Day 362: Cerrone – IV - The Golden Touch
For my final three days, I thought I’d choose an album by some of my favourite artists and bands I’ve discovered throughout this project. Today is also Disco Friday, and my final Disco Friday before completing the project. I think I’ll still keep going for a while even after I’ve completed the year, but I’m being sentimental, humour me. I had to go for one my disco favourites, so it had to be someone like Sylvester, Giorgio Moroder or Cerrone. I chose Cerrone, I love that guy. I mean I love all of those guys, but Cerrone is probably my favourite.
Album cover courtesy of Malligator
So far, I’ve listened to three Cerrone albums and one by his short-lived group Kongas, but at a quick glance I can’t see that I talked too much about his origins, so here goes: Mark Cerrone is a French disco legend and producer, drummer, songwriter, and arranger, whose career spans from making classic disco records to doing his own rock opera. As a teenager, he was the worldwide A&R scout for Club Med, scouting artists to play at the resorts, before starting the group Kongas. After they broke up, he self-released songs through his own label Malligator, and scored a worldwide hit with his debut, "Love in C Minor".
Released in 1978, IV - The Golden Touch is his fourth studio album (as expected) which was released after his third album Supernature had become a massive global phenomenon, selling more than eight million copies. The Golden Touch brought him closer to a worldwide audience, as he’d scored distribution deals for it with Atlantic in the US and CBS in the UK. Incredibly, the album also features an uncredited guitar contribution by none other than Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page on "Rocket in the Pocket".
This is by far the most safe for work album of his that I’ve encountered so far – the album cover looks very tame, and there’s absolutely zero ladies vocally expressing that they’re having a very nice time. You could even feasibly listen to this with the windows open. There’s something about it that’s more conventional in every way, out of his albums I’d say it’s the number one that I’ve heard that just sounds like pretty bog-standard euro-disco. That’s not a bad thing per se, but his previous stuff is so unique that it’s instantly recognisable as him, this one is still good but more generic.
I went back to see what I’d written about Cerrone before, and I’m far from being short of praise. I said having a few beers and then washing your hair to Cerrone is a secret cheat code to joy, and that if we’d all go hit the dance floors to this guy, the world could be cured from its ails – I do stand by both of those statements, and I think that’s why I love disco so much in general. I’ve never come out of listening to a disco album and not had a significantly better time than I did before I heard it, and what’s life if not just spending your time trying to find new ways to make yourself happy? Disco is full of joy, and we all need a bit of that, especially these days.
I’m dead serious when I say that a disco renaissance would probably be good for the world as a collective. Shaking ass to songs praising love, peace and kindness is arguably what society needs, I’m not saying it’d fix everything, but I’m sure some stuff would get better. My disco fever that I’ve contracted is so serious that I’m considering learning how to make this stuff myself, and what’s better than art that makes you want to make art, too? I’d be ass at it, sure, but I’d still like to try.
Cerrone rules. We knew this before, but it’s one again been affirmed. “Look for Love” is going into my personal mental health arsenal, it’s sunshine pressed on record. The Golden Touch is not my favourite of his, but that’s such a high bar. It’s still a very respectable 8.5/10.