SHANGHAI - HARLEM DANCER

                                        BROWN SUGAR had a sister who moved on up to HARLEM:

                             

                          '' It was a cold grey day in Harlem, the rain was pouring down 

                            As I shivered past the doorway, where the hookers and the priest stood around 

                            It was a hobo on the corner, he laughed and began to shout 

                            See the crazy chick right down the street man, she really givin' out ''

SHANGHAI were a mid 70's BRITISH BLUES ROCK BAND formed by veteran guitar hero MICK GREEN and drummer Peter Kircher. The band released a self titled LP on the WARNER BROS label in '74 featuring the vocals of CHUCK BEDFORD and a follow up on the UK independant THUNDERBIRD in '76. The lineup had changed for the second LP '' FALLEN HEROS '' . Bedford was replaced by former ' REBEL ROUSER ' CLIFF BENNETT and a second guitarist BRIAN ALTERMAN was added. The band promoted the album on THE OLD GREY WHILSTLE TEST and toured as support for STATUS QUO, but quickly Fragmented. GREEN reformed THE PIRATES { the group he is primarily associated with } and BENNETT sadly quit the music business completely

 

Neither of their LP's have been reissued in any form and copies of the original vinyl pressings are now coveted by fans and collectors. The non LP '' HARLEM DANCER '' was one of their more interesting tracks and stands up well today. A FUNKY BLUES ROCK number in the BAD COMPANY / STONES mould that sneaked out on the B-SIDE of '' CANDY EYES '' { a track from '' FALLEN HEROES '' } . It's a real mover and one that really defines the term DISCOTHEQUE ROCK!

MEAN MACHINE - RUNNING WITH THE RAT PACK

MEAN MACHINE appear to have been a studio project that included songwriter/vocalist ROGER COOK,bassist HERBIE FLOWERS and drummer BRIAN BENNETT.All three were well established in their respective fields when the 45 was released in early 1976.COOK had written a number of hits and was a member of BLUE MINK along with FLOWERS.BRIAN BENNETT {like FLOWERS} was in demand on both POP and 'LIBRARY' sessions and had also released a number of solo LP's.The TOP SIDE: ''RUNNING WITH THE RAT PACK'' is a medium tempo HARMONICA driven COUNTRY FUNK number that brings to mind AREA CODE 615 and TONY JOE WHITE



The tempo is turned up on the B-SIDE: ''BOOGIE TO THE DRUMMER'',a fantastic dance number that owes a little to ''THE RESURRECTION SHUFFLE'' by ASHTON GARDENER & DYKE,BENNETT leads the charge on this one,syncopated SNARE ROLLS,COWBELL and WHISTLES lay the base for a VOCAL CHANT and some propulsive BOOGIE PIANO