Italo Disco Collection, Vol. 3 [Import]

Disc: 1

1. More Than a Kiss

2. I Find the Way

3. For Your Love - Albert One

4. Catch Me Now I'm Falling

5. Whenever You Go - Danuta

6. Madame - Ken Laszlo

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Stand Up - Mike Mareen

2. Under Cover Lover

3. Holiday Love Affair - On T.V.

4. Bobody's Woman - Danuta

5. I Don't Wanna Lose You Tonight - Patty Ryan

6. Only One Night - The Hurricanes

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Tonight

2. Magic Carillon

3. Stay with Me Tonight - Patty Ryan

4. Julia

5. What My Heart Wanna Say

6. Give Me the Night

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Tracks:

More Than a Kiss
I Find the Way - Roger Meno
For Your Love - Albert One
Catch Me Now I'm Falling
Whenever You Go - Danuta
Madame - Ken Laszlo
Runner
Don't Lose Your Heart - Joy Peters
Moonlight Affair
Tracks in the Snow - Grant Miller
Baby Blue
Souvenir

Tracks:

Stand Up - Mike Mareen
Under Cover Lover
Holiday Love Affair - On T.V.
Bobody's Woman - Danuta
I Don't Wanna Lose You Tonight - Patty Ryan
Only One Night - The Hurricanes
Red for Love - Grant Miller
Gimme the Light
Like a Burning Star
Bandiera la Playa del Sol
You Love
Hey You

Tracks:

Tonight
Magic Carillon
Stay with Me Tonight - Patty Ryan
Julia - K.B. Caps
What My Heart Wanna Say - Roger Meno
Give Me the Night
Lady Ecstasy - Mike Mareen
Boys Don't Cry - Moulin Rouge
Doctor for My Heart - Grant Miller
Chinese Magic
My Delight
Yeti - Radiorama

Customer Reviews:

ZYX loves Italo disco and Euro dance 80s!.......2007-03-13

One look at the box and it's obvious ZYX is trying to cash in on Blanco Y Negro's "I Love Disco Diamonds" compilations of 80s European dance and high energy. Good move, guys! This is a great series (I think they are up to 5?), with 3 discs of remastered 80s rarities per volume at a great price.
This brings a lot of hard-to-find songs to CD, and the remastered sound is an improvement over ZYX's shoddy past attempts, although I wouldn't say it's quite top-notch.
Also, they seem to devote the volumes to different labels, like legendary Disco Magic and Cruisin' Records.... great idea.
Get them all before they vanish, and may I suggest getting Blanco Y Negro's "Disco Diamond" series as well. Good job, guys!!!

Christopher's Italo Disco .......2006-06-12

Recently I purchased four excellent CD box sets entitled "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" volumes 2, 3, 4, and 5. That's eleven CDs containing 123 awesome tracks of pounding Italo/euro disco. When I threw these discs into my CD player a smile crossed my face as I was transported back in time to my college days in Richmond Virginia and Christopher's.

Christopher's was a wonderful neighborhood bar and grill where I spent many a night after a grueling day of classes. Christopher's wasn't a big place; to call it a hole in the wall would be being generous. Inside there were six or seven small tables that ringed the large wrap around windows of its façade. There were a couple of tall circular tables with tall bar stools in the middle of the floor. On the other side of those tables was the bar where the smiling friendly bartenders served up your favorite alcoholic (or non alcoholic) libations. At the right end of the bar you could always find someone playing at the electronic video games located there. Above the video games a television hung suspended from the ceiling. This television was always on showing music videos, sports events, classic movies, or the local news with the sound mute, so as not to compete with the pulsing Italo sounds. The burgers and fries Christopher's served were awesome and drew a lively crowd. The burgers were fat and juicy and the French fries with a zesty seasoning came served in a large basket. Like on the television show Cheers, Christopher's had its regulars. I too was a Christopher's regular, but not for the awesome burgers and fries, not for the camaraderie of the other regulars, and not for the libations; I was there for the music.

