Rolling thread for your recent DISCO and BOOGIE discoveries, enthusiasms and obsessions

What's currently doing it for you? Under-the-radar obscurity or celebrated megasmash that had hitherto passed you by - it doesn't matter to me, just post them up here and share the joy

random new-to-me things that i picked up recently for cheap...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVif2QVRQTQ
Pierre - Just Right (1984)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikkDz5G45C4
Sarah Dash - Low Down Dirty Rhythm (1983)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26HV5g1Dfao
Steve Shelto - Don't You Give Your Love Away (1983)

also, my god i really need a copy of this amazing thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f19C89_8WaU
Black Gold - C'mon Stop (1983)

Short version 6:31. Ah, disco...

Really like that "Low Down Dirty Rhythm" track, thanks!

yr welcome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3PuHwGchDE
Teena Marie - I Need Your Lovin' (1980)

I know and love Behind The Groove and Lovergirl, but I hadn't heard this one before today, I really gotta up my Teena game. What else is good?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nL3xFKM48c
Sly Cabell - Feelin' Fine (1982)

Keep coming back to this one at the moment. Have no idea who Sly Cabell is, but this is a Shep Pettibone joint on Salsoul with a lovely saxy good times vibe and also kinda Princey I think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAXXpLRTprs
Mary Clark - Take Me I'm Yours (1980)

Most mind-melting reissue I picked up last year, JFHC what a belter

I know and love Behind The Groove and Lovergirl, but I hadn't heard this one before today, I really gotta up my Teena game. What else is good?

― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Saturday, March 17, 2018 1:56 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

uh "square biz"!!!

wonderful thread idea btw

oooh, holy heck, how did i not hear that before?

fuck, sweet tune! and that weird subtly psychedelic percussion sound in the background, reminds me of the glottal noises that the jug player in the 13th floor elevators used to make

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HzfGbzq29g
Thelma Houston - If You Feel It (1981)

Another one I keep coming back to, so flipping funky. Don't know who's playing that bass but Keni Burke and Scott Edwards (who's all over the great Stevie albums) get credits on the album so that figures

Gotta say though, I'm not sure what to make of the line 'you're like an important china tea cup'. Is that supposed to be a good thing?

my favorite recent disco discovery is voyage's "souvenirs". completely gorgeous song.

yeah, that’s a good one. wacky band, think all the people involved were french library music guys - some of their non-voyage stuff goes for a fortune

So many new discoveries (as I'm maintaining this blog), so many new purchases (as I have a new weekly residency playing disco-jazz-funk-boogie on vinyl), so this is a timely thread.

Received in this morning's post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIx7RMbKqsg

Mary Clark "Take Me I'm Yours" also seconded - bought this a couple of weeks ago.

Also received in this morning's post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXhbXh2_xS8

And finally, in yesterday's post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF6MqDsSock

Hooray Mike! :D

Will have a listen once I get home, but that Mass Production looks familiar. Blog looks like an absolute goldmine!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-eCNM-TmhY

obsessed with the vocal performance on this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbKv_M3UwMc

nothing new to anyone but do you ever notice the way all the different elements on this are so strong and yet intertwine so effortlessly

welcome boxedjoy! that melba moore - oh shit, lovely stuff! <3

again she's someone that i need to investigate a bit more thoroughly, her catalogue's vast! things that i do know and love: 'You Stepped Into My Life', 'Pick Me Up, I'll Dance', 'Miss Thing', 'Underlove'

need to get myself educated though!

fave gwen for me atm is 'seventh heaven', but that whole 82-86 period of hers is all gold imo

ha, that donald byrd goes a lot harder than i thought it would! mass production is cool as well, love that soprano sax. i suspect a certain ratio were definitely listening to that one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54qYh92-F_A
Bobby Nunn - Don't Knock It (Until You Try It) (1983)

^ been jamming this one a lot today. was a single in the UK only and pretty much flopped at the time, but it's some really nice synthy boogie business. guy was involved with both rick james and earth, wind & firer, and i think it has got some of the funkiness of the former and the sweetness of the latter

jazz-funk but so so great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ga7f-vh4Bg

love that cover too

Best discovery yet from Mike's blog: Shalamar's 'Right in the Socket'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFrRECQarE0

The song itself is great, and at 4:36 it becomes amazing.

ha yeah - big old synth wombles in and starts blowing the place up! :D

something very prog but still pretty funky about the one that Neil posted, like if genesis had infiltrated earth, wind & fire instead of the other way round. hadn't heard of those dudes before

hadn't heard this before today either...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVy4HW6FQ9c

Midnight Star - Midas Touch [Acappella AKA Bassappella version] (1986)

you probably know the song but this version is just vocals and a really reverby bass synth, sounds weirdly modern but also quite bonkers

b2 on the standard US & UK 12" btw

shalamar 'right in the socket' is a key moment in this insanely good live larry levan dj set recording: https://www.discogs.com/Larry-Levan-Live-At-The-Paradise-Garage/release/21473

if you haven't heard that you are absolutely missing out on life

he blends it into cher's "take me home," so awesome

xp to Nick a great summary of "Celebration"! I love how that ecstatic guitar solo comes in towards the end, it's almost Eddie Hazel-esque in its virtuosity

I also discovered "Right In The Socket" via the same blog, and I've since played it out a few times; handily, "Second Time Around" is on the other side.

Not played that Levan mix in a long, long time, must rectify.... but I see it has T-Connection "At Midnight", a copy of which arrived in yesterday's post!

My roommate is constantly digging for boogie/funk and we have lots of reccomendations.

Here's some UK Boogie we're feelin: https://www.discogs.com/State-Of-Grace-Touching-The-Times/release/600722
Italo: https://www.discogs.com/Dr-Togo-Be-Free/release/102834

Oh and I accidentally ordered six copies of this record a couple weeks ago. Boys and girls, don't drink and shop for records. https://www.juno.co.uk/products/unit-one-lets-all-sing-together/675376-01/

speaking of xxxxxpost Teena Marie, I really liked Congo Square, the last new album released before she passed--first few songs are pretty desperately philosophical more than anything else, but then she gets it together---and this transitional effect turns out to be very appropriate---wiki quotes:
The album title references Congo Square, in the Tremé in New Orleans, an area in which, during times of slavery, slaves were "allowed to dance and sing in the wardrobe of their mother country on Sundays."[5] Teena Marie said of the album:

"I've been through quite a few trials and tribulations over the last two years. I spent many of those hours in prayer and felt like God was putting his arms around me. I started thinking about the music I grew up on—how inspired it was. Each song I was coming up with began to sound like the style of some favorite artist of mine from the past... Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye, Billie Holliday, the old Chicago soul of The Emotions and the new Chicago vibe of Kanye West... Ice Cube's bumpin' in the trunk vibe and of course, Rick James. It's all in there."[5]

Teena Marie also expressed her appreciation for Faith Evans, saying, "I've always loved Faith and her vocal style. She reminds me of me. Her correlation with Biggie—having a career with him and without him—reminds me of me and Rick James. I feel like she's a younger me. Of the younger ladies, she's the one I love most."

my favorite tune from the donald byrd from the F.U.M.L. album is the closer. i listen to it for affirmation at least once a month. and one of the great walking bass lines out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7z97XfHVoY

and some more solar. i am absolutely in love lately with dynasty's "groove control." i think it's perfect in every way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgCUq0gdh0M

davey: i was going to say that i don't think i've ever even heard of state of grace before and then it turns out that lol this one is already on my discogs want list...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE8ytsuYgHg
State Of Grace - That's When We'll Be Free [Special New Mix] (1982)

and that dr togo song is sick! a nice uh chris rea vibe to that one (not an insult!) :D

when i was listening to lots of jazz as a teen, donald byrd was always way too slick sounding for me and i never really checked him out, but now every song i hear from him is just super nice, what the hell was i thinking?

and yes, dynasty have got some good stuff! the one i have is 'i don't wanna be a freak (but i can't help myself)'

oh nice milk bottle accompaniment on 'groove control'!

xxxp State of Grace is pretty good huh. I wasn't aware of their other output.

Here's another one I'd picked up recently. Not sure how obvious it is, since my knowledge of the genre isn't really deep, but it's funky as hell. It looks like there are some reasonably priced copies still on Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/Steve-Watson-Born-To-Boogie-My-Little-One/release/7554675

Oh and another bomb reissue: https://www.discogs.com/Touch%C3%A9-Just-Like-A-Doorknob/release/11079663

I love how strong the vinyl reissue scene has been, lately. My theory is that Discogs is a big positive influence, since it's made it easy to quantify how many people want out-of-print releases.

when i was listening to lots of jazz as a teen, donald byrd was always way too slick sounding for me and i never really checked him out, but now every song i hear from him is just super nice, what the hell was i thinking?

