El Coco's early disco

[Masdefi]

I've found "Brazil" and "Mondo Disco" vinyl albums at a record shop. The prices are slight high, is worth having them? Cheers

[BrunoRepublic]

"Mondo Disco" has some great moments, but is rather uneven. The title track is brilliant, and I also love the instrumentals like "Happy" and "A Brighter Shade Of Blue". "Heartbeat" is a pretty good R&B number, but their cover of "Yakety Yak" is horrendous... and to think that got released as a 12"! Likewise, "The Count Of Monte Disco" is just plain silly. The overall production is quite rough, and the first two tracks on side one play too fast. Still, I'd say it's worth having.



"Brazil" is probably their least discoy album, but I love it. Mostly instrumental; slightly better production than "Mondo"; this is one to listen to in the comfort of your home. "Masquerade" is an absolutely brilliant mellow piece, and is my all-time fave Rinder/Lewis track. The only weak moments are the high-cheese songs "Disco Carnival" and their cover of "Brazil".

[Paulo]

Hello:



Being a Rinder & Lewis fan, I would recomend you both albums. MONDO DISCO is their first LP from 1974 (3 years before the disco boom, so you shouldn't expect anything like later albums such as COCOMOTION or DANCING IN PARADISE which are classic-disco-sounding recordings. MONDO DISCO is very much rough, and in spite of being disco music, it is very different from the disco music we are used to listen to. But the songs are ok: MONDO DISCO, EVERY LITTLE BIT OF MY LOVE, HAPPY, A BRIGHTER SHADE OF BLUE and HEARTBEAT.



BRAZIL is their second album and to me is a far improvement on the first. As Graham said, it is an instrumental album, there are vocals but they play a very small part in the overall sound. It's a keyboards, synths, organ and drums album (no strings as on later efforts). I rate this album as one of the best things El Coco did. Graham also likes it. It is very movin and has a kind of a tropical feel to it. The sound is disco but still very raw (as disco was in 1975.... the long suites and instrumentals were still 2 or 3 years ahead), but the songs are classics: CARAVAN, MASQUERADE, ZANZIBAR, DELICADO, BAHIA, DISCO CARNIVAL, etc...



BAHIA is one of my all time Rinder and Lewis favourite songs. MASQUERADE too.

[Mixmachine]

I can’t say why Rinder and Lewis didn’t include strings in their early efforts, but pure “disco” was alive and kicking in ’74, 75, I have many examples of beautiful “disco” arrangements of old classics and originals backed by full orchestras with strings, Alec, Cerrone and Boris were not the first to try this, I still have fond memories of pack floors dancing “Hustle” to this music in those days. Off the top of my head check this out.



Autumn Leaves- Jon-White Group (75)

Summer Place ’76- Percy Faith (75)

Lady,Lady,Lady Boogie man orchestra (75)

Summer of ’42 –Biddu Orchestra (75)

Masada - ?

Besame Mucho-Saxton Kari & TK orch (76)

Band of Gold – Armada Orchestra (75)

Are you ready for this – The Brothers (75)

Love theme – Love Unlimited (73)

And many many more…..

[BrunoRepublic]

On 2002-03-17 17:58, Mixmachine wrote:

I can’t say why Rinder and Lewis didn’t include strings in their early efforts,

I suspect it was due to their low-budget, DIY approach. Note that they started using real strings after "Let's Get It Together" became a huge hit. Actually, the level of production on their releases took a huge leap after that...

[Paulo]

Graham is right: they didn't use an orchestra because they probably could not afford to pay an entire string + horns section that an orchestra requires.



Since it was Rinder and Lewis who paid the musicians they worked with, they needed to record a not so expensive album: so they just did it themselves with lots of keyboards, drums and percussion. R & L could not count with any outside money help (from AVI or anything else).



Even their third album LET'S GET IT TOGETHER (1976) is still a bit like that, although it is more "advanced" than the second. Things only changed in their forth album COCOMOTION.



But the fact that those 3 albums don't have strings is not a drawback... their musicianship is excelent. The 3 albums have a very exclusive and interesting sound and the songs are really good and original.

[arjan]

Well, I own a couple of El Coco albums including the two you might like to buy. For me "Brazil" is the worse they ever made. It sounds cheap and it´s a lot more "popcorn" than the other albums. There is much less of a disco beat and it´s not very original. It actually sounds like a demo for a new Casio keyboard. I like "Mundo disco" much better and "Let's Get It Together" is also better.

I´m a fan of Rinder and Lewis but "Brazil" is the only album I regret to buy.

[usagi-san]

The first one, "Mondo Disco": I love "Mondo Disco", "A Brighter Shade Of Blue", "Happy", "Every Little Bit Of My Love" and "The Count Of Monte Disco". The second one, ditto basically everything Paulo said. I love it even better. Until I read this string, I never even thought about these albums: "Hey there are no strings." I think they are still way gear for groovin'.