The seventies music can never be forgotten. My pick of Italian brothers Michaelangelo (Angelo) and Carmelo La Bionda dance album ‘La Bionda’, is for the nostalgia I have of the 70s music that I grew up listening to. Growing up listening to this kind of music you never want to let go of the roots of disco music, in all its different styles and places. La Bionda are considereed the pioneers of Italo disco. They are more remembered for being the first most important, successful and worldwide recognized dance producers from Italy.

Their early work is a blend of folk and progressive 70's rock, but with time they moved over to take on the reigning disco generation with their own blend of disco dance music. In 1978, they released their first dance album, La Bionda. The five track album opens with Side A that included the worldwide hit One For You, One For Me, which reached number 54 in the UK. The song was literally a smash hit of the year and put La Bionda’s name splashed all over. Its simple lyrics that formed like a nursery rhyme chorus, was on the lips of anyone who had heard them. The song topped the Italian charts and also became a #2 hit in Germany Hey Woman and the slow and well grooved There for Me make up for some neat ballads that provide a different side to the music of the duo.

Side B yielded a club hit with the 10-minutes Sandstorm, a oriental flavoured piece Catchy melodies and lyrics that go …Fly with the clouds from the wind, In the desert there’s a sandstorm, dust in my eyes, in my ears, there’s the rumour of the sandstorm…. Richard W. Palmer James' clever lyrics. The hammer heavy beats, Bavarian strings and an impeccable chorus makes this a repeat on a night at the party.

The last track on the LP Song for Smokey and the Bandit, is a another breakaway dance piece with a punchy beat like Sandstorm.

Don’t miss the eastern setting of the album sleeve that portrays the duo in the desert seated in a tent surrounded by a bevy of beauties.

So get out your disco lights it’s time to party with La Bionda.

Released on: 1978

Label: Ariola

Arranged By: Charly Ricanek.

n  By Verus Ferreira