Bohannon - S/D

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stripped down, heavy hitting, minimal disco. foot stompin beats. silly falsetto. pure joy

i have and love Insides Out (74), the self titled (75), and Dance Your Ass Off (75), but i always see a bunch of sickly looking 80s records with girls in aerobics outfits. i'm rather scared.

what else is good? are any of the cheesy looking albums worth owning?

anyone have a copy of Stop/Go that they'd like to sell a brotha?

― JasonD (JasonD), Saturday, 23 August 2003 01:57 (9 years ago) Permalink

I will be watching this thread closely as I would like some Bohannon too. Any good qual comps of his stuff on CD?

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Saturday, 23 August 2003 02:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

Summertime Groove from 1978 has what I think is the first of many versions of "Let's Start the Dance" and is great for that alone.

Then Alive from 1981 has "Let's Start the Dance Part II", "Let's Start II Dance Again" and "Start the Dance (Inserts)" (see what I mean) which are all entertaining. The song got a little faster, a little tighter, and a maybe a little fuller. Plus, the cover of this record is pretty wonderful. Bohannon has been cut out of whatever photo he was in and is placed in the midst of some really haphazard op-art type graphics.

― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Saturday, 23 August 2003 02:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

The Rhino comp is good and in print.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 23 August 2003 08:30 (9 years ago) Permalink

Even most of the silly looking late 70s/early 80s records have a stomping tune or two on them, so if they're cheap (they are around here) it's probably worth is to pick em up. Any tune with "beat" or "the beat" or "part 2" in the title is usually rockin.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Saturday, 23 August 2003 15:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

I ain't got any of his albums but am aware and very appreciative of his choons - must look out for a good comp.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 24 August 2003 13:29 (9 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

so i picked up "insides out" and "gittin' off" - great stuff. at least the A sides. do all of his albums have the hard jamzzz on side A and mellow stuff on the B? anyone?

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

WHERE IS THIS SHIT

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 15 November 2004 12:48 (8 years ago) Permalink

Really tho, I'd havr thought this'd come up pretty easy in bargain bins, it doesn't. I'm sad about that.

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 15 November 2004 12:51 (8 years ago) Permalink

2 best options are unidisc repressings and a bootleg of let's start the dance that you can find at most dance music suppliers, there's like 5 places in NYC that stock all the classics bootlegs influding let's start the dance. Maybe Dancemania does mail order?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 15 November 2004 16:14 (8 years ago) Permalink

if you can find it, get Bohannon's Drive and check out "Let's Start the Dance Part III." awesome. !!! has been trying to write this tune this whole time with limited success.

i'm having trouble tracking down pics online of these later album covers. they're hilarious. i'd scan mine and host them if i had the means.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

i really like the non-groove second side of the s/t album from '75. maybe it's the cuddling, slow slink of it, just strings and soothing vocals.

― Beta (abeta), Monday, 15 November 2004 22:10 (8 years ago) Permalink

Side 1 of "Dance Your Ass Off" is so goddamnfunkinclassic!

― peepee (peepee), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 01:46 (8 years ago) Permalink

I played 'Disco Stomp' at a party recently and it went down a storm. Then I played it to my sister and she was a bit bewildered.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 01:51 (8 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

SCHOOL YOUR SISTER

― A Radio Picture (Rrrickey), Sunday, 4 February 2007 04:58 (6 years ago) Permalink

bo-HANN-on!

― friday on the porch (lfam), Sunday, 4 February 2007 06:26 (6 years ago) Permalink

Search: Caroline Crawford (the voice of "Let's Start the Dance")'s Bohannon-produced Nice and Soulful. (She had done some Motown singles roughly 12-15 years prior as Carolyn Crawford.)

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Sunday, 4 February 2007 08:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Sunday, 4 February 2007 08:45 (6 years ago) Permalink

Man, I used to have copies of most of his '70s LPs, including those first few; not sure why I ever got rid of them. Maybe I considered them interchangeable or something? Or could never get into the slow tracks? (The latter is true; maybe I should have tried harder.) Either way, purging them from my shelf was dumb. I still do have a great CD comp from 1996 on Rhino, though, callled The Very Best of Bohannon: Funky Wicked & Smooth, which I absolutely recommend. It has 14 tracks, including ones people have mentioned on this thread so far. No idea how easy it is to track down these days.

