Would you like to see more "Artist Spotlights" like the Nitzer Ebb Spotlight

Showing posts with label 1982. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1982. Show all posts

Friday, February 1, 2008

Man Parrish - Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop)


FROM CDNOW REVIEW: "Although he produced only a handful of tracks of renown and disappeared into obscurity almost as quickly as he had emerged from it, Manny ( Man ) Parrish is nonetheless one of the most important and influential figures in American electronic dance music. Helping to lay the foundation of electro, hip-hop, freestyle, and techno, as well as the dozens of subgenres to splinter off from those, Parrish introduced the aesthetic of European electronic pop to the American club scene by combining the plugged-in disco-funk of Giorgio Moroder and the man-machine music of Kraftwerk with the beefed-up rhythms and cut'n'mix approach of nascent hip-hop. As a result, tracks like "Hip-Hop Be Bop (Don't Stop)" and "Boogie Down Bronx" were period-defining works that provided the basic genetic material for everyone from Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys to Autechre and Andrea Parker -- and they remain undisputed classics of early hip-hop and electro to this day. A native New Yorker, Parrish was a member of the extended family of glam-chasers and freakazoids that converged nightly on Andy Warhol's Studio 54 club. His nickname, Man, first appeared in Warhol's Interview magazine, and his early live shows at Bronx hip-hop clubs were spectacles of lights, glitter, and pyrotechnics that drew as much from the Warhol mystique as from the Cold Crush Brothers. Influenced by the electronic experiments of his good friend and co - writer Klaus Nomi and Brian Eno as well as by Kraftwerk, Parrish together with "Cool" Raul Rodriguez recorded their best-known work in a tiny studio sometimes shared with Afrika Baambaata, whose own sessions with Arthur Baker and John Robie produced a number of classics equal to Parrish's own, including "Wildstyle, " "Looking for the Perfect Beat, " and the infamous "Planet Rock." What distinguished "Hip-Hop Be Bop, " however, was its lack of vocals and the extremely wide spectrum of popularity it gained in the club scene, from ghetto breakdance halls to uptown clubs like Danceteria and the Funhouse. After he discovered a pirated copy of his music being played by a local DJ at theinfamous "Anvil" club ( NYC ), Parrish found his way to the offices of the Importe label (a subsidiary of popular dance imprint Sugarscoop and Disconet DJ mixing service), which whom he inked his first deal. He released his self-titled LP shortly after, and the album went on to sell over 2 million copies worldwide. He was signed to Electra Records and managed by David Bowie's notorious manager Tony De Fries and the infamous Main Man Ltd management team. Tony De Fries had managed careers of David Bowie, New York Dolls, Mott the Hoople, Mick Ronson and Dana Gillespie to name a few. Following a period of burn-out that followed, Parrish recorded and remixed tracks for Michael Jackson, Boy George, Gloria Gaynor, and Hi-NRG group Man2Man, among others, and served as manager for the Village People and Crystal Water to name a few. While Parrish's subsequent material has achieved nowhere near the success or creative pitch of his earlier work, he continues to record from his brooklyn studio and is a frequent DJ at New York's eclectic night spots and SM clubs. His Sunday Underground Party "Sperm" at the "Cock Bar" on New Yorks lower east side, is notorious, to say the least ! He is main DJ and co founder for a circut party called "Hustlerball" which has parties in many cities worldwide. He also has several adult websites and online businesses which keep him busy as a webmaster, and "jack of all trades". His second LP, DreamTime, appeared on Strictly Rhythm in 1997."

For more information on Man Parrish, visit his website.

Taken from the original 12" single on Importe/12 321
Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop) - 5:23
Song charted on December 11,1982. Spent 19 weeks on the chart and reached #4

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Ministry - Cold Life / I'm Falling / Primental


The following information was stolen from discogs.com....
"Ministry is the brainchild of Alain Jourgensen. The band started in 1981 playing a sugar-filled synth pop in the vein of Depeche Mode and Human League. The first changing arrived in 1986 when Ministry's second LP "Twitch" was produced by Adrian Sherwood. The music shifted to an heavy and menacing EBM/electro sound. The third album "The Land Of Rape And Honey" (1988) was a revolution, with the arrival of Paul Barker and other new members Ministry started to play a crossover bewteen EBM, industrial and heavy metal. The formula was perfectioned with the following "The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste" (1990), where the rock elements became more relevant. Ministry's masterpiece is considered "" (1992), a very dark, powerful and violent album, where the band experiments a wide range of combining thrash metal with techno, industrial and noise. The following records have progressively abandoned the experimental side. Paul Barker left the band in January 2004, leaving Al to put together a new line-up for "Houses of the Molé". After 2004 Evil Doer Tour few members left and new came - besides Jourgensen & Scaccia new members are Tommy Victor on guitar and Paul Raven on bass. Band started to work on new album, which finally came out in May 2006 titled "Rio Grande Blood". Following album release Masterbatour 2006 will include John Bechdel on keyboards and Joey Jordison (from Slipknot) on drums."

This is one of my favorite groups of the 80's. Since then they have gotten to political for me. Hey Al...if you don't like living here I have one word for you...MOVE!!!!

Taken from the original 12" single on Wax Trax 110072
A1. I'm Falling - 4:04
A2. Primental - 5:13
B1. Cold Life - 6:11
All songs charted on May 22, 1982. Spent 13 weeks on the chart and reached #45

Monday, November 19, 2007

B-52's - Mesopotamia / Deep Sleep / Cake


A few weeks back I featured the full LP of "Party Mix" by the B-52's. This time around, it's the follow-up to that.

