The Dance – Soul Force
I must admit I was a bit hesitant about posting this album on waxidermy. For one, it’s not necessarily an obscurity or an oddball album. As well, it’s relatively easy to find (providing one has an internet connection, which if you’re reading this you obviously do). However, aside from one song on a New York Noise compilation, The Dance hasn’t had any publicity and I’ve rarely met someone who has listened to any of their albums. That in combination with this album being quite personal to me, and in my opinion very amazing, made it ripe for a review when I finally found a mint copy.
The Dance is a four-piece outfit headed by the ultra-sexy Eugenie Diserio. She sings in the style familiar to female punk and new-wave groups from New York at that time (think Bush Tetras), however unlike many of them her voice seems so real and honest. Lyrically she is especially romantic and is the reason I found myself falling in love with Diserio and the album after going through a difficult break-up. Almost every song has an element of love and relationships as can be seen from the titles Guerilla Love, Do Yourself A Favor (Stevie Wonder cover), Past Is Past, and You and Only You. Eugenie also seems to capture a Film Noir feel to the romanticism in her songs. I think this lyric, from the song Soul Force, really captures it:
I don’t understand a word
I only understand eyes
And a body that moves like a snake
Down a trail of broken parts –
I find time for ripping off.
The actual reality for loving you.
There’s more that’s true
Than we could know
the hidden meanings – don’t come
any faster than this –
(lyric sheet emphasis)
Eugenie isn’t the only star of The Dance. While she gets to occasionally rock the Steel Drums or the organ, their bass and guitar player get a lot of shine and lend their talents well to the compositions, all produced and arranged by the group.
Musically, I will let the songs do the talking, for which I hope hcrink will allow me to post in full as this album has not been reissued or released on CD. The album was released in 1982 on the Statik label.
Alas, the story doesn’t stop there. The most interesting part of The Dance is the ultimate fate of Eugenie Diserio. After one EP and two somewhat successful albums with The Dance, as well as singing for a couple of other groups, Eugenie left her musical career behind to birth a baby. She moved in with her parents, and in the early 90’s launched an astrology website. As this was the beginning of the dot-com boom, she quickly became a millionaire and now, as far as I can tell, is living comfortably.
My only hope is that she will find this review and to know that this album had a huge impact on me and that I hope someday there will be a legitimate reissue.
24 Comments
Well I’d never heard of this and this is fire.
It is indeed fire, or, as the kids say,”Fiy-ah!”
Hey, I’m glad you all liked it. I’ve shown this album to many people and it usually had the “uh….” effect.
Now, go and get copies before the “waxidermy” effect drives prices up.
;)
ive had the dance for your dinner ep for the longest time.. in fact it was probably one of the first records i ever bought. never thought to check for anything else. this is even better than the ep!
slush, sell me the ep!
:)
downloaded “New York Noise” on soulseek yesterday which has “Do Dada” on it, so I naturally thought back to this album, which I was quite fond of. Fortunately I got to see them a couple of times in NYC (Berlin (the short-lived club) and somewhere else) . . .
thanks much for posting hi-quality files and visuals. had the LP years ago and played the shit out of it.
I remember people getting on the band’s case in reviews for all being uptown Columbia kids. . .
like that matters now.
she was a cutie.
cheers.
“she was a cutie”.
SAYING.
Were they good live?
And you’re very welcome for the clips :)
– aaron
yeah they were good live. i wish they’d stayed together and developed a bit more.
been a fan for a minute, i have a crush on her i think.
a beautiful review for this mind wrecking lp.
I’ve got to stay down.
Can you check the dates. All My Vinyl is sitting at my parents house = ( , But from what I remember “Soulforce” was the first Album, then came “In Lust”. On “In Lust” they added a 2nd guitarist, and recorded in England.
There was also a video of them doing “Surrogate For Hate” live somewhere before “In Lust” came out. Only Steve Alexander on 12 string, and Euginie playing that two note organ riff.
I used to visit her Astrology site ( astronet.net??) and ask her when “The Dance” were getting back together.
