We are in-the-mix with Bobby Orlando, or “Bobby O” as he likes to be called. Orlando purveys sixteen disco-pop-cut-a-rug tracks wrapped up in a box called “Bright Nothing World" from Bobco Music.
From the outset, Bobby attacks the set with the in-your-face “Eat You Up.” Watch out, girl! Next, he dons the mask of the listener in an adjacent booth with the dark “Confess.” As the cuts assemble, I began to think that Orlando himself is a disco veteran, even though he was previously unheard of on my radar screen. By track three, he puts in his musical request for a “Latin Girl” with a beat slightly reminiscent of a Village People song.
This CD includes a creative variety of moods of dance music that influenced the styles of the past forty years. All the traditional disco cow bells and dance-floor whistles (“Hypnotize”) evoke a myriad of musical memories like Lipps,Inc's “Funkytown.”
“My Heart Says Yes,” features someone named Bella Claire in her second appearance on the album. The track's style speaks to a format similar to a Stacey Q's 1986 hit “Two Of Hearts,” but the vocals are not as bright as in the former Atlantic Records' release.
“Touch” and the very good “Elite Man's Burden”, tracks seven and eight respectively, are in the pocket due to its beats and wide variety of instruments utilized from synth strings and marimba notes. Track number ten's “1979,” if you lived during that year, will take you right back to shades of the band Crown Heights Affair and their smash “Dreaming A Dream.” Call it catchy, and the only ingredient missing is Bobby himself mentioning in the lyrics that the predominant dance step back then was the hustle.
Without looking at the CD's tracklisting, I thought Orlando was whispering “Antarctica” instead of “Erotica”; it is a subtle tune. Sometimes your ears play tricks with your mind, I guess.
The last cut, “Loneliness" always comes as a surprise with the of this album. It leaves you thinking that somehow another CD began to play or someone “changed the channel.” As an almost an obligatory slow jam, it makes for a good wind-down, and plays to a DJ's sensibilities when he or she knows “the party's over.” I dig the disco references throughout the disc. Late in my repeated listenings, the title track grew on me mysteriously, yet something in it is missing from the legendary master within and demoted itself to a world of of a four-star magnitude.
Released on Bobco Music.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.