Christopher's played prerecorded non-stop continuous Italo and euro disco music. I would order me a basket of Christopher's slammin' fries, a frosty mug of ice-cold beer, grab me a seat and then kick back and listen to the music. At Christopher's you could hear all the gods of Italo/Euro disco; European acts that never emoted a single note on American radio could all be heard at Christopher's, acts like Sandra, Bad Boys Blue, Vivien Vee, Fancy, Fun Fun, London Boys, C.C. Catch, Sabrina, Paul Lekakis, Linda Jo Rizzo, and the band that some would call the Zeus of the Italo/Euro disco universe, Modern Talking.

As much as I love the major euro disco gods like Modern talking, I'm pleased to say that none of them are represented on the outstanding "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" volumes 2, 3, 4, and 5 compilations. These CDs focus on the lesser and not as well known Italo/Euro disco acts like Michael Bedford, Albert One, Divina, Moulin Rouge, Silent Circle, Lian Ross, Ken Laszlo, Shipra, Solid Strangers, Silver Pozzoli, On TV, Duke Lake, Jules, R Bias, Savage, and many, many others. What really thrilled me about the "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" was that of the 123 tracks featured I only possessed about three or four of them, which means, well over 100 of these tracks were totally new to me, and that was exciting. Also out of the 123 track on these CDs there are only a couple of duds (and I do mean a couple).

I heard many of the tracks on "ZYX ITalo Disco Collection" at Christopher's. After my 7:00 pm class came to and end I would rush to Christopher's. I would walk in the door and would happily be assaulted by the throbbing Italo/Euro disco music with its broken English, great electronics and keyboards, and a pounding drum machine that combined to make your body shake. The music would stop for a moment (to give the manager time to change CDs) and the suspended television's sound would be turned on. On the screen the desert winds blow the sepia tone sand, an Arab sheik garbs his robe and swings it dramatically across his body. He takes a swooning scantily clad woman with long dark and frizzy big hair into his arms and mounts a white horse. All the while the sound of Alan Ross' "Valentino Mon Amour" fills the bar. Then the television's sound is muted again and the prerecorded music from the "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" continues with Sweet Connection's "Need Your Passion". With its pounding beats, chugging keyboards and sing-along refrain. I'm at my table and my body shakes in my seat as my head rocks from side to side with the music, and I sing along with that great chorus, "The voodoo that you do-is magic-déeejàaaavuuuu-ou". And it was like déjà vu listening to "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" as I heard this track and many more from this collection at Christopher's.

What a shame that Christopher's being a bar and grill and did not have a dance floor because played there was, T. Ark's "Under Cover Lover", Patty Ryan's "Stay With Me Tonight" and "I Don't Wanna Lose You Tonight", Mike Mareen's "Lady Ecstasy" (this has keyboard work that will remind you of the Sylvester hi-NRG classic "Do You Wanna Funk"), Joy Peters' (with that astounding Lloyd Cole like voice) "Don't Lose Your Heart", and "One Night In Love", Brian Ice's "Over Again", Midnight Passion's "I Need Your Love", "Dance With Me" by Claudia T (when Claudia says, "youwilldancewith me" you will, believe me, you will), Grant Miller's "Tracks In The Snow" and "Red For Love", "Upside Down" by Coo Coo, and "Crank It Up" by Thomas & Shubert are shameless, frenetic, fast paced, Italo rump shakers aimed for dance floor consumption.

The one thing that I instantly noticed about "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" is the unmistakable influence of Modern Talking on the Italo disco scene. On many tracks there are the MT trademarks like the high-pitched backing vocals. You will find the influence of virtually every track from MT's now legendary "The First Album" on many of this CD's tracks. There are several acts that even do covers of Modern Talking songs like Joe Lockwood's nice version of MT's "Hey You". You know the age old question, which came first the chicken or the egg?" Well "ZYX, Italo Disco Collection" will have you asking, which came first Modern Talking or Italo disco?

As I sat and listened to "Rainy Day" by Brando, I noticed that the singer possessed Barry Gibb (of the Bee Gees) like vocals. Did you know that Italo superstar Spagna is singing background vocals on this tune?

