Baldelli Tracks

Woebot

Well-known member
If you haven't caught up with the massive resurgence in Italian 1970s Afro-Cosmic DJ Danielle Baldelli, well there's no time like the present is there?

Simon posted some links here the other day if you want to find out more about Baldelli:
http://blissout.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_blissout_archive.html#111902067097544726 one of which I found on an another forum linking to archived mixes available online.

But I just wanted to remark how "Cosmic" has become one of the hot search terms on eBay. All the time at the moment I'm coming across records described as "Cosmic", particularly on www.ebay.it.

I was wondering whether anyone had a good list of of Afro Cosmic tunes, and for my part here is a list I've got out of Bill Brewster's article in Wax Poetics:

Eno/Byrne: Regiment
The Monks: I can Dub anything you like
Airto: Celebration Suite
Visage: We Move
Sparks: Beat The Clock
Kissing The Pink: Mr Blunt
Edwin Birdsong: Rapper Dapper Snapper
Azymuth: Young Embrace
Monsoon: Wings of the Dawn
XTC: Its nearly Africa
Codek: Tim Toum
Roxy Music: The Main Thing
Liasons Dangereuses: Los Ninos Del Parque
Yellowman:Zugungguzeng (played at 45)
Gina X:No GDM
John Gibbs Band: J'Ouvert
Plastic Bertrand: Stop Ou Encore
Rose Royce: Fire IN the Funk
Mad Dog Fire Dept: Cosmic Funk
Rah Band: Electric Fling
Peter Tosh: Buk-in-hamm Palace
John Tropea: Living In the Jungle
Passport: Juju Man
Allez Allez: African Queen
Richard Wahnfried: Time Actor


Whats interesting about these tunes is that alot of them appear familiar. Its almost as though one's eyes glaze over reading the list. Yeah yeah I know that. But on closer inspection hardly any of them are in fact familiar tunes. I reckon this is because Baldelli was a genius at finding tracks "between the holes", lots of things he seized on were LP tracks, what look like b-sides, tunes from late in a certain bands career. His love of the German Sky label is a classic case of this. I've always dismissed Sky as a really patchy late post-classic Krautrock label. I remember Julian Cope describing it as kind of the elephants graveyard of Krautrock, where great acts went to die. Also lots of this stuff is almost archetypically naff (Passport! Azymuth! John Tropea!) in the most refreshing way IMHO.

What further interests me about Baldelli is his insistence that Italo Disco was an incredibly mainstream sound at the time in Italy. Baldelli would have been embarrassed to have played Italo out. This totally chimes with my own perception of Italo, which is that, in the main, it's horribly bland. It's comforting to discover an Italian who was uncomfortable with it and notionally to discover a functioning underground.

Blissblogger sent me a copy of a CD called "Cosmic Privee 08" which is excellent. Weirdly I can't seem to find it for sale anywhere, otherwise I'd post you a link.
 

Andy K

"______"
Recently went through the trouble of attempting to ID the tracks on one of his Cosmic mixtapes (#28, I think). He certainly didn't rely on the same bank of 250-300 records.

x
Killing Joke - Requiem
Mike Oldfield - Sally
x
x
x
Killing Joke - Change
Todd Rundgren - Healing, Pt. 1
x
x (Positive Force?)
x
Steve Winwood - Spanish Dancer
BT Express - Give It What You Got
Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill
Nick Straker Band - A Little Bit of Jazz
Talking Heads - Houses in Motion
Herb Alpert - Rotation
x
One Way - Push

Lots of holes, but still -- look at that! Steve Winwood?

There are mixes where I can't ID a single fucking thing, then there are others containing tracks I've heard hundreds of times. The 45-played-at-33 trick often throws me. Siouxsie's "Spellbound" trudging into Belle Stars' "Iko Iko," etc.
 

AshRa

Well-known member
Andy K said:
The 45-played-at-33 trick often throws me. Siouxsie's "Spellbound" trudging into Belle Stars' "Iko Iko," etc.

