The Sounds of Jungle Music

It's safe to say that Strut Records has been very busy recently releasing some of the year's best albums and compilations. Their hot streak continues as one of the summer's most highly anticipated releases in Walter Gibbons' first multi-label retrospective tilted Jungle Music (which was first discussed on this blog back in late May-See 'Jungle Music') has started to makes it's way to record shops, with an official release being August 17th. This retrospective sheds light on some of Gibbons' best work, as he became a fixture in the studio while setting the blueprint for all disco twelve-inch mixes. Some of the album's highlights include Dinosaur L's "Go Bang", Jakki's "Sun... Sun... Sun...", Arthur Russell's "Calling All Kids", Gladys Knight's "It's A Better Than Good Time", Bettye Lavette's "Doin' The Best That I Can", and Double Exposure's disco classic "Ten Percent" among many others. It's hard to capture the brilliance of Gibbons' legendary music accomplishments in just one release, however Strut has done an impressive job of recapturing some of the magic and musical genuineness that was Walter Gibbons. Enjoy!

Gladys Knight - It's Better Than A Good Time (Walter Gibbons Mix)



You can purchase Walter Gibbons' Jungle Music by Clicking Here
For more info on the release check out waltergibbons-junglemusic.com

Jungle Music

I was excited to receive an email this week that the good people over at Strut Records are gearing up to release the first multi-label retrospective on legendary DJ/ remixer Walter Gibbons, titled Jungle Music. During the mid to late seventies, Gibbons became one of the first to make his own reel to reel edits that where specifically designed for the dancefloor. His multi-track re-working of Double Exposure's 1976 track "Ten Percent" became the foundation and blueprint for all disco twelve-inch mixes. Gibbons' went on to be a staple, re-working mixes for many of the Salsoul twelve-inch releases, and in the end became the only remixer that Arthur Russell trusted which led to his fabulous re-working of "Go Bang!", "Let's Go Swimming", and "Treehouse/ School Bell". He also went on to remix classic dancefloor cuts from artists like Gladys Knight, Arts & Craft, Sandy Mercer, and many others. This compilation, which includes many of Gibbons best remixes, is due out sometime in July. Here is a one of my favorite Gibbons' remixes, that unfortunately won't be on the compilation, titled "Rocket Rock" by Luv You Madly Orchestra. Some called his style "Jungle Music", I would just call it pure brilliance. Enjoy!

Luv You Madly Orchestra - Rocket Rock (Walter Gibbons Mix)

Mixed With Ice Cold Love

In 1979, Salsoul Records released Double Exposure's third full-length release, entitled Locker Room. This was the last album of original material that this Philadelphia group ever released. And even though Locker Room doesn't stand up next to their classic debut album Ten Percent, the album did have it's own highlights. One of those has to be the Walter Gibbons' mix of "Ice Cold Love". This song is a return to that classic Double Exposure sound that existed with their earlier singles "Ten Percent", "Everyman", and "My Love Is Free". Even though this group returned in 1981 to release one last single entitled, "Yes, I'm In Love With You, in my opinion "Ice Cold Love" represented Double Exposure's last "great" disco song, and I think it's unfortunate that the song was never released as a single. I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes. "Ice Cold Love" was later released on an amazing Suss'd Records compilation of classic Walter Gibbons mixes, entitled Mixed With Love - The Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology.

Double Exposure - Ice Cold Love

New York Noise

Do you need some NY Dance music? Of course you do.

New York's Shirley Lites disco master piece ''Heath you up (Melt you Down)'' , which was originally released in 1983 on West End Records was re-edited by Gerd and released on Clone's Box Jams pt.1. The original version is from the "end" of the pure Disco era and was heavily rotated in the New York clubs. Definately one of my favorite disco songs from this era, listen and hear why.

Shirley Lites - Heat You Up (Melt You Down) (Gerd's 4lux Edit)

Arthur Russell (one of the greatest songwriter's ever, In my opinion) released "Let's Go Swimming" on Upside/Rough Tradein 1986. One of disco's earliest DJ's, Walter Gibbons, a close friend of Russell's and New York native, helped mix and re-edit the track. This song is a true testimony to both legendary NY underground dance icons at their best. This dance floor classic was eventually released on Soul Jazz Records retrospective collection of Arthur Russell, titled The World of Arthur Russell. A true classic at that. Hear for yourself.

Arthur Russell - Let's Go Swimming (Walter Gibbons Mix)

Double Exposure

In 2004, Suss'd Records released a re-mastered version of Double Exposure's Everyman 12". This 12-inch record was mastered by the legendary Tom Moulton and consists of two amazing mixes by Walter Gibbons and Joe Claussell. Claussell's 9 plus minute mix comes from hislimited edition 12-minute mix that he did for the album entitled, Salsoul Best Remixes. I was already a huge fan of the 1976 orginal, however, Claussell does a nice job extending the breakdown in the middle, along with keeping the classic feel of the original. I feel like this is one of those classic Salsoul songs that you can't go wrong with in the middle of a DJ set.

I also decided to throw in one of my favorite tracks by Claussell, titled "Spiritual Insurrection" which appears on the '99 LP, Language. This song reminds me of a mix between Faze Action and something that would be released off of Prins Thomas' Full Pupp label. Good stuff.

