With the beginning of the 80s, the musical scene in Germany was mainly dominated by productions from the USA and UK – a state which was changed first with the upcoming of the Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW). In the meanwhile, another trend which should be later known as Italo Disco was on it´s way over the Alps…

The beginnings of Italo Disco can be actually dated back to 1979, when two young Italian musicians, MAURO FARINA and GIULIANO CRIVELLENTE discovered the energy-packed music of BOBBY ORLANDO and PATRICK COWLEY. Impressed by the sound of these artists, they recorded the first track which can be understood as the first Italo Disco track, “You And Me Tonight”.
In 1981, they opened their first studio (Factory Sound Studio) and founded the S.A.I.F.A.M. corporation to distribute their productions. Reinforced by sound engineer SANDRO OLIVA, they became one of the most successful producer teams in Italy.
Sandro Oliva wrote the first production of KEN LASZLO, “Hey Hey Guy”, in 1982 – but this track was actually released a few years later, as none of the distributors believed in a possible success. If they had known better…

While Italo Disco had already taken the Italian discotheques by storm, the first tracks began to appear in Germanys discotheques and radios in 1983. GAZEBO’s “I Like Chopin” and TACO’s version of Irving Berlins “Puttin’ On The Ritz” were very successful, opening the doors for more music from Italy. Italo Disco didn´t took any prisoners when it came to inherit other styles like Hi-NRG, Funk, Rap, Pop, Synthpop and even some Ethno elements, and so almost everyone found a track to like and listen.
1984 saw the general breakthrough of Italo Disco – while the NDW was almost dead and gone, the party people found a wide variety of Italian artists played in heavy rotation: RAFF (first single copies featuring this artist were spelled RAF, but since the rememberance of a German terrorist group using the same letters as an abbreviation still lingered there, the label thought it would be better to add another F), SCOTCH, MY MINE and others, followed by BALTIMORA, RAGGIO DI LUNA and many more in 1985. This trend was also fanned by a series of obscure 12”-megamixes called “Italo Boot Mix”, a clever play on words with the shape of this country and the fact that the first issues were actually bootlegs. A German label, ZYX Records, was the main distributor for most Italo Disco products in Europe and overseas.
The success of certain artists wasn´t also restricted to Italy Germany and Spain, as Italo Disco artists doesn´t had to be necessarily of Italian origin – a good deal of them came also from these aforementioned countries.
Last but not least, instrumental tracks became also very popular, performed by KOTO, LASER DANCE and HIPNOSIS, to name a few.

Interesting was another fact – Italo Disco was almost entirely “producer music”, some “stars” like DEN HARROW or VALERIE DORE were only puppets on the cover or the stage. No one took really any offense of this; Italo Disco was a product for the dancefloors, and the producers itself never claimed any deeper meaning behind their products (and the ‘artists’ were also clever enough to keep their mouths shut tight).
A community of only a few producer teams were responsible for the flood of Italo Disco products, loosely comparable to the heydays of the NDW.

With the upcoming of House Music, Acid House and New Beat, the days of Italo Disco were counted. A few producers and artists tried to jump on these wagons, but the success remained rather small. The final blow came with Techno – from this moment on, Italo Disco was completely ‘dated’ and disappeared from the charts and dancefloors. Recently, Italo Disco had a small comeback – if you like GIGI D’AGOSTINO and PREZIOSO, you might want to check out the origins of these sounds.

RECOMMENDED TRACKS (selection):

ALBERT ONE – Turbo Diesel
CRUISIN’ GANG - Chinatown
DEN HARROW – To Meet Me
DOCTOR’S CAT – Feel The Drive
EDDY HUNTINGTON – U.S.S.R.
FUN FUN – Happy Station
GARY LOW – La Colegiala
HIPNOSIS – Pulstar
KOTO – Japanese War Game
LASER COWBOYS - Radioactivity
LASER DANCE – Power Run
LEE MARROW – Shanghai
MARTINELLI - Cenerentola
MAX HIM – Lady Fantasy
MECCANO – Activate My Heart
MIKE MAREEN – Love Spy
RADIORAMA – Chance To Desire
RAGGIO DI LUNA - Comanchero
STAGE – Ocean Of Crime
SILVER POZZOLI – Step By Step
TOPO & ROBY – Under The Ice
TULIO DI PISCOPO – Stop Bajon

ITALO BOOT MIX Vol. 7 – Vol. 10

The only Italo Disco I know is that 'For your love' by Albert One and any other of the genre you put on that CD ya sent me :D If the rest is as good as that tune, Italo Disco kicks arse! :cool:

Interesting thread Wave! :thumb:

I have 'Comanchero' by Raggio di Luna and 'Under The Ice' by Topo and Roby - and both are great songs.

My other favourite was Ryan Paris with 'Dolce Vita', but I'm gonna check out your the rest of your recommendations!

Impressive knowledges, wave... :thumb:
The italo-disco was also important in Spain (another latin country). Can I join some titles to your "recommended" list?, Well, I'll do anyway... ;)

"Happy children" - Phil Lion
"Hypnotic tango" - My mine
"The world is you" - Miko Mission
"Living on video" - Trans-X
"Unexpected lovers" - Lime

And my all-times favorite: the cover that Raf made of Laura Branigan's "Self control".

(BTW, I didn't know he changed his name to RAFF... good point :thumb:. I think he's currently in active with the "old" name, Raf).

I share Wave's love for Italo Disco. I still listen to the different compilations and the Lime albums. My favorite Italo Disco song right now is Hypnotic Tango by My Mind.

Gigi D'Agostini's album is a great new album as well as Tiga and Zyntherius version of Corey Hart's Sunglasses At Night. It sounds so much like old Italo Disco.

So there are more italo-disco lovers than expected?. Great!. About "hypnotic tango", it's also one of my favorites (in fact, is one of the six songs I wanted to "join" to the Wave's list in my last message). BTW, I think that the name of the band is really "My mine"... a great song, anyway.
The italo-disco is coming back in the same way as the "disco" music in general, but unfortunately most part of this "returning" music is more representative of the 70s than 80s. :(

My Mine "Hypnotic Tango" has got to be the best italo disco song. i went out just last night to a bar downtown where the dj spun a wonderful mix of all this stuff plus he mixed in some old new wave and funky disco. was great.

i just got a lime 12" of "Say you love me" a few weeks ago too. i think "angel eyes" is my favorite song of theirs.

I have some of the other stuff you guys mentioned, but i'll definitely explore some of the unknowns.

thanks! :D

Hi guys!
If you really wanna now the best songs of italo disco
check my site http://www.italo.neostrada.pl and go to the section "TOP 100". The top 100 songs of italo were voted by over 90 persons!!
Enjoy the list
Marcin

I always liked the well known Italo disco songs by Gazebo, Den Harrow & Co. But i really learned something here, i would never have guessed that Valerie Dore, My mine or Trans-X belong here too!

Guancho, as far as I know RAF didn't cover Self Control but released it first. I read somewhere that it was not a cover version by any of them as the write simply sold the song to both and it was released by both in the same year. Don't know how true that it though. I like both versions, but if i have to choose it woudl be RAF.

My Mine - Hypnotic Tango is such a cool song. I've only heard it like twice 15 years ago and it still sticks with me. I also like Living On Video and everything I've heard by Fun Fun, especially Color My Love. I definitely need to track some of these down! Has anyone heard a song called "J'adore Danser"? I need to find the artist!

i think artist's name you are looking for is: MARK IMPERIAL.
Best wishes
Marcin

That sounds right, thanks Pistons!

Originally posted by BlitzKid
Guancho, as far as I know RAF didn't cover Self Control but released it first. I read somewhere that it was not a cover version by any of them as the write simply sold the song to both and it was released by both in the same year. Don't know how true that it though. I like both versions, but if i have to choose it woudl be RAF. :eek:The first version I listen to was the RAF's one... in the 80s I was sure that was the original, but when I listened to Laura Branigan's version I started to have some doubts about it (making cover-versions was a bad & usual habit in Italy and Spain in these years). After 10 years, "nobody" remembered RAF's version and everybody talked about the Laura's one, so I get the idea that she released the original song. I never had heard before about a "double & independent" first-release, but thinking about it, that sounds quite plausible (as far as I can remember RAF version was released in 1.984, the same year that Laura Branigan did it).
Same as you, if I have to choose a version, I prefer RAF.

Raff version is original FIRST version!
No doubt about it. Its confirmed by fellows italian dance collectors so you can be 100% sure.
Best wishes
Marcin

Maybe Guancho can offer some opinion here, but I just bought a cd called 'The Best Of 80's Italia Disco' by Ben Liebrand - and it's brilliant!

Tracks like 'I Like Chopin' by Gazebo and 'Just A Story' by Mike Rogers are absolute classics, and will be getting some airplay at my 80's party this year!

Great Stuff. Italia 80's disco is a wealth of untapped 80's music!

:)

Italo Disco is quite cool, huh? ;)

If you want to dig deeper, you may want to visit this site: ZYX Music (http://www.zyx.de/) (unfortunately, the international link doesn't work anymore, but I'm sure that you will understand terms like "Italo Disco" and "Tracklisting" :D) - in the 80s, Italo Disco and ZYX Music belonged together like the left shoe to the right one.

