Bryan Adams - Let Me Take You Dancing

Let Me Take You Dancing is a song recorded by Bryan Adams. It was written by Jim Vallance and Bryan Adams and was later remixed by John Luongo. It is notable for being Adams' first solo single and his first ever release as a solo artist.

The song is a disco track that is somewhat different from Adams' later rock sound. It was one of the first songs that Adams and Vallance wrote together and was based on a rag-time piano riff inspired by Robbie King that Vallance had written. The writing took place during February 1978 and the song was recorded at Pinewood Studios by Geoff Turner. Although the single experienced some minor radio success, respected remixer John Luongo was recruited to remix the song to make it sound like a proper disco track ready for release in the USA. For the remix to be a success, Luongo deemed it necessary to increase the tempo of the song. Unfortunately due to the lack of time compression at that time, it was impossible to increase the tempo of the song without increasing the pitch of Adams' vocals. Adams was disappointed with the sped-up sound.

Co-writer Jim Vallance states that "I don't doubt the single's success contributed to Bryan eventually being signed directly to the label [A&M Records]". However, to this day Adams has distanced himself from the single and has only performed it live on a handful of occasions.

Taken from the original 12" single on A&M 12014
Let Me Take You Dancing (Disco Mix) - 5:35
Song charted on April 28, 1979. Spent 23 weeks on the chart and reached #22

Colonel Abrams - How Soon We Forget

Colonel Abrams was born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in Brooklyn, New York. A pioneer in the House Music movement of the early 80's.

Abrams enjoyed a string of very successful entries on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart in the 1980s and 1990s, including four entries that hit number one. In 1987, he had his fourth number-one U.S. dance hit with today's post, "How Soon We Forget".

Taken from the original 12" single on MCA 23767
How Soon We Forget (Extended Version) - 7:49
Song charted on July 25, 1987. Spent 12 weeks on the chart and reached #1

ABC - Vanity Kills/Be Near Me

You all probably have this but here it is again. Another ABC post. This one is taken from the IMPORT that was released in 1985. It was a double sided 12" single that contained Vanity Kills and Be Near Me. Both of these songs also charted seperatly on their domestic release but those had different mixes than what is being posted today and will be featured here in the future.

"Be Near Me" is a song by ABC. The hit single from How to Be a...Zillionaire!, it is a message from the group's lead singer, Martin Fry, to an unknown addressee. He commands the addressee not to leave him. It peaked at #9 in the U.S. in the fall of 1985 and at number #26 in the U.K. earlier that year.

The song’s music video depicts the band as a group of cartoon characters that have entered the real world. They are seen performing the song against a white background. During this, the camera makes a series of rolling panning shots, suggesting that the band is inside a ping-pong ball. The song also appeared in the movie The Breakfast Club but was not featured on the album.

While your here check out the US version of the video for Vanity Kills

Taken from the original 12" Import on Neutron Records
Vanity Kills (Mendelsohn Mix) - 6:13
Be Near Me (Ecstasy Mix) - 4:42
Both songs charted on August 10, 1985. Spent 6 weeks on the chart and reached #7

Count Coolout - Rhythm Rap Rock

Can we copy "The Sugarhill Gang" and have a hit ourselves? That is exactly what Count Coolout did with this club hit from 1981.

Listen to this track and I'm sure you will think that your listening to Rapper's Delight (except without the Chic sample.

Count Coolout is really James Minor, who was born in Brooklyn. His style was heavily influenced by Jimmy Spicer and began his career as a background singer for him.

His first record came out in 1980 on Boss Records and was produced by Billy Nichols & the Count. He also recorded on WMOT records.

Although "Rhythm Rap Rock" and "Here To Stay" were his two big records, only Rhythm Rap Rock charted on the dance chart.

As of Summer 2003 he is running his old label, Jathom Records, with product to be released prior to the end of this summer. He is even got some new music of his own in the works.

Taken from the original 12" single on Boss 73
Count Coolout - Rhythm Rap Rock (12" Version) 12:43
Song charted on January 31, 1981. Spent 2 weeks on the chart and reached #82

sorry for the missing posts!!!

With the holidays that came and went I was too busy to post some tracks for you. That has ended and now it's back to normal. Starting on Monday, new post will be coming your way so stay tuned.

E-Type - Calling Your Name

Bo Martin Erik "E-type" Eriksson was born in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1965. In his teens he moved to Bromma, and now he lives in the middle of Stockholm. His musical career started early. After having been a drummer for many years he met up with Stakka Bo in 1991, with three singles as a result. This lead to a work as a VJ at one of the most popular TV-station in Sweden - Z-TV! In the summer of 93, his first solo single, called "I'm Falling", was released without reaching any great success.

This was the third and last time he charted on Billboard's Dance Disco Chart.

Taken from the original 12" import single on Stockholm records
Calling Your Name (Pierre J's Q-Type Mix) - 5:47
Calling Your Name (Antiloop Garage Club Mix) - 5:42
Song charted on February 8, 1997. Spent 12 weeks on the chart and reached #17

KISS - I Was Made For Loving You

Kiss, one of the greatest rock bands of the last 30 years, tried their hands at some disco. At the time it was not a rare oddity for rock to go try disco. Take for instance Rod Stewart and the Stones.

This song was released as the first single from the album "Dynasty". It happened to become the band's second gold single, selling over 1 million copies. On the US pop charts, the single reached #11, and also became a top ten hit in Australia in 1979. It was also one of the band's few singles to chart in the UK in the 1970s, though only peaking at No. 51.

This song draws heavily from the disco style that was popular in the United States in the late 1970's. Paul Stanley, who co-wrote the song with Desmond Child and Vini Poncia, has stated that "I Was Made For Lovin' You" was a conscious effort on his part to prove how easy it was to write and record a hit disco song.

Although Peter Criss appeared in the video and on the album cover, he did not actually play on the track. As with most of the Dynasty album, session drummer Anton Fig took his place after he was deemed unfit to play by producer Vini Poncia.

Throughout the years since its release, the song has become a permanent staple in Kiss's live performances, despite sounding different from the studio version. Starting from the 1992-1993 Revenge tour onwards they featured the song with a more-metal, less-disco feel.

As you can well imagine, this was the only time that KISS appeared on the Dance chart.

Taken from the original 12" single on Casablanca 20169
I Was Made For Loving You (Original 12" version) - 7:55
Song charted on July 14, 1979. Spent 5 weeks on the chart and reached #37