How would you characterize the Gallery sound as opposed to the Loft or the Garage?
this song. I used to hear it in the Loft; it was a song that made me get out on the floor in ’78 or ’79. It’s been reissued a lot, but this is the original promo.
Well, they were three distinct things. Both the Garage and the Gallery were pretty much gay [clubs]. The Loft had that element, but there was less emphasis on it. There just happened to be gay guys in there. It wasn’t stressed, and [David Mancuso’s] music didn’t lean that way either. He just happened to be playing good music at the time, and a lot of it came to be [associated] with that. Mancuso would play things like [War’s] “City Country City” and stuff like that, which the other places might play, but this was the Big Record at the Loft [as opposed to a warm-up record at other spots]. The Gallery was much more about high-energy divas. Female vocals. Nicky [Siano, the Gallery’s resident DJ] was very into the Supremes and stuff like that. He liked funky stuff too, but if you’re talking about the peak records and what the trend was, it was mostly about divas. The Garage loved that stuff too, but it was a much bigger sound, and it focused on “sound” records. [Levan] certainly played all the diva records, but he also focused a lot on funky instrumentals. Not funky like Parliament funky, but funky disco records. Things like...
On the album, it’s two separate parts, right?
Right. This is part one and two together, which back then was wow ! And the sound was incredibly better than the album. That was the thing—these things were really pressed so much better. I was a novice back then. Sometimes, I didn’t know what it was that made these better, but in this case, I knew both the album and the 12-inch [version], so I could tell that one sounded fantastic. Sometimes, you didn’t have the two things to, so you knew it sounded good, but you didn’t know how much they did to it. This song has a positive message, and it has this break at the end that I just lived for. I was just waiting for that part of the song. Also [Woods] singing. I liked anything Brainstorm did, because she was so soulful. To hear that break at the Loft... Certain records just lit up the Loft at night. Through those Klipschorn [speakers], a record like this would just shine. It was almost like you were in the studio listening to the two-inch [master tape].
Did it carry through on other systems?
War “Galaxy” (MCA) 1977
Oh, it carried through, but the thing was that once you heard these records on that great sound system, even if you were listening to it on a little radio, you remembered it that way. That’s the only way you knew it. And if you never heard it [at the Loft], then you’d never understand it. I mean, you’d like it; it’s a good song; it probably sounded good. But once you heard it that way, it never left you. After hearing these great songs at the Loft or the Garage, I’d go to the roller rink. Fortunately, the Roxy had a Richard Long sound system, and, I think, next to the Garage, it was the best system, better than Studio 54. Larry [Levan] used to come there and skate. It was just a really superb room for sound, and it was great to hear these things there. But I would play at other roller rinks where the sound system sucked! I’d play these records after hearing them in the Garage, and I tried to carry my feeling of the record across and make people understand it, but it was a stretch. I mean, you just didn’t hear all of the sounds on the record.
Krivit: I was really into “Galaxy” when it came out. I would play it at outdoor events on great sound systems and pump it. When disco was coming in, I was still playing “Galaxy,” and people would come up to me like, “What are you playing?” They wouldn’t even call it funk; they had no description for it. I remember somebody saying, “What do you call this music?” And I said, “Good?” I was actually hurting a little in the disco boom, because I was a little funky, and I liked all this Loft/Garage-style stuff, and people were so into the really popular straightahead disco. But I have a strong memory of the first time I went to the Garage after getting all this crap for playing “Galaxy.” It was the first record I heard when I walked in. The room was full of people sweating, and it was just pumping. It was just simple: this record was on the money. A few times in my career, this record reassured me: “Why am I questioning what I’m into? This is right.” Did people play the album version or the 12-inch version? Because the album has that coda in it [where the beat fades and returns] that the twelve doesn’t have. Everyone played the 12-inch version. The album version was after-the-fact. After you got used to playing the 12-inch version, you said, “Well, let me see what I can do differently.”
Retta Young “My Man Is On His Way” (All Platinum) 1978
Krivit: This is another 12-inch that was very rare. I just happened to be in the company and got it. I don’t know which is more unusual, the picture cover or the white-label promo! It’s more of a Gallery record.
15
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting