The constant churn of an underground sound leads to mainstream success leads to brazen attempts to cash out. For every genre-shattering release, there are thousands of way-more-terrible versions of that release, all blatantly attempting to strike gold. In the late ’70s, disco’s made the ascent from the R&B-meets-psychedelic sound found in black, Italian, Latino and gay nightclubs and house parties to the schmaltz born in the wake of Saturday Night Fever’s massive global success. In Los Angeles, “Soul Train”—the influential syndicated dance television program that was revolutionary in its depictions of black American music—was undergoing a shift. Creator and host Don Cornelius bristled at the advent of disco music, but his show was a national phenomenon and set so many trends that he didn’t want to miss out on a chance to leverage his platform to dip a toe onto the dancefloor under the mirror ball. Cornelius partnered with “Soul Train” talent coordinator Dick Griffey to launch Soul Train Records and for their first act, created a packaged pop-disco group they called Shalamar. This somewhat crass marketing tactic led to the Shalamar experiment’s first release, 1977’s Uptown Festival.
Using session singers to get the album out quickly, Festival is a naked cash grab posing as a fully-formed concept. Save for the title track—a medley of familiar Motown standards laid over a disco beat—the record is completely forgettable unless used as a marketing case study and doesn’t have a ton of replayability. However, just because the album wasn’t good doesn’t mean that album wasn’t successful. The record charted thanks to the promotional powerhouse of “Soul Train” backing it. After the first album proved successful, the follow-up would take a big step in associating Shalamar with “Train” forever.
Enter Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel—two “Soul Train” dancers and members of a makeshift crew of “Soul Train” personalities known as the Waack Dancers (the name, per a 1978 Ebony profile, was just randomly made up). Like the dance legend Fred “Rerun” Berry, the duo was immensely popular on the program as visionaries of style and moves that were never before seen on such a wide platform. Watley was the always-smiling female lead who set style trends with her unique fashion sense and model-level good looks. Daniel—the man who debuted the Moonwalk on national television, which led to his recruitment by as unofficial muse and official dance coordinator—was the innovator, capturing attention via his unique moves. In a from the late ’80s, Cornelius was blunt about how Shalamar came to be. “The group’s lead singer, Gary Mumford was excellent. I decided to replace the background people, however, with two ‘Soul Train’ dancers who would work behind Gary.
Since Jody and Jeffrey were the most recognizable dancers on the show, then, I said, ‘Let’s use them. My partner said, ‘Jody Watley can’t sing.’ I said, ‘It doesn’t matter, only the look matters.’” To compensate for the lack of vocal talent, Griffey recruited Gerald Brown and producer Leon Sylvers III and the new incarnation of Shalamar debuted on 1978’s Disco Gardens. The album was released on Griffey’s SOLAR (Sounds of Los Angeles Records) instead of Soul Train, as Cornelius moved on from the nascent label to focus on expanding the Soul Train brand via national syndication. SOLAR would later find larger success as a home of R&B by applying the Motown formula of record creation to black radio so effectively that The New York Times saw fit to run a profile of Griffey in 1980 with the not-at-all-subtle headline “Solar Records could be the Motown of the 80s.” As an album, Garden serves as a great relic of disco’s waning influence on pop and R&B.
Shalamar’s Disco Gardens could be slid into any contemporary disco mix without blinking an eye, but the novelty of the album blunts its impact a bit. In a nod towards the future, Leon Sylvers III pivoted the album’s sound from all-disco towards more traditional R&B ballads (“Lovely Lady”) and the black adult contemporary pop sound that would come to be known as the SOLAR sound in the ’80s. After Gardens, Gerald Brown’s tenure as Shalamar’s male lead lasted only one album, as disputes about appropriate payment (an all-too-familiar refrain for those studying the history of black music in America) led to his departure from the group. Griffey’s replacement was Howard Hewett, an immensely talented singer from Akron, Ohio who also spent time dancing on “Soul Train” before being added to the group for the next Shalamar album, 1979’s appropriately-titled Big Fun. Big Fun is the textbook for what made disco, well, fun (please just look at its cover). A thumping four-on-the-floor drum rhythm with plenty of identifiable hi-hat and basslines (the latter of which were laid down by Sylvers himself) incorporated into lasagna-thick layers of instrumentalization all come to a head on this album, specifically standout tracks “Let’s Find the Time for Love,” “I Owe You One,” and “Right in the Socket.” Fun also features the biggest single in the group's history, “The Second Time Around” which showcases Hewett’s apple-butter-smooth vocal stylings over a beat built for two-stepping.
Good disco music should make you feel like you have an uncontrollable urge to throw your ass around and whether that’s on the dance floor or in the bedroom is your call. Big Fun is good disco music.
Profile Formed 1976 in New York, New York, by Soul Train booking agent Dick Griffey and British producer Simon Soussan. The first Shalamar release, Uptown Festival, was recorded by faceless session singers. Jun 19, 2016 - Shalamar - Uptown Festival + Disco Gardens. Uptown Festival: 1 - Inky Dinky Wang Dang Doo. 2 - Beautiful Night. 3 - Uptown Festival: i) Going.
After the success of Fun (it hit at No. 4 on the and No. 23 on the 200), the Hewett/Watley/Daniel/Sylvers lineup worked together for four more albums until Daniel and Watley left the group in 1983 due in equal parts to dissatisfaction with SOLAR and Watley’s solo career taking off. Shalamar’s legacy lives through those who grew up in black households in the UK and America.