The fourth chart appearance for the B-52's came from their LP "MESOPOTAMIA". Released in 1982, Mesopotamia is the result of what was intended as the third full length album from the B-52's. Produced by David Byrne of Talking Heads, the recording sessions were aborted prematurely and only six songs were released. Due to a record company error the initial copies of the EP released in the UK and other non-US territories contained some extended versions and different takes of the songs.

Taken from the original EP "Mesopotamia" on Warner 3641

Mesopotamia - 3:51
Deep Sleep - 3:30
Cake - 5:36

All songs charted on February 27, 1982. Spent 16 weeks on the chart and reached #13

Monday, November 12, 2007

ABC - Look Of Love


No need for me to tell you about this group from Sheffield, Yorkshire, England that consisted of Martin Fry, Mark White, Stephen Singleton, Mark Lickley And David Palmer. Everybody knows about this group.

Here is ABC's first appearance on the Dance chart. After this release they went on to chart 10 more times between 1982 and 1991. Of course, three of their songs did chart twice with different remixes. (Those songs will be featured a little later.)

Anyway here is the 12" single of LOOK OF LOVE.

Taken from the original 12" single on Mercury 4023
Look Of Love (USA Remix - Dub Version) - 7:37
Look Of Love (Part 3 - Dance Version) - 4:17
Song charted on September 4, 1982. Spent 26 weeks on the chart and reached #1

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Mike & Brenda Sutton - Don't Let Go Of Me


The husband and wife team of Mike & Brenda Sutton hail from LA and first worked together as staff writer and singers for the Motown label in the early 70's.

Mike was discovered by Stevie Wonder and during their time with Motown, they wrote for Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick, Thelma Houston and Jerry Butler. In 1978 both were a member of the group Finished Touch which recorded for Motown.

After their stint with Motown, they continued to write and produce for Detroit Spinners, Anita Pointer and Cheryl Lynn. Then in 1981, they performed and recorded for SAM records. They first charted with "We'll Make It" and followed that up with today's post.

Although they are now separated, Mike worked with Brenda on a solo project in 2002.

Song taken from the original 12" single on SAM 12351
Don't Let Go Of Me - 6:52
Song charted on September 25, 1982. Spent 9 weeks on the chart and reached #37

Friday, September 21, 2007

Sinnamon - Thanks To You


In order for a song to have an impact on a listener for the first time, there has to be something in it from the very beginning that blows the listener away. In the early 80's, there were many dance trax that did just that, but they were underground songs, mainly designed for dj's to surprise people with at discos, so the mainstream public never knew about them. Most of these songs never made the charts (think of Toney Lee's "Reach Up" and Brenda Taylor's "You Can't Have Your Cake And Eat It Too") But if there was one song that broke this despicable rule, it was "Thanks To You" by Sinnamon, a female vocal trio of Connecticut natives Barbara Fowler, Marsha Carter and New Yorker Melissa Bell. When it was released on May 22, 1982, it hit #44 on the black singles charts for eleven weeks. As the song begins, you are hypnotized by the keyboards and the arcade-like rhythm, while lead singer Fowler takes you on warm journey too start off the summer.

The reason this song was big was because it was popular and high in demand, especially in the New York area. Radio stations like WRKS(98.7 KISS-FM)and WBLS(107.5 FM) were the big supporters who played it constantly. Sinnamon would also keep things going that same year with "He's Gonna Take You Home(To His House)", which has a seductive nightime mood. Unfortunately no other Sinnamon songs charted on the Dance chart.

Taken from the original 12" single on Becket 508
Thanks To You (Original 12" Version) - 6:59
Song charted on May 15, 1982. Spent 17 weeks on the chart and reached #1

Monday, September 17, 2007

ABBA - Visitors - When All Is Said And Done


Today's second post comes from ABBA's last LP together as a band. Billboard, also, listed these songs as from the LP and as one listing. These were the only songs by ABBA to chart on Billboards Dance/Disco Charts. ENJOY

Taken from the original LP Visitors on Atlantic 19332
Visitors - 5:48
When All Is Said And Done - 3:14

Songs charted on January 23, 1982. Spent 21 weeks on the chart and reached #8

Monday, August 20, 2007

Stone - Time


A top 10 club hit in the early 80's. This was the only time that the group Stone charted. I'm suprised at this since this this old school disco funker has a killer bassline and stabbing synth riffs that still sounds as good today as they did back in '82.

I could not find any information on this group anywhere on the web. If someone knows anything on this group, feel free to leave me a comment. I would enjoy reading more about them. I would also like to know if they attempted any other releases other than this one.

Taken from the original 12" single on West End 22139
Time (Original 12" Version) 7:27
Song charted on January 30, 1982. Spent 18 weeks on the chart and reached #9

Friday, July 27, 2007

Karen Young - Deetour

Karen Young was a disco singer best known for her dance floor smash "Hot Shot" from 1978. Born in Philadelphia on March 23, 1951. She met a shocking end in January 1991 when she died at age 39 from a bleeding ulser.

In the early 70's she performed with a group named "Sandd." Featuring local musicians Frank Gilckin on lead guitar, George Emertz on rythym guitar, Frank Ferraro on bass and Dennis Westman on drums. They had no recordings but were popular in clubs in the Philly and NJ area. One of their last gigs was at the Spectrum supporting The Rascals.

Today's post was the last time that Karen saw one of her songs make the Dance/Disco chart. It didn't fair too well with the clubbers at the time and only reached #34 in the summer of '82.

This song took me a long time to find and now the world won't have to wait to have it. Here is the promotional 12" Party Mix for Deetour

Song taken from the Original 12" Promo on Atlantic 333
Purchase the original 12" single here

Deetour (Party Mix) 8:22
Song charted on June 12, 1982. Spent 13 weeks on the chart and reached #34