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Harlow

Take Off (Promo 12")

G. R. A. F. Records (US) / 1980 / G 112
12" single 33 ⅓ rpm vinyl record - White Label Promo

Producer(s) : Alex Alexander and Mike Alyanak

Side A
Take Off (10:20)

Side B
Take Off (10:20)

Harlow's proto Hi-NRG Disco classic called "Take Off." By the end of 1980 "Take Off" had reached number 31 on Billboard's Disco 100.

Added on June 15, 2011:
DiscoMusic.com member Boogienights graciously shared an email conversation he had with Joanne Perica who was a member of the group Harlow. Here it is below:

I finally own "Take Off" by Harlow.I have heard it many times but only now do I own the full length version, It is magnificent! The break sounds like a totally different song. I have been chatting with Joanne Perica, one of the lovely ladies from Harlow and she has given me permission to share our correspondence, so I thought I'd share it with you...

BN: How did Harlow get started?

Joanne Perica: We were three girls from Toronto, doing studio work when we got discovered by a producer. We wound up being signed in 1979 to a NYC label. On our first trip to NYC we shot two videos and performed at Studio 54! That was an amazing experience. We wound up [at] #15 on the Billboard charts for 33 weeks.Later on we opened up for Elton John, Tears For Fears, and Men at Work in Italy. It was a great ride. I now live in an American city and am actively involved in the music biz as a songwriter and music producer.

BN: I bet you saw some crazy things at Studio 54!

Joanne Perica: You bet we saw some crazy things at Studio 54! We were so green.One of our wildest gigs was at the Trocadero in San Fransisco...I met some amazing guys there.Beautiful souls in drag...we also played with the late, great, Sylvester in Portugal. He was so sweet. We [Harlow girls] were talking about how fun it would be to do a club reunion tour!

BN: "Take Off" is such a terrific song.It has so much energy. [I tell her it is featured in the DiscoMusic.com Top 700 and Top 500 charts and in Alan Jones and Jussi's book "Saturday Night Forever."]

Joanne Perica: What an honour! I did not know about the book or the charts. Many hours went into the recordings.Full orchestra...bass drum was a tape loop. Ahh...the era of analogue recording! A hundred tracks bounced down to fit a 24 track format. Its so different now,with samples...where are you based?

BN: Australia. Do you know if any of the Harlow recordings were released in Australia?

Joanne Perica: Wow!! Australia!! We never toured there but it would have been great.Our record was released internationally but I'm sure it would have been an indie distributor down under.I'm so grateful to people like you to keep that wonderful era alive! You might also like "Moonlight Mansion" from us. I'm writing with a really talented Aussie writer, his name is Thom Crawford. He is an up and coming indie folk artist.

BN: Do you still keep in contact with the other Harlow girls?

Joanne Perica: Yes, we are still best friends! They are living in Canada.

End. I found Joanne Perica to be a lovely lady who is very beautiful and seemed genuinely happy that her music is appreciated by myself and I'm sure many others on DiscoMusic.com and beyond! Harlow released two albums, "Taking Off" (1980) which featured "Take Off", "Movie Queen", "Frisco", "Mystic Lady" and "Moonlight" and "At Midnight" (1983) which included "Midnight Celebration", "Breathless", "Slow and Steady" and others...Hope you enjoyed...

Submitted by DiscoMusic.com (3698)