TOM MOULTON — A Tom Moulton Mix

yeah matt wtf were you thinking??? have you heard chocolat's "baby lets do it the french way"?

Mea culpa to Jaxon . . .

Don't worry deej, I went back yesterday and it was still there and it was actually only $4, not $7. On the Tom Moulton tip, I also got this 12" for $2 (http://www.discogs.com/release/380581). It's the same version of "Fill Me Up (Heart To Heart)" as on the album, but I'm happy all the same.

DJ last night dropped Eddie Kendricks 'Keep on Trucking' and the dancefloor erupted into 300 aural orgasms. Also, dropped a couple Pilooski edits that people ate up like pigs at the trough. Fuck, this shit sounded so good... Note to self: half the records I own are so much better on a proper sound system.

I always thought Patti Jo's "Make Me Believe in You" was a cover of Curtis Mayfield's version of the song, since he wrote the tune. But apparently the Patti Jo version came out in 1973 already, whereas Curtis's version is on Sweet Exorcist from 1974. So did he originally write the tune for Patti Jo? Who is/was Patti Jo anyway?

Anyway, I think both versions of the tune are great... The Richard Tufo strings on the Curtis one are really beautiful, it's one of his most discoish songs before he actually went disco.

Apparently she also released another Curtis tune, "Ain't No Love Lost", as a single in 1972, and that's about it for her recording career. Both of those songs were written and produced by Curtis, so I guess she was a protege of his or something. It's weird that those singles didn't come out on Curtom though.

I just realized that "Keep on Truckin" was produced by Frank Wilson, the same guy who did the Supremes' "Nathan Jones"...they are very similar in structure and "sound" when you really think about it. Too bad the latter pretty much faded into obscurity. Moulton mixed another Supremes/Frank Wilson collab though, "Stoned Love".

pitchfork review of this album was so bad

o never mind i forgot we covered that upthread

BTW, if "Feel the Need In Me" were the only song I could ever listen to from now until I die, I would be okay with that.

Just picked up The Tymes "Tymes Up" (http://www.discogs.com/release/586378) yesterday. Another "A Tom Moulton Mix." It seems "It's Cool" was a pretty big chart hit in the UK. The whole thing is lush and gorgeous. Featuring "The Sounds of New York" directed by Bernard Purdie as the rhythm section and TSOP on strings, etc. Beautiful stuff that has that great Philly sound of the era before disco strings got largely a little too bouncy (or something like that) for my tastes towards the end of the 70's.

I recently got this "A Tom Moulton Mix" loveliness: http://www.discogs.com/release/384807. Highly recommended. Nice cover too:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1244/1305607670_d141e8eabb.jpg

i picked up both Kebekelektrik and Witch Queen (both posted over at American Athelete) recently, the former a Tom Moulton mix, both involving Gino Soccio. what's weird about the Witch Queen though (which features a disco cover of "Bang a Gong") is that all the players are from Muscle Shoals! the same dudes that backed Aretha and Wilson Pickett, that partied with Duane Allman, totally had disco chops to boot. what didn't they do in the 70s?

the real news about witch queen is their "all right now" cover

I started my set at studio b with that, recorded here:

http://www.slapyouinpublic.com/2007/11/jacques_renault_dan_selzer_liv.html

i got those gibbons salsoul comps on vinyl. terrible artwork though. looks like some old rave thing.

BTW, if "Feel the Need In Me" were the only song I could ever listen to from now until I die, I would be okay with that.

― musically, Monday, 17 March 2008 18:21 (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^ i also feel that way about "keep on truckin"

TM's Invisible Jukebox in the Wire this month is kind of lol, snarking at dub, house, Grace Jones, hiphop, Peter Shapiro (who was interviewing)...it's clear he's definitely a disco/soul classicist and not into sonic explorations or anything like that. Apparently he's still producing music?

Hardly a surprise that he's a classicist, since few of his classic mixes are particularly adventurous compared to, say, Levan or Cowley. They're still great though, obviously.

Yep, for sure.

I remember reading how he didn't like euro disco because it doesn't have "soul". he's right to dislike grace jones tho,talentless diva who he had a nightmare working with.

this comp is great. is there a better disco collection? (not rhetorical, I'm asking!)

yeah there are lots

actually i'd say there are lots that are as good, maybe not better

but if you really really prefer moulton's style to everyone else's then you might like this most

yeah, i'm not a disco expert by any means. only other comp i have that comes close in terms of overall consistency is the Larry Levan West End Remixes thing.

i was going to suggest something along the lines that all the "big names" by this point all have great comps, if not of their own productions then things they liked, that are arguably as good as this one, or better if like salsoul or philly soul or cheesy stuff or whatever is your taste

i'm a huge fan of levan's live paradise garage thing

i actually like a glossier, less soulful kinda disco myself so i'm a big fan of these old comps called disco spectrum and magnum opus

all of the comps we talked about at the top of the thread are good places to start

he's right to dislike grace jones tho,talentless diva who he had a nightmare working with.