― xhuxk (xhuck), Sunday, 4 February 2007 12:23 (6 years ago) Permalink

Oops, '95 not '96, looks like.

― xhuxk (xhuck), Sunday, 4 February 2007 12:24 (6 years ago) Permalink

the king! and i found out recently we share a birthday!

that rhino comp is indeed great, though the second half is more smooth than funky and wicked. and i say "though" because some of that stuff gets a bit silly to my ears. recently made my own bestof comp for some friends. it was a hit. fave tune of the moment: "can you feel it." seek! oh, and "south african man." that weird circular groove!

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Sunday, 4 February 2007 21:46 (6 years ago) Permalink

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Sunday, 4 February 2007 21:48 (6 years ago) Permalink

SO FUCKING GOOD. perfect springtime outdoors disco.

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Sunday, 4 February 2007 21:49 (6 years ago) Permalink

FUNK DID THIS

― A Radio Picture (Rrrickey), Sunday, 4 February 2007 23:40 (6 years ago) Permalink

i recommend you listen to 'stop & go'

― friday on the porch (lfam), Sunday, 4 February 2007 23:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

wow @ that cover.

― josh. (disco stu), Monday, 5 February 2007 00:22 (6 years ago) Permalink

serious pot smoking music. or so i've heard. when i first heard Can, some of their stuff reminded me of Bohannon.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 5 February 2007 00:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

that record is a real prize, with or without the cover (tho the cover is...uh...). 'Stop & Go' is also good. 'One Step Ahead' has two good tracks on it. otherwise, kinda stinky. though the cover is also sweet:

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Monday, 5 February 2007 00:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

it makes me want some of the powda

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Monday, 5 February 2007 00:55 (6 years ago) Permalink

when i first heard Can, some of their stuff reminded me of Bohannon.

this is genius. and not at all a stretch, when you think about the Kraftwerk/Bambaataa connection.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Monday, 5 February 2007 01:07 (6 years ago) Permalink

"I used to have copies of most of his '70s LPs, including those first few; not sure why I ever got rid of them. Maybe I considered them interchangeable or something?"

That is why I never BOUGHT a Bohannon album, because of the soundalike factor (alhough I do possess a few 45's).

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Monday, 5 February 2007 01:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

oh man it's such a great sound though. all the dakar stuff is worth owning at the very least.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 5 February 2007 02:10 (6 years ago) Permalink

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Monday, 5 February 2007 02:22 (6 years ago) Permalink

i dunno-- the ones i have heard all of (four of 'em) have some similarities, but definite differences. One Step Ahead is more Miami sounding, with slower r&b jams. Stop & Go is soul-funk, really gospelly. Summertime Groove is disco-funk at its best. Phase II has a more crisp, lush sound more reminiscent of Philly International.

i do admit that on each record, there is a song that could easily be put on any of the others. but there ARE differences in sound.

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Monday, 5 February 2007 04:48 (6 years ago) Permalink

The Table said it best, the general Bohannon formula didn't change, but he did add/subtract little pieces to keep it interesting.

I stop checking for Bohannon around 1983, but his Dakar and Mercury stuff before that is worth hearing.

― B.Graff (mr_graff), Monday, 5 February 2007 05:34 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

I got the Rhino comp. in a charity shop in Dorset at the weekend. Some amazing tracks on there!!!!

― Tom D., Tuesday, 2 September 2008 12:09 (4 years ago) Permalink

i got a sealed copy of On My Way in the mail today. the genius 13 minutes of "Maybe You Can Dance" (which has this sweet "Peking O"/ Cecil Taylor piano bit) is a given, but i didn't know it had a gatefold of our man in a white tux.

― beta blog, Tuesday, 2 September 2008 22:14 (4 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

I just found On My Way cheap, and it IS great so far. Maybe You Can Dance is AMAZING.

― Jamie T Smith, Thursday, 9 October 2008 12:14 (4 years ago) Permalink

Fuck me. I Got to Stay Funky. Wow. I'd never even heard of Bohannon till that vs Neu poll thread.

