Day 250: Cerrone – Cerrone’s Paradise
Happy 250th day of Album a Daying to all (both) of my readers. I was going to do some sort of a Kat Classic Album to mark the occasion, but it’s Friday night, I’d rather just indulge in a bit of disco instead. The growth of my disco enthusiasm has been one of my favourite parts about this project, I’m becoming such a disco diva that I’ve just splashed out on a flashy new pair of roller skates to go enjoy some late night old-school roller disco. I am aware that I’m 40 years late to the game, but if the disco renaissance ever starts, I’ll be quite literally ready to roll.
Album cover courtesy of Cotillion
Today I thought I’d go for more of a recent discovery who I’ve absolutely loved, and it couldn’t be anyone other than Cerrone. I went for his album III the other day and have had it on heavy rotation and recommended it to others, so I thought I’d go for his other 1977 release, Cerrone’s Paradise.
Like his previously reviewed work, this one also has a bit of a strange cover. There’s Cerrone in the forefront of a tiled room, hitting another awkward-looking pose, and then there’s a nude lady artfully draped atop a… refrigerator? It’s once again a cover of surrealism with Cerrone looking relatively normal in comparison. To his left, there’s a broken bottle of yoghurt, which Cerrone explained in the booklet of a CD reissue:
Because the position was so hard for the girl, she opened the door by accident and the yogurt fell on the floor. The photography said, ‘Oh shit!’, I said ‘Leave it like that, shoot it’. He said it means nothing, but I told him the girl on the refrigerator means nothing either.
Cerrone’s Paradise is honestly so good that I feel like if we all could just collectively hit the dance floors to this guy, the world could be cured from its ails. I’m getting very convinced that after this string of terrible world events, whenever the recessions and the plagues and the wars are over, we all just need to get back to shaking ass at a disco. We’ve been in such a musical flop era recently and because of the racist and sexist disco backlash, the genre never really got a fair shake – once the ‘20s start roaring, I just feel like we should be back on the disco.
And Cerrone is clearly one of the best to ever do it. It’s just impossible not to dance when you’re hearing him. Cerrone’s Paradise is a half hour of somewhat erotic fun, which starts off with a recorded faux-conversation where three ladies talk about how much they all would love to bonk him. What a guy! The gall you need to have to make that choice. “Alright ladies, now get in the booth and talk about how much you want me and who’s gonna get to me first.” The whole album leans on that theme, with lush orchestration and beats that are just forcing you to get up and move around, along with one slower R&B jam. It’s a treat from start to finish.
Guys, come on. Let’s rally! Let’s do this. If we could all just start gently planting the seed of wanting disco to come back, I’m sure it’ll happen. Wouldn’t that be fun? Right guys? Anyway, Cerrone’s Paradise is another 9/10, I love this guy. I’ll mine through his whole discography for more gold.