Between A Rock And A Hard Place - The Construction Of A Cutting Crew

The pop-rock quartet, the Cutting Crew, were yet another of those 80s bands with a seemingly American sound and image, like The Outfield, When In Rome, Wang Chung and Breathe (see previous posts), who didn’t actually hail from the U.S. They were in fact British, well three quarters of them at any rate. At the time they were in the charts, I was under the impression that they were Canadian, but then again I thought Mr. Mister (see previous post) were Canadian, and they were American. It just illustrates that my geographical intuition, when it comes to rock bands, is a wee bit askew on occasion. But it’s all great music, so what does it matter where any artist hails from.

Cutting Crew comprised Nick Van Eede (vocals/guitar), Colin Farley (bass), Martin ‘Frosty’ Beedle (drums), all from Britain, and guitarist Kevin Scott MacMichael, who did actually hail from Canada - so I was one quarter correct. They took their name from a phrase that singer Nick Van Eede had scribbled down in his trusty notepad. He was reading the British music rag ‘Sounds’ one day, and spied an article about rock giants Queen. The article was about Queen entering the studio to lay down tracks for their new album. The report used the phrase “cutting crew” to describe them, as in a “recording band”. The phrase “cutting crew” caught Van Eede’s eye and he made a note of it for future reference. Van Eede’s notepad would come in handy again a few years later.

Singer Nick Van Eede turned professional at just 18, and soon found himself touring as an opening act with the likes of Leo Sayer, Slade, David Essex, and Hot Chocolate (see future post), with naught but guitar and kazoo in hand. For a time he was managed by ex-Animal Chas Chandler (he has that in common with Jimi Hendrix). Van Eede soon formed his own band called the Drivers (who released one album in 1983 titled ‘Short Cuts’). The Drivers followed the touring road to Canada, and a local Canadian band called Fast Forward opened for them in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Van Eede was impressed with Fast Forward, but more particularly with their lead guitarist Kevin MacMichael. MacMichael had been committed to music since his childhood, and formed his first band the Martian Minstrels, when he was but 12 years old. MacMichael was one of countless thousands who had felt their life changed by witnessing The Beatles’ performance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ on February 7, 1964. He had discovered his true calling and set forth on his quest for pop stardom. That path soon had him playing guitar, not just in his own band, but in Van Eede’s band the Drivers. Van Eede later remarked that he felt an immediate musical chemistry with MacMichael, and a symbiosis that could allow his songs to reach their full potential. There was a slight problem initially though, they lived on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Van Eede had returned home to England, but maintained regular contact with MacMichael, urging the guitarist to shift to the U.K. In the end, Van Eede made the leap across the big pond, and returned to work and live in Toronto. The work was scarce, and Van Eede had to make do with dossing down on friend’s couches, for the most part of 18 months. Meanwhile, MacMichael couldn’t bring himself to press the stop button on his duties with his band Fast Forward. Now, had MacMichael belonged to Van Eede’s old band called the Drivers, the following turn of events may not have happened. Just two days after Van Eede had indicated to MacMichael by phone that he was going to pack up and go home, MacMichael’s band Fast Forward were driving between gigs in their tour van, when the van ran off a mountain road, and rolled several times before coming to a halt. As fate would have it, MacMichael was the only member of the band to escape any major injuries - it must have been a sign to move on, so he finally took Van Eede up on his offer.

Van Eede and MacMichael set up a new base of operations in London, and gave themselves a time limit of one year to snag a recording contract. Hang on a minute. Singer…..guitarist….hmmmm…..there’s something missing here. Bass player Colin Farley had worked extensively as a session musician, and was working in Spain (and living in a castle to boot) where he met up with Van Eede and MacMichael, who were on a working holiday. Drummer Martin ‘Frosty’ Beedle had been playing around the traps since he was 17, when he landed a gig with a cabaret band on board the QE2. He played back up with a number of artists over the years, included Denis Waterman, the Three Degrees and John Parr. When bassist Colin Farley discovered Beedle playing in a pub in Lewisham, he knew the group had found their drummer. So, with the final piece of the puzzle now in place, Van Eede consulted his trusty note pad and declared that Cutting Crew shall be there name. The quartet then set about getting a record deal. (It should be noted that keyboardist Tony Moore supplemented the line-up for live shows during this period).

All the members of Cutting Crew had done the hard touring yards with other bands, and felt they had paid their collective dues. Time for a more direct approach. Cutting Crew organised to stage a showcase of their best material at a London recording studio, with invites issued to representatives from several prominent record labels. The band had built up a solid live rep, and so it was no surprise that all the reps were on hand for the showcase. Cutting Crew blew them away, and were signed up to Siren Records, a subsidiary label of Virgin Records. It was late 1985, and Cutting Crew were cleared to take their dream to the next phase - recording an album.

Joe Tex Fights Obesity On The Dance Floor

In these politically correct times, it’s unlikely that a song titled ‘Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)’ could avoid attracting a bit of flack from the plus size community, and health professionals, and ‘concerned’ journalists and politicians - actually no cancel that, given most of what makes the charts these days, the song wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. I don’t recall if there was any ‘fallout’ during the song’s original run on the charts in 1977, but I do recall the song itself being one of the biggest disco anthems of the era, and propelling the name of Joe Tex back where it belonged, to the toppermost of the poppermost of the music charts. In addition to being a classy funk-disco tune, it was a bit of good old fashioned, tongue in cheek, comic fun on record.

Joe Tex was born Joseph Arrington Jr., in Rogers, Texas, and more than likely assumed the name ‘Tex’ in reference to his home state. Like many of his generation, Tex grew up listening to, and performing, gospel music. He sang with a variety of gospel and R&B groups in his teens, and scored his first big break after he won a talent contest at the Apollo Theatre in 1954, which led to high profile club bookings. While he was performing at the Celebrity Club on Long Island, Tex was noticed by a talent scout from the King Records label, and recorded there from 1955 to 1957, but without any impact. Keen to shuffle to another label, Tex then switched to Ace Records for a couple of years, though still commercial success eluded him. Having tried his hand (and voice) at everything from traditional blues, to rock ’n roll, to gospel, to soul, Tex had taken on a reputation as being quite the music journeyman. All the while Joe Tex continued to write music and perform regularly, and in 1961 he scored his first big break as a songwriter, when James Brown recorded a hit version (US#49) of the Tex penned song ‘Baby You’re Right’.

Joe Tex the recording artist, then signed to work with Nashville based producer/songwriter Buddy Killen, at Killen’s Dial label. The pair then set about finding a formula that would enable Tex to finally crack the charts. Tex had always had a liking for country music, in particular the story telling aspect to it. Tex and Killen took the basic concept of story telling, and revamped it to incorporate a preacher’s sermon style vocal to the mix. Joe Tex began writing mini-sermons, with a folksy slant, mostly drawn from his own day to day experiences and observations. They recorded at a facility that would later become known as the famous Muscle Shoals studio, and Tex would often scream himself hoarse prior to recording a take, in order to give his voice a raspy, rough quality that would sound more emotionally resonant. This emotive, preacher style, story telling vocal delivery, later prompted many to credit Joe Tex with the title of the ‘world’s first rapper’. In late 1964 Tex made his debut on the U.S. Hot 100 for the first of what would amount to 28 occasions. The soulful ballad ‘Hold What You’ve Got’ reached #5 on the American charts in early ‘65, and Tex had finally broken through. The soul/R&B hits continued to flow over the next few years, including ‘I Want To (Do Everything For You)’ (US#1-R&B), ‘The Love You Save’ (US#10-R&B), and in 1967 Joe Tex gave a hint as to his cheeky sense of humour, with the US#10 pop hit ‘Skinny Legs And All’, which musically is a not so distant ancestor of modern day hip-hop.

In 1968 Joe Tex participated in arguably the world’s first ‘soul supergroup’ The Soul Clan, with Solomon Burke, Arthur Conley, Don Covay and Ben E. King. They scored a US#91 hit with ‘Soul Meeting. In early 1972, Joe Tex scored the biggest hit of his career with the hyper-energetic, funk classic ‘I Gotcha’ (US#2). Tex’s frantic, hoarse vocal style helped to make ‘I Gotcha’ so memorable, and possibly explains in part why Australia’s hoarsest set of vocal chords, Jimmy Barnes, covered the song twenty years later. ‘I Gotcha’ was the title track from Tex’s final album (US#17) on Killen’s Dial label, though Tex and Killen would later work together again as producer/artist. Soon after Tex made a high profile conversion to the Muslim faith in July ‘72, and changed his non-professional name to Joseph Hazziez. He turned his back on music for a time, and focussed his time and energy on touring as a spiritual lecturer. But eventually the lure of music, or the need to pay some bills, proved too much, and Joe Tex the musician resurfaced with a handful of singles on the Mercury label (none of which charted).

Tex jumped over to Epic, and continued to record through the mid 70s, though the hits had appeared to dry up. In 1977 Tex turned to the comedy record concept for one more crack at the big time. With producer Buddy Killen, Tex recorded the funk-disco comedy classic ‘Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)’. The song hit the U.S. and U.K. charts in April ‘77 (and Australia shortly after), and went on bump and grind its way to #12 in the U.S., #2 in Britain and #2 in Australia, becoming one of the biggest radio and dance floor hits of the year. It was lifted from the album ‘Bumps & Bruises’ (OZ#64/US#108), “she done broke my hip!” after all.

Over the next few years Joe Tex largely withdrew from the dance floor, and the music scene, and focussed on his work as a Muslim minister, as well as spending time on his farm. Tex was reputedly a devoted fan of the Houston Oilers American football team. One of his last recordings was a tribute to Oilers’ running back Earl Campbell, titled ‘Do The Earl Campbell’ (possibly inspiration for ‘Do The Bartman’ - or possibly not). He also tried his hand at screen writing for television.

Joe Tex reunited with his former Soul Clan buddies in 1981. The reunion line-up featured Tex, Wilson Pickett, Don Covay, Solomon Burke and Ben E. King. Sadly, not long after the reunion tour concluded, Joe Tex died of a heart attack, aged 49. Among the pallbearers at his funeral were Buddy Killen, Pickett, Covay, King, and Percy Mayfield. Joe Tex was more than a music journeyman, he was in many ways an innovator, and pioneer across a range of musical styles.