― Jamie T Smith, Thursday, 9 October 2008 12:31 (4 years ago) Permalink

Johnny Marr cites 'Disco Stomp' as a major influence on 'How Soon Is Now?', which is a pretty awesome thing

― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 9 October 2008 12:32 (4 years ago) Permalink

yeah "I Got to Stay Funky" is unreal. how has that song escaped "classick" status all these decades?

found another sealed Bohannon record Keep On Dancin' (with his wife Andrea on the cover) that i'm exccited about as well.

never heard that Marr quote before. so now we got Bohannon influencing Arthur Russell, Talking Heads/ Tom Tom Club, and the Smiths?

― beta blog, Thursday, 9 October 2008 14:50 (4 years ago) Permalink

"Disco Stomp" was a big hit in the UK, my big sister had a copy of it!

― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 9 October 2008 14:50 (4 years ago) Permalink

The quote is: "It was my boyhood love of 'Disco Stomp', Can's 'I Want More' and then tying the whole thing together with the Bo Diddley bow, as it were. That was the whole thing." Someone else spotted the Can-Bohannon connection up there^

― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 9 October 2008 15:47 (4 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, I almost mentioned "I Want More" 'cos I've always assumed that's where Marr got the idea. 'S all Bo Diddley anyway.

― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 9 October 2008 15:54 (4 years ago) Permalink

Disco Stomp is really fun to put on at parties. I like to slip it into the party mix between Janet and Ne-Yo and it always makes people dance.

― I know, right?, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:04 (4 years ago) Permalink

Regarding the avoiding "classick" status thing, it seems he doesn't quite get the attention he deserves overall. I've wondered about this and thought that maybe it's because he doesn't really have THE DEFINITIVE ALBUM or THE DEFINITIVE SONG or something. He basically put out one or two very similar (but largely awesome) records a year for about 10 years. It's like there's so much of his good thing that it all just blurs together and none of it gets the credit it deserves because it's so hard to say listen to this one thing.

― matt2, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:10 (4 years ago) Permalink

I'm one of those losers who has only heard "me and the gang". Going to remedy that soon.

― jim, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:28 (4 years ago) Permalink

xpost, disco stomp! I get it though, even disco stomp is kinda small and subtle and, um, punctum-free?

― I know, right?, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:59 (4 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

It's just completely fucked that NONE of his albums is in print (in the US). Like, that's got to be the most insanely unjust OOP I can think of at present. I mean--is there a story there? Labels being assholes, something like that? Because there's simply no way there isn't money to be made in a reissue/remaster program for this guy. Hell--ex-members of Talking Heads alone should be out there pushing this shit, if necessary.

― Soundslike, Sunday, 30 November 2008 17:14 (4 years ago) Permalink

they're very common used LPs. if you need help, send me an e-mail and i can probably locate a few.

― ian, Sunday, 30 November 2008 17:19 (4 years ago) Permalink

i just saw a vinyl reissue of stop & go at the record store. i'm guessing scorpio puts it out?

― scott seward, Sunday, 30 November 2008 17:40 (4 years ago) Permalink

Unfortunately I'm pretty much non-vinyl at this point--just don't have the room for it, nor the longevity in one place of residence.

― Soundslike, Sunday, 30 November 2008 18:17 (4 years ago) Permalink

let me know what you need, soundslike. i gotcha covered.

― andrew m., Sunday, 30 November 2008 18:23 (4 years ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

ive bought like ten of these in the past year, all but one for under $10, one for $10 or $15? best return on my investment tbh. im planning to do a couple-hour radio show devoted to the man sometime in 2010.

― 69, Wednesday, 18 November 2009 20:40 (3 years ago) Permalink

still haven't found a copy of stop/go in the wild

― jaxon, Wednesday, 18 November 2009 21:51 (3 years ago) Permalink

found a beat up (but totally serviceable) orig at the 2008 carrboro, NC record fair. zack has the scorpio repress, and it sounds good to me!

― 69, Wednesday, 18 November 2009 22:25 (3 years ago) Permalink

ya. i eventually got the repress.

