Artist: Gino Soccio, Album: S-Beat, Song: Steady Operator

Gino Soccio was an artist from Montreal, Quebec who made a name for himself in the disco/dance genres of the late seventies and early eighties.  However, what separated Gino from his peers was the fact that he was a multi-instrumentalist that could play everything from drums to keyboards.  In 1978, he acted on an opportunity to contribute to a project entitled, Kebekelektrik, and assumed complete creative and productive control of the album.  From there, he realized the freedom and popularity of disco and began producing his own albums.  His first was in 1979, entitled, Outline, and the single, Dancer, became a top 50 hit in the U.S..  He was nominated for Composer as well as Instrumental Artist of the year Junos but lost both to Frank Mills that year.  S-Beat was his sophomore release in 1980.  Steady Operator is a deep album cut that mixes reggae, disco and new wave.  It is a really phenomenal track that shows how Gino was so ahead of his time in broadening the boundaries of dance music.  This transformation of  traditional disco was later assumed by many rock bands who branded their music New Wave in the early eighties.  Human League, Yaz, Depeche Mode, M and Ultravox are all examples of bands that made careers out of this trend in music.  Gino released five solo albums between 1979 and 1984.  All are available for download from Itunes.  You can hear the song, Steady Operator, on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/25189884).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!