Starland Vocal Band Deliver A Cheeky Euphemism

Firstly, I’ll preface this post by putting my hands up and admitting I’m not a huge fan of the song ‘Afternoon Delight’ by Starland Vocal Band. I don’t dislike, but I suppose you could say I’m indifferent to its apparent charms. But I do recall the song being played relentlessly on commercial radio back in the mid 70s, and the song, as well as the group behind it, have an interesting story, which is worth taking a closer look at.

The Starland Vocal Band were a quartet, based out of Washington D.C., and comprising two couples, Bill and Kathy ‘Taffy’ Danoff, and Jon Carroll with (future wife) Margot Chapman. The group were presented as a clean cut, all-American line-up, with good old fashioned clean cut, respectable pop music (well almost).

During the late 60s, struggling folk singer Bill Danoff was working nights as the light and sound man at the Cellar Door Club in Washington D.C. It was there that he met singer John Denver, who was nearing the end of his tenure fronting the Chad Mitchell Trio. Denver and Danoff struck up a friendship, and before long Denver recorded the Danoff penned ‘I Guess I’d Rather Be In Colorado’. They continued to write together over the next few years, and eventually came up with the folk-country classic ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’. Denver took the song to #2 on the U.S. Hot 100 during 1971, and his version featured backing vocals from Bill Danoff, and Danoff’s wife Taffy. The Danoff’s had been performing together on the folk circuit, originally fronting a quintet called Fat City (who recorded a couple of albums ‘Reincarnation’-1969, and ‘Welcome To Fat City’-1971) . Fat City lost some weight and the newer, slimmer version featured just the Danoffs. The couple became known as ‘Bill and Taffy’, on record as well as to their friends, and they recorded two albums for RCA in the first half of the 70s, titled ‘Pass It On’ and ‘Aces’ (1974). The albums flopped, and it prompted Bill Danoff to rethink their approach to music.

One of the options Danoff considered was to expand the vocal sound to more of a group dynamic. Both he and Taffy had worked with singer/pianist Jon Carroll, who had contributed to their ‘Aces’ LP, and singer Margot Chapman, who had featured in one of several incarnations of Fat City. He felt the vocal mix, particularly the harmonising, might just work with a quartet of singers. They decided on the name Starland Vocal Band, and set about refining their harmonies to a pitch perfect mix. Danoff already had a swag of songs in his musical kitbag, and his friendship with Denver was about to open a door for the fledgling vocal quartet. Denver had just established his own recording label, called Windsong, no doubt built in part on the enormous sales for ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’. Denver didn’t hesitate to make his old friend, and co-writer, Bill Danoff and the Starland Vocal Band, the first artist signed to a recording contract with Windsong.

The quartet set about recording their debut album in late 1975, interrupted only by the fact that Taffy Danoff took a bit of time off to have a child. The album was recorded and mixed by early ‘76, and the lead out single ‘Afternoon Delight’ was released soon after. The song debuted on the U.S. charts in May ‘76, and like a skyrocket in flight, soared to #1 just nine weeks later. It spent two weeks atop the U.S. charts during July ‘76, and the song’s angelic harmonies weaved their magic elsewhere, sending ‘Afternoon Delight’ zooming to #6 in Australia and #18 in Britain.

Songwriter Bill Danoff later explained to Rolling Stone the meaning behind the title ‘Afternoon Delight’, Apparently he penned the song after having lunch at a restaurant called Clyde’s in Washington, D.C. The menu item he’d ordered was called ‘Afternoon Delight’, which contained spiced shrimp and hot Brie with almonds. Well it was intimated that the lunch assisted in improving one’s libido, hence ‘Afternoon Delight’. Danoff later said that he just wanted to write something that hinted at the idea of sex, without being explicit in its lyrics. The subject matter became clearer over time, if not by interpreting the lyrics directly, then certainly through word of mouth. But that didn’t have any impact on the song gaining access all areas status for radio and television play, in fact the subtle sexual innuendo was even too subtle for the BBC to ban it.

‘Afternoon Delight’ helped the Starland Vocal Band win two 1976 Grammy Awards for ‘Best New Artist’ and ‘Best Vocal Arrangement’, and pushed sales of their eponymous debut album to #20 on the U.S. charts, but the album yielded just two more minor hits in ‘California Day’ (US#66) and ‘Hail! Hail! Rock And Roll!’ (US#71). The sunny and playful disposition of ‘Afternoon Delight’ wasn’t really indicative of the remainder of the album, which featured a selection of pleasant little folk-rock numbers, with crystalline vocal harmonies a feature. Such was the popularity though of the song ‘Afternoon Delight’, that the Starland Vocal Band scored their own (short lived) TV music-variety show on CBS, called funnily enough, ‘The Starland Vocal Band Show’, and featuring an up and coming comedian called David Letterman.

