Steely's first discoveries of 2003

[SandraDee]

I made some interesting purchases this week (& I'm supposed to be saving money in 2003!-fat chance!):-

'Get On Up' - Roundtree ('78, written & produced by Kenny Lehman of Chic & Lemon fame with a totally camp version of Rodgers & Hart's 'Manhattan' on the b-side!)(also, its nothing to do with the gorgeous Richard Roundtree who played 'Shaft'!)

'Morning Music' - Siren ('79, produced by the fabulous John Davis & one I'd not heard b4 & was terribly pleased with.)

'Night Dancer' - Jean Shy ('79, produced by Bob Esty of Cher fame & on RSO. This was expensive; does anyone know why; is it very rare or something? I luv it; its so 1979. I need those strings like a drug!)

'Mama Rue' - Queen Samantha (I'm not aware of much by this artist but I believe she was huge in US gay clubs '79 - '82. I also love 'Give Me Action' which is funkier. Is anyone aware of any Queen Samantha compilations?)

'Desire' - Paul Parker (produced by Ian Anthony Stephens of Hazell Dean & Madelaine Kane fame. More hi-nrg than 'disco' but still good IMO.)

'Why Dont You Boogie' - Dennis Parker ('79; again I dont know much by him except Like An Eagle; why wasnt he as big as Village People or Ritchie Family as its the same team behind him; does anyone know?)

'Hello' - Sex O'Clock - ('78; is this the same group as Sex O'Clock USA?)

'Burnin Love' - Plush ('82; funky & classy as you'd expect from '82- u can tell it's written & produced by Rene & Angela).

'The Louder' - Peter Jacques Band ('80; much more like Change or BB & Q Band; I was only aware of their more 'zingy' faster stuff like 'Fire Night Dance' b4. I really like both styles; anything JFP touched is aural heaven IMO.)

'Dance Until You Drop' - Ritz ('79; I cant believe this is British, its so good. I've also just noticed it was in the Top 10 playlist of the opening night of the Heaven gay night club according to Jussi's book Saturday Night Forever. Is anyone else aware of this dynamite track? I'd recommend it.)

[NickNack]

'Morning Music' - Siren ('79, produced by the fabulous John Davis & one I'd not heard b4 & was terribly pleased with.)

Oh man, thanks for mentioning this. I had forgotten the name of the group that did this before St. Tropez. This is the version I always liked.

'Night Dancer' - Jean Shy ('79, produced by Bob Esty of Cher fame & on RSO. This was expensive; does anyone know why; is it very rare or something? I luv it; its so 1979. I need those strings like a drug!)

8) EXCELLENT! Can't tell you why it's expensive. I know it's the only piece of music I have by her. If you want a treat, turn it over and play "That Old Black Magic". 8) 8)

'Dance Until You Drop' - Ritz ('79; I cant believe this is British, its so good. I've also just noticed it was in the Top 10 playlist of the opening night of the Heaven gay night club according to Jussi's book Saturday Night Forever. Is anyone else aware of this dynamite track? I'd recommend it.)

Love it! This is fierce disco. Some may remember when I first joined the board that 'Dance Until You Drop' was my signature line. Always close to the 'play' stack. :D

[BrunoRepublic]

'Get On Up' - Roundtree ('78, written & produced by Kenny Lehman of Chic & Lemon fame with a totally camp version of Rodgers & Hart's 'Manhattan' on the b-side!)

Love this one. The LP is rather uneven, but contains the delightful "Manhattan Fever", as well as a very silly number titled "Discocide". Also, the original 12" of "Get On Up" has a different track on the flip. It's an instrumental titled "Ocho Rios", which is a rather unusual number in that it wasn't produced by Lehman, and it's mono.

'Mama Rue' - Queen Samantha (I'm not aware of much by this artist but I believe she was huge in US gay clubs '79 - '82. I also love 'Give Me Action' which is funkier. Is anyone aware of any Queen Samantha compilations?)

Both Unidisc and Hot Productions have their own "best of" CDs for Queen Samantha.

'Why Dont You Boogie' - Dennis Parker ('79; again I dont know much by him except Like An Eagle; why wasnt he as big as Village People or Ritchie Family as its the same team behind him; does anyone know?)

Was this a 12"? I know this song was released as a 7", but to my knowledge "Like An Eagle/New York By Night" were the only songs from his one LP released as a 12" (both are different mixes from the LP versions, BTW).

Dennis Parker was the real name of 70s porn star Wade Nichols. As for why he wasn't huge, well... first of all, he was kinda notiorious to begin with. Secondly, the gay overtones on this album are a lot stronger than anything VP did after their first EP, so that would've made it a tough sell to the general public. Third, he only did one album, and "Like An Eagle" was the only really good song on it. Finally, Jacques Morali cranked out a boatload of similar-sounding productions like The Ritchie Family, Phylicia Allen, Gypsy Lane, etc. But only The Village People and Patrick Juvet (who was already a superstar in several French-speaking nations) really took off. The Ritchie Family had a fair bit of club hits, but despite being the most commercial-sounding group that Morali produced, top 40 success pretty much eluded them after "Best Disco In Town".

[QUINNY]

[quote="Graham Start"][quote="Steely Dan"]
The LP is rather uneven, but contains the delightful "Manhattan Fever".

Oh dear, this has had my brain on overdrive since I read this. I remember another version of 'Manhattan Fever' written and produced by Kenny Lehman. I only ever had a 7" copy on UK label Power Exchange and so far as I remember it wasn't credited to Roundtree. The record was more 'chic' than even Chic knew how to be and made one wonder (at the time) who WAS actually behind the Chic name. If only I could remember the name of the group.....or does my memory play tricks? AAARRGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

UPDATE: Thank goodness for the internet! After a little delving, it appears that the group's name was SUGAR. One site even suggested that Roundtree sampled the bass line from Chic's Dance, Dance, Dance for their version of Manhattan fever. From memory, the Sugar track did sound remakably like the Chic number and their releases were close enough together in the UK to cast doubts as to which was the original, but my mind could be concocting a conspiracy theory where one doesn't exist.
The timeline suggests that Sugar 'Manhattan Fever' came out before Roundtree, so was there maybe some hoop la between Lehman and Rogers and Edwards that forced him to play tricks with names in order to find a release?
I wonder if Sugar and Roundtree are the very same track? Both were released in the UK, with Sugar being '78 and Roundtree '79, so that might suggest they are possibly different. Very interesting, eh?

[markydefad]

Steely,

Nicky recommended turning over the Jeannie Shy record and playing the flip side. I'd advise turning over the Siren record and listening to "Open Up For Love"; both this and "Morning Music" were played a lot. I actually think that "OUFL" was the bigger song in SF.

[SandraDee]

Thanx for the info chaps. In reply, the Dennis Parker & Jean Shy tracks are 7" copies with the latter having the same track on both sides (this is a bit of a waste IMO but it seems to happen alot on US 7"singles.) Most of the singles are American or Canadian copies with the exception of Ritz & Peter Jacques Band which are UK ones.
Yes Marky, the b-side of Siren is really good too. Why are so many of these brilliant disco tracks so forgotten by the masses? Oh well, their loss is our gain, eh?
& Quinny, Kenny Lehman actually co-wrote 'Dance Dance Dance' with Edwards & Rodgers so that could explain the similarity with 'Manhattan Fever'.

Oh god I love the crazy world of disco!!

[totoman]

I don't know how I got it but I got the 12" of this (10 mins) via one of the download servers and it is great.

I have always wanted to find more Bob Esty stuff and this was a great find.

toto