[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L762HQ-ha7I&] “Funky Nassau” (1971) Beginning of the End “Funky Nassau” was a proto-disco composition released in 1971 by Bahamian group The Beginning of the End. “Funky Nassau” is now also the title of a music compilation of Compass Point Studios recordings by Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and Grace Jones, as well as lesser known […]
[Youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=RBJYQMntyRg] “Amigo” (1980) – Black Slate I was going to give you the rarer track “Sticks Man” (robberman … why you do dat?), but it’s not on Youtube. Notice in this clip the use of Spaghetti Western imagery, which was quite common at the time in reggae circles and exemplified by Lee Perry’s late 1960s […]
“The Seed 2.0” (2002) The Roots feat. Cody ChesnuTT Previous World Music Classics.
Strut is back with Disco Not Disco 3 (2008), Post Punk, Electro and Leftfield Disco Classics Tip of the hat to uzine. Strut is a British record label dedicated to unearthing the lost gems of dance music past. Disco Not Disco is the title of their series of avant-garde disco compilations published since the early […]
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vACvafOvq0&] “Rotation” (1979) Herb Alpert This is a slow groove and an eternal up-market dance floor classic, for a similar track see Wally Badarou’s releases of the early eighties on Island Records, especially “Chief Inspector”, which I’ve posted here. Previous World Music Classics.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iju1_DhH2Qs&] “Je pense a toi” (19__) Amadou & Mariam Amadou and Mariam are a musical duo from Mali, composed of the couple Mariam Doumbia (vocals) and Amadou Bagayoko (guitar and vocals). The pair, known as “the blind couple from Mali” met at Mali’s Institute for the Young Blind, and found they shared an interest in […]
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpWeV4Kfyb0] “Girl You Need A Change Of Mind” (1973) Eddie Kendricks It would have been Eddie’s 68th birthday today had he not died 15 years ago. “Girl You Need A Change Of Mind” is an example of what I would call proto-disco. Proto-disco = disco before the twelve inch, disco avant la lettre. See previous […]
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kphP-YDwE8Y] Juxtapoem: Sylvester James‘s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and Pierre Janet‘s reality principle. An interesting side effect of the common mental illness known as falling in love is the feeling of recapturing a sense of reality. Nineteen years ago today, Sylvester died aged 40 of complications from AIDS. See previous entries in this […]
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7dAxvj2mlU] Rockit (1983) – Herbie Hancock I believe I’d never seen the Godley & Creme video to this song before. What a strange affair. Definitely a work of the uncanny, celebrating disembodied body parts and general weirdness. Also check one of my guilty pleasures: “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc. I love the soundscapes of […]
Runaway Love (1978) – Linda Clifford Linda Clifford’s 1978 album, If My Friends Could See Me Now produced two of Clifford’s biggest hit and put her on the music map. The first single, Runaway Love became an R&B hit peaking at #3 for two weeks. It was released as a 9:44 twelve inch on Curtom […]