Starland Vocal Band returned to the studio in 1977 to record their sophomore album ‘Rear View Mirror’ (US#104), but it was a huge disa- ppointment, both in terms of sales and the fact that it didn’t spawn any charting singles. Over the next two years Starland Vocal Band released two more albums, ‘Late Night Radio’ (1978) and ‘4X4’ (1979), but neither broke into the U.S. album charts. The last chart entry for Starland Vocal Band came via a minor hit single in early 1980 titled ‘Loving You With My Eyes’ (US#71). In the wash up of poor album sales, and flagging concert attendances, Starland Vocal Band’s skyrocket fizzled out, and the group split in 1981. The two couples within the group experienced a bit of ABBA syndrome soon after, the Danoff’s divorcing shortly after Starland Vocal Band broke up, and Carroll and Chapman later split as well. All four members of Starland Vocal Band went on to try their hand at solo careers, but none achieved anything like the success Starland Vocal Band had enjoyed during 1976/7. Over the last couple of decades Starland Vocal Band have reunited on a handful of occasions, most recently in 2007, when they performed ‘Afternoon Delight’ on a 70s nostalgia special on a local New Jersey broadcast. The song ‘Afternoon Delight’ has taken on a life of its own in popular culture, regularly cropping up in TV and films, usually in a comical context.

Promises Left Unfulfilled

Almost thirty years after the song was a smash hit here in Australia, ‘Baby It’s You’ sounds as fresh and vibrant to me as it did when I first heard it as a ten year old. One of the great mysteries of popular music, for me, remains the fact that the song didn’t find a market in either the U.S. or Britain at that time, and why the group responsible for it, Promises, didn’t experience greater and more prolonged success on the charts.

Promises comprised three Canadian born siblings, Leslie Knauer (vocals), Jed Knauer (guitar/piano) and Benjamin Knauer (keyboards/ vocals). Their father Peter was originally from Hamburg, Germany, and after settling in Canada for some years, moved his children to Thousand Oaks, California in the late 60s. Peter Knauer was also musically inclined, and when his three kids decided to form the band Promises in 1978, he became their manager, and occasional keyboardist.

The trio scored a recording contract through the subsidiary EMI Electrola label, and recorded their eponymous debut album during the second half of 1978, with producer Steve Verroca. The lead out single was the sublime pop-rock power ballad ‘Baby It’s You’ (written by Benjamin and Leslie), but neither single nor album could crack the U.S. market. Possibly because of father Peter Knauer’s German heritage, the Knauer trio Promises did strike it big in Germany (and other European markets), where ‘Baby It’s You’ peaked at #4, and ‘Promises’ the album achieved gold certification, for selling over 250,000 units.

Around the same time as the group were having success in Germany, a local TV variety program in Australia called ‘Hey, Hey It’s Saturday’ started playing the promotional video for ‘Baby It’s You’ regularly on Saturday mornings (the show later switched to an evening time slot). I was living in Tasmania at the time, so didn’t have access to ‘Hey, Hey It’s Saturday’s weekly goofball antics, but if they were true to form the clip possibly got a good run of regular airtime because of the fact that Leslie Knauer was a rather attractive young lady, and this was evident in the video clip for ‘Baby It’s You’. Regardless of whether it was a superficial reason to begin with, viewers loved the song, and the vocals of both Leslie and Benjamin were breathtaking. When Leslie Knauer delivered the searing chorus for ‘Baby It’s You’ it was enough, and still is, to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Few power ballads have managed to pack such a mighty punch in their chorus. Before long ‘Baby It’s You’ had made it to radio play lists across Australia, and of course, onto ‘Countdown’. EMI Australia must have had a hard time keeping up with the demand, given they probably thought the song wouldn’t have legs after it had flopped in the U.S. and Britain. ‘Baby It’s You’ hit the Australian charts in March of ‘79 and rocketed to #2, only denied top spot by ‘Lay Your Love On Me’ by Racey (see future post).

Just as ‘Baby It’s You’ was beginning to descend during its 24 week run on the Australian charts, the follow up single ‘Let’s Get Back Together’ debuted in July ‘79. It lacked the grunt of its predecessor, but was still a decent enough pop song, and eventually climbed to #27 nationally (#18 Germany). Meanwhile, ‘Promises’ the album achieved gold status in Australia, and reached as high as #6 mid year. Such was the impact Promises had in Australia during 1979, that when the new season of ‘Countdown’ began for 1980, a photo of Promises appeared in the montage of images for the opening credits. As an aside, the popular Australia comedy TV show ‘The Late Show’ (which ran in the early 90s), used to have a segment called ‘Countdown Classics’ hosted by Tom Gleisner and Jane Kennedy. They featured the clip for ‘Baby It’s You’ on one such segment, and it was clear that while Jane was happy to move on with the rest of the segment, Tommy G. was happy to keep watching the clip, such was the hypnotic effect of Ms. Knauer.

Following a low key second album titled ‘Reel To Reel’, which featured the single ‘Ooh, Baby I Like It’, it appears that Promises broke up, but I’ve no idea why - possibly due to the lack of inroads into the U.S. market. Vocalist Leslie Knauer (later Knauer-Wasser) initially worked as a solo artist, before joining the group Precious Metal (1983-1992), with whom she recorded four albums. After a period of song writing, during which she recorded two songs to the 2001 Dennis Hopper film ‘Choke’, Leslie joined the group Kanary in 2004, in which she has also taken on lead guitar duties. Kanary have recorded several albums, the latest being ‘Only Dead Fish Go With The Current’. While there is a certain amount of information out there on Leslie Knauer’s post Promises career, I’ve not been able to uncover any information on what her brothers got up to after the group called it a day.

