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  

  Tracklist A1 Dancing Machine 4:34 Written-By – Dean Parks, Donald Fletcher & Hal Davis A2 We Made It 4:31 Written-By – Oliver Russell Stone & Thor Baldursson A3 Disco Bones 4:16 Written-By – Al DeLory, Cheryl Christensen & Jeff Kutash A4 Ease On Down 4:28 Written-By – Oliver Russell Stone & Thor Baldursson B1 Midnight Hour 5:00 Written-By – Steve Cropper & Wilson Pickett B2 Whack Attack 5:59 Written-By – Al DeLory, Cheryl Christensen & Jeff Kutash B3 Come On 4:58 Written-By – Günther Moll, Judy Jones & Michael Hoffman Credits Arranged By – Al DeLory* (tracks: A3, B2) Arranged By, Conductor – Thor Baldursson (tracks: A1, A2, A4, B1, B3) Backing Vocals – Carolyn Dennis, Gregory Wright, Judie Jones*, Julia Waters, Maxine Waters, Roger Kenerly-Saint*, Ron Green, Stephanie Spruill, Yolande Howard Bass – Les Hurdle Contractor – Trevor Veitch Drums – Ed Greene, Keith Forsey Engineer – Juergen Koppers* (tracks: A1, A2, A4, B1, B3), Shannon O'Neil (tracks: A3, ...

Written-By – Aldo Franck , Yves Dessca Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Barclay Printed By – Offset France Credits Photography By – Alain Marouani Notes Made in France Barcode and Other Identifiers Price Code: EA Rights Society: SACEM SACD SDRM SGDL  

The edited pop version of “I Love America” is much better than the extended version of that song.

The French Kiss group judging from the album back cover, Panic! (Polydor, 1979), consisted of Yvette Johnson, Lamarr Stevens and Muffi Durham, an actress whose credits seem to fall around 1980. Aside from Stevens, it is not certain who else sang, but their image and their names on the back cover are the closest thing to the music credits on the album. The rest of the music on the album is attributed, quite anonymously, to "The Simon Orchestra". However, the credits for "Disco Mix Consultants" are quite plentiful in contrast, and each track on the album is credited to a different mixer. Among the accredited 'mixed consultants', Gary Blair, featured on the first Arpeggio LP, is credited for mixing the title track, and Will Crocker, a much more prolific name who has participated in quite a few Disconet mixes, is credited the mix of "Mischief". overall production is credited to Simon Soussan. Without a doubt of all the tracks that appear on this album ...