Kiss Me Again

This month I'm celebrating the four year anniversary of this blog, and what better way to do that than post my all-time favorite song and one of the earliest tracks to ever appear on this site in Dinosaur's 1978 classic "Kiss Me Again". If there has been one thing that has stayed the same on this site throughout the last four years, it has to have been the constant discussion and sharing of Arthur Russell's music and influence. This track which represents Arthur's first exploration into disco and dance music, was co-produced with legendary Gallery deejay Nicky Siano. Unfortunately, the single was considered by many in the industry at the time as a failure, as the record initially sold very poorly. As I've mentioned in previous posts, Arthur blamed the record's bad showing due to both Jimmy Simpson's more dancefloor-friendly extended mix and Sire Records' lack of promotion and willingness to get behind the twelve-inch single. A better argument for the song's lack of success,in my opinion, is that the track was just well ahead of it's time as many Arthur Russell songs have shown to be. That would explain the reason why the original twelve-inch single continues to be one of the most sought after records by disco collectors worldwide. Regardless of the song's early tough goings, judgement of the track has gotten better over time and "Kiss Me Again" is now looked at as a true disco masterpiece and one that I proudly stand by as my personal favorite track of all-time. Enjoy!

Dinosaur - Kiss Me Again (Jimmy Simpson Mix)



UPDATE: I regret that I forgot to mention that this week (May 21st) we celebrate Arthur's 59 birthday. It's been almost twenty years since he passed at the young age of 40. He obviously left this world way too early, however we will continue to honor him by enjoying and appreciating the music and legacy that he left behind. Happy Birthday Arthur...

Kiss Me Again and Again

It's the beginning of a new week, therefore let's start it off with a disco classic and personal favorite track of all-time in Dinosaur's 1978 gem "Kiss Me Again". As many probably already know, Dinosaur is the short-lived tag team of Arthur Russell and Nicky Siano. As I continue to read Tim Lawrence's "Hold On to Your Dreams", I was intrigued by the section of the book that covered the recording process and background to this amazing track. According to the book, "Kiss Me Again" completely bombed in the charts and in the record shops. Arthur Russell blamed the record's bad showing to Jimmy Simpson's more dancefloor-friendly extended mix, which he never liked. He also blamed Sire records, who released the record, because of there lack of promotion. Regardless, all of that is history and as time has gone on, I believe the track has continued to receive more and more praise because in my opinion, the song was just a bit ahead of it's time as most of Arthur's songs truly were. Here is the original version of the track. Sit back and enjoy!

Dinosaur - Kiss Me Again (Original Version)

Nicky Siano /Go Bang! - Re-cap & Recovery

I must say that I'm going to need almost a week just to recover from this weekend's double dose of great disco nights. First and foremost, was Nicky Siano's final San Francisco appearance which took place this past Friday at the Project One Gallery. I can now admit that I was a bit nervous because I've heard and seen on YouTube that he sometimes goes into a more acid house mix instead of playing many of the classic "Gallery-era" disco gems that made him the legendary deejay that he truly is. However, with that being said, this past Friday, Siano didn't disappoint with about 95 percent of his set made up of early to mid 70's disco classics including Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes's "Bad Luck", Eddie Kendrick's "Girl You Need A Change Of Mind", Lamont Dozier's "Going Back to My Roots", Dinosaur L's "Go Bang", numerous classics from Loleatta Holloway and many many more. Overall the thing that I most enjoyed was watching how much he got into each and every song, waving his hands in the air while singing and dancing along. Deejaying the way you should in my opinion. I danced for about three and a half hours until I basically couldn't even stand up anymore. Almost the entire time I kept thinking to myself, what if this was the early seventies and I spent every weekend at The Gallery listening and dancing to music like this. Those days must have been a lot of fun. If somebody can start working on that "time machine idea" again, I would much appreciate it...

If Friday wasn't enough for one weekend of dancing, I had to somehow turn around and recuperate for Saturday night's Go Bang! as I made my San Francisco deejay debut. I will let others critique how well I did (I of course thought it was one of my best sets ever), however I will say that I had one of the best times ever deejaying. People were dancing and just plain having a great time. I don't really want start comparing this early, however I felt like the crowd was more receptive to my set than any past set I've had in Seattle. I do understand it was just one night and Nicky Siano's set the night before really had inspired me to play a really good set. Thanks to Sergio, Stanley, and everyone who helped put on the Go Bang party, it was a lot of fun. Anyways, it's safe to say that I'm going to need a few days to recover after this weekend. San Francisco, it's good to call you home.

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Bad Luck

Nicky Siano Deejaying in SF Tonight

I couldn't be more excited about tonight as disco pioneer and founder of the legendary disco club The Gallery, Nicky Siano, will be deejaying a four hour set here in San Francisco. According to many sources, this will be Siano's final San Francisco appearance and it will take place at the Project One Gallery (251 Rhode Island St). I must admit that I've been waiting to see this legend deejay for quite sometime and it will be interesting to see what era of music he decides to play. I'm definately hoping he takes it back to his early roots with many of the gems like Bonnie Bramlett's "Crazy 'Bout My Baby", Brend & The Tabulations' "A Little Bit of Love", and Exuma's "Exuma, The Obeah Man" (to name a few) that were featured on the amazing Soul Jazz comp that was released a few years back that payed tribute to Siano's legendary Gallery parties. I must admit that it's really great to finally live in a city that hosts legenday deejays like Siano. This will definately be one of those "can't miss" parties that everyone who lives even remotely close should attend. Here is another Gallery-era gem in Zulema's 1973 classic "Giving Up" from her album Ms. Z. to get you excited for tonight.

Zulema - Giving Up

Dancin' with the Obeah Man

I'm actually flying to San Francisco for the weekend today, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet with a one of my personal favorite tracks, "Exuma, The Obeah Man" by Exuma , off of the Soul Jazz released compilation tribute to Nicky Siano's The Gallery. I've now owned this compilation for a few years now, and it still remains to be one of my most listen to records. I was enjoy this Exuma track from 1970 the other night, with much enjoyment I might add, so I thought I post it today. Hopefully you enjoy this classic cut, which tends to crossover between many different genres, as much as I do. Enjoy!

Exuma - Exuma, The Obeah Man

The Streisand - Siano Connection

I was inspired today to post this extended version of Barbra Streisand's 1975 disco hit "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" after I read yesterday an excerpt from Tim Lawrence's book Love Saves The Day, that Nicky Siano's became so influential regarding record sales during the mid 1970's that Barbra Streisand, herself, once sent Siano a letter thanking him for playing the more dance-oriented track often at The Gallery. The original, shorter version, of "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" was featured on Streisand's Lazy Afternoon album, which represented one of the singer's earliest explorations into the disco dance scene. Later on, of course, she successfully teamed up with Donna Summers in a collaboration effort in releasing the disco classic "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" in 1979. My good friend H.M.A. actually introduced me to the track a while back, and the song was often included in many of his Studio! mixes. It's kind of interesting and amusing to know that Nicky Siano had a role in furthering, an artist like Barbra Streisand's musical career.

Barbra Streisand - Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)