Formats
VOSTOK02CD - CD
5060446121849
Details
Aotearoa. New Zealand, nineteen seventy something. Bottom of the South Pacific - the largest Maori and Polynesian population in the world and ... a nation wanting to groove. Approx 3 million people. Two islands, hot summers , muddy winters, one tv channel till 1975 and all radio was AM. Cantankerous (and sometimes not so sobre) Prime Minister Rob Muldoon was in his pomp, the economy was in the toilet, and rugby (a national sport and in many parts of NZ , a religion) was a mess played in a mud bath ... the people had to dance! A constant supply of international soul, funk, and disco releases were available for local issue through the major labels , but things got really interesting when local artists found their soul on vinyl. Colour, clothes and sex began seeping onto the dance floors, while back at home kids watching music clips on television were turning to their parents: “Is that a boy or a girl?” New Zealand would never be the same again. A new generation was taking over and they wanted to boogie. This new group of faces were taking to the dance floors. People like Mr Funky, people who’d stepped out in style and wanted to get down with their own bad self. A funky revolution was brewing with bands that’d been mired in the middle ground now swerving into sounds more suited to the disco than a rugby club social. Other bands were emerging from cabaret and had shifted from being the show to creating the show. These then are the songs that drove a country from black and white to technicolour, and being a scene born in total isolation it took turns that weren't heard anywhere else. This is funk, soul and disco as it would’ve sounded if Studio 54 had been set up within five minutes of a dairy farm, a rugby club and a marae, and if nothing else it finally let people to dance because they simply wanted to. Heed The Call! collects the best New Zealand material from the afrotastic days of 1973 to 1983. Artists like Mark Williams whose House For Sale became a sought after northern Soul single, The (three) Yandall Sisters (two of whom are pictured behind Mark WiIlliams on our cover), a teenage Tina Cross, Dalvanius & Prince Tui Teka, all became household names in NZ. The collection mines some overlooked nuggets from their respective catalogues alongside lesser known boogie cuzzins The Pink Family with their non-secular floor sizzler Don't Give Your Life Away, the gritty gospel soul of Sonia & Skee, The Johnny Rocco Band, Inbetweens, and The Totals. The Kaukau brothers were four fifths of Golden Harvest who hit the national charts with the number one I Need Your Love in 1978 which featured new addition 17 year old Karl Gordon fronting the band. Local 60s beat pioneer Larry Morris fresh out of the big house after a public LSD misdemeanour finds his groove on Who Do We Think We're Fooling. Funk dynamos Collision hail from Tokoroa, and in an earlier incarnation were known as The Shriek Machine, move to Australia on Dalvanius's insistence to record the showstopper You Can Dance. Early 70s Acid Rockers Ticket flaunt their funky flare(s) with their Vertigo single only release Mr Music (later covered by Collision) , and the windy city jazzmen The 1860 Band take form fitting self promoting t-shirts to the next level while re- interpreting Rita Jean Bodine's Thats The Kind Of Love * Compiled by Alan Perrott and John Baker (WHO?) * Double LP, with illustrated inner sleeves showcasing the sleeves of all the original LP releases * First re issue of Dalvanius & The Fascinations 12 inch disco mix of Voodoo Lady with Dal & the gals being backed by Tokoroa's finest Collision * THE 12 inch mix of Voodoo Lady is unique to the vinyl version - the CD's Voodoo Lady is the truncated 7 inch version * First time re issue on vinyl for all tracks * Liner notes by co compiler Alan Perrott based on interviews with actual participants in the recordings in black & white booklet with tasty pics and ephemera * Locating original copies of these records will 1:take a long time and 2: make you wish you'd won lotto * Limited to 1000 copies worldwide
Tracks
SIDE A
Dalvanius & The Fascinations - Voodoo Lady - 12 inch mix 1977
Collision - You Can Dance 1978
Mark Williams - Disco Queen 1975
The Johnny Rocco Band - She's Knocking At My Door 1975
SIDE B
THe 1860 Band - That's The Kind Of Love I've Got For You 1978
Inbetweens - Mr Funky 1975
Tina Cross - You Can Do It 1979
Golden Harvest - I Need Your Love 1978
SIDE C
Mark Williams - House For Sale 1977
The Pink Family - Don't Give Your Life Away 1978
Prince Tui Teka - Heed The Call 1974
The Yandall Sisters - Sweet Inspiration 1975
Sonia & Skee - There's A River Somewhere 1978
SIDE D
Ticket - Mr Music 1973
Larry Morris - Who Do We Think We're Fooling ? - 1976
Herb McQuay - Night People 1983
The Totals - Total Man 1980
Press
Whakarongo, Nga Tamariki. 17 prime soul, funk and disco cuts from Aotearoa/New Zealand 73-83.