A Little More Disco For Your Christmas
You didn't think I was going to stop with just one disco disc today, did you? Nope, I'm going to post disco Christmas until I can't stand it anymore, and that may mean I'm going to stop pretty quickly. Our next foray into the seedy nightlife is this record from the great state of Montana. OK, maybe not. I don't think Montana was ever a known hotbed of disco, but someone must have liked the name. I first shared this out in 2007 and here it is back again. Please download Montana Orchestra-Merry Christmas (MJS 3302, Stereo) .
1. Montana Christmas Medley
2. Get Down New Year's Eve
3. New Year's Eve One More Time (Reprise)
1. Montana Christmas Medley
2. Get Down New Year's Eve
3. New Year's Eve One More Time (Reprise)
Is it possible the name refers to Vince Montana? He was a member of MFSB (the Philly International house band, which backed up groups like the O'Jays, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, etc.), and he also founded the Salsoul Orchestra -- in other words, he was a very big name in 1970s disco. Are there any other clues on the record?
ReplyDeleteThat record was the death for MJS Distributors in Miami. Michael J. Spector put up every penny he had thinking this was going to be bigger than "Christmas Jollies" or any of the Christmas disco LPs that were on the scene. The only problem was that disco was dead when this was released. People tried to talk him of of it but Spector (in his mind) thought it would be the Saturday Night Fever of Christmas records. It BOMBED big time. In the process, MJS Distribution shut down. Back in 1988, me and my former boss went to the MJS warehouse to help some liqidators who were buying the contents. There were shrinkwrapped skids of boxes from wall to wall, 10,000 LPs on each wood pallate, those were all unsold copies of the "Montana" LP. There had to be hundreds of skids of that one title. Were (us and the liquidators) were opening up boxes looking for anything sellable and we kept opening up boxes of the Montana album. I belive there were 500,000 copies of that album in that abandoned warehouse in Miami. That place was a big as a football field and stacked with pallates of Montana from floor to bottom. I belive the liquidators sold the records to MRT (Miami Record & Tape) and Caribean pressing as crush.
ReplyDeletefor anyone still curious, the sleeve states: "produced, arranged, and conducted by vincent montana jr. recorded in philadelphia at: sigma recording studios, starr recording studios, and virtue recording studios." and as for my two cents, while th' a side may indeed be just that little bit better than th' letdown that is th' salsoul xmas lp, th' second side's "what-if-we-lived-in-a-world-where-xanadu-actually-flew" marriage of hokey '40s-isms and achingly stagnant disco death-knells can't POSSIBLY be anyone's idea of a good time, no matter how happy and/or drunk you come into it. but hey, as th' sticker on mine says, 'featuring the smash hit get down new year's eve' (th' other sticker says 49¢.)…
ReplyDelete