Wang Chung

[jamesyirishguy]

I am currently going through a rock disco phase and i am hunting down artists of that genre. Does anyone else collect this kind of disco music. Or indeed is that kind of music even dance music? If so could you throw a few names into the mix?

[Bernie]

Not sure about this CD as I haven't heard it, but it might be up your alley...
Disco Rock Classics

[discosavvy]

Of course rock-disco is a sub-genre of disco dance music, definitely. People who deny it often say that just because it wasn't played in their particular nightclubs and wasn't in their record collections. There's lots of great material out there. Look for:

"Who Do You Love" and "Dancin' Forever" by THP Orchestra
"For Your Love" by Chilly
"Have a Cigar" by Rosebud
"Miss You" by the Rolling Stones
"One of these Nights" by the Eagles
"Spacer" by Sheila and B. Devotion
"Above and Beyond" by Edgar Winter
"Night Dancer" by Jean Shy
"Lady Scorpio" by Laura Taylor
"Red Light" and "Giving Up, Giving In" by the Three Degrees
"Overnight Sensation" by Jerry Knight
"96 Tears" by Thelma Houston

[Forrrce]

Wang Chung had a couple of pop hits here. The first and biggest was 'Dance Hall Days', around 1983. It's not a dance record by any means, but was a big revival cut in the acid house era (circa 1988) along with songs like 'Safety Dance' by Men At Work, 'Why' by Carly Simon and 'Waiting For A Train' by Flash & The Pan. This playing of pop records at dance/house gigs was later called 'balearic'. It's pretty much anything goes. Depending on what you're looking for, Wang Chung may disappoint.

[ComputerDisco]

I most closely associate Wang Chung with plain 80's pop. When I used to spin 80's I'd always get requests for the "big two" from Wang Chung - "Dance Hall Days" and "Everybody have fun tonight."

Like many songs that I got frequent requests for, I can't listen to them anymore (this would include "Come on Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners, "She Blinded me with Science"/Thomas Dolby, "Tainted Love"/Soft Cell).

I'm not very familiar with the stuff Wang Chung made that didn't chart. Those two hits were enough for me...

But if you like Wang Chung's Pop/Rock/synth style you'll probably like the following:

Dexy's Midnight Runners - One solid album featuring "Come on Eileen" but they also did soul covers, including a version of the very-disco "TSOP" (the Sound of Philadelphia, originally by MFSB & the Three Degrees)

ABC - Good band, with one really great album - "Lexicon of Love" - it features several good songs and sounds alot like Wang Chung, but I think these guys were more talented. It also features the dance-club hit "The Look of Love" and, though I'm not sure, I've played "Poison Arrow" from this album at my dance shows. "Poison Arrow" is my favorite track from them.

A Flock of Seagulls - Most closely associated with "I Ran" and those awful haircuts, they were actually fairly talented. "I Ran" of course is a great rock/disco/synth mix. "Telecommunication" sounds a little like OMD and isn't very disco, but it's not bad.

Japan - Another brit pop kind of band, but they were produced in some cases by Disco Diety Giorgio Moroder. Look for their collection of 12" singles. It's out there on CD. Best songs, IMO, are "Quiet Life" and Moroder's "Life in Tokyo" which is only available on the singles album and some obscure foreign releases. But it's worth it.

The Flirts - This band's work ranges from true synth-disco ("Danger") to very bubblegum 80's pop ("Don't put another dime in the Jukebox") it's a very broad thing, so you might want to see if you can find some collections with each thing on them, because as a whole I don't think they were all that coherant.

Duran Duran - if Wang Chung is good, Duran Duran is probably really good. But you'll have to try hard to ignore some of the cheesier stuff like "Wild boys" which just isn't that good.

Sparks - Sparks is a great band, and like Japan, had some albums produced by Moroder. The 12's and the singles again. "Beat the Clock" their best true Disco tune, but many other good things about this band.

Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (OMD) - Go for the Greatest hits album. Best known for "If you leave" which was featured in the John Hughes film "Pretty In Pink" - there's alot to like about this band, and they have a wide variety of synth-pop sounds in their songs, some are more danceable than others. I would consider "Enola Gay" to be almost a Disco song in the New-wave idiom.

Tears for Fears - Another smooth, melodic band with unbeatable vocals and great synth work. Most famous for a string of hits in 1984/1985 worldwide, but there's some good earlier stuff too.

Talk Talk - if you want direct exposure to the widest variety of things they did, go for their album "Natural History - the best of Talk Talk." Marc Hollis' vocals were always haunting and the musicianship is great. The Music is, like the previous two melodic and well written and with good synth work. Not particularly disco but I know that there are people here who love Talk Talk, and I'm one of them.

Other bands worth noting in this genre: The Gang of Four, Peter Murphy, Love and Rockets, the Psychadelic Furs, the Stone Roses, Lime (much more tuned to the disco world than any of these others, which were aimed primarily at the pop/alt worlds), Romeo Void, Eurythmics, the Thompson Twins...and probably a whole lot more than I don't have enough time to pack in.

[OneCharmingBastard]

One of the songs I searched high and low for (and waited almost four years to track down) is the remix of "Don't Be My Enemy" by the aforementioned Wang Chung. Nine minutes of stop-start lite funk rock that is sadly overlooked by most 80s fans. Ditto its flipside - the long version of "Wait" (which I remember fondly being played on Chicago's WGCI back in the days of colorblind grooves galore).......


Some other fine examples of the hybrid:

ELO - "Shine A Little Love"

The Vels - "Look My Way"

Boney M - "Painter Man" and "My Friend Jack"

Gang Of Four - "I Love A Man In Uniform" and the Chic-like "Is It Love"

Deborah Washington - "Rock It"

Toto Coelo - "Milk From The Coconut" - this is truly interesting as it is the template for the Spice Girls down to the five hair colors of the leads.........


Altered Images - "Bring Me Closer" and "Don't Talk To Me About Love"


anything Razormaid remixed is also never not an interesting listen (ah, the days when a remix was merely a toughening up of a pop record, as opposed to Extreme Makeover: Pop Edition)

[Jimmy-Michaels]

Duran Duran actualy had a damn decent pure disco track with strings and all. Was the limited release 12'' of "My Own Way" in 1981 on UK import. Mixes well with Love & Kisses "Accidental Lover" to give ya an idea of it's style. If I had a scanner id add it to the disco vault. The 12'' is availble now days on CD with the original cover reproduced to CD size and all (right down to the original label of the record) on the Duran Duran singles collection boxed set that came out last year.

[Jimmy-Michaels]

Oh 1 more thing...for Wang Chung, theres a great 12'' mix by Shep Pettibone out there somewhere of "Let's Go"..I have never seen a used copy since I bought mine new back in late 86. But if ya can get hold of it..its a niceeeee dance mix.

[usagi-san]

Forrrce, in America, Wang Chung's "Don't Let Go" was a hit before "Dance Hall Days," though the latter was bigger. "The Safety Dance" was actually by Men Without Hats, and I much prefer the single version to the album version. The Flash & The Pan song was actually 'Walking In The Rain." ComputerDisco, I like Talk Talk and OMD very much too.

[markydefad]

Flash & the Pan did do "Waiting for a Train"; (I thought it was "Waiting On a Train"--but AMG says "for") but didn't someone else do it also? Or am I confusing this with the two versions of "Der Kommissar"? that was Falco and After the Fire, to be exact.

