Thom Janusz - Ron Forella ...Moves! (1975) [Reissue 2012]

What do they say about not judging a book by it's cover? If there was ever an LP design that best hid the truth behind the grooves within, it would be the one on the jacket housing this album.

Firstly Ron Forella did not make the music. And secondly, those tights just don't do the tunes justice! Forella was, in fact, a respected Broadway dancer who taught the Forella technique at the Farnworth Hauer School. He passed away in 1989.

The man behind the tunes is composer, performer, and sculptor Thom Janusz. He and Forella collaborated on network TV shows and a Broadway production called "Wild and Wonderful." Also, Janusz was musical director for the first national stage production of Grease. But don't let all this talk of dance-wear, Broadway, and Grease deter you. There's a reason that this album is sought-after by beat heads and funk fiends.

If you are buying Moves just to sample the drums you will get your monies worth. The drumming is really snappy throughout. However, the record is also a great listen for fans of soul, funk and jazz. The percussion is backed by slick bass playing, dirty wah wah guitar and dreamy rhodes keyboards. The mood sways from reflective yacht funk, to percussion-driven dance-floor-moving jams. Part porno-soundtrack, part Blaxploitation thriller. At the heart is the prized-track "Crystals." Launching with the nastiest of synchopated drum breaks the tune develops into a cinematic epic that could easily be mistaken for a long-lost Love Unlimited Orchestra joint. Made with dancers in-mind "Mithra Plane 2" is another percussion-driven nugget that wastes no time getting into gear. "Sculptures" and "Memories of Georgia" are slowed down and more bugged-out, while "Wild and Wonderful" jumps from frantic to mellow, and back to frantic again.