RhoDeo 2119 Grooves

 Hello,  my current physical ailments were equaled by my internet connection, alas my body demands more attention therefore i just noticed that my latest post was still in draft, not anymore...


Today's Artists were an Italian Disco-Soul group, based in Bologna, founded by songwriters-producers Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi.Initially they started with guest vocalist Luther Vandross but soon after James Robinson replaced him regularly.In the same mode, Jocelyn Brown was replaced by Deborah Cooper as a main lead vocalist. ..  N Joy

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Change was a studio project, masterminded by Guadaloupean business man, Jacques Fred Petrus. Petrus emerged on the late-70s disco scene with several successful outfits such as Macho, Revanche and Peter Jacques Band, all recorded with Italian musicians and New York session singers. With the arrival of the 80s, Petrus and his musical partner Mauro Malavasi moved away from the pounding disco sound into a more soulful pop-R&B-oriented sound. Together with bassist Davide Romani and guitar player Paolo Gianolio, they laid down a number of Chic-inspired grooves in Bologna, Italy, in December 1979, and took the tapes to New York to look out for suitable vocalists. They found Jocelyn Brown (at the time known as Jocelyn Shaw), already a hot session singer and lead vocalist of disco group Inner Life, and equally in-demand singer Luther Vandross. Released in April 1980, The Glow of Love soared to the Top 10 on the Billboard Disco Charts, yielding the hit singles "A Lover's Holiday / The End", "The Glow of Love / Searching". It even became Billboard's #1 Disco Album of 1980.

The second album Miracles emerged in March 1981. Jocelyn Brown chose to focus on Inner Life, and Vandross - intended to become the official lead singer - disagreed on the fee offered by Petrus. Yet both of them continued as backing vocalists on the project alongside Ullanda McCullough, Fonzi Thornton and Kristal Davis. Vandross soon after enjoyed his first solo hit with "Never Too Much". Instead, Diva Gray and James Robinson took over the lead vocals. With the singles "Paradise" and "Hold Tight" becoming big club hits, Miracles was another smash and topped the Billboard Disco Charts while Chic - as Change was constantly compared to - ironically was far from the same heights, struggling commercially at the same time.

When demands came in for the group to tour, Jacques Fred Petrus was unable to gather the original musicians since all of them were too busy with other projects so he assembled a tour line-up to go on the road. While James Crabs Robinson remained the male lead singer, Deborah (Debra) Cooper was brought in to do the female lead vocals, and by the third album, a real line-up for Change was finally assembled, and for the first time pictured on the album cover. Being less dance-oriented, Sharing Your Love came out in 1982 - while still yielding hit singles with "The Very Best in You" and "Hard Times", the success wasn't as overwhelming, same for This Is Your Time (1983) which also saw key songwriter Davide Romani's departure, due to financial disagreements with Petrus.

When Malavasi and lead singer James Robinson went solo, Petrus was forced to look for new musical partners to keep Change going. The salvation came with Jam & Lewis, already with hits such as S.O.S. Band's "Just Be Good To Me" to their credit. Change of Heart was the resulting fifth album, 1984, which yielded a Top 10 R&B hit single with the title track. Unfortunately, the lucky strike didn't continue in 1985 with Turn On Your Radio, mainly written & produced by Timmy Allen. It didn't perform well, and when Petrus himself was murdered by the mafia in 1986, Change ceased to be.

Compilations and selected CD-reissues of the original albums revived the music in the late 90s. Janet Jackson also sampled "The Glow of Love" for her 2001 hit single "All for You". Most recently, Italian Fonte Records released a 5CD box in November 2005, omitting the Change of Heart album but seeing the first CD re-issues of This Is Your Time and Turn On Your Radio.


xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

To Change's detractors, the studio group was nothing more than a poor man's Chic. But knowledgeable disco and R&B enthusiasts knew better; Change wasn't a carbon copy of Chic any more than jazz great Chet Baker was a clone of Miles Davis. Without question, Change was heavily influenced by the Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards sound; nonetheless, Change had an energy of its own, and anyone who seriously listened to its first album, The Glow of Love, could easily tell the difference between Chic and Change (just as serious jazz fans can tell the difference between Baker's trumpet playing and Davis'). Produced by Jacques Fred Petrus and arranged by David Romani and Paolo Gianolio, this 1980 debut is a disco/R&B masterpiece. The playful opener "A Lover's Holiday" is Change's best-known song, but the group is just as captivating on the sassy "It's a Girl's Affair" and the passionate "Angel in My Pocket." Meanwhile, Luther Vandross is featured on "Searching" and the dreamy, laid-back title song, which became a quiet storm favorite and demonstrates that not everything Change recorded was aimed at the dancefloor. In 1980, Vandross had yet to provide his first solo album, although many of the people who heard his performances on those two gems agreed that a solo career was inevitable; and sure enough, his first big solo hit, "Never Too Much," came out the following year. Excellent from start to finish, The Glow of Love is Change's most essential album

<a href="https://multiup.org/5ebfc4e61ef898aab28182753ff7f317"> Change - The Glow Of Love</a> (flac   410mb)

01 A Lover's Holiday (A Jim Burgess Mix) 6:30
02 It's a Girl's Affair 5:32
03 Angel in My Pocket 6:11
04 The Glow of Love 6:15
05 Searching 8:04
06 The End 5:54
07 A Lover's Holiday (Single Edit) [bonus track] 4:14
08 Searchin' (Single Edit) [bonus track] 4:43
09 The Glow of Love (Single Edit) [bonus track] 4:35
10 Angel in My Pocket (Extended Version) [bonus track] 7:10

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Miracles was Italian dance band Change's first album without lead vocals by a pre-stardom Luther Vandross. Much ado was made about James Robinson taking over the lead vocal duties, including unfair comparisons. Lost in the discussion was the fact that Miracles is a very good album. Of course,there are strong Chic influences (they were one of the hottest acts around at the time), but taken on their own merit, Change could jam with the best of them. The chugging, thumpin' "Paradise" went to number seven R&B in spring 1981.The soul-tugging "Heaven of My Life" was the third single. Its flip side was the mellow "Miracles," a loving ode from a father to his daughter. Other highlights are the dreamy second single "Hold Tight," the smooth radio-aired "Your Move," and the sweet ballad "Stop for Love." Some 20 years later, hip-hop and rap acts Tamia sampled several cuts. Some of the LP's tracks can be found on Very Best of Change.





<a href="https://www.imagenetz.de/SX2Pa">   Change - Miracles </a> (flac  355mb)

01 Paradise 5:14
02 Hold Tight 4:32
03 Your Move 4:23
04 Stop for Love 4:12
05 On Top 5:13
06 Heaven of My Life 5:34
07 Miracles 5:17
08 Paradise (UK Single Mix) [bonus track] 5:14
09 On Top (Extended Version) [bonus track] 6:00
10 Paradise (Single Edit) [bonus track] 3:12

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Despite the album's cover being used as the group's image on many sites, Sharing Your Love breaks the run of geometric design covers for the two albums before it and the two albums after it. It serves as a bridge between the instrument-focused Italian-American boogie, disco, and R&B of The Glow of Love and Miracles and the urban synth funk / R&B of This Is Your Time and Change of Heart. James "Crab" Robinson has a voice and delivery I have appreciated from the Petrus / Malavasi releases. He does not disappoint here. Deborah Cooper replaces Diva Grey as the primary singer. Her best is a Diana Ross-type duet with Robinson, "Everything and More". The top 2 tracks are the opener, "The Very Best in You", which is very much in the vein of previous up-tempo tracks from Miracles and the deep, bass heavy soul of the title track, "Sharing Your Love" - it's right up there with the best of Change and Petrus/Malavasi - so for me an absolute platinum track.

<a href="https://mir.cr/ZBOYFM51"> Change - Sharing Your Love</a> (flac min 408mb)

01 The Very Best in You 5:41
02 Hard Times (It's Gonna Be Alright) 5:23
03 Oh What a Night 5:23
04 Promise Your Love 4:27
05 Everything and More 4:23
06 Sharing Your Love 6:03
07 Take You to Heaven 5:26
08 Keep on It 5:36
09 You're My Number 1 4:21
10 You're My Girl 4:08
11 The Very Best in You (Single Edit) [bonus track] 4:12
12 Hard Times (Extended Version) [bonus track] 6:12

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx