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A-T-4 082 Jasper van’t Hof Pili Pili

Since Phil Cooper's NuNorthern Soul has recently reissued the 1995 edit of Pili Pili, backed with a new edit by Coyote, here's the original 15-minute plus album version of the afro cosmic track

Pilli Pilli was recorded with Guinea's Isaac Tagul Group who the Dutch jazz pianist van’t Hof probably met while on tour in central Africa

#1984 #jasper vant hof #afro cosmic #balearic #holland #80s music

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A-T-4 081 Whodini Escape

Historian JayQuan talks about things you'd hear 'around the way' music familiar to your ear but you didn't necessarily knowing what they were. Because I turned 10-years-old in 1984 unless it broke into the charts a lot of hip hop and electro was like that but I clearly remember Escape by Whodini

Escape was the first hip hop album to enter the US top 40. Run DMCs debut album and Escape both have a claim to first hip hop album to be certified platinum in the US. It was a commercial success and is considered a classic

The album was recorded at Battery Studios in London and engineered by Willesden Dodger, Nigel Green

“Whodini came to America as an import," lead writer Jalil explained to JayQuan in a 2005 interview. “Our recording home Jive/Zomba was based in Europe, and that’s where we recorded. They had SSL boards (Solid State Logic mixing consoles) long before the states. That’s the reason why it sounds so good when people sample “Friends."

Like Kurtis Blow, Whodini were represented by Rush Management

Mr. Magic introduced Jalil to mogul, promoter and manager Russell Simmons, and Simmons introduced him to Larry Smith in the legendary Disco Fever night club, and that meeting would eventually give birth to the Whodini sound.

This introduction was a few years before Larry Smith would produce Whodini. I've read several slightly different accounts from Jalil but in each one Larry Smith agrees to produce because American health care is so backwards. Initially Jive hired Larry Smith and Russell Simmons but Simmons couldn't make the recording session. I've mentioned Larry Smith a lot, he's in Orange Krush the band who backed Kurtis Blow from the get go, him name is on writing and production credits for a lot of great hip hop from this era, including Run DMCs first two albums

Jalil says that multi-instrumentalist and producer Larry Smith wasn’t initially impressed with Whodini’s output up until the time of their initial meeting. An accident where one of Larry’s guitar players “Sliced off a couple of fingers” servicing an automobile put Larry into a position where he needed funds, so he invited Jalil over to check out some music. “5 Minutes of Funk” was one of the first songs that Jalil heard in this batch of music (Ja says that "5 Minutes of Funk" originally contained a Rock guitar bassline). Jalil also had a beat in his head that he had been beating on his mattress trying to bring to some sort of fruition. When Larry heard Jalil’s initial idea, he replied “That’s would take three different kick drums," to which Jalil replied “Thats what i'm hearing.” That beat would become “Friends," and along with “5 Minutes of Funk” would be the lead single from Escape.

Larry Smith who would produce or be a producer on four of Whodini's six albums. Produced Run DMCs first two albums

A month before the release of Escape, Whodini along with Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, Fat Boys, and Newcleus embarked on the Swatch Watch Fresh Fest Tour across the US. There had been an earlier Sugarhill Revue Tour with artists from that label and there had been the New York City Rap Tour across Europe in 1982 but if we ignore those Fresh Fest was the first hip hop arena tour - some consider it to be the greatest hip hop tour of all time

Friends

Five Minutes Of Funk

Freaks Come Out At Night the video features footage from Fresh Fest

Big Mouth "Big Mouth" was a cautionary tale for those who spread rumors, and don't know when to shut up. "I used to get angry and all uptight, but you can say what you want, just spell my name right," Ecstasy raps. Musically "Big Mouth" is one of the few times that Larry Smith produced a nearly all drum machine track for Whodini. One of the genius elements of Larry's production was that he crafted very melodic pieces for Whodini, while supplying Run-D.M.C. with mostly beats. Music critic Tom Terrell says that "Larry envisioned Whodini as the Cadillac Seville to Run-D.M.C's Electra 225 hooptie."

