Deodato: Night Cruiser / Happy Hour, CD

• Two of (Eumir) Deodato’s greatest Jazz Funk albums ‘Night Cruiser’ and ‘Happy Hour’ on one CD.

‘Night Cruiser’ was originally released in 1980 beginning with syncopated chords from a solo electric piano that initiates a four-on-the-floor disco-funk groove, the tune is a vibrant, get-down party piece that filled dance floors back in the day. It was issued as a single (in both 7-inch and 12-inch formats) and rose to #23 in the US dance charts. The album also features the stand out tracks ‘East Side Strut’ and ‘Uncle Funk’, and as a bonus track there’s the 7” version of ‘Uncle Funk’.

The ‘Happy Hour’ album was released in 1982 and features the track ‘Keep On Movin’’, a Deodato original that has been sampled by several dance and hip-hop artists (including Olav Basoski and Le Tropical). The track was the first single from ‘Happy Hour’ (it came out in both 7-inch and 12-inch formats with ‘Keep It In The Family’ on the B-side) in the spring of 1982 and dented the US dance charts, stalling at #41. The 7” version is included in this package as a bonus track. ‘Happy Hour’ was issued as the second single from the album in June 1982 and was something of a minor crossover hit, blowing up even bigger in the American dance charts. You can definitely hear the influence for the 80s Kool & The Gang albums within ‘Happy Hour’.

The 80s had been a hectic decade for Deodato which had seen plenty of outside production projects, mostly R&B acts such as Kool & The Gang, Con-Funk-Shun, Juicy, One Way, Gwen Guthrie and The Dazz Band.

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