“Ring My Bell” for me is certainly one of the finest tracks of the Disco period.
Anita Ward may never have been heard of again but she was an interesting if not unique character, having graduated with a degree in psychology prior to becoming a recording artist. Phew! To and from Brussels with less fuss than I could have hoped for. « BLONDIE – “Sunday Girl” TUBEWAY ARMY – “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” » Comments « 1 2 3 All * (…or wonder, till it drives you mad, what would have happened if you had!) The whole package is deceptively familiar and giddy – listen closer and you hear something fey in the old way. Ward herself gives a terrific performance, of course, following the lyrical shift from housewifely smoulder – “while I put away the dishes” – to the second verse which makes it a lot clearer who’s taking the lead: “ring my bell”* becomes a command. As the song progresses the backing elves come more to the fore, their gleeful chatter and strange clipped shrieks – “Ding-dong-ding! Wheeeee!” – tilting the song further from its expected axis.
This emphasis on the treble is worked so “Ring My Bell” sounds tiny, not tinny: Ward – and particularly her backing singers – sound more elfin than sexual in their allure, and “Ring My Bell” has an eerie tint to it, like a fairyland temptation.
“Ring My Bell” is a disco masterclass in how to use the treble – the bell itself (sounds like it’s off a bicycle!), the laserbeam bleeps, Anita Ward’s impishly breathy voice, and the skritch-skratch guitar in the middle of the stereo pan, halfway between a mouse and a typewriter.