Synth comprised, futuristic space music, Italo Disco was generalised in Europe as non U.K produced dance music. The term ‘Italo’ originated from the ‘Italo Boot Mixes’ that featured Italian and German music created in 1983 by ZYX label boss Berhnard Mikulski. Prior to 1983 the music was simply referred to as ‘Disco’.

When disco musicians started to experiment with synthesizers and electronics in the late 1970’s the result was either Hi-NRG (North American) or Space Disco (European) which by 1982 had fully developed into it’s own sub-genre in Italo. Typically simple with catchy melodies often sung with the aid of vocoders, many songs were sung in English with heavy Italian accents, creating almost nonsensical lyrics where the themes of love, robots and space where more than prevalent.

When we heard that the next release on Strut was going to be an ‘Italo Disco Classics’ compilation we received the news with both excitement and trepidation. Excitement because we love the genre and trepidation because we know that for all the great tracks out there, there are a dozen more shockers that would be best left unearthed.

Fortunetely for us, Bear Entertainment boss Steve Kotey has compiled what turns out to be our favourite Strut release to date, no easy task given the genre can be somewhat a minefield in less knowledgeable hands.

Here’s a rundown of some of our favourite tracks from the album, which have been compiled together for the very first time:

Five Letters - Tha Kee Tha Tha

This one actually has French origins. Written and produced by Denis Desrouvres. A Baldelli favourite; the 12″ release of ‘Tha Kee Tha Tha’ was released on Atropia records and is considered by some to be the the holy grail of 12 inch Italo releases. Fortunately this track can also be found on the more affordable ‘Yellow Nights’ album, again released in 1980. Worth picking up the compilation for this track alone.

Kasso - Brazilian Dancer

Brazilian composer Claudio Simonetti is the musical genius behind Kasso. Simonetti began his career in music by writing film scores with the group Goblin. Kasso was conceived in 1981 with the release of ‘Walkman’, enjoying huge success in America. Brazilian Dancer can be found on Banana Records as well as F1 Team Records (Pictured).

Kano - Now Baby Now

Produced by Stephano Pulga, Kano came to attention in 1980 with their hit ‘It’s A War’. ‘Now Baby Now’ is taken from the amazing self titled debut album (Again, released in 1980) on Full Time Records (Also licensed to Uniwave, Metronome and Emergency Records) and was their third 12″ single. Kano are also (Unofficially) recognized as being the first dance group to make use of the talk box.

Firefly - Love (Is Gonna Be On Your Side)

Another track available on Emergency, 1981’s Firefly was Maurice Cavalieri (Who also produced Cosmic Disco favourite in ‘Nexus - Stand Up’) and Maurizio Sangineto aka ‘Sangy’ (Who was responsible for producing Passengers, Amanda Lear and Valery Allington) were one of the longest running Italo Disco projects, driven by Nile Rogers style guitars who released a number of LP’s through the 1980’s. It’s fair to say the band were tight! ‘Love (Is Gonna Be On Your Side)’ was entitled ‘Love and Friendship’ on the self titled album which is a ‘Good Times’ inspired number and was immensely popular at the time, peaking at no.49 on the billboard R&B charts in Spring 1981 but only after it was remixed with a change of title for it’s U.S release on Emergency.

D.D Sound - Burning Love

You may be more familiar with D.D Sound as brothers Carmelo & Michelangelo LaBionda who had the huge Cosmic Disco smash with ‘I Want To Be Your Lover’. In the beginning of 1979 they recorded under the moniker of D.D Sound, which stands for ‘Disco Delivery Sound’. This musical collective were primarily based out of Germany but their records were released on Italian label - Baby Records.

Revanche - 1979 It’s Dancing Time

Revanche was a studio project for Mauro Malavasi who was also a pivitol songwriter/producer for groups Change (For whom he wrote the No.1 hit ‘Searching’), Brooklyn, Bronx & Queens and also Macho. A self taught orchestral musician Malavasi formed Goody Music Productions with Jacques Fred Petrus (A Club DJ at the time) of whom he also worked with in the Peter Jacques Band. After returning back to his classical roots co-producing Italian artists such as Bocelli, Malavasi now works on the artistic production of soprano Karine Carusi. ‘1979′ is taken from the Atlantic Records album (The one and only Revanche release) ‘Music Man’ which contained only 4 tracks.

Easy Going - Do It Again

That man Claudio Simonetti does it again! In 1978 he decided to pursue a solo career and made a conscious decision to move from rock to disco based music. His first project was Easy Going on Banana Records. After initial success with ‘Baby I Love You/Suzy Q’ (Featured on the mini LP - Easy Going, where ‘Do It Again’ can be found.) Simonetti followed that up by conceptualizing an Easy Going LP that dealt with themes as strong as sex and even rape!

Tullio De Piscopo - ‘E Fatto ‘E Sorde! (Money Money) [Max Essa Edit]

Tullio is an Italian drummer/singer, born in Naples who’s father was also a drummer in an orchestra. After moving to Turin Tullio worked in several successful groups including working closely with Manu Chao and then moving on to write musical scores on several movies. It’s nice to see a different selection other than what is probably his most well know track in ‘Stop Bajon’, albeit ‘E Fatto’ is no doubt in a very similar vein. Max Essa has done a great job of extending the hook and chopping up the vocals to what for us is an even better version than the original.

Valentine - Tina Are You Ready (Instrumental)

Personally we would of like to have seen the vocal featured here as it’s the cod English lyrical content and dodgy accents that make so many Italo tracks appealing. ‘Tina Are You Ready’ is a 1983 production on Banana Records’ and the lyrics are actually Spanish. (I think???) This is a great feel good track that has an incredibly catchy call and response chorus that we defy anyone not being able to resist singing along to, which is a shame the vocal version wasn’t featured. Nonetheless this is yet another great reason to pick up this compilation.

Overall, this is an excellently compiled collection, featuring the various styles and tempos Italo had to offer us during the years 1977-1985. Due for release on 23rd June we’ve yet to read the sleeve notes and see the photos that will be included in what are always highly detailed booklets (This one has been written by Bill Brewster of DJH fame) but Strut once again go to great lengths to highlight this important footnote in dance music history. If Italo is still new to you then you won’t go far wrong by making this compilation your reference point to what is one of the most pioneering sub genres in dance music that can still be heard today from the likes of the Pet Shop Boys, Metro Area and Ricardo Villalobos to name only a few…

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