Best From Artist 66 - Pleasure

[paul]

Accept No Substitutes is one of the finest most complete albums I've heard. Cuts like Let's Dance, I'm Mad, Ghettos Of the Mind showcase the talents of this disco-jazz-funk band. Because of this, instead of picking one song I'm going with the entire album as Best From Artist.
I gotta also mention Joyous as one of my favorites.

[Forrrce]

When Wayne Henderson introduced Pleasure as 'The Greatest Band On Earth' on 'Dust Yourself Off', he was certainly onto something.
That, their debut, as well as 'Accept No Substitutes', 'Joyous' and 'Future Now' are the sans filler real-deal.

Where do you start?
My personal best of:

'Straight Ahead' (the one!)
'Dust Yourself Off'
'Bouncy Lady'
'Ghettos Of The Mind'
'Can't Turn You Loose'
'Joyous'
'Jammin' With Pleasure'
'Let's Dance'
'Take A Chance'
'Glide'
'Nothing To It'
'Universal'

[efunk_adelic]

Enuff said....


probably one of my all time favorite songs & still is

"Glide"


when I first heard this song... my jaw dropped and my eyes were like :o

[Leatherman]

I can't understand why people go on about them, Pleasure were crap. All those punchy horn arrangments over tight rhythm tracks did my head in. I would like to have seen them work with Boris Midney.

[paul]

Hey Forrrce. I'm glad you mentioned 'Jammin' With Pleasure.' I like it a lot.
Hey Leatherman, can a rhythm tracks ever be too tight? :)

[markydefad]

Who????

[paul]

Hey Marky!
Are you yankin' my bolog-na? :roll:

So you don't like Glide, Joyous, Let's Dance, etc? :(

[NickNack]

Well, Paul, you can add me to the bologna yanking :roll: . I only have one album by this group "Take a Chance" (never played it) and one 12" from 1982 called "Give It Up". I guess RCA didn't promote them or they just passed me by. What years is the music you're talking about from? It's possible I know the music and not the artist I've been dancing to.

[paul]

Well, Paul, you can add me to the bologna yanking :roll: . I only have one album by this group "Take a Chance" (never played it) and one 12" from 1982 called "Give It Up". I guess RCA didn't promote them or they just passed me by. What years is the music you're talking about from? It's possible I know the music and not the artist I've been dancing to.

Marky, Nicky...you guys are killing me! Don't make me pull out a "Abba" Best From Artist next week :D
OK, as for "Take a Chance," I've not heard of that album. My group was on the Fanatsy label. I will agree that perhaps they were not as promoted as others in the period from 1975 to 1980.
These guys had a big hit in 1979 called "Glide." Nicky, I know you had to play that one at least once. In 1977 they also had a very popular and often sampled hit called "Joyous."
Here's a Amazon link where you can here samples of the songs I mentioned.

Pleasure at Amazon

[efunk_adelic]

Nick & Marky.....


go and download Glide at least... :(


you have to at least hear this before you get hit by a bus! :roll:

[Forrrce]

'Take A Chance' is from the 1980 LP, 'Special Things'. It's also listed as a New York club classic, as played by some of the 'right people', so I'm a little surprised it isn't known a little better.

Pleasure's sound was a cross between EWF & Tower Of Power, so by default, it's far too R&B and jazz-funky for Costandinos fans. I'm not surprised there's a general air of condescention...dissenters, look away now... :roll:

[NickNack]

Forrrce --- believe me --- no condescention involved. Just no knowledge. Besides, marky's not a Costandinos fan. :)

[markydefad]

I want ABBA next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm serious.

"Take A Chance On Me"--now we're talkin'!!!!!!

[NickNack]

OK -- I played the clips available on Amazon. Didn't recognize any of them and they really didn't do a thing for me. Maybe Amazon chose the wrong 30 seconds :roll: .

To be honest, 1979 was my time at The Anvil and this type of funk/jazz was not their (or my) cup of tea.

What I will do is finally put on this album I have. I don't know if it's a good representation of the group or not. Forrrce --- what do you think? Was their RCA stuff as good as the Fantasy hits?

I JUST PULLED THE LP --- "SPECIAL THINGS" IS ON FANTASY, so I get a taste of each label.

[paul]

Well Nicky, if you didn't remember or care for the songs in the link then I guess Pleasure was not your thing :(
I had a feeling you'd be all over my ABBA jest Marky :D
Hey Forrrce, I have 'Take A Chance' on a so-so compilation cd so I've heard it. When Nicky mentioned it as an album, I had brain fart at work so I didn't make the connection.

[efunk_adelic]

Here's something interesting I stumbled on 2 years ago...


Has anybody heard of the extended Version of Glide with an extra verse of lyrics?

It's different from the LP version.

[Forrrce]

Pleasure's first couple of LPs weren't very 'disco' at all; the next few were more R&B influenced; and 'Give It Up' on RCA (the finale) was a straightahead soul/funk/club offering that didn't do much for me, as it just wasn't them, really. The single from the LP, 'Sending My Love' is nice and probably something Nicky may have liked??? - but the rest of the album is pretty forgettable and less than a Pleasure.

efunk, the US 'Greatest Of Pleasure' has this alternative version of 'Glide', as well as a rap(!) version by a bloke who sounds like Sir Mixalot :roll: over a remix of the original backing. There were 12"s issued of 'Let's Dance', backed with 'Joyous' and 'Glide' rap. 'Take A Chance' is on Canadian 12" - at least they (the Canadians) knew what time it was.

Members of Pleasure regrouped in 1985 for a horrendous LP under ther name of Franchise, on Panoramic.

[miles mayhem]

IMO, pleasure's best track is Spread That Feelin', which i have on a fantasy 12". it is a pretty sparse disco track that sounds like early prince - a killer

[SandraDee]

I always put Pleasure in the same category as Slave, being jazzy & funky but not 'jazz-funk' as such. I personally love this sound which was very big in the UK, but I think I'm very unusual as I love Costandinos & Midney type music just as much. People generally, in my experience, like one thing or the other but not both. It fascinates me how US people are into Euro-disco far more than British people when British people are European. One of those interesting, unexplained & probably cultural things.

[SandraDee]

Oh I forgot, my favourite track of theirs is 'Sending My Love'. I have the 12" of this on red vinyl which is totally unimportant but I just thought it might be of interest to someone out there.