Tuesday, November 11, 2014

NEW RELEASES: CERRONE - ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS BRIGADE MONDAINE; THE BEST OF THE KONGAS; CERRONE REISSUES; DON RAY - GARDEN OF LOVE

CERRONE – ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS BRIGADE MONDAINE (VICE SQUAD / LA SECTE DE MARRAKECH / VADOU AUX CARAIBES 3CD/3LP SET)

A mighty great set – three rare soundtracks from dancefloor maestro Cerrone – none of which we ever see on vinyl here in the US! First up is Vice Squad (aka Brigade Mondaine) – a rare soundtrack from the mighty Cerrone – recorded right at the height of his electro disco fame, and with a very similar groove! The film was also titled Vice Squad in the US market – and the music here definitely echoes the sleaze of its subject matter – with loads of sweet clubby lines that are heavy in the keyboard styles you'll know from "Supernature" – but maybe even leaner and meaner here – with a stripped-down punch that makes for plenty of funky disco moments! The tracks are mostly groovers, but even the few mellow moments are great – and titles include "Phonic", "Give Me Love", "Make Up", "The Loft", "Strip Tease", "Experience", and "Deauville". The set follows with two more albums in the Brigade Mondaine series – both similarly groovy, with a wonderful mix of disco grooves and crime/cop soundtrack styles – and all three records come with original album sleeve artwork, and bonus CD versions of the material too! (Limited, numbered edition of 1000 copies!) ~ Dusty Groove

THE KONGAS – BEST OF THE KONGAS

Great grooves from The Kongas – a French disco group who worked heavily with the great Cerrone, but who also had a much rootsier feel overall! The Kongas style mixes in long percussion lines with plenty of keyboards – all in an extended clubby groove that has all the French disco appeal of Cerrone, but which also brings in some Salsoul touches as well! This sweet 2LP set appears to include both of the group's key albums – and titles include the side-long "Africanism/Gimme Some Lovin" medley – plus "Kongas Fun", "Dr Doo Dah", "Rocket In The Pocket", "Anikana O", "Tattoo Woman", and "Why Can't We Live Together". (LP comes with bonus CD version of the full album.) ~ Dusty Groove

CERRONE – LOVE IN C MINOR / CERRONE’S PARADISE / SUPERNATURE (3CD/3LP SET)

A wonderful package – a very limited set that includes the first three albums from Cerrone, with bonus CD versions as well! First up is Love In C Minor – the fantastic first album by Cerrone – a landmark disco record that features the 16 minute long "Love In C Minor" – a swirling bit of strings, beats, and female voices – one of those tunes that forever went onto change the face of dance music in the 70s! Cerrone really set up a whole new blueprint for club here – stretching things out plenty, and layering in subtle time and chord shifts that expose the proggish influences that filtered into French club as the 70s wore on! The title track's got some nice keyboards by the great Alan Hawkshaw – who sounds even better on the album's cool disco version of "Black Is Black" and the tight snare-beat original, "Midnite Lady". Cerrone's Paradise is Cerrone's second album – a swirling mix of disco beats and strings that follows very clearly on the spirit of his landmark first one! Like that album, this one's got a title track that runs well over 15 minutes long – building in a slowly dancing way that says everything about European disco styles that one track could ever hope to do! Other tunes on the album are shorter and tighter – with soulful vocals dancing in and out, and some nice keyboard work that makes the tunes sparkle with a sweet electric groove. Titles include "Take Me", "Time For Love", and "Cerrone's Paradise". Supernature is the height of French disco – a huge worldwide hit for Cerrone, a nutty bit of space disco that actually holds up pretty darn well over the years! The guy's not really a looker – and the strange "animal operation" cover almost makes this look like a prog rock album – which is where Cerrone probably got his inspiration for the incredible keyboard work on the set – but the record's a killer bit of club that went onto influence generations to come – and is arguably one of Cerrone's best moments ever! Includes the classic "Supernature", a catchy disco groover you'll recognize instantly – plus the tracks "Love Is Here", "Love Is The Answer", and "Sweet Drums". (Limited, numbered edition of 1000 – pressed on colored vinyl.) ~ Dusty Groove

DON RAY – GARDEN OF LOVE (CD/LP SET)

One of the coolest club projects of the 70s – a set of tracks based around the keyboards of Don Ray, but handled with lots of electronic disco touches from Cerrone! The pair are great arrangers on their own, but together they really make some magic – kind of a leaner take on the extended Cerrone groove – honed to a "t" in the studio, and sometimes given a nice punch with chorus vocals too. The tracks are shorter than you'd normally get from Cerrone, but still filled with all those freewheeling clubby grooves – warmly soulful undercurrents that make a great platform for the more electronic keyboards – never too cold at all, and a fair bit more personal than the sorts of keys we're used to hearing from the European scene. A really unique record – a partnership we wish worked together more like this, although we're plenty happy to have this treasure too! Titles include "Garden Of Love", "My Desire", "Body & Soul", "Got To Have Loving", and "Standing In The Rain". (LP comes with bonus CD version of the full album.)  ~ Dusty Groove


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