SWINGING STEREO SENSATION

 

  '' Everything about the 70's was the 40's, if you think about it. 

    People just don't realise it, but that's where all those wide    

     shoulders and platforms came from '' 

Fashion designer / retailer Johnny Moke, quoted in The Look: Adventures In Rock & Pop Fashion 

by  Paul Gorman

         '' You have no idea what a phenomenon this swing thing was in Canvey  

Island with kids dressed in 40's gear ''

DJ Chris Hill quoted in The Soul Survivors Magazine #12 - May 2008

In 1971 HAUTE COUTURE designer YVES SAINT LAURENT presented a spring - summer collection inspired by 1940's WARTIME FASHION. It included short dresses, square shouldered jackets and platform shoes. The show was criticised in the press, but the essence of the look was largely adopted by the public and helped to kick off a RETRO TREND that would have a huge influence on THE LOOK OF THE ERA

The influence was mirrored in menswear. TOMMY NUTTER and JOHNNY MOKE were both inspired by the era and had already produced 40's styled tailored jackets with wide lapels and wide legged trousers with turnups, NUTTER working in the salubrious setting of Saville Row and MOKE at a more down-at-heel location in Fulham. The look of GLAM also acquired a retro and tailored appearance when DAVID BOWIE wore a 40's inspired ice-blue suit, designed by FREDDIE BURRETTI for the '' LIFE ON MARS? '' video in 1972 and was pictured in another suit with flared trousers, turn ups and a box jacket on the rear sleeve of his '' PIN UPS '' LP the following year. The later was supplied by TOMMY ROBERTS from his CITY LIGHTS boutique in Covent Garden. The shop stocked a range of  ' RETRO FUTURIST ' clothing for both sexes and was obviously popular with fans of Bowie as well as those of ROXY MUSIC who appeared in similarly styled stage wear designed by ANTONY PRICE

Tunes from the 40's SWING ERA were saw a revival in the U.S. Vocal group THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER included versions of GLEN MILLER's '' TUXEDO JUNCTION ' and THE INK SPOTS '' JAVA JIVE '' on their commercially successful LP for Atlantic records in 1975. The label was also home for BETTIE MIDLER who recorded covers of THE ANDREW SISTERS '' BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE BOY '' and GLEN MILLER's '' IN THE MOOD '' . MIDLER was discovered at Manhattan's CONTINENTAL BATHS, an all gay venue where R&B vocal group THE POINTER SISTERS also performed. The group had adopted a 40's style look before recording the LP ''THAT'S A PLENTY'' in '74. On the LP they performed covers of COUNT BASIE's '' LITTLE PONY ''  and DIZZY GILLESPIE's '' SALT PEANUTS ''

                                          '' Unlike their older brothers and sisters who took pride in a pair 

                                          of dungarees, free-flowing unkempt hair and hang loose dances,

                                          todays young people value sleek clothes, fancy high heeled shoes

                                          and a more stylized, structured form of dancing ''

                                          William Safire '' On The Hustle '' New York Times 1975

The New York DISCOTHEQUE scene had grown in popularity by the mid 70's, with many dances being held in large ballrooms previously used during THE BIG BAND ERA. The soundtrack became increasingly sophisticated in order to match this newly opulent environment. One of the biggest DISCO HITS '75 was ' ' THE HUSTLE '', which VAN McCOY composed after seeing LATINO ADOLESCENTS doing partnered dances with choreographed moves at a club in the SOUTH BRONX. Another was '' GET DANCIN' '' by DISCO-TEX & THE SEX-O-LETTES, a camp number with a RETRO FEEL that harked back to the BURLESQUE ERA. ESTHER PHILLIPS dance driven cover of '' WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES '' and '' SKYLINER '' by DON SEBESKY { a reworking of CHARLIE BARNET's 1945 SWING CLASSIC } continued this nostalgic trend 

Back in the UK, DJ CHRIS HILL took things further when he began to regularly feature a selection of 40's SWING MUSIC during his night at THE GOLD MINE CLUB in CANVEY ISLAND. Hill was know for playing cutting edge SOUL, FUNK and DISCO, but the curveball worked and grew to be enormously popular. For a few months in 1975, the BRITISH MEDIA descended on the club to witness a new wave of SWING MANIA, with clubbers in 40's fashion dancing to ' THE HIT'S OF THE BLITZ '

