How important were Silver Convention?

[boogienights]

I received "The Very Best of Silver Convention" today from Amazon, a 36 track 2 disc set featuring all the usuals plus quite a few I have never heard before.I have always liked Silver Convention, I love the highly orchestrated sound and (most) of the happyish girlie vocals.And sometimes it just got downright funky like in the case of "Dancing In The Aisles" or the piano riff on "No No Joe" "New" tracks I have discovered and am enjoying are "Hotshot", "Heart Of Stone" and "Take Me Shake Me Wake Me". Some sound very dated like "Telegram" or "Thank You Mr DJ" but the majority of it is chirpy, groovy, disco music. SO....I was wondering where you place Silver Convention in terms of disco importance? From what I have read, they were there quite early on in the disco period,"Save Me" was written in '74, but of course it wasn't actually a group then, just session singers. Nevertheless, the sound did not change at all when "real" vocalists were added..and I am wondering if thats what stopped their hits? That inflexibility? Would really like others takes on this.

[drlove]

I think one of Silver Convention's legacies in disco history was showing that a new "Euro" disco sub-genre could be quite popular/successful in America, thus adding to the heavily R&B dimension that was already prevalent in disco music circa 1975.

And the fact their successes on the disco chart included a top 10 hit ("Spend The Night With Me") as late as 1978 showed that their popularity went way beyond the one-or-two hit wonder status that befell many a disco artist.

Penny McLean ("Lady Bump") came from Silver Convention, right ? I forget.

[Cory Ander]

even now in 2010, Silver Convention's elegantly orchestrated songs continue to be dear to me. "San Francisco Hustle", "Save Me", "I'm Not a Slot Machine" and "I Like It" sound even better to me now than they did when they were originally released. And I'm surprised more producers didn't recognize and use the unique approach SC's producers did (maybe some did and I just never heard them): using strings as the lead instrument instead of vocals.....that way you could appreciate the music no matter what language you spoke. I'd imagine some found the "non lyrics" cloying and maybe even annoying (many of their songs featured lyrics no deeper than their titles) but I loved the music so much I didn't care. And if ANY group deserves to have all their music released on CD, Silver Convention does, but it appears that won't happen and I don't consider downloads to be quite the same thing. Many also may consider the music to not be very deep but I'd choose it over anything that's popular today.

[remicks]

*****

I'd say IMPORTANT .

when FLY ROBIN FLY went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, it revealed to the masses how dramatically appealing modern music could be if you give ....of all things , the violin - an aggressive , loud, star billing...... ........
the violins : the most important part of the song?? a sound like this : never before.
Knocked their socks off listening to it on their tinny AM radios .... imagine had they ventured to the clubs and heard it there .....


Ain't never gonna hear anything even anywhere near that at the time listening to Alice Cooper , Fleetwood Mac , Linda Ronstadt, Eric Clapton , Rolling Stones, John Denver , Seals & Crofts, Cher, Eagles, Elton john, America, Paul McCartney, Olia Newton-John, Steve Miller, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, James Brown..........



******

[DannyBoy]

Interesting one there Cory. Do you know of a legal issue that prevents re-issues? I'd certainly buy any of their titles if they became available. Even better if they copied the various artwork for each album. You don't get that sort of thing on download!

I was a bit too young to actually club to Silver Convention. I'm sure my 13 year old feet were influenced when "Get up and boogie" made the UK top forty however. "Save Me" has always been one of my "wish there'd been a 12" version" titles. Sorry if this doesn't answer your question Boogienights. I'm much older than you, but a little too young to have experienced Penny McLean through club speakers! Good taste as far as I'm concerned though my man!

[boogienights]

Ah I bet the girls would be really happy to hear those replies.There is no doubt about it...the strings are a MAJOR part of Silver Conventions music.Nearly every song is drenched with them...and its great! I also love the artwork, my favourite cover would have to be "Madhouse". The first post mentioned "Spend The Night With Me" was top 10? And it was mentioned that the lyrics are often nothing more than the title..its true lyrics were DEFINITELY not their strong point, a lot of it was actually quite childlike..sample in "Tiger Baby" :Tiger baby,lover,don't you know you drive me crazy,why oh why are you so lazy")..but really that is not the point of it anyway I'm guessing...I was listening to "Wolfchild" this morning and it is funky as hell.It was also mentioned about the importance of "Fly Robin Fly" and the other acts it surpassed at the time..I have Vince Alettis "Disco Files" book and it raves about it as an "oddball record"..and to have won a Grammy is pretty far out..I have listened to them for a few years and have always found it uplifting (occasionally schmaltzy) music.So yeah I didn't think I would be alone in my appreciation of their music.Wonder what they are doing now??

[Cdnbob]

I think for me the Silver Convention was one of the first disco groups that I really got into at a very young age. 15 when they first hit in Canada but they're music was so infecticous, bubbly, and different to everything that was being played on the radio at the time and I think that's may have made them so popular. Strange though, I don't think I recall much of their music being played on the radio after "Get Up and Boogie", but I do remember the odd song by them being played at a teen disco I went to a few times as well as being able to pick up a 45 of their song "Telegram" which is one of my personal faves. Oh and before I forget to mention, I recall them doing a live concert in Calgary where I lived. Not sure when it was but I'd hazzard to guess likely in late 75 or sometime in 76. I know a school friend went to see them and he raved about the show afterwards especially about Penny McLean when she sang "Lady Bump".