world of today SUPERMAX

another find at austin's BACKSPIN RECORDS (i've only been there once) that was playing in-store.  i was vaguely familiar with the 1978 ephemeral disco benchmark, LOVEMACHINE, from the austro-german wunderkind, KURT HAUENSTEIN for his SUPERMAX project.

FLY WITH ME was released in 1979 on elektra at a time when the disco diaspora, fueled by the technological advancements in synthesizers and the stillwater pools of commercial disco (with the humble exception to the roller-rink jams), to name only two, was producing several enigmatic figures, namely MORODER in italy and DIDIER MAROUANI in france. worth including, for the sake of this post, in this cahiers du disco was the rhythm chique hauenstein, oft user of a moody monotone and an economic synth melody as components of a pre-prozac, laissez-faire disco.

most of this record is a concise example of hauenstein's EURODISCO vocabulary and marks the very small number of fingerprints he left on this genre before spending a little bit too much time under the sun in the caribbean, as several songs on this bricolage lp, sadly, foreshadow (imagine if nilsson took his 1971 coconut as a career-changing trajectory).  what really kills me on this track is the lead synth line, a slightly modulated, slightly filtered melody that comes at a time when synths were being incorporated into bands of many genre.

the late seventies were an interesting time for synths.  it had been about ten years since the momus-slaying, wendy carlos-slinging MOOG in the us and the BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP-party-favor, oblique strategist EMS VCS-3 in the uk hit the commercial market.  what began as boxy, analog, monophonic keyboardless voltage shapers were by the late seventies, polyphonic practitioners of boundless process control with guys like the YAMAHA CS-80 and the OBERHEIM OB-1.  the lead in WORLD OF TODAY i think is a MOOG and the synth in the chorus is the inimitable synth string sound of seventies, the 16-voice ARP SOLINA string ensemble.


supplemental materials:

PROPOSED SPACE-DISCO BUMPER STICKERS:

--keep your laws off my lindstrom--

--i'll wear a helmet when you listen to space-disco--

--moroder is my ambien--

detroit emeralds FEEL THE NEED

yet another find from Backspin Records. this little curio might not be the rarest record around (in fact it had one of DETROIT EMERALDS biggest hits of their career!) but it captures an interesting moment in their career and is one of the better examples of "a TOM MOULTON mix" disco record.

the aforementioned hit is "Feel the Need." here, in 1977, it's the paradigm of a Tom Moulton mix. what's salient though is that it was an even bigger hit for the DE's in 1973 when it went to #22 on the R&B charts. the rest of the album carries this mindset of classic motown-inspired R&B commingled with healthy does of extended disco mixes. so the first side ends with "feel the need," you flip the record and get down to the ballad-y disco groove of "wednesday" and then BAM!

"Love for You" opens with what is easily the most aggressive 2 seconds on the entire record. the guitar continues to set the tone throughout the song, coming across like Ravi Shankar jamming with the Isley Brothers. when the guitar sits out the grandiose disco production (sweeping strings, horn stabs, etc) elegantly shines. now, I dare you to sit back, listen and try to take in everything going on in this song. layer upon layer upon layer. still it comes across as a effortless little disco love song, and nowhere else on the record is ABRIM TILMON'S songwriting more palpable than on this cut. like a psychedelic motown disco jam that the TEMPTATIONS wish they could have done.

this record was the DETROIT EMERALDS rebound attempt after leaving the court in 1973. even though they scored a giant disco hit ("Feel the Need") their comeback was shortlived as their next album would be their swan song. even though the DETROIT EMERALDS enjoyed most of their success in the early 70's, this little foray into disco is a fleeting moment of brillance that should be preserved.