According to Kanary’s website there are plans for Leslie Knauer to re-record ‘Baby It’s You’ with the band, and there’s a petition for her and the band to tour Australia. Here’s hoping she can still belt out the chorus like she did thirty years ago - that would be a privilege to hear. Hopefully the rest of Kanary’s set would be good enough to encourage the audience to stay beyond ‘Baby It’s You’.

The Age Of The Funky Western Civilisation

Back in the early 90s I began the task in earnest of tracking down on CD as much of the music I grew up listening to and loving, as was available. One of the earliest compilation series that I laid my hands on was released on the Rhino label (they’ve released some absolute gems over the years). The series ‘New Wave Hits of the 80s’ focussed on those hits (and non hits) collectively bracketed within the ‘new wave’ genre of music, from the late 70s to mid 80s. I picked up several volumes, mainly on the basis of tracks I knew but didn’t have on CD at that time, but along the way I scored some hidden treasures - songs that I hadn’t heard, or even heard of before - but which I knew from the moment I played them, would become instant favourites. On Volume 2 of the ‘New Wave Hits’ series I came across a brilliant track called ‘The Funky Western Civilisation’ by an artist called Tonio K. Nowhere could I find where it had made the charts, but that mattered not, it was a slice of pop rock heaven. I’m afraid to say that it remains the only Tonio K. song in my collection, but what a song it is. Now, aside from a brief paragraph in the liner notes for ‘New Wave Hits’, I didn’t know anything of Tonio K. the musician, or songwriter - so it’s time to do some investigating to learn more of the genius behind a serving of musical excellence.

Tonio K. was the nom de plume of singer/songwriter Steve Krikorian, who hailed originally from Palm Desert, California. He was raised near Fresno, and formed his first band whilst in high school, called the Raik’s Progress. The surf-funk/psychedelic-punk fusion band released a single on Liberty Records in 1966, and opened for a number of high profile acts including Buffalo Springfield. In 2003 a full length album of their material, titled ‘Sewer Rat Love Chant’, was finally released on Sundazed Records. In the early 70s Krikorian joined the latter day line-up of The Crickets (Buddy Holly’s old backing band), playing at that time with original members J.I. Allison and Sonny Curtis, along with Ric Gretch (ex-Traffic, Blind Faith), Albert Lee (Heads, Eric Clapton), and Raik’s Progress band mate Nick van Maarth. Krikorian played on two Crickets’ albums, ‘Remnants’ (1973) and ‘A Long Way From Lubbock’ (1974).

Following the disbandment of The Crickets, Krikorian turned his focus to song writing and a potential solo career. Reflecting his literary approach to things, Krikorian took on the professional pseudonym of Tonio K., taken from the character name Tonio Kroger, the protagonist in Thomas Mann’s short story, and also in reference to the writing’s of Kafka. He soon came to the attention of Eagles’ manager Irving Azoff, who hailed Tonio K. as a “brilliant lyricist”, and given his oft sardonic, self-consciously literate lyrics, hailed him as a new age Bob Dylan - no small accolade. Tonio K. was signed to the Full Moon label, a subsidiary of Epic, and given licence to record his debut album.

His 1978 debut album, ‘Life In The Foodchain’, was a smash hit with critics, winning acclaim for its scathing wit, and finely crafted songs. Though it attracted little in the way of wider public interest, ‘Life In The Foodchain’ showcased America’s answer to the likes of Elvis Costello and The Clash - ie. an angry young man, but with a dry acerbic wit. The album featured an impressive cast of support players, including Dick Dale, Earl Slick, Garth Hudson, and Albert Lee. Musically, it was a pop-rock tour de force, illustrated by ‘The Funky Western Civilisation’, which was a sinister rocker, featuring high velocity, guitar driven rock, backed by a thumping, pulsating beat. It should have been a major chart hit, but alas wasn’t. Thematically, Tonio K. positioned himself as a leftist moralist, launching searing tirades against the moral and ethical state of society, and the modern day family unit.

Tonio K. sooned gained a reputation on the Los Angeles music scene as a more daring, mysterious version of Warren Zevon, possibly fuelled in part by the fact he was rarely seen without his trademark dark shades. In 1979 Tonio K. signed with the Arista label for his sophomore album ‘Amerika’ (1980). Once again commercial returns eluded Tonio K., but generally speaking critical praise continued, and his live act was a major drawcard on the L.A. club scene during this period. In a playful bit of media manipulation, Tonio K. described himself in the accompanying press bio for the album as an “American Negro musician, born in New Orleans in 1900”. Those who knew Tonio K. would have dismissed it as his eccentric humour, and those who didn’t probably just scratched their heads in bewilderment. Once again the political and literary references saturated Tonio K.’s lyrics, prompting one reviewer to describe his music as “punk for academics”. For some critics though, his intellectualist approach went too far, and was seen as arrogant, conceited, even belligerent. Tonio K. later claimed to Rolling Stone Encyclopedia that he was really only joking with a lot of his high brow quips - in fact in the liner notes to ‘Amerika’, he admitted he didn’t know what some of the foreign language words meant, but he could go and look them up. The singer/songwriter was reportedly distraught by the lack of commercial returns, and the criticism he encountered, and was reported as saying that he “committed suicide for the first time”, figuratively obviously, but still a disturbing reflection of Tonio K.’s nihilist approach to some issues in his songs, often lamenting over the hopelessness of the human condition.

