I think that't it for me but it's also what makes it great.
― daavid, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:16 (nine years ago) link
yeah, it's like that is just one element too many - but it's also the best one!
― skip, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:17 (nine years ago) link
daavid stop dragging this out, got a horrible feeling my first to show will be my number 1 now.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 9 February 2015 22:17 (nine years ago) link
I think it's the clashing overtones in the xylo.
― skip, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:18 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/ptDsWnS.jpg
39 LOUI$ "Pink Footpath" [122 points, 4 votes, 1 first place vote]http://youtu.be/plXB4MFZSMw
― daavid, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:18 (nine years ago) link
And there you go... :(
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 9 February 2015 22:19 (nine years ago) link
Can only assume this is so low cos most haven't heard it, it's peerless and unique.
yeah, I'm not familiar with this one. Almost jazzy in the first 2 minutes.
― skip, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:20 (nine years ago) link
xps
I was thinking about this during the nominations thread but don't think I ever put it out there: who was the audience for non-crossover Italo releases? Was it mostly nightclubs? How many young people in Italy (or France or Spain) in the 80s have heard e.g. "When I Let You Down" or "Hey Hey Guy"? Were there clubs in the UK playing this? (I guess mike t-diva addressed that one a bit)
― ⊤ℝolliℵg M∃th H∑a∂ (seandalai), Monday, 9 February 2015 22:22 (nine years ago) link
i think that's a glockenspiel in "Fotonovela" not a xylophone
― example (crüt), Monday, 9 February 2015 22:22 (nine years ago) link
I personally like my Italo to be on the pop side, but I didn't vote anyway.
― daavid, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:22 (nine years ago) link
I am definitely in the minority who find "Pink Footpath" overrated, but it gets a super amount of love from even non-italo fans.
― Michael F Gill, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:24 (nine years ago) link
xxpost, you are right. The bars in a xylophone are made out of wood. But what's a marimba then? I'm confused.
― daavid, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:27 (nine years ago) link
The first time I heard Pink Footpath (in an old Aeroplane mix iirc) was one of those moments you just know right away you're hearing a song that will be an all-timer.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 9 February 2015 22:29 (nine years ago) link
Seandalai: there's an interview here, in which a Venice DJ talks a bit about the perception of Italo in Italy at the time:http://thump.vice.com/words/bottin-and-mike-simonetti-obsess-over-italo-disco
I feel Italo also appealed to record collectors as well as clubbers: so many devoted labels and sublabels, so many strange aliases and one-offs to geek out over.
― Michael F Gill, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:35 (nine years ago) link
oh awesome, thanks!
― ⊤ℝolliℵg M∃th H∑a∂ (seandalai), Monday, 9 February 2015 22:37 (nine years ago) link
Xylophones and marimbas are made out of wood, I believe. Glockenspiel has metal bars. Probably more likely that it's a glockenspiel in Fotonovela, but it looks like a xylophone in the video.
― Michael F Gill, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:38 (nine years ago) link
LOL at his example of bad Italo. That really is bad.
― skip, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:41 (nine years ago) link
Interesting interview but both of those guys sound like Italo rockists.
― daavid, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:47 (nine years ago) link
…especially Bottin.
― daavid, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:48 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/mAasX49.jpg
38 VALERIE DORE "Get Closer" [123 points, 4 votes]http://youtu.be/DkQu9CPrrfw
― daavid, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:50 (nine years ago) link
My top 5 dropping like flies all of a sudden
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 9 February 2015 22:51 (nine years ago) link
way too low but i'm guessing Valerie Dore was sabotaged by people nominating like 10 million of her tracks
― example (crüt), Monday, 9 February 2015 22:52 (nine years ago) link
maybe 38/39 isn't dropping like flies idk
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 9 February 2015 22:53 (nine years ago) link
And a quick look at my actual ballot shows I only had this at number 10 so my bad.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 9 February 2015 22:54 (nine years ago) link
Also agree that "Get Closer" placed too low. The delay on that synth is classic.
― daavid, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:56 (nine years ago) link
I like how "Get Closer" is pretty much the same song as "The Night" but just as awesome.
I think someone nominating the entire Valerie Dore Lancelot album was amusing. Love the title track from that though.
― Michael F Gill, Monday, 9 February 2015 22:58 (nine years ago) link
Yes, they just shifted the chords and tweaked the melody a bit… but the instrumentation is identical.
― daavid, Monday, 9 February 2015 23:01 (nine years ago) link
who was the audience for non-crossover Italo releases? Was it mostly nightclubs? How many young people in Italy (or France or Spain) in the 80s have heard e.g. "When I Let You Down" or "Hey Hey Guy"? Were there clubs in the UK playing this? (I guess mike t-diva addressed that one a bit)
I was living in West Berlin in 1983/84, and heard Italo in gay and mixed-gay clubs alongside hi-NRG, as well as on the radio. I doubt it had much traction outside gay cubs in the UK, give or take the odd Ryan Paris crossover hit.
