No Longer Charting
Just knew you'd have a look with a title like that.
I stumbled across what is probably my only live recording from the 'true disco era'. Cassette decks were like 3 weeks wages in those days and I never had that much money, but the other jock at the venue DJ'd part time, had rich parents and left it for 1 night only.
Anyhoos, here's a track by track run down of what says "Stevie Q, early/mid evening, 1979" on the tape. Thought you might be interested.
Fantastic Four - B. Y O F. 8)
Cleveland Eaton - Bama Boogie Woogie
Bionic Boogie - Cream Always Rises To The Top
Crown Heights Affair - Galaxy Of Love
Joe Farrell - Night Dancing 8) 8) into sax break of
Dan Hartman - Countdown
Dan Hartman - This Is It (current mini hit)
Roy Ayers & Wayne Henderson - Heat Of The Beat
Two Man Sound - Que Tal America
Zulema - Change 8)
Trammps - Disco Inferno
Sylvester - Dance (Disco Heat)
Paradise Express - Dance 8) change of mood to,
[Earth Wind & Fire - September
[b]Inner Circle - Everything Is Great
Switch - Everybody Party
Chic - I Want Your Love (new release)
Gaz - Sing, Sing
[b]Gene Chandler - Get Down 8)
Chaka Khan - I'm Every Woman
Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
James Brown - For Goodness Sakess, Take A look At Those Cakes
Manu DiBango - Big Blow 8) 8)
Isaac Hayes - Zeke The Freak
Caroline Crawford - Coming On Strong 8)
Johhny Guitar Watson - I Need It changing mood again
Tavares - Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel
Edwin Star - Contact into the break of,
Macho - I'm A Man
Musique - In The Bush
Evelyn 'Champagne' King - Shame
I wonder what I played later on?
Listening to it (me) was highly embarrassing, but I enjoyed hearing a lot of the toons. There were lots of requests in there (mostly the oldies; see, I'm a pussy cat really) and a fair few were that week's/last week's releases (in the U.K.).
Hope these bring back some memories.
Gold Record [Level 7]
So let me get this right, Quinny - you played all of these yourself? At the same time? And all the instruments as well?! You one-man band, you - you never said! Were you busking in 1979? At which train station was this legendary recording made - Southampton? Did the cassette deck batteries run down halfway through?Originally Written by QUINNY
What would you do without your muesli...where would you be without a bowl?
No Longer Charting
Forrrce: Dear Boy, do I denote an air of weariness? :o
I used to play lotsa percussion (syndrums, tambourines, marracas, shakeit, vibraslap, rhythm clackers, reso reso, claves, go-go bells, samba whistle, an 'acme thunderer' etc etc), but even I can't claim to have played every instrument! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I guess this was a typical night's playlist at the time, who knows?
Gold Record [Level 7]
Only winding you up, Qwhiney - as a matter of fact, I was quite surprised at how 'disco' the track listing is, i.e. Dan Hartman, Sylvester, Macho, 'Contact',etc.
It's funny how one's tastes change - I recall 'Bama Boogie Woogie' knocking my socks off and 'Heat Of The Beat' being a serious tune. I played the Zulema only last week and decided not to keep it. But at the same time, I'd never get rid of tracks like 'Galaxy Of Love', Chaka, Chandler and many others 'cos even though I think I'm sick of 'em, it's always nice to hear them again sometime. And they still do the do. Oh - I wouldn't sell 'Bama Boogie Woogie' either!
No Longer Charting
Forrrce: I'm glad the irony of this tracklisting wasn't lost on you. :)
I've always admitted to playing in commercial discos, so no surprises that all those records were included. This was a Saturday night (in Southampton at least, always an evening when couples and less hardcore fans dominated, Friday was always the really funky night) in a venue that was half disco half American diner. As such I had the job of trying to appeal to the clubbers and those diners that might want to occasionally jiggle their botty. It was an odd set up in many ways, but when it worked it was the best party in town and Saturday lunch times with a DJ collegue and myself doing a radio type show of all the hot releases was unique, at the time.
Oh, and that's 30 toons in 90 minutes. I certainly rattled through 'em
You gotta at least give me a gold star for playing Joe Farrell (mixing into the sax break of countdown), eh? That was quite imaginative for the U.K. at that time, especially in non hip Southampton.
Chart Hit [Level 6]
A general consideration....
In those years verybody was playing more or less the same music!!!
Because that music was the music of the day.....
Sometimes it happens that some disco friend comes up with "...- hey I got this rare tape by the great DJ XY. It is from 78 and has great tracks...."
then you listen and you discover that every single GREAT DJ was playing the music that YOU were playing....
No Longer Charting
Giovanni: I think you've hit the nail on the head. For probably 90% of all jocks, this would be absolutely true.
The other 10% were the chosen few, who had all the product given to them as promos and could therefore exercise a little more choice.
However, did they play nothing but loser LP tracks just to be different? I very much doubt it.
As I wrote at the bottom of the post, I wonder what I played next that evening (at the height of the night)?
No Longer Charting
Update: I've been listening to some other tapes from as late as '86/early '87 and been pleased at how my technique did improve over the years. I cringe one hell of a lot less at the later recordings. The '79 tape above seems ever so raw in comparison (and I'd already been DJing for 10 years by then), but I have to remember that every DJ I knew was just as raw, if not more so. We all had a lot of growing to do.
Just out of interest, what do other ex DJs around here think. Were you a much better DJ the longer you did it, or did the music of the late seventies and your love of it tie in with, or even cause you to peak then, cos after it, you were never going to feel that good again?
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