Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 163rd episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud and Twitch TV socials on February 20th 2024.
About this show. – Sometimes, and this is also something I learned thanks to Colleen, it's okay to simply let the silence speak... This is how I feel today for a Lot of Good and Important reasons... On February 14th 2024, Colleen shared with us this message. I feel it belongs here...
"Today is the 54th anniversary of David Mancuso’s Loft parties and I woke up reflecting upon David’s impact upon my life. When David asked me to be ‘chair wo/man’ of The Loft, he wrote, ‘You are the best person for it. You have proven to be a good friend to me and the Loft. You are also involved in the music scene - dj/producer/owner of a dance business/audio awareness….the list goes on. You have all the ‘know how’s’ as I do with all aspects and are faithful to the principals. Also you are a woman and this give the ‘yin-yang’ balance to the over all concepts.’ It was important to David that I build my own musical worlds and these are a few of the things he taught me...
The Life Energy of Music - David and I listened to records together for hundreds of hours and he taught me that even if a record is particularly cool for the moment all that matters is whether it can convey a healing force. He transformed the way I listen to music.
Sonics - David pointed out how to closely listen to the EQ of the mix and the mastering and the quality of the pressing. All three processes must be done correctly so that the music can sing and come alive as great sound systems don’t lie.
Deep Listening - Classic Album Sundays is a culmination of my musical vocation (record shops, radio shows, interviews, journalism, sound production) but David taught me about audiophile sound and listening to music in the way the artist intended.
Community - David built a global Loft family and inspired people to do their own thing and more importantly, create friendships beyond borders. Balearic Breakfast is also a global family - duly noted during my recent travels in Oz and New Zealand - and has inspired listeners to DJ, make playlists, and create a community blog. I’m so proud.
Safe Sound - David once told me that good sound is a human right. So is safe sound and that’s why your ears do not ring when you leave a Loft party. In tribute to David and to celebrate this year’s anniversary, I’m getting a hearing test this weekend. Watch this space.
Love saves the day."
And, as far as this very episode is concerned, Colleen shared this post with us, today: "On this week's show we pay tribute to The Loft, the party started by my dear friend David Mancuso 54 years ago on the 14th February 1970. I asked members of the worldwide Loft community to contribute a song and a story and on this show we are joined by many including DJ Will of Carry Nation, Paul and Barbie of Love Injection, Jeannie Hopper of Liquid Sound Lounge, wonderboy producer / engineer Chris Berg and one of house music's finest pioneers, Yvonne Turner. We also have a beautiful story from Richard Horstman, David's nephew and the Administer of the David Mancuso Estate. And I also share the last piece of music that David and I listened to together. Thanks for joining me, thanks for listening and Love Saves the Day."
Listen back to the 163rd episode of Balearic Breakfast:
THE PLAYLIST
Nina Simone – Here Comes the Sun
Ahmad Jamal – Poinciana
Donald Byrd – Love Has Come Around
Groove Collective – She's So Heavy
Dexter Wansel – Life on Mars
Crown Heights Affair – Say a Prayer for Two
James Wells – True Love is My Destiny
Beautiful Bend – Make That Feeling Come Again/ Ah - Do It
Fussy Cussy – La Vita
Frankie Knuckles ft. Nicki Richards – Keep on Movin' (Danny Krivit's La Familia Re-Edit)
Ashford & Simpson – Bourgie Bourgie (Joe Claussell's Classic Remix)
Diana Ross – The Boss
Morgana King – A Taste of Honey
THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE
Our Joy was pure today; our Joy was strong for many important reasons. First of all, Adam & Colleen came back from touring the southern hemisphere. So we were happy as can be to have them back and seeing Colleen in her record room really felt Good! We missed that space, that's for sure! Also, we were celebrating the Family spirit that literally took off with Colleen's help, allowing some members of the Family to propose mixes of their own under Colleen's musical impulse while she was travelling; some of us doing it for the first time ever as Bert said it "I was really honoured to be a participant in the mixes during Cosmo's break and enjoyed everyone's mix sets, it's the first time I have done anything like that". It was so great hearing how our friends rock their own Balearic Boats! We all loved that very, very much! Last, but not least, we were celebrating the Loft's 54 Anniversary with Colleen in today's show but also the Superbowl! As Bert put it, "There's so much to celebrate: Love Saves the Say anniversary, the lunar new year, Mardi Gras, and the Swifties team winning the Superbowl. :-)". There you go, here's our Happiness ^^ I think you can understand why I could not add anything to that Feeling...
This show is one to keep for your records... A beautiful musical selection made by people who have experienced the Loft, who actually met David or who are part of his Family (Richard Horstman, David's nephew, joined us today), full of short stories and Musical memories alike. An essential episode if you ask me! We even had the pleasure of having Pete Blaker with us. I can't be happier than today, can I? OK. Let's dive into Music now!
Starting the show with Nina Simone's – Here Comes the Sun [1971-Discogs], Colleen shares with us from the very start one of David's most beloved tracks; if my memory serves me well, David did play that one at the end of some of the Loft's parties as a new day was dawning... I just came to realise that Nina's version has a very ethereal touch to the song. Her version could represent someone waking up in heaven and walking towards a new and eternal journey, and it seems I am not the only one feeling this way: "Nina Simone lays down the gauntlet with the opening, titular track, taken from the catalog of the Certified Greatest Rock Band Who Ever Lived. Simone blows them clean out of the water. The original “Here Comes the Sun” is a stoned, lazy, good-vibes kind of a song. “It’s alright,” George Harrison sings, but he doesn’t make it sound too much better than that. Simone takes it a couple hundred miles further. Her jazz training kicks in, and she hits strange notes few pop artists could even find on the scale, bouncing around in patterns well divorced from the usual pop melodies. She warps the Beatles’ descending phrase, ending on a high note she seems to reach for as if she was reaching for the sun itself. By the last chorus, she hits the edge of her range and holds it for a mood of transcendent yearning that gives me chills. When she says, “It’s alright,” it’s not a good vibe, it’s a hard-won victory. You really believe “It’s been years since it’s been here.”". Beautiful show opener, of course!
Then, Ahmad Jamal – Poinciana [1958-Discogs], a track that was played during the first London loft party (listen to it here - I tried a first restoration of that party but did not keep it as I was unsatisfied with the result; I am working on a new edition as I speak...), reminds us that the Loft embraced all musical genres, thus being absolutely Balearic in its own right! For the next song, Colleen took us right back to 1984, when David Held his last Loft Party at Prince St. with Donald Byrd – Love Has Come Around [1981-Discogs]!
The first Wow effect of the show came with the incredible cover of a Beatle's Classic:
Groove Collective – She's So Heavy [1996-Discogs]. What a mesmerizing musical moment that was! If you want to listen to a much different and heavier version, Halestorm is waiting for you just here. There's also something in Colleen's voice that was so Joyful in that 163rd episode; she was glowing, and you should have seen her dancing; my goodness gracious, I think we were all on fire just as she was as she swayed during Dexter Wansel – Life on Mars [1976-Discogs]!
Listen to the Loft Special (with M. Riley & D. Wansel):
Keeping the groove on, Colleen took us away with another track played at Prince St. in 1984, with Crown Heights Affair – Say a Prayer for Two [1978-Discogs]! I remember sharing my thoughts on the chat about how much the Klipschorns were the only loudspeakers that were able to truly reproduce detailed information from the lower sonic register, being then joined by Popdiscorules, who said that the Klipschorns sounded even better lately at the new London Loft's location!
Colleen's mixing was Joyful, too; you can clearly hear that as she launched the beautiful James Wells – True Love is My Destiny [1978-Discogs]! While surfing on the net, searching for information about that very song, I stumbled on Ian Levine's Bandcamp page and decided to share here the text that goes with it: "When British producer Ian Levine saw the soul group 100% Poison live in concert in 1974 he was immediately impressed by the outrageous lead singer, a flamboyant gay man from Chicago, James Wells. Due to contractual reasons Levine had to wait another two years before being able to sign him up for a deal at Polydor Records where they released 4 singles during 1976 and 1977. By March 1978 Levine had completed their first album, My Claim To Fame. "My music publisher, Mike Collier, took me over to Los Angeles, and he set up lots of appointments there for us, with just about every major record company in the city," said Levine. We played our album to fourteen different record companies, but shockingly, all of them passed on it, without any hesitation at all, making it blatantly obvious that they were not even remotely interested. On the other hand, Rick Gianatos himself was utterly one hundred percent convinced that it was a smash hit album, and he took it straight over to his colleague, Ray Harris, over at AVI Records. He persuaded Ray to sign it there and then on the spot." By October 1978, My Claim To Fame peaked at #4 on the Billboard Disco Charts, selling a phenomenal 100,000 copies. True Love Is My Destiny was another much-played track from the album (later CD versions of the album included a 9-min. edit, my video includes the full version of nearly 13 minutes). I have expanded the album with the track Never Let Go that was originally left off as Gianatos could not stand Wells's wailing vocal on top of it. He eventually stripped the lead vocal, and the track was released with the backing vocals only under the name Eastbound Expressway, giving Levine another disco hit record. Wells himself went on to record a second album, Explosion, in 1979 and another couple of sides with Levine in the mid-80s. Sadly, he passed away around 1990 from an AIDS-related disease. Here's to his "Claim To Fame".
One of the things I adore about Balearic Breakfast is discovering new music. I was ecstatic when hearing James Wells; I went down on my Knees when discovering Beautiful Bend – Make That Feeling Come Again/ Ah - Do It [1978-Discogs], laughs! By the way, as a single, the track was issued on the great T.K. Disco Label! What a way to start the second hour of the show (click here to listen to one of Yvonne Turner's great mixes – thanks, Kieran, for the link🌞)! Keeping the rhythm steady, Colleen then plays another well-known Loft Classic, Fussy Cussy – La Vita [1976-Discogs], nicely followed by the incredible Frankie Knuckles ft. Nicki Richards – Keep on Movin' (Danny Krivit's La Familia Re-Edit) [2001-Discogs]!
How do you end a show like this one? Well, simply by adding classics that open up your mind, setting the right mood to start the day (or to end it depending on your time zone, laughs!), and Ashford & Simpson – Bourgie Bourgie (Joe Claussell's Classic Remix) [2017-Discogs] is, of course, one of them (I just discovered that the song's title is a reference to the French word "Bourgeoisie", "Bourgie" designing, in slang, someone aspiring to be a higher class than he is), followed by Diana Ross – The Boss [1979-Discogs]. Produced by our beloved duo Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the song (and the album of the same name from which it is being taken) helped Diana Ross to kick the charts again after a few years of "Calmness" (do you feel how Colleen is working? There's a hint right there ^^).
Every dream has got to end, but, as I said, when you choose your tracks wisely, you can convey the right feeling... Ending the show with a falling feather, Morgana King – A Taste of Honey [1964-Discogs] reminds us of important things in our lives and how eternal they can become...
Thank you again Colleen ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ and thank you everyone who continues to support Colleen as she continues to help carry on the Legacy of my Uncle David and his TRUE LOFT TRADITIONS and memories. Much love to everyone ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈
Richard Horstman
