Spice of life...

The Manhattan Transfer is an American group formed in 1969 and originally composed of Tim Hauser, Erin Dickins, Marty Nelson, Pat Rosalia and Gene Pistilli.

Group that released a first album "Jukin'" two years later in 1971, an album that will go unnoticed to say the least. With as a consequence a non-renewal of their contract by Capitol Records and an explosion of the group in stride...

It will be necessary to wait for the year 1975 to see the group reborn from its ashes and produce a new album which simply bears the name of the group. Album which will not go unnoticed this time and launch the career of the group for good. All thanks to 2 high caliber singles that are "Operator" which will be released the same year and "Tuxedo junction" which will be released a year later.

Success confirmed and amplified in 1976 with the release of the album "Coming out", an album which extended the group's fame to the whole world, in particular thanks to the single "Chanson d'amour".

A success which is not denied thereafter with the albums "Pastiche" in 1978 and "Extensions" in 1979. But it is especially the beginning of decade 80 which will devote them definitively with the exit in 1981 of the album Mecca for moderns". Album that will produce the biggest hit of their entire discography on the Singles side with the title "The boy from New York city".

1981 was a truly exceptional year for the group since he achieved the feat of winning a Grammy Award in the Jazz category as well as in the Popular category.

New notorious success two years later in 1983 with the release of the album "Bodies and souls", album which will produce the hit Single "Spice of life".

The group will release an impressive number of albums thereafter but none will know the level of success encountered by those released at the beginning of the 80s...

To discover or rediscover.

Discography (among others…) :

Operator 1975
Tuxedo junction 1976
Chanson d’amour 1977
Don’t let go 1977
Walk in love 1978
On a little street in Singapore 1978
Where did our love go 1978
Who what where when why 1979
I kiss your hand madam 1979
Twilight zone 1980
Trickle trickle 1980
The boy from New York City 1981
Smile again 1981
Spies in the night 1982
Route 66 1982
Spice of life 1983
Mystery 1984
Baby come back to me (The Morse code of love) 1984
Soul food to go (Sina) 1987
So you say (Esquinas) 1987
The offbeat of avenues 1991
Gentleman with a family 1991
A world appart 1991
Snowfall 1992
Have yourself a merry little Christmas 1992
Too busy thinking about my baby 1995
Let's hang on 1995
Sing moten's swing 1997
I know why (And so do you) 1997
A kiss to build a dream on 2000
Nothing could be hotter than that 2000
Walkin' in N.Y. 2004
Feel flows 2004
Spain (I can recall) 2009
Time's lie 2009
Swing Balboa (Down on RIverside) 2018
Shake ya boogie 2018
Paradise within 2022
God only knows 2022

Clips :

1975...the title of the revelation. In a totally improbable style and which in no way sticks to the latest musical trends of the moment. You had to dare this one !

1976...a sequel that rhymes with a revisited version of a title by Glenn Miller And His Orchestra dating from 1939. The group therefore confirms the trend of knowing that he absolutely does not intend to do like the others !

1977... new version revisited this time of the title of Art & Dotty Todd dating from 1958. And there it is jackpot for the group in particular in England, who would have believed that possible...?

1977...a sequel that didn't really have the same level of success as its predecessor. We really ask ourselves the question of whether the enormous success encountered on the previous title was more a matter of chance than anything else...

1978...a title already a little more in tune with the times. Like what, when they want, they can. But only when they want...

1978...they revisit here a title interpreted by Frank Sinatra in 1939. While Disco is literally submerging the planet, they decided to revisit the 30s. Very very daring bet...

1978...they now decide to revisit the title of the Supremes dating from 1964. Always in this totally offbeat style which nevertheless succeeds them rather well, especially on the side of England...

1979... they still make efforts to try to deliver titles that are already a little more trendy. Surprisingly, it will not bring them more than that...

1979...another completely out of time title that they love. How to compete on equal terms with the competition with such an outdated and quirky style. Mission impossible as they say...

1980...a change of decade that will finally force them to ask themselves the right questions. So much so that they will land here one of their biggest successes, finally...

1980... drive out the natural, it comes back at a gallop. In the process, they find their favorite style and unscrew directly in the Charts. Predictable...

1981...it's a new revisited version that will finally bring them the semblance of consecration after which they have been running since their debut. All thanks to this luxury cover of the title of Ad Libs dating from 1964. Improbable but indeed real !

1981...a pretty title full of finesse that will go completely under the radar. It's hard to understand why, but that's how it is...

1982...this one will do a little better but only just. So beginning of the end or temporary air hole ? The future will tell us...

1982..no improvement in sight for the moment. It's not this revisited version of the title of the King Cole trio dating from 1946 that risks putting them back in the race...

1983...on the other hand, this one will definitely bring them back to the front of the race. In a style much more appropriate to the time, they will win here what will surely remain as their most emblematic title. HU-GE !

1984...the upturn was short-lived. They plunge directly behind in the Charts and this time it will be very difficult for them to rise to the surface...

1984...at first glance, they have no intention of questioning themselves. They continue in their improbable style, a style that is unlikely to allow them to fight on equal terms with the competition...

1987...we will lose sight of them for almost 3 years and we could have hoped for some style evolution. Sadly disappointed...

1987...even if no more Singles will be classified, on the albums side the group still manages to stay afloat. What pushes them to necessarily continue...

1991...they begin their 3rd decade here with the desire to continue the adventure at all costs and whether there is success or not...

1991...a group that has never done things like the others and that fully accepts it. Then there is a price to pay...

1991...and yet they had everything they needed to do great things. But their desire to almost systematically offer things other than the others will have been, to say the least, counterproductive in the end...

1992...the eternal Christmas album that every good band should produce when business isn't as booming as before. Not very trendy but effective anyway...

1992...it remains to be seen what they plan to offer next. Do they continue on the same path which isolates them or do they question themselves in a radical way ? To be continued...

1995...it's a collaboration with Phil Collins which will offer them an unexpected success on the Singles side. Success in this area which will indeed be the last this time...

1995...here they are in South American sound mode, they have definitely done everything for us. A title that will not really experience the same level of success as its predecessor...

1997...until the end they won't do anything like everyone else. In an ultra Dance decade, they play it Swing, a most strange strategy once again...

1997...necessarily, that will not bring them masses on the Charts side. Apart from the basic fans, there won't be many people interested in this opus...

2000...a 4th decade to add to their career counter. We can think what we want of them, they are always and still there in any case...

2000... what is certain on the other hand is that the decades change but not their style in any case. Who says the same style says the same absence of results in the Charts...

2004...a will to believe in it until the end which commands respect incontestably. Because in the end they are the ones who are right to lead a career like theirs since they are still there...

2004...and it's going to last like that for a few more years. Even a few decades, which further reinforces the completely atypical side of their career...

2009...we find them 5 years later in the same state of mind and especially in style. It is clear that it is not now that they will change anything...

2009...they will assume their quirky and timeless side to the end. Who would have thought that they would still be there at the end of the 2000s, not many people, that's for sure...

2018...the air hole will be more violent this time since it will last almost 9 years. But here they are again again...

2018 ... another title that does not correspond to the latest musical trends of the moment but we are used to them. We won't remake them again as they say...

2022...they will have gone through the 70s, then the 80s, then the 90s, then the 2000s, then the 2010s and here they are quietly entering the 2020s. A truly exceptional longevity...