OTHER MUSIC DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE! The excellent, long-out-of-print second album from the Dance is finally rescued from dustbin obscurity thanks to this digital-only reissue. Like much of NYC's downtown scene, theirs was a cultural fusion of styles, blending the urgency of punk with reggae and a large dose of funk, but with a sense of melody that most of their skronky brethren lacked. Recommended!
I was rather surprised that the Dance didn't get much of a turn in the revival spotlight a few years back, when all sorts of reissues featuring names like ESG, Bush Tetras, the Contortions, et al. were popping up faster than you could say Ronald Wilson Reagan. Aside from a single track appearing on Soul Jazz's first New York Noise compilation ("Do Dada" -- off their first EP Dance for Your Dinner), I don't recall seeing the group listed on any other collection or re-release. But by no means are we scraping the bottom of the post-punk barrel with this offering. By the time their excellent, second and final album, Soul Force, had been released on the British Statik imprint in '82, the Dance had become a staple act at clubs like the Peppermint Lounge and Danceteria, and were bigger news overseas -- they even turned down the opening slot for what would be the Clash's historic gig at Bond's, choosing to tour Europe in support of their first LP, In Lust. Like much of the downtown music scene of NYC and elsewhere, the Dance's sound was a cultural fusion of music styles, blending the urgency of punk with dance music, reggae, and a large dose of funk, thanks to Louis Watterson's fluid, elastic bass lines. But the Dance also had an accessibility that most of their skronky brethren were lacking, comfortably balancing art school intuition with a sense of melody that might have broken through to the new wave friendly American market had a US label gotten behind them. Soul Force captures the band at their height. Having scaled back their line-up from five members to four, the group began recording this album while in London (the two bonus cuts are taken from these sessions). A much cleaner production than the somewhat murky In Lust, the Dance's lock-tight rhythm section provides a perfect pocket for singer/organist/steel drummer Eugenie Diserio's immediate, expressive melodies, her lyrics blending a sense of romanticism with everyday observations. (The first verse of "You and Only You" is reportedly inspired by an encounter between Diserio and Joe Strummer at a party.) While there is something distinctly New York about the band in their sense of experimentalism -- a la guitarist Steven Alexander's spidery, 12-string-electric leads and, at times, an almost free-style approach in the music -- the Dance would also sit perfectly between your Delta 5 and Raincoats records. (A friend recently commented that "Looking for the World" sounded like the B-52s' Kate Pierson singing with the Slits. I laughed, went home and put on the record and had to agree. I'm still waiting on his description of their Stevie Wonder cover of "Do Yourself a Favor.") Sadly, the Dance's story reaches a too-often-told ending. Soul Force never saw proper release in America, but band leaders Alexander and Diserio found themselves in the studio with producer Arthur Baker, recording a track for Island Records, which would only be shelved following a shake-up with the label staff. The Dance disbanded soon after, the various members going on to careers that range from painting and banking executive to Diserio starting a successful astrological web site. I can't imagine what it must be like for a group to finally see their album available in their homeland some 25 years after its creation. Thankfully, ReRelease has rescued the Dance from dustbin obscurity and into the digital age with this download-only reissue. For me, rediscovering Soul Force takes me back to those long gone days when I stumbled on late night college radio and was instantly allured by the exotic sounds of post-punk and new wave. This truly is essential listening for any fan of the aforementioned. [GH] (October 5, 2007)
LINER NOTES: The Dance SOUL FORCE - 1982
It was February 1982, The Dance was in London having just finished a fantastic tour of Europe "“ packed clubs, wildly enthusiastic audiences, lots of press, TV shows, interviews. Almost a year since the release of In Lust, our first album, it was time to start the next recording. We were pumped from the momentum of the tour, and had been playing great.
We booked a day at Basing Street Studios to record two songs for a 12" single, "Stay Down" and "You Got to Know". Both songs were extremely up-tempo and high energy, "Stay Down" a straight ahead rocker, and "You Got to Know" a sort of latin-flavored groove with a rock chorus. We'd been playing both songs throughout the tour, so we were ready to bang them out. Basing Street was a wonderful no-frills studio, and our engineer for the session, Nigel Mills was an absolute pro, great ears and intuition. The session went quickly, and at the end we decided to do a dub mix of "Stay Down" using the excellent tape-loop echo that Nigel had rigged up. So with all four of us at the board, we improvised "Dubbin' Down", which also went on the 12" single. Later, when we began to assemble the tracks for the Soul Force LP, "Stay Down" was the obvious opener, and we inserted the second bridge from "Dubbin' Down" to take the track to a new level.
Back in New York in April, we booked a two-week session at Celestial Sounds Studio to record what became the remaining seven songs of the Soul Force LP. Of those seven, only two were fully developed songs going in, "Past Is Past" and "You & Only You". Everything else on the record was worked up in the studio from a collection of song fragments, riffs and lyric ideas. Our engineer was Steve Addabo assisted by Cheryl Smith.
"Looking for the World" began with Eugenie's narrative and breathing track, and developed into an opiated excursion through an exotic downtown club scene. Danceteria, 2 am.
"Guerilla Love" was a straight ahead one-chord rock throwdown with a very funky bottom. The music tracks were kept simple and minimal to support the many tracks of backing vocals that glide and swoop throughout. Just before coming to the studio to record this song, Louis somehow put a six-stitch gash in his left hand, which apparently only served to intensify the funk (bad-ass indeed!).
"Tumble to the Power" was one of those magical studio moments when a jam becomes a song, and everybody in the room is completely inside it together. This song was an extemporaneous expression of the interpersonal and psychological condition of the band at that time (a theme that ended up being the subtext of this LP).
"Do Yourself A Favor", the Stevie Wonder song, was loosely worked up before we entered the studio. At the time, we were also working up "Higher Ground", a much more sublime song. No one remembers why we chose to record this tune instead. The brief organ solo/breakdown near the end is a cool moment.
"Past Is Past" had been well-seasoned on tour. Like "Tumble", it explored the precarious nuances of codependence and dissolving relationships.
"You & Only You" was a song that had been a real showstopper on tour. Originally, it began with a long churning instrumental intro. For some reason, that intro was dropped in the studio, and we began the song with the vocal. Still it retains its place as one of the most accessible songs on the record, with chord changes and everything. The first four lines of the lyrics were prompted by an encounter between Eugenie and Joe Strummer at a party.
"Soul Force" was another impromptu convergence, with everybody arriving at the perfect feel to propel the cinematic vocal narrative. Continuing the album's examination of perseverance and loss, this song transposes personal feelings outward to the external world. Its understated intensity conveying a sense of acceptance, it seems a fitting summation of The Dance's best and last record.
Twenty five years later, we are very pleased that this music is being made available again, and that the songs on this record can have a chance to ring true for a new audience, as well as for our "experienced" listeners.
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