S/D - T.K. Disco

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So I was in Miami last week and I bought the This Side of Midnight / Star Cruiser 12" by Gregg Diamond. It's on a label called T.K. Disco, and the record sleeve is a generic label sleeve adorned with a lush painting of a tropical, beachy scene. I found this interview ( http://www.disco-disco.com/labels/tkdisco.html ) with the label's founder, plus discography. What's good?

― lf (lfam), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 16:54 (twenty years ago)

I won a TK Disco 12" single on a fun fair when I was about 6. I've still got it back home in manchester, with that tropical island label on it. No idea what's on it really, it was probably the first 12" single I ever heard, and I think 6-year-old me probably got bored before it even got to the chorus. Never listened to it since.

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:00 (twenty years ago)

Everything on TK is good. S: K.C. and the Sunshine Band, George McCrae, the "Miami Sound" comp on Soul Jazz, T-Connection, Peter Brown, Foxy . . . just for starters.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:00 (twenty years ago)

Also S: "Blowfly's New Year's Party" 12-inch, Joe Tex's "Discomonia" 12-inch and, of course, James Brown's "Soul Syndrome" album.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:01 (twenty years ago)

Ohh man. There is a LOT of great stuff on TK and Henry Stone's various labels, but you can start with George McCrae's sublime "Rock Your Baby" album.

Matos to thread!

― Douglas (Douglas), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:02 (twenty years ago)

Timmy Thomas' "Why Can't We Live Together," Betty Wright . . .

Heh heh, I thought of Matos, too!

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:05 (twenty years ago)

yes to the Geogre McCrae. i've got the Peter Brown on my list.

what's up with this? LONNIE "LISTEN" SMITH

― team jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:05 (twenty years ago)

Great, great label - I've got several 12"s whose titles I will relate when I return home.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:07 (twenty years ago)

Blowfly's Dirty Rapp is great as it's the original to Indo Smoke

― team jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:09 (twenty years ago)

George Mccrae's Rock Your Baby thirded. It's more a long 12-inch single than album, not that there's anything wrong with that.

see wife Gwen Mcrae's Rockin' Chair LP, also sublime.

A five-star TK album is Betty Wright's Danger High Voltage.

On the obscure tip is TK session guitarist Little Beaver's (aka Willie Hale) album Party Down. Wish I could find a jpg of the original 74 album cover it's a hoot. George Benson goes disco.

an old friend of my wife's, the late Barry Bluestein, worked as a publicist at TK during the mid 70s. He told some great stories, such as the background vocalists improvising those classic "Uh-huh uh-huh's" live during the recording take of KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's The Way I Like It."

As far as KC albums go, I'm most familiar w/the greatest hits, though "I Get Lifted" is a great album track and club classic.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:25 (twenty years ago)

off the top of my head, Anita Ward Ring My Bell 12" and Herman Kelly + Life Dance to the Drummer's Beat (that one might be on a TK subsidiary)

Timmy Thomas and George McCrae seconded / thirded

― Renard (Renard), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:38 (twenty years ago)

speaking of breakbeat great Herman Kelly I forgot Jimmy "Bo" Horne's funky classic Dance Across The Floor. And Anita Ward...

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:42 (twenty years ago)

i've said it 4000 times before but George McCrae's "I Get Lifted" is one of my all time favorite songs.

― team jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:44 (twenty years ago)

does pappawheelie still post here? He and robin edgerton are the henry stone experts.

My fave-Queen Samantha's Take a Chance

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 18:00 (twenty years ago)

Did Steve Winwood really cover "Why Can't We Live Together?" recently? I'm drawn to that idea like I'm drawn to an accident scene.

― Confounded (Confounded), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 18:12 (twenty years ago)

Latimore, too.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 18:45 (twenty years ago)

I mean, he was on one of the TK labels.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 18:48 (twenty years ago)

Timmy Thomas stuff around the time of "Why Can't We Live Together?" is unbelievable minimalist dance music that could easily be appreciated by fans of early Suicide, though there's not much in common aside from early drum machines and a cool atmosphere.

