Baseball Disco (MP3s)

1. Charlie Hustle (6:44)
2. Magic Again (3:53)

Just in time for tomorrow's launch of baseball season, here's a disco song written about Pete Rose back in his playing days, when he was known for his aggressive baserunning and tendency to slide headfirst into bases, rather than his aggressive betting and tendency to stay out of the Hall of Fame. This will cure baseball fever, disco fever, and spring fever. If you're suffering from March Madness, you'll need to get an old-school Kurtis Blow injection.

Pamela Neal and Mark Glabman wrote "Charlie Hustle" at the request of Glabman's father, a Cincinatti resident and Reds fan of the late 1970s. Neal primarily performed in Vegas, but she was known in the music industry, having co-written "Hot Love" for Charo's sought-after OLE OLE.

This picture disc is a frequent seller on eBay and in online record stores, likely due to the flip-side picture of Neal taking batting practice in hot pants, sutiable for Dad's underwear drawer. I can thank Antiques Roadshow appraiser Gary Sohmers for my copy. Gary pops up at record shows when he's in town, and he also dabbles in standup comedy, appearing at The Comedy Studio in Cambridge, Mass.

Although labeled as disco, "Charlie Hustle" anticipates the coming of Blondie, with a thumping bass riff and discordant guitar layered over synthesizers, sounding more like a product of CBGBs than the orchestral disco of the East Coast. There's no mistaking Neal's breathy singing for Deborah Harry, but her repetition of "Pete Rose" will get to you in the same way that Claudine Longet does.

"Magic Again" also walks the line between disco and New Wave, although the lyrics are pure dance music. It's got some funk, but it's most notable for having more cowbell than Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper."

Comments

[King Daevid MacKenzie]

...well, at least you didn't pull the Ernie Banks disco record out this time, for which we can all be grateful...

[Carl Brego]

OMG, this one takes me back! LOL. I had this picture disc way back when it was first released. The flip 'Magic Again' actually got some play in Chicago discos..............not that I ever visited any of those places. LOL.

[dave]

love this late '70s disco sound. first heard this song on a net radio show called "crap from the past" about 2 years ago.

this needs to be on 1970s radio stations they only play the same crap songs.

thanks a bunch!

[Capt]

It's out there but you're gonna have to dig for it: in the mid-1970s when he was a White Sox broadcaster, Harry Caray cut a disco version of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame".

[Pamela Neal]

Hey guys, it's so nice to hear people still appreciate the eclectic disco music I created in the late 1970's. "Charlie Hustle" was written on the piano on the main stage of the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. I was working as a background singer and musical arranger for Charo, and sat at the piano one night between shows and wrote most of it. The song was recorded in a funky old recording studio on Vine Street in Hollywood. I still have several never-played picture discs in my possession, as well as several black vinyl 12 inch and 7 inch singles.

Cheers...Pamela Neal

[Evan Alston]

I grew up in Cincy,and used to here this song on Casey Kasem's countdown, I have been trying to find this single since 1981,thank you for the info. This one of my favorate jams Charlie Hustle!!!!