Fever?

It's the last weekend before the Festering Season hits full swing! Despite the fact we had our office meal and drinks last night, I still say "Bah Humbug" to the whole thing.

A weekend is a weekend is a weekend, however - no matter if it is likely to be dominated by amateur drinkers and pissed-off shoppers - so to let's try and ramp up the end-of-the-week party spirit, in the company of Mr Giorgio Moroder (masquerading as Munich Machine), shall we?

Lord only knows what's going on in this video clip, but it's fab, regardless - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Munich Machine - Love Fever

Happy last-minute shopping, folks!

However far it seems

We here at Dolores Delargo Towers are flattered, nay, humbled to be featured as the latest exhibit in the "Infomaniac" Garden Photos event, currently being hosted at Inexplicable Device's place - however, over here it is another timeslip moment again, peeps!

We've been unceremoniously beamed down by Captain Kirk and the crew of his stolen Enterprise into the heart of the big-shoulder-padded, Yuppie-strewn, strike-torn, Space-Shuttling world of 1984 - the year of the Brighton bombing, Torvill and Dean, the Bhopal disaster, the Miners' Strike, Soviet Chairman Chernenko, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Terms of Endearment, the Bishop of Durham, Libyan Embassy siege, Footloose, Zola Budd, Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley, Daley Thompson, Carl Lewis, The Company of Wolves, Hezbollah, Robert Maxwell, Spitting Image, famine in Ethiopia, Band Aid, Greenham Common, Robin of Sherwood, Hilda Murrell, Indiana Jones, Colin Baker, Tamil Tigers, Threads, Joan Hickson, Howard Jones, Like a Virgin, crack cocaine, The Jewel in the Crown and my coming-out; the year of the births of Prince Harry, Scarlett Johansson, Olly Murs, the Thames Barrier, Thomas the Tank Engine, Crimewatch, Mark Zuckerberg, Duffy, Katy Perry, Claire Foy, Calvin Harris, Little Boots, Katie Melua, Gareth Gates, Kelly Osbourne, the Apple Macintosh, Dizzee Rascal, Brunei, Avril Lavigne, Kim Jong-un, Theo James and Tetris; and the year that Ethel Merman, Eric Morecambe, Sir John Betjeman, Indira Gandhi, Alexis Korner, Marvin Gaye, Jack Howarth, Tommy Cooper, Diana Dors, Jackie Wilson, Richard Burton, Dame Flora Robson, Truman Capote, J. B. Priestley, Count Basie, Johnny Weissmuller, James Mason, Leonard Rossiter, Jon-Erik Hexum, François Truffaut, Sam Peckinpah, Binnie Hale, the halfpenny and Triumph cars all died. 

In the headlines in November '84:  British Telecom shares went on sale in the biggest privatisation ever; President Ronald Reagan won his second term in office at the US election; a fire at Oxford Circus tube station caused chaos in London but no serious injuries; miners began their return to work after the strike, but the murder of a taxi driver by the dropping of a concrete block from a bridge onto his cab exacerbated the tension; and a wave of massacres of Sikhs swept across India in the wake of the assassination of Mrs Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. In our cinemas: Ghostbusters; Gremlins; Dune. On telly: The Box of Delights, Dallas, and the first ever season of The Bill.

And in our charts this week thirty-six years ago? [aaargh!]  The fantabulosa Chaka Khan I Feel For You ruled the roost at #1, and in her wake were Wham!, Duran Duran, Paul McCartney, Julian Lennon, Alison Moyet, Billy Ocean and Limahl..

