The Dance - The Dance " (1982)
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The Dance was a vibrant presence in early-80s New York City, epitomizing the post-punk melting pot. They made "a cultural fusion of music styles, blending the urgency of punk with dance music, reggae, and a large dose of funk," culminating in group two full-lengths, and then a shelved full-length with Arthur Baker for Island Records. “Soul Force” captures the band at the peak of their powers, and is full of raw energy and catchy hooks.
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Song Player:
Song List:
1. Stay Down
2. Looking For The World
3. Guerilla Love
4. Tumble To The Power (listen)
5. Do Yourself a Favour (listen)
6. Past Is Past
7. You And Only You
8. Soul Force (listen)
9. Dubbin Down (bonus track)
10. You Got To Know (bonus track)
Click on links next to tracks for samples.
Liner Notes:
It was February 1982, The Dance was in London having just finished a fantastic tour of Europe – packed clubs, wildly enthusiastic audiences, lots of press, TV shows, interviews. Almost a year since the release of In Lust, our first album, it was time to start the next recording. We were pumped from the momentum of the tour, and had been playing great.
We booked a day at Basing Street Studios to record two songs for a 12” single, “Stay Down” and “You Got to Know”. Both songs were extremely up-tempo and high energy, “Stay Down” a straight ahead rocker, and “You Got to Know” a sort of latin-flavored groove with a rock chorus. We’d been playing both songs throughout the tour, so we were ready to bang them out. Basing Street was a wonderful no-frills studio, and our engineer for the session, Nigel Mills was an absolute pro, great ears and intuition. The session went quickly, and at the end we decided to do a dub mix of “Stay Down” using the excellent tape-loop echo that Nigel had rigged up. So with all four of us at the board, we improvised “Dubbin’ Down”, which also went on the 12” single. Later, when we began to assemble the tracks for the Soul Force LP, “Stay Down” was the obvious opener, and we inserted the second bridge from “Dubbin’ Down” to take the track to a new level.
Back in New York in April, we booked a two-week session at Celestial Sounds Studio to record what became the remaining seven songs of the Soul Force LP. Of those seven, only two were fully developed songs going in, “Past Is Past” and “You & Only You”. Everything else on the record was worked up in the studio from a collection of song fragments, riffs and lyric ideas. Our engineer was Steve Addabo assisted by Cheryl Smith.
“Looking for the World” began with Eugenie’s narrative and breathing track, and developed into an opiated excursion through an exotic downtown club scene. Danceteria, 2 am.
“Guerilla Love” was a straight ahead one-chord rock throwdown with a very funky bottom. The music tracks were kept simple and minimal to support the many tracks of backing vocals that glide and swoop throughout. Just before coming to the studio to record this song, Louis somehow put a six-stitch gash in his left hand, which apparently only served to intensify the funk (bad-ass indeed!).
“Tumble to the Power” was one of those magical studio moments when a jam becomes a song, and everybody in the room is completely inside it together. This song was an extemporaneous expression of the interpersonal and psychological condition of the band at that time (a theme that ended up being the subtext of this LP).
“Do Yourself A Favor”, the Stevie Wonder song, was loosely worked up before we entered the studio. At the time, we were also working up “Higher Ground”, a much more sublime song. No one remembers why we chose to record this tune instead. The brief organ solo/breakdown near the end is a cool moment.
“Past Is Past” had been well-seasoned on tour. Like “Tumble”, it explored the precarious nuances of codependence and dissolving relationships.
“You & Only You” was a song that had been a real showstopper on tour. Originally, it began with a long churning instrumental intro. For some reason, that intro was dropped in the studio, and we began the song with the vocal. Still it retains its place as one of the most accessible songs on the record, with chord changes and everything. The first four lines of the lyrics were prompted by an encounter between Eugenie and Joe Strummer at a party.
“Soul Force” was another impromptu convergence, with everybody arriving at the perfect feel to propel the cinematic vocal narrative. Continuing the album’s examination of perseverance and loss, this song transposes personal feelings outward to the external world. Its understated intensity conveying a sense of acceptance, it seems a fitting summation of The Dance’s best and last record.
Twenty five years later, we are very pleased that this music is being made available again, and that the songs on this record can have a chance to ring true for a new audience, as well as for our “experienced” listeners.
Musicians
Steve Alexander - Guitar, vocals
Eugenie Diserio - Vocals, organ, steel drum
Robey Newsom - Drums, congas, percussion
Louis Watterson - Bass, percussion, vocals
Notes
Special thanks to Aaron Levin for invaluable assistance with this release.
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