Too Slow To Disco 2

Too Slow to Disco Vol. 2 (Release Date: 12./15. June 2015)

More late 70s/early 80s Westcoast Yachtpop you can almost dance to.

By the incredible love felt for TSTD Vol. 1 in summer 2014, Berlin’s renowned pop archaeologist, that master musical excavator DJ Supermarkt, has leapt straight back into the soft-top and been out digging for the lost gems you’ll find here on Vol. 2.

This is another perfect collection of missing-in-action, late-70s/early-80s smooth, singer/songwriter, AOR-paced, yacht-based pop and blue-eyed soul. Every song brims over with that West Coast sunshine, and for Volume 2 we’ve dug even deeper into obscure corners of LA, London, even Cologne, to create an even more potent soundtrack to that lost world that’s somehow always with us.

Sure we love this music, but the reaction to volume 1 took even us by surprise. Rough Trade Shops gave it its prestigious “Best compilation 2014” award and clubs all over Europe invited us to hold Too Slow To Disco parties. If you think Volume 2 has a lot to live up to, you’d be right, but don’t you worry, it’s the smoothest transition from one to two.

The Too Slow To Disco guiding philosophy will always be to champion the lost classic, the no-hit-wonders, the ones that got away. Sometimes the artists imploded, disappeared in legal wrangles, went AWOL, maybe joined a cult – who knows? What we do know is every cut on this record deserves your love and attention. DJ Supermarkt has tracked down bass players, phoned possible family members, enquired about the contents of lofts and basements, to try to find the masters of tracks that often the writers themselves had long forgotten. It’s fine, you can thank him later.

Since volume 1 debuted it seems like the whole world has switched back on to this amazing era of music making, from Father John Misty, BC Camplight, Andrew Combs, Liam Hayes, Silk Rhodes, to the entire soundtrack of „Guardians of the Galaxy“. Smooth is no longer a dirty word.

Before we start, let’s slip into something more comfortable. We start our journey with Hall and Oates but just as before, even the nerdiest music head will likely never have heard of most of the bands and musicians on Volume 2:

For the first time 2 European acts have the honour to be “California’ed”: the British duo R&J Stone (who met a sad and tragic fate, but a truly great song) and – hold your breath – the German band StreetPlayer.

Moving back Stateside you’ll find a genuine curio in the form of legendary musician/former Monkee/movie-producer/musicproducer/video-visionary and hit maker Michael Nesmith with his bizarro-futurist „rap“-disco track: “Capsule”.

Our nets are cast so wide this time you’ll also discover Michael Omartian and Bruce Hibbard, both of whom hailed from the 1960s Christian rock scene but still found time to cut some wonderful yacht-poppy tunes in the late 70s. Omartian also ended up playing for Steely Dan and helming recordings for the likes of Christopher Cross, and now has to deal with a basement full of Grammy awards.

We’re also psyched to be able to include outstanding singer/piano-man/songwriter Ben Sidran, who the London Times called “the first existential jazz rapper” and who spent his early days as part of The Steve Miller Band.

Last but not least, we present the ‘troubled genius’ Jimmy Gray Hall, who died far too young. But we unearthed for you one of his only four (!) recordings, the mighty „Be That Way“ (which was weirdly an underground hit on the 1970s Northern Soul circuit.)

So join us on another sunset trip as we soundtrack summer 2015 in the company of these lost luminaries. Bask in every detail of that glorious over-production, and recall an era when the music industry had the time, money and sheer musical talent to make everything BIG. Pay no mind to the cynics, the cooler-than-thou-erati, or the buzz kills of the sincerity police. These are big tunes that deserve to be hits, even if it’s taken 40 years to get there, driving slowly up that winding California coast road in the wonderful warm summer air.

Speaking of the road, you’ll find another 1970s totem on the sleeve of TSTD Vol.2. Our cover star is the AMC Pacer, and with good reason. This little beauty, “the first wide small car”, derided and unloved at the time, is now rightly regarded as a cult-classic. Despite boasting futuristic gizmos (which often left the car garage-bound), oversized windows (now the norm), it was shorter than a Golf yet wider than the biggest Mercedes, and it flopped pretty magnificently. But if it was seen as a symbol of excess-over-reason, designed with deluded grandeur, undermined by a million crazy details, well it belongs right here amongst the fabulous follies of Too Slow To Disco 2.

Track listing:

DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES – Alone too long

BEN SIDRAN – Hey hey baby

JIMMY GRAY HALL – Be that way

ERIC KAZ – Come with me

LEBLANC & CARR – Stronger love

DAVE RAYNOR – Leave me alone tonight

R & J STONE – Keep on holding me

LARSEN / FEITEN BAND – Who’ll be the fool tonight

BYRNE AND BARNES – Never gonna stop lovin’ you

PAUL DAVIS – Medicine woman

JOE VITALE – Step on you

NITEFLYTE – If you want it

BRUCE HIBBARD – Never turnin’ back

STREETPLAYER – Shades of winter

MICHAEL OMARTIAN – Fat City

MICHAEL NESMITH – Capsule (hello people a hundred years from now)

FORMATS

2 x LP | HDYA RE02LP | 4250506811846

COMPACT DISC | HDYA RE02 | 4250506811839

LTD 2 x LP | HDYA RE02-LTD | 4250506811853 (only available at www.tooslowtodisco.com & Rough Trade Stores)