...and this one! To my absolute chagrin I missed celebrating the sixty-fifth [double aaargh!] birthday last month of the triumph of art over nature that is Mr Phil Oakey, so let's make up for it with this magnum opus:

Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder - Together in Electric Dreams

I only knew you for a while, I never saw your smile
Till it was time to go, time to go away (time to go away)
Sometimes it's hard to recognise, love comes as a surprise
And it's too late, it's just too late to stay, too late to stay

We'll always be together, however far it seems (love never ends)
We'll always be together, together in electric dreams

Because the friendship that you gave
Has taught me to be brave
No matter where I go
I'll never find a better prize (find a better prize)

Though you're miles and miles away, I see you every day
I don't have to try, I just close my eyes, I close my eyes

We'll always be together, however far it seems (love never ends)
We'll always be together, together in electric dreams

We'll always be together, however far it seems
We'll always be together, together in electric dreams

How can that possibly be almost FORTY YEARS ago?!

Sob.

There's nowhere else but right here, right now

Always beware cheap stitching.

It's almost the weekend, dear reader - and, despite the grim weather that has greeted the advent of the Merrie Month of May, we need to get ourselves in the mood to party! [Our gang is actually having another get-together via Zoom this evening.]

Earlier this week it was the 80th birthday of one of the undisputed masters of the "electronic sound" that defined not just the later Disco era, but well beyond.

As well as his solo hit From Here To Eternity and (of course) his utterly ground-breaking collaboration with Donna Summer (with Pete Bellotte - everything from I Feel Love and Love To Love You Baby through Bad Girls and Hot Stuff to No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)), Giorgio Moroder's career as a producer and creator included such disparate hits as Son of My Father (a #1 success for Chicory Tip here in the UK in 1972), Berlin's Take My Breath Away, Together in Electric Dreams (with Phil Oakey of Human League), the soundtracks for Midnight Express, American Gigolo, Battlestar Galactica, Scarface and Flashdance, four mega hits for the Three Degrees (Givin' Up Givin' In, Woman In Love, The Runner and My Simple Heart), Blondie's Call Me, Japan's Life in Tokyo, Limahl's The NeverEnding Story, Freddie Mercury's Love Kills, Bowie's Cat People and Sparks' Beat the Clock [phew!]; and along the way (among others) he collaborated with Daft Punk, Janet Jackson, Roger Daltrey, Harold Faltemeyer, Bonnie Tyler, Sia, Coldplay and even Britney Spears... and...

...Kylie!

Giorgio Moroder feat Kylie Minogue - Right Here, Right Now

Thank Disco Giorgio It's Friday!

Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (born 26th April 1940)

It's a neverending promise of a holy grail

And so, on the day we were supposed to be leaving the bloody EU once-and-for all, the debacle just carries on, and on, and on...

TV show Blue Peter has asked children to make a basic Brexit plan and send them in, with the best ones going to Parliament to be voted on.

Presenter Lindsey Russell demonstrated how to draw a Brexit deal with felt tips, or make one from washing-up liquid bottles, kitchen foil and double-sided sticky tape.

She said: “The best Brexit plans will be sent straight to the world-famous House of Commons, right next to Big Ben, where people called ‘MPs’ will put them through a series of ‘indicative votes’.

“If your plan’s good enough it could go all the way to becoming law and shaping our relationship with our neighbours for decades to come.

“You’ll be invited on the show to meet Speaker of the House John Bercow and you’ll get a very rare ‘I Had a Plan for Brexit’ Blue Peter badge.

“Sorry, this competition is not open to viewers in Northern Ireland at the DUP’s request.”

Nine-year-old Nathan Muir said: “My dad helped me with it but the Irish backstop kept falling out. We just sent it in anyway. They won’t notice.”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

Still, there's always a party to look forward to on the weekend... Let's start as we mean to go on, in the company of Mr Moroder and Miss Minogue - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Giorgio Moroder feat Kylie Minogue - Right Here, Right Now

When the lights start flashing
It could open up your eyes
And the highest mountain
Is the one that you have climbed

(Yeah?!)
I could look for love, to skies in blue
I could look for love, to get over you
I could look for love, for a deeper kiss
Nothing ever felt, as good as this

Staring in your eyes, I see the sunrise
There's nowhere else but right here, right now
No deeper feeling, this is the real thing
There's nowhere else but right here, right now
(Ooooohhh-oooh-ooh)
There's nowhere else but right here, right now
(Ooooohhh-oooh-ooh)
There's nowhere else but right here, right now

