Dario's Favorite records

Dario's favorite records

barrabas
sylvester
espan~oles
lime
ita


Copyright © Dario M. All Rights Reserved.  

1-40

san remo

# 1

Artist: Sylvester

Year: 1978

"You make me feel (mighty real)"

Style: 70's Disco - Funk

After his rock n' roll blues-ish
records with the Hot Band in the 70's, this San Francisco legend invites a then little known electrician called Patrick Cowley to add some synthesizer sounds to what was initially a ballad co-written with Tip Wirrick who was to become one of Bay Area's most memorable songwriters.

Visit Dario's Sylvester site for more information.

san remo

# 2

Artist: Real Life

Year: 1984

"Send me an Angel"

Style: Synth 80's

Australia

While they had their original keyboard player and songwriter they came up with this energetic song with a killer synth hook, new wave vocal attitude and a danceable background.

san remo

# 3

Artist: Barrabas

Year: 1974

"hi jack"

Style: 70s funk

Its funny that such an influential band in the funk scene came actually from Spain where they were massively ignored. By the time this song was released they had already a #1 in Canada with "Woman". All masterminded by Fernando Arbex originally a member of Los Brincos - i.e a band that musically meant to spain what the Beatles meant to the Anglo world-.

Visit Dario's Barrabas Page for more information.

san remo

# 4

Artist: LIME

Year: 1985

"Unexpected lovers"

Style: 80's HiNRG

Canada

From Canada...this synth-based studio project feautering the "dirty" "rough" voice of the lead singer (hopefully its Denis Lepage) gave us killer songs written by Denis Lepage that kept us rocking at the beach discos all over the Mediteranean.

Album: "Unexpected Lovers"

Click here for New Album information.

san remo

# 5

Artist: Chic

Year: 1979

"Good Times"

Style: 70's Disco-funk Bernhard Edwards used to come up with the beafiest bass grooves and Nile Rodgers was equally sharp in cutting inbetween the groove with his guitar arrangements.

Album: "Risque'"

san remo

# 6

Artist: Lucio Battisti

Year: 1975

"Ancora Tu"

Style: 70's Disco Funk

Italy

Italy's most popular "grab-my-guitar" singer songwriter of the late 60's and early 70's decided to go cutting edge incorporating a very funk dance based elements to his ballad style with magical and extremely sexy results.

Album: "La batteria, il contrabasso,..."

Notes:

san remo

# 7

Artist: Hot Butter

Year: 1971

"Pop corn"

Style: First techno record

Germany / NY

I think the creator of this record was actually a film composer

san remo

# 8

Artist: Dusty Springfield

Year: 1969

"Windmills of my mind"

Style: Brit Soul

Emotional, vulnerable reaching an excited vocal climax with the second chorus.

Album: Memphis

Visit Dario's Dusty Springfield site for more.

san remo

# 9

Artist: Fingers Inc.

Year: 1988

"Never No More Lonely"

Style: House

US - through the UK

Two names: "Larry Heard" & "Robert Owens" As they said, they were purposely going against the grain. Over Larry's intimate and dark synth arrangement...you get an excited Robert performing in the most personal way his heart out.

Album: Another Side

Visit Dario's Larry Heard site for more information.

san remo

# 10

Artist: Googoosh

Year: 1973

"Dow Panjareh (Two Windows)"

Style: Diva ballad

Iran

She had already become Irans biggest star when she met a heavenly sent songwriter called Shamaizadeh who writes the most incredible melodies. Add to it a superb movie arranger called Varudjan and Googoosh's own unique and astonishing voice and you have a classic.

Visit Dario's irannostalgia site for more information.

san remo

# 11

Artist: Bronskie Beat

Year: 1984

"Small town boy"

Style: Synthpop 80's

UK

A dark complicated synth line with a pulsating beat introduces a lonely wining falsetto voice. Then there was that video. Talk about no-nonsense stuff. Captured so perferctly what so many of us couldn't explicitly find in any other record.

san remo

# 12

Artist: El Ultimo de la fila

Year: 1986

"Soy un Accidente"

Style: Rock flamenco influenced

Spain

The two of these guys just popped-out killer songs one after the other. This rock band arranged their records in the most strange manner. Accordng to one record exec: they sound half arabic. Manolo had a flamenco style voice. All this over a dark and moody electic guitar background....and those passional lyrics.

