Lipps Inc - Rock It

My review of 'Rock it' by Lipps Inc

I really love all aspects of this song, the strong danceable beat, great vocals, lyrics, synthesizer line accompaniment and solo, melodic uplifting strings, bongo fills, bass solo.

The synthesizer's fast and rolling loop solo has quite a similar feel and sound to the synthesizer bass line in the Eurythmics' track 'Sweet dreams' released later in 1982, and I would say is on a par with some of Giorgio Moroder's Synth work.

Biography for 'Lipps inc.'

Lipps In. was formed in 1979 by Steven Greenberg from Minneapolis and signed to the 'Casablanca' record label after after having released one song 'Rock it' on a small, little known label 'Flight Records'. Only 500 copies of the single were made, but it was good enough to secure an album deal, even coming from Minneapolis which had a relatively small club and music scene compared to the bright lights of New York, Chicago LA and Detroit where a lot of the disco music of the time hailed from. Lipps Inc.'s first full release 'Funkytown' in 1979 was huge. Still known and loved by thousands, the track hit the dance clubs and radio stations with full effect in 1980 and hit number one on the US Billboard chart for four weeks, turning platinum. The song was also a recognized international hit, reaching number 2 in the UK top 40 chart in May 1980. The song has been featured in a large number of movies, video games, commercials and television shows. It has also been re-mixed, re-edited and covered by a number of artists.'Lipps Inc.' consisted of head man Steven Greenberg and Cynthia Johnson on vocals. Steven Greenberg both wrote, produced and played many of the instruments alongside Roger Dumas who was responsible for the Moog synthesizer programming and the Moog Vocoder, for which both Steven Greenberg and Cynthia Johnson provided the vocals for in 'Funky Town'. The Lyrics to 'Funky Town' could well relate to the growing music scene in Minneapolis, which was fast becoming a center for experimental music and produced a number of world class acts/bands throughout the following years.

After their debut Album 'Funky Town' in 1979, Lipps Inc. went on to produce a further four albums during the 1980's and a number of singles including 'Does anybody know me' in which reached number 32 in the US Club Play chart in 1985. The band never managed to recapture the huge success of 'Funky Town' but did create some great synth based dance music, and are hailed at being one of the first acts to have a more programmed synthesized dance sound, which soon became the mainstream music of the 1980's.

Roger Dumas who provided the synthesizer programming went on to do work for a number of artists including 'Janet Jackson' and 'Prince', and recently released an album called 'Pieces of Mind' which consists of synthesized music from "a collection of sonifications of brain data".

Links

Funkytown Wesbite Funky Town

'Lipps Inc' Band Members / Musicians

• Steven Greenberg - Drums, Bass, Synthesizer , Percussion, Keyboards, Vocals
• Cynthia Johnson - Lead / Backing Vocals
• Margaret Cox - Lead / Backing Vocals
• Roger Dumas - Synthesizer
• Bass - Terry Grant
• Tom Riopelle - Guitar
• David Rivkin - Guitar
• Ivan Rafowitz - Keyboards
• Dale Mendenhal - Saxaphone
• Melanie Rosales - Backing vocals
• Dana Greenberg - Backing Vocals
• Joyce Lapinsky - Backing Vocals
• Vera Jenkins - Backing Vocals
• Marylin & Danny - Backing vocals
• Bruce Allard - horns
• Jack Gillespie - horns
• Richard Jorgensen - horns
• Bob Zelnick - Violin
• Brian Mintz - violin
• Bruce Allard - violin
• Herman Straka - violin
• Karl Nashan - violin



• David Rivkin - Engineer
• Mike Severson - Assistant Engineer
• Mastered By - Chris Bellman
• Producer, Written-By - Steven Greenberg

Lipps Inc. Discography

Albums

• Funkytown - Casablanca Records / Phonogram - 1979
• Mouth To Mouth - Casablanca Records / Phonogram - 1979
• Pucker Up - Casablanca Records / Phonogram - 1980
• Designer Music - Casablanca Records / Phonogram - 1981
• 4 - Casablanca Records / PolyGram - 1983

Singles

• Funkytown / All Night Dancing - Casablanca Records / PolyGram - 1979
• Rock It / Power - Casablanca Records / Phonogram - 1979
• How Long / There they are - Casablanca Records / Phonogram - 1980
• Designer Music / Jazzy - Casablanca Records / Phonogram - 1981
• Hold Me Down / Always Lookin' - Casablanca Records / Polygram - 1981
• Addicted To The Night / Hold Me Down - Casablanca Records / Polygram - 1983
• Addicted To The Night / (Instru. Ver.) / Choir Practice - Casablanca Records / Polygram - 1983
• Does Anybody Know Me? / Hit The Deck - Twin Tone Records - 1985
• Vital Signs (Debra Laws with Lipps Inc.) - Polydor - 1989

YouTube Video

"We're gonna dance until the sunshine...."

Other Favorite tracks by 'Lipps Inc'

• Funky Town
• All night Dancing
• Designer Music

To listen to these tracks plus many more follow here