Double Exposure - Everyman (Joe Claussell Re-Edit)
Joe Claussell - Spiritual Insurrection

STUDIO...Disco Weekly Starts Tomorrow Night at Havana

Back during the late 1970's, New York was the home of many legendary disco night clubs like the Paradise Garage, The Gallery, The Loft, Studio 54, and The Sanctuary where deejays like Larry Levan, Nicky Siano, David Mancuso, and Walter Gibbons made a name for themselves spinning, mixing, and creating some of the greatest underground disco nights the world has ever seen. Paying tribute to this golden disco era, I (TJ Gorton) and an amazing cast of rotating resident deejays will play the best disco cuts from 1970's as well as inspired disco tracks that continue to keep disco arguably more relevant now than ever. Join us every Wednesday night at Havana starting March 5th as many of Seattle's most revered deejays spin the choicest disco, cosmic grooves, italo, rare soul, and sleazy funk this side of Manhattan.

STUDIO
Every Wednesday Night
@ Havana
1010 E Pike St (Capitol Hill)
w/ deejay TJ Gorton and Rotating Residents:
H.M.A., DJ Colin, J-Justice, + many more!
Prize Giveaways courtesy of Light in the Attic Records
Drink/Champagne Specials
$3 Cover
9PM - Close

STUDIO! Myspace - For the most up-to-date info regarding this night and other Seattle Disco nights.

Disco's True Example

Often I receive email from readers, who are visiting my city, requesting recommendations as to the best parties and events that are taking place during their out of town visit. By living in a city with such a thriving nightlife like San Francisco, most of the time I can point them in the right direction and give them a few good options. That being said, this is not always an easy question for me to answer because I find the best dance parties and evenings, personally, are the ones that are spent at home in my living room while sharing a few drinks or a bottle of wine with my wife. This is probably due to a few obvious reasons including 1) I control the music and can play whatever I want 2) the drinks are a lot cheaper 3) I can avoid the sometimes large and annoying crowds. Maybe many of you can relate where I'm getting at. It's not that I don't like going out and enjoying a great party, because I do. However, I can't underestimate the enjoyment that one can have from hanging out in your own living room, having some drinks, and listen to same great records. Anyways, the reason for bringing all of that up is because I wanted to share a disco track that often seems to get played while my wife and I are enjoying one of those many low-key evenings hanging out in our living room in True Example's "As Long As You Love Me". This funky and soulful disco classic was released as the B-side to the group's "Love Is Finally Coming My Way" twelve-inch single. The single was released by Norman Harris' Gold Mind Records and distributed by Salsoul Records. The record was also mixed by legendary DJ/producer Walter Gibbons. Overall, it's a great track that works perfectly for those cool-down moments on a disco dancefloor or during any of those evening that you just want to enjoy a bottle of wine while hanging out in your living room.

True Example - As Long As You Love Me

Let No Man Put Asunder

An edit that I have gotten re-addicted to after browsing through some older records the other day has been Danny Krivit's amazing re-edit of First Choice's classic 1977 cut "Let No Man Put Asunder". On this edit, Krivit blends the different mixes by Frankie Knuckles, Walter Gibbons, and Shep Pettibone together to form a more solid and in my opinion more dance friendly version of the classic disco cut. Krivit also does a nice job with the dynamics of the song, building it up as well as bringing it back down throughout so that the edit never looses any steam. I've always been a fan of this song, as many people I find are, however, Krivit does a nice job pollishing it up with all the different mixes so that it can be fully effective, even during peak moments on the dancefloor.

First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (Danny krivit Re-edit)

Wax The Van

I have been on a huge "Arthur Russell kick" lately, and I know what your saying, when am I not on a "Arthur Russell kick"? Well your point might be right, but, when was listening to AR over and over again a bad thing? Never. Point Exactly.

In 1985 Arthur worked on a dance based project in the guise of "Wax the Van", which featured Bob Blank's (a hugely prolific engineer and producer who worked on most of Arthur's musical projects) wife Lola on vocal duties. The song was written for Lola's solo record, which consisted of Arthur, who wrote the song, played keyboards, programmed drums, and added vocals were needed during the actual recording of the song. After many renditions of the song Lola's Wax the Van 12-inch finally saw the light of day and was released by Jump Street Records in 1987 with a good amount of commercial success, especially in the clubs.

This has been one of my personal favorites, especially of all the projects that Arthur has worked on besides his solo efforts. I can honestly say that I probably listen to this song three times a day for that past month.

I will also leave you with two other amazing renditions of "Treehouse". One which was released off Arthur Russell's 1986 ground breaking avant-garde solo World of Echo, which is basically Arthur singing and playing the cello. While an alternate, more dance version of the song with the slightly different title "Schoollbell/Treehouse", was released under the alias Indian Ocean, which was produced by both Arthur and Peter Zummo, who is also known for his work with Arthur on many occassions through his musical lifetime. This version was also released in 1986 by Sleeping Bag Records. Both versions have there own unique qualities and really help show the diverse sounds that Arthur experimented with musically.

Lola - Wax The Van
Arthur Russell - Treehouse
Indian Ocean - Schoollbell/Treehouse (Walter Gibbons Mix)