It's a neverending
Promise of a holy grail
But this place I'm in, it feels so real
Gotta sit back and exhale

(Yeah?!)
I could look for love, to skies in blue
I could look for love, to get over you
I could look for love, for a deeper kiss
Nothing ever felt, as good as this

Staring in your eyes, I see the sunrise
There's nowhere else but right here, right now
No deeper feeling, this is the real thing
There's nowhere else but right here, right now
(Ooooohhh-oooh-ooh)
There's nowhere else but right here, right now
(Ooooohhh-oooh-ooh)
There's nowhere else but right here, right now

Cause the way you hold me tonight
Makes it feel like there's nowhere else I'd rather be
Than right here, right now, tonight
Yeah, right here, right now, tonight

(Ooooohhh-oooh-ooh)
There's nowhere else but right here, right now
(Ooooohhh-oooh-ooh)
There's nowhere else but right here, right now
(Ooooohhh-oooh-ooh...)

Have fun, whatever you get up to this weekend, dear chums...

Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor

And so another excruciatingly busy week slumps to its close - and all our thoughts turn to partying!

To help us on our way, I have dug up a most - ahem - unusual number. One would hardly associate the esoteric ramblings of Procul Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale with "partying" [well, not our kind of partying, anyhow]...

In the hands of the uber-talented Munich Machine [aka the team behind the success of Donna Summer: Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte], it is transformed, however - so Thank Disco It's Friday!

Munich Machine Feat. Chris Bennet - A Whiter Shade Of Pale

Fabulous.

Have a good weekend, folks!

Ooh, it's so good, it's so good

Listening to Radio 2 (as is my wont on Sundays) I heard a trailer for a show tomorrow that sent a shockwave down my spine.

For, terrifyingly, it is forty years since the release of one of the most influential songs, ever - I Feel Love by Donna Summer!

The brilliant product of a cross-pollination between the mechanised, electronic world of Giorgio Moroder's synths and the sassy, sleazy world of funk-disco vocal styles, I Feel Love was not only the song that encapsulated the global domination of Disco, but also gave birth to the synth-pop era that made the late 70s and early-mid 80s such an era of experimentation and innovation.

As the blurb for the programme The Summer Of "I Feel Love" says:

Exactly 40 years ago, the combination of Donna Summer's beguiling voice and the studio wizardry of writer-producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte created a record that changed the course of dance music. I Feel Love, released on July 2, 1977, was the template for the electronic revolution that followed, inspiring generations of artists with a daringly futuristic sound that reverberates to this day.

To mark this momentous anniversary, Paul Sexton introduces a celebration of a truly groundbreaking record. The Summer Of "I Feel Love" features memories of its creation from Moroder and Bellotte, while superstar DJs Arthur Baker and John Morales talk about its impact on both the dancefloor and on their lives. Martyn Ware, meanwhile, describes the influence that I Feel Love had on his work with the Human League and Heaven 17. Also featured are techno pioneer Derrick May, author Tim Lawrence and Sister Bliss of Faithless, who reveal what it was like to remix the track that became the very pulse of disco.

It also spawned myriad cover versions, not least by Madonna, Kylie, Blondie, Bette Midler, Moby, and...

...the inimitable Klaus Nomi:

Klaus Nomi - I Feel Love

...an Irish fiddle-band called Ham Sandwich:

Ham Sandwich - I Feel Love

...Blue Man Group featuring Venus Hum [love that dress!]:

Blue Man Group - I Feel Love

...a Turkish singer called Ülkü:

Ülkü Aşaröz - I Feel Love

...and, of course, Bronski Beat and Marc Almond!

Bronski Beat and Marc Almond - I Feel Love

However, there is only one original, after all...

Donna Summer - I Feel Love

Happy birthday, I Feel Love!

