Boogie Friday's Greatest Hits

Sorry, but I'm in re-runs again today. I'm not short of new music, just the time to write about it. But this here's a beauty worth doing again, one of the greatest science fiction disco records ever, in its even more fabulous 12" version. As originally posted back in August 2004:

Though this might be a very silly song it's an utterly sublime record. If you think this sounds like Chic (with a Euro flavour) then you'd be right; this was written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers at the time when everything they touched turned to gold, producing records for Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Debbie Harry, and apparently an album for Johnny Mathis which has never been released. Sheila herself was a French chanteuse who had a number of French pop hits in the 1960s in the groovy yeh-yeh style but I've no idea how she ended up working with Chic. I'm glad she did though, this is one of their best productions with that distinctive Chic guitar riffing and a terrific spacey piano sound that shimmers like a glitterball at Studio 54. I've owned a copy of this since it came out in 1979 and always thought her name was Sheila B. Devotion but have only just realized that it's actually credited to Sheila and B. Devotion (which apparently stands for The Black Devotion, the three guys singing behind her). You learn something new every day (and I should look closer at record sleeves in future). This wasn't a hit in the US but it got to #18 in the UK. I guess we're more open to strange French women in silver jump suits singing songs about spacemen.

The above picture is from the original video which you can watch at this terrific Chic tribute site (plus a whole shitload of other Chic-related clips.) You really should go see it, they don't make 'em like that anymore.

[Download]
Spacer - Sheila & B. Devotion