Blowfly - Rappin', Dancin', and Laughin'

Name: Blowfly
Album: Rappin', Dancin', and Laughin'
Year:1980
Style: Rap / Hip Hop
Similar Bands: Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, Two Live Crew, Afroman, Sugarhill Gang, Kool Keith, ODB
"One-Word" Review: vulgar old school rap
Based Out Of: Georgia / West Palm Beach, FL
Label: TK Productions, Weird World

Cover, Record

Record, Back

Rappin', Dancin', and Laughin' (1980)

1. Convoy 7:15
2. Blowfly Vs. Darth Vader 7:40
3. Cricka 5:00 /
4. The Incredible Fulk 8:40 (single)
5. The Word Game 6:00
6. The Insects Theme 4:00

Album Rating (1-10): 7.0

Members & Other Bands:

• Blowfly/Clarence Reid - Writer, Producer, Vox (Clarence Reid & the Delmiras, Betty Wright, Sam & Dave, Bobby Byrd and KC & Sunshine Band, Helene Smith, Paul Kelly, Gwen McRae, Flea, 2 Live Crew, Deep City Band, Palmerforce Two, Funky Party Band, Miami, Le Coffret Ideal Blaxploitation, many)
• Freedy Stonewall - Recording, Mixing
• Marc Vaughn - Cover Photo
• Rob Vaugn - Art Direction

Unknown-ness: Never heard of Blowfly. Although most of what seemed envelope pushing in the 80's would seem more common place, the hype behind the sexually tinged name and the "X-Rated" classification on the cover & back make me think this is going to be some juvenile, suggestive hip hop music with basic beats and lots of lyrics about the singer himself. Especially interested to see the take on Blowfly vs. Darth Vader...is he posing as the hero, up against the villain? 

Album Review: The album is 80's old-school hip hop with familiar, laid back bass lines and guitar hooks and more talking in skits rather than straight up rapping over the music. But the lyrics are quite vulgar and raunchy; talking about dick size and hard sex, with "fuck" used ad nauseum. Unfortunately, there are no parodies of popular tunes here, as that is what Blowfly made his name for.

His nickname was earned from his grandmom, called him "worse than a blowfly" when he'd sing explicit parodies of radio hits like "Come on baby, and suck my dick (do the twist)" for money on a farm where he worked. He had natural musical skills, as he was an accomplished, renown song writer in his day job as a staff songwriter at TK Records, working with Betty Wright, Sam & Dave, Bobby Byrd and KC & Sunshine band. His mixed style of soul, funk & Caribbean helped coin the term "The Miami Sound." He was also a pioneer in "Soul Talking," the direct predecessor to rap, and might have self-pressed the first rap record in 1964 with a rough version of "Blowfly's Rapp" . Because of that, had to use the stage name Blowfly to protect his integrity. He was one of the first musicians to perform masked, and his gross parodies earned him legal trouble and record store bans (first artist ever?), which eventually led to him selling all his rights to his music in 2003. But in 2005, he signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label. His later career saw a couple more albums and international tours and even had a documentary "The Weird World of Blowfly" in 2010. But his career was a huge influence to many rap and hip hop stars on top of his material being highly sampled. in He passed away in Jan 2016, just before his final album came out. On a side note, his daughter, Tracy Reid played in the WNBA.

Stand Out Track: Convoy

Links:
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Foxy - Party Boys

Name: Foxy
Album: Party Boys
Year: 1979
Style: Disco, R&B, Dance, Island
Similar Bands: Michael Jackson, Kool & The Gang, Kid Creole, Bus Boys, Dr Buzzard's Band, Rockwell
"One-Word" Review: Ecclectic Island Partiers
Based Out Of: Miami, Fl
Label: TK Productions, Dash

Party Boys: Cover & Sleeve
Party Boys: Back & Sleeve

Party Boys: Record

Party Boys (1979)

1. Girls 3:26
2. Let's Be Bad Tonight 3:40
3. Sambame Rio 4:20
4. I Belong To You 4:18
5. She's So Cool 3:06/
6. I Can't Stand the Heat 3:10
7. RRRRRRock 4:14
8. Fantazy 4:12
9. Pensando En Ti 4:08
10. Party Boys 3:20