― Dee Xtrovert (dee dee), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 20:07 (twenty years ago)

Marcello once compared him to early Scritti Politti.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 20:09 (twenty years ago)

aww man. i thought this was about a friend of mine who goes by tk disco. i was wondering how he could have been so modest and had enough stuff to warrant s/d treatment.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 20:15 (twenty years ago)

Timmy Thomas is certainly one of those artists whose stuff, when played, is guaranteed to stop conversation...it's that disarming...Kyle Eastwood (Clint's son) has also covered "Why Can't We Live Together"...

― hank (hank s), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 20:24 (twenty years ago)

A group called "Illusion" did a horrific cover of "Why Can't We Live Together" in the 80s.

― JTS (JTS), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 16:17 (twenty years ago)

a lot of TK stuff has been recently reissued by EMI as part of the $tateside imprint. some great stuff, gwen mcraes albums on 2-for-1 are excellent, then there is Foxy, jimmy bo hornes superb 'spank', little beaver's 'groove on' etc etc
2 years ago i would never have believed it, but i love this stuff now.

― mark e (mark e), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 16:49 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

Got McCrae's "(You've Got) My Love, My Life, My Soul"/"I Want You Around Me" today for $1. Nearly peed myself.

― trees (treesessplode), Sunday, 2 July 2006 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

I find tons of TK 12s in the used bin, but they usually are the same 6-10 releases by Foxy, KC & Sunshine Band, T-Connection, and Peter Brown...I'd love to find a clean copy of "Odyssey" by Johnny Harris.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Sunday, 2 July 2006 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

That's what I was looking for today, but alas-- no dice.

― trees (treesessplode), Sunday, 2 July 2006 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

Two of Swamp Dogg's best albums were on a TK subsidiary (GAG A MAGGOT and SWAMP DOGG'S GREATEST HITS, both on Swamp's own Stone Dogg label).

Equal time for James Knight & the Butlers' BLACK KNIGHT LP on Cat, which is really good early 70's funk.

And if you're into singles..."Santa Claus Is A Black Man" by Akim on the TK-distributed Simtone label.

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Sunday, 2 July 2006 22:41 (nineteen years ago)

Hah - there's loads of TK singles sitting in the sale bins in the record store I visited at the weekend.

I got Peter Brown "Crank It Up (Funk Town)", and Joe Thomas "Plato's Retreat".. But there was so much I wasn't able to investigate it all. I will revisit and check for some of the names from this thread.

― Bn1 (Bn1), Monday, 3 July 2006 07:58 (nineteen years ago)

Bargain:
http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/z/zzbestoftkrecordsvol1_101b.jpg

― JoB (JoB), Monday, 3 July 2006 10:42 (nineteen years ago)

T Connection - "Do What You Wanna Do" and "On Fire."
Also Celi Bee and the Buzzy Bunch passim.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 3 July 2006 10:54 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

Ralph MacDonald- I Need Someone/Discolypso 12"

I Need Someone is a nice slow cooker-- really love it. Discolypso is a bit bland, but a good discolypso nonetheless.

― trees (treesessplode), Tuesday, 18 July 2006 04:58 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

this faith presents tk disco as mentioned here :

http://www.bigchill.net/story.html?id=1295

is fine fine fine ..

tracklisting :

joe tex - discomania
john tropea - living in the jungle
peter brown - burning love breakdown
jo bisso - your love
mad dog fire department - cosmic funk (this is GREAT!)
timmy thomas - africano
peter brown - dance with me
ultrafunk - inidigo country
elis second coming - foxfire
george mccrae - love in motion
paul lewis - girl you need a change of mind
timmy thomas - freak in freak out
jimmy bo horne - is it in
seven seas - super jaws
peter brown - the singer becomes the dancer
gwen mccrae - 90% of me is you

comes with unmixed version as well.

