COMMODORES - NATURAL HIGH (1978)

Admitted, I'm haven't been as active as before, but then again: posting a nice rip every now and then is better than nothing at all. It's still a surprise to me that so many mainstream bands from back in the days are still not available on CD. Many Commodores albums have been released on CD about twenty years ago, but nowadays these releases fetch good money while at the same time the market is flooded with crappy 'Best Of' pressings. Anyway, the regular visitors know that I've posted Commodores albums before and "Natural High" was still on my list. Of course this release is known for "Three Times A Lady", the worldwide number one hit written by Lionel Richie; a reason for some to dismiss the entire album as 'too soft'. But that is not all true. There's enough good funk on this masterpiece for us all to enjoy. Of course it is clear that the influence of Richie leads to more soulful material, but still he managed to deliver "I Like What You Do" together with Walter 'Clyde' Orange; a superb and joyfully funky track that kinda reminds me of "Brick House" and even "Dazz" by Brick a bit. And "I Like What You Do" was of course sampled by Jungle Brothers on their album "Done By The Forces Of Nature" in "Doin' Our Own Dang". Walter 'Clyde' Orange was also responsible for "Such A Woman", another fat track with high dancefloor potention. The three opening tracks "Fire Girl", "X-Rated Movie" and "Flying High" (once sampled by some Euro house act) are all good kick-offs for an altogether superb album that will still live up any summer garden party. Especially since band members William King, Darrell Jones, David Cochrane, Ronald LaPread and Thomas McClary were still able to keep the funk in Commodores. And last but not least, I suspect that a lot of us still have fond memories of "Three Times A Lady" no matter what. I was seven years old that summer and my mom couldn't get enough of it. Don't forget that this rip features the original length of the known tracks, so for those of you who have been listening to radio edits these passed decades can now enjoy a real Natural High again! Of course delivered at 320Kbps, so let's see those replies folks!

CERRONE - BRIGADE MONDAINE / VICE SQUAD SOUNDTRACK (1979)

Ah... Cerrone. The first time I heard of Cerrone was when I found the soundtrack that's featured here today. Back then it was all about the very last track on the b-side, called "Strip-Tease", a true electronic, late seventies cut with an arpeggiator style of hook that -apparently- had been sampled by a Dutch house formation, but up to this day I still can't tell you who that could have been. The reason I bought this soundtrack was because it made me think of badly produced French b-movies that I used to watch as a child when we only had one French channel on TV. But still I wanted to find more of Cerrone and so I did. Especially when it comes to disco, this man has delivered his share. Anyway, I have never seen Brigade Mondaine, or Vice Squad as it was titled for the international version (and some sources even claim that its third title was Marrakesh Cult). Whatever the quality of the movie connected to this soundtrack, the music is just great. First check out track 1 to 5. The first one, "Give Me Love" is straight up disco that will still rock the dancefloor (and which is available in a much longer version on "Cerrone 3 - Supernature"), then we continue with "Phonic", an opening credit type of track with heavy synthesizer use and some very audible splices and edits, track three "Chloe" seems to be an intermezzo track with a very funky 55 seconds at the very end. "Deauville", cut four, sounds kinda porny and might have been used for a sexy scene. Number five on the list is the funky "Experience". Then we move on to the first three tracks of the b-side, cut 6, 7 and 8, which form the "Générique" trilogy with a very experimental but nicely undercooled atmosphere and then we finalize the rip with track 9, "The Loft" (very loungy, a beautiful cut) and eventually track 10, the infamous "Strip-Tease": a superb, almost techno style synth track with live drums that will still amaze modern day house producers. So there you have it folks: a fab French soundtrack with an incredibly modern sound to it for 1979. I love it and as far as I can tell, it's still not available on CD. I bent over backwards to make this rip sound as good as possible and of course I'm delivering it for you all to enjoy thoroughly at 320Kbps! Let's see those replies!