Where all the lights will go out one by one

RIP, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, last surviving founding member of The Four Tops

On this Tacky Music Monday, I thought I'd pre-empt my traditional roll-call of the great, the good and the not-so-good who left us this year with a little collection of memories of some of those departed - starting with two that probably don't quite fit the bill of "tacky", but I'm featuring them nonetheless...

Duane Eddy:

The Art Of Noise & Duane Eddy – Peter Gunn

Alfa Anderson:

Chic – I Want Your Love

Betty Veldpaus:

Pussycat - Mississippi

Jimmy James:

Jimmy James & the Vagabonds - I'll Go Where Your Music Takes Me

Martin Lee:

BrotherHood Of Man - Figaro

Next up, THE LIST...

Oo-oo-oo, clap your hands, clap your hands

We're at the long, slow decline of a long, slow week - and it's time to start planning that party!

What better to get us in the mood than the unavowed masters of their craft Chic with an all-time classic?

Thank Disco It's Friday, indeed!

Chic - Everybody Dance

Gulp. That song is 45 years old this month...

---

PS

Bye, bye, Dominic Raab. A complete cunt to work for, obviously, but a rare beast, indeed - a leading politician I'd drop to my knees for:

Leave your cares behind

We have a timeslip moment to round off a long dreary week, dear reader, and we're off to the shifting landscape of 1979 - the year Margaret Thatcher became our first female Prime Minister; the year of Monty Python's Life of Brian, the fall of Pol Pot, and the murder of Lord Mountbatten by the IRA; and the year of Apocalypse Now, Donna Summer, Space Shuttles, Milk & Honey's Hallelujah winning the Eurovision Song Contest, Blair Peach, Jimmy Carter, Harvey Milk, Off the Wall, Anthony Blunt, and the eradication of the smallpox virus.

In the news headlines in July '79? The scandalous trial and aquittal of former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe on the charge of attempted murder of his gay lover still raised a lot of eyebrows, Skylab began breaking up and heading back to Earth, Sebastian Coe set a record time for running a mile - 3 minutes 48.95 seconds, the Sandinistas came to power after the civil war in Nicaragua, and the first Sony Walkman went on sale in Japan; in the ascendant were Saddam Hussein (who became president of Iraq), and Kiribati (formerly Gilbert Islands, which became independent of the UK), but we waved a sad farewell to the trill-voiced singer Minnie Riperton, aged just 31. In our cinemas: Moonraker, The Champ, The Muppet Movie. On telly: Sapphire & Steel, The Paul Daniels Magic Show, Shelley.

And in our charts this week forty-two years ago? The groundbreaking Are Friends Electric? by Tubeway Army (Gary Numan) was at #1, beating off the challenge of both Janet Kay and The Sex Pistols. Also present and correct were Dave Edmunds, the Beach Boys, Amii Stewart, Gerry Rafferty, Squeeze and the Dooleys - but just entering the Top Ten - in the very same week as the infamous Redneck "Disco Demolition" rally took place in the good ol' "Land of the Free" - was a monster choon, from the coolest band on the planet in those decadent Studio 54 days. Thank Disco It's Friday, indeed!

Chic - Good Times

Have a great (hopefully sunny) weekend, my dears!

Dancin' with my baby, drives me crazy

Ah, g'wan then! Here, to make recompense for even daring to consider Leonard Cohen (RIP) as suitable material for an end-of-week party moment - here's Legs and Co, making a feathery nonsense out of Chic's Dance Dance Dance...

Chic - Dance Dance Dance

Thank (properly) Disco It's Friday!

Have a good one, peeps.

Greetings, pop-pickers

It's been ages since I've compiled a selection of some of the newer music that I've discovered, so let's have a go...

Played on BBC Radio 2 - apparently for the first time - by Dave Pearce on his Dance Years show on Saturday (I was listening!) was Pet Shop Boys' newest single from their forthcoming "return to dance-pop" album Electric. Here's the fabulous Vocal:

Pet Shop Boys - Vocal (Live in Argentina)

And, just because I haven't mentioned it before, the Boys' most recent release Axis - and its video - is wonderful, too:

Pet Shop Boys - Axis

Speaking of music that I have completely omitted to mention before, how about the mega-over-hyped comeback of Daft Punk? Their world-beating Get Lucky featuring Pharrell Williams just spent four weeks at the top of our charts. It also (surprisingly) happens to be collaborator Nile Rogers' first Number 1 in the UK - so let's feature the (inevitable) mash-up with another of his classics, Good Times by Chic:

Daft Punk vs Pharrell vs Chic (mashup)

Back to the new...