So is DJ Screw just a continuation of Cosmic then? ;)
 

francesco

Minerva Estassi
WOEBOT said:
What further interests me about Baldelli is his insistence that Italo Disco was an incredibly mainstream sound at the time in Italy. Baldelli would have been embarrassed to have played Italo out. This totally chimes with my own perception of Italo, which is that, in the main, it's horribly bland. It's comforting to discover an Italian who was uncomfortable with it and notionally to discover a functioning underground.

Matt did you just read Peter Shapiro Turn the Beat Around ? Wonderful book, innit. Anyway there Baldelli says the only ItaloDisco he would plays was Koto "Chinese Revenge", Hipnosis (covers of Vangelis and Jarre!!!), and the incredible Klein and MBO "Dirty Talk". So no Sabrina!!

Does somebody know if the Tantra "Double Album" was a Baldelli production? I don't remember (P.S. if somebody find a copy of this grab immediately and then make me a copy.....)
 
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Woebot

Well-known member
francesco said:
Matt did you just read Peter Shapiro Turn the Beat Around ? Wonderful book, innit. Anyway there Baldelli says the only ItaloDisco he would plays was Koto "Chinese Revenge", Hipnosis (covers of Vangelis and Jarre!!!), and the incredible Klein and MBO "Dirty Talk". So no Sabrina!!

Does somebody know if the Tantra "Double Album" was a Baldelli production? I don't remember (P.S. if somebody find a copy of this grab immediately and then make me a copy.....)

Must check that book out! is baldelli well known in italy francesco?

andy k said:

insane stuff isnt it!?! yes i mean steve winwood!

saw that scholarly stuff you did about jan hammer andy. baldelli probably played him too!!!!
 

mms

sometimes
this weird comp came out recently thats sort of euro rock pigeon disco that dj harvey has played out and badelli was big into etc blah blah
http://www.warprecords.com/?mart=cos01

it's not really italo it's a bigger more european sound than thats really unlike anything that's really been touched on in the house/techno end of things b4.
 

francesco

Minerva Estassi
WOEBOT said:
Is baldelli well known in italy francesco?

Well know and often namechecked by most informed of Disco connosseur, and also today still spinning record around (he begin as a dj in 1969), but for what i know and remember as a little kid discoteques was in italy first Saturday Night Fever and then in the '80 dance-pop (Madonna, Claudio Cecchetto productions (Spagna, Sabrina, Sandy Marton...), Jovanotti, Duran Duran...). Italo Disco was big expecially in Riccione or Riviera, by some of the same producers who would then create Italo House. I think the Cosmic was big locally, in north Italy Lake Garda, but unknow elsewhere.

I checked and found that Tantra "double album" was created by Celso Valli, also in some way often namecheked as "cosmic sound" but now is the Eros Ramazzotti producer! This review is very cosmic:

Tantra: The Double Album (Importe/12, 1980)

Dream disco at its dreamiest, as Italy's Celso Valli spins Braziliana, Afro-chants, electro-Kraftwerk, angel's choirs, rock noise spurts, flutey jazz dances, and love-and-kisses pretty pop into his private planetarium of delirium. In "Hills Of Katmandu," it's hard not to be intoxicated by the sheer aural lust.

Current Availability: out of print
 

kingofcars

Well-known member
celso valli is an untouchably brilliant producer.
the azoto stuff is almost as good as tantra. also passengers, musicmarkers ltd...loads of stuff.


the tantra album shouldn't be too hard to find. i got my copy for 8 bucks i think.
should turn up on gemm or ebay...
 

mms

sometimes
francesco said:
Matt did you just read Peter Shapiro Turn the Beat Around ? Wonderful book, innit. Anyway there Baldelli says the only ItaloDisco he would plays was Koto "Chinese Revenge", Hipnosis (covers of Vangelis and Jarre!!!), and the incredible Klein and MBO "Dirty Talk". So no Sabrina!!

