Burning The Ground Exclusive 1981

The blockbuster success of the Village People proved one of two things: either middle America was finally willing to embrace post-Stonewall queer culture in all its out-and-proud glory, or else your average Reagan voters wouldn’t recognize a homosexual even if he sold their teenage son’s poppers and stuffed the cash into his assless chaps. Regardless, the Village People phenomenon spawned untold numbers of cash-in records that ratcheted the camp appeal into the danger zone.

The “postdisco” recording industry in San Francisco between 1978 and 1984. For most of America, disco died in 1979. Gay people, however, continued to dance, and in the Castro enterprising gay DJs, record producers, and musicians started their own small dance music record labels to make up for the lack of new, danceable music.

The sound derived its aesthetic from San Francisco’s unique queer configuration of elements, but immediately this music had a reach far beyond the Bay Area, with Megatone Records, Moby Dick Records, and other labels achieving worldwide success with San Francisco artists such as Sylvester, Patrick Cowley, Lisa, and Boys Town Gang creating the world’s first gay-owned, gay-produced music for a dancing audience.

In 1980, DJ Bill Motley saw an opportunity to form a disco group that catered to San Francisco’s large gay clientele. In his search to form a group, he auditioned hundreds of vocalists, both male and female. Local cabaret singer Cynthia Manley captured the lead spot.

The idea was originally for one 12″ single with two tracks of high-energy disco music. Motley, a Diana Ross fan, picked two Ashford & Simpson songs to form a medley for the A-side track. For the B-side track, he wrote a disco drama in four acts. A private record label was founded to release the two songs.

“Remember Me”/”Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” is a Diana Ross medley the song became a huge dance hit in the U.S. peaking at #5 on the Dance/Disco chart. The song was also a top 20 hit in Belgium and the Netherlands.

“Cruisin’ the Streets” The extended version of the song includes a lengthy dialogue taking place at night in what is clearly implied to be Folsom Street in San Francisco. The dialogue consists of gay men cruising each other, discussing their sexual encounters and conversing with a female prostitute. At one point, a police car stops and three policemen step out and confront two men who are engaging in sexual activity as a female prostitute looks on. One of the officers asks the others what should be done, and the third officer states that he knows “just what to do to ’em” and from the subsequent noises it is implied that the officers are having sex with the two men, and the prostitute. “Cruisin’ the Streets” was a snapshot of San Francisco’s South of Market District at the time.

**ABOUT THE VINYL RESTORATION

This record was a challenge maybe due to the length of the tracks and the pressing. On Side AA there is some sibilance baked into the track, especially on the female spoken dialogue parts not really much that can be done about that. Still, I think everything turned out nicely. I hope you enjoy it.

SIDE A:
Remember Me / Ain’t No Mountain High Enough Suite 13:57
Arranged By [Strings] – Denver Smith
Backing Vocals – Darlene Koblenhaven, Denver Smith, Louie Rico, Marie Cain, Mary Hylan, Mike Gymnaites
Piano – Ted Andreads
Saxophone – Jerry Jomonville
Synthesizer [Arp] – Wayne Cook
Trombone – Dennis Brunk
Trumpet – Lee Thornburg
Violin – Ken Yerke
Written-By – Ashford, Simpson

A.1 Overture
A.2 Remember Me
A.3 Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
A.4 Reprise
A.5 Finale

SIDE AA:
Cruisin’ The Streets 13:12
Backing Vocals – Bill Motley, Chuck Spero
Mixed By [Mix Consultant] – Trip Ringwald
Piano [Rhodes], Clavinet – Ted Andreads
Remix [Street Scene – Music In Passing Car Courtesy Of] – Disconet
Saxophone – Randy Smith (2)
Synthesizer, Trombone – Denver Smith
Trumpet – Joel Rich
Voice [Street Scene] – Bill Motley, Chuck Spero, Craig Morey, Cynthia Manley, Don Wood, Scott Anderson (3), Trip Ringwald
Written-By – Bill Motley

AA.1 Cruisin’
AA.2 Rejected
AA.3 The Pick-Up
AA.4 Busted
AA.5 Reprise

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Moby Dick Records – BTG-231, Moby Dick Records – LP-BTG-231
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
Country: US
Released: 1981
Genre: Funk / Soul
Style: Disco

CREDITS:

• Arranged By [Horns], Synthesizer – Denver Smith
• Bass – Steve Saunders (8)
• Congas, Tambourine – Louie Rico
• Drums – Joe Baldino
• Engineer [Recording] – David Coe
• Executive Producer – Stan Morriss, Victor Swedosh
• Lead Guitar – Mike Guess
• Lead Vocals – Cynthia Manley
• Mastered By – Leo Kulka
• Mixed By – Bill Motley, David Coe
• Photography By – Scott Goldschmidt
• Producer, Arranged By – Bill Motley
• Rhythm Guitar – Mike Gymnaites
• Technician [Assistant To The Producer] – Chuck Spero

NOTES:
“Caution: May contain material not suitable for children or the prudish”
Recorded at Salty Dog Studios, Van Nuys, CA.
Mastered at the Mastering Room, San Francisco.

The flipside is listed on sleeve, labels and runout groove as “The Other A”.

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus:  Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC: Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!

Password: burningtheground

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