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I’ve been lovingly stuck listening to the late 1970s this long weekend in Blighty and I’ll share a compilation to match tomorrow. So an extra sound today and it’s David Byrne and group and their classic ‘Heaven’, a “place where nothing ever happens”. Perhaps it’s me, but the song benefits for the unusually calm treatment that the Talking Heads give the song. It features on their 1979 album Fear Of Music.
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Happy Easter peeps – I hope you’re having a great weekend. Before I leave the 1970s, a classic from the end of the decade. ‘Way Back When’ is a single off Brenda Russell’s self-titled debut album. An homage to disco’s lush orchestration, the song also manages to signpost the piano and string stabs that would be explored a decade letter in the world of house music.
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Paul Simonon was asked to join The Clash because he was cool – and not because he was a musician. He also brought to the band his childhood growing up in London’s Brixton and Ladbroke Grove, which had become hubs for Caribbean culture. By the time of the band’s third album London Calling, his music was becoming more confident. Inspired by the 1972 Jamaican gangster flick The Harder They Come, ‘The Guns of Brixton’ appeared at the end of the LP’s A-side. This was Simonon’s work and his bassline was a thing to behold. Several years after the band split, it would reach a new audience when Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) lifted it for Beats International’s hit single ‘Dub Be Good to Me’.
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I’ve just been reminded that I missed a post last week. Please consider this a flipside track of the day. By the late 1970s, The Imperials had lost Little Anthony to a solo career, seen him return and then lost him again. Anyhow, Bobby Wade and Clarence Collins had their own thing goin’ on by 1979. Tony Silvester (pictured) had been producing for Pepé Willie and Prince’s band 94 East. Collaborating with The Imperials once 94 East had split, he and Pepé Willie took a groove that Sylvester had created (94 East’s ‘One Man Jam’) and turned it into ‘Fast Freddie’.
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‘Boys Don’t Cry’ was The Cure’s second ever single after ‘Killing An Arab’. The song grew out of lead singer Robert Smith’s frustration over being expected to conform to norms. As a pin-up for all alternative “goths” throughout the early-to-mid 1980s, Smith certainly helped many young rail against expectations over how they should express themselves.
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An additional midweek interlude; I missed a post yesterday. I don’t know much about Berlin-based Peter and Li Hensel, but in 1979 they got together with some other cosmic sorts and created this gem of a disco vibe. ‘House At The Sea’ was released on the B-side of ‘Mandy’ – their only single as Goya.
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I am no super fan of lovers rock, but I’ve always liked ‘Silly Games’. In 1979, it provided Janet Kay with her one hit. Kay’s voice strains to reach the high notes, but it simply adds to the charm. The story goes that so unexpected was its success that Kay was on holidays unaware in The Netherlands while the song was rocketing up the charts.
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All I can say is that Vaughan Mason & Crew is the post-disco quartet best known for the b-boy fave ‘Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll’. In the summer of 1979, 300,000 pairs of roller skates were shifting every month in the US. This roller soundtrack was just the ticket and has since been sampled by De La Soul, Mr. Magic, Heavy D, amongst others. Have a great weekend.
A late weekend treat… a look back at 1979 and my soundtrack of nine, in no particular order.
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Honourable mentions also go to: Tom Petty for ‘Don’t Do Me Like That‘; Squeeze for ‘Up The Junction‘ and ‘Cool For Cats’; Suicide for ‘Dream Baby Dream‘; Blondie for ‘One Way Or Another‘; Pauline Murray And The Invisible Girls for ‘Screaming in the Darkness‘; Pretenders for ‘Brass In Pocket’; Prince for ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover‘; Bauhaus for ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead‘; Neil Young and Crazy Horse for ‘Hey Hey, My My (Out of the Blue)‘; Michael Jackson for ‘Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough’; Judie Tzuke for ‘Stay With Me Til Dawn‘; Joe Jackson for ‘Is She Really Going Out With Him?‘; Pink Floyd for ‘Comfortably Numb‘; and The Jam for ‘Eton Rifles’.
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Doing a little Father’s Day / Sunday night housekeeping as I’m starting to think about a best of 1979 compilation post for next weekend. Joe Jackson’s first single is an omission from this blog’s back catalogue. The quirky ‘Is She Really Going Out With Him?’ provided Jackson with his breakthrough sound, but had actually failed when first released, but succeeded when rereleased with his debut album Look Sharp. I’ll be back in touch in the morning.
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The Cuban bongo player Cándido de Guerra Camero is better known as as Candido. In 1979, he released a holy trinity of sounds on his Dancin’ and Prancin’ LP for Salsoul Records. The title track, ‘Jingo’ and ‘Thousand Finger Man’ were staples at the legendary Paradise Garage and would go on to be some of the most influential and sampled records in dance music history. ‘Jingo’ is relentless in its groove.
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The story goes that Sugar Hill Records co-founder Sylvia Robinson auditioned Master Gee, Wonder Mike and Big Bank Hank on a curb outside a pizza joint in Englewood, N.J. Within days, the Sugarhill Gang had put the hip hop genre on national radio. The track clearly looped an (initially) uncredited bass line from Chic’s ‘Good Times‘, but its pivotal place in music history is not about what it copied, but what it reimagined. Have a great weekend.
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Good morning folks. Back in the day, I listened to Blondie’s 1978 LP Parallel Lines a lot. The draw was ‘Heart of Glass’, ‘Sunday Girl’ and their rendition of ‘Hanging On The Telephone’. We recently revisited the album with a cover band’s set at a good friend’s 50th birthday bash. My taste has clearly changed over the decades. I was most pleased to hear ‘One Way or Another’ – the fourth and final single off the album. Inspired by the instrumentals of US guitar band the Ventures, the upbeat tempo masks Debbie Harry’s unfortunate experiences with a stalker. “I’m gonna find ya, I’m gonna getcha, getcha, getcha, getcha.” Have a great week.
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From one extreme to another. Rest assured, Dionne Warwick and Pauline Murray had mutually exclusive fan bases when the British singer-songwriter rose to prominence with punk band Penetration. However, like Warwick, Murray had found herself the benefactor of some production genius. It is oft said that between 1978-1981, in-house producer Martin Hannett was personally responsible for the Factory Records sound. The Invisible Girls was Hannett’s collaboration with keyboardist Steve Hopkins and together with Murray, the three of them created the self-titled LP Pauline Murray And The Invisible Girls. The 1979 album features ‘Screaming in the Darkness’, one of Hannett’s finest production moments.
Samuelsounds 