― jaxon, Wednesday, 18 November 2009 22:35 (3 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

anyone know those 4 Men, you know, the ones With Beards? put a bug in their beards. they should really jump on reissuing the Dakar/Brunswick years. the Mercury years can probably wait as they seem to be plentiful and cheap.

― andrew m., Wednesday, 23 December 2009 17:07 (3 years ago) Permalink

What do you think is keeping Light in the Attic or some such label from doing a proper reissue series, if a larger label won't do it?

How's it going, Ettiem? Planning on doing an end-of-year/decade best-of mix at Gris-Gris?

― Soundslike, Wednesday, 23 December 2009 18:00 (3 years ago) Permalink

perhaps hamilton himself has something to do with it? he's still kicking it somewhere. we could add him to that "just walked away" thread.

hey, ian. man, i haven't even given doing something like that much thought, and at this late stage i doubt i'll begin thinking about doing it. i guess i could be like the wet towels back at the turn of the century and explain how the decade actually ends NEXT year at this time and do it then. and no one will come to the party.

― andrew m., Wednesday, 23 December 2009 19:51 (3 years ago) Permalink

been jamming this album a lot this week. it made a good soundtrack for a night making pizzas and drinking wine in our kitchen with friends:

Bohannon Rules!

― twice boiled cabbage is death, Wednesday, 23 December 2009 20:12 (3 years ago) Permalink

that was the first one i ever bought

― andrew m., Wednesday, 23 December 2009 20:15 (3 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

interesting:

http://www.hnarecords.com

think i might try ordering this audio book history thing.

― andrew m., Friday, 14 May 2010 20:56 (3 years ago) Permalink

Man--if he's putting himself out there homebrew style like that, surely some enterprising person can reach him and ask him why the hell his music is being suppressed by the powers that be?

Just joking--but seriously, I hope maybe we can find out why the stuff isn't in print. I'd put down $100-$200 for a nice, complete-ish CD box set of clean (hopefully original-master-sourced) recordings. In fact, I would be waiting outside the record shop getting kid-on-Christmas excited the day it were released. I'm super lame for getting annoyed by pops/clicks/hiss etc. on the available beat-up & cheap LPs that I could actually afford.

― Soundslike, Saturday, 15 May 2010 09:47 (3 years ago) Permalink

Well, here we go, right on the page: bohannonmusic {at} gmail.com

Guess I'll give asking the man direct a go? Feeling too small to approach rhythm Jesus. . .

― Soundslike, Saturday, 15 May 2010 09:49 (3 years ago) Permalink

Man,

*sigh*

― Soundslike, Saturday, 15 May 2010 10:15 (3 years ago) Permalink

I think I'm ready to officially declare "I Found My Love on a Saturday" my favorite song, period. So warm, that slinking bass, that whatever-it-is solo, Bohannon's weirdly phased double-tracked vocals, just every single thing about it is absolutely perfect (other than that it could stand to be a few minutes longer). It is the sound of pure happiness, for me.

I think you and I might be .0001%-ers for loving the later stuff so much, Andrew. Reviews everywhere talk about the post-75 stuff like it's an artistic collapse, when at least an equal amount of my favorites come from those LPs.

― Soundslike, Sunday, 16 May 2010 08:19 (3 years ago) Permalink

Does anybody know David Byrne? Can we contact him and guilt him for stealing half of his career from Bohannon (the other half from Fela Kuti) and get him to do a reissue series on one of his labels?

Or Water, or Light In the Attic?

― Soundslike, Sunday, 16 May 2010 08:21 (3 years ago) Permalink

Okay, the Funki T Roc Walk is fucking awesome.

http://www.hnarecords.com/welcometumyworld.html#funki

― elan, Sunday, 16 May 2010 09:12 (3 years ago) Permalink

looks like BH's rec room is stocked with a full rack of Frito-Lay selections

― andrew m., Sunday, 16 May 2010 16:44 (3 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

Your day will be better if you listen to this:

― Soundslike, Thursday, 18 October 2012 03:14 (7 months ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

i guess this is where i say caroline crawford's nice and soulful is a masterpiece.

― administrator galina (Matt P), Saturday, 16 February 2013 02:23 (3 months ago) Permalink

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