HILL soon realised the SWING RECORDS distracted from his primary focus and returned to new releases, but the resulting publicity pushed up sales of vintage recordings and prompted the budget record label WARWICK to commission an LP of SWING CLASSICS. The talents of producer GORDON SMITH and arranger FREDDIE STAFF combined to produce what the sleeve notes described as ' the very best collection of swing music on one LP '. The traditional instruments were augmented with FUNK sounding ELECTRIC BASSLINES, OVERDRIVEN ELECTRIC GUITAR and DANCE FRIENDLY DRUMS that really cut through the mix and resulted in an interesting period piece. Like other WAWICK releases, the LP was advertised on TV in the UK and presumably shifted a few copies as it turns up in USED RECORD STORES and CHARITY SHOPS to this day

DENIM DISCO PRESENTS THE LP IN ENTIRETY - ALL ABOARD - THE SWINGING STEREO SENSATION!

 

CLICK HERE for the full SWINGING STEREO SENSATION playlist:

Swinging Stereo Sensation Playlist

CHECK OUT THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE EXCELLENT WIRED UP! FANZINE FOR AN INDEPTH LOOK AT THE GOLD MINE SWING MUSIC ERA

WIRED UP! FANZINE #27

HERE WE ARE IN TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE

 

'' INTERPLANERTARY TWIST '' by SCREEMER is a jaw dropping example of LATE PERIOD UK GLAM ROCK, produced by PHIL WAINMAN and co-written by him with the singer / songwriter RICHARD MYHILL. WAINMAN was a very successful producer during the 70's and worked with a host of big hitting UK acts including SWEET, MUD, BAY CITY ROLLERS, HELLO and THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND. The record was released on BELL RECORDS in the summer of '76 a few years after the GLAM WAVE had peaked. Label mates HELLO had a UK hit with '' STAR STUDDED SHAM '' earlier that year, but the Glam element had been turned down a notch and BELL had recently abbreviated The Glitter band's name to the G Band in a vain effort to distance them from their past and prevent their sliding popularity. Given that, the label seem to have had high hopes for the record and and sent out 50,000 promo packs containing a band photo, press release and FLEXI DISC with excerpts from the song and messages from the group in advance of it's release. The song begins with a spoken intro over the sound of an ATMOSPHERIC SWIRLING SYNTH. We're told it's the year 2025, then a '' BALLROOM BLITZ '' style drum roll kicks in and we learn that '' People in the Twenty First Century ain't never seen a Rock ' n ' Roller '' and the way to save humanity is to '' ALL JOIN HANDS AND DO THE INTERPLANERTARY TWIST ''. The song is a CAMP SCI-FI GLAM EXTRAVAGANZA that builds { and builds! } on the foundations of SWEET , MUD and THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW to great effect. The B-Side '' BILLY '' is an admirable band penned effort that uses a BO DIDDLEY BACKBEAT similar to BOWIE'S '' PANIC IN DETRIOT '' from ''ALLADIN SANE ''

The band was comprised of New Zealand born ZAINE GRIFF { Bass and Vocals }, ALAN COATES { guitar and vocals }, DAVID WELLS { guitar }, ROBERT NORMAN { keyboards } and ADRIAN SHEPPARD { drums }. They appear to have been formed the previous year and they played { bottom of the bill } at a FREE OUTDOOR CONCERT, held in HYDE PARK on MAY 31st and headlined by DONE MCLEAN, CARAVAN and JOAN ARMATRADING. LONDON GIG GOERS also remember them playing regularly at THE BRIDGE HOUSE in CANNING TOWN and THE THREE RABBITS in MANOR PARK around this time

             SCREEMER at THE HYDE PARK FREE CONCERT 

Notwithstanding the singles failure, their record label { Rebranded as ARISTA } issued a follow up in '77, again produced by PHIL WAINMAN, but this time, both songs were group compositions. '' IN THE CITY '' was penned by ZAINE GRIFF and the flip: '' JOEY CORRELLA '' was jointly written by WELLS and NORMAN. The former was a MELODIC GLAM POP number similar to STEVE HARLEY's post COCKNEY REBEL work and the latter a complex and well crafted song that sits somewhere between 10CC and QUEEN. The single seems to have fared no better than the first and no more was heard from the band. ZAINE GRIFF played on THE KINKS '' MISFITS '' LP the following year and went on to achieve a degree of success as a solo performer during the next decade

