Shalamar ~ Take That To The Bank 1978 Jazz Funk Purrfection Version

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Shalamar started out as a studio group to record a novelty single that would stitch together a whack of Motown chestnuts put to a bright disco beat and call it Uptown Festival. The response was unanimous, we LOVED it! Hey it was 1978 and nostalgia was rampant, remember "Grease" and "Happy Days" were huge back then so the Simon Soussan arranged disco revival of Motown classics made sense and it peaked at #2 disco for four weeks!

Dick Griffey and Gene Page had worked on the first LP and Leon Sylvers joined them for their second LP, "Disco Gardens", helping to mold their new dance groove sound and bring them the faces everyone wanted to know; Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniels and Howard Hewett who became the permanent members.

I chose this one because it sounds like a walk on a sunny day to me, it's bright and hopeful and happy. This is not straight up disco like MacArthur Park, this is Jazz funk to a hustle beat that would have been played even after the disco bubble bursting the following year. Detroit got heavily into jazz funk there was so much good music of all type but this one stood out to me. It was not a big hit, but it should have been. All three have equal vocal time. How can you stay in a miserable mood when listening to this one?

The following year the trio released "Big Fun" and the #1 Disco hit "The Second Time Around" for one week. After that they were consistent hitmakers with all their singles making Top 20 during their career except their first hit and their last hit, "My Girl Loves Me" peaked at #25 in 1985.
Category
Funky