My podcasts often start with a single record, and I build out from there. For this episode, it was “Am I Losing You?” It’s credited to S.O.N.N.Y. (the Sound Of New New York) featuring Dooley Silverspoon and Jeanne Burton (sometimes spelled Geanne, later listed as Jenny, although I think that’s an error). I know Dooley and have his lone album. He was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him early disco act on the tiny, independent Cotton label (also the label for “Losing”). Dooley’s records sound as if they were recorded on a non-existent budget, as does “Losing.” He was paired for a couple of singles with Burton, who had one single of her own on Cotton.

I got turned on to it by reading Vince Aletti’s glowing appraisal. The only other thing I’ve found was a tiny, one-paragraph review that notes, “Melodically it’s all very obvious and predictable but there is a hidden quality about it all that cannot be denied. The more I hear it the more I get into it.” (The reviewer would go on to study commas in a second semester.) I don’t think the quality is hidden in the least. It’s the killer cello line that sure sounds as if it’s being played by Arthur Russell, as well as the way “Losing” builds from a quiet simmer to a furious boil, not unlike Russell’s masterpiece “Kiss Me Again.” And then Burton cuts loose to bring it all home. Aletti thinks she was told to go “full Donna Summer.” I love Donna, but I always thought the real magic in “Love to Love You Baby,” er um, comes because she’s so clearly faking it. I’m not so sure here.

Rumors surface from time-to-time of an extended mix of David Bowie’s theme from Cat People, released only in Australia. I disbelieved for a long time, but I did recently find a bootleg of it. This may be a con job—some repeated riffing with a pointless sax solo thrown in. (But then again, isn’t that often what an extended remix entails?) With Bowie demand being at an all-time high, if this were for real you’d think it would resurface legitimately. I was listening to this while the Republican convention shitshow was grinding away in the background. Bowie sings, “Putting out the fire—with GASOLINE!” and I think “There! There’s your RNC platform.” Idiots. And the Dame will always be prescient, God love him. He knew when to get out.

“Lady Bump” is one of those novelty discs that seems predicated on a dated gimmick, McLean’s absolutely feral caterwauling at the end of each line. (McLean was the lead singer on Silver Convention's “Fly, Robin, Fly.”) After “Lady Bump” hit, it was released with a different B-side, “The Lady Bumps On,” that was supplied for jocks to make an extended jam out of it, and I must say the repeated “Look at Me!” transforms it from novelty to perfect disco-era mantra. The extension didn’t end up on the lp, and I don’t think “Lady” was released as a 12". This makes it perfect for the seven-inch only series I did several years back.

And had I known “J-E-A-L-O-U-S” before now, it would have been ideal for my disco spelling bee podcast (as would have Jermaine Jackson’s S-E-R-I-O-U-S. Where was my head at the time?) By the time of this single, the Originals had moved from Motown to the San Francisco/Oakland–based Fantasy, a label notorious for releasing sonically brutal mixes. This one banged so hot that it all but fried the speakers on my laptop. It sounded so awful, I had to re-record it and tamp down the highs and the lows. It’s a shame. What you hear here gives little indication of how fierce this record truly is. If you want to rattle the foundations of your house, seek it out.

Sarah Brightman’s second act was to be in the original cast of the West End staging of Cats and then marry Andrew Lloyd Webber. I find all of it to be of a perfectly tacky piece.

I can find nothing on Martinique or “Bedtime Story”—not even a Discogs listing—but there it sits on my record table, waiting to be re-shelved. It’s on Elektra, so it can’t be that obscure. A disco take on Braham’s Lullaby, it’s charmingly ridiculous and the ideal way to close this episode. Sleep tight!

Love Is More Than Making Love—Lenore O’Malley ’80 ۴ Don’t Stop/You Make Lovin’ Fun—The Disco-Dance Band ’78 ۴ Rock and Roll Part 2/Some Kinda Wonderful—Joel Diamond ’83 ۴ Cat People (Australian Extended Mix)—David Bowie ’82 ۴ General Suarez—Tchou Tchou Combo ’75 ۴ I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper—Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip ’78 ۴ Sexy Thrills—Extensive Care ’80 ۴ J-E-A-L-O-U-S—The Originals ’79 ۴ Party Bump Part 1—Gentlemen & Their Ladies ’73 ۴ Lady Bump/The Lady Bumps On—Penny McLean ’75 ۴ Party Bump Part 2—Gentlemen & Their Ladies ’73 ۴ Love Starts After Dark—Gene Page ’80 ۴ Superslick—Wham ’78 ۴ Am I Losing You?—Dooley Silverspoon and Jeanne Burton ’76 ۴ Bed Time Story—Martinique