The Heat Is On And The Funk Just Won't Leave Us Alone

Time to swap the football for a glitter ball, methinks....

A companion piece of sorts to my 2021 selection, I'll Surely Miss Your Tender Kiss, with seven stone cold killer disco cuts. And if you like The Brothers Johnson, then you'll feel spoiled as they appear on both!

Today's selection opens with a couple of covers, a Neil Sedaka B-side from 1959 and a Bee Gees album cut, then barely two years old. At the controls are legends such as Quincy Jones, John Luongo, Rusty Garner and, inevitably, Tom Moulton.

And fronting the disco explosion, the likes of Evelyn 'Champagne' King and Melba Moore (also today's cover stars), The Trammps and Tavares, Odyssey and Eruption.

Hmmm, maybe I should send a link to Thomas Tuchel...?

1) One Way Ticket (Long Version By Rusty Garner) (Cover of 'One Way Ticket (To The Blues)' by Neil Sedaka): Eruption (1979)

2) You Stepped Into My Life (Special Disco Version By John Luongo) (Cover of Bee Gees): Melba Moore (1978)

3) Shame (12" Disco Mix By Al Garrison & David Todd): Evelyn 'Champagne' King (1977)

4) Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel (Part 1+2) (Album Version By Freddie Perren): Tavares (1976)

5) Starvin' (Album Version By Ron Baker, Norman Harris, Earl Young & Tom Moulton): The Trammps (1976)

6) Native New Yorker (Disco Version By Sandy Linzer & Charlie Calello): Odyssey (1977)

7) Stomp! (12 Inch Version By Quincy Jones): The Brothers Johnson (1980)

The Heat And The Funk (45:45) (GD) (M)

You can find I'll Surely Miss Your Tender Kiss here.

Tough Act To Follow

I wasn't expecting to have to post another celebration so soon after Olivia Newton-John yesterday but here is a modest tribute to Lamont Dozier, who arrived 16th June 1941 and departed 8th August 2022.

I had very little time to prepare this post so, as you might expect, I've avoided the obvious - and frankly overwhelming - route of focusing on the dozens and dozens of original Motown classics that Lamont Dozier wrote with brothers Brian Holland and Eddie Holland. 

 

Instead, I've pulled together a brisk 10-song, 40-minute selection of cover versions, spanning Colourbox to Marcia Griffiths, The Fall to Odyssey and The Rolling Stones to Snuff. I've also included a couple of Lamont Dozier co-writes from the 1980s: Alison Moyet and Simply Red were on the long list but didn't make the cut; Boy George is perhaps a lesser known cut but everyone of a certain age will remember the Four Tops song, particularly if they found themselves at a late 1980s work do...

 

Today's selection is named after a track from Lamont Dozier's 1979 solo album, Bittersweet, and I couldn't think of anything more apt.

1) You Keep Me Hanging On (7" Version) (Cover of The Supremes): Colourbox (1985)

2) Standing In The Shadows Of Love (Cover of Four Tops): Snuff (1996)

3) There's A Ghost In My House (Cover of R. Dean Taylor): The Fall (1987)

4) Going Back To My Roots (Broots Club Mix By John Morales & Sergio Munzibai) (Cover of Lamont Dozier): Odyssey (1987)

5) Can I Get A Witness (Cover of Marvin Gaye): The Rolling Stones (1964)

6) My World Is Empty Without You (Cover of Diana Ross & The Supremes): The Afghan Whigs (1991)

7) Seven Rooms Of Gloom (Live @ The Apollo Theatre, Glasgow) (Cover of Four Tops): Blondie (1979)

8) Sold (12" Version By Les Adams): Boy George (1987)

9) Band Of Gold (Cover of Freda Payne): Marcia Griffiths (1974)

10) Loco In Acapulco (PH Balance Mix By Phil Harding & Ian Curnow): Four Tops (1988)

Tough Act To Follow (40:41)