After an album of newly recorded material, titled ‘Too Cool To Be Christian’, was shelved, and Tonio K. converted to Christianity, he regained his forward momentum musically, and moved over to the Capitol Records label for his 1982 EP ‘La Bomba’. The title track was a lyrical reworking of the old Ritchie Valens’ hit ‘La Bamba’, re-jigged to be an anti-nuclear song, though still with Spanish lyrics. It apparently retained some of the sharp wit of earlier efforts, but was a little ‘lighter’. Tonio K. maintained a low profile for the next few years, but resurfaced in 1986 with the album ‘Romeo Unchained’ (on A&M), which signalled a substantial sea change in his sound and style, reflecting a more mellow artist. It was seen by critics as being the least representative of the Tonio K. style, and featured a stack of relatively tame songs about relationships, but nevertheless as a stand alone album, it received some positive reviews (though sales were still scarce).

Tonio K.’s last released album of new material in the 80s was 1988’s ‘Notes From The Lost Civilization’. The album yielded the only single from Tonio K. to chart here in Australia, with ‘Without Love’ (OZ#91), which became the first music video from Tonio K. to receive airplay on the MTV Network. On the whole the album was a more bare bones affair, with sparse instrumentation and simple arrangements, that Tonio K. described as “urban surf music”. Tonio K. further shifted from the cold and intellectual, to the warm and emotional side of the lyrical spectrum. There was again an impressive playing roster assembled, including Booker T. Jones, David Miner, Jack Sherman, and Charlie Sexton (who Tonio K. had already collaborated with). A follow up album ‘Ole’ was recorded across 1989/90 but due to a restructuring at A&M (IE. cost cutting), the album was shelved. It eventually saw a release in 1997 via the independent Gadfly Records label. Many of the same support cast was on hand from ‘Notes From A Lost Civilization’, with a similar style of intelligent roots rock in place musically. During the 90s and beyond, Tonio K. fans have had to make do with a number of compilations of previously unreleased material, like 1998’s ‘Rodent Weekend ‘76-’96 (Approximately)’ and 2001’s ‘Tonio K. and 16 Tons of Monkeys Live’.

Tonio K. continued to record and perform sporadically during the 90s, but for the most part his focus shifted to writing and collaborating with other artists. He continued to work with close friend Charlie Sexton (see future post), co-writing many songs - Sexton’s 1986 hit ‘Impressed’ was written by Tonio K. In 1993 Tonio K. penned the US#3 hit ‘Love Is’, recorded by Vanessa Williams & Brian McKnight. Reflecting his diversity as an artist, Tonio K. has written lyrics for both Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols and the legendary Burt Bacharach. Over the last fifteen years or so Tonio K. has written with (and for) too many artists to list here, but included among them have been Bonnie Raitt, Brian Wilson, the Pointer Sisters, Patty Smyth and Al Green.

If I Had A Dollar For Every Time I've Thought This

1978/79 witnessed the peak of the disco craze. The charts were dominated by disco music, the clubs were dominated by disco music, radio and television was dominated by disco music, as yet undiscovered tribes in the heart of the Amazon were dominated by disco - and even the world of cinema was invaded by disco. Next to ‘Saturday Night Fever’, the most well known film of the era to highlight disco music was 1978’s ‘Thank God It’s Friday’. The film starred a young Jeff Goldblum and Debra Winger in the lead roles, but also featured a stack of cameo appearances from music artists, including the ‘Queen of Disco’ Donna Summer, Paul Jabara and a young actress, and aspiring singer/actress by the name of Terri Nunn (see previous Berlin post). Adding to the fun were The Commodores and music from Santa Esmerelda (see future post), Thelma Houston, and Cameo (see previous post). I can recall seeing the film again a few months back on a local Showtime Greats channel. If you discount the story and dialogue elements, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable romp through a string of very palatable dance numbers assembled around, an admittedly, flimsy plot.

One of the highlights from ‘Thank God It’s Friday’, in terms of music, was the title track, performed by the studio based disco group Love & Kisses. The vocal group was the brainchild of Egyptian born producer Alec R. Costandinos, and comprised singers Don Daniels, Elaine Hill, Dianne Brooks and Jean Graham at the core of its line-up. Costandinos himself came from a background as a producer of note for French pop artists, such as Dalida and Claude Francoise. Costandinos first came to international prominence as co-writer of the 1977 Euro-disco hit ‘Love in Minor C’, credited to Cerrone. Costandinos was then signed up to French label Barclay and given licence to form his own studio based recording project. He relocated to London’s Trident Studios and assembled a team of talented singers, calling the project Love & Kisses. The famed Casablanca label came on board to distribute Love & Kisses Stateside.