Pretty much the same path we all eventually follow with jazz-funk mastercuts fodder.

Dee Dee Sharp Gamble - Breaking And Entering. (late 1980/early 1981)

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

courtesy of my now former roommate, funky brewster, who sent it via text message. i miss him lots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZbdPtRSv-s

xp track is groovy as hell :)

cool, bookmarked this thread.

holy moly this tune tho. is there a "songs where there are handclaps after the singer says clap your hands" thread?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RulvW5IqIrg
bileo - you can win

From excellent sister thread I Love Deep Cuts--a yard sale treasure:

Another xpost Deep Cuts album mostly, though I think/hope Chic's "I Need Your Love" got a decent amount of airplay. Seems like a Chic album with well-served guest lead vox---Carly Simon at her best! The only track I kinda listen askance at is the closer w Debbie Harry. From the solo debut, and Nile & Nard produced that too, but the CREEM reviewer who liked it was not a Chic fan, so that put me off listening, and it disappeared pretty quickly, so another DC album but here's this---thanks again Discogs!

Various ‎– Soup For One - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Label:
Mirage (2) ‎– WTG 19353
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country:
US
Released:
1982
Genre:
Funk / Soul, Stage & Screen
Style:
Soundtrack, Disco, Funk
Tracklist Hide Credits
A1 –Chic Soup For One 5:33
A2 –Carly Simon Why 4:06
A3 –Teddy Pendergrass Dream Girl 4:08
A4 –Fonzi Thornton I Work For A Livin' 3:31
B1 –Chic I Want Your Love 6:53
B2 –Sister Sledge Let's Go On Vacation 5:08
B3 –Chic Tavern On The Green 2:15
B4 –Deborah Harry Jump, Jump
Written-By – Chris Stein, Deborah Harry
4:02
Credits
Bass, Vocals – Bernard Edwards
Bells [Tubular] – José Rossi*
Drums – Tony Thompson (2)
Engineer – Bill Scheniman, Bob Clearmountain, Scott Litt
Engineer [Assitant] – Barry Bongiovi, Dave "The Rave" Greenberg*, Jason Corsaro, Jeff Hendrickson, Josh Abbey
Guitar – Nile Rodgers
Horns – Edward Daniels*, Meco Monardo, Robert Millikan
Keyboards – Ray Jones*, Rob Sabino
Percussion – Sammy Figueroa
Producer, Written-By, Arranged By, Conductor – Bernard Edwards & Nile Rodgers
Vocals – Alfa Anderson, Diva Gray, Fonzi Thornton, Jocelyn Brown, Luci Martin, Michelle Cobbs, Robin Clark (2)

― dow, Sunday, July 22, 2018

i'm sure i've posted this a few times but i love this b-side from "bad bad boy" by theo vaness. it's kind of cheaply constructed and really doesn't need to be so long but it BANGS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LtNlT2SV_k

Revelation - Feel It (1980)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y2JapLMkSQ

oh hell yes

i've been getting reacquainted with how good "music and lights" by imagination is.

fyi the bass playing on that theo vaness track is so killer, it just pours out of whoever's playing it... and i really want to know who it is but i can't find any credits.

and i should say it's not a b-side! it's from a double a side released in 1987

That 1987 release was a re-issue. It was on the B-side of Paradise Garage classic "Sentimentally It's You", released in 1979. I vastly prefer this to "Sentimentally It's You", but would still prefer an instrumental version; Theo's vocals rub me up the wrong way.

I've been told by a friend who goes to "modern" rooms at Northern Soul events that Revelation's "Feel It" often gets an airing. It'll get a first airing from me on Friday night, too - as will Chemise "She Can't Love You" (1982), recommended to me by a regular. This gets better with every play; all those little staccato stabs and squelches really do it for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRrTR7hNO-M

^ Love this, especially the way she says, "She can't love you like I dohhhhh"

could spend a lifetime digging through all the various patrick adams projects. got this one the other week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07dCMg7En9A

chemise is the GOAT floor-filler

GOAT....???