---

Postscript - 3 July 2017

A fact I never realised:

I Remember Yesterday was yet another concept album, cooked up by Bellotte and inspired by Anthony Powell’s novel A Dance to The Music Of Time (also the LP’s original title). Each song would evoke a different decade’s mood, from 40s swing to the 1960s with the Shirelles and Supremes, 70s funk and contemporary disco before alighting upon the future with the final track: I Feel Love.

Read Bill Brewster's history of the making of the song in MixMag

Fever pitch

It's the last one before the Festering Season hits full swing, and many of my colleagues are preparing to bugger off for the rest of the year, leaving the remaining handful of us to sit staring aimlessly at computery things (until the bitter end next Thursday when we can all get out early and go to the pub). The West End was manic with revellers even into the wee small hours last night after Sal's birthday bash, and lord knows what it's going to be like this evening! I say "Bah Humbug" to the whole thing.

A weekend is a weekend is a weekend, however - no matter if it is dominated by amateur drinkers and pissed-off shoppers - so to add to the general party spirit, who better than Mr Giorgio Moroder (masquerading as Munich Machine)?

Lord only knows what's going on in this video clip, but it's fab, regardless - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Munich Machine - Love Fever

Happy last-minute shopping, folks!

The synth God

Giorgio Moroder, the single greatest influence on what we know as "electronic dance music" - which these days even has its own acronym "EDM" in the "hip'n'happening" media - celebrates his 75th birthday today.

We can recognise the man's seminal style-setting (much-copied) sound in his breakthrough hit From Here to Eternity, which entered the UK charts thirty-eight years ago in September 1977:

Giorgio Moroder - From Here to Eternity

When he launched Miss Donna Summer onto an unsuspecting world, he possibly didn't realise that he had almost single-handedly enshrined "Disco" as an electronic, rather than orchestral/percussive, genre:

Donna Summer - Legs & Co - I Feel Love

Of course, the lovely Legs & Co make it all seem so retro...



Signor Moroder didn't stop there, of course. His music "gave birth" to the preponderance of synth-pop in the 80s, in no small part influenced by his collaboration with the fantabulosa Sparks:

Sparks - Number One Song in Heaven

Few people make the connection these days, I reckon - but he was the producer who made Blondie's Call Me so utterly brilliant:

Blondie - Call Me

He continued to be a presence throughout the decade (collaborating with David Bowie on Cat People, Phil Oakey of Human League on Electric Dreams, Harold Faltermeyer and Berlin on Take My Breath Away, and with the lovely Limahl on The Neverending Story), but until his recent work with dance weirdos Daft Punk, his star had faded somewhat.



And so it came as a bit of a surprise to everyone when he resurfaced just last year, and began teasing us with details of his soon-to-be-released collaboration album Deja Vu. I am still raving about Right Here, Right Now, the choon he released with Princess Kylie (as featured on my last "musical round-up" blog). The album also features (among others) tracks with Kelis, Sia and Charli XCX - and this...

It's a rather good cover of Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner... starring none other than Britney Spears!

Giorgio Moroder with Britney Spears - Tom's Diner

Happy birthday, Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (born 26th April 1940)

Diverse Pleasures

It has been an absolute age since I got my arse into gear and did a trawl through some of the newer music that has caught my ear. I am just so unenamoured of the World of Pop these days - I tend to spend more time wallowing in the nostalgia-fest that is BBC Radio 2 (on weekends in particular), or else classical stations such as Radio 3 or Classic FM are my preferred aural backdrop.

That aside, let us clear the decks once again for a mini-showcase of recent choons by some eternal favourites, some welcome surprises, a few classy numbers, and inevitably some cheese...

