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# 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.
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# 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.
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# 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.
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# 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.
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# 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'"
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# 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:
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# 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
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# 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.
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# 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.
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# 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.
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# 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.
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# 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
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# 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.
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# 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
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# 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!
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# 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
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# 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)
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# 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.
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# 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)
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# 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)
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# 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.
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# 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)
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# 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)
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# 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.
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# 25
Artist: Giorgio Moroder
Year: 1979
"Oh what a night"
Style: Synth
Germany
What a geneous
Feauteres Madeline Bell
Album: E=mc2
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# 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:
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# 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
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# 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
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# 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
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# 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.
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# 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!!!
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# 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
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# 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.
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# 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.
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# 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:
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# 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.
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# 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.
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# 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
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# 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.
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# 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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41 Clivilles & Cole
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