A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… well, actually not too long ago it was New Years Eve 1977, and it was New York City. So nice they named it twice. There was a club. The club was called Studio 54. This club was the birthplace of disco. It was the place where the famous and notorious used to hang out. A young Nile Rodgers and his musical partner Bernard Edwards rocked up to this club and they were turned away at the door, because their names weren’t down. That was immortalised in the song “Le Freak”. The original lyrics aren’t printable on a family friendly blog hahahaha….. But it’s stories like this and the original Chic sound that make me wish I could jump into my time machine Marty McFly style and hang out at this mythical place!
Why? Well this song tells it how it is. The guitar is playing all night (The guitar riff played here isn’t just a passing reference to Nile Rodgers and his hitmaker and I’ll tell you why in a second…). The drums are grooving away like a monster, the Rhodes, the horns, the bassline…. This could have set the dance floor on fire in 1977. You could say it could cause a disco inferno. It was a good year.. A certain sci fi film was a huge hit that year too. I reference it at the beginning of this review. Guess it right and I’ll buy you a glass of blue milk.
Honestly? I’m impressed. I’m really not dancing around my house…
Now. Where are my platforms and my afropick?
SoMuch are an Italian band who were officially born just before lockdown in 2020, and are mentored and produced by none other than the keeper of the beat for Chic Organisation (Yes – THAT Chic Organisation) Ralph Rolle. He became involved in the project when Roby, one of the singers in the band took the drummer Francesco to Manchester to attend one of Ralph’s workshops as a Christmas present – Ralph was very impressed and took Francesco under his wing as a tutor and mentor, the rest is history… This will not be the last you will hear of them….
