POTENTIAL LAWSUIT WARNING
I haven't been coy about my love for the debut album by the Flirts. The year was 1982, and Bobby Orlando (aka Bobby O) was in the Hi-NRG zone, writing and producing some of the best dance songs of the era for his "O" Records label. Orlando you may recall was the first person to record the Pet Shop Boys' seminal "West End Girls" single, having established his reputation with club hits such as “Passion” and "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)" for the Flirts and "Jungle Jezebel," Native Love" and "Shoot Your Shot" for Divine. But for whatever reason, my friend Greg -- who first discovered these boy-crazy girls -- and I never followed up after the near-perfect "10 Cents a Dance" debut.
Cut to last week when I was listening to stuff on Spotify after deadline at work and I finally decided to give the "Born to Flirt" (1983) followup a listen. The first "side" was unexceptional, save for a racist ditty called "Oriental Boy," featuring the lyrics: "Karate chop my heart away," "We sipped on sake then we went out to his car" (a Toyota, natch) and "I've seen the East, I've seen the West. I can't decide who I like best ... rock and egg roll chopstick beat, he's the boy who is so sweet"! Then Side 2 started, and I began experiencing the strangest deja vu.
Have a listen and tell me if you hear a decades-after-the-fact lawsuit in the making!