Look out for Run and Jam Master Jay in the video

All quotes from https://rockthebells.com/articles/classic-albums-escape-whodini/

#1984 #whodini #hip hop #electro #new york #usa #80s music

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A-T-4 080 Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde Fast Life/A.M. P.M.

Two classics from Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde co-written and co-produced by Kurtis Blow. Marley Marl was the other producer. Fast Life was written with regular Kurtis Blow collaborators Billy Bill and Larry Smith, A.M. P.M. was written with Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde. Vocal and instrumental versions are all ace imo

Dr. Jeckyll (Andre Harrell) would go on to found Uptown Records

A.M. P.M. (Vocal)

Fast Life (Vocal)

Fast Life (Instrumental)

Bonus track The Fearless Four - F-4000 which was a hit in 1984 and mixed by Kurtis Blow. A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays sample too

#1984 #dr jekyll and mr hyde #kurtis blow #the fearless four #hip hop #electro #new york #usa #80s music

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A-T-4 079 Kurtis Blow Ego Trip

Kurtis Blow's fifth album and a harder street sound for the artist. This might have been because he'd worked with Run DMC on their first records. Kurtis Blow has deep ties to Run DMC, Run's brother Russell Simmons managed Blow and Run first appeared on stage with Kurtis Blow under the moniker DJ Run Son of Kurtis Blow, Krush-Groove as in Run DMC's Sucker MCs (Krush-Groove 1) were the parties Kurtis Blow and Russel Simmons used to throw, the K and the R of Krush standing for their first names, of course following that logic Russel Simmons management company is called Rush (I think it's written as Rush-Groove on the It's Like That single). Larry Smith and the group Orange Krush were Kurtis Blow's live band, they play the backing music on Kurtis Blow records going all the way back to his first release Christmas Rapping

Run DMC were bringing in a new era of hip hop (I've read it being called def beat), they were arguably the biggest names in hip hop in 1984. 8 Million Stories was the lead single off Ego Trip and has Run DMC guesting on it. The single is backed with AJ Scratch, AJ was Kurtis Blow's DJ (Dj AJ also mixes the Run DMC track Jam-Master Jay)

8 Million Stories

AJ Scratch made with a Fairlight rather than real scratches, maybe because of Art Of Noise? The Fairlight was programmed by Sanford Ponder

Basketball this video has cheerleaders, basketball, breakdancing, kung fu, and the Fat Boys (who Kurtis Blow was producing)

#1984 #kurtis blow #hip hop #new york #usa #80s music

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A-T-4 078 Beatbox Is Rocking

Classic human beatbox cuts released in 1984 from two kings and originators of the art form The Fat Boys' Darren 'Buffy' Robinson and Doug E. Fresh

The Fat Boys put the human beatbox on wax for the first time in 1983 as the Disco 3 with a track called Reality. The Disco 3 were awarded their record deal with Sutra (now owned by Unidisc) as the prize for winning a talent contest at The Fever. Reality was a flop so the label got the then king of hip hop Kurtis Blow to produce The Disco 3's second single Fat Boys. The track Fat Boys has some beat boxing on it but it's the b-side and an a cappella track called Human Beat Box which is the one. In the UK the Fat Boys single is released as being by The Fat Boys rather than the Disco 3 and from that release on Disco 3 become The Fat Boys. I'm thinking the group had decided to change their name by the time the single was released in the UK

The Fat Boys - Human Beat Box

The Fat Boys release their debut album in May 1984, also produced by Kurtis Blow the self-titled album features the beatboxing track Stick 'Em, it also turns up on the UK release of the single Can You Feel It. Buff is known for the heavy bass style which you can clearly hear on these performances

