muscle and shake that fat
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Chicago, L.A.
Every place, every way
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
Illinois, Santa Fe
Do what I say
Bite your lip, get up, get up and dance
reflecting on this song some more .....
I've heard some doozies ....but I'm now nominating these as what have to be the worst "disco" lyrics
from the era !!!
:icon_surprised:
seriously ... any lyrics come to mind that can "top" these?? :icon_surprised: :icon_question:
Bernie Taupin was obviously out of his element when it came to disco.
Even if intentionally bad ......they're bad !
Strobe light on the funky feet The soul children in the disco heat ......
Top dog, top cat
Move that muscle and shake that fat :icon_eek: ...... :icon_lol:
*****
(& --- does "bite your lip' have some sort of slang meaning that makes it relevant ??? :icon_confused: )
Last edited by remicks; October 5th, 2009 at 01:47 PM.
When I firsgot this album I remember thinking it WAS as bad as people said. On reflection, it's not--Thunder in the Night is the standout for me. That said it's not that bad.
I used to always defend Pete Belotte as the often forgotten ingredient in those classic Donna Summer/Moroder albums as well as some other Moroder works where his co producer status is largely forgotten. I love Belotte's Traxx albums (but that may have a lot to do with Forsey)
However by 1979 I think the Moroder/Belotte team was often more in name only when it came to productions. He helped with English lyrics, but it's no secret that when it comes to the actual production if anyone can be called Moroder's co producer on Bad Girls (the LP not just song) it's Faltermeyer, not Belotte. Similarly, Bob Esty was essentially the co producer of Once Upon a Time--more so than Belotte.
I despise "Johnny B. Goode" regardless of whom is doing it! But I can't think of any Chuck Berry compositions that I like anyway, even though I'm a BIG rock and roll fan.
I
Really like the verses. I think the chorus kills it, though.
True; like a a nursery rhyme on a disco beat :icon_smile: .
I can't tell what is the problem with Elton John disco album: maybe the producer? Is Bellotte without Moroder a good producer? I'm sure that if Donna Summer had sung the album (and reworked the lyrics taking off its most laughable clichés) it wouldn't have been so bad. Maybe Summer/Bellotte/Moroder should only have worked together: in the other cases I always feel that a key element is missing.
Reply With Quote
Originally Written by Mr.Ree
) 
...... :icon_lol:
Bookmarks