Chart Hit [Level 6]
Recently hearing the hit song "Sentimental Lady" reminded me of the platinum-selling album French Kiss that former Fleetwood Mac member Bob Welch released in early '78. At the time, I was well into my disco obsession and had read an extensive breakdown of key cuts on the album that might be of interest for DJs to program into their sets.
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I wasn't old enough for the clubs at that time so my disco knowledge came from whatever I could find in the store bins, magazines, TV shows and any disco compilation albums that were out at the time....but the Bob Welch album kinda threw me. Was this disco-ish?
Personally, I wore the grooves out of my vinyl copy but I wasn't quite understanding what was so disco-ey about it back then....it certainly wasn't Cerrone or Moroder-like and nowhere near to the great orchestras of Salsoul, Biddu and MFSB. The only thing that I really thought said "disco" to me, at the time, was the album cover and with so many hot 12" singles and dance albums happening then, why bother with a rock artist?
IMO, the best cut is the hit single Ebony Eyes. I don't think there were any extended versions (I'd love an instrumental!) but I do remember seeing how well it went over with the dance crowd on American Bandstand. Did DJs mix this into their nights? What about any other album cuts?
My second favorite cut is Easy To Fall and interestingly, someone has made a recent and fairly decent remix of it (although they didn't include the chorus) ...
Listening to the album today, I'm catching more of what was disco-appealing (a lot of that I've learned from the past years reading this forum)...the rhythms and strings seem to be more prominent than on a typical rock album from that era. Back then, you did feel this large division and tension between the genres of rock and disco. What's interesting is that rock purists decried all things disco whereas DJs and boogie-lovers seemed to keep open minds to anything that felt danceable.
I can certainly hear fellow Fleetwood Mac member Lindsay Buckingham's influence throughout the album which then connects me to some of his as well as other group members hot rhythmic music ("Dreams", "You Make Loving Fun", "Trouble", "Gypsy", "Stand Back", etc). I guess Welch's "French Kiss" album falls squarely into the "rosco" (rock/disco) category that's been discussed elsewhere on this forum.
This kinda leads me into thinking that the big thing that rock purists really really really hated most about disco must have been the dancing! The rhythms were all certainly the same and identifiable as their beloved rock music...it's just that some boys (and a few girls) threw hissy-fits over the underlying suggestion to get on a dancefloor.
Last edited by discokicks; December 5th, 2010 at 03:07 PM.
Dancin' helps relieve the pain, soothes your mind, makes you happy again
Chart Hit [Level 6]
When I heard the first few bars of that, it immediately made me think of the first few bars of this:Originally Written by discokicks
My second favorite cut is Easy To Fall and interestingly, someone has made a recent and fairly decent remix of it (although they didn't include the chorus
Although very quickly the two songs take different directions.
But the Bob Welch song with a down-tempo dance groove I always listen to is this (from his Fleetwood Mac days in 1973):
"Because there's music in the air."
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Thanks FJF....what a cool song! (I hadn't heard it before.) Interesting how Welch's guitar sounds reminiscent of the Philly sound at times ("Me and Mrs. Jones", "Backstabbers") and his voice sounds similar to Chris Rea on it. From comments that I read, this is slotted as a great FM classic (and yeah, what exactly is that shape on the back of the camel supposed to represent?!)
Dancin' helps relieve the pain, soothes your mind, makes you happy again
Chart Hit [Level 6]
It's a Salvador Dali penis monster.
"Because there's music in the air."
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Those strings are especially prominent in Easy To Fall. With a little reworking, it could go disco.
I know what you mean about the tensions between rock and disco lovers. But take it back to the early 70s, and people would get down in the discotheque to a combination of groovy music. For example:
I used to think this was heavy metal. But when I listen to it now, you can hear a variety of styles at different places in the song: a little Rhythm Heritage, a little Average White Band, some Prince-doing-Hendrix. And at 3:15 some outer space action worthy of Meco. It's all surprisingly danceable (try it.)
So I've decided the missing link between rock and disco is Edgar Winter and Dan Hartman.
Listen to Hartman's solo version of Free Ride:
Then listen to the original version he did with Edgar Winter. He really didn't have to change much when he did the disco version:
What do you think?
"Because there's music in the air."
Chart Hit [Level 6]
That is interesting....admittedly, I never paid attention to Winter's "Frankenstein" (that was my older brother's music) but I can certainly hear your reference to Average White Band in places.
There isn't much of a difference at all.
The Mixmastermax early '70s tribute mixes on Youtube (and a member here) have opened my eyes to the wide array of early disco sounds. One that particularly surprised me was hearing a Gary Glitter song in his mix. The Glitter album was one of the first albums that I bought when I was 11 years old (and knowing what we know about Glitter, he would have been happy to have delivered it personally) I had always thought it was very danceable...who knew they were mixing cuts off it in the discos?!
I think it would have been much more fun and exciting to have DJed in those early years of the '70s. Perhaps it's looking through rose-coloured glasses but it seems that hipsters/clubsters and djs themselves were much more open to anything danceable...soul and rock music became one as long as it had a hot groove to it...and all of it resulted in this thing called "disco".
It seems it was only disco's growing popularity that demanded it to be categorized and then recognized for a certain sound...and then the weeding out of particular music began.
Dancin' helps relieve the pain, soothes your mind, makes you happy again
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
That Fleetwood Mac 'Hypnotised' track reminds me of 'Look At Yourself' by Gino Soccio; I think it's the rhythm that's similar.
...ya gotta beat the street......
Chart Hit [Level 6]
That's a keen observation, SD. I can definitely hear it.
And DK, you're opening up a can of worms with Baby Please Don't Go. That song's been around since the 30s. So it's a real survey of popular music to hear the different versions over the many past decades.
The most popular seems to be the Van Morrison/Them version. That's the one I've heard the most. But the one by Gary Glitter is pretty rockin'.
Ironically, the first version of this song that I ever heard was in the early 80s. You've probably heard it too:
It's a Joe LaGreca/Dennis LePage project that showed up on a couple different labels, and didn't always credit them. Perhaps they wanted it that way because they seemed to present it as a different song (Baby I Don't Know instead of Baby Please Don't Go--although that's what they actually sing.) And the songwriting credit does not match the original either (Big Joe Williams.) Were they trying to avoid paying royalties? But maybe I'm missing something here. Does anyone else know the full story?
Either way, it's a raw, driving arrangement. And shows that yet again, another "rock" song can go "disco" with just a little work.
"Because there's music in the air."
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