The Fat Boys - Stick ‘EM

I noticed there's a short documentary on Darren 'Buffy' Robinson on youTube

Doug E Fresh (Douglas Davis) was born in Barbados and raised in Harlem. His first record was as part of the Boo-Dah Bliss Crew with Spoonie Gee and DJ Spivey. In 1983 they put out a rap over Pass The Dutchie/Pass the Kouchie The Mighty Diamonds track that Musical Youth had had a worldwide hit with in 1982, the Boo-Dah Bliss Crew version was called Pass The Boo-Dah. The following year Doug E Fresh is in the film Beat Street with The Treacherous Three (Spoonie Gee was also a member of The Treacherous Three). Dougie E Fresh signs to The Treacherous Three's first label Enjoy and releases Just Having Fun, it was produced by Spoonie Gee's uncle and Enjoy owner Bobby Robinson. The track mixes rap, beatbox, with electro

Doug E. Fresh - Just Having Fun

The single has an a cappella beatbox bonus on the b

Doug E. Fresh - Bonus Lesson #1 - No Music (The Original Human Beat Box)

Doug E. Fresh's second record is put out on Vincent Davis's Vintertainment label. He will return in 1985 with The Get Fresh Crew

Doug E. Fresh - The Original Human Beat Box

In 2011 there was a documentary made called Beatboxing - The Fifth Element of Hip Hop

#1984 #beatboxing #the fat boys #doug e fresh #new york #usa #80s music #Youtube

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A-T-4 078 The Pale Fountains Unless

Standing outside the pub on Friday night there was a bevy of middle-aged men that turned up. Where have you all been? THE gig! What gig? John Head

I didn't know this because I'm only a passing fan of The Pale Fountains but John is Michael Head's brother, he joined The Pale Fountains around the time they were making their debut album Pacific Street and after The Pale Fountains split he would be in Shack and Michael Head & The Strands

Pacific Street The Pale Fountains debut for Virgin was released in 1984. A cult following has grown up around the group and this album, it's a fine example of sophisticated jangle pop

Personally I think it has little in common with The Smiths but the success of The Smiths would come to define indie pop and jangle in the 1980s. It's easy to see the aesthetic of The Smiths cover star, picked by Morrissey and worked up as sleeve artwork by Caryn Gough, copied on the sleeve of Pacific Street. The guy on the sleeve of Pacific Street is "Deák Gábor, Hungarian revolutioner, he belonged to a group which fought in the 7th district of Budapest during the revolution. The photo was taken [in 1956] by Mario De Biasi while working for "Epoca", the Italian magazine" - thank's to the discogs user that did the work here

Faithful Pillow Pt. 2

#1984 #the pale fountains #jangle pop #pop #liverpool #england #uk #80s music #Youtube

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A-T-4 076 Tripple B. Co.

I know nothing about Tripple B Co apart from John Peel played Nursery Chrymes on his radio show once so here’s a picture of me in the pub with my mates dog Rosie

Tripple B. Co. Featuring General Jo And The Intergalactic Empire - The Base Rock

Tripple B. Co. And Precious Metal - Nursery Chrymes

#Youtube

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A-T-4 076 Man Parrish Boogie Down (Bronx)

This track has the flow in spades. It’s not difficult to learn about Man Parrish, he talks a about his involvement in music on his excellent Man Parrish Stories YouTube, you can also find many deep interviews with the man online

If you’ve seen the episode of MPS about the making of Boogie Down (Bronx) you will be aware it came about after Mike Wilkinson of Import 12/Sugarscoop had ripped Man Parrish off and he walked away from his contract with them. Even though Hip Hop Be Bop and the first Man Parrish album were big hits he was desperate for money, he’d had to move back in with his father, so arranged to make Boogie Down (Bronx) as a one off deal with Sugarscoop. The track was made in his Brooklyn bedroom at his parents house and was recorded on 8 tracks. I’d like to know more about Raul A. Rodriguez, he’d began working with Mike Wilkinson well before Man Parrish joined, the two worked closely together on these early Man Parrish tracks but also under the names Rama and C.O.D., Raul did a lot of the edits for the Sugarscoop sub label Disconet and his name is on many more great records of the era. Boogie Down (Bronx) is made with Raul, they are immortalised in the verse

