Dance Orchestras

In most genres of music if you're a fan you tend to have your favourite bands or artists and go to see them in concert. In dance music it's a little bit different. Whilst you have the likes of The Prodigy who you can see in concert, there's many tunes that are one off projects or made by producers who never play live. 

As a result more often than not if you were into dance music you'd go to see a DJ play these tunes. Not just one DJ, but multiple DJs play at a single night that would go on until the early hours. As a youngster the all night aspect added to the excitement and your presence there showed you knew how to party.

I went to a number of such events when I was younger but then 2 things happened. First I almost inevitably stopped liking the newer music. Second I inevitably got older and thought I was now too old for this all night malarky.

By 2016 I was a 30 something into dance music from yesteryear and whist I was still going to plenty of gigs from all sorts of genres, there seemed to be a lack of event where I got to hear a variety of older dance tunes and get to bed at a reasonable time.

Enter Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra. They put on a gig at The O2 where they'd play dance anthems using an orchestra that worked in the same way as a normal gig there. Sounded like the sort of thing I'd been waiting for.

I went and enjoyed it. The orchestra generally did a great job of playing the tunes the way they were supposed to be played. My only gripe was they did a small number of modern tunes and the rubbish vocalists.

A year later I went again and I enjoyed it that time too. Still some tunes it could of done without and still some rubbish vocalists but they did a bunch of tunes they didn't do the previous year meaning you weren't seeing the same thing.

I decided to go again the following year. Tickets went on sale almost a year in advance and as physical tickets stopped being a thing they sat in my inbox during this time. As the time got nearer I looked at the O2 listings to see the dates and there were 2 of them, a Friday and a Saturday. Given the choice I would always pick the Saturday over the Friday so I just assumed that's what I did.

On the Saturday I went into my inbox to print the tickets and found an email from The O2 asking how I found the gig last night. A bit premature I thought until I looked at the tickets and saw they were dated the Friday. Turns out it was originally going to be just the Friday, I bought tickets and then they added the Saturday afterwards. It had been so long since I'd bought the tickets I'd forgotten. 

Yet I somehow wasn't that disappointed. I saw it as a sign that it's something I've done twice and there's no need to do it again. Another thing was that we were now starting to see more dance events for the older dance music fan, the all-dayer. 

OK the all-dayer was nothing new. There were festivals such as SW4 and indoor events at places like Tobacco Dock but the ones I went to at least were more geared towards a younger crowd. With old skool events they're probably more likely to be day time than night time these days.

Yet the orchestra concept has grown huge since then. There's the Hacienda one, Spoony does a garage one and Fabio & Grooverider now do a drum & bass one.

My reasoning for going to see Pete Tong wasn't an overwhelming desire to hear the tunes played by an orchestra. As good as they were at replicating the tunes I wouldn't say any of the tunes sounded better as a result.

I did go to see one of the orchestras a year or so ago. No big name DJs behind it though they were doing it even before Pete Tong was. What became apparent is that there's only a finite amount of dance tunes that really work with an orchestra.

Clearly there are people out there who enjoy it and fair enough. For me though I see it as a choice between playing the same tunes that work over again or introduce new tunes that don't really work. It's worth going once in your life, maybe even twice but no more than that.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1975

Original Record of the Year: Crispy & Company - Brazil

It was a close one apparently when I picked "Brazil" for my record of the year. I'm not sure what record it was close with though but I do remember this particular record being my choice.

One of the reasons I remember is because I've listened to this a lot since I picked it. It's instrumental and a pretty fast record for its time which helps. What makes the record though are the bits where it breaks down.

There's some decent records from 1975 but none have the same charm as this record so it retains its crown.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1974

Original Record of the Year: Act One - Tom The Peeper

I had John Peel to thank for introducing me to my 1974 pick thanks to its inclusion on his Fabriclive mix. I have to say 1974 is a year where my knowledge isn't particularly great for whatever reason.

It's not that bad though and I did see several decent records on the list. The question was whether they were good enough to take the crown.

The answer is no. I do think "Tom The Peeper" is possibly the weakest choice for the 70s which made me think there was something better out there but I'm not sure there is.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1973

Original Record of the Year: Linda Lewis - Rock a Doodle do

It would seem I was quite decisive about my choice for 1973 because I said there was only 1 record it could be. Linda Lewis had an impressive vocal range and had 4 Top 40 hits to her name that are all different to each other, but this was the best.

Sadly Linda Lewis has since passed away and when the news broke I was singing her praises to those who hadn't heard of her, recommending they check out her music.

Surely I'm not going to change my mind.

New Record of the Year: Focus - Sylvia

Well actually yes I am. As much as I like the music to the talking I can't help but be biased sometimes. I knew this record at the time and I've never disliked it but I never seriously considered it as a candidate.

The first time I remember Focus appearing on my radar was after learning Jeremy Clarkson was a fan. I would call myself a fan of Jeremy Clarkson as an entertainer but have always considered him to have bad taste in music. 

Another factor is that this is considered a progressive rock record, a genre that faced a backlash from the punk generation for getting so far above it's own backside. 

I didn't give it this much thought at the time, I merely brushed over it. However after doing my January charts for 1973 I picked this as the best. I just can't deny this is a great record and it really doesn't matter what genre this fits into or who else is a fan.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1972

Original Record of the Year: Chi-Lites - Have You Seen Her

I originally said I kept changing my mind about the 1972 Record of the Year and that it was a close call between 5 different candidates. I don't specifically remember which 5 were the candidates but have an idea of what at least some of them were.

However when I looked through the list of records that charted in 1972 I did remember that "Have You Seen Her" was the one I picked so it was a question of whether I considered any of the other records to be better.

The answer was no. This is the nearest to a rap record you're going to get in 1972 but it's more the backing track that makes the song for me. I do like the vocals too.

At the time I said that Marshall Thompson was the only original member of the group still alive and 10 years later than remains the case.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1971

Original Record of the Year: Congregation - Softly Whispering I Love You

One thing I've learned I like in music is a mixture of 2 things that are completely contradictory to each other. In the case of my record of year for 1971 it was melodic sound of the choir singing followed by a man with a powerful and quite rough voice taking over.

Is this concept enough for this record to hold onto it's crown?

Absolutely. I don't think there's a record of the 70s that I listen to more than this one. I would probably pick it as my record of the decade it's that good.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1970

Original Record of the Year: Fifth Dimension - Wedding Bell Blues

When I look at the list of Top 40 hits from 1970 it looks like generally the best ones came at the start of the year. That includes my original choice "Wedding Bell Blues" by Fifth Dimension which charted in January.

There's some strong competition in January alone and a few stand out good record which came later on in the year. Are any of them strong enough to take the crown off the Fifth Dimension?

I would say no not quite. I listened to several candidates but none quite gave me the uplift that this record gave me. It's a fun record.