Tangerue

Tangerué (Tangerue) (LP)

Unidisc Records (Canada) / 1979 / UPL-10
LP-album 33 ⅓ rpm vinyl record
Genre: Dance

Tangerue is a mysterious disco act that put out several records in the late 1970s under the guidance of producers Ed Strauman and Bruce Weeden, as well as Juliano Salerni. The group Tangerue is from the same people that gave us Ultimate's Touch Me Baby - Love Is the Ultimate.

Giuliano Salerni was born in Itay, but worked and lived in Philadelphia and New York. Producer, conducter, writer and pianist. Giuliano produced and recorded The Ultimate, Tangerue / Strange Affair, Hi Gloss and the Ritchie Family. Some records have his name spelled as Juliano Salerni. Tangerue and Strange Affair were the same group. The Tangerue album was released in 1979, Strange Affair in 1980. Very orchestral music in line of Ultimate.

DiscoMusic.com member, Boogienights from Queensland Australia posted the following on the DiscoMusic.com forums:

Re: Tangerue Greatest Hits CD

I've been chatting to Ed Strauman who wrote the songs on the Tangerue album. He gave me permission to reprint our emails tastefully. Basically I told him how much I enjoyed the Tangerue album and how there were others who also enjoyed it and wanted to know more about it. His website doesn't mention Tangerue, but I took a chance on it being him. Strauman said he was 25 years-old when he signed an exclusive songwriting agreement with South Philly Productions. But before receiving any money for composing or producing, the company wanted to make back its money. However, he concedes the album went over well in the discos but that did not translate into sales: he didn't get paid for his work. I asked him about Juliano Salerno and Bruce Weeden. He said he only met Juliano once in a social setting once in 1978. But he worked extensively with Bruce Weeden. He said Weeden was an exceptional recording engineer, and a terrific rock guitarist with big ears and great taste. Ed played all of the keyboards on each track of Tangerue. Bruce did some of the guitar playing, with Johnnie Valentino [who he is still in close contact with] doing the bulk of it. Ronnie James played guitar on Every Night, Every Day. He believes that he still engineers and produces. I suggested the reason for the lack of sales could be because of the disco backlash and he gave the interesting comparison between "Cocopabana" to "In The Bush" - romance was replaced by funk..

At the time he was approached to write a disco song, he had never been inside a discotheque. He was a full-time performing/teaching pianist and a dance and voice accompanist for various studios/companies/colleges. He played jazz piano in clubs and restaurants, taught piano, arranged music for singers and was a studio musician as well. He explained he could arrange and copy music - and that "these were the days when music was copied by hand, and I perfected my music notation skills because I sought to earn my income from all that I could possibly do in music - I was introduced to Boris Midney [Bruce Weeden engineered for Boris]. I copied a number of string parts for Boris' project, Come Into My Heart, for which I also played piano and received a thank you on the album. That's when I met Bruce. We worked well together. As a result, additional projects came our way. From copying parts to arranging and playing in the studio landed me the Tangerue offer. As I previously mentioned, I was never in a discotheque. I was too busy making a living. One day, after a recording session, I was asked by one of the studio executives if I could write a disco tune with a Donna Summer "Last Dance" feel. I wrote the music and my talented wife, Mary, wrote the lyric. I returned to the studio the next day with Dance With Me." I asked about his opinion on disco...

"Quite honestly, in 1977, I had no opinion of disco. I didn't listen to it. For me, disco music provided an opportunity for unknown musicians to become known. Not since the 1950s, were unknown musicians invited to record original works, and not since the advent of 1970s disco music, has such an opportunity ever been granted again. What I sought to do on the Tangerue project was write and orchestrate as best as I could within the stylistic features appropriate for the genre in order to showcase my ability. I believe I achieved what I set out to do. Unfortunately, the executives waited too long to negotiate a record deal. Do you recognize the name, Linda Clifford? She wanted to buy Dance With Me. Ah . . . but that's a story for another time..." I found him to be an incredibly nice individual who was genuinely flattered in the interest of Tangerue. I was very interested in learning more about such a fantastic album. I hope you all found this interesting.

Submitted by E-man (39)

Leave a reply »