K-Chuck Radio: Roller Skating GROOVE TIME!

It’s approximately 1979 to 1983.  You’re at the roller rink and the music’s playing and pulsing and you’re skating around the track with your friends.  Great time.  Happy time.  And the music – it was five levels of excellent.  You could hear singers without Auto-Tune.  You could identify all the instruments – even if it sounded like the band had hired a 36-piece symphony orchestra.  And if you had a qualified disc jockey at the booth, you knew he would play your favorite records over and over again, so long as you kept the roller skating going and had a great time.

So here’s some classic roller skating R&B grooves from the late 70’s / early 80’s.  Did you go around the track with these songs?  Or, more pointedly, can you imagine yourself strapping on the quad-wheels and jamming to these classics once again? Or, for that matter, forget the roller skating – and just enjoy these fantastic R&B grooves one more time!

T.S. MONK
Bon Bon Vie (Gimme the Good Life)

T.S. Monk is the son of the legend Thelonius Monk; or, as Tabitha Soren once misheard, “The Loneliest Monk.”  A couple of my friends in high school had this album, and this was the big R&B hit from it.  Great stuff.

VAUGHAN MONROE AND CREW
Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll

Yeah, you probably heard this about 50 million times while doing the laps around the roller rink, eh?

CHANGE
A Lover’s Holiday

What if I told you that one of the members of this studio group was a guy named Luther Vandross?  Yes, THAT Luther Vandross.  No, he’s not singing on this track… but I can save those recordings for another K-Chuck Radio session.

CENTRAL LINE
Walking Into Sunshine

This isn’t the Eddy Grant hit “Walking on Sunshine,” nor is it the Katrina and the Waves hit “Walking on Sunshine.”  But there’s still plenty of decent sunshine with this song, methinks.

WISH FEATURING FONDA RAE
Touch Me (All Night Long)

You might remember hearing this song, but you might not remember this was the original version. You’re probably recalling the D-Mob featuring Cathy Dennis’ version of this song. Fonda Rae also had another hit, “Over Like a Fat Rat,” that got sampled like crazy in the New York City clubs.

JUNIOR
Mama Used To Say

Junior was an R&B singer from England; this was his biggest hit.  It actually cracked into the Top 40, but I think it was only played once or twice a week in Albany, and that was only because it was played on the American Top 40 radio show.

SECRET WEAPON
Must Be The Music

This is the perfect example of a song that’s 7 minutes long and it needs to be LONGER!!  Great song from a New York City one-hit wonder band.

“D” TRAIN
You’re The One For Me

Say it with me in your best robotic voice … “ninety-too kay tee you…”  Sorry, I’m just doing my best impersonation of the voice that did the WKTU radio station call letters, because right after that they’d play “D” Train’s “You’re The One For Me” every hour on the hour.

HERMAN KELLY AND LIFE
Dance to the Drummer’s Beat

I originally heard this song as part of a Double Dee and Steinski medley remix, and never really knew where the sample for that remix came from – until a few weeks ago. Sounds even better without the remix attached to it…

MANHATTAN TRANSFER
Spice of Life

This nice piece of pop confection from my favorite vocal harmony quartet features guest harmonica playing from Stevie Wonder. Yes, THAT Stevie Wonder. You know of other Stevie Wonders?

Okay, time to take a break, return the skates to the rental counter so they can get a couple of spritzes of Lysol – and it’s another beautiful day for listening to K-Chuck Radio!