Dance/Club Play Top 25, Billboard 1/28 Chart

Let's work our way up the chart this week as I comment on the tracks I deem noteworthy. For the full club play top 25, go to Billboard.com.

Always a pleasure to see Erasure represented, and this week their song, "Be with You," nicely skips to #22 from 24th place last week. Gravitonas hangs in there at #23 with "Everybody Dance." By the way, the Swedish electro duo is the latest incarnation of producer/songwriter Alexander Bard of Army Of Lovers ("Crucified") and BWO fame. Gravitonas' vocalist Andreas Ohm is joined by Russian pop star Roma Kenga on this track. Good stuff!

The dreamy "Drifting" by Plumb en-trances as it drifts up from 23 to snag spot #20, while the Ultra Nate-meets-Destiny Child's Michelle Williams number, "Waiting on You" does its disco damnedest as it jumps from last week's 21st spot to #17. Lots of nice remixes to choose from for this one, too.

Traci Lords' "Last Drag" peaked at fourth place. It was at 10 last week, and now finds itself parked at a still-respectable #16. Lady Gaga drops to sixth place with the rousing "Marry the Night" (my favorite track off the "Born This Way" album), having captured the numero uno position last time we took a look. Rising from #9 to #7 is the sticks-in-the-head dance track, "Let Me Be Myself" by Rosabel featuring the divine club diva, Tamara Wallace.

"Shake It Out," Florence + the Machine, shaking it up to #4. Brilliant party song, brilliant band, glad to see it doing so well! Up one spot as well, Gloria Estefan's "Hotel Nacional," swinging Dr Buzzard-style with the #1 spot a real possibility at this point.

But this week's #1 song (and diva) is none other than "If It Wasn't for Love" sung by Miss Deborah Cox. I fell in love with this Janice Robinson-penned number from the start, before it entered Billboard's chart. Hello, Deborah; so nice to have you back where you belong! (You so deserve your spotlight.)

By the way, big thanks and kisses out to Slovenia! (You guys are crazy!) And love all around this world to all my friends, readers and party people. Until next week, keep on dancing!

Beautiful Together: The Billboard Club Chart & Dj Buddy Beaverhausen

Interestingly, this week, I'm in the middle of reading And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records, a juicy tell-all by Larry Harris, the label's co-founder. In the book's prologue, the author writes of an altercation he had with the Billboard charts department in 1978, essentially involving payola. Is that all in the past now? And how honest or reliable is the Billboard dance chart today? We can only ponder that as we view their latest run-down.

Erika Jayne's "Party People" (and a few good remixers) lift her to numero uno on the latest Billboard dance/club chart, on the up-and-up, I'm sure, as it's very strong club material. Katy Perry drops to #2 with "The One That Got Away," bumping into Lady Gaga, ascendant to 3rd place with "Marry the Night," jumping from the 7th spot. These two divas are on a nexus like Joan Crawford and Bette Davis in their heyday; I actually think of them, sometimes, as Katy Gaga and Lady Perry!

Traci Lords' "Last Drag" has possibly peaked as she stalls at #4. But that's a nice niche to be in. "If It Wasn't For Love," Deborah Cox doing the Janice Robinson-penned number, deservedly keeps moving up up up, from #10 to #7. Gotta have hot Cox on the floor.

"Hotel Nacional" swings its way to #8, via Gloria Estefan, with its Dr Buzzard & the Savannah Band-like sound that really works, and Florence & the Machine round out the top 10 with the excellent "Shake It Out."

Tamara Wallace still flying higher with Rosabel on "Let Me Be Myself," glorious club stuff that's leaped to the 12th position from last week's #17. Nice to see Sweden's Gravitonas at #18, up from #21 with the great "Everybody Dance." (And everybody will when they hear this tune in the clubs.)

Lastly, as we get to the bottom of the top 25, the duet between Ultra Nate and Michelle Williams (of Destiny's Child) nudges up one spot. Disappoints the hell out of me cuz it's powerhouse, amazing vocalizing and production. Not enough payola here, or what's the damned problem? And LeAnn Rimes sinks drastically to #23 from last week's #14, after peaking at #11; just short of making her way into the top ten.

All right, all you groovy blog readers, keep dancin' the world round! Peace, love & out (for now)! ~~ Buddy B

On My Turntables, New Year's Day 2012, & This Week's Billboard

It's so nice to have Jennifer Holliday back in time for the holidays with a long list of remixers attached to her new, Tony Moran-produced song, "Magic." This is dance music perfection with powerhouse diva pipes ("People come together, feel the magic...!") fronting driving, tribal percussion, strong keyboards and high-hats. The most played tune on my turntables or cd dj station as we enter the new year. The remixers offer lots of quality work to choose from, and to get your crowd going at peak. These mixes are all available for legal download on Beatport, and include Alex Cohen's Tribal Power Mix, Teo Brasil Magic Mix, Wayne G & Andy Allder Anthem Mix (my personal fave), Bryan Reyes Club Mix, Eastenders Mix, Joe Guthreaux/Peter Barona Club Mix, and Tony Moran himself with Warren Rigg & Dave Saronson Club Mix. You can't go too wrong with any of these. Uplifting and absolute divinity; they really pulled a rabbit out of the top-hat with this number!