Joe Yellow's "Easy Lover" is an inexpensive production, garbled broken English abounds, and due to the production the music and vocals are meshed together and are almost inaudible. And that's what makes this song sooooo good. It pumps along and you get to that chorus that sounds like....Loooverrrrr-I need some lovin'callmeloooverrrrr-Call me again....I'm sure that's probably not what is being sung, but with the cheap production and broken English, you can't make it out, and that's what makes it delicious. This just goes to show that a record made on a shoestring budget can be excellent, and also shows that shoestrings can taste good when cooked in the right sauce.

The music stops again and the television volume is turned up. On the screen, violent seas lash the shores of an ancient city. Modern Talking's Dieter Bohlen is playing guitar and Thomas Anders is singing and playing keyboards while ancient Corinthian columns crumble around them. A beautiful but distressed woman, dressed in a glittering gown like that of an ancient Greek, sits on a throne while her city that is tumbling down around her is engulfed by the thrashing seas. All the while "Atlantis Is Calling (SOS for Love)" floats from the television speakers filling the tiny neighborhood bar and grill.

When the television is silenced "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" picks up with four acts that bring to mind Italo legends Fun Fun. Ross' "Don't Stop", Sweet Connection's "Need Your Passion", King Kong & D' Jungle Girls' "Lies" (this is one wild piece of music, it will pound your brain to pulp, and you'll love every second of it), and Chip Chip's "Everything You Love" and "So Close To Heaven" (with it's thundering baseline). All four acts are excellent but Chip Chip is Fun Fun's only competition when it comes to delivering hard hitting, fast, no frills, pulsing, pounding energy that will make you shake.

"Moonlight Affair" by Cliff Turner, "Only One Night" by The Hurricanes, and "Vision of Love" by DJ's Project has got to be the best songs Modern Talking, Bad Boys Blue, and Fresh Fox never made. All three songs contain flourishes of MT and BBB, and 21st Century Italo/Euro music makers Fresh Fox update these sounds with phenomenal results which you can hear in their awesome track "No Goodbye" from their 2004 CD "Sexy".

Danuta's "Touch My Heart, Jessica's "Like a Burning Star", and Paula Evans' "Ciao" (Paula has a voice like that of Nathalie Merchant and her song will make you say "ciao" to control of your body and mind), are Italo rump shakers and each one of these songs has a wicked and thick baseline running through it.

Sauvage is a cheap version of Italo/Euro superstars Lime. That was not meant as a slight but as a compliment because in the case of Italo dance music, a cheap and fast production is always excellent. Their track "Don't You Want Me" with its whirlwind rhythms and vocals will remind you of Dennis and Denyse LaPage, it is oh so infectious and engaging.

In the eerie, strange, mysterious, haunting, but excellent category are "Chinese Magic" by Jessica with it's oriental electronics, Lala's "Johnny" (when this chick says "shake to the beat" you will, because you won't be able to help yourself), Rose's nursery rhyme like "Magic Carillon", and "Fairy Tale", which starts out with churning keyboards that segues into a bass line similar to that of Alphaville's "Big In Japan", the strange chugging locomotive "Sunshine Love" by Anthony's Games, which contains Jimmy Sommerville (of Bronski Beat) like falsetto wails, and Camaro's Gang's "Fuerza Major", with it's male on male vocals (one male's vocals are somewhat high pitched while the other male singing along vocals are very deep) reminded me of the Russian Euro boys Plazma whose "Lonely" (from their 2004 CD "607") has the same type of vocals.

KB Caps has three great tracks on this compilation, "Catch Me Now I'm Falling", "Julia" and their classic "Do You Really Need Me". "Do You Really Need Me" is one song that I am familiar with as I have three versions of it. The long version on "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" volume 5 is undoubtedly the best as the cute production touches and unnecessary sound effects of other versions are not present, and the song is a pounding, no nonsense track, heavy on electronics and dark
angst filled moodiness...it's great.

Once again the music is again turned off and the volume of the television is raised. The television screen is now filled with Las Vegas showgirls who spin and whirl while a suave dark Mediterranean looking male flirts with a glamorously gowned blonde at the roulette table. Suddenly juxtaposed images of flying poker chips, playing cards, spinning roulette wheels, and dancing showgirls fill the screen as the woman angrily exits the man's luxurious hotel suite as the exhausted, asleep man lies in a mammoth bed beneath satin sheets. All the while, the frenetic percolating rhythms of Venus' "One Shot Lover" explode from the TV speakers.

