Ethel Merman's Disco Album

For some people, Ethel Merman's disco album sounded the death knell for the entire disco movement. It seems that everyone from Mickey Mouse to Barry Manilow was entitled to jump on the disco bandwagon with impunity, except Ethel. Disco was considered beneath the Broadway legend by her fans, while disco junkies just couldn't get their heads around Mama Rose jumping into her best sequined boots and belting out a selection of showtunes under a mirrorball. The album sank without a trace and was considered a sad career low for one of the greatest vocalists of the 20th century. Thankfully, this opinion is being revisited with the passing of time.

If you don't know who Ethel Merman is then you're either very young, not gay or completely out of touch with your cultural heritage! Ethel is an old school gay icon, a contemporary of Judy Garland, who experienced her hey day in the 1950s. Ethel was the queen of Broadway, before moving into films and television. As with most ageing gay icons, Ethel's choice of material became increasingly camp with age. She became a regular on "The Love Boat", had a recurring role on "That Girl" and most fabulously, played a villain on "Batman" called Lola Lasagne! With that career trajectory, it was only a matter of time before Ethel tried her hand at disco and the result is quite spectacular. Despite the backlash the album received on release, "Ethel Merman's Disco Album" is finally being recognised as an outrageously camp monument to a true legend.

The album has aged surprisingly well, probably due to the fact that it didn't sounded contemporary - even on release. Ethel sings 8 showtunes which have been given a disco make-over. A couple of the disco interpretations don't quite work but many of them do. The best known track is probably Ethel's disco version of "There's No Business Like Show Business". It is wonderfully camp but, in my view, one of the weaker songs. My personal favourites are "Everything's Coming Up Roses", "Some People" and Gershwin's brilliant "I Got Rhythm". In fact, the album is worth purchasing for Ethel's outrageous take on "I Got Rhythm" alone. Disco queens and fans of all things shiny and camp will fall for disco Ethel. I know I have!

The album can be purchased from Amazon and most other online retailers.

Liza's Disco Album - Tropical Nights

As the weather warms up and we head further into summer, Liza Minnelli's phenomenal disco album is increasingly finding its way into my stereo. This record is perfect background music for those languid summer evenings spent sipping strawberry daiquiris with your friends by the beach, sweating like a whore but looking fabulous in your (preferably sequined) glad rags. "Tropical Nights" is a must for any Liza fan and also makes a good starting point for those painful homosexuals who dismiss old school divas as embarrassing relics of a bygone era. Throw away that Mariah CD; it's time to get correct!

I adore just about everything Ms Minnelli has ever recorded but one album stands head and shoulders above the rest for me. "Tropical Nights" is by far the most accessible collection of songs that Liza has ever recorded. However, it is not really disco at all. Rather, it was an attempt to modernise Liza's sound for the musical tastes of the late 1970s. There are echoes of disco, particularly in the sublime title track, but for the most part "Tropical Nights" plays like a more upbeat, contemporary Liza album. Therefore, it is all the more bewildering why this record was considered to be such an embarrassment that it was only available in Japan for decades. "Tropical Nights" is nothing like the somewhat undignified disco moments of other Broadway legends. This album is a thing of beauty from beginning to end.

The first song I've uploaded is the gorgeous "I'm Your New Best Friend". This is one of the few songs that has a traditional disco sound. However, the song is still very organic and guitar driven. As with the entire album, the instrumentation is glorious. They don't make them like this anymore.

"Tropical Nights/Bali Ha'i" is one of my all time favourite songs. This is sonic perfection from the crazy brass instruments that open the song, to the "show tune goes disco" sound and the fabulous lyrics. Then there are the strings that take the song to a whole new level in the middle and the wonderfully spooky breakdown towards the end, first with guitars, then drums and finally brass. This song is a true original and it comes highly recommended. I'm yet to play this number to a trannie who hasn't immediately hitched her skirt and started dancing on a table!

Liza returned to a more traditional sound with "I Love Every Little Thing About You", a duet with an uncredited male singer. This is a gorgeous mid-tempo ballad with just a hint of calypso madness. Liza has never sounded more spectacular.

Even if Liza generally makes you want to run for the hills, give these songs a go. You might just be surprised. "Tropical Nights" is now widely available from most online music retailers. Several E-bay stores are currently selling the album for a reasonable price.

My Special Love - La Toya Part 2

One of my first posts was dedicated to La Toya's debut album (see the November archive) and I thought it was about time that I got around to her second release, the utterly delicious "My Special Love". "My Special Love" was not as successful as "La Toya Jackson", which is a great shame because it is much better. With one major exception, "My Special Love" does not have any obvious singles or standout tracks. Instead, the album is consistently excellent from beginning to end. "My Special Love" should have been the album that launched Toy Toy into the pop stratosphere with her less talented brothers but, like just about everything else in La Toya's colourful life, things did not go to plan and the album bombed.

According to Toy's autobiography, her father and then manager, Joe, basically screwed everything up. He alienated contacts in the industry, interfered with the record company and decided on who Toy should work with. The mystery is how the fucking thing ended up being so good. The album begins with a cover of Billy Ocean's disco hit "Stay The Night", which was also the first and only single released from the album. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest mistakes with the whole project. "Stay The Night" is great fun but hardly distinctive enough to launch an album. The sad thing is they had any number of excellent songs to choose from.

"Fill You Up" is not one of the above mentioned excellent songs. "Fill You Up" follows the disco-lite formula of "Stay The Night" but lacks any sense of melody. It is by far the weakest song on the album, although "Fill You Up" is not awful by any means. The next song, "Giving You Up", is a fantastic collaboration with brother Randy. This is an insanely catchy pop tune that shows what Toy Toy can do when given good material. It also demonstrates Randy's rather formidable singing voice. "Giving You Up" is followed by the wonderful "Love Song", a track that many Toy fans name as their favourite from the album. "Love Song" is top shelf Toy! The funky brass backing combined with La Toya's attitude filled vocal delivery results in a truly toytastic pop moment.

"I Don't Want You To Go" is the album's requisite power ballad and La Toya launches into the song with her passionate high pitched vocals. I'm convinced Toy Toy hits notes in this song that have never been captured on record before or since. The song shows what La Toya's pipes are capable of! La Toya is assisted on the next song by her obese sister, Janet. Toy and Janet wrote "Camp Kuchi Kaiai" together and the song is about as ridiculous as the title suggests. Janet obviously used the experience to observe, some might say steal, La Toya's magical vocal delivery. Be warned, some of the notes hit on this song are so high that my dog hits its head against the wall in pain when I play it. I think it was probably Janet's last good song.

The penultimate song, "Summertime With You" is a warm and breezy song that is the perfect soundtrack to any sunny day. Toy has never sounded so relaxed and confident. That leads us to the last song on the album and the only song that stands head and shoulders above the others. In fact, I think "Special Love" might be my favourite La Toya song. Ever. The orchestral opening is an exquisite touch and makes the subtle disco beat that follows all the more unexpected. The music reminds me of a melancholic interpretation of John Paul Young's "Love Is In The Air". The result is something akin to a demented wedding waltz, only at a wedding where the groom is terminally ill or about to spend 25 years in prison. Ok, maybe I've listened to the song once too often, so make up your own mind.

This album was only released on CD in Japan and the pleasure of owning a copy will set you back anywhere up to $US 200. Jamie, internationally reknowned Toy fan, recently announced that an American company is considering a re-issue. Fingers crossed that it comes to fruition. In the meantime, search second hand record store's for a vinyl copy and enjoy my small selection from the album: