(vintage) country-disco

here's an amazing AMG review of mac davis's forty 82 LP:

You have to wonder if Mac Davis knew that when he signed to Casablanca Records there was a subliminal message in every contract that somehow every record on the label except for Kiss albums had to have disco elements -- even after disco was dead. After all, if they did it to T. Rex with Light of Love, why wouldn't they do it to the "I Believe in Music" man. This record is so bad it's almost surreal. Rick Hall should have had his producer's license taken away just for the opening cut, "Lying Here Lying," with its swirling strings, synthesizers, and funky drum machines popping off those ping sounds in the background. Even on the "country" songs such as "Late at Night," the guitars are so compressed they sound like thin spaghetti played through a Fender amplifier, and the keyboards can't make up their minds whether to sound like pianos or synths. Ugh. "The Beer Drinkin' Song," a self-penned, hedonistic racist anthem, is embarrassing in its blatant rip-off of Ray Wylie Hubbard and Jimmy Buffett. OK, that's just side one, and side two is worse. Enough said; hopefully all the remaining copies of this record in the warehouse -- and surely there were plenty -- were melted down and used for something constructive.

ok, now i want to hear this. anyone know this record?

Wow, had no idea about that Mac Davis LP. I definitely passed up some Mac Davis LPs in a 25-cent rack a couple weeks ago, too; now I wonder if that one was in there.

Carlene Carter's Blue Nun from 1981 (produced by hubbie Nick Lowe, my copy is a U.K. import on F-Beat) has what sounds to me like two fairly blatant disco attempts on it, both of which at least halfway seem to comment on the move in their lyrics/titles: "I Need A Hit" and "Born To Move," also two of the few tracks on the album not at least partially writing-credited to Lowe. (The latter's credited to "Fogerty" -- uh, apparently a Creedence cover from Pendulum? Interesting.) Neither seems all that great to me, though, or even really all that country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGECts7TZrM

There's a bunch of so-so, ok, and pretty great Travis Wammack disco cuts on two albums that were simultaneously released in 1982, "Follow Me," and "A Man... And A Guitar." This extended version of Hold On To Your Hiney is the best of 'em.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEu1t4oeR7E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVqXxK-gK0w&feature=related

Probably Tony Joe White got mentioned upthread, but has anyone heard his 'Real Thang" LP? Didn't look too hard, but "Get Off On It" is pretty nasty!

^ I mean, I haven't heard anything else off the album but this one song... would be interested to know what the rest of the album sounds like. There's a track called "disco blues" also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMoasSfLFQ8

That was awesome. Thanks for posting.

really dig steve young but had not heard that one until today

Fabulous Poodles weigh in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEaI9xj9e8w

Just remembered this existed today, after at least 25 years - Presumably the only Eddie Rabbit cover ever produced by Was (Not Was).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS8OMOXIObA

Lacy J. Dalton - "Imagine That" (on #23-country-charting album 16th Avenue, 1982)

Glen Campbell and Tanya Tucker - 'Why Don't We Just Sleep on It Tonight' is a lost country-disco classic. Just incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSW0ZjiNu_k

Sheila B. Devotion "Seven Lonely Days" (1979) sounds to me a like a pop-country song from that era given an over-the-top Eurodisco-synth rhythm.

Gimme Baby I'm Burnin' instead

This is not that different from Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing." In fact I think I prefer it.

That was a wild sequence of #1s though, the ones you mention. I remember it so well. Peak singles bar era.

Is Dolly the only country artist to get the proper 12" treatment or is this thread holding out?

Extended version of baby I'm burning is the best thing that ever happened to me. Did Tammy just do this with the klf?

not disco-era, but reba mcentire had a hit 12-inch when her version of "you keep me hangin' on" from her 1995 album was remixed