DVDfever.co.uk - Disco Discharge: Euro Disco CD reviewDVDfever.co.uk - Charts, News and Reviews of Blu-rays, DVDs, Games, CDs, Hardware, Laserdiscs, Cinema Films & more
The history of Euro Disco can be traced as far back as the 50s and 60s.
It’s recognised as being an off-shoot of American music trends going as far back as jazz, rock, soul, funk and disco. There were also influences coming from Europe it self, namely France and Italy. Another root was the Eurovision song contest particularly from the early 70s. ABBA could be considered the principal influence, with Waterloo being a classic example of the style known as Euro Pop containing a strong dance element. Using the dance mentality, a plethora of writers and producers saw their chance and went for it creating a new music industry on the continent. The term ‘Eurodisco’ was created by Germans taking Euro from Eurovision and Disco from discotheque around the same time the word disco appeared in America. It was targeted at non-UK acts. The first obvious band came from Germany called Boney M created by Frank Farian, with cheesy hits like Brown Girl In The Ring and Rasputin.
This opened the floodgates for many heavily produced ‘acts’ to promote their bouncy dance beats, easy on the ear catchy melodies often sung in pidgin English highlighted by songs such as Y Viva Espana, Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, Bimbo Jet and thumping synth - based tunes from producers like Giorgio Moroder.
This collection has a range of songs by established acts like American duo Sparks – The Number One song In Heaven - as they embraced the dance scene in 1979 and Moroder’s pounding UK debut single From Here To Eternity (UK#16) where synth became king. Another disco fave was Laura Brannigan’s Gloria (1982), but Self Control (1984) peppered with dirty guitar solos and infectious beat with immaculate production gave her a second UK top 10 hit.
Euro Disco wasn’t without some sophistication – check the dynamic range and production values of Propaganda’s monster P Machinery ( UK#50 / 1985), the follow up to their astonishing Duel. Another classic here is the spiky and wobbly Happy Station by Fun Fun.
American-Italian band Change from Bologna Italy stormed the charts with A Lover’s Holiday. Their third single Change Of Heart veered more towards soul and a greater emphasis on funk. The basslines say it all. Raymond Donnez aka Don Ray was a disco producer, arranger and performer. He cleverly brought cool sophistication to the genre with the lush production of Garden Of Love.
The best track here is the belting synth-driven classic Magic Fly by French band Space. It peaked in the UK at number 2 in August 1977.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Euro Disco: 
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
