Song Of The Day 1/21/2016: Cristina – “Disco Clone”

Disco Doubt – Cristina Monet-Palaci was the queen of ZE Records, a label I borrowed liberally from for this week. She had a lot of money. She went to Harvard and married the heir to a successful maternity apparel and children's merchandise company. Even with her sweet setup she continued to record, putting her stamp on a lot of ZE's patented mutant disco. To this day her savage, Lieber-and-Stoller-disapproved version of "Is That All There Is?" remains one of my favorite covers of all time ("I know what you must be saying to yourself... 'If she feels that way about it, why doesn't she just slit her throat and shut up?'").

Her first record was "Disco Clone," which I understand she had to be talked into doing, but later appreciated the thick-as-foie-gras irony and subtle social satire on the airheaded uniformity of the disco atmosphere. Cristina recorded two different versions of "Disco Clone." The first version, produced by John Cale, featured vocals by British writer, New York socialite and overall man-about-town Anthony Haden-Guest. For good measure they recorded a version in French. The remade single version, which we're featuring today, was more commercially molded and a moderate success. But best of all, the male part of the would-be seducer in this version is played by Oscar-winning actor Kevin Kline (below). He is uncredited, possibly by his request, but he got nothing to be ashamed of.