My man Man Parrish and Kool Raul

Cooler than the water in a swimming pool

Like a R to the A, the U and the L

Pushing more power than a Duracell

And like the M to the A, the N, N, the Y

The Hip Hop master that you can't deny

So check out the beat and listen to the sound

And if you're from the Bronx just boogie down boogie down

The MC on the track is MC Johnski (John Carter) he was a local kid who they noticed sitting on steps making up raps while they were working on the track. Despite also being screwed over by Sugarscoop, MC Johnski works with Raul and Man Parrish again on the track Go Go Get Down released under their Rama moniker. Mark Berry who I mentioned the other day mixed many of the Man Parrish/Raul A. Rodriguez productions, Berry was the in-house producer at Vanguard Studios

I've heard Man Parrish say in the early eighties they New York was in such a state, you can read about landlords burning down buildings for the insurance, they used to call the bronx the Burnt Down Bronx and this was the inspiration for the title

Man Parrish's first solo record was 1982s Hip Hop Be Bop but he’d been involved in a few projects before that. He’d met Klaus Nomi at the New York New Vaudeville show and worked on his first two albums https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowie-klaus-nomi-new-wave-vaudeville-show/

As well as Klaus Nomi he also backed Marilyn And The Movie Stars. Man Parrish provides the soundtrack for porno Heat Stroke porno. A track from this gets played by the DJ at The Anvil (that Visage made a track about?) the DJ puts him in touch with Mike Wilkinson who is looking to put out an edit of the track on his Disconet label and he is introduced to Raul A. Rodriguez. Wilkinson inquires about other tracks he might have and Man Parrish signs a dodgy deal to get Hip Hop Be Bop out

Because Man Parrish is a gay white man he says he’s not had the best of time with the hip-hop community (who allegedly prefer ritualised humiliation and paedophilia… diddy, bambaataa… a lot like the British public school system)

Man Parrish has always been popular in the U.K. his biggest hit here was Male Stripper with Man 2 Man. Man 2 Man was Miki Zone and Mandy Zone of The Fast, The Fast were a punk/new wave band who went electronic in the early eighties and began being produced by Bobby O. The brothers then become closely associated with Bobby O productions. Man 2 Man meets Man Parrish - Male Stripper originally comes out in 1986

Man Parrish - Boogie Down (Bronx) here's the story of how he got ripped off and how Unidisc now own his music

(Dub Mix) to make your speakers boom

Rama - Don't Want You To Be (Dub)

#Youtube

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A-T-4 075 Newcleus Dynamic Breakers

Newcleus were to come out of Jam-On Productions Crew who put on parties. Jam On Revenge was the name of their debut single and also their debut album that followed in 1984

Jam On Revenge the single was a massive hit but its follow up Jam On It takes it to the next phase and is a bonafide hip-hop classic. The Instrumental is a thing of beauty. It's something I heard older teenagers play when I was a kid, it wasn't until I was a little older I found out what it is

Newcleus - Jam On It (Instrumental)

Then lo and behold they do it again. The Instrumental of Automan is hard! It wasn't until I was in my early twenties and I was listening to electronica that I heard this Instrumental. I remember hearing Mantronix's Bassline when I was a kid which didn't come out until 1986 (a landmark record in the history of heavy electronic bass lines), Automan gives me the same light headed feeling

Newcleus - Automan (Instrumental)

Contrary to what you might have read Dynamic Breakers aren't Newcleus under a different name. Dynamic Breakers were a breakdance troop from Queens and a spin-off from the larger Dynamic Rockers crew. It was produced mixed and engineered by the same team as the above tracks including Cosmo D of Newcleus. In fact Dynamic was intended to be a duet between Newcleus and the Dynamic Breakers until a legal dispute led to this falling apart and the record going out with Cosmo D's involvement going uncredited

Dynamic Breakers - Dynamic (Total Control-Dub Version) with it's Nautilus inspired bass line

Nucleus release a few more singles in 1984 which all have versions on the Jam On Revenge album. Computer Age (Push The Button) I've posted here, the last single was Destination Earth (1999) which is a lovely mellow electro instrumental just not as sparse and edgy as the tracks above

No More Runnin' is a more disco track off the Jam On Revenge album with a nice vocal from the girls and a bass guitar (playing a baseline that sounds similar to Jam On Revenge... Jam On Jam-On!)