― mark e (mark e), Friday, 25 August 2006 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

wow, awesome!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 25 August 2006 18:08 (nineteen years ago)

TK is so terribly hit or miss, but when they hit, they hit!

The main thing to understand is the dichotomy of Reid/Clarke early 70's and Casey/Finch mid-to-late 70's of course.

if there is to be a taking sides George McCrae vs KC Shunshine version of get lifted, KC wins for me (and for most sampling the track too)

― Sir Dr. Rev. PappaWheelie Jr. II of The Third Kind (PappaWheelie 2), Friday, 25 August 2006 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

so pappa.
seeing as i know little re TK other than recent $tateside reisses, does this mean you like this set on the mix or not?
cos i reckon its rather wonderful myself..

― mark e (mark e), Friday, 25 August 2006 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know every song on there, but most I recognize and like to a fair degree...and yeah, that mad dog fire track is incredible

― Sir Dr. Rev. PappaWheelie Jr. II of The Third Kind (PappaWheelie 2), Friday, 25 August 2006 19:45 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

Ish - Don't Stop

― gr8080, Sunday, 24 August 2008 23:06 (seventeen years ago)

apparently really fucking hard to find according to the dude at kstarke

― deej, Sunday, 24 August 2008 23:18 (seventeen years ago)

After Ish's days with Joe Galdo in Foxy, Ish was also the man behind Oxo and later, Company B

― PappaWheelie V, Sunday, 24 August 2008 23:27 (seventeen years ago)

eMusic just added the James Brown album, if anyone's in need of it. Classic.

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Sunday, 24 August 2008 23:31 (seventeen years ago)

I believe Ish left a comment or two on Youtube accompanying the Foxy "Get Off" video a year ago or so.

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 25 August 2008 13:36 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

kano - don't try to stop me

― plax (ico), Sunday, 14 March 2010 13:49 (sixteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV45KVH_KZ4

― ☆, Sunday, 14 March 2010 14:34 (sixteen years ago)

yeah, COMBI made a hot edit of that one. I like playing this one out too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIqi57xgdXo

― beta blog, Sunday, 14 March 2010 19:05 (sixteen years ago)

glad i revived!

― plax (ico), Sunday, 14 March 2010 19:25 (sixteen years ago)

ten years pass...

there are four TK Records threads on ILM, all started in the 2006-2008 period - those were the (groundhog) days.
they are all short threads tho, but this was the first, so here it goes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-d3ZsVBVGk
Jimmy "Bo" Horne • Let Me (Let Me Be Your Lover)

what a sound, what a jam

― Blick, Bils & Blinky • Let's Skip The Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Friday, 5 March 2021 09:13 (five years ago)

been listening to this one a lot lately too! root sample of stereo mc's "connected," which i also love.

― andrew m., Friday, 5 March 2021 15:33 (five years ago)

ahh the days i used to get TK Disco/Stateside reissues.

the compilation that they put out of Jimmys stuff still hits the spot.

https://www.discogs.com/Jimmy-Bo-Horne-The-Best-Of-The-TK-Years-1975-1985/release/2096468

― mark e, Friday, 5 March 2021 16:05 (five years ago)

three years pass...

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/obituaries/article296431094.html

RIP Steve Alaimo , Miami blue-eyed pop and soul singer/ producer/ songwriter/ exec who worked with Henry Stone at TK Records

― curmudgeon, Monday, 9 December 2024 22:25 (one year ago)

It wasn’t that long ago that I discovered Alston Records was named for Alaimo and Stone.

https://www.cvinyl.com/images/labels/alston1b.jpg

― Glam conspiracist (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 10 December 2024 00:14 (one year ago)

Oh Betty Wright does “Clean Up Woman” on that Alston Records image you shared . Cool

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 10 December 2024 03:06 (one year ago)

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