"Drama's on like Susan Lucci/It's time for hoochie-coochie" with Gloria Estefan and "Hotel Nacional." Sounds like Glo's been studying The Puppini Sisters recently. This is nuevo punk-swing gone disco with a latin flavor and big-band-styled horn work reminiscent of Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. There are two excellent remixes that'll absolutely get everyone up to fill the floor: one by Mike Cruz and the other by Ralphi Rosario. Ok, Puppini Sisters, when are you doing the remix route?

When Ultra Nate joins forces with Destiny Child's Michelle Williams, you know all hell's gonna break loose (but in a good way). Their duet on "Waiting on You" is another staggering masterpiece with diva harmonies soaring over the driving Eurobeat and pianissimo. The original extended mix is fine (especially with its cowbell & guitar intro and lush orchestration -- very disco!), though I also kind of enjoy the upbeat house direction taken by Manny Lehman in his remix of the song, too.

Michele Bachmann promised Fox News she would be the winner in the Iowa straw poll. Unsurprisingly, she finished dead last. But the Tea Party's darling Mad Lady -- whose hubby picks out all her outfits, don'tcha know? -- continues to enthrall us with delusions of grandeur as she threatened to be in the Republican Presidential candidate race "for the long haul." As that party's primaries become more of a bizarre circus daily, President Obama takes to the dance floor. Well, in a sense, as his most famous speech is sampled in Barbara Sheree's "Yes We Can."

"Yes We Can" is another great diva-driven number with a stand-out USA Club Mix by Jerome Farley and my friend, Joel Dickinson. (Joel and I have yet to meet, but we've been internet-connected for a few years now.) You can download the song from Sound Cloud, and you can read all about Joel by cutting and pasting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Dickinson into your browsers.

Tina Charles is a high-echelon, classic disco diva (pictured at top). Why, she -- among others -- spearheaded the genre. Tina was singing disco music before it even had a name! (Johnny Morgan, will you back me on that claim?) Her hits include "I Love to Love," "You Set My Heart on Fire" and "Dance, Little Lady, Dance."

Nice surprise is that she's back with a new number I hope will make its way up the charts in the USA, as I believe it will definitely do well in the UK and in the rest of the global dance-music markets. The song is "Your Love Is My Light" and the second nice surprise is that there's a super mix of this done by classic-era HiNRG producer, Pete Hammond. Hammond has once more become quite prolific, returning to the music scene after a hiatus. He has recently remixed Alphabeat and Wynonna Judd, among others. Tina is in good form with her distinctive voice set to an uptempo mix with an updated, Hammond retro-'80s feel suitable for Kylie Minogue or Hazell Dean. Welcome back, both Tina & Pete!

Briefly, on the latest Billboard Dance/Club Play chart: Katy Perry scores yet another #1 with "The One That Got Away." Wynter Gordon peaked last week, apparently, with "Buy My Love," dropping from the second to third spot. Traci Lords and Erika Kane up to the fourth and fifth club spots, respectively, with "Last Drag" and "Party People," and Lady Gaga up in the #7 spot, as a "Greatest Gainer" with "Marry the Night," up from #15 (big leap)! Other Billboard "Greatest Gainers" include the divine, Janice Robinson-penned "If It wasn't for Love," sung by Deborah Cox, at #10 from 14 just last week; Florence + The Machine's "Shake It Out," up three spots to #13; and the aforementioned, new Gloria Estefan tune at #16 from #23!

Rosabel featuring Tamara Wallace declare "Let Me Be Myself," and it charts nicely at #17, up a spot. Gravitonas featuring Roma Kenga, sitting nicely now at #21 with "Everybody Dance," though I was featuring it on a promo early last year when it was a hit in Europe. So, a little delayed reaction-American retardation there.

Finally, on Billboard, "Waiting On You," the Ultra Nate/Michelle Williams number I discussed above, now at #23 from 30 last week. You go, girrrls!

Just a quick mention on last night's "New Year's Rockin' Eve" on ABC. Basically, it sucked, with more commercial time, it seemed, than actual show. However, it glowed for just a little while once Lady Gaga arrived in an outlandish octopussy getup, then black glamour in a tight, sparkly outfit and hair styled just like Julie Newmar's Catwoman, as she energetically launched into "Marry the Night" and "Born This Way," complete with dynamic choreography and hot dancers. She has brought disco energy back the way Madonna did in the '80s, and is one of the all-time magnificent performers! Gaga later switched to a glittering white Versace masque & gown to drop Time Square's gigantic crystal ball with Mayor Bloomberg. Fabulous! Earnestly overwhelmed, she was our breathless NYC Marilyn when Ryan Seacrest spoke with her.