― mike t-diva, Monday, 9 February 2015 23:02 (nine years ago) link
Get Closer is a good example of a particular type of pop alchemy then, it does something much more with those parts than The Night imo.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 9 February 2015 23:17 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/tHniMTb.jpg
37 FANCY "Slice Me Nice" [129 points, 4 votes]http://youtu.be/Nlnoa67MUJU
― daavid, Monday, 9 February 2015 23:21 (nine years ago) link
Maximum dodgy accent points.
― Siegbran, Monday, 9 February 2015 23:22 (nine years ago) link
Slice Me Nice is a total classic. The video is properly creepy.
― Rainbow DAESH (ShariVari), Monday, 9 February 2015 23:26 (nine years ago) link
"Slice Me Nice" was 84, not 85. Another one I used to dance to in public...
― mike t-diva, Monday, 9 February 2015 23:31 (nine years ago) link
It has been removed from his wiki page but it used to be claimed that Bolero was the longest reigning No.1 single in the history of the Spanish charts. There are lots of videos of the latter day Fancy, looking like Kim Jong Il, turning up at tiny conventions of about a dozen awestruck fans. He still plays big nostalgia events in Russia and Germany.
― Rainbow DAESH (ShariVari), Monday, 9 February 2015 23:32 (nine years ago) link
He looks like an even creepier version of Barry Manilow.
― Siegbran, Monday, 9 February 2015 23:33 (nine years ago) link
"bow and arrow" is the other valerie dore song i really like
― brimstead, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 00:02 (nine years ago) link
Xps, I'd always had the impression that Hey Hey Guy was a fairly canonical Italo hit but I think my perception of a lot of this is skewed by my window on the genre being primarily Eastern European. About 75% of the comments on the YouTube videos of Laszlo's songs are from people with Russian, Polish, etc names. I heard it played over the store radio in a supermarket in Armenia last year and didn't find that surprising. I love the fact that there seems to be an overlapping, but not entirely overlapping, Italo / Eurodance canon between Western and Eastern Europe. The Dutch group Digital Emotion was another that was huge in Russia, having been featured extensively in an episode of the Soviet rip off of Tom and Jerry, but are largely unknown here.
― Rainbow DAESH (ShariVari), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 00:07 (nine years ago) link
Last one for the day...
― daavid, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 00:10 (nine years ago) link
Fancy: "I'm like a cake that wants to be baked"
So classic
― spacemindy, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 00:10 (nine years ago) link
Well I guess the Italians managed to bundle their vast riches of cheesy dance songs along with the cutting edge automotive technology they sold to the USSR.
― Siegbran, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 00:11 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/lg2ZQu1.jpg
36 KATY GRAY "Hold Me Tight" [131 points, 4 votes]http://youtu.be/O0v_jTHHFKU
― daavid, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 00:11 (nine years ago) link
Recap:
50 DHUO "Walkin'" [96 points, 3 votes]49 INTERNATIONAL MUSIC SYSTEM "Dancing Therapy" [97 points, 3 votes]47 (TIE) GAZEBO "I Like Chopin" [98 points, 3 votes]47 (TIE) CLIO "Eyes" [98 points, 3 votes]46 KEN LASZLO "Hey Hey Guy" [101 points, 3 votes]45 DOCTOR'S CAT "Watch Out" [105 points, 3 votes]43 (TIE) RAGGIO DI LUNA "Comanchero" [105 points, 4 votes]43 (TIE) TRANS-X "Living On Video" [105 points, 4 votes]41 (TIE) MODERN TALKING "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" [108 points, 4 votes]41 (TIE) M&G "When I Let You Down" [108 points, 4 votes]40 IVAN "Fotonovela" [117 points, 4 votes]39 LOUI$ "Pink Footpath" [122 points, 4 votes, 1 first place vote]38 VALERIE DORE "Get Closer" [123 points, 4 votes]37 FANCY "Slice Me Nice" [129 points, 4 votes]36 KATY GRAY "Hold Me Tight" [131 points, 4 votes]
― daavid, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 00:12 (nine years ago) link
… 15 more tomorrow
― daavid, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 00:13 (nine years ago) link
I would probably like "Slice Me Nice" more if I hadn't heard "Passion" by The Flirts first, as well as other Bobby O productions. It's alright, but it makes me want to hear "Passion" instead.
"Hold Me Tight" is superb. Amazing production and basically the blueprint you hear on every Sally Shapiro record.
― Michael F Gill, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 00:19 (nine years ago) link
"hold me tight" is spectacular, i think i ranked it pretty high
― brimstead, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 00:25 (nine years ago) link
"How many young people in Italy (or France or Spain) in the 80s have heard e.g. "When I Let You Down" or "Hey Hey Guy"?"
I have been harangued before by Italians before while playing at an Italo night, "Just play one Italian track".
― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 07:06 (nine years ago) link
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a280/HansHolbein/moderntalking_zps5c488a56.jpg
― Hans Holbein (Chinchilla Volapük), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 08:39 (nine years ago) link
I've know so little in this poll so far, but quite a lot of it sounds vaguely familiar. Great stuff so far though. I especially like the Clio track.
― oi listen mate, shut up (dog latin), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 09:12 (nine years ago) link
Today we begin with...
― daavid, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 15:34 (nine years ago) link