Tag: Pride Month

June 30, 2023

Boystown Gang – Cruisin’ The Streets (US 12″)

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:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1981	Remember Me”/”Ain’t No Mountain High Enough	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance/Disco	#5

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

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

June 29, 2023

Cheryl Lynn – Got To Be Real/Star Love (US 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1978

NEW 2023 Transfer!
NEW Meticulous Audio Restoration

Originally posted December 7, 2011

The Harlem drag ball scene — described by the social activist and writer Langston Hughes as “the strangest and gaudiest of all Harlem’s spectacles in the 1920s” — fragmented along racial lines in the early 1960s when Black queens became tired of having to “whiten up” if they wanted to have a chance of winning any in-house beauty contest. By the early 1970s, Black drag houses started to multiply and soon outstripped their white counterparts in terms of glamour, style and popularity. As contests expanded, categories multiplied and competition intensified, with prizes awarded to entrants whose drag was the most believable, the most real. Released in 1978, Cheryl Lynn’s feisty, upbeat disco track “Got to Be Real” became an instant ballroom classic.

In 2020 The Bew York Times named “Got To Be Real” one of the 15 Songs That Shook New York’s Queer Dance Floors in the 1970s and ’80s.

“Got to Be Real” is the debut single by American singer Cheryl Lynn. Written by Lynn, David Paich and David Foster, and produced by Paich and Marty Paich, the song was recorded for Lynn’s 1978 self-titled debut studio album. Columbia Records released the song as the album’s lead single in August 1978.

For the recording, David Shields played bass, David Paich played keyboards, James Gadson played drums and Ray Parker Jr. was the session guitarist.

In the United States, “Got to Be Real” peaked at position number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot Soul Singles chart in early 1979. Along with the album cuts “Star Love” and “You Saved My Day”, “Got to Be Real” peaked at number 11 on the National Disco Action Top 40 chart. In the United Kingdom, “Got to Be Real” did not chart upon its original release – it was used for a TV advertising campaign for Marks & Spencer in 2010 and it entered the main charts for the first time at position number 78 for the week ending April 4, the next week peaking at number 70.

“Star Love” was released as the second single from Lynn’s self-titled debut album reaching a peak position of number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 16 on the R&B chart in the spring of 1979.

SIDE A:
Got To Be Real 5:07
Written-By – C. Lynn*, D. Foster*, D. Paich*

SIDE B:
Star Love 7:24
Written-By – J. Footman*, J. Weider*

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

CHARTS:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1978	Got To Be Real	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#12
1978	Got To Be Real	U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles	#1
1978	Got To Be Real	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance/Disco	#11
Year	Single	Chart	Position
1979	Star Love	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#62
1979	Star Love	U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles	#16
1979	Star Love	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance/Disco	#11

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Columbia – 23-10869
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Single, Pitman Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1978
Genre: Funk / Soul
Style: Disco

CREDITS:

Producer, Arranged By – David Paich, Marty Paich

NOTES:
Special Disco Versions From The Columbia Lp: “Cheryl Lynn”
℗ 1978 CBS Inc.
Printed in U.S.A.

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

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

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

June 28, 2023

Sylvester with Patrick Cowley – Do Ya Wanna Funk/Mind warp (Japan 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1983

Patrick Cowley was one of disco’s most mysterious figures.

His life was cut short in 1982 when he died of Aids at age 32. He was a key presence in the gay San Francisco disco scene; in the 1970s and early 1980s, when the city had one of the best disco scenes in the world.

Sylvester was San Francisco’s biggest star and Cowley’s muse – a larger-than-life presence around town, dressed to the nines and often carrying multiple shopping bags as he walked down Castro Street. Cowley most famously worked with Sylvester on the ecstatic mega-hit You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) and was a pioneer of the genre known as Hi-NRG, a relentlessly uptempo variant of disco that gained serious traction, especially in the UK and Europe.

Cowley was a good deal quieter than Sylvester, and more of a tech boffin, experimenting with music in an apartment in the Castro crammed with electronics, with cables hanging everywhere. “It was a mess of wires,” recalls John Hedges, who ran Megatone Records for many years, the now-legendary record label that Cowley originally started with Marty Blecman in the 1970s.

“It certainly didn’t look very safe,” he adds. “He was always experimenting to get the sounds. They would wire everything in and have tape machines, and the tape would go from one tape machine to another about 10 feet away to create the echo they wanted, or delay.”

Sylvester known as “The Queen Of Disco” died six years after Cowley, of Aids-related complications in 1988. Patrick Cowley and Sylvester were iconic trailblazers not just for queer and androgynous people, but for disco music as a whole, overcoming trauma, prejudice, and stigma to achieve their dreams.

“Do Ya Wanna Funk” is a 1982 dance song recorded by American recording artists Sylvester and Patrick Cowley. It was produced by Cowley, who incidentally died the same year. The song was most successful in Europe, especially in Belgium, Finland, and Norway, where it became a top-10 hit. It also reached the top 20 in the Netherlands and Switzerland and made it to the top 30 in West Germany and Australia, and the top 40 in the United Kingdom. The song was inspired by “I’m Your Jeanie”, a single by Jeanie Tracy, who was a background vocalist for Sylvester. It was also featured in the film Trading Places (1983). In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked “Do Ya Wanna Funk” number 179 in their list of 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time.

“Mind Warp” was the title track from Patrick Cowley’s third and final album.

SIDE A:
Do Ya Wanna Funk (Long Version) 6:57
Performer – Sylvester With Patrick Cowley
Vocals – Sylvester
Written-By – Patrick Cowley, Sylvester

SIDE B:
Mind Warp (Long Version) 6:36
Performer – Patrick Cowley
Vocals – Patrick Cowley
Written-By – Patrick Cowley

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
OBI Strip: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1982	Do Ya wanna Funk	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance/Disco songs	#4

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Victor – VIL-1002
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Maxi-Single
Country: Japan
Released: 1983
Genre: Electronic
Style: Hi-NRG

CREDITS:

Producer – Patrick Cowley

NOTES:
Comes with an OBI strip

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

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

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

June 27, 2023

Paul Lekakis – Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room) (Champion Remix) (UK 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1987

NEW 2023 Transfer
NEW Meticulous Audio Restoration

Originally posted July 13, 2015

A pretty face won’t get you everywhere… but it got you pretty damn far in the ’80s.

And it certainly helped gay musician Paul Lekakis, who went from upstate New York waiter, to model and professional party boy in Milan, to international pop star in 1987 with a little bop called “Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back to My Room.)”

The song will certainly resonate with those who survived its ’80s dance-floor domination… and anyone who’s attended a Pride party in the past five years.

Lekakis, who is HIV-positive, appeared on the cover of Poz magazine. In the article, he recalls major record labels wanting to market him as a teen idol in the 1980s, which did not interest the already out young singer.

“Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back to My Room)” is the debut single by American singer and model Paul Lekakis.

Originally released in 1987 on ZYX Records, then picked up by Polydor Records for a wider release, the song peaked at #43 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. and at #60 on the UK Singles Chart in England. It fared better in other parts of the world, where the song spent five weeks at #1 on the ARIA Charts in Australia, from April 13 through May 11 of 1987. It also topped music charts in Japan and South Africa and peaked at #2 in Canada. The song is noteworthy because it is a well-known 1980s dance club track that nonetheless failed to appear on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart upon its initial release. Subsequent remixes have appeared on that chart, however, as well as some of Lekakis’ other dance recordings. The song was popular in the LGBT community and helped to establish his career, both as a singer and as an actor.

Several remixes were commissioned for the track including the rare UK-only Champion Remix by mixmaster Phil Harding of PWL released on Champion Records a London-based major long-running soul, dance, and house music label.

SIDE A:
Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room) (A Phil Harding Remix) 6:40

SIDE B:
Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room) (A Phil Harding Dub Remix) 5:44

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1987	Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room)	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#43

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Champion – CHAMPX 12-43
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic
Style: Hi-NRG

CREDITS:

Producer – M. Chieregato*, R. Turatti*
Remix – Mixmaster Phil Harding*
Written-By – M. Chieregato*, R. Ballerini*, R. Turatti*, S. Montini*, T. Hooker*

NOTES:
Tracks are listed incorrectly on the back cover.

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

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

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.