Tuesday Tune: "Warm in the Shadows" by Music Go Music

With "Warm in the Shadows," L.A. troubadours Music Go Music have resurrected the summer of 1977 and Tony Manero.  Forget you're reading this on the Internet--close your eyes and you'd swear that this 2009 release was lifted straight off the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack.  With its thumping beat, tambourines and Gala Bell's Blondie-channeling lead vocals, it's enough to make a guy want to pull his white leisure suit out of mothballs.

"Gala Bell" is actually the stage name for Meredith Metcalf, the willowy singer with America's Next Top Model looks who, along with her husband David (aka "Kamer Maza"), founded the group on a whim several years ago with bassist Adam Siegel (aka "TORG").  Their reputation for glitter-ball, synth-driven, retro feel-good has grown steadily ever since.

Lyrically, "Warm in the Shadows" is like a bowl of cheese oatmeal:
     What kind of heart would break so easy as my own?
     Who could thaw the marrow of my frozen bones?
     What kind of heart would lead me out into the dark?
     Who would throw my body to the night?
But there's something unavoidably catchy about the all-embracing love of the club beat that made the 70s and 80s so good (or, depending on your viewpoint, worthy of public burning at Comiskey Park).

This user review on Amazon of Music Go Music's debut album Expressions sums it up pretty nicely: "Do not buy this album if you do not like to have fun!  Stay away if you are offended by danceable rhythms, compelling lyrics and lush tapestries of orchestrated awesomeness.  Please, for the love of god, do not even think about previewing this album if you think the '70's are dead, mouldering in the ground and condemned to the inequity of obsolescence."  Or, as The Guardian puts it: "(Music Go Music is) a DayGlo reviviscence of 1970s pop so overblown it could make Scissor Sisters look folksy."

Music Go Music carries on that sunny-Seventies vibe with another of my favorites: "Light of Love," which unabashedly channels ABBA.

My one complaint with "Warm in the Shadows" is that, at 9:41, it goes on a little too long.  I get a little restless around the seven-minute mark.  For others, ten minutes might be just enough time to work all the right moves on the dance floor, silk shirt unbuttoned to the navel and hair floppy with sweat.  In which case, whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother, boogie on until your mirror balls break.



If you'd like to purchase "Warm in the Shadows" from Amazon, CLICK HERE.