Prompted to post this by Ockers selling the Italian issue of Will Collins 'Anything I can do', but been pondering it for a while - there must have been some kind of scene going on in Italy during the 70's because invariably when I look for a 'Mecca' type record on Discogs there are copies for sale from Italy - anyone any info?

 

While much is made of e.g. the Belgian scene I've never heard much said about Italy, but clearly they were playing a lot of the same 'modern' sounds as us c. 1975 - 77.  

Don't think there was a "soul" scene. It was the "disco" wave going on that brought the best with the worst of the genre. The Belgian "pop-corn" scene was an "oldies" scene like the "northern soul" scene was. At first at least. Those contemporary Italian & continental European issues were not made for a scene (underground or tribal) as such then.

Don't think there was a "soul" scene. It was the "disco" wave going on that brought the best with the worst of the genre. The Belgian "pop-corn" scene was an "oldies" scene like the "northern soul" scene was. At first at least. Those contemporary Italian & continental European issues were not made for a scene (underground or tribal) as such then.

 

Yeah, probably spot on there - presumably just what they were playing in the mainstream clubs

I suppose disco was a world wide phenomenon circa 78 following saturday night fever

Records were still widely made and bought

From this era there are collectables from all around the world whether south america australia and europe where demand would be there

Italy i suppose would be no different

Holidaying in malta in 81 the record shops were full of disco records

:-)

I suppose disco was a world wide phenomenon circa 78 following saturday night fever

Records were still widely made and bought

From this era there are collectables from all around the world whether south america australia and europe where demand would be there

Italy i suppose would be no different

Holidaying in malta in 81 the record shops were full of disco records

:-)

 

Know what you mean, just it seems the Italians went for a lot of the more obscure Mecca type records that we did 

Obviously had good taste like us Chris

Bought a few things from italy over the years france too!!

unfortunately this disco stuff seems to be going strong even now...  

They had a strange parallel disco subculture in Northern Italy called 'cosmic' apparently...Lots of US records, some played at the wrong speed. They also kept disco music going, long into the 1980s after it had fallen from fashion elsewhere. There are loads of great records, if you are into that sound, that were made for that market...

Edited February 24, 201510 yr by son of stan

They had a strange parallel disco subculture in Northern Italy called 'cosmic' apparently...Lots of US records, some played at the wrong speed. They also kept disco music going, long into the 1980s after it had fallen from fashion elsewhere. There are loads of great records, if you are into that sound, that were made for that market...

 

Funny, I was just reading about Daniele Baldelli / Cosmic etc in last Saturday's Guardian and hadn't really connected the two, however the Wiki article below lists Italian clubs that were forerunners to Cosmic in the mid 1970's playing 'funky disco' - presumably the Mecca type stuff you often see for sale

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro/Cosmic_music  

unfortunately this disco stuff seems to be going strong even now...  

 

What do you mean, 'unfortunately' 

What do you mean, 'unfortunately' 

 well I'm not a fan of that stuff and i often happened to have travelled all along the country to find myself in some nights that were supposed to be northern soul but, in fact, hours of disco music were played..

 well I'm not a fan of that stuff and i often happened to have travelled all along the country to find myself in some nights that were supposed to be northern soul but, in fact, hours of disco music were played..

 

Was there much in the way of a 'soul scene' in the 1970's or was it just as someone else suggested a general disco scene that happened to play some of the same records we did?  

Was there much in the way of a 'soul scene' in the 1970's or was it just as someone else suggested a general disco scene that happened to play some of the same records we did?  

I don't really know if there was a real soul scene in the 70's but from the 80ies on modern/disco/soulful house has become very popular in nighters...  I may investigate why all that music was so much produced here....

There are over 100 US military bases in Italy.  Would this have any bearing on the type of music that found its way over there?