GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE ORIGINAL ‘MORE THAN DANCING’ ALBUM, RELEASED IN THE EARLY 1980’S Captain & Tennille orignaily had a recording contract with A&M Records & released the majority of their hits through A&M Records. Hits such as: ‘Love Will Keep Us Together’, ‘The Way I Want To Touch You’, ‘Muskrat Love’ (Wombat Love), ‘Shop Around’, ‘You Never Done It Like That’, ‘Come In From The Rain’, etc. - Unfortunately, their successful run with A&M faultered: After A&M started concentrating more on ‘Punk Rock’, than ‘Soft Rock’, Daryl & Toni decided to hunt for a new label that would take more of an interest in them. Casablanca Records was their next label, headed by Neil Bogart. Neil, (the president of Casablanca) unfortunately died of cancer just after the Captain & Tennille put still another gold record under their belt on Casablanca Records entitled, ‘Do That To Me One More Time’. After that (last C&T) hit and Neil’s untimely passing, Casablanca was ‘absorbed’ into Polygram Records, and Daryl & Toni found nobody at Polygram that really understood ‘Captain & Tennille’s genre of music, or the market for their music. - Fortunately, in the early '80's, a small label located in Australia gave Captain & Tennille one more shot at creating their unique brand of music. Wizard Records (now no longer) gave Captain & Tennille a budget to create a basically, “undiscovered ‘til now’ album / CD” - entitled ‘More Than Dancing’. Raven Records in 2001, contacted Captain & Tennille, and suggested that they re-release ‘More Than Dancing’, as well as perhaps add some other basically, ‘undiscovered’ recordings and maybe even some polished demo cuts that had been sitting on the shelves of the Captain & Tennille’s recording studio in Los Angeles. The result is more than expected: The twenty-one cuts included in this CD comprise a terrific mix of all TEN of the ‘More Than Dancing’ cuts along with ELEVEN cuts of basically, unheard tunes (‘til now), and this newly-released, Captain & Tennille CD is now aptly entitled: “More Than Dancing...Much More”. - 1. DON'T CALL IT LOVE 3.06 2. FEELS LIKE MORE THAN DANCING 3.30 3. I MUST BE IN LOVE 3.32 4. DAVEY I MISBEHAVE 3.45 5. FIRE AWAY 3.38 6. COME TO ME 4.07 7. LET'S VISIT HEAVEN TONIGHT 3.02 8. DON'T LET LOVE GO 3.49 9. HEARTBEAT 2.57 10. TANGO 3.43 _____________ BONUS TRACKS OVERVIEW: These tunes were recorded in the late eighties. The ‘sound’ of pop music back in the late ‘80’s featured a lot of ‘synthesizers’, robotic drum machines, and almost a ‘sterile’, autotomic feel. Captain & Tennille feel this ‘80’s-like sound/approach can still hold it’s own today, basically due to - what they believe has been the continual restriction of naturally evolving - writing / recording / exposure - of pop music over the years. They feel that ‘rock music’ and ‘rhythm and blues’ feels have (of course) been the back-bone & inspiration of pop music through the decades... ever since the fifties, and unfortunately, ‘latest trends’ in sound and feel of music seem to do nothing more than flip back and forth between decades, in order to (apparently) become fresh . . again - to the latest, or next generation. Hmmmm(?) If this theory is true, then one might proclaim that all music is ‘Timeless’. What a concept !! - 11. COME ON A MY HOUSE 3.57 Daryl came up with this idea - of arranging this classic’ ‘1940’s’ classic tune recorded by Rosemary Clooney - into an almost hypnotic, ‘scary-movie soundtrack’ type of an approach. See what you as the listener envision in your mind - especially when you hear the second verse introduce a man’s, demon-like low voice - emphasizing the enticing phrase... ‘COME ON...’ - 12. MR. PERSUASION 3.54 This recording ‘came into being’ just as Captain & Tennille were exiting Polygram Records in the early eighties, in another attempt to ‘sound like today’... which was the ‘early eighties’ back then, of course. This is a light, fun tune, & again...with the backing of a ‘drum machine’ laying down a robotic-rhythmic feel. - 13. GET READY TEDDY 3.50 Toni penned this almost ‘latin in feel’ tune, and is one of a number of tunes that Toni wrote as ‘demos’ for perhaps ‘girl bands’ who may have been looking for material to record back in the eighties. Toni & Daryl were well aware of the fact that their fans really didn’t wish to hear Toni singing about another ‘guy’ - other than ‘The Captain’. This is a well crafted tune, and again, is ‘fun’ to listen (and maybe even dance) to. - 14. DENNY'S SUCH A FLIRT 3.47 Aha! Here’s still another ‘guy’ tune... featuring ANOTHER GUY named ‘Denny’ !! and (again) written by Toni. This upbeat tune was also originally conceived as a demo - to hopefully be recorded by an ‘all girl group’. Hasn’t happened as yet, so... here it is. - 15. BOY CRAZY 4.26 Well: The Captain couldn’t resist asking Toni about this tune and what inspired the writing of it: He asked Toni: “What could be in this girl’s mind, that she freely mentions a bunch of different ‘guy’s names’ in one tune? This must be a first...?” exclaimed Daryl. Toni answered that ‘the girl’ singing the tune was expressing the spiritual beauty in each of the different ‘guys’ mentioned or sung about. Daryl still questions this ‘spiritually based’ answer. - - In any case: It's hoped that you enjoy this soft, tender ballad - expressing the confusion of where this musical-portrayal of a sixteen year old - or so - girl is coming from: ___________ - TUNES EXTRACTED FROM A 1995-RELEASED CD ENTITLED: “CAPTAIN AND TENNILLE / 20 YEARS OF ROMANCE”: - 16. HOW SWEET IT IS (TO BE LOVED BY YOU) 3.28 This tune is what in the radio/music industry calls a ‘Cover Version’ of a past hit. James Taylor recorded this and had a smash with it in the ‘70’s. Hope you enjoy Toni’s, “90’s” interpretation. - 17. NOBODY DOES IT BETTER 3.47 If you remember, James Taylor and Carly SImon were married back in the seventies, and Carly Simon had a full-fledged hit with this one. It’s The Captain’s hope that Carly never hear this version, because Daryl anticipated that if she did, she probably wouldn’t appreciate what Daryl felt as ‘humorous’ in this almost ‘stripper-like’ approach to the tune. Sorry Carly !! - 18. LOVE SURVIVES 3.26 This strong ballad was written by Toni. This is a tune that was basically ‘sitting on the shelves’ at Captain & Tennille’s recording studio for many years, was (then) placed on the ‘20 Yrs of Romance’ CD, but Daryl feels it’s still kind of in ‘demo’ form, and both Toni and Daryl feel that a ‘Whitney Houston’, or other strong ballad singer could bring this tune HOME - if they recorded / released it !!! - 19. BABY COME TO ME 3.33 Another cover version, this soft, flowing tune just cooks along, and puts you in that love-making mood. Find your partner and sway to the rhythm. - 20. SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST 3.45 We’ve tried to ‘save this cut for last’.. and almost did. This tune was a SMASH back awhile ago, and Toni & Daryl felt that their interpration / approach was just different enough to justify a re-record / cover of this terrific ballad. Enjoy... - 21. WIND BENEATH MY WINGS 4.48 Of course, (one might say..) who would ‘dare’ to ‘cover’ the perfect recording / smash hit released by Bette Midler of this song? Answer: The Captain & Tennile would. ... and did! See what you think of Toni’s interpretation of this great / timeless ballad. She definitely takes the tune and lyric content to another dimension. To appreciate the song / production even more, make sure your stereo system has all it’s tweeters properly ‘tweaked’. This is a sonic dessert as well. end... -