VOLUME 2 · NUMBER 5
Three hot sides from Bobby DJ. Come on girls and shake your pom poms!
Bobby DJ reviewed 137 new releases, and picked 10 hot new releases which your audience should really get off on.
Frat Cat Disco / Frat Cat Disco Band. This song is simply fun. Dani MiCormick and Stanley Clay wrote it, and Keg Johnson produced the group with Don Sorkin as executive producer. The college market will no longer be able to resist disco once the Frat Cat Disco Band comes to town.
Slow Down / Patsy Gallant. Patsy's forthcoming LP for Attic (Canada) has a wide variety of songs on it, including this John Miles classic. Patsy started singing with her sisters at age 5 in Campbellton, New Brunswick. She's had several English and French hits in Canada, and won the coveted Juno award in 1976 for "Top Females Vocalist." Bobby thinks her newest LP will win her many fans in the U.S. Ian Robertson produced.
Smash / Andre Gagnon. Andre wrote and produced this upbeat dance song with a keen ear for drum breaks and percussion to keep the floor alive. It's on a 12" disco disc from London (Canada), and should be out in other areas shortly.
Dance / Paradise Express. Henry Cosby and Phil Jones have produced a new group for Fantasy, and their first 12" disco disc includes a very very upbeat new version of "Poinciana" as well as "Dance", which Bobby picked. "Dance" was written and originally recorded by Paul Jabara for A&M. It later became one of the songs in Paul's first Casablanca LP, and Paradise Express brings a whole new slant to it.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Side A runs 19:26, building from 132 BPM (beats per minute) to 138.
Tender Is The Night / T.H.P. This is the title song from the new THP #2 Butterfly LP. Their "Two Hot For Love" on Volume 1, Program 3, still gets play to warm dance floors everywhere, and their second LP takes the group further. "Tender Is The Night" is the most laid back THP song yet, and should pickup quite a bit of radio as well as disco play. Ian Guenther and Willi Morrison produced, with John Luongo's assistance.
Lady Madonna / Lenny White. This Beatles classic has a nice disco/r&b feel to it in Lenny White's new version. It's on Elektra, and since Don Mizell was executive producer (and gave us "Boogie Oogie Oogie" by A Taste of Honey earlier this year), Lenny should get some good reaction from your floor.
Souvenirs / Voayge. The world can hardly wait to hear the new Voyage II LP from TK/Marlin, and Bobby picked the first half of one side. Roger Tokarz produced. "Souvenirs" continues to demonstrate Voyage's magic with fast tempo and melody.
All You Need Is Music / Neil Sedaka. Neil's production of the song he co-wrote with Howard Greenfield is a mini-disco special. It's on Elektra, and while aimed at the radio market now, has all of the elements for disco play… easy-to-get into intro, percussion break in the middle, and easy exit.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Side B runs 18:23, building from 122 BPM to 134 BPM.
"Name That Break" and win!
Following a :04 band, there's a 30 second DISCONET special for you. In case the flying saucers start coming, you'll be prepared to warn your audience. Cue up any appropriate vocal, and you'll be putting words into the secretary of defense. And… you can win a years supply of Baja Tortillas by correctly identifying the drum break in "They've Landed." Simply drop a postcard to DISCONET with your name, address, and phone number, and the name of the song the break is from. Bobby DJ will draw the winning card on December 15, 1978, so mail early. The winner will receive a case of Baja Tortillas each month for one year.
If There's Love/Hazy Shades Of Love / Amant. Ray Martinez has written and produced a beautiful 12" disco single for TK, which will also be a part of Amant's debut LP for Marlin. Jim Burgess mixed Ray's tracks for the 12" version, which were edited into one suite for this DISCONET program to give you 18 minutes of Amant.
Ray is a triple Libra, created and produced the first Foxy LP, and then put Sassy together (including the "Disco '77" theme used on the TV show as well as DISCONET's Automatom Top Tune '77 medley.) In Ray's spare time, he's produced and engineered for George MacCrae and Betty Wright.
Ray says that he got the idea for Amant on May 18, 1978 in New York, and began working on it on May 22. The vocals were recorded beginning August 31, 1978 at 2 a.m. in Miami. (Richard Noriega Jr. and Martha Rogue are lead vocalists on "If There's Love", backed by Madeline Faiella and Shane on "Hazy Shades of Love.") Jesse Portis Helm ran the information through his charts, and made the following predictions for Amant:
… Since the song is a Virgo, with Saturn conjuncting the Sun, it has a serious sound which communicates a message;
… With Cancer rising, it's emotional, sensitive, artistically excellent, unusual, and moving;
… Women will really like it, and since Jupiter is in Cancer with the cusp in Leo, it should make a lot of money;
… In general, the song works and will become very popular.
You'll note that the special DISCONET version of "Amant" begins with an extended percussion break to make it easy to get into, covers "If There's Love" and "Hazy Shades of Love", and goes back to "If There's Love" for the finish. We tested this in the Miami/ Ft. Lauderdale area, New York City, and Westchester County, and we've never seen a new song have such a strong, immediate response.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Bonus Side 1 runs 18:01 at a consistent 130 BPM.
John Benitez's "In The Bush" medley is so super, they had to close the park.
Tom Savarese presented the world premiere of MUSIQUE's "In The Bush" way back when on Volume 1, Program 12. Four weeks later it hit the charts at #34, and rose to #1 over the following nine weeks. Francois Dubonnet remixed the original tracks, which became the disco favorite, and an edited version is now getting serious radio play throughout the country. John Benitez's new version probably won't get played on the radio, but will give you some new tricks to throw at your audience giving a truly great song some new twists.
John began spinning in January, 1975. He's a 21 year old Scorpio, and currently plays at the Barefoot Boy and Fifth Avenue, DISCONET's newest Big Apple subscriber. He is studying marketing and sales promotion at Bronx Community College, says that Cerrone is his favorite artist, Walter Gibbons and Tony Smith his favorite DJs, and Bob Viteritti's "Dance and Feel Medley" his favorite DISCONET side. In addition to doing the "In The Bush" medley for this DISCONET program, John just completed the mix of "Dance It Freestyle" by Mantus, which will be coming out on SMI Records.
The medley also stars a powerhouse flashback to Montreal Sound's "Music", which was one of Summer 77's hottest disco songs.
SPECIAL NOTE TO DJs: Bonus Side 2 runs 16:14 at 134 BPM. The bird break, 8 "Pushes", and "Music" each have bands for cueing.
"For Ariola, Disconet is a real-time, real-world proving ground."
Randy Sills, National Disco Coordinator, Ariola America Records
"The Three Degrees' debut Ariola album is a good example of how we're getting useful information from the Disconet service. Information we can act on. Disconet's Volume 2, Program 3 included a preview of the LP. The nationwide DJ and audience response which Disconet provides helped us finalize editing and sequencing within a week of the program's release."
John P. Greathouse, Jr. wins the LCD chronograph. John returned his feedback card from Volume 2, Program and his pressing serial number (#443) matched the winning number. John plays at the Sportspage in Biloxi, Mississippi, and voted The Three Degrees' "Giving Up, Giving In" the best on Program 3. The "Dance and Feel" medley is currently the hottest record in the club, with First Choice's "Hold Your Horses" rising fast.