Does somebody know if the Tantra "Double Album" was a Baldelli production? I don't remember (P.S. if somebody find a copy of this grab immediately and then make me a copy.....)



those hypnosis records (covers of bladerunner theme and oxygene
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ITALO-DISCO-P...oryZ2265QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12-Italo-Disc...oryZ2265QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

are truly lovely things - i almost play the bladerunner theme if i am djing house/disco etc have been for about 4 years or so - its gorgeous

tantra released that hills of katmandu record that takes up one side of the tantra album - best track and avaliable on repress everywhere remixed by patrick cowley
i guess this sound is what i was getting at in this thread
http://www.dissensus.com/showthread.php?t=1864&highlight=bits

my personal addition to it is this oft sampled record http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JEAN-LUC-PONT...757607415QQcategoryZ43691QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 

AshRa

Well-known member
mms said:
those hypnosis records (covers of bladerunner theme and oxygene
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ITALO-DISCO-P...oryZ2265QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12-Italo-Disc...oryZ2265QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

are truly lovely things - i almost play the bladerunner theme if i am djing house/disco etc have been for about 4 years or so - its gorgeous

Is that the same one as on Memory Boy records? Absolutely perfect record!

mms said:

OH YES!! :) :) :)

One 'cosmic' type LP that I can't get enough of at the moment is Supermax Fly With Me, very heavy, very druggy, part disco - part rock, mega-cosmic!

Seconded on the Cosmic Voyage comp too!
 

AshRa

Well-known member
There's a soundclip of Supermax here - most of what this shop sells is cosmic / Harvey and is great for checking out all the MP3s and sleeves.
 

mms

sometimes
AshRa said:
Is that the same one as on Memory Boy records? Absolutely perfect record!


no idea on that sorry .
but those ones are just cheap electronics - very brittle but the brittleness just brings over some really lovely aspect that's missed on the rather baroque original/

i guess this stuff is the road less travelled - when i was 12-13 and heard acid for the first time i made every attempt to try and get hold of some more - one thing i taped off a mates elder brother was baleric beats vol one which had the residents, mandy smith, nitzer ebb etc on the same comp , the same lads were all big fans of al di meola, pat metheny and all that shit incidentally
 
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AshRa

Well-known member
Looks like i've just got an edit it's the brutal bleepiness that hooks you in isn't it? I've been listening to the "Escape From New York" theme quite a bit recently too, for that same proto-techno hit :)
 

mms

sometimes
AshRa said:
Looks like i've just got an edit it's the brutal bleepiness that hooks you in isn't it? I've been listening to the "Escape From New York" theme quite a bit recently too, for that same proto-techno hit :)

well yes, but the melody is special and so stripped down it feels naked - feels like it should have some special effect :) same deal tho - same label as the label that put out the assault on precinct 13 disco mix too :)
 

mms

sometimes
none of those mixes on that site woebot posted seem to download at all - am i missing something?

overall im not that safe in this stuff,no bass.
but i'd like to hear the things anyway! :)
 

kingofcars

Well-known member
hipnosis' version of the blade runner theme does appear (uncredited) on memory boy's 'no electricity' ep. 'high energy' by high energy is the other uncredited italo track on the record (very good song!).
selway also put out a decent italo bootleg around the same time, w/ gay cat park, shock, magnifique....

magnifique's 'magnifique' actually is another good cosmic styled track. one of the tripiest disco songs ever. walls of reverb, ethereal vocals....really beautiful.
morgan geist put out a cover version earlier this year, but it was a little lacking....

assault on precinct 13 is crucial! LOTS of cover versions of this floating around (bambaataa, legowelt, the italo version, 2-3 others...)
70's and 80's sci fi and horror clearly had a lot of impact on early electronic dance music...
 

AshRa

Well-known member
kingofcars said:
assault on precinct 13 is crucial! LOTS of cover versions of this floating around (bambaataa, legowelt, the italo version, 2-3 others...)

IT'S A MEGABLAAAST!
 

dannyDMX

Member
they're not all still up, but the mp3 "blog" bumrocks:

http://www.bumrocks.com/

has posted a bunch of these tracks, lots of cosmic, italo instrumentals etc. Pretty consistently good stuff and I'm sad I started checking it out so late.

I downloaded the Baldelli mixes from Gomma and love them, happy to hear an Antenna track, Achilles, but at the wrong speed it took me an hour to realize what it was.
 
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