Newcleus - No More Runnin'

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A-T-4 074 Twilight 22 Siberian Nights

In November 1983 Cold War tensions were heightened by NATO's massive military training exercise known as Able Archer. Due to the breakdown of communication between the Kremlin and the west Russia mobilised their response believing the war game was a real threat. Declassified documents from the US State Department's historical office outline how close we were to nuclear war. The tension between the US and the Soviet Union was expressed in pop culture, music like Twilight 22's electro classic Siberian Nights, home computer games like Raid Over Moscow, War Games and Red Dawn on the cinema, Threads on the TV. The 1984 summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles were boycotted by the Soviet Union and 14 Eastern Bloc satellite states

I've not read it but it looks like Alex S. Edelstein covers propaganda and capitalist consumer culture in his book Total Propaganda: From Mass Culture To Popular Culture. I'm an odd sort as that's just the kind of book I like to read

Twilight 22 - Siberian Nights 12" version. It's not but this is kid of considered the follow up to Electric Kingdom

#1984 #twighlight 22 #electro #ray pinky velazquez #new york #usa #80s music

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A-T-4 073 InSoc Running (Swamp Mix)

There was a lot of great electro made in 1984 so lets have a week of electro

I first heard Running by Information Society (InSoc) was on Street Sounds Hip Hop Electro 13 this was "The Nest" Mix* remixed by a little Little "Louie" Vega and Tommy Boy's Joey Gardner, it was edited by the Latin Rascals. That's the Tommy Boy version that came out in 1986 the same year as Electro 13. This is from the original 1984 release on Wide Angle that some people might find a little crude compared to what it evolved into, oh! I should add for those that do not know the main track has a vocal. The following year Wide Angle put out a second version, the Tommy Boy release which had rerecorded vocals came out the year after that. The Tommy Boy release was a massive hit and the group moved from Minnesota to New York. In 1988 another remixed version is included on Information Society's self-titled debut album for Tommy Boy

Running was Information Society's second release after The InSoc EP which failed to sell. It seems like the band personnel changed a lot in this early period and that’s reflected in the evolution of the track

*l actually think it was part of the instrumental on electro 13 that was erroneously labelled as “The Nest” Mix on some copies

#1984 #information society #electro #synth pop #minnesota #usa #80s music

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A-T-4 072 Yannick Chevalier Ecoute le son du soleil (Instrumental)

Another proto-house anomaly, this time from France. Yannick Chevalier is a library musician, he makes albums of jingles and special effects (to be fair what I've heard of them is pretty ace). I'd like to know more about him but sadly I don't read French

Deviant Disco are French though and they write,

"Yannick Chevalier, the founder of the first school for DJs and the author of Profession Disc Jockey, is also a sound designer, a director of TV and radio ads, an author of library music, and a sound engineer. He is the head of Point 12, studios specialized in post-production for the cinema, the TV and the radio. By now, Yannick Chevalier has produced 48 jingle albums and 30 sound effect or sound design records, all available on  www.jingles.fr."

If you understand French there's an interview here about the record diggers dreams he's been producing since 1979 https://youtu.be/UJOJKd95i9A?si=UH0cDwpF0_xC_CJa

The track I'm sharing is from 1984 (obviously) and the vocal and dub versions are quite different from the instrumental, almost a euro-novelty record "[the vocals were] created with one of the very first harmonisers (Publison’s DHM 89). This effect, called “childlike” by Chevalier himself, is a virtual voice, like that of a character or a puppet answering a ventriloquist, which he used as cues in his club and radio shows."