I've enjoyed my night at Christopher's but I reluctantly have to leave as I have to go home and study. As I walk out the television is muted and the pounding Italo powerhouse "One Day" by Janet fills the busy bar and grill.

One amusing irony about Christopher's is that the owner/manager was clueless about the music he played. One day (I was around 18/19 years old) I asked the manager (who was busy chewing out the bartender) where he got those cool songs that he played and he gave me the older grumpy business man annoyed by the pesky youngster look. The big, burley, gruff cigar chompin' guy curtly said to me that he knew nothing about the music it was just inexpensive music that he got from a service that provided music to restaurants and bars then he puffed on his cigar and basically said "Go away kid you're bothering me" and walked off.

When you place "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" into your preferred choice of music delivering technology, grab something and hold on tight, because within these 11 CDs there's a whole lot of shakin' going on. It's like these sizzling tracks are competing with one another to see which one can make your body shake the hardest.

If you purchased "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" 2, 3, 4, and 5 and love them but are not familiar with the gods of the euro disco universe, you also need to check out CDs by Modern Talking, Bad Boys Blue, Sandra, Fancy, Fun Fun, and C.C Catch (all of which you can find at Amazon.com).

If you like the Italo gods there is a new crop of youngsters influenced by the euro disco gods and the Italo disco sound that you will also enjoy. They are Fresh Fox ("No Goodbye" and "Take the Chance" from their "Sexy" full length CD, and their "Queen Of The Night" and "When The Angels Cry" from their full length CD "Tonight"). T.M.-Joy ("Say You'll Be Mine", "Born To Love You" and "Blue Crying Hearts" from their "Anything is Possible" full length CD). Mark Ashley ("My Valerie" from his "It's Just the Way" full length CD and "Run For Cover" from his "Lucky Star" full length CD). Bodies Without Organs ("Walking The Night", and "Living In A Fantasy" from their CD "Prototype"). Plazma ("Lonely" on their "607" full length CD, and "Jump In My Car" and "Angie (Gimme Fire)" from their CD "Take My Love"), and the not so young, but equally excellent Systems In Blue ("Point Of No Return, "Voodoo Queen" and "One Thousand and One Nights" from their CD "Point of No Return").

If Christopher's were in business today I'm sure they would be playing the above mentioned acts that are keeping the spirit of Italo disco alive in the 21st century. But since there is no longer a Christopher's you can find Mark Ashley and Bodies Without Organs' CDs [...]. [...]
I want to thank Daniel Marschollek who is the person responsible for compiling the songs on "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" volumes 2, 3, 4, and 5. Like a magician pulling rabbits from his magic hat he seems to pull an inexhaustible number of sizzling Italo tracks for the "ZYX Italo Disco Collection". I hope he can reach into that magic hat once more and compile "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" volume 6 (PLEASE!!!). I know that there are more hot unreleased Italo tracks by Chip Chip, King Kong & D' Jungle Girls, Thomas & Schubert, Rose, Alan Barry, T. Ark, Sweet Connection, and Joe Yellow, so if there is ever a "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" volume 6, please include them. Also there is a host of other Italo acts that I have never heard of but I understand that they have released some awesome Italo tracks, like:
Sophie ("Stop The Music", "Soft Time", "My World")
Loris Hildenbrand ("Blue Heart")
Krystyna ("Let The Night Take The Blame")
Lisa ("Stand Up and Sing", "I Believe in Music")
Alan Barcklay ("Don't Let Me Go", "Colour Of Love")
Phil & Stan ("Play The Game")
Monte Kristo ("The Girl Of Lucifer")
Fred Ventura ("Imagine", "Lost In Paris")
Wilson Ferguson ("Show Me", "Sometimes")

The doors of Christopher's closed permanently shortly after I graduated from college, but thanks to the wonderful people at ZYX Music I can now toss "ZYX Italo Disco Collection" 2, 3, 4, and 5 into my CD player (or computer) and visit Christopher's every day.