[markydefad]

Essential 12" remixes of Wang Chung:

Dance Hall Days
Don't Let Go
Don't Be My Enemy
Everybody Have Fun Tonight
Hypnotize Me
Let's Go

and in that vein, don't forget Gene Loves Jezebel:

Desire (Come & Get It)
Heartache
The Motion of Love
Jealous

And Sisters of Mercy:

Lucretia (My Reflection)
This Corrosion

And no ones mentioned Inxs:

The One Thing
Don't change
Original Sin
Burn For You
Melting in the Sun (a gem)
What You Need (BRILLIANT!!)
Listen Like Thieves
This Time
Need you Tonight
Never Tear Us Apart
Devil Inside
Mystify
New Sensation
Bitter Tears
Suicide Blonde
Disappear

[Forrrce]

"The Safety Dance" was actually by Men Without Hats, and I much prefer the single version to the album version. The Flash & The Pan song was actually 'Walking In The Rain."

OK, that's my mistake. Men At Work made 'Down Under' at a similar time and I got them confused...long time ago and all that. However, I really did mean 'Waiting For A Train'.

[Jimmy-Michaels]

LOL hey Marky, AMG is the biggest joke for music info (as im sure you have seen) so its hard to say if something on there is true. I could name off a ton of so called info from there that was so off and wrong it was almost comical. The people that do the reviews over there too crack me up cause they try to sound like they are the music gods and know everything and anything..then in their reviews they sound like total morons (one example of that was in some Cerrone review trying to say that Cerrone was never heard from again after "Supernature" LOL LOL)

[Mixmachine]

Ahh, this became a 'New Wave' thread :D

I used to love this early 80’s ‘Wave’ period, contrary to some opinions expressed here before, Lots of people used to dance to this fun music, for many clubbers Wave was a welcome respite from the more traditional club music which was fine by me, some clubs featured exclusive "New Wave” Nights that in many cases became the most popular nights of the week, even a Monday Night! :o "Dance Hall days" was my fave Wang Chung, and the recently released DVD "To live and Die in LA" featuring a Wang Chung heavy soundtrack was a welcome flash back :D

Here is the track listing of a comp I taped back in the 80's using mainly 12" versions that has been kicking around here ever since, this tape features cuts played in local clubs BITD…wish I could find the others… :(

1- “Still Believe" The Call
2- “Don't you forget about me" Simple Minds
3- “Such a shame" Talk Talk
4- “Alive and Kicking" Simple Minds
5- “No Promises" Ice House
6- “Once in a life time" Talking Heads
7- “It's my Life” Talk Talk
8- “Desire" Gene Loves Jezebel :P
9- “Lips like Sugar" Echo and the Bonnymen
9- “Kiss and tell" Brian Ferry
10- "And she was" Talking Heads
11- "Northern civil war party" Thrashing Doves
12- "A way" The Bolshoi (sounds like U2)
13- "Good thing" Fine Young Cannibals
14- "Wild wild west" The Escape Club
15- "I want to be a cowboy" Boys don't cry

[usagi-san]

Markydefad, Suzy Andrews also covered "Der Kommissar". Forrrce, OK, I believe you about "Waiting For A Train" being another of their songs; maybe I even have it at home. Mixmachine; you meant "Don't You Forget About Me" (with parentheses in there somewhere), and "I Want To Be A Cowboy." (or is that "wanna"; I am not at home so I can't check my album; I should have just waited; what a dork I am, correcting someone when I may be wrong, too). I don't want to sound picky; I appreciate all your musical reminders, and you others', too.

[usagi-san]

I am home now. Flash and the Pan: I see I have "Walking In The Rain" on the self titled album, and "Waiting For A Train" on the "Headlines" album. I forgot about the latter. Boys Don't Cry: it's "I Wanna Be A Cowboy". Remember who was "riding on the chuck wagon", who said "camping on the prairie, plays havoc with my hair, makes me feel quite dirty, like we all do sometimes." I don't knwo who she was but she could be Nick Richards' cowgirl. Oh wait, I read she was Heidi Lea. I wonder if the model type in the video was her too or if she was just the lip syncher. I doubt she hung around for the "Who The Am Dam" album, but what do I know. I meant to also say "Ice House" should have been "Icehouse", one word. Happy Xmas everyone.