While the group started as a formulaic product trying to glom on disco’s popularity, they found their voice over the years by focusing on one goal: making people dance. It’s hard to have multiple hits as it is, but to grow and develop as artists while giving you solid tunes to dance to on every album? Give your long-overdue flowers to Shalamar.
Roy Edward Ayers Jr. Was born in Los Angeles in 1940. He was brought up in a musical household and at 17 years of age his parents presented him with a set of vibes. The rest, as they say, is history. The 60s were his training ground in jazz, hooking up with legendary producer Leonard Feather. It was during this time he made his debut LP 'West Coast Vibes'.
The 1970s found Roy embarking upon a long and fruitful relationship with Polydor Records, where Roy began to incorporate 'wah wah' and 'fuzz' tones on his vibes. It was during this period he formed the group Ubiquity. For the next ten years, Roy Ayers produced what many regard as some of his finest works. Perhaps the most well-known work to come out of this period was 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine'.
Roy Ayers has continued to write, produce and collaborate with many major artists, and is currently one of the most sampled artists in the music industry. 40 years in the music industry for Roy Ayers!
He is, without question, a legend in his own time. BIG FUN DISCO GARDENS THE LOOK CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE WAKE UP THE VERY BEST OF SHALAMAR THE 12# COLLECTION Shalamar Shalamar began as a thrown-together producer's group and wound up one of the most popular and exciting vocal groups of the late 70s and early 80s. When Soul Train host Don Cornelius and show A&R man Dick Griffey decided to create Soul Train Records - later called Sound of Los Angeles Records (or SOLAR, for short) - they debuted with a discofied Motown medley called 'Uptown Festival' performed by a group of studio musicians and singers dubbed Shalamar.
When the song turned out to be a smash dance hit, a singing group of Soul Train dancers was put together as the face of Shalamar. Consisting of Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniel and Gerald Brown, the new group scored a couple hits and had two moderately successful albums, Uptown Festival and Disco Gardens, before Brown was replaced by mellifluous singer Howard Hewett.
The addition of Hewett was the missing ingredient to turn Shalamar from a faceless dance act to a real Soul group and, combined with the maturing of Watley into a fine vocalist, created the most popular and interesting lineup the group would ever have. The reorganized Shalamar, working with hot young producer Leon Sylvers (who would architect the SOLAR sound for the Whispers, Dynasty, Lakeside and others) immediately scored with the dance cut 'The Second Time Around' and the 1979 top five album Big Fun. They continued their rise two years later with Three For Love, an album that would show them to not only be a great dance group ('Make That Move' and 'Full of Fire'), but also developing ballad singers ('This Is For the Lover In You'). After distribution problems and an unsuccessful, quickly thrown together Go For It disc, the group return in top form with their first #1 Soul album, Friends, and the monster hit, 'A Night To Remember.' While on top of the world commercially, internal friction in the group threatened its continued existence. Nonetheless, in 1983 they released their finest album, The Look, which included the edgy hit 'Dead Giveaway,' but more importantly included their finest ballad work ever, in the album cuts 'You Can Count of Me' (maybe Hewett's best performance with the group) and 'You're the One For Me.' But The Look served as Watley's and Daniel's swan song, and they both quit the group later that year.
They were replaced by Micki Free and Delisa Davis. By then pretty much the Howard Hewett show, Shalamar scored a surprising top 20 pop hit in 1984 with their contribution to the Footloose soundtrack, 'Dancing In The Sheets' (produced by Bill Wolfer), and did moderately well with the album Heartbreak. Hewett then left in 1986 for a solo career and was replaced by Sidney Justin.
By 1987, Shalamar had gone full circle, and was again a faceless producer's group, by then working with young producer Babyface for their last album, Circumstantial Evidence. After the demise of Shalamar, Watley had a strong solo career, scoring a string of hot dance hits over the 80s and 90s. Hewett also had a moderately successful solo career and became a frequent guest vocalist on Soul and Jazz albums. Daniel, released a solo album which received rave reviews. Newest member Carolyn Baldwin, replaced Jody Watley when she left to pursue a solo career. Carolyn is also the daughter of former Solar Records co-owner Dick Griffey and former Solar Records recording artist Carrie Lucas. David Oliver - mind magic 1979 320KBPS 05.
Private secretary.mp3 06. One night man.mp3 07.
Southern comfort.mp3 08. I surrender.mp3 09. Take my emptiness.mp3 01. Who are you.mp3 02. I wanna write you a love song.mp3 03. Housewives are people too.mp3 04. When the thrill comes.mp3 Courtial - don't you think its time 1976 320KBPS 1 Don't You Think It's Time.mp3 2 Thank You Baby.mp3 3 Time To Explain.mp3 4 Best Of Friends.mp3 5 Poem For Helen.mp3 6 Losing You.mp3 7 Love Nevermore.mp38 Take The Time.mp3 9 Corn On The Cob.mp3 10 Time (end).mp3 - D'ANGELO - YODA THE MONARCH OF NEO SOUL 2007.
Stone Alliance - Stone Alliance 1976 Stone Alliance - Con Amigos 1978 Marcio Montarroyos - Stone Alliance 1977 Dave Valentin - Land Of The Third Eye 1980 Barry Miles - Scatbird 1972 - FLAC Wilbert Longmire - All My Love 1980 320 DAVID BENDETH - ADRENALIN JANET LAWSON QUINTET 1980.