Recommended compilations (some of them features many volumes):

I Love Disco - Diamond Collection
80s - Precious Little Diamonds (though this one is not entirely featuring ID stuff)
Best Of Italo Disco
Blanco Y Negro Mix (it's been reported that the audio quality of some B'Y'N releases is not the best, but you can find some really rare gems there)
Dance On The Web
Flash Dance '80s Italian Style
Italo Rarities
Italo Boot Mixes on CD
Max Mix

...and the best of it all, Spirit Of Disco Vol.1 (Italo Disco Edition) remixed by Ben Liebrand - a true gem which became almost a cult classic upon it's release in Germany.

If you don't know how to spend your money...now you know. :D

Italo Disco is quite cool, huh? ;)

If you want to dig deeper, you may want to visit this site: ZYX Music (http://www.zyx.de/) (unfortunately, the international link doesn't work anymore, but I'm sure that you will understand terms like "Italo Disco" and "Tracklisting" :D) - in the 80s, Italo Disco and ZYX Music belonged together like the left shoe to the right one.

Recommended compilations (some of them features many volumes):

I Love Disco - Diamond Collection
80s - Precious Little Diamonds (though this one is not entirely featuring ID stuff)
Best Of Italo Disco
Blanco Y Negro Mix (it's been reported that the audio quality of some B'Y'N releases is not the best, but you can find some really rare gems there)
Dance On The Web
Flash Dance '80s Italian Style
Italo Rarities
Italo Boot Mixes on CD
Max Mix

...and the best of it all, Spirit Of Disco Vol.1 (Italo Disco Edition) remixed by Ben Liebrand - a true gem which became almost a cult classic upon it's release in Germany.

If you don't know how to spend your money...now you know. :D

Ciao Bello,

Love your work. I will copy and paste your writing to a Word document and send it to my friends back in the Belpaese. Just one note that you might want to consider: between the legends of Gazebo and Den Harrow and the more recent Gigi and Prezioso came a short wave of Italian hits that DID make a splash. The likes of 49ers, Black Box, DFC's Sueno Latino, and Double Dee were very big at the end of the decade, so much so that American labels such as Epic and 4th and Bdway signed them. All the best.

Ciao Bello,

Love your work. I will copy and paste your writing to a Word document and send it to my friends back in the Belpaese. Just one note that you might want to consider: between the legends of Gazebo and Den Harrow and the more recent Gigi and Prezioso came a short wave of Italian hits that DID make a splash. The likes of 49ers, Black Box, DFC's Sueno Latino, and Double Dee were very big at the end of the decade, so much so that American labels such as Epic and 4th and Bdway signed them. All the best.

Why, thanks - I'm feeling highly honoured!

Just a note on the "second wave of Italo Disco": at least in Germany and the UK, it was commonly dubbed "Italo House" - clever as the Italian producers were, they spotted a trend and pumped out a stream of their (quite good) interpretations.
I can remember the summer holiday of 1989 which we (together with my former g/f) spent in Bardolino at the Lago di Garda...there was a very cool radio station named "Radio Tremiglia" (I hope that I've spelled it right...admittedly, names like "Ferrari" and "Lamborghini" are coming way easier over my lips :D) which was broadcasting all the Italo House stuff 24/24.

My favourite Italo House track is still Starlight's "Numero Uno" though it never became a big hit here.

Italo disco as a music style is characterized by an oxymoron:
Its limited musical significance vs its high popularity, especially
in Europe (mostly Medditeranean & former East block countries).
Hellas is among these countries with hundreds Italo disco fan(atic)s.
Many of them are vinyl collectors who happen to possess rare material.
I myself like Italo music. I am not a fan though & therefore I have
a more objective view over things at least in my country.
As a former radio jockey (1986-95) & a music fan for nearly 25 years,
I gathered the most popular tracks in Greek radio stations.

Italo All Time Top 50 in Hellenic radio:

ALPHAVILLE-Big in Japan (Deutschland)
BAD BOYS BLUE-You're a woman (International, based in Deutschland)
BALTIMORA-Tarzan boy (Northern Ireland)
C.C. CATCH-Cause you are young (Holland-Deutschland)
CARRARA-Disco King (Italia)
CHARITODIPLOMENOS, COSTAS-Lost in the night (Hellas)
CRETU, MICHAEL-Samurai (Romania-Deutschland)
DREAM SEQUENCE-Outside looking in
FAIR CONTROL-Symphony of love (Deutschland)
FANCY-Bolero (Deutschland)
GAZEBO-I like Chopin (Italia)
GAZEBO-Love in your eyes (Italia)
GAZEBO-Lunatic (Italia)
GAZEBO-Masterpiece (Italia)
GAZEBO-Telephone mama (Italia)
HARROW, DEN-Bad Boy (Italia)
HARROW, DEN-Mad Desire (Italia)
HUNTINGTON, EDDY-USSR (England)
IVAN-Fotonovela (Espana)
LASZLO, KEN-Tonight (Italia)
LION P.-Happy children (Italia)
LOW, GARY-I want you (Italia)
LUNGHI, G.J.-Acapulco nights
MANDY-Fill me up (Hellas)
MARIANNA-Talk about love (Hellas)
MARROW, LEE-Shanghai
MARTINELLI-Cenerentola aka Cinderella (Italia)
MARTON, SANDY-People from Ibiza (Sandy is of US / Yugoslavian origin)
MIKO MISSION-The world is you (Deutschland)
MODERN TALKING-Brother Louie (Deutschland)
MODERN TALKING-Cherri Cherri Lady (Deutschland)
MODERN TALKING-You're me heart, You're my soul (Deutschland)
NUMERO UNO-Tora Tora Tora (Italia)
PARIS, RYAN-Dolce vita (Italia, written by Gazebo)
PIANO FANTASIA-Song for Denise
RADIORAMA-Yeti (Italia)
RAFF-Self Control (Italia)
RAGGIO DE LUNA aka MOON RAY-Comanchero (Mandy Ligios is of Hellenic / Brasilian origin)
RIGHEIRA-Vamos a la playa (Italia)
ROSS, LIAN-Say you'll never
SANDRA-Maria Magdalena (Deutschland)
SANDRA-In the heat of the night (Deutschland)
SAPHIR-Shot in the night (Deutschland)
SAVAGE-Celebrate (Italia)
SAVAGE-Don't cry tonight (Italia)
SCOTCH-Disco band (Italia)
SHARADA, PAUL-Dancing all the night (Italia)
SPAGNA-Easy lady (Italia / Ivana Spagna is of Hellenic/German origin)
TACO-Puttin' on the ritz (Holland)
VIDEO KIDS-Woodpeckers from space (Holland)

Some Comments:
1. Late Laura's cover version of Self control (1984) is superior than
Raffaele's prototype (1984), but it is not considered Italo.
2. FR David's Words is among the 10 most popular pop songs in
Hellenic radio ever, but it is not considered Italo.
3. The best Italo track as far as I'm concerned is by far I like Chopin.
though it doesn't represent the classic Italo sound.
4. Lime's Unexpected lovers is probably the most popular hi-energy song
of all times (along with High energy by Evelyn Thomas)
and is therefore not considered Italo.
5. Gary Low's cover version of La Colegiala is latin music (Calypso)
and is not considered Italo.

What about the group Cappella? Is this group considered Italo Disco? My fave italo disco would be - Peter Richards / Walking in the Neon and if Cappella is Italo Disco my fave song from them is Helyom Halib.

Chronologically, Italo disco as we know it, is placed somewhere between
late 1982 and late 1987. Typically you can include songs like Sabrina's
smash hit from 1988, Boys (Summertime love). But Cappella's song is
from 1989 & it belongs to another generation of Italian disco kings,
such as Mixmaster (Grand piano / 1989), Black Box (Ride on time / 1989),
Starlight (Numero Uno / 1989), 49ers (Touch me / 1990) and others.

What about the group Cappella? Is this group considered Italo Disco? My fave italo disco would be - Peter Richards / Walking in the Neon and if Cappella is Italo Disco my fave song from them is Helyom Halib.

Cappella were cool! I loved their song 'U and Me' :thumb:

One of the songs I heard alot was 1984's RIGHEIRA- "Vamos a la playa"

Vamos a la playa... la bomba estallo....ohohohooo!

Awesome beach song in spanish to play on the car while going to the beach!!!

I have at home a 12" of Moses with a song called "we just" and I believe they were also from Italy.The b-side has a longer version of the song with more singing in it and is called then "our revolution"...A great tune... :thumb: :clap:

Queen Samantha's "Close Your Eyes", cross btwn hiNRG and italo

What about the group Cappella? Is this group considered Italo Disco? My fave italo disco would be - Peter Richards / Walking in the Neon and if Cappella is Italo Disco my fave song from them is Helyom Halib.

Capella is what we call in Europe Euro Dance. The Dance music started in the early 90's.

THere is 1 very good Italo band missing in all those lists posted.

The Twins!! They are so great, the best italo song ever was made by The Twins, Ballet Dancer :thumb:

I play a few Italo Disco tracks on MidasMix from time to time. Among my faves:

Ken Laszlo - "Tonight"
My Mine - "Hypnotic Tango"
Fun Fun - "Color My Love" and "Happy Station"
Mike Mareen - "Love Spy"
Michael Prince - "Dance Your Love Away"
Laserdance - "Humanoid Invasion"