Two great musical icons joined forces at the turn of the year, the legendary Giorgio Moroder (one of the more surprising comebacks of recent years) and Our Princess of Pop Kylie Minogue. The result is rather fab:

Giorgio Moroder feat Kylie Minogue - Right Here, Right Now

Speaking of comebacks, around the Festering Season (yes, it has been that long since my last round-up) a particularly welcome gift was the return of a long-lost fave band of mine, The Beautiful South! Well, not entirely. Only two of them, in fact - lead singers Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott. However, their song Real Hope (an excoriating critique of "reality TV" talent contest/karaoke shows such as X-Factor, The Voice et al) is a true return to glory, and I love it:

Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott - Real Hope

Nothing else in music (or indeed music news) is ever quite as big as Madonna releasing/promoting a new album. Of course, the whole universe knows by now that the pop-tastic Living For Love is the first single from Queen Madge's Rebel Heart. However, there is a huge cavalcade of remixes of the track out there to choose from, as well. I've waded through them to the best of my ability (so you don't have to) and, in my opinion, the utterly marvellous Offer Nissim has probably done the best job:

Madonna - Living for Love (Offer Nissim Living For Drama Remix)

Our houseboys (and one-time Madge collaborators) from Kazaky are (also) completely unstoppable. Despite being apparently now reduced to a threesome - oo-er - they seem to release a new single and video every few months! Their latest brilliant production is the (as ever) sex-fantastic What You Gonna Do:

Kazaky - What You Gonna Do

Taking a break from dance numbers, here's a sweet one - a good song with a powerful message about tolerance, it's Kadie Elder and the faboo First Time He Kissed a Boy:

Kadie Elder - First Time He Kissed a Boy

I have said it before, and I will say it again... Marc Almond is a God. He has a brand new album out this week, The Velvet Trail, and from it here is the sublime (song and video) Life In My Own Way. I adore this:

Marc Almond - Life In My Own Way

One I missed completely from last year - and many thanks again to the lovely Henry at Barbarella's Galaxy for digging it out recently - is the mysterious Kovacs and My Love. Her voice is a thing of beauty...

Kovacs - My Love

As ever, we go from the sublime to the ridiculous. With a song for everyone who's sick of mobile phones, here's a combo of fierce drag queens from the "Crucible of Civilisation" Italy and the "Land of Tackiness" that is Spain, RIIING! by Lacroix & La Prohibida. Muy bien!

Lacroix & La Prohibida - RIIING!

With it's hilarious "home-made" video and analogue synths, the new one from Eurotix takes me right back to the end of the 70s/early 80s. This kind of thing was de rigeur on TV back then. It's rather an excellent effort for all that - it's When You Are In My Dreams:

Eurotix - When You Are In My Dreams

Quite possibly the only video any of us have seen lately that features naked dancing "Princess Leias" over a sumptuous ethereal soundtrack, here's Tropea by Kaleida. It is gorgeous:



STOP PRESS: If the above embed code doesn't work - visit the VK video site

Oh, and by the way: "I'm the kinda person you don't wanna fuck with!" Not necessarily my words - they are those of the charmingly-named Death Team [theirs is a genuinely inspired piss-take of a website, by the way!]) and their choon Fucking Bitches in the Hood. I think I will be singing this in my head whenever I head to the office from now on...

Death Team - Fucking Bitches in the Hood

And finally, in case that was a "fuck" too far, here - by complete contrast - is a jolly little divertissement that most definitely is not "new" (it was recorded almost four years ago), but new to me - and "right up our street"... I take constant delight at discovering musical oddities from the four corners of the earth, but this one really made me sit up and take notice. Dave Brubeck as you never heard him before - it's the Sachal Jazz Ensemble and their sitar-heavy version of Take Five!

Sachal Jazz Ensemble - Take Five

As always, dear reader, enjoy - and let me know what you think.

Dance with me - don't dance with me, no

Following on from the reminisces this week has brought - seeing Adam Ant live for the first time, and singing my tits off to Alison Moyet (whose own comeback earlier in the year was a bit, errm, less than I had hoped for) - I thought I'd do a little catch-up of newer music released in the past few months by artists I have loved for much, much longer...