Wow. Louis W. (Dance bassplayer) showed up at my son’s soccer practice the other night with some burned cd’s of “In Lust” (1981) and “Soul Force’ (1982). Hadn’t listened to either in about 20 years and I was struck by how compelling they still are. Gordon is right, we needed to develop a little more. Remember, I was 18 years old and we were all from wildly different backgrounds (deep Brooklyn, Harlem, CT, TX) thrust together in an early 80’s melting pot of race, funk, sex and mood altering substances. Evidence of this development is a single recorded in ’83 or ’84 with the drummer who replaced me(the amazing Zack who went on to play with th B-52’s) called “Double Shot of Love”. I don’t know if it was ever released but it had everything, a hook, haunting sexy vocals, a rock solid groove and a polish that seemed to be lacking when I was in the band. If anyone can find this recording, please post it (I will ask Louis). BTW, there is a dub version of “Stay Down” from our British EP that blows away the original. Good times.
Robey! I tried to e-mail you but whatever e-mail you left is not working (caferacer [at] nyc [dot] com). Please give me an e-mail, there’s a lot I’d like to talk about.
Aaron Levin / canonical
vilevin [at] gmail [dot] com
We Were NOT Columbia Kidz! eugenie and Steve were graduates of the art school there and Robie had just finished High School, I on the other hand hadnt even gotten a GED at the time of that bands inception or demise!! while a whole universe of things have changed since then it is very very kind and flattering of ya’ll to have apreciated the music and performances … we wanted to make music to reach the cros/cultural base of fplks that made up the scene at that time DJs Like Mark Foutiadis, Richard Sweret and mark Kamens , Not to forget Shawn Cassette or the great Multi-talented Empressario/Danceteria Doorman Houi Montaug.
These folks as well as the mixed bag of socio-economic, racial backgrounds and musical tastes at the time spawned a fantastic opportunity for people to hear or play or just hang out with each other. and yes, we couldve developed much more and had we things would be different, ( seems obvious) but thats the beauty of Life change or be changed! I wonder where Steve Alexander is??
peace and hairGrease,
Thanx Again
hi there!
I couldnt belive my eyes! Members of one of my favourite bands are here!
I came across accidentaly an LP of the Dance in a hidden hungarian record shop years ago.I didnt know anything about them before but i loved it immediately.It was so fantastic music! After it started to collect more from the Dance ,now i have their Ep as well as their two released LP:)
@Robey & Louis
Many thanks for the amazing music you have done wit the Danse, made me so many nice moments in these years!
It is very hard to find any info about your musical career on the net,so i have to ask from you what have you done after disbanded the Danse?Have you taken part in other bands or stopped to play music?
Have you planning to team up again?It would be great!
@Louis
to answer where is Steve Alexander
Ive just got in touch with Steve asked him about Model Citizens (his first band played together with Eugenie Diserio)
He is now a painter and an art professor living and working in eastern Pennsylvania,as he added See :
http://cwis.marywood.edu/departments/art/faculty/sa/sa.html
and :
http://stevenalexanderstudio.blogspot.com/
i hope this help:)
Anyway how can help me to get in touch with Eugenie (Louis or Robey please!) and Billy Robertson (later went on Polyrock)?
I need it for the tribute page of Model Citizens i want to make .
Any helps will be highly appreciated,thanks!
greetings
salty
Salty,
Thanks for your great comments. I was able to reunite the majority of the band (at least the Soul Force line-up). Be on the look-out. There will be some big things in store for The Dance in the near future :)
Best,
Aaron Levin / canonical
hi Aaron!
Its a fantastic news!I look forward to being happy!:)
I know you wanted to make an interview with Euginie,Robbey and Louis.Id like to ask where could i read it?
best regards!
salty
Salty!
Thank you for the kind words. I gave up on music as a career when I left the Dance in 1982. It was on to university from there and eventually a career in banking. Today I work for a U.S. Bank and am married with three children. Very few of my colleagues or friends know of my previous life as a “post punk” musician. I am very grateful to Aaron for his perserverence and his love for the music. Check out our mySpace page that Louis set up:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=178870789
Regards,
Robey
Crinkly…. check yr email ;]
I’m listening to this for the first time and this is nice.
Hey! I just picked up a copy of Soul Force on LP and I have the reissue CD available on iTunes. The versions on the LP vs. the reissue CD/digital are different… The LP keeps “speeding up” here and there (I am thinking this is on purpose), just curious is this is the case or if I maybe have a weird bootleg version of it? It’s just really strange to hear, just curious if it’s supposed to be that way?
Scott
Hi,
what was the name of that young girl, who some of the Dance members made an EP with? I remember canonical giving me a rip of it, but I never got around to seeking the vinyl. Now I even forgot the name.
I use to have this album and In Lust, where can I find a download for either of these? Thanks