Patrick Cowley

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redcrescent

Well-known member
dannyDMX said:
Bobby "O" and Patrick Cowley are like the twin pedestals of Hi-NRG.
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Bill Motley's SF-based Moby Dick label (which grew out of the club of the same name) also deserves a mention, releasing tracks by Boys Town Gang ("Ain't no mountain", etc.) and Lisa ("Rocket to your heart", etc.). Proceeds from sales, although modest, were used to support up-and-coming artists such as Loverde, whose producer was Patrick Cowley. Cowley also played synths on Moby Dick releases like Hot Posse's "An American Dream". A great Cowley site here.
Bobby O's productions with the drag queen Divine were also big hits, things like "Love Reaction" and "Shoot your shot". Divine later worked with Stock, Aitken, Waterman, who pretty much dominated hi-NRG during the last half of the 80s, with tracks like Dead or Alive's "You spin me round (like a record)" (which has cropped up repeatedly since in various remix guises) and of course your Kylie, Rick Astley, Bananarama...
dannyDMX said:
And of course the Evelyn Thomas song "High Energy".
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And Irene Cara got Oscars and Grammys for her songs on the Fame and Flashdance soundtracks. "What a feelin'" and the like aside, do check out things like the Moroder-produced instrumental to "Breakdance", which still sounds fresh today.
dannyDMX said:
Last night I heard Voodoo Man by Roni Griffith, which was hot as well.
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Totally underrated. I've always though a track like "I want your lovin'" deserved a decent remix. The Canadian (especially Montreal) hi-NRG connection seems pretty strong: Roni Griffith, Lime ("Your Love", etc.), Trans-X ("Living on Video", 1983), Carol Jiani (who also released things on Moby Dick), producers Gino Soccio and Tony Green (France Joli), Suzy Q, Laura Branigan...
dannyDMX said:
This stuff is all mostly instrumental, electronic, occasionally vocoded or disco nonsense vocals (ahhhahhh) and has dated really well to my ears.
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On a sonic level, there are some pretty amazing things, especially on the flipsides where you get all sorts of dubby madness. Well worth looking into, but as you said,
dannyDMX said:
Don't pay more then a dollar for it, you know?
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X

xero

was minusone
dannyDMX said:
But yeah, Cowley is god, and Gino Soccio is an underrated genius who's catalog is finally being appreciated beyond the ubiquitious Dancer. Go to the mixes on http://alldisco.net and you can hear a few of his songs.

dan selzer
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gotta back this up - there are gems in that thar catalog - 'there's a woman' on the outline lp is like sci-fi beach boys


WOEBOT said:
Drool. Minusone is sorting me out with a CD. Forgot to mention that I have "Mindwarp", but your description of "I Need Somebody to Love Tonight", man I maay have to go and hunt it down ASAP.
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don't sweat matt - it's on the cd
 
D

dannyDMX

Member
re: http://www.djmixsessions.com/mixes/...0_YEAR_ITCH.mp3

mmm...Haven't Been Funked Enough!

Matt re-email me yr address and I'll send you the Stars ep on vinyl, and some CDs...I owe you. Some Acute stuff and I'll through some stuff on CDs. For real this time! I found a local shipping place...I work right next to NY's largest post-office, which made me exceptionally wary of shipping things as it always involved an extensive wait.
 
K

kek-w

Member
Yeah, Cowley's "Mind Warp and "Magaton Man" are genius. And what about UK Hi-NRG producer Ian Levine...surely the British Cheesemeister Supreme; remixed PSB, etc
 
D

dannyDMX

Member
ian levine...

I don't know anything about him, but the name rang a bell so I had to run to the hi-nrg cube of my record shelf and yup, I have volume 2 of a comp he was involved with called "Twelve Inches of Pleasure"! If that's not embarassing enough, I have to mention that he re-mixed my favorite track on it, a cover of the Jackie De Shannon (by way of the Searchers) "When You Walk in the Room" by the group known as, umm, Ramming Speed. Other fine selections on this comp include Love Reaction by Divine, Megatron Man, Lucky Tonight by Sarah Dash(Cowley produced), Hazell Dean's Evergreen, Velvette's Nothing's Worse than Being Alone, Countdown(Here I Come) by Kofi and the Lovetones and The Next in Line by Eric Roberts. If this was reissued on CD, would they have to call it Five Inches of Pleasure? What about minidisc?
 
R

redcrescent

Well-known member
Ian Levine also produced things like Miquel Brown's "So many men, so little time" and, crucially, Evelyn Thomas' "High Energy". Wonder how that went down with his old northern soul audience (NB Levine was a one-time resident at the Blackpool Mecca). A good interview here. (The rest of the www.djhistory.com site looks interesting too, especially the mixes. Brought to you by the authors of Last night a DJ...)
More hi-NRG than you'll ever need here.
 
B

Backjob

Well-known member
Record Shack

Talking of Ian Levine I have a tune on his "record shack" label that I've always wanted to know more about, and this thread seems a good place to ask.

It's by Steve Grant and it's called "Run for cover" and it basically sounds like a cross between Northern Soul and hi-nrg - it's got the nothern style backbeat and pace, but is all electronic. The vocals sound like Earlene Bentley, but I'm not sure. I've only got the 7" and there's very little info on it.
 
M

massrock

Well-known member
This forthcoming LP of 'lost' stuff - Patrick Cowley and Jorge Socarras present Catholic - sounds like it could be pretty fucking great.

There's a track 'Robot Children' to be heard here on the latest Wire Magazine radio show. At about 8m20s.

http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/2657/

Not a million miles from the Conny Plank, Dieter Moebius, Mayo Thompson album, which is no bad thing in my book. When I first heard this not knowing what it was I thought it must be a Plank production. Interestingly that record also didn't get a release until much later. Check the one-note bassline and the proto-'Losing My Edge' subject matter. Stuff was recorded between 1976 and 1979 apparently.
 
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P

polystyle

Well-known member
Just got ms from Jorge - this Patrick Crowley proj is indeed fully 'on' and surfacing.
Jorge used to also be in ... Indoor Life.

Everything that should be released or rereleased is coming out.
so much stuff is just lying around ...
 
M

massrock

Well-known member
Ah yes polystyle.

In that case we should have a bit of this.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=""></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>


Also I see there was a bit of discussion here: http://www.woebot.com/movabletype/archives/000085.html
 
P

polystyle

Well-known member
Aha -yes you've snagged 'em.
Jorge was also doorman at many clubs bk in that day, nice guy and popular too.
We shared a label with them for a NY minute.
 
M

mms

sometimes
massrock said:
Ah yes polystyle.

In that case we should have a bit of this.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=""></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>


Also I see there was a bit of discussion here: http://www.woebot.com/movabletype/archives/000085.html
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wow
anything not produced by cowley is a bit rubbish tho.
but it seems there are more tracks on this version with the reed sleeve i have the 5 track ep
 
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