What's your favourite Village People songs

[BrunoRepublic]

Randy was the first to leave wasn't he (?)and I can't remember who replaced him. Then the next to leave was Victor Willis who was replaced by Ray Simpson.

I'm pretty sure Victor was the first to go. He's not in the Can't Stop The Music movie, but Randy is.

Though the funny thing I've always discovered that any time I've seen the VP on tv, no matter who was in the lineup, they always sounded the same. Its like they were lip-syncing to the same vocal tracks from 1978/79.

That's because they are! The only difference I have ever heard is how "YMCA" got re-recorded with Ray Simpson's vocals for the Can't Stop The Music movie.

I guess my whole point to this its not the same if its not the original lineup. I'm sure if you went to see someone like The Ritchie Family, or Chic, or whomever and it wasn't the singers you were expecting but someone else using that name but singing their songs.

And yet the Ritchie Family's singers had 100% turnover in the late 70s. The last two albums weren't even produced by Jacques Morali, and as such there is not a single common element between the first RF album and the last.

My personal take is that disco is simply not a genre that is meant for live performance, so a concert is never going to be the same in the first place. Disco is not so much performed as it is assembled. Disco is meant to be heard on a dancefloor, not in some packed stadium or auditorium full of seats. Any disco "concert" is a bit of a charade right off the bat IMHO. Obviously the vocalists will have to lipsync to tapes, because you can't really take an entire orchestra on tour. And often those vocalists themselves didn't sing some (or any) of the vocals on the record, they were hired for the visual element. Look at "groups" like El Coco, Bionic Boogie, and Lime, for which the "touring" act had absolutely nothing to do with the records. So at what point do you draw the line between an "authentic" experience and a fake one, when virtually all of the musical element is from a playback machine? "Hey, these aren't the same models as the ones on the cover! RIPOFF!!!"

[EricHG23]

on the subject of the VPs, did any of you catch the interview in San Francisco's Bay Area Reporter newspaper with Bill Lee, who replaced David Hodo? Hopefully the interview is available on line. Lee reveals some pretty startling stuff about Morali: that he was vindictive, manipulative, and, uh, "into scat". I saved it and if I ever get a scanner I'll ask Bernie if it's ok to scan it.

That crazy interview is online in its entirety. If there's interest I can track it down...

As for playback, different members, etc. It's funny that Ritchie Family were mentioned as, as was mentioned, they basically became an utterly completely different creature by the end, with just the name intact (they weren't even a family to start with were they? ) Artists like DOnna Summer have had more longevity partly because it ws easier for them to replicate their records, do performances, etc.

[remicks]

*****

It got mentioned as a favorite more than once here ---

and even though I still shudder as I recall watching the floor slowly evaporate as people began noticing the lyrics , then evil glares - ultimately leading to a mad exodus panic from the dance floor the night I first introduced it .....


Even so , listening to it again , with its unusual featuring of David Hodos singing the lead ......in the same way I did when I first heard it , I still love:

SLEAZY !!!! ....


And this fantastic dance routine really brings it home .....





oh, If ONLY they'd danced to it like THIS at The Lava Lava Club!!! (cry) ........ lol


******

Watch me while I do my thing , I like my music loud and mean, I rock until I soak my jeans ..............now that's sleeeea-zeey

[boogienights]

Lots of interesting stuff in these posts! Well my favourite songs from them are
GETAWAY HOLIDAY
IN THE NAVY 12"
MANHATTAN WOMAN
HOT COP
CITIZENS OF THE WORLD
I own the In The Street cd and I think it was Stephen Freeman who said there was not one redeemable track on it...and I have to agree.I listened to it earlier this year,convinced I could find something on it..but it really is awful, lyrically and musically.Sex Over The Phone is better but definitely not disco. I have seen them 3 times.What disappoints me more than it not being the original line up is the same problem I had with Boney M...the thrilling disco music that accompanied their voices in the first place - the stabs of strings,sirens, funky slapping of the bass, is just not there. The reason I like all the aforementioned songs are because of that lush and exciting sound behind them.Boney M use a couple of keyboards now (in between their preaching). But I ll always have a place in my heart for the Village People.They actually toured Australia this month but not in my state.Oh well.

[jim137]

"I Love You to Death" has always been a special song to me.
Just for lyrics that are beyond hearing.

The 12" is 6:14 in length.