Bowie meets Bernard Hermann? There have been many attempts to compare his new song to other artists: such disparate souls as Dave Brubeck, Radiohead, Public Image Limited, Milton Nascimento, Robert Wyatt, Tricky and - inevitably - Scott Walker. Needless to say, David Bowie's latest artistic endeavour (with the Maria Schneider Orchestra and, once again, with Tony Visconti) is remarkable - a "Modern Jazz" take on some of the darker moments of his own Berlin phase, perhaps? It's Sue (Or in A Season Of Crime), and it is awesome:

David Bowie - Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)

Shamefully overlooked by the buying public (yet again - like so many artists with real talent and integrity), here's the single that the sublime Miss Marianne Faithfull released to coincide with her Give My Love To London album at the end of September (which I did write about at the time but never featured this track in full) - Sparrows Will Sing:

Marianne Faithfull - Sparrows Will Sing

How about this for a surprise? The return (after thirty years' absence!) of the man whose genius - more or less - influenced everything in his wake, Mr Bowie, Mr Eno and Mr Visconti included, Signor Giorgio Moroder. He's back, to show the young 'uns how it's done, with his faboo new single 74 Is the New 24! [Yes, that is his age...]

Giorgio Moroder - 74 Is the New 24

Featured as an interlude on Princess Kylie's Kiss Me Once tour (that continues as we speak), here are four tracks segued into one video sequence, recently released as an EP. Produced by William Baker in conjunction with producer/songwriter Fernando Garibay, and featuring the gorgeous Aaron Sillis, here's Sleepwalker:

Kylie & Garibay - Sleepwalker

And in complete contrast - here is a sneaky radio rip of Our Princess in another collaboration, with that other "national treasure" Jools Holland, in a cover of the Clash classic Should I Stay Or should I Go? [from Jools' new album Sirens Of Song]:



One of our Patron Saints Miss Amanda Lear has been slogging away all year to promote her album of Elvis covers (all done in her own inimitable fashion of course). Shamefully, I (an avowed Elvis-avoider) have not featured any of it. With the release this month of the deluxe edition of that album My Happiness, it is time to make amends with the Almighty Remix of her version of Suspicious Minds:

Amanda Lear - Suspicious Minds (Almighty Mix)

And, to conclude - just because I think we all deserve a bit of eye candy - here's the newest fantabulosa effort from our houseboys Kazaky - Pulse:

Kazaky - Pulse

Mine's racing...

As ever, enjoy - and let me know your thoughts!

King Hansjörg

Just as the weekend looms, the heavens open (of course). Ho hum, never mind - we have a "special surprise guest" to enjoy at Polari tonight, and hopefully Sunday (at least) will be sunny, so all is OK with the world!

Today we celebrate the birthday of the Master of Disco, the man who took a largely Motown'n'strings-cum-salsa based musical genre and melded it with what were previously only thought of as "cold" European synthesised "machine music" sounds to create the legendary dance music style we recognise today.

Giorgio Moroder unleashed the beast, and it survived through many forms - Disco, Hi-NRG, House, Techno - to continue to underpin much of "electro" dance music today.

As their own tribute, in 2000 the DJs Jam & Spoon took one of Moroder's classics, The Chase (the theme from Midnight Express), and gave it sufficient "oomph" to send it to the top of the dance charts across the world.

The result is rather fab - Thank Disco It's Friday!

Giorgio Moroder vs Jam & Spoon - The Chase

Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder (born 26 April 1940)

Have a great weekend, peeps!

That's where she takes me

Happy birthday today to the man who almost single-handedly invented all the musical genres we adore today!

Giorgio Moroder (for it is he) was a maestro of the early synthesiser, transforming its use to become a dance instrument. In doing so, he created the sound that launched a million discos (he produced Love to Love You Baby and I Feel Love for Donna Summer), laid the foundations for the 80s Futurist/New Romantic boom, was the inspiration for the European successors to Disco - Hi-NRG and Italo - and thus provided the backdrop for Stock Aitken and Waterman AND House Music, two styles of pop that have endured through many incarnations to the present day! Whew...

And here is where Signor Moroder began:

Giorgio Moroder - From Here to Eternity

Giorgio Moroder official website