Hailing from Rennes in Brittany, here's Juveniles with their rather good new single (somewhat reminiscent of OMD, methinks), Strangers - and a most bizarre video indeed:

Juveniles - Strangers

Appropriately described as "shimmering flecked electro house", here's an excellent collaboration between music maestro Kris Menace and a vocalist calling himself Black Hills - Waiting For You:

Kris Menace feat. Black Hills - Waiting For You

A jaunty, funky little number, Only You Can Show Me by Goldroom crosses old-school disco and Ibiza house rhythms to create a likely summer hit, I reckon...

Goldroom feat. Mereki - Only You Can Show Me

The lovely Little Boots continues her obsession with the darker side of discotheque with her new song Broken Record, and its roller-boogie-inspired video - I love it!

Little Boots - Broken Record

However if we really want kitsch, then... the latest outing for Steps support act Kamaliya [complete with samples from Puccini's Flower Duet, of all things] makes every effort, and succeeds, in producing a (very) Ukrainian impression of a Pepsi commercial - it's I'm Alive:

Kamaliya - I'm Alive

And finally, with an uplifting sound that harks back to the handover between Hi-NRG and Eurobeat dance music in the 1990s, Canadian popstrel Gali (and her dreadful hair extensions) got my glitterball spinning with her new wannabee anthem - coincidentally, the same title as Kamaliya's - I'm Alive:

Gali - I'm Alive

As always, enjoy - and let me know what you think!

We won't settle for less

I know I haven't actually been in work much this week (I was studying Monday and Tuesday for an exam on Wednesday - and, on that very subject, good luck today to the lovely Henry in his!) but even so, a weekend is always something to celebrate - even more so when you have some funny foreigners to laugh at, and some conundrums to answer... Such as: why can these people not dance if they are from the historical birthplace of music? Why does nobody in 2012 see what a fashion no-no RED jeans were? Why is that woman dressed as a lettuce? Ah, the mysteries of Italian television from 1979...

At least the eternally gorgeous Chic have the fashion sense to show us how one should be dressed for such an occasion. Thank Disco It's Friday!

Chic - Good Times

Good Times? Let's hope so.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Glitterati

John-John, little Tony and I had a lovely time at the book launch of Killer Heels by our friend Lauren Henderson (aka Rebecca Chance) last night. It was packed to the gunnels with the Polari-ite literary glitterati - Paul Burston, Helen Smith, DJ Connell (to whom I am grateful for the photos), former Corrie actress-turned-author Tracy Brabin and many more besides. No sign of Celia Imrie (who was supposed to appear) however.

The venue, the Century Club in swanky Shaftesbury Avenue in Soho, was a very smart affair indeed. So, as we hurtle headlong into another weekend, what else could I play today but... Chic?

Get your Elnett out, pull on your smartest chiffon number and best sling-backs, and - Everybody Dance!

Chic - Everybody Dance

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Rebecca Chance Killer Heels

Feel the rhythm, check the ride

Over at the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp, there is a little photographic exhibit in tribute to that ill-fated "superclub" Studio 54, the epitome of the Disco Years, which opened 35 years ago yesterday.

As we trundle gleefully towards another weekend full of partying and jollity, let us grab the Elnett and oh-so-tasteful suits and frocks, and boogie on down with the number that just about sums up the whole era - Le Freak by Chic...

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Chic - Le Freak

According to Nile Rodgers, the irony of the song is that he and Bernard Edwards only came up with it after they had been refused entry past the sacred "velvet rope" at Studio 54. Apparently once they had been turned away, they started jamming a song in the street with the lyric "Fuck You" - and eventually it sounded so good, they re-recorded the chant as "Freak Out".

The song went on to be the top dancefloor-filler at the club, the band were never refused entry again - and the rest, they say, is history...

Have a great weekend, folks!

Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah

The year 1978 was an odd one in music - here in the UK we were all supposed to be "super-cool" cultural revolutionaries, whose Punk music had overthrown the old big-label-driven world of the recording industry, crying "death to Prog Rock", "death to Disco"! Yet in reality, that year was one of the greatest for "old school" music.

In 1978, Fleetwood Mac became one of the biggest selling acts on the planet, ever. In the pop charts, Abba had one of their most successful years, and Boney M were predominant.

And as for Disco - Donna Summer ruled the airwaves, Debbie Harry had embraced the funky sound, and some of the genre's greatest classic numbers were released, including Got To Be Real, Boogie Oogie Oogie, Shame, Let's All Chant, Supernature, You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), and several massive hits for this lot...

Chic - Dance Dance Dance

Thank Disco It's Friday! Enjoy the sunny weekend ahead, in your glittery hotpants and jelly shoes...