The instrumental is stripped down and serious

#Youtube

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A-T-4 071 Solo Dub Girls (Ah-Ah-Hi)

Personally I think this sounds like a precursor to NY freestyle from 1987 by the likes of Todd Terry, or Frankie Bones and Tommy Musto, all it needs is a good edit (or maybe not!)

There is clearly a Trevor Horn playing in the studio with new toys influence but Mark Berry (Solo) had a more experience than Horn. Berry is from Brooklyn but moved to London in the early 1970s, he got work at Air Studios and his first engineering credit is on No Secrets by Carly Simon. Moving back to the USA in the second half of the 1970s Berry becomes Staff Engineer and in-house A&R/producer for Vanguard Records. This means Poussez!, The Players Association, Frisky, Carol Williams, Rainbow Brown, and early Bobby Orlando productions for Free Expression, Lyn Todd, and Roni Griffith. He carries on working with Roni Griffith and Bobby Orlando but is also in the room when Arthur Baker and John Robie are making Funky Soul Makossa and when Man Parrish is making Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop), he mixes C-Bank, C.O.D., all the Two Sisters records, Junior Byron's Dance To The Music, crazily he engineers Swans first two albums Filth and Cop, and mixes Stephanie Mills' The Medicine Song - that's just the tip on the iceberg

Dub Girls (Ah-Ah-Hi) sounds well ahead of its time but Mark Berry was at the cutting edge of things in New York. After Dub girls comes out Berry would remix some of the big names in mainstream popular music

#1984 #mark berry #proto house #electro #new york #usa #80s music

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A-T-4 070 Malcolm McLaren Madame Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo)

Stephen Hague's first success as a producer in the UK. Madame Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo) comes from the mini-album Fans Malcolm McLaren's follow up to Duck Rock. Ever the man with a concept or idea (to be made by someone else, although I've read he was very involved in and directed the process. Some artists I've met avoid getting their hands dirty), with Fans McLaren answers his question what could mixing opera with synth-pop sound like?

#1984 #malcolm mclaren #balearic #synth pop #london #england #uk #80s music

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A-T-4 069 Pet Shop Boys West End Girls

The original Bobby Orlando version of West End Girls was released in April 1984. The Pet Shop Boys have become the UK's most successful duo and have a passionate following so as you'd expect there has been a lot written about the original West End Girls recording

I was a massive fan of the Pet Shop Boys up until around Introspective, I was 14 and my tastes naturally moved on, I still love the early records though. I was close to my uncles, the youngest of which isn't much older than me and he bought these early versions of West End Girls, he also loves remixes so he picked up every version he could and the same went for the follow ups the Sunglasses At Night - West End Girls medley and One More Chance. After decades of badgering I inherited these records from him

Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant was working for Smash Hits, as he’d gone to the same school as Sting in Newcastle the pop magazine sent him to New York to interview The Police frontman. While in New York Tennant was determined to look up Bobby Orlando, Chris Lowe and himself were both fans of Bobby 'O' productions, especially Passion by the Flirts. To his delight Orlando agreed to meet (the Pet Shop Boys had recorded demos and Bobby 'O' had probably been sent them some time before meeting with Neil Tennant) and to his further delight they agreed to work together

The plan was Bobby Orlando was to produce a full album with the Pet Shop Boys. I don’t know when this got decided if it was before during or after recording West End Girls, One More Shot, and the track Pet Shop Boys. The boys did indeed record an albums worth of tracks with Bobby 'O' including future singles: Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money), It's A Sin, Rent; the b-sides: A Man Could Get Arrested, That's My Impression, I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too); and album tracks: I Want a Lover, Later Tonight, One More Chance, Two Divided by Zero. After the 1984 releases of West End Girls and One More Shot the Pet Shop Boys signed with manager Tom Watkins who got them a deal with Parlophone (who they stayed with until 2012). Watkins and the label pushed for them to rerecord tracks like West End Girls with Stephen Hague who at that time had recently moved to the UK and had produced Malcom McLaren and was about to produce OMD... They ultimately went with Stephen Hague although there is a Bobby 'O' production that gets an official release on Parlophone the b-side A Man Could Get Arrested and Bobby Orlando gets a co-writing credit for Two Divided By Zero on the album Please

