Snoopy

Artist: Snoopy

LP: 7" single

Song: "It's All In the Bible"

[ listen ] 

Here's another one of the singles I was forced to purchase with my recent Discogs order from Europe so that my total order cost would be worthy of overseas shipping. According to Wikipedia, Snoopy was a short-lived Dutch disco duo formed in 1978, featuring Ethel Mezas and Florence Woerdings...until Florence left in 1979 and was replaced by Maureen Seedorf. In any case, Snoopy "ceased activities" in 1980, just two years after they had formed. "It's All In the Bible" was released in 1979, so one of those lovely ladies on the cover could still be Florence, or instead she might actually be Maureen. In any case, this song was a top-10 hit in both Belgium (peaked at no. 9) and The Netherlands (no. 10).

Gotham

Artist: Gotham

LP: Void Where Inhibited

Song: "Menage A Trois"

[ listen ]

I was digging through my disco LPs last night and found this 1979 gay disco record I'd picked up for a couple bucks at Angry Mom Records in Ithaca, NY on my Upstate New York road trip back in the autumn of 2016. According to their Discogs page, Gotham was a cabaret trio formed in 1973 that was known for their comedy as much as for their singing. They became "enormously successful" in the 1970s and '80s and were the first openly gay act to play both Washington, DC's Kennedy Center (in 1976) and (in 1978) New York City's Carnegie Hall. 

Frankly, this record isn't very good. But I do like all the harp in this "Menage A Trois" song...and the fact that the song plays like "Sesame Street" for adults. "One, and Two, and Three...You, and Me, and She!" There are some great backing vocals on the LP, including some by Phyllis Hyman and Ullanda McCullough. I also like that Gary Herb looks like Eddie Rabbitt in the artistic rendition on the back of the record, but on the front cover he looks more like Corky St. Clair. 

Continent Number 6

Artist: Continent Number 6

LP: 7" single

Song: "Afromerica"

[ listen ] 

I recently ordered the "I Have Love" single by Typhoon Saturday online so I'd have their complete set (I'd found the group's other two singles at a store in the University District years ago, but I didn't have "I Have Love!").

(Un?)fortunately, my order didn't meet the seller's minimum dollar amount required for shipping something all the way to the USA...so I had to browse through their catalog to find eight or so late-'70s and early-'80s disco and new wave singles for my collection to make it worth their while! "Afromerica" by Continent Number 6 is one of the best of the bunch I got. CN6 is described online as, "an afro-funk outfit group composed of studio session artists." (Un?)fortunately, they also released an entire LP in 1978 (the same year as this single) that includes songs with titles like "Jungle Jamboree," "Eh Yeh Oh," and "Hunky Funky Lion," so...last night I had to place an order for THAT one too!

Nancy Nova

Artist: Nancy Nova

LP: 7" single

Song: "No Way"

[ listen ] 

Nancy Nova is one of my top favorite recent musical discoveries! (Nowadays, "recent" means sometime within the past twelve years.) I found two of her singles at the local record shop a while back, and then ordered all of her other singles online. "No Way" is her very first one, released in 1978. 

There's not a heap of information online about Miss Nova (real name: Carol Ann Holness), but she was one of the founding members of Toto Coelo (Nancy Nova's sister remained in the band!), and she wrote songs and sang background vocals for Lena Zavaroni!

Donna Summer

Artist: Donna Summer

LP: 12" single

Song: "State of Independence"
[ listen ]

Yesterday at work as we were loading up our mail trucks in the garage, we were trying to think of 4th of July songs we could sing while we worked. We couldn't really think of any. "State of Independence" by Donna Summer was the only one I could come up with. (Well, I actually thought of this one too, but I didn't mention it, since the last thing I wanted to hear anytime before noon was one of my USPS colleagues trying to sing it.) Of course nobody knew what I was talking about when I suggested the Donna Summer song, and I couldn't offer much help, since the only lyrics I could recall and present in their proper sequence were: "This state of independence shall be—This state of independence shall be!" But now I've got the lyric sheet, so I'll be better prepared for next year.

Written by Jon & Vangelis and produced by Quincy Jones, the 7" version of "State of Independence" went to #41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November of 1982. The song would definitely make it into my own top 40 list of best songs of the 1980s. And take a look at the roster of famous voices supporting Ms. Summer in that all-star choir!

[ Donna Summer: December 31, 1948 — May 17, 2012 ]

Quartz

Artist: Quartz

LP: Camel In the City

Song: "Camel In the City"

[ listen ]

The next record shop I went to in Minnesota (my 4th) was Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, a place that has evidently been around since 1968. (Electric Fetus, I mean. Minneapolis has been around even longer.) Why, that's even before I was born! One of the neat things I found at Electric Fetus is this 1979 LP from a French disco-synth outfit called Quartz. I'd try to glean more information from the worldwide web about Quartz, but I keep falling asleep while I'm typing. Good night.

[ Electric Fetus — Minneapolis, Minnesota ]

Debbie Cameron & Tommy Seebach

Artist: Debbie Cameron & Tommy Seebach

LP: 7" single

Song: "I See the Moon"

[ listen ]

Here's a happy little ditty from 1980 that I picked up on my trip to Norway with my sister back in 2017. "I See the Moon" has Eurovision Song Contest written all over it...which makes sense, because that's where Debbie and Tommy worked together to create pop music magic in 1979, representing Denmark on the show. Incidentally, Tommy and Debbie both had the same birthday, September 14th, though he was born nine years before she was. 

 

[ Debbie Cameron: born September 14, 1958 ]

[ Tommy Seebach: September 14, 1949 — March 31, 2003 ]

Voyage

Artist: Voyage

LP: 7" single

Song: "Lady America"

[ listen ]

My best friend in the world (maybe even the universe!) got his Green Card last week, and so no longer lives in fear of having his life upended by suddenly being abducted and shipped out of the country. I'm so relieved and excited! Thank you, Joe Biden.

The cover of this 1978 single by French disco band Voyage isn't very exciting, granted, and so it may seem like my celebration is muted...but I think actually it's supposed to look like the side of one of those big wooden boxes that gets loaded onto a ship, stamped with its international destination on the side: LADY AMERICA! But since my friend is already in Lady America, his wooden box will have something more thrilling stamped on the side, like LADY TURKEY! 

This, of course, brings up the question of undocumented astronauts. If someone is in the USA without documents and they leave the country, they aren't allowed back in. So if someone without documents becomes an astronaut and they leave the planet, are they likewise barred from returning? 

[ Voyage ]

5000 Volts

Artist: 5000 Volts

LP: 7" single

Song: "I'm On Fire"

[ listen ]

Happy New Year! I can't tell you how pleased I am with the recent switchover to a new and improved administration in our ole' US of A. Wait...yes I can: I'm SUPER pleased! It's been just two days since the inauguration of the Biden-Harris team, and already the emergency brakes have brought a bunch of Donald Trump bullshit to a screeching halt, as the gear-shift is then thrown into reverse. With so many emergencies to tend to at the moment, I am THRILLED that President Biden submitted a comprehensive (and humane) immigration policy reform bill after his inauguration and before his first night's sleep in the White House. 

Biden has basically been doing what I'd likely be doing if I suddenly found I'd been elected President of the USA during this troubled time. And then, of course, that got me thinking: What song would I choose to have playing at my rallies as I approached the microphone to address an enthusiastic crowd? I've settled on this 1975 disco single by British group 5000 Volts. I'm a little surprised it wasn't already taken. You might say, "Alex, you're too old to start thinking about being the President." And then I'd say: "Yeah, I know." Actually, I may be a little long in the tooth, but by political standards I'm still a spring chicken. Isn't Mitch McConnell 117? Plus, I'm currently working for the Federal Government, so I've already got one foot in the door!

