Patrick Cowley: From Behind [dark entries] 2024

Cybernetic disco maestro Patrick Cowley returns to Dark Entries with From Behind, a collection of grooving and ecstatic covers of 60s garage and soul cuts. Best known for his chart-topping disco anthems, Cowley left us with an incredible body of work before his tragic death in 1982 due to AIDS-related illness. Since 2009, Dark Entries has been working with Cowley’s friends and family to uncover the singular artist’s lesser-known sides, including his soundtracks for films on compilation albums School Daze, Muscle Up, and Afternooners.

From Behind reveals yet another facet of Cowley’s myriad influences; garage and soul. As a tripped-out teenage music freak who arrived in 60’s San Francisco, it should come as no surprise that these psychedelic sounds, both heady and visceral, infuse Cowley’s oeuvre. Recorded during Cowley’s most productive period, ‘80-’82, these tracks show the master flexing his virtuosity while paying loving tribute to the songs that shaped him. A rough draft of Loverde’s “Iko Iko” contorts the jaunty Dixie Cups classic into a slithering, monstrous bathhouse groover, the song’s signature claps draped in cavernous reverb. An unexpected hi-NRG cover of The Doors’ “20th Century Fox” has Paul Parker on vocals, ironically twisting the original’s overt heterosexuality. Via Cowley’s vocoder, The Who’s “Shakin’ All Over” is transformed into a haunting meditation on the loss of bodily autonomy that AIDS inflicts, while the Moody Blues’ “Ride My See Saw” appears in instrumental, amped up and synthesized for dancefloor impact. We’re also graced with instrumental demo versions of The Seeds’ “Pushin’ Too Hard” and The Electric Prunes’ “Too Much To Dream (Last Night),” which later appeared on Paul Parker releases. Things close out with a swinging version of the Four Tops’ Motown classic “Baby I Need Your Loving”, Cowley later reimagined for R&B artist Carl Carlton. The record comes housed in a sleeve designed by Gwenaël Rattke and includes an insert with photos and liner notes written by Louis Niebur.

Arriving on October 19th in celebration of what would have been Cowley’s 74th birthday, From Behind gives us yet another glimpse into Cowley’s world: iconic, erotic, and more than a little cheeky. 

released October 19, 2024

© 2024 Dark Entries Records
℗ 2024 Dark Entries Entertainment
All songs performed, recorded & produced by Patrick Cowley
Vocals on 20th Century Fox by Paul Parker
Drum fills on Baby I Need Your Loving by Ronnie Beck
All songs recorded 1980 – 1982
Tape transfer and no-noising by Joe Tarantino
20th Century Fox, Baby I Need Your Lovin, Ride My See Saw, Shakin’ All Over, Pushin’ Too Hard mixed by Jim Hopkins, San Francisco 2024
Mastered by Frédéric Alstadt at Angstrom Mastering, Brussels, 2024
Design by Gwenaël Rattke
Photographs courtesy Theresa McGinley and Lily Bartels
Thank You: Jim Hopkins, Jennifer and Lily Bartels, Paul Parker, Joe Tarantino, Eloise Leigh and Gwenaël Rattke.
__________________________________________________
In memory of Patrick Cowley
(October 19, 1950 – November 12, 1982)

https://patrickcowley.bandcamp.com/album/from-behind