I have recently stumbled upon the "Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth Boogie In 1980s South Africa" compilation which was released last month by Soundway Records. Among all the old-skool gems I found Zoom's uplifting "Wayawaya" which dates back to 1987. An instant favourite, pure joy!
It's time to revive this Lost Classic thread of mine. Here's a marvellously kitsch euro disco moment made in France back in 1981. This girl group project founded by Léo Carrier in Paris back in 1979 scored a stream of well received club singles back in the 80's disco heydays. "I Love Video" is a b-side taken from their "Get The Look" single.
Prince Roger Nelson. Always surrounded by his muses and divas. Aside from an enormous catalogue of famous renditions of his own songs (Sinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U", Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You" or Cyndi Lauper's "When You Were Mine" to name just a few) the Paisley Park multi-instrumentalist wrote and produced numerous gems especially for his female peers and protegées. Many of these rare gems remain sadly omitted when discussing Prince's legacy. Here are 20 of them, as always subjectively cherry-picked by yours truly... Enjoy!
20 "If I Luv U 2 Nite" - Mica Paris (1991)
19 "I Want U (Purple Version)" - Rosie Gaines (1995)
18 "Mia Bocca" - Jill Jones (1987)
17 "Born 2 B.R.E.E.D. (Build Relationships Where Education And Enlightenment Dominate)" - Monie Love (1993)
Nohelani Cypriano's music has been described as "nostalgic Polynesian funk". This 1979 Hawaiian disco gem has reached a well deserved cult status among the genre's aficionados. I am completely mesmerised by this release from Be With Records the same label which brought back Letta Mbulu's South African boogie back to life. A truly delectable rare groove.
Here's a reminder of Letta Mbulu's divine "Nomalizo":
"This is a very limited CD. Moloko come from the 7 Hills of Sheffield. Release date: 22.05.1995" says the sticker on a highly sought-after super-rare promo single which happened to be the first introduction to Moloko and Róisín Murphy. A single which after a mere 2 decades I have finally managed to purchase while browsing on the ever reliable Discogs. It's rather fitting that I would dedicate the relaunch of my Lost Classics thread to this particular song. Paired with the dancefloor oddity "Party Weirdo" it was Moloko's first official single. Randomly scoring #189 on Australian charts, this sophisticated feast of electronica, trip-hop and all sounds bizarre was the calm before the storm and an apt showcase of a truly unique style which then became a signature for the next 8 fruitful years in the artistic life of this Irish/British duo. For all the Róisín Murphy completists out there, the promo version below is different to the final album edit which closed Moloko's debut "Do You Like My Tight Sweater?". A "white crow" as we call a rarity in Polish. File under #cultrecords.
Now that Grace Jones re-released her three first disco era records "Portfolio", "Fame" and "Muse" as fully remastered and expanded editions, it seems like a perfect time to go over some of those forgotten, obscure gems from her earliest back catalogue. Alongside the mega hits "I Need A Man" and "La Vie En Rose" you will find a whole marathon of Studio 54 flavoured dancefloor delicacies. The extraordinary "Atlantic City Gambler" comes from "Muse", Miss Grace's most overlooked album and it sounds like the most accurate musical bridge between her late 70's disco excursions and her flirts with post-disco, synth pop and post-punk of her most famous decade of the 80's. "Anema E Core", taken from "Fame", is literally a definition of my favourite kind of disco: kitsch, camp, vibrant, off-kilter and Mediterranean flavoured... And all sung in Italian! Grace Jones' 3cd "Disco" Box Set is absolutely essential for all the slaves to the rhythm of one of this planet's fiercest artists.
So there I am discovering Onuka's perfect little synth-pop number "Look" almost a year after its initial release. Lost classic big time. The Ukrainian duo is all about sweet vocals, keyboards, electronic drums, trombones, french horns and pandura. It's never too late to discover gems isn't it?
It was May 2006. Tomlab released one of the most unique, intriguing and groundbreaking albums that year Niobe's abstract and understated "White Hats". Bizarre folk, classical guitars, micro-beats, poetry, elegance, echoes of bossa nova and Matthew Herbert's works with Dani Siciliano and then this... Track #13. The final one on the album. The most wondrously unexpected 2 minutes of a dancefloor delicacy which still melts my heart every single time...
Such a wonderfully mellow groove from 1981 by Alicia Myers who had previously been a member of a moderately popular American R&B/Funk group One Way. A tune that is perfect for a lazy sunday afternoon.
This bizarre slice of delicately Oriental piece of German new wave from 1984 has found a very special place in my heart recently. Club Bizarre meets Lost Classics. I was trying to desperately find out more about this unclassifiable one-off single and I stumbled upon this truly fascinating story behind on Pitchfork:
"Enter that none-hit wonder, “You Could Be More As You Are”, which remains a curious beast: rubbery reggae bass, growling gong hits, synth stabs and jerky rhythms from hand drum and drum machine, featuring an assortment of whistles, saxophones, Turkish saz, and ney flute, all of it topped by the icy monotones of Lange and Hossfeld, who recall their memories of a German friend who sold her body for money at a young age, hit every club every night, and died too soon. It was idiosyncratic in their native Germany in the age of Neu Deautsche Welle groups, yet somehow became a club hit in Greece, and soon after became a holy grail for Balearic DJs around the world, where it fetches upwards of $170 a copy online."
Read more about it on Captured Tracks HERE. A real treasure!
Not one, not two but three tracks from the extraordinary Maanam in my "Lost Classics" section today. Fronted by the ultra-charismatic and uncompromising Kora, Maanam were among the most successful Polish bands whose songs by no means were ever lost classics there. Apart from a small success in the East Germany and "Się Ściemnia" being the first ever Polish Music Video to air on the international MTV the band's fruitful catalogue of post-punk classics, communism era stylee, remained hugely unexplored by the rest of the world. Maanam's sound in the 1980s could be considered a cross between Nina Hagen, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Blondie. These three tracks combined together should give you a clear indication of the band's versatility, universal quality and Kora's undeniably spectacular vocal acrobatics! I rarely blog about music from my country but returning to these tracks this week made me want to share it with a wider audience. Hope you enjoy it.
