Twins
The Desert Place (12")
RECORD LABEL / RELEASE INFO
Handshake Records (US) / 1982 / 4W9-03448
12" Disco single 33 ⅓ rpm Vinyl
Genre: Dance
MUSICIAN, PRODUCTION & RECORDING STUDIO CREDITS
Producer: Dohrow / Schreinzer
SONGS - TRACKLISTING
Side A
Desert Place 5:58
Side B
Night Lights and Shadows 3:24
MUSIC REVIEW & RECORD COLLECTOR NOTES
From 1982, a Moroder sounding dance rock styled song by The Twins.
Submitted by DiscoMusic.com (3705)
Originally HATED it...but damn if this record doesn't grow on me with every year!
A small hit in gay clubs in 1981-82 (released on the tiny Siamese label before license to Ariola/Handshake, and first exposed to me at Chaps, Boston) this record is a great example of how 70's disco eveolved into 1980's dance music.
A dense, old-school mix of strings, guitars and horns - probably synthesized, but so well arranged that you can't tell - anchors 1980's, Phil Oakey-style vocals.
Boom! No disco divas, no lush, Sweethearts-of-Soul chorus, and no soul singing - black, blue-eyed or otherwise - is to be heard.
The concept sounds dire, but here is successfull and telling. This record captures a few months, maybe weeks, when the dance floor didn't know quite which way to shuffle.
Sheer conviction makes "The Desert Place" a very good peak-hour surprise. The record is full of rhythm despite 130+ BPM. It feels not just arranged, but conducted! Probably unique, and worth a pretty penny to confident DJs.
The Twins' 1983 followup, "Face to Face, Heart to Heart (Quality), was their bigger hit, but more typical. Strong vocals and hooks remain, but now the sound has a deliberate, processed high-end, and is generally engineered to a fare-thee-well. It is a good record, very appealing on the first few listens, that ultimately holds no mystery.