Love & Kisses’ debut album was recorded and released during the first half of 1977. In today’s terms it would probably be regarded as an EP because the entire album comprised just two songs, although they were marathon in length. Costandinos was already clearly positioning Love & Kisses as a club act, with little regard to gaining support from top 40 radio. In fact the length of Love & Kisses’ first single ‘I’ve Found You (Now That I’ve Found You), clocking in at a meagre 16 minutes, pretty much guaranteed preclusion from commercial radio play lists. However, the single was played to death on dance floors across Europe and the U.S., and went on to reach #1 on Billboard’s Club Play Singles chart. The song was disco excess to its absolute zenith, in both production and style - it was everything disco’s detractors hated about disco, but conversely it represented all that disco’s devotees loved about it. The other side of the album featured ‘Accidental Lover’, which dragged out to 17 minutes, and was a bit funkier in nature. The album ‘Love & Kisses’ itself sold a respectable number of units to reach #135 on the U.S. album chart. Costandinos released another disco concept album on Casablanca during 1977, this time using the alias of Sphinx. The prolific writer/producer released another album under the moniker of ‘Sumeria’, titled ‘Golden Tears’, followed by the critically acclaimed soundtrack for ‘Romeo & Juliet’, released under his own name. Another highly regarded project under his guidance was ‘Paris Connection’, a collection of reworked covers, including ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’ and ‘Eloise’.

Love & Kisses (well Costandinos) then scored the prized gig of recording the theme song from the aforementioned film ‘Thank God It’s Friday’. The song was released as a single, clocking in at just over three minutes in its briefest guise, and quickly became a radio favourite, in addition to being much loved by Club DJs. It was a very catchy number, with a great hook in the chorus, slick production and first rate vocals - including someone who delivers the “Thank God” line in a very Barry White/Isaac Hayes like manner. ‘Thank God It’s Friday’ climbed steadily on the U.S. charts to peak at #22, and likewise found an audience here in Australia (#56).

Soon after Love & Kisses released their second album ‘How Much, How Much I Love You’ (US#85), which possibly because of a label conflict due to its inclusion on the soundtrack, didn’t include ‘Thank God It’s Friday’. Instead the album featured just three tracks, again all marathon in duration. The album’s title track ran for 16 minutes, but apparently suffocated under the weight of its own lavish production. Regardless, ‘How Much, How Much I Love You’ racked up enough sales to peak at #5 on Billboard’s Club Play Singles chart. Costandinos erred by including a 14 minute disco dedication to the fairty tale ‘Beauty & The Beast’, which was arguably just over the top and corny. Possibly to balance out the campy nature of ‘Beauty & The Beast’, the other song included was a more middle of the road pop ballad called ‘Maybe’. Costandinos continued to write and record other work outside of the Love & Kisses project, including two soundtracks ‘Trocadero Bleu Citron’ (1978) and ‘Winds Of Change’ (1979).

For the group’s third album ‘You Must Be Love’ in 1979, Costandinos wound back on the lush orchestration and lavish production arrangements, in favour of some more straight forward and accessible dance-pop music - at least on side one. Side two returns to the long-winded excesses of earlier work, with another 16 minute disco opus for the title track. By 1979 Alec R. Costandinos had become a cottage industry all by himself, with more soundtrack work, his own orchestra, and vocal group (called Birds Of Paris). It appears as if Costandinos spread his creative energies and focus too thinly across all of these projects. His Synchophonic Orchestra project was regarded as ill conceived and out of character, compared to his other work. He was also involved in an ill fated album project with Tina Turner, called ‘Love Explosion’. As the 80s dawned it appeared Alec R. Constandinos had burnt his creative candle at both ends to the point of burning out. He parted ways with the now struggling Casablanca label, and as disco withered on the musical vine amongst the explosion of new music styles, the writer/producer bid a silent retreat from the limelight. A 1991 ‘Greatest Hits’ album brought his work briefly back into focus, but most his work of the 70s era remains obscure and hard to find. But like Giorgio Moroder and Biddu, he should be regarded as a producer of considerable note in terms of the disco phenomenon.

Pablo Cruise Find Buoyancy On The Charts

It’s true to say that for many years I was under the impression that the music artist Pablo Cruise was a man, not a band. But, as I discovered about ten years back, Pablo Cruise was indeed a band, with all the band like qualities associated with the term. Of course Pablo Cruise is not the only band in popular music history to feature a person’s name - think Jethro Tull (who were named after an actual person), or Danny Wilson (see earlier post), and not to mention Alice Cooper, who started life as the name of a band featuring singer Vincent Furnier, and ended up being the on-stage alter ego of Furnier himself. But I digest…oops sorry just had lunch…I mean digress.

Pablo Cruise were one of the more successful bands that exemplified the mellow, radio friendly, soft-rock sound offered up by a lot of U.S. West Coast bands in the mid to late 70s in particular. They churned out a string of well crafted albums and popular singles that became staples on the play lists of adult oriented rock FM radio. The San Francisco based band began life as a quartet in 1973. Dave Jenkins (vocals/guitar), Cory Lerios (keyboards/vocals) and Stephen Price (drums) were all ex of Stoneground, whilst Bud Cockrell (bass/vocals) had played with jazz-fusion band, It’s A Beautiful Day.

Pablo Cruise were signed up to A&M Records and released their eponymous debut album in 1975 (US#174). In addition to their smooth vocal harmonies, Pablo Cruise didn’t mind the odd instrumental track on their albums, and soon gained quite the reputation for their compositions and instrumental arrangements. The instrumental track ‘Ocean’s Breeze’ was the first Pablo Cruise track to gain significant airplay on commercial radio in the States. Their 1976 sophomore album ‘Life Line’ (US#139) offered up more of the same, and featured another FM radio favourite in ‘Zero To Sixty Five’. Despite not having scored any hit singles, Pablo Cruise had attracted a solid fan base, and managed to established a profile across the U.S. West Coast.

The breakthrough for Pablo Cruise came via their 1977 album ‘A Place In The Sun’ (US#19/ OZ#92). It was the archetypal 70s soft rock album, featuring a mix of jazz-rock, country-rock, instrumental trop-rock, with dashes of funk and R&B thrown in to the blend. The lead out single ‘Whatcha Gonna Do?’ sailed all the way to #6 in the U.S. for Pablo Cruise, giving new buoyancy to the band’s career. The two follow up singles ‘A Place In The Sun’ (US#42) and ‘Never Had A Love’ (US#87) further consolidated Pablo Cruise’s new found stature. The album also coincided with the replacement of Bud Cockrell on base with Bruce Day, formerly of Santana.

Pablo Cruise refined their smooth n’ cruising summer rock sound for their next album ‘Worlds Away’, released in the U.S. summer of ‘78. You can imagine thousands of people playing the album at summer pool/beach parties, or having it blaring through their car speakers as they cruised along the highway with the windows rolled down. ‘Love Will Find A Way’ evoked the feeling of summer better than most, and was soon sitting at #6 on the U.S. charts, soon after navigating its way to #8 in Australia. The album ‘Worlds Away’ scaled the charts to #6 Stateside and #7 in Australia (selling over a million copies worldwide within a year), and spawned the follow up hits ‘Don’t Want To Live Without It’ (US#21/OZ#76) and ‘I Go To Rio’ (US#46), which was a reworking of the 1977 Peter Allen hit.

The formula had worked on their previous two albums, so Pablo Cruise saw no reason to depart from the same smooth corporate-rock sound for their 1979 album ‘Part Of The Game’ (US#39/ OZ#53), aside from a misguided attempt to incorporate a bit of a disco edge on some of the tracks. However, there was only sufficient depth in quality for Pablo Cruise to score with one hit single in ‘I Want You Tonight’ (US#19/ OZ#43) in late ‘79.

1980 saw a couple of changes in the Pablo Cruise crew, with John Pierce replacing Day, and guitarist Angelo Rossi joining to expand the line-up to a five piece. The quintessential soft rock formula and slick production remained, but their 1981 album ‘Reflector’ (US#34/OZ#81) lacked the sharpness of their earlier work. The album did yield Pablo Cruise’s final voyages into the U.S. charts, with ‘Cool Love’ (US#13/OZ#91) and ‘Slip Away’ (US#75). Original drummer Steve Price then slipped away from the band’s line-up, replaced briefly by Donny Baldwin (ex-Elvin Bishop). Baldwin left to play with Jefferson Starship (there’s an Elvin Bishop connection - see earlier post), and he was replaced by David Perper. Guitarist Angelo Rossi left after only one album, with Stef Birnbaum taking his place.

Pablo Cruise released their final album for A&M in 1983, but ‘Out Of Our Hands’ became the first album by the group to miss the U.S. charts completely. The new wave movement was at full tilt, and easy listening rock no longer guaranteed airplay or record sales, in fact generally it decreased the chances of both markedly (though there were exceptions). Pablo Cruise’s music still loomed large as a soundtrack accompaniment for sporting broadcasts in the U.S. - ABC’s ‘Wide World Of Sports’ and NBC’s ‘Sportsworld’ to name just two. Their songs also cropped up on numerous motion picture soundtracks throughout the 80s and 90s, including ‘An Unmarried Woman’, ‘Dreamer’, and the surfing documentary ‘Free Ride’.

By the end of ‘84 the group had largely dissolved, though ‘85 saw the original four members attempt a comeback. By 1986 it was clear a new recording deal wasn’t going to happen, so Pablo Cruise sank into the has been waters that had already claimed so many from the 70s. Guitarist/vocalist Dave Jenkins joined ex-C.C.R. member Stu Cook and two ex-Doobie Brothers, John McFee and Keith Knudsen, in the country-rock ‘supergroup’ Southern Pacific. Keyboardist Cory Lerios earned a crust working on movie and TV scores, including the 90s cult TV show (or tragic accident) ‘Baywatch’.

In 1996 enough time had passed to mount a comeback as a nostalgia act. Dave Jenkins and Bud Cockrell revived Pablo Cruise, with two new members Kincaid Miller (keyboards) and Kevin Wells (drums). Over the next 7 or 8 years the quartet played the nostalgia circuit and reminded people of just how polished their sound was. Lerios and Price joined for a one off performance at Price’s 2004 wedding, which resulted in Jenkins, Lerios and Price opting to make it a longterm arrangement. Cockrell was otherwise inclined, so George Gabriel was brought in on bass (he had worked with Lerios for several years). Pablo Cruise are still a regular touring act, particularly in California.

The fact that Pablo Cruise didn’t rack up a single entry inside the British singles charts, further illustrates that the whole U.S. adult oriented rock genre of the 70s/80 simply didn’t translate very well to the British music scene.

As to what Pablo Cruise actually means - according to the band’s official website the standard answer to that question has always been “Pablo represents an honest, real, down to earth individual; and Cruise depicts his fun loving and easy going attitude towards life’ - more or less correlates with the band’s approach to music.