1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Funky electronica circa 1981, April 12, 2011
This review is from: New York Cake (Audio CD)
Funkytown Grooves are doing a fine job of releasing some of the lesser known nuggets of soul,funk and disco of the last 40 years and "New York Cake" by Kano is no exception. Kano are a revered Italian dance/electronic/disco group that formed in 1979 consisting of Stefano Pulga, Luciatto Nanzatti and Matteo Bonsatto. I had only heard two songs from them before this: Now Baby Now on Struts "Disco Italia" compilation and "Its A War" on Billboards "Dance Hits 1980" cd. "I'm Ready" was a massive dance hit but I have not heard that yet. "New York Cake" is a super mix of electronics, funk, exciting changes and energetic vocals. Starting from the top: "Can't Hold Back Your Loving" is a slick, track that turned out to be their only American pop chart hit, making No.89.It would have been perfect for the dance market in 1981.Next up is "She's A Star", a very catchy song that has some killer bass and electronics bubbling in the background. The vocals are very male but there are also the background vocals by Lella Esposito, Linda Wesley and Rossanna Casale who provide a sexy female atmosphere to the tracks. "Baby Not Tonight", not to be confused with the similarly titled track by Macho, is fantastic, a dark synthy intro and pingy synthesiser sounds, good vocals and an all round upbeat, fresh feel.It charted at No.3 in Italy. "Party" begins sounding like it could be on a porno soundtrack but is probably the albums low point...its not terrible, just a little slower and not so invigorating."Round And Round" is almost an instrumental save the simplistic girly lyrics "move your body up, move your body down, move your body round and round", but the track is quite funky and for those that are lyrics lovers, you have chosen the wrong genre! This is BODY music...Finally, "Don't Try To Stop Me" is as funky as it sounds, with vocoder, handclaps, bass guitars and their trademark keyboards bubbling away, a good song released as a non-charting single. The album peaked at No.53 R and B and No.189 pop in 1981, following from their self titled album in 1980 and 1983's "Another Life". The album is wonderfully electronic and I don't know what the music scene is like in your country, but here in Australia the electro thing is still quite popular and despite this album being 30 years ago, I can see appeal for it in todays market. For fans of elecro, early 80s funk and upbeat, energetic songs. FTG also included a seven minute 12'' version of "Can't Hold Back" that gives us a little more funk in the opening track.The original artwork is retained and songwriting credits are included.No liner notes, sadly, but the fact that this album is released on cd is a top thing.I will definitely be listening to more Kano.
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