LUNA TWIST

Best Buy: Luna Twist "The Original Recordings 80-84" In 1998, a collection was made of the best songs from the legacy of Luna Twist. "African Time", "Look Out", "Oh oh oh", "Decent Life" ... it all still sounds very fresh today ... And issued in the very cheap Master Serie on top of that. >>> Buy this CD at Proxis <<< >>> only 475 Bfr -11,78 Euro - 10.41 $ (on Oct 17, 2001) <<<

Luna twist is the successor to the group Once More. Both groups have released only one album, but were certainly of great importance for Belgian rock music.

Once More are the winners of the very first edition of Humo's Rock Rally in 1978. In fact, the result was a tie with another group from West-Vlaanderen called Stagebeast, of who only bass-player Ferre Baelen would get noticed later, after his move to TC Matic.

They recorded a few excellent and punk-driven singles like "Blondie", "Zig-zag" and "Dance macabre".

However, in 1980, the group changes course and the two main members (Alain Tant and Filip Moortgat) move from Ieper to Ghent and team up with multi-instrumentalist Dirk Blanchaert and drummer Dirk Vangansbeke. Together they record the album "Stress conference".

One year later, the name of the group gets changed (due to a row with their manager Dirk Vincken) from Once More to Luna Twist. The single "Tom & Jerry" is a bit of a flop but the next single "African time" becomes a radio-hit.

"Now I now we had a world hit under our hands," said Dirk Blanchart in an interview with Humo some years later. "if we'd had a multinational behind us would have released the record in a decent mix. But we were 22 and thought we had it made just because we could go over to Holland from time to time".

The group surprises friends and foes alike with their excellent album of 1982 "A different smell from the same perfume". Intelligent pop songs, hypnotizing rhythms, a (for the time) sharp and clean self-production. Filled with songs like "Look out", "African Time" and "Decent life", this album can still be counted amidst the finest ever produced in Belgium.

The group also had an impressive live-performance : Brian Ferry allowed them to come back for a bis when they were playing as an opener for Roxy Music in Vorst Nationaal.

But, not only was their sound very "European" or "International", so were the ambitions of the band. They wanted to go abroad with the band. When the new record deal with English label Statik didn't prove to be as good as it sounded, the group split up in 1983 after a last few singles like "Golden inside" and "Oh oh oh". "Artistic differences" was the official explanation.

Dirk Blanchaert (who slighty altered his name to Dirk Blanchart) managed to build a successfull career as a solo-artist (See his page). Alain Tant continued singing, first in some smaller groups and later as a studio-session singer. Filip Moortgat teamed up with Jo Lemaire for her live performances.

Members :
- Dirk Blanchaert (keyboards, guitar, bass)
- Alain Tant (vocals)
- Filip Moortgat / Fons Symons (leadguitar, vocals, bass)
- Dirk Vangansbeke (drums, keyboards)

Buy CD's of this band at

Records (Luna Twist) :
- A different smell from the same perfume (Parsley - 1982)
- (Spoed van klank - mini-album ???) (Statik - 1983)
- Luna Twist - Master Serie (Mercury - 1998)
Singles and 12'' :
- Tom & Jerry / Watching people (EMI, 1981)
- African Time  / So danceable (Parsley, 1982)
- Look out / Statues (Parsley, 1982)
- Decent life / Put yourself in my shoes (Parsley, 1982)
- Golden inside / Fill in the words (Parsley, 1983)
- Oh oh oh / Spoed van klank (Statik,  1983)

Records (Once More) :
- Stress conference (EMI Harvest - 1980)
Singles :
- Blondie / Wild man jockey (IBC, 1978)
- Zig zag / Chung O. Rock (IBC, 1978)
- Dance macabre / Did she really (IBC, 1979)
- Toys & Tools / I wanna know (IBC, 1980)

Websites :
- Luna Twist is covered in the dirk Blanchart-website

Forum :
- Read the messages/questions about Luna Twist
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