Macho

Simply brilliant, one of the best (and loudest) underground disco hits ever.

Mind you, I'm a HUGE fan of Steve Winwood and The Spencer Davis Group -- just the kind of snot who would be offended by a bad disco remake of a rock classic.

I'll start with the weakest part of this record, the vocal. Young Winwood was quite the blue-eyed soul screamer...cleverly and skillfully, the Italian producers elide this issue with a lesser, but competent singer (whoever the hell he was) and background vocals that are lightly processed through a vocoder.

Now, for the arrangement. Wow! The producers added signifcant bits of music to the original, baroque charts full of horns (or some incredibly good synth-horns) and strings that sound as if they were one-inch away from the microphone. All the while, synths growl and rumble menacingly in the background. The disco breakdown (which is impossibly extended on the full LP version) must be heard to be believed. Take it from a big Tito Puente fan -- this is Latin percussion in the best tradition.

The production is so propulsive that it doesn't sound a second too long even at 17-minutes! Trust me on this...it's what The Village People pretended to be!

Also try their 1980 "Roll," a shorter, more rock-oriented disco production whose thrills approach (but don't equal) "I'm a Man."

There is a different 12" Promo with this 11:00 version and including the full 10:25 version of "Because there is music in the air" on the flip side, the Catalog number is the same, PRL D155 AS.