The late, great Larry Levan, legendary DJ of Mel Cheren's NYC-based disco The Paradise Garage, had a reputation for being able to immediately pinpoint and shift focus to the strengths of any of the many songs he touched and the Pam Todd & Love Exchange single "Let's Get Together" (from their 1977 album of the same title) is no exception. While its dubby, piano-laden hook is well ahead of its time, the laid back but never slack beat and use of smooth live strings are classic disco all the way. Incidentally, should you ever have the chance, check out the original mix. The contrast is striking... Pam Todd & Love Exchange - Let's Get Together (Larry Levan Remix).mp3
In 1982, Sylvester James teamed up with Patrick Cowley to produce this classic Hi-NRG track, "Do Ya Wanna Funk". This is one of my favorite examples of the Hi-NRG genre, the synth work is impeccable and Sylvester's trademark falsetto was in top form. Sadly, Sylvester passed away in the late 1980s but his legacy lives on through his music. Sylvester & Patrick Cowley - Do Ya Wanna Funk.mp3
After leaving the Delfonics, Garfield Fleming released a few 12" singles in the early 1980s, the 1981 Becket Records release "Don't Send Me Away" being the first and most popular. Produced by David Morris, Jr. & Roger Meltzer, "Don't Take Me Away" is a near perfect example of Motown-style R&B meets disco. While the synth bass/conga intro and steady up-tempo beat have disco written all over them, the all-male harmonies and impeccable horn arrangement are unmistakably Motown. This is one of my favorite late first-wave disco tracks. Give it a listen and you'll surely see why. Garfield Fleming - Don't Send Me Away
This underground classic was was produced by Barry Beam & Larry Lester and released independently in 1983 on a label created specifically to launch the record, as its explicit lyrics and intensely gay theme made it something no established label was willing to touch. The style of the track is an excellent example of the HI-NRG genre that thrived, particularly in gay discos in the late 1970s through the early 1980s. At a time when House music had its beginnings in NYC and Chicago, its beats often thumping as slowly as 112BPM, HI-NRG was inciting speed-crazed orgies of dance (and orgies) upwards of 137BPM, while the classic disco beat hovered around 120BPM, and would remain the standard tempo for club music for many years to follow. The lyrics of "Castro Boy" are narrated by a very stereotypically 'Castro Boy' and talk about places, drugs and fetishes of the day, many of which are still there today. Moby Dick's, the Badlands and Detour are all still open for Happy Hour and many happy hours after. However, many a man mourns the loss of Daddies and The Cock. Other landmark bars in the South of Market district are succumbing to pressures from their neighborhoods and lurking developers. Friends is no more. The Hole in the Wall is constantly under attack. The Stud (my personal temple) has been struggling for more than a few years now. Looking at it from the outside, it may seem silly to get teary eyed over old gay bars but I invite anyone passing through SF to pop their head into the Hole in the Wall and look around. It's not just a bar, it's a community space and a piece of gay history. The posters that line the walls are priceless. The men that hang out there have seen it all and have stories to tell that youngsters such as myself want to hear. The Gangway on Larkin is like SF's gay Plymouth Rock. It makes my heart hurt to see these spaces being devoured by fear, hatred and greed. The AIDS crisis and the mainstreaming of 'gay' have turned the queer community on itself, the former creating a cultural deficit, as so many lives have been lost and inciting a sort of collective paralysis, for fear of persecution and feelings of disenfranchisement, leading to the latter assimilation, which I suspect may stem from a fear that this is the only means of protection and acceptance the queer community has. There is this deep sense of guilt and shame that permeates the current gay climate. I think it's partly because of AIDS, as if this was something the Gay community set upon the world and we're supposed to be sorry for. It's simply not true. If anything, it proves that the lines between gay and straight are not so clear cut as either side would like to believe. In the end, we're all humans, we all coexist. I don't want to be confined to a cultural ghetto, nor do I want that for my peers, my elders, for whom I have immense respect or for those who will come along in the future. I do not want to see my culture eroded, degraded or denied. I'm here, I'm queer. Don't expect me to thank you for your 'tolerance', especially if it's contingent on my desexualizing myself and/or conforming to the Nuclear Family paradigm to make you more comfortable. Enjoy the music. That's what it's for.
From Grace Jones' 1981 Island release Nightclubbing (named for her smashing Iggy Pop cover,) comes my personal favorite of Jones' original cuts: "Pull up to the Bumper". The record came at a time when Jones was transitioning from her early disco-identified material (which had, along with her sexually charged live show, earned the singer/model/actress a considerable gay following and, at the height of its fame, all but made her the androgynous poster girl for Studio 54) to her ultimately much stronger, forward-thinking new wave and experimental work. "Pull up to the Bumper" moves to a sound that is less Studio 54 and more Paradise Garage, with a lyrical inventiveness and sexual intensity that is purely Grace Jones.
Produced by Greg Carmichael & Patrick Adams and released in 1981 on CT Records, there are a few things one might ascertain from reading the label of Poopee and the NY Squirrels' "Bust That Nut" 12": a) that this was a one-off project and b) it's delightful randy and c) it doesn't take itself too seriously. The 12" features three distinct mixes of "Bust that Nut": the Downtown Mix, the Orgasmic Mix and the Uptown Mix. All three versions feature uniquely off-kilter percussion, a sizable helping of party-style group vocals and, in the case of the Downtown mix, some crazy synth riffs. Poopee & The NY Squirrels - Bust That Nut (Downtown Mix).mp3
Plastic Mode's 1985 single "Baja Imperial" is one of my favorite Italo-Disco tracks. Culled from their 1984 self-titled LP, it has everything one could desire from killer synths and a poppin' beat, to the requisite proto-rap and female backing vocals no good Italo cut would be without. One of a handful of singles from Plastic Mode, it was something of an obscurity prior to its inclusion on Morgan Geist's epic 2004 compilation Unclassics. Here's the original 12" mix in all its glory: Plastic Mode - Baja Imperial (12" Mix).mp3
Been moved by beats since I was a little thing. These days, I'm catching up on the cuts I missed when I was busy dragging around wet diapers; plundering dusty shops, back alley file sharing networks and the like. Thought I'd share some of the gold I've scored and maybe throw some of my own tracks up while I'm at it.
Some of what you'll hear are my own edits, a lot of them have been spruced up considerably from the condition I found them in. Disco, Boogie, Italo, Electro and Early House are what it's all about. Check it out...
The late, great Larry Levan, legendary DJ of Mel Cheren's NYC-based disco The Paradise Garage, had a reputation for being able to immediately pinpoint and shift focus to the strengths of any of the many songs he touched and the Pam Todd & Love Exchange single "Let's Get Together" (from their 1977 album of the same title) is no exception. While its dubby, piano-laden hook is well ahead of its time, the laid back but never slack beat and use of smooth live strings are classic disco all the way. Incidentally, should you ever have the chance, check out the original mix. The contrast is striking...