Pet Shop Boys - Pet Shop Boys the electro theme

Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls

Pet Shop Boys - One More Chance (Remix) the intro to the remix sounds very Mad Decent if an mc was repeating lines like Put Your Pussy On Me

#1984 #pet shop boys #bobby orlando #bobby o #synth pop #electro #england #uk #80s music

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A-T-4 068 Bobby 'O' HiNRG and Synth-pop

Like I wrote yesterday the problematic Bobby Orlando produced a lot of records in 1984. On top of yesterdays electro selection, today's HiNRG, and hopefully tomorrow's Pet Shop Boys post there are plenty of his records released in 1984 I'll not mention (I'm not the biggest fan of HiNRG) and others I want to share later in the year. For now here are some of my favourites of his HiNRG and synth-pop from 1984

You often seen Bobby 'O's production are written by C. Shore, it's Bobby Orlando

Yukihiro Takanawa - Dragon Lady (Instrumental)

The New York Models - Love On Video (Analog Mix) yes it is

Alphaville - The Nelson Highrise (Sector One: The Elevator) b-side to Sounds Like A Melody

Alphaville - Sounds Like A Melody (Special Long Version)

The Flirts - Dream Boy with shades of Don't You Want Me Baby

Divine - T-shirts And Tight Blue Jeans Divine's funk jam

Boytronic - X-Rated Phone Calls not my favourite but kinda works as a bridge between Divine and Hippies With Haircuts

Hippies With Haircuts -  Eye On You back to the HiNRG and it's a good un

I was going to finish with Patty Phillipe - Burnin' but it's too much for me

#1984 #bobby orlando #bobby o #hi nrg #synth pop #new york #usa #80s music

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A-T-4 067 Bobby 'O' Electro

1984 the controversial producer Bobby Orlando was churning out a lot of music. He was still releasing versions of Passion by The Flirts, and plenty of tracks that sounded remarkably similar to his best known production, but the was also venturing into sampling and experimental areas, he's clearly watching at the success of Arthur Baker, Trevor Horn, and Man Parrish. In addition to this and his many HiNRG productions in 1984 he's working with European synth-pop acts like Pet Shop Boys, Alphaville, and Boytronic

These are some of Bobby 'O's electro productions from 1984, some of it boarders on industrial. Coincidentally one of Bobby 'O's biggest artists Divine released their first record on industrial label Wax Trax!, it's only the second record the label they'd put out

The Beat Box Boys - Yum Yum (Eat Em Up) another Pac Man inspired track. This is the original version on the great 4-track 12" Give Me My Money. Yum Yum (Eat Em Up) gets a single release edited by The Latin Rascals in 1985. Bobby 'O' is well known for nicking ideas, this seems to have an Egyptian Lover flavour

Hippies With Haircuts - Freedom In An Unfree World Hippies With Haircuts is a great name. B-side of Eye On You

Wow - The ABC's Of Love (Long)

Wow - Simplicity Pt. 1 b-side to magic man

Gringo Lopez - Latin Jungle I love orchestral crashes. Great track but that beat is the same as the music from daytime quiz show Countdown (by Alan Hawkshaw)

Spooge Boy - D-Bop nuts effects on those drums

Spooge Boy - Reggae Dance (Blub) (Club)

The Beat Box Boys - Give Me My Money lead track from the 12" single. Those orchestral loops are lovely, Bobby 'O' not letting anything go to waste also uses them on Once Is Not Enough by Oh Romeo

#1984 #bobby orlando #bobby o #electro #new york #usa #80s music