Venise - Love Is The Real Thing

Interesting and quite rare LP from female duo Venise, produced by Jo Bisso, which contains 4 great dance tracks, and possibly the cheesiest ballad you will ever hear on a disco album!
The best track is "Love Is the Real Thing", which you will find yourself singing along to in no time.
Of greater interest to European readers is the track "The Mystery With Me" (on the cover wrongly spelled as "Mistery"), clearly sampled for the 2001 house track "Bel Amour" by Bel Amour, which got to number 23 in the UK pop charts. On this track, the girls sound a little like the Three Degrees circa 1978, and the backing track sounds a lot like Martin Circus's "Disco Circus".
The soppy ballad "If You Believe" starts with the lyrics "Do you believe in fairy tales, do you like puppy dogs with waggy tails..." need I say more?
Also of note is the LP cover - the budget was apparently quite low, as the photo of the singer was clearly cut out from a piece of paper and stuck on to a "disco lights" background!

From 1978.
Produced by Jo Bisso.
Recorded in Boston at Intermedia Sound Studio by Bob Schott.
Mixed in Paris, France, at Studio Damien by Dominique Do Espirito Santo assisted by J.P. Martin.
Vocals by Sharon Chriswell, Linda Henderson and extra vocals by Pamela Wood Fraley.


* Venise - Love Is The Real Thing.MP3

Jo Bisso

I know little about this artist, who released several albums and produced Venise's The Best Disco in the City. He released the albums on his own record label Jobiss. The songs were recorded in Boston and mixed in Paris. Since the male voice has a slight French accent, I would assume he is a French artist (also his record label seems to be based in Boulogne, France.)
Some songs are what you can call very erotic. I wonder how they recorded those in the studio... Listen to Love Somebody and Play Me, it is as if the girls are having an orgasm...


1978 - LOVE SOMEBODY

Produced by Jo Bisso
Recorded at Music Designers Studios, Boston by Joe Chiccarelli and Steve Zaretsky.
Mixed at Studio Damiens Paris, France by Dominique Do Espirito Santo
Vocals by : Claudia Ferrari (featured on Side 2), Tina Klein, Sharon Criswell, Linda Henderson (Sharon and Linda were also in the production of Venise)
My copy is on Marlin.

* Jo Bisso - Love Somebody part 1.MP3


1978 - MADEMOISELLE

Produced by Jo Bisso.
Recorded in Boston at Intermedia Sound Studio by Bob Schott.
Mixed in Paris at Studio Damiens by Dominique Do Espirito Santo.
Vocals by : Pamela Wood Fraley, Ava Agnes, Messi M'barga, J.P. Martin, Linda Henderson and Sharon Criswel. On Play Me, the vocals were by Marie Louise Chaubo.
My copy is on JoBis International Records.

* Jo Bisso - Play Me (medley Desires, I Wanna Love, You Are Loving Me, Burning).MP3