Italodisco is a musical style that has refused to disappear despite the years. Actually it seems it is getting more fans over time, and we not only talk about an underground group of nostalgic people who continues listening the same music from 30 years ago. Currently there are numerous bands and musical projects which are trying to give a new face to this music and satisfy fans of all generations. It is true that this blog is dedicated to the German discofox music, but we also wrote about Retronic Voice, Italove and TQ before. Italodisco is closely related to discofox, actually the second is a german version and both are considered Eurodisco.
This
year's surprise was Tam Harrow, a project that apparantly was born as a
joke to Den Harrow by the same people who created him in 80s. The legendary team Chieregato-Hooker that in past produced a lot of hits for Den Harrow, Albert One, Tom Hooker, Fred Ventura, Eddy Huntington, and many more, reunited again to give life to this new character who they named Tam Harrow. Tom Hooker is responsible for the vocals and Miki for the music. And
how this started?. While Hooker and Chieregato were experimenting between their own
projects and some remakes of old hits from Den Harrow, they suddenly announced a new old track "Idiot" from a 80's famous singer called Tam
Harrow that it seems is coming from an alternate reality. The song
was promoted by a funny video where Tom parodied the more ridiculous
dance movements of Den Harrow.
In retrospect, is well known that Den, (Stefano Zandri), was only the image, the real voice was Tom Hooker and other singers, (similar to the story of our Dieter Bohlen from Modern Talking who only made lip sync in every show of MT), but the joke to Den did not end there. Few time later was released "Incredible", a song that had the same success of the
previous one, making us wish for more and little by little we got this more. Although
this duo were also trying to keep up with other simultaneous productions, they seemed to be forced to give more attention to Tam Harrow. In this way the first new came some days before the new year, a full album of 12
songs was going to be released soon. Was at the beginning of this year that the digital version was available. Each
song is a tribute to Italodisco classics and we even have a tribute song to the Modern
Talking style, with its characteristic high pitch choir which was made by the same Hooker. Can you Imagine
if Systems In Blue collaborated with it?, we are not sure if they would be
able to work together, as their personalities and styles seem
opposites, but SIB always needs a vocal leader and dreams are not forbidden.
Hooker's voice always suited well with this style, it is manly enough and not cloying at all for enjoy to listen an album from the beginning to the end without pausing. The CD version is definitely better than the digital, and not only for the quality but also because the digital version of the track "I'm Hunger" includes a spasmodic and irritating try of crying that can give you the willies, although it could also be compared with the groans of "Je t'aime ... moi non plus" from Serge Gainsbourg, fortunately the video and CD version does not include it.
No doubt this is an album that is worth having, the only downside is that it was released in limited edition, only 100 items to a bit higher price of $ 50, expensive for the average, but that seems the only way for deal with a physic release in nowadays. If you are lucky you can still get it by Las Vegas Records.
Tam Harrow – Incredible Idiot
Tracklist:
01. I Look Into Your Eyes 5:26
02. Not Today Not Tonight 4:16
03. Toledo 4:58
04. Fixation 4:26
05. It Won't Happen Again 4:08
06. Incredible 3:42
07. I Won't Let You Down 4:34
08. I Love You So 3:56
09. I Was Hungry 4:06
10. You Dj You Rock 5:20
11. Kept Boy 4:52
12. Idiot 4:16
Label: Las Vegas Records – LVR CD 1501
Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition
Country: US
Released: 01 Apr 2015
Style: Italo-Disco, Eurobeat
Cover – Tam Harrow
Instruments, Programmed By, Recorded By – Miki Chieregato
Mixed By – DJ Paul Petta
Songwriter – Chieregato, Hooker
Vocals, Lyrics By – Tom Hooker