                                      COUNTDOWN TO THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE

2003 - RPM Records release '' VELVET TINMINE '' a compilation CD of super obscure UK Glam Rock 45's from the 70's. THE JUNSHOP GLAM craze kicks off. Records made by bands like IRON VIRGIN, CRUNCH and THE WASHINGTON FLYERS start to change hands for REAL MONEY and CASTLE MUSIC release a similar comp on CD titled '' GLITTER FROM THE LITTER BIN ''

2005 - RPM release '' BOOBS { THE JUNKSHOP GLAM DISCOTHEQUE } '' a JUNKSHOP GLAM compilation CD that includes SCREEMER's '' INTERPLANERTARY TWIST ''

2008 - PSYCHIC CIRCLE release '' BLITZING THE BALLROOM { 20 UK POWER GLAM INCENDIARIES } '' a JUNKSHOP GLAM compilation CD that includes SCREEMER's '' BILLY ''

2019 - '' INTERPLANERTARY TWIST '' is included on '' GLAM! GLAM! GLAM! a JUNKSHOP GLAM compilation, pressed on vinyl and { unofficially } released by GLITTER RECORDS

2023 - '' INTERPLANERTARY TWIST '' is included on '' TEENAGE GLANPAGE! '' a 4 CD JUNKSHOP GLAM Boxset issued by CHERRY RED

JOHN BAKER, a 70's Glam ROCK Fanatic from NEW ZEALAND is interviewed by WIRED UP! Fanzine. During the interview he mentions the existence of an acetate containing a previously uncreased SCREEMER song

A playlist appears on YouTube containing 11 songs by SCREEMER. The playlist is titled '' SINGLES COMPILATION '' The list is credited to CHERRY RED RECORDS. The first four tracks are the A's and B's of their two 45's and the remaining seven are previously unreleased and appear to have been produced by PHIL WAINMAN around that time

Screemer • Album

'' KAMIKAZE QUICK-STEP '' is the aforementioned track that JOHN BAKER heard on a demo disc and it's cut from the same cloth as '' INTERPLANERTARY TWIST ''. There isn't a composers credit, but again it sounds like the work of WAINMAN and MYHILL. The song contains a humorous and slightly convoluted lyric around DOING A DANCE OF DEATH with a BIONIC JAPANESE WOMAN. It's a dynamic number that makes use of the '' TIGER FEET '' drum beat, the break from '' LET THERE BE DRUMS '' and the horn riff from '' IN THE MOOD ''. It features a snappy BOOGIE PIANO, a slick double tracked QUEEN style harmony vocal and is arguably the only remaining song that could strictly be defined as a GLAM ROCK number

'' THE ESCAPE '' is a well crafted BEACH BOYS / 10CC style pop song with harmony vocals co-written by guitarist ALAN COATES

'' FOR MY LOVE '' is a mid tempo pop number that could have fitted into a WINGS album from the same period

'' MR SAX AND THE GIRL '' is a SOUL / DISCO number written by DOMINIC BUGATTI and FRANK MUSKER who penned hits for PAUL NICOLAS as well as numbers performed by the fictional group KIPPER in the movie '' CONFESSIONS OF A POP PERFORMER ''. This version features a female vocal similar to LULU, so maybe this presents the band in session mode rather than an actual group project? PAUL NICOLAS picked up the song and added his own version to the '' GRANDMA'S PARTY '' EP in '76

'' JOLLY ROGER AND THE EVER HOPEFUL SEAMAN '' is another WAINMAN / MYHILL penned song. It's laced with the sort of BLACK HUMOUR and INNUENDO that ALEX HARVEY and ANDY ARTHURS deployed. Imagine CAPTAIN HOOK crashing a performance of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and you're halfway there

The DARK HUMOUR continues with another WAINMAN / MYHILL song: '' JACQUES THE RIPOFF ''. Here we find NOEL COWARD style VAUDEVILLE going into a DEEPLY UNSETTLING place. The forerunner of SPINAL TAP's '' SAUCY JACK '' ?

The set concludes with '' IF YOU CAN'T BE MY LOVER BE MY FRIEND '' a straight COUNTRY TINGED BALLAD that's somewhat reminiscent of ALAN PRICE