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Before people shrieked ‘Disco is Dead’ and started burning 7” singles on the streets of America (there was even a ‘Disco Sucks’ rally at Chicago’s Comiskey Park stadium on July 12 1979 ), the genre virtually ruled the airwaves and dominated the dance floors around the world with upbeat tempo beats and happy-go-lucky lyrics. Great songwriting never came into it, but the infectious tunes reached the masses, giving us a great time propelled by some of the most infectious bass-lines of all time, from the likes of Bernard Edwards of Chic fame.
Even though Disco emerged from Soul and Funk, they deemed it ‘soul-less’. To many, like me, it was great pop music of the time.
Now, with specialist Soul Nights on the increase (especially on radio) and many nightclubs opening Disco / Soul floors for the over, (ahem), 40-somethings and a new generation of disco admirers onboard, this brilliant collection of anthems and off-the-radar gems, is essential for DJs, collectors and pop fans.
The beauty of this collection is – all tracks are taken from 12” or long LP versions.
Disco Ladies:
Amongst the obvious contenders for ‘Disco Queen’ like Candi Staton, Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer, there were others bubbling under waiting to grab their chance – some came close, others faded away, some became cult icons. The latter applied to Marc Bolan’s missus Gloria Jones who had a northern soul smash with Tainted Love in 1965, made popular by Soft Cell in the early 80s. Here Gloria gets here shot with heavily orchestrated Bring On The Love from 1978. It never matched Tainted Love in any way.
One that immediately jumps out is Andrea True Connection’s sensual More, More, More, a track I hammered to death at Wasps Nightclub in Wrexham. Another Wasps favourite was one-hit-wonders A Taste Of Honey’s Boogie Oogie Oogie (1978). Here we get the full works – 7 minutes worth of an LP Remix Version with a mind-boggling bass and percussion stretch not found on the original. Stacey Lattisaw’s catchy Jump To The Beat, gets the same mid-point treatment with swirling synths running amok.
Sister Sledge’s hits We Are Family, Lost In Music, Frankie, still resonate today, but You Fooled Around from album Love Somebody Today missed the mark. Bonnie Cheryl Lynn made the lower end of the UK charts with Encore in 1984, with her Shake It Up Tonight being to sophisticated for British tastes, and did nothing, but it’s a very stylish mix here. On CD2, the major highlights are, one of the greatest Disco records of all-time – Sheila B. Devotion’s Chic produced Spacer with nifty bass-lines to die for, lightweight chord riffs, rock guitar solo, lush orchestration and Sheila B.’s fab paper thin vocals. The short piano intro is the hook. This extended mix has everything and the groove created is awesome. The other, Silver Connection’s cheesy but hook laden classic, which contained the monotonous lyrics “Get up and boogie” and “That’s right” on top of dollops of synth and strings, that peaked at 7 in ’76.
Towards the end of the disco era (1979) things began to evolve and Janis Ian’s timeless and stylish Fly Too High captured the moment perfectly adding urban brass qualities to a chunky beat. The voice wasn’t the conventional ‘soul voice’ but it worked and made the UK Top 50.
Classic Disco:
Of the 21 tracks only a few hit the big time – Esther Phillips’ perennial What A Difference A Day Makes – here, totally whipped up by more BPMs, Gary’s Gang’s disco-lite Keep On Dancin’ (with shrieking whistles) and Caribbean drum rolls.
Rose Royce’s debut Car Wash hit the spot in late ’76. Single number four – Do Your Dance – tried the same formula – opening hands claps and percussion, but languished at 30 in ’77, but this 9 minute version really creams it. After 21 years of balladeering, Johnny Mathis tried his hand with Gone Gone Gone. Surprisingly it made the Top 20 but was never a demand record, whereas Turn The Music Up (1979) by The Players Association proved very popular on the floor and chart.
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Disco Ladies: 
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
