February 14, 2018

Casablanca Records ~ Disco Daze 3





        


Casablanca was the major label for disco music in the late 70's.




Casablanca record sleeve
photo by Styrous®
 

         
Casablanca Records was an American recording label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. It was founded in 1973 by former Buddah Records executive Neil Bogart, who named the label in homage to the classic film, Casablanca, and was based in Los Angeles in Southern California, The label became most successful as a disco label in the 1970s and currently operates as an electronic dance music label under the direction of Tommy Mottola.    
               
The Casablanca Label launched the careers of KISS, Donna Summer*†, Meco*†, Parliament, The Funkadelics*†, Angel and the Village People. It also recorded Cher, The Sylvers, Buddy Miles, Giorgio Moroder*†, Santa Esmeralda*† and many others.




Kiss was the first group to be signed by Casablanca. It released three albums by the group: Kiss (1974), Hotter Than Hell (1974), and Dressed to Kill (1975), but all failed to make an impact on the charts, however, the glam rock band did amass a following. However, it was NOT a disco album.  


Kiss - Kiss (1974)
vinyl LP cover 
 cover photo by Joel Brodsky
photo of album cover by Styrous®


Although the band's studio albums had not been strong sellers, the band had a reputation for performing exciting live shows. Casablanca decided to try to capitalize on that reputation by releasing the double-live Alive! (1975) album. It became both Casablanca's and Kiss's first top ten album, being certified gold.     

The Kiss follow-up studio albums to Alive! were better sellers than its previous studio albums. Destroyer (1976), Rock and Roll Over (1976), and Love Gun (1977) were all certified platinum in the United States. The band would release several more albums, with its last studio album on Casablanca being Creatures of the Night (1982).      




In 1975, Casablanca signed a new artist named Donna Summer and released her album entitled Love to Love You Baby which was certified gold. I will never forget this song; it was my introduction to the world of DISCO!  


vinyl LP cover 
 cover photo/art direction by Stephen Lumel
photo of album cover by Styrous®

The title song, written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, is over 17 minutes long, and Casablanca released the song in its entirety as a single (a shorter version was also promoted for radio). In releasing the 17 minute version as a single, Casablanca would help make popular a format that would become known as the 12 inch. The song,  featured Summer seductively moaning and groaning, it was banned by some American radio stations (as it was in Europe) but made its way to #2 on the US Hot 100. Summer had several gold and platinum albums on Casablanca from 1975–1979, and became the label's most successful act on the singles chart. At one point, she scored eight US top 5 singles within a 19-month period. Summer had 10 gold singles (1 million), 2 went platinum (2 million) and a gold maxi-single while with Casablanca.




In 1979 Lipps Inc., with Steven Greenberg as writer, producer, and musician, and Cynthia Johnson on lead vocals, signed with Casablanca. Soon the single Rock It was released, followed by the album Mouth to Mouth. The album included the #1 smash hit Funkytown. A totally bubble-gum tune, it's one of my all-time favorite hits.     


Lipps Inc. - Mouth To Mouth
vinyl LP cover  
Illustration by Jan Kovaleski & Michael Kevin Lee
 photo of album cover by Styrous®
Parliament with group leader George Clinton was signed to the Casablanca label in late 1973. Their  first official release for the label was in 1974 with the album Up for the Down Stroke.


vinyl LP cover 
 cover photo by Leandro Correa
photo of album cover by Styrous®

The title song from the album gave Parliament its first top ten R&B hit. Their next album, Chocolate City sold approximately 150,000 albums in the Washington, D.C. area alone. But it would be their next release, Mothership Connection, that would give the group its first gold and, eventually, platinum album. Parliament would achieve either gold or platinum status with each album release up until 1980, as well as scoring hit singles with Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker), Flash Light (Casablanca's first R&B #1 hit) and Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop). The success of Parliament allowed George Clinton to develop another P-Funk spin off act known as Parlet.         

Casablanca also financed the various extravagant P-Funk stage shows, including the "Mothership Connection/P-Funk Earth Tour" of 1976-77; as well as the Motor Booty Affair underwater tour of 1979. Parliament were later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Parliament also gave Casablanca Records a much needed presence in the R&B/Soul market.     
        
The Casablanca film division produced the films, The Deep, Midnight Express*†, Foxes and The Hollywood Knights. Casablanca Records was purchased by PolyGram after which the label went into decline. Visit the Casablanca website to see more Casablanca Records videos. Be warned, however, it takes forever to get the pages to open.            

*† future article      

        



        
Viewfinder links:       
       
Disco Daze                          
KISS        
Record Labels        
Santa Esmeralda
Donna Summer        
Village People           

Net links:       
        
       
        
         
          
            
           
           
          
        
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, February 14, 2018          
    















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