Album Rating: 5.5

Members & Other Bands:Ish Ledesma - Lead, Rythm Guitars, Vox Percussion (Company B, Mo Thugs, OXO)
Arnold Paserio - Bass, Backing Vox
Richie Puente - Conga, Percussion, Guitar, Synth, Back Vox
Joe Galdo - Drums, Percussion, Backing Vox
Airto Moreira - Percission, Vibes
Richard Baker - Piano & Synth

Skip Edwards - Vox Organ
Rick Kelly - Synth
Jack Kelso - Sax
Gerry Peterson - Sax
Rick Ash - Tape Tearing, Enginner, Mixing
Stan Johnson - Finger Cymbals
Webster Lewis - String Arrangement
Charles Veal, Jr - Concertmaster
John Van Nest - Asst. Engineer
Michael Nosker - Asst. Engineer
Bernie Grundman - Mastering

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of the band…in fact, I did not know if the band was called Foxy or Party Boys, since the title is before the name. But I figured it out since, obviously. I picked up this album because of the possibilities that the cover and back held. I like the color schemes and the comic vibe of the manager/show girl on the back, with the band’s images presumably on the back board. I was able to listen to a track or two, and I liked what I heard, so I bought the album for a dollar. But does the rest of the album hold up to the first two shows…I’ll figure it out now.

Album Review: “Girls” starts off the album, with some cowbell and jangley percussion and a Michael Jackson Off The Wall bass beat. It is a real catchy song that straddles the disco and r&b fine line, featuring a mix of falsetto and smooth vocals. It kinda sounds like the record is skipping; the beat just doesn’t feel quite steady, and is off in a jarring way. But it is a good dance song. A Didgeridoo starts off the next dance song “Let's Be Bad Tonight.” It features short simple guitar work and a disco/dance drum and bass beat. The synthesized vocal effects in the instrumental breakdown are picture perfect for 80’s disco-r&b. This is a good song too. “Sambame Rio” starts with 35 seconds or so of yipping, crowd and island sound effects, then a bongo and Samba/Cha-Cha islander dance beat begins with maracas and Kid Creole style rhythms. The chorus is a little catchy, and creates a relaxing vibe with its smooth groove. “I Belong To You” has a quiet ballad, volume raising string intro. This feels like Beatles’ instrumental soundtrack music. Then the smooth r&b vocals enter, and it is a lounge act sung over slow-dance disco. “She's So Cool” ends the side with a sort of countrified dance song. The twangyness of the guitar gives way to R&B with the high pitch & regular vocals of the verse. This shows a nice mix of rock and r&b, but not as good as the Bus Boys do it later on.

“I Can't Stand the Heat” infuses the electric guitar with disco dance, like Jackson did with “Beat it,” just more minimally. The vocals try to add a little James Brown breakdown, and then it is back to the electric guitar. The repetitive vocals end up being catchy, and they explore different melodies within the same basic bass/drum structure. The song blends with into “RRRRRRock” with some whistle blowing and rhythmic guitar playing. The song has a slow dance quality, similar to Rockwell or Chromeo. They use a good selection of synthesized effects, but they really could lose the annoying whistle, that just comes off like something you’d expect to hear in the Village People or something equally campy. It sounds like they were the victims of not knowing which direction to take their music. “Fantazy” features some sax in the intro, and it lays down a catchy groove. For some reason this feels like the verse to “I Want a New Drug” to me. The song winds down with the sax, and some swirling effects and deep sounding bongos. “Pensando En Ti” is a slow ballady song, again like the Beatles soundtrack instrumentals, all sung in Spanish. “Party Boys” is straight ahead disco, sounding like the male falsetto in the Bronski Beat, or Annie Lennox doing disco/R&B…but actually, the chorus leading up to the lyrics “Party Boys” sounds exactly like the line “Whether times are good or bad, happy or sad” in “Let’s Stay Together.”

Stand Out Track: "Girls"

Links:allmusic
wikipedia
dance music blog

discogs
Soulfunkjazz blog

Ish Discography