Keep the Disco Beat Alive

  Posted on  October 22, 2016   by  Mr. Groove Disco Lab #33 (Halloween Edition): The Manhattan Transfer – ‘Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone’ (1979) Sometimes disco was futuristic (robots controlled by the beat) and sometimes it looked to the past (New York high society steppin’ out to mingle). The retro vibe gave a boost to  The Manhattan Transfer , a swing-vocal combo formed in 1969 who found a surprise hit with the gospel number “Operator” in 1975. For a few years, the group’s retro ’20s-’30s sound struggled to have hit records in the US, though they broke through consistently in the UK. All this would change with the group’s fourth album  Extensions . One cut, the disco-inflected medley “ Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone ,” became a surprise hit for the group. It fused the trademark Transfer vocal sound with a spooky, mystical vibe.  Extensions  was released on Halloween, 1979, which meant that the diehard MT fans had a great supernatural dance party ja...

Barry from Sauquoit, Ny once said: On March 1st 1980, the Manhattan Transfer performed "Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'... One month later on April 13th it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #84; and on June 8th it peaked at #30 (for 2 weeks) and spent 12 weeks on the Top 100... It reached #25 on the United Kingdom's Singles chart... Jay Graydon produced the Extensions album and wrote this song with Alan Paul of The Manhattan Transfer. The song was inspired by the famous TV show. Says Graydon: "Channel 5 in L.A. would play Twilight Zones every night. I loved it when I was a kid, and watching the stuff, I was thinking, what would it be like to take the Twilight Zone theme and turn it into another song? There were three different intros to The Twilight Zone over the years. There was an original, and then they changed it twice. Well, it was right in the beginning of VHS video home recorders, so I recorde...

Tracklist A Santa Maria 4:15 B Easy-Breezy 3:20 Companies, etc. Record Company – Movieplay S.A. Licensed From – Solar (11) Marketed By – Movieplay S.A. Manufactured By – Iberofon, S.A. Produced For – Hungaroton Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Movieplay Printed By – Moviegraf Credits Written-By – I. Bradányi *, E. Hatvani *, Gy. Jakab *, L. Pásztor * Notes ℗ 1979 MOVIEPLAY. Made in Spain. Barcode and Other Identifiers Matrix / Runout (Side A, on runout, hand-etched): 02.1444·A·1N' Matrix / Runout (Side B, on runout, hand-etched): 02.1444·B·1N' Depósito Legal (On label): M.41516-1979 Depósito Legal (On back cover): M - 41516 - 1979 Rights Society: B.I.E.M. Other (PMS N.º): 6714-5854