[ 5000 Volts ]

Maxine Nightingale

Artist: Maxine Nightingale

LP: 7" single

Song: "(Bringing Out) The Girl In Me"

[ listen ]

British singer Maxine Nightingale had a smash hit in 1978 with "Lead Me On," but this fantastic follow-up only made it to #73 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Who knows what went wrong, but if I was going to end up stranded for the rest of my life on some deserted dance floor and I could only take one of these two songs with me, I would definitely choose "(Bringing Out) The Girl In Me." Wouldn't you?

[ Maxine Nightingale ]

Gibson Brothers

Artist: Gibson Brothers

LP: 7" single

Song: "The Singer Not the Song"

[ listen ]

Just popping in to say Happy Veteran's Day and to post something randomly pulled from my collection. I found this one for just €2 on my trip to Barcelona back in the summer of 2018. My ears have loved everything they've heard by the Gibson Brothers. You can't really go wrong with a formula Wikipedia describes as a "mix of disco beats, Latin percussion, soulful vocals and a catchy tune." I'm very sad to learn that one of the three brothers, Patrick, died this past April from COVID-19.

[ Gibson Brothers ]

Zdravko Čolić

Artist: Zdravko Čolić

LP: Ako Priđeš Bliže

Song: "Glavo Luda"

[ listen ] 

This is the second LP, released in 1977, from "the Tom Jones of the Balkans," Zdravko Čolić. I got my copy in the mail today from a guy named Vladan in Jagodina, Serbia. What happened was this: A few weeks ago I found a copy of this record by Yugoslavian group Srebrna Krila up at the Aurora Antique Pavilion in Lynwood, WA. Along with that record, there was also a nice copy of Zdravko Čolić's fourth LP, "Malo Pojačaj Radio," inside the sleeve. I went online to find a copy of "Malo Pojačaj Radio" with its own outer sleeve, and found Vladan's shop on Discogs. He had "Malo..." and a copy of this amazing-looking earlier record by Čolić too! And a bunch of Yugoslavian disco singles! Anyway, now they're mine. Enjoy!

[ Zdravko Čolić ]

ABBA / Matt Williams [1967-2020]

Artist: ABBA

LP: Super Trouper
Song: "Super Trouper"

[ listen ]

Speaking of "family vibes," my brother Matt died suddenly of a heart-attack this past Saturday morning down in Portland, Oregon. I could write 100+ paragraphs filled with all the memories I have of him, but I'm just gonna mention one. And then I'm going to post 100+ photos instead.

Matt loved ABBA. I mean, he didn't dress up like them or anything, but I remember when he was about 13 years old in the early '80s, he had ABBA's "Super Trouper" on cassette and played it a lot. Well at age 11, I was just hip enough to know that ABBA had gone slightly out of fashion, so I teased him in front of his friends: "You like ABBA! You like ABBA!" Now of course I have all of ABBA's albums and recognize that they are actually one of the coolest things ever to come out of Europe...and also that another one of the coolest things ever is to be slightly out of fashion. My brother was way ahead of me.

Matt liked the album's title track in particular...and I do too. If anyone was a Super Trouper, it was Matt. In spite of  whatever I or anyone else believes, I like to think that now lights are gonna' find him shining like the sun, smiling, having fun, feeling like a #1. And I hope he won't ever feel blue, like he'd sometimes be, 'cause somewhere in the crowd there's me.

[ As a young lad, sittin' on the shag ]

[ Bug eyes ]

[ Photo for the cover of our first LP ]

[ Matt the baker boy ]

[ Matt and his glass ]

[ Out at the farm, slightly overdressed ]

[ Marching to the beat of our own drum ]

[ Okay, actually maybe Matt DID dress like ABBA ]

[ ABBA ]

[ Brothers at the oven ]

 [ Brothers at the campground ]

 

[ The Williams Family siblings ]

[ Happy to be taking care of his little brother ]

[ Matt with friends, champions at the table ]

[ At the table with mom ]

[ At Original Hotcake & Steak House in Portland, OR ]

[ Matt turns six ]

Matthew Lawrence Williams
[ January 21, 1967 — May 30, 2020 ]

We will miss you, Matt. Please let me know when you've seen this.