Happy(?) Valentine's

Remember how I was supposed to schedule out a couple posts for both mine and your convenience? Yeah, well life has a funny way of turning things around on you, so some IRL things have gotten in the way. But I ain't here to mope, I've been keeping notes for a little while about the semi-annual Valentine's post and now is the time to deploy them. This year, I've chosen to fully embrace the kitsch - we have a cross section of throwback French Touch, some Italo Disco and of course, a little Eurobeat to finish.

Burhan Doğançay - Sweet Hearts (1972)

If you're in need of a little pep in your step, this here post will do it for you. Kicking off with a refreshed relic of a time long past, long time readers of the blog will maybe remember Power Glove Records, headed by former writer Boba (who is still active, now under the name LUIN). I've been meaning to do a sort of recap post on the releases of PGR for a while - they're not hard too hard to find as you might expect given their age and netlabel status, but embedding them can be a little tricky. Luckily I've found (what I presume is) a reconstruction using the same samples over on Bandcamp. Subtly different from the original, but a prime piece of that 'French Touch' revival era.



Speaking of retro relics, Italian label Goody Music Records and its eventual offshoots and sub-labels have been doing a fantastic job of making tons of their catalogue available over on Bandcamp. Originally from 1982, Capricorn's I Need Love got the re-release/re-master treatment in 2019 - actually Claudio Simonetti of Goblin fame indulging in his disco side. It's quite a bit different from other 'Italo' stuff I've posted before, there's definitely more of an Electro thing going on here, which actually does wonders to make it feel pretty fresh. Behind the skeletal electronics there's some real funky bassline work going on which is a joy to listen to.



And of course, we can't have a loved-up post without some Eurobeat. It's almost cheating really, you can pick pretty much any Eurobeat release and find a tune with the word in the title - I actually put this to the test with the Eurokudos series below, I think of all of them that I opened there were only 1 or 2 without a single track containing the word 'love', and that's not counting the lyrical content. Eurobeat really does wear its heart on its sleeve: it has but one purpose - to be supremely catchy and invite you to dance, as you might expect from a genre evolved from Disco. And it succeeds a lot of the time, good luck getting the main vocal hook from this one out of your head anytime soon. Granted it can sometimes be a little too bubblegum sweet, but I think this one hits a nice balance between the two.



And that'll be all for today, a little shorter than I originally intended but I'm pretty happy with the selections, and I'm trying to get this one down ASAP before something else unexpected comes my way again. Still, I'll be back when I get a minute, even if it's just to share one single track. Hope you all have a lovely love day, especially with these tunes to accompany you. Until next time, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF