A1 We Did It 7:08
A2 Disco Stomp 10:00
B1 Barney's Moaning 8:39
B2 G.G. Is Talking 7:55
The Star Beams album is a bit of an enigma. When we first
came across their epic dance-floor monster 'Disco Stomp’ it
was on a Disco Calypso compilation, so we assumed it
originated from the Caribbean. Years later we worked out how
wrong we were and that this nugget was actually from South
Africa and taken off an ultra scarce album on JAS Pride
records from 1976. The next problem was tracking down an
original copy and we don’t think we’ve ever seen our Bongo
team member Gary Johnson as happy as the day he turned up
clutching a copy under his arm.
'Play Disco Specials' was produced by Ray Nkwe who also
worked with Mankunku Quartet and The Soul Jazzmen, with all
writing credits on the album going to Ray, the recording
credited to engineer Robin Ritchie and the artwork to Carol
Knowles. Other than this, the personnel of the record remains
a mystery, but sometimes a bit of mystery is a good thing.
Aside from the disco-jazz-funk of 'Disco Stomp’, which has
found it’s way into the DJ sets of Theo Parrish, 'Play Disco
Specials’ will appeal to fans of The Star Beams South African
contemporaries The Drive, Batsumi and Pacific Express.
[S-404008]
[S-024012]