Maybe she wasn't easy to work with, but later on that "talentless diva" released some of the finest records of the 80s.

For more Tom Moulton goodness, there was a recent CD reissue of the best mixes he did for Scepter Records' two "Disco Gold" compilations. I think "Make Me Believe In You" is the only tune that overlaps with the "Tom Moulton Mix" comp.

Yeah it was the Invisible Jukebox from The Wire that inspired this revive. His attitude in the interview doesn't seem particularly great.

Found this pretty recently (b/w I Love the Way You Move). Not a particularly hard to find 12. Worth scooping out of a dollar bin if you see it.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_44t6vifYvPo/Sh3Z6f-rBiI/AAAAAAAAAKs/L_vQypaNjis/s400/Mike+Theodore+Orchestra+-+The+Bull+(12''+1977.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3yWB9VndBPA/TbvLuPmo7SI/AAAAAAAAAWo/GAkb8kVWr9Y/s200/Tom-Moulton.jpg

^^ what makes you think this guy gives a fuck what you think his attitude is, he lives in a tom of finland comic

Anyway, speaking of great disco compilations, I'd recommend getting hold of Ben Liebrand's Grand 12-Inches comps; they have other dance music beyond disco too, but their main focus is on 70s disco and early 80s boogie. Liebrand has done a great job of compiling the 12" versions of almost all the essential disco classics, plus the comps have also some odder but charming choices (like the 12" version of Boney M's "Rasputin" that begins with an awesome 3 minute drum break), as well many rarities that haven't been released on CD before. These are pretty much my favourite compilations of the 00s.

^^ what makes you think this guy gives a fuck what you think his attitude is, he lives in a tom of finland comic

i always had the impression that he didn't have much of a sex life (?), but yeah, he's a total hard-ass and deserves to have any opinion about music he wants.

i'm really fond of the john morales mix comps that came out recently. they're on spotify too.

i mean, there are some not-great songs on them i guess, but the overall vibe really does it for me.

http://www.discogs.com/Tom-Moulton-Philadelphia-International-Classics-The-Tom-Moulton-Remixes/release/3498587

the 12" version of Boney M's "Rasputin" that begins with an awesome 3 minute drum break

I love it anyway, but ... wow, this sounds incredible!

i always had the impression that he didn't have much of a sex life

i thought the chapter in "love saves the day" was all about the opposite but maybe i am thinking of someone else

i'm a huge fan of levan's live paradise garage thing

― the late great, Friday, April 6, 2012 12:26 AM (15 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this should imo be the first thing recommended to anyone getting into disco ever

Don't recall "Love Saves the Day" saying much about TM's sex life...dude didn't even go to clubs a whole lot iirc. Can check later.

Cosign on the Morales comp btw. Also good and I think not mentioned yet is the Patrick Adams comp "Master of the Masterpiece".

Probably not too exciting for serious disco heads but maybe useful for the curious: I've been compiling a Spotify playlist of 111 great disco tracks by 111 artists. Spotify coverage for disco is kind of patchy (e.g. almost nothing on Prelude Records, and obv lots of things are OOP) so there's more Salsoul than I'd otherwise go for but I think most of the bases are covered.

Amazing, thanks. I tried making one up from Turn The Beat Around but it was thankless

looks very good, seandalai, i will check it out :)

I was bored, so I did companion piece to Seandalai's playlist. Here's a Spotify playlist of 66 of my favourite disco tunes, it doesn't overlaps with Sean's.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Tbaj3dY0L._SS400_.jpg

damnnnnn this is fantastic.

cant believe there isn't more love for this on ilm.

4 cds of disco brilliance.

original extended versions with a ton of new edits, that sound amazing (no modern remix sounds - sound very of the original era).

quite tempted to stump up for the 10 cd (10!) boxset thats out in a few days time.

that looks great. pretty affordable!

its absolutely amazing.

best £14 i ever spent.

was a little worried re the new era re-edits

- but it sounds like tom has applied the same golden disco dust to the tracks as he did back in the 70s.