WALLY TAX - THIS GIRL IS MINE

Dutch singer/songwriter WALLY TAX was born in Amsterdam in 1948 and found fame as the vocalist in the 60's NEDERBEAT group THE OUTSIDERS. The band were highly regarded in Holland and were considered by many to be the Dutch ROLLING STONES. The live side of their DEBUT LP from 1967 captures the wildness of their act and the hysteria they generated in their audience

 



The group recorded a string of amazing songs as good as any in the era, but made little impact in the rest of the world. They split at the end of the decade and Tax put together another band TAX FREE, briefly moving to the US where an LP was recorded and released

Unfortunately the anticipated US breakthrough failed to materialize and Tax returned to Holland to embark on a solo career and write songs for others. His 70's material moved closer to the MOR field, string dominated and often reminiscent of BUDDY HOLLY'S later pop discs { ''MISS WONDERFUL'' from 1973 is a good example of this }




His biggest hit would come in 1977 with ''LET'S DANCE'' and the songs he wrote for CHAMPAGNE { one of which: ''ROCK n' ROLL STAR'' charted in the US }. ''THIS GIRL IS MINE'' from 1975 didn't fare as well but was an artistic high, driven by a DISCO HI HAT, SWEEPING STRINGS and WAH WAH GUITAR it stands as a perfect example of MID SEVENTIES PHILLY INSPIRED DANCE POP

THE BAY CITY ROLLERS - YOU MADE ME BELIEVE IN MAGIC

Three years on from the first flush of 'ROLLERMAINIA' in the UK,THE BAY CITY ROLLERS were keen to build upon their NORTH AMERICAN success and enlisted producer HARRY HASLIN to work on their next LP ''THE GAME''.Haslin was born in PHILADELPHIA and had helped to swing DAVID BOWIE in the direction of SOUL/FUNK music when he worked on the song ''FAME'' {which became Bowie's first US hit}

The rollers had also dabbled in this direction with ''THE DISCO KID'' and ''DON'T STOP THE MUSIC'' that same year,but ''YOU MADE ME BELIEVE IN MAGIC'' would prove to be their but their big DISCO moment in 1977

Another figure from the Philly music scene LEN BOOTH was brought on board to provide the song which gave them a US #10 in Billboard in August of that year.





Len Booth was certainly a talented songwriter and released some worthy singles under his own name during the following couple of years.His 1978 release ''LOVE WON'T BE DENIED'' received a fair number of 'DISCO SPINS' in the UK and is still fondly remembered

DISCO DONNY

In 1976 DONNY OSMOND released the ''DISCO TRAIN'' LP in an attempt to ride the early DISCO MUSIC gravy train.His solo career was on the wane by '76 and he was having to share some of the limelight with his sister MARIE.The record was seen as a chance to up his profile,but sales proved to be disappointing and it isn't remembered with great affection by the man himself.In his autobiography ''LIFE IS JUST WHAT YOU MAKE IT'' Donny quips that the train on the cover should have run him over and prevented him from recording it!

DISCO was starting to make serious inroads into the mainstream by '76 and more than a few pop performers began to incorporate disco elements in their music.With ''DISCO TRAIN'' Donny jumped wholeheartedly into the realm,or if we are to believe his later comments: pushed into it It would
be fair to say that the results were a bit hit and miss.How many songs with disco in the tile should
one LP contain? Well this one has three,which seems like two too many!

For me the standout tracks are the COUNTRY FUNK styled ''OLD MAN AUCTIONEER'',the single ''C'MON MARIANNE'' and a couple PHILLY SOUL influenced numbers in the form of ''DON'T NEED NO MONEY'' and ''NEVER GONNA LET YOU GO''.Cop an ear to the later two {via the clips below} and see what you think!


DONNY OSMOND - LET YOU GO


DONNY OSMOND - DON'T NEED NO MONEY