Marbles — Red Lights
b/w Fire and Smoke (1976)
Hey ya’ll… finally back from China! And it’s time to kick the creaky gears of yer darling daily back in motion… with this power pop gem from NYC quartet Marbles. Isn’t this song just perfect in every way? These harmonies are to die for.
(artwork via Necrotrivia)
Dennis Parker — New York By Night (extended version)
from Like An Eagle (1979)
I posted yesterday about pornstar-turned-disco-crooner-turned-soap-opera-cop Dennis Parker… since then I’ve been listening to his sole LP over and over, and I’m kind of haunted by it, especially knowing his story. The music isn’t all that spectacular—this track, for example, is terribly overproduced even for disco, with string accents, horn blasts and vocal overdubs worthy of a commercial jingle.
But lyrically this is great stuff, especially sung in such an offhand way by a mustachioed pornstar:
At Studio 54 / they’re waiting at the door / can’t get in / just can’t win
Bushes in the park / shadows moving dark / fast romance / furtive glanceOn 42nd Street / x-rated is the beat / see some skin up on the silver screen
At 53rd and 3rd / A dollar is the word / turn that trick / you better hurry, kid
So flashy and so heartbreakingly painful all at once…
Dennis Parker — Like an Eagle
from Like an Eagle (1979)
Wow.. amazing music video for ‘Like an Eagle,’ a 1979 disco track.. taped from French television. Great shots of the seedy 70s Times Square, and Dennis Parker is strutting around NYC like a crazy person—just the way you should with a disco track like this.
Dennis Parker aka Wade Nichols started his career as a porno actor, starring in flicks like Boynapped! and Bang Bang You Got It, before being noticed by disco producer Jacques Morali (the man behind the Village People). Morali convinced Parker to record a disco album and this track is one of the hits that resulted from the collaboration.
In the meantime, Parker continued his work in the x-rated business, and took a gig as police chief in the soap opera Edge of Night, but he was forced to quit in 1984 as his health deteriorated due to AIDS. He committed suicide the year after.
Joe Bataan — The Prayer
from Mr. New York and the East Side Kids (1971)
Worship in the church of Latin soul.. with Joe “Mr New York” Bataan’s lush and lovely ‘The Prayer.’ Bataan grew up in Spanish Harlem, and headed up the Dragons, a Puerto Rican street gang, before landing in jail on stolen car charges. After his release at age 23, he started his first group, Joe Bataan and the Latin Swingers, melding Latin boogaloo and doo-wop. Shortly thereafter he signed with Johnny Pacheco’s Fania Records, an influential New York salsa label.
The rest is history.. he is now the self-crowned “King of Latin Soul.”
More great Latin soul here, if you dig it…
Razika — Why Have We To Wait
from Program 91 (2011)
This precious album of oh-so-catchy Norwegian pop easily made it onto my most-listened-to-in-2011 list. This particular track is a Pussycats cover, and the chorus will slay you (original here).
And now.. these vintage-1991 kids have landed in NYC. The girls have been cavorting around town, visiting the Apple Store and Coney Island too (good choice!).
I know what they’re doing tonight, too, if you’re curious. Playing at Glasslands! So come out and support them! And if you’re down in the Lone Star state right now, they are en route to SXSW.
The Sponsors — In and Out of Love
from Sponsors (1982)
The Sponsors, formerly known as the Handgrenades, were a Long Island group that hit the CBGB’s circuit in the late 70s and early 80s alongside bands like the Heartbreakers. They cut this LP in 1982 at Skyline Studios, on 31st St. in Manhattan, with Andy Shernoff of the Dictators producing.
The vocals, my friends, are delicious. “In in in out in in and out of love…”
Read an exhaustive bio at the Free Music Archive (and grab one of the album tracks..)
