Béart and Depardieu go Disco

Emmanuelle Béart and Gerard Depardieu, two of the biggest stars in France, have been attached to the prestigious new production "Disco". The comedy film is directed by Fabien Onteniente and geared to be the box office smash for the Christmas season. The story has Depardieu re-living his youth in the bleak town of Le Havre, dusting off his old dancing shoes. Expect a cd-friendly soundtrack filled with Sheila, Cerrone, Claude Francois, Dalida, Gibson Brothers, Santa Esmeralda and the rest of the usual home grown suspects. Watch this space for updated information.

Despardieu will be the club owner, Beart, the dance instructor, and stand-up comic Frank Dubosc will play the part of the former disco musician going back into the scene.

Gerard Depardieu co-starred with Andy McDowell and Bebe Neuwirth in "Green card" (1991)

- Ed

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Move Over, Hollywood Queens

We had all but given up hope when Quentin Tarantino and director Eli Roth triumphantly announced during last year's Venice film festival that yes, the real queen of international cinema, Edwige Fenech, has agreed to return to the silver screen. The coming summer the First Diva will be seen in a small but crucial role in Roth's sequel to his successful "Hostel", looking every inch the ultimate movie star she always was. For those way out of step this is the time to get fully into the Fenech phenomenon.

So, as you aficionados of disco-rabilia should be asking by now, what has this Italian-Algerian-French film star to do with music, how come we never came across any of her records? If those guys at Chez Youri's of Paris can't whip them out from the top shelves (where the most expensive and desirable vinyls like the Arpadys albums are kept ) she can't have been a chanteuse of any sort, let alone an underground disco sensation, right? The thing is while Edwige was never a singer, she is still of definite interest to anyone into the eurodisco aesthetic. She defined The Look. You girls watched as she sashayed across the room in dramatic black, shadowing you all with her massive hairdo. Boys gasped as her eyes flashed at them, heating them up and melting the tender flesh off their cheeks. Edwige would grab one guy with both hands, force him down and thrust her cleavage foward, only to quickly toss him aside, electrified by a furious bongos-and-organ groove from the hi-fi stereo. Throwing her hair wildly and respecting no limits in films like Mario Bava’s "Cinque Bambole Per La Luna D'Agosto / Five Dolls For An August Moon", she really was eurodisco personified. An skillful actress, Edwige could also be seen as a nun or a victimized plaything at the mercy of the sleaziest pimps in the history of cinema, until payback time of course.

For La Fenech at her most fabulous, as well as for Italian exploitation film making at it’s frenziest, check Giuliano Carnimeo’s "Anna – Quel Particolare Piacere", out as region 1 dvd (NoShame label) ridiculously renamed "Secrets Of A Call Girl". A caleidoscope of over the top tearful melodrama, tough action scenes, copious nudity and serious fashion statements, this is choice entertainment from the unrepentant seventies. The widescreen film kicks off with a brutal robbery sequence set to a scorching Shaft-style soundtrack, and moves on swiftly to introduce Edwige as Anna, a salesgirl blackmailed into a life in malavita, a digitally remastered underworld in the shadier side of Cinecittà. There’s nude dancing to an Amanda Lear-style pop disco tune, vicious fistfights, car chases and slow mo running along a beach at sunset, hand in hand. Forget everything they show in the multiplex – with the exception of "Grindhouse" of course – and rush out to buy your copy, and all other dvds with Edwige.

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Dreamgirls soundtrack take 2

The Dreamgirls Dance Project

Can't get enough of Dreamgirls? There's another Dreamgirls "soundtrack" around thanks to Rick Gianatos. Gianatos is from the "school" of the Moultons, Pettibones, Gibbons and al. He did disco mixes for Shalamar, Gene Chandler, most artists on AVI Records and many others in the late 70s. He also remixed and produced way into the 80s, 90s and 00s. If you collect disco records, you might have seen his name on the disco mix credit.

Dreamgirls Dance Project is "a dance interpretation of the best known tracks from the musical"

On the album, Gianatos gathered together key members of renowned female groups of the 1960s; Scherrie Payne, Lynda Lawrence, Cindy Birdsong of the Supremes, Hodges James and Smith, Merry Clayton and James Gilstrap.

Listen to the songs at the DreamGirls Dance Project website.

Tracklist:

1. Dreamgirls (Acapella)
2. Dreamgirls
3. Move
4. Steppin' To The Bed Side
5. Ain't No Party
6. I Am Changing
7. One Night Only
8. Hard To Say Goodbye, My Love
9. Dreamgirls (Scoulful Acapella)
10. One Night Only (1984 Dreamgirl Original Recipe Mix) (Uk Bonus Track)
11. One Night Only (Special Uk Tried And True Remix) (Uk Bonus Track)

Check it out at Amazon.com

Didn't know Pickwick Records still exist, recall having the early 70s Spinners, a "Disco Beethoven" LP, a disco christmas album on the Pickwick label.

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Oscar winner Ennio Morricone's disco style

Morricone received a well deserved and long overdue honorary Oscar for his outstanding contribution to movie scores at the Kodak Theatre February 25th.

Let's look briefly to disco gems bearing his name...

Pictured here is "Disco '78" 12 inch EP, with the disco version of Come Maddalena arranged by Ennio himself and produced by Laurent Rossi, a gem in mellow orchestra disco. It is also amongts Jussi Kantonen's top 100 classics of all time -mentionned here- in 7 inch 45 version.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef- received the disco treatment by Jurgen Gordulestch (Gaz) on the oh-so-famous Salsoul label in 1979. Its extended break is a delight to savour, arrangements were provided by Thor Baldursson, orchestral and super groovy to boost. If that wasn't enough, the B-Side is the disco breaky Sing, Sing, in which parts have been sampled countless times in early hip-hop and rap classics from the late 70s well into the early 90s. It was pressed in "marbled" lilac vinyl laced with pink and blue streaks, it's been in our disco records section since 2002 here.

There are a few other disco interpretations of Ennio Morricone's songs around. Black Light Orchestra had "A man and his harmonica" discofied beautifully, again, orchestral and soothing, it is also mentioned on the site here.


Thank you Ennio for your music.

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