Album: Enemigos de lo Ajeno

san remo

# 13

Artist: Fancy

Year: 1985

"Bolero"

Style: Italo Disco (Via Germany)

Germany


Synth Heaven !!! The word "masterpiece" definitely applies to this record. Since it is "dance" music ...by some "cross-dressing" studio artist in Germany, it won't be remembered in the rock n' roll hall of fame (better "shame"), but it will be always in the heart of those of us who like gorgeous melodies and any synthesizer lover

Visit Dario's Italo Disco site for more information.

san remo

# 14

Artist: Erasure

Year: 1996

"Rock me Gently"

Style: synthpop

UK

Vince Clark and Andy Bell have just written so many great songs. This haunting ballad came out once radio had stopped playing them.

Album: Erasure

san remo

# 15

Artist: Electribe 101 (Billie Ray Martin)

Year: 1990

"Talking with myself"

Style: House

UK-Germany

She has one of those "special-haunting-one-of-a-kind" voices. Put that over this intimate, elegant, stylish house arrangement... with manipulative lyrics ....and its magic. Its adult dance music that you can actually dance to...while not being distracted from the mood and the lyrics. This has been managed thanks to carefull synth arrangements that are not flamboyant. Only one album was released. Billie (not her real name) has continued with very irregular releases, both in quality and scheduling. She also seams to be not very interested in dance music...claiming that her real passion are ballads.

Album: Electribal Memories

Notes: Also checkout "loving arms" & "Persuation" by Billie Ray Martin
Click here: for a dead link!

san remo

# 16

Artist: Loleatta Holloway

Year: 1980

"Love Sensation"

Style: 70's Disco funk

Written by Dan Hartman...Gospel rough DIVA voice of Holloway is worked to the max in this burning track feautering killer string arrangements. Lots of Brass too. Probably the most sampled record ever.

album: Love sensation

san remo

# 17

Artist: Lectroluv (Fred Jorio & Joi Cardwell)

Year: 1993

"If we try"

Style: House (Jazz house)

US

Nightly dark elegant synth arrangements over a no nonsense housetrack with the Jazz style vocalist Joi Cardwell giving us something we had not heard before. Not to confuse with Acid Jazz...this is Kick Ass danceable...while having Jazz progressions.

Note: Also checkout "Journey with the lonely" by Joi Cardwell and Lil Luis (1992 Sony) & "Trouble" Joi Cardwell (1994)

san remo

# 18

Artist: Echo & The bunnymen

Year: 1984

"Silver"

Style: New Wave

UK

Ian MacCulloch is a great songwriter. Add the minimal guitar playing of Will and in this case a non-stoping string section from Paris and you are on for an alternative rock song that even your mom will like.

san remo

# 19

Artist: Jamie Principle

Year: 1992

"Please Dont Go Away"

Style: House

US

One of House Music first artists... he had already teamed up with magical results with Steve Hurley in "Cold World" (1990). However, we were in for a full-album major record company release in 1992 feautering haunting falsetto and elegant sharp production and sexitivity.

Album: Midnight Hour (1992)

san remo

# 20

Artist: Azucar Moreno

Year: 1991

"Ahora o Nunca"

Style: Flamenco Dance

Spain

A pair of female flamenco voices set on to stylish house music cooked up by Raul Orellana

Album: Mambo (1991)

san remo

# 21

Artist: Fiorello

Year: 1996

"e tu (and you)"

Style: Pop House

"E tu" was originally a hit in ballad in 1973 for Claudio Baglioni whose voice I don't care much for. Fast forward two decades. The song is speeded up to house beats, the embarrasing original Vangelis arrangements are replaced for more stylish stuff and a much more beautiful voice is singing this time around.

san remo

# 22

Artist: Diamanda Galas

Year: 1994

"Do you take this Man"

Style: ?? SCREAAAMMMMMM

She is who you listen to when you are fucked up.... Man she screams, beats up men! swears, curses in 20 languages, bites , screams some more....and then she lets you know that she's got to go cause she has some shopping to do!

Album: The sporting life (1994)

san remo

# 23

Artist: Den Harrow

Year: 1985

"Future Brain"

Style: Italo Disco

Italy

Songwriters and producers Chieregato & Turrati created many memorable electronic dance records of the Italo Disco style. With much better vocal melodies than what was comming out of the Anglo world and a much smoother production, records like "Future Brain" were number one hits in continental europe without hardly a promotional budget. That alone speaks a lot about their quality.

