Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Bugatti & Musker: Complete!

Well, here it is: by special request, the entire 1982 album by Dominic Bugatti and Frank Musker, the movie-soundtrack soft rock eunuchs known for a brief and magical moment as "The Dukes." Aside from the soundtrack to Grease 2, you simply will not find this much Bugatti & Musker in one single location. Take a gander at the mysterious DJ promo cover (above) and you'll understand (maybe) why I decided on a lark to plunk down 99 cents for this.

Anyway, here's every track, lovingly transferred to mp3 from the glorious vinyl (with the occasional glitch), saving you weeks and weeks of waiting for the Japanese-only import. For your convenience, you can also download the entire album in one single .zip file. As I was telling Mr. Poncho earlier, the whole album has the feel of doing cocaine in the stereo department at K-Mart at 3 in the afternoon. Special!

Mystery Girl - The Dukes

Survivors - The Dukes (Fantastic use of robot voices)

Thank You for the Party - The Dukes (Essential Bugatti & Musker)

Memories - The Dukes

The Excitement of the New - The Dukes

Love Dance - The Dukes

Soul Mates - The Dukes (Note the use of quasi-African jibberish vocals, a cross between Lionel Richie's "Hey, jumbo jumbo" from "Dancing on the Ceiling" and Michael Jackson's "mammasay mammasa mamakusa" from "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".)

So Much in Love - The Dukes

Fate - The Dukes (This was a radio hit for Chaka Khan)

Nite Music - The Dukes (More robot vocals -- serious dance music for white people.)

or:

BUGATTI & MUSKER: COMPLETE! (.zip file, very large)

UPDATE: Turns out we're not quite complete here. There are some UK 7-inch albums by Bugatti & Musker from the late 70s that I had not accounted for, as seen here. Also, I found this Billboard article containing the only relevant bio material I could find on these fine fellows:

The story began back in the '70s when Musker was writing with Dominic Bugatti, and [music publisher Johnny] Stirling, heading Pendulum Music at the time, signed them. The duo penned a string of hits including "My Simple Heart" and "A Woman In Love" for the Three Degrees; "Dancing With The Captain" and "Grandma's Party," recorded by Paul Nicholas; and "Modern Girl" by Sheena Easton, plus successful cuts by Chaka Khan and Bette Midler. "Every Woman In The World," recorded by Air Supply, was their biggest American success with over 2 million plays logged by BMI.

Pendulum won the rating of top U.K. independent publisher during the early '80s and had a co-publishing deal with Chappell Music, including use of the latter's demo facilities.

"Those were stimulating days," recalls Musker, a Cambridge University law graduate. "Chappell had four studios on the premises as well as a musical instrument store, and you could also get Chappell executive decisions on your songs the same day that you demoed them."

... Meanwhile, Bugatti, Musker's collaborator, had gone to live in France. Musker moved to Los Angeles for 10 years, where he worked with Arif Mardin and Quincy Jones, among others. After 10 years Musker decided it was time to return to the U.K.

3 comments:

Zazz said...

man, thanks!
Seriously, this is some good skewed shit. jammin it as we speak!

Lefty said...

No prob. I just read your blog and you're pretty much a genius, so we're happy to keep you skewed.

deux said...

Bugatti Musker - So Much In Love (1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXj77woINhQ