Good Year for the Roses

dsco's Podcast

Roses are supposed to thrive in ash, so as the ash-heap that may well be 2022 settles upon us, let’s sift through the rubble looking for silver linings.

Before Tom Moulton and Grace Jones began their courtship dance, he had an idea for a groundbreaking disco version of Edith Piaf’s iconic “La Vie en Rose.” Rather than hit you with disco’s now-standard four/four thud, he developed a track that would move bodies with its sensuous sway and simmering percussion. He cut a demo of it with session vocalist Teresa Wiater. Moulton wanted to release the track—even cutting a few acetates (or not stopping whomever did). Wiater at that point didn’t want to be a disco diva, so she didn’t sign off for release. (She would later see the errors of her ways and did try to go disco, sinking without a trace.) Enter Miss Jones. She loved the track and told Moulton she wanted it on her debut album. Allegedly he told Jones that he didn’t think she was up to cutting that particular Grey Poupon. That was all the gauntlet that needed to be tossed down to set Grace off. She busted her chops to learn it. Her rendition proves that Moulton was technically right (for that matter Wiater struggles a bit as well), however I think neither G nor T realized at the time that Grace’s pitchy/gutsy/gonzo performance would work so well as much needed sandpaper to rough up the beautiful backing, providing tension and suspense. Will she hit the high note this time? No, she never does.

While “I Need a Man” busted open the disco door for Grace, “Rose” still remains the highlight of her original disco threnody, and it’s still a signature track for her. Story goes that in her early in-discotheque appearances, she would introduce it with “Here’s a track that made me who I am, and I want to thank the stupid w---- b---- who recorded it first but refused to sign a contract.” What you hear in this podcast was taken (by me) from an original Wiater acetate. I’m thrilled to have found it.

The medley of medleys at the center of this podcast starts with Kylie Minogue’s sizzling mash-up of her own “Slow” with Donna Summer’s “I Love to Love You, Baby” that she delivered as part of a livestreaming all-disco concert last year. It’s followed by two examples of one of my crate-digging guilty pleasures: anonymous “sounds-like” cheaply issued covers that often were released as a soundtrack for instructional disco dancing. I especially love it when the artists attempt not to ape the originals as much as take them somewhere new, as happens here. And hats off to whomever had the crazy idea of pairing “I Feel Love” with “Hava Nagila.”

I recently scared up a copy of The City Streets’ sole release, 1979’s Livin’ in the Jungle. Every track on it smokes, including an inspired/insane WTF-inducing dancefloor version of a 1968 c&w novelty tune about—I kid you not—condom-less sex called “Plastic Saddle.” (Check out both Jerry Reed and Nat Stuckey’s versions from back in the day.) I suspect that City Streets’ aim was to become an urban Village People, given that the boys sing about rough, sleazy sex,; leather; being on the down-low; and even coming out of the closet (to have a good time, yeah right. I know an atomic dog whistle when I hear one.) Bringing this whole thing full circle, country star Ronnie Milsap cleaned up the album’s opening rough, sleazy sex number (“Get It Up, Get It In, Get It Off and Get It Out”) just enough to put it out as a country disco single.

Finally—I love the Hamilton Affair track! Chugging Philly soul about adolescent disco angst delivered by an honest-to-God adolescent in a quavering, beautifully artless delivery. Sheer imperfection!

Elle et Moi—Max Berlin’s ’78 ʘ La Vie en Rose—Teresa Wiater ’77 ʘ You’re My Man—Sex O’Clock USA ’76 ʘ Slow/I Love to Love You, Baby—Kylie Minogue ’21 ʘ Fame/Latin Hustle/7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Blow Your Whistle—Nonstop Discotheque Party Dance, circa ’78 ʘ Get Up and Boogie/I Feel Love/Hava Nagila—Disco Hustle ’79 ʘ Get It Up—Ronnie Milsap ’79 ʘ Plastic Saddle—City Streets ’79 ʘ Get Another Love—Chantal Curtis ’79 ʘ Flamenco Dance Man—The Jan Davis Guitar ’78 ʘ Boogie Breakdown—Boogie People ’79 ʘ Psyché Rock (Fat Boy Slim remix)—Pierre Henry & Michel Colombier ’97 ʘ How Can I Keep in Touch with You?—The Hamilton Affair ’76