Album: Over Power (1985)

san remo

# 24

Artist: Kid Creole and the Coconuts

Year: 1982

"Tropical Gangsters"

Style: Big Band funk

US

August Darnell Wore the grooves out of this "lecture" in style, cosmopolitanship, funk swing, big-band...etc.. from the guy behind "Savannah Band". This Lp was carefully studied by many UK new wave bands.

san remo

# 25

Artist: Giorgio Moroder

Year: 1979

"Oh what a night"

Style: Synth

Germany

What a geneous
Feauteres Madeline Bell

Album: E=mc2

san remo

# 26

Artist: Parker, Paul

Year: 1982

"Right On Target"

Style: Synth Dance SF


Album: Too much to dream

Also of interest by Paul Parker was his 1995 album "Destiny" and the single:

san remo

# 27

Artist: Prince

Year: 1980

"Do it all night"

Style: funk n' roll

US


Album: Dirty Mind.

Also of interest was his next year album with the single

san remo

# 28

Artist: Ten City (Biron Stingily)

Year: 1992

"My peace of heave"

Style: House

US

Its very frustating to see how a true geneous like Byron Stingily is ignored by the rock oriented media of the US.

Album: No house big enough

san remo

# 29

Artist: Evelin Thomas (Ian Levine)

Year: 1984

"High Energy"

Style: UK HiNRG

Ian Levine created many of the early 80's Gay themed Hi-Nrg dance records that inspired many of us. He was an extremely talended songwriting geneous who created a style of his own.

Note: See also "So many men, so little time" by Miquel Brown

san remo

# 30

Artist: Abba

Year: 1979

"Gimme Gimme Gimme"

Style: ??

Sweden

An hypnotizing electric guitar line...and then the commanding chorus: GImme Gimme Gimme a man after midnight... Has had numerous male vocaled cover versions. Non of them have bothered changing the gender of the lyrics.

san remo

# 31

Artist: Bobby D'Ambrosio feat. Michele Wreeks

Year: 1996

"Moment of my life"

Style: Diva House

Killer piano House background....Can't get any better Diva over it...singing a most inspirational and uplifting song....AAAAAwwwww!!!

san remo

# 32

Artist: Alaska y Dinarama

Year: 1984

"Como pudistes hacerme esto a mi"

Style: 80's Hi-NRG in Spanish with string section

Spain


Album: Deseo Carnal

san remo

# 33

Artist: B-Movie

Year: 1982

"Nowhere girl"

Style: New Wave

UK

Those new wave records were imaginative and brought new ideas to the scene saving us of America AOR boredome. This one was energetic and sing along too.

hurley

# 34

Artist: Steve Hurley

Year: 1998

"the word is love"

Style: Garage House of the late 90's

Coming back from several years of retirement....He beefed up his early 90's stylish Garage House style, giving it more kick for the late 90's with what sounds like a real bass guitar. The diva aint bad too: Sharon Pass.

san remo

# 35

Artist: Nietzer Ebb

Year: 1987

"Let your body learn"

Style: Punk Synth PoP

There Hardcore (oh I'm so cool) fan base should check the credits on the record to see how its produced by Phil Harding. Yes the same Phil Harding of Kylie Minogue... The shouted choruses where a new thing to me...and a brilliant idea.

Album:

masters at work

# 36

Artist: Masters At Work

Year: 1993

"I cant get no sleep"

Style: House Jazz

Over the Hardest Hitting bare-bone drum programming...you would get occational Jazz style keyboard stabs... just the minimum though...and then some killer Diva vocals. Very unique...very special... very stylish.

Album: The Album.

san remo

# 37

Artist: Dead or Alive

Year: 1984

"You spin me around"

Style: Hi NRG

UK

the most fun slap bass guitar line.. ...and then the 1/8 1/8 bunching bunching Stock Aitken and Waterman backing track.

san remo

# 38

Artist: Funky Green Dogs

Year: 1993

"Reach for me"

Style: Early 90's house

House records were getting very hardcore by with the turn of the decade...with little vocals...but beefier rythm tracks. It was also becoming popular to sample funk guitars and this one uses also what sounds like a real bass guitar

san remo

# 39

Artist: boney M

Year: 1984

"Kalimba de Luna"

Style: Dance

Germany

Frank Farian deserves credit for being such a wonderfull pop music master mind. This is a cover version, but much better than the original.

san remo

# 40

Artist: Brass Construction

Year: 1974

"Movin"

Style: 70's Disco Funk

A very percussive movin rythm track, heavy brass section and chanting male vocals

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