GLAM MEETS MOTOWN - ''UP IN A PUFF OF SMOKE''

POLLY BROWN first came to the attention of the British public singinging with the group Pickettywitch who scored two big hits in 1970 with "That Same Old Feeling" and "(It's Like A) Sad Old Kinda Movie".

When the group struggled to match that early success songwriter/producer GERRY SHURY recorded a solo LP with Polly in 72.Dispite highlighting her wonderful voice {Shurly described it as "A cross between Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick"} the record lacked any material strong enough to make a HIT 45.

Then in 1974 Shurly hit gold when he wrote and produced ''UP IN A PUFF OF SMOKE''.The record posessed a strong MOTOWN like melody that recalled THE SUPREMES hits of the sixties and was propelled by a comtempry 'whompa whompa' GLAM BACKBEAT and bubbling SYNTHESIZER.Incredibly for a record which was seemingly perfect for the dancefloors of the early DISCO era it failed to crack the TOP 40 charts in the UK and stalled at number 43!

In the USA the story was different and the record was warmly recieved on the dance floor.It reached number 3 on the US DISCO CHART and went on to 16 in THE BILLBOARD HOT 100 in March 1975

''TWEEDLE DEE TWEEDLE DUM'' - HIGHLAND POP CORRIDO

THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD were a Scottish pop group that scored a number of chart hits
across Europe in the beginning of the 70's.Their records were written and recorded in
Italy under the direction of producer GIACOMO TOSTI and the resulting latin tinged
EUROPOP sound fittted their name perfectly.Their debut 45 ''CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP
CHEEP'' {released in 1971} was an infectious slice of BUBBLEGUM POP and with the aid
of singer SALLY CARR's dolly bird image the group gained enough attention to reach the
NUMBER ONE spot in the UK and achieve further success on the continent.

The same year they enjoyed further euro wide success with a title that belied the
inventive nature of the composition: ''TWEEDLE DEE TWEEDLE DUM''.The number was based
on the CORRIDO BALLAD song tradition,a MEXICAN FOLK form that utilises a WALTZ
like rhythm to convey a story of rural frontier folk heroism.The form was enjoying a
fresh spell of popularity at this time and a number of NEO CORRIDO songs were recorded
by LOUNGE POP singers in Europe.Hits in the style included:


''THE YOUNG NEW MEXICAN PUPPETEER'' by TOM JONES
''I DID WHAT I DID FOR MARIA'' by TONY CHRISTIE
''TEN GUITARS'' by ENGLEBERT HUMPERDINK
and ''TAMPICO'' by HEINO

For the song in question writers WALLY STOTT and G & M CAPUANO cleverly referenced
the groups scottish origin in the lyrics and came up with a tale of INTER-CLAN WARFARE
that set it apart from the other EURO CORRIDO songs I mentioned.They also put an anti
war subtext into the lyrics and added a COUNTRY ROCK guitar riff and 4/4 BACKBEAT
that gave the song an extra kick.Producer TOSTI crafted the song around a couple of exuberant hand clapping PROTO DISCO breakdowns and the resulting disc was pure DENIM DISCO gold!


Do you recall some years ago ?
Up in the mountains that were white with snow
inside a cavern McDougal he was plannin'
there's gonna be a showdown with somebody he knows.

Well he's been there a year or so
something will happen very soon I know
I hear him playin' his bagpipes every mornin'
I think that it's a warmin'he's gathering the clan.

Soon you'll hear the sound of people shouting
you will see the claymores in their hands
if you knew the reason for their fighting
you would never understand.

Oh Tweedle Dee
Oh Tweedle Dum.
The tune McDougal always used to hum
While he was fightin' his rival clan McGregor
Dishonour he would never
the tartan of his clan.

THE DENIM DISCO YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Youtube stands as the best stocked jukebox on the net.Pretty much any piece of recorded
pop history {and latest release} can be accessed via the site.A few months back I challenged
myself to see if I could find anything in my collection of vinyl that was not already on there.
So far I've come up with 50 tracks that were not previously Youtubed and are also within the
scope of this blog.You can find them all via this link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DenimDisco#p/a

DENIM - FOR MEN WHO DON'T HAVE TO TRY TOO HARD

An advert for DENIM AFTERSHAVE from 1979

''When a woman puts denim on a man he knows that the more she puts on the more life takes off''

DENIM FASHION

A mid seventies denim fashion feature from JACKIE magazine

THE RISE AND FALL OF LIPPY FARTDUST

Strip from ''It's Only Rock & Roll'' an underground comic from 1975

MORE DENIM DISCO MIX

Tracklist:

01 - Gary Glitter - Rock And Roll Part Two
02 - Elektrik Cokernut - Jungle Juice
03 - Polly Brown - Up In A Puff Of Smoke
04 - Fox - S - S - S - Single Bed
05 - Stretch - Why Did You Do It
06 - 5000 Volts - Thunderfire
07 - The Alan Parsons Project - I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You
08 - East Of Eden - Jig - A - Jig
09 - Titanic - Sultana
10 - Cozy Powell - Dance With The Devil
11 - Boney M - Rasputin
12 - Sting -Thief Of Bagdad
13 - Jigsaw - Sky High
14 - Wings - Jet
15 - Rod And The Faces - You Can Make Me Dance Sing Or Anything
16 - Hot Chocolate - Every 1's A Winner
17 - T.Rex - Light Of Love
18 - Hello - New York Groove
19 - Kenny - The Bump
20 - Brendon - Gimmie Some
21 - The Peppers - Pepper Box
22 - Bryan Ferry - Re-Make Re-Model

More Denim Disco Mix by Denim Disco on Mixcloud

http://www.mediafire.com/?orqghw8z5wsbg7a