Get Out And Tosssssss

GOAT was originally released as an abbreviation ca. 2007. It means Greatest Of All Time. ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOl-vTIKzCE
Melody Stewart - Get Down, Get Down (1980)

I saw a performance of King Lear last night. Shalamar's "Right in the Socket" takes on a whole new meaning after Gloucester's blinding scene.

Metropole - Miss Mahattan.
An Italian production from spring 1981, although it sounds a good deal more NYC than Italian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3s64eEcUMM

Vera - Take Me To The Bridge (late 1980/early 1981)
The proto-hi-energy intro is a bit misleading, as it settles into a smoother and more satisfying groove thereafter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW1L9-GTOTc

NickB already posted that Vera song itt 6 months ago but damn if it doesn't deserve another few postings here. Such a magical song! Thanks, you two!

Ahaha so he did! Well, this is my current new favourite: Jean Carn "If You Wanna Go Back" (1976). I only wish it was longer.

https://youtu.be/wboKA2XpfyM

with my first post in this thread, please allow me to say WOWOWOWOWOWOW @ "She's So Divine" upthread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjpELZNsTD4

familiar to everyone I'm sure but it's such a perfect slow groove isn't it

i've been downloading 80s jams all night, getting ready for a gig tomorrow. this is one of my fave rediscoveries in a while. not sure how obvious it is, probably it's pretty obvious heh. but i had forgotten all about it. solo nile rodgers is my kind of throwback to play!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCN4WZYU9Y

I'm having a good afternoon. These are all from around October 1981.

Arthur Adams - You Got The Floor
This builds from a subdued start, hitting its stride around 1:49, then peaking with a long jazzy instrumental section that eventually closes the track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wm0e1fTpXo

The Frontline Orchestra - Don't Turn Your Back On Me
More strident and less weedy than Britfunk too often tended to be, and as such deservedly embraced by Knuckles and Levan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsr-dymmbKA

Letta Mbulu - Kilimanjaro
Sets out its stall early, then sticks there to pleasing effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI4clrzJZZk

very enjoyable stuff

Just discovered the french version and it's fye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdIvdGoLJRU

Metropole "Miss Manhattan" and Vera "Take Me To The Bridge", as posted upthread, have both just been reissued on 12", making them both vaguely affordable at last. Hallelujah.

Blue Feather - Let's Funk Tonight (Instrumental) (1981) - miles better than the weedy vocal version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPX548h6h4w

Nice one! And thanks again for the incredible job you're doing with the James Hamilton Disco Page, Mike. I have a daily script set up that downloads the audio of every track you link to, so whenever I'm in a disco mood I have a huge batch of new tracks to explore.

Ha, excellent!

Spent some time with <i>Disco Fever USA</i> recently - one of the latter volumes of the Disco Discharge series, so you can feel a bit of barrel-scraping. But I found this on it - sounds like Dr.John goes Disco, as the liner notes mention!

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

Haha! You probably know this one already but this is Dr John going electrofunk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz4o2tWp8Vw

have got some serious catching up to do on this thread, every time it gets bumped i never seem to be in a place where i can listen

Haha Nick, that's pretty cool! Don't think I'd heard before.

some more cheri for the thread. "murhpy's law" stuck in my head all the time. such a good mix of melancholy and playfulness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7NRg4hoD0

I just found this thread, thank god. Keep em coming!

a recent score: rainbow brown. fonda rae, produced by patrick adams, which is an obsession. i know i'm not alone in this. "i'm the one" is maybe my fave. for now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP1s3rrFfb4

little dragon - lover chanting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiSTcdi82S0

btw the b-side on that EP is fresh too

this is my current favourite fonda joint, absolute rapturous stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J-F9M-KDBE

bumblebee vocals and all, I've been enjoying this for the past few days:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5zTZRm1cT0

I've owned a copy of the Dr John "Jet Set" 12" for years, but never saw the video before today! So wonderful I'm in tears.

New arrival here, about halfway through the thread and my computer is now refusing to play any more music at this time so I'll need to take a break but what a lot of superb selections!

My favorite new discovery so far is Low Down Dirty Rhythm from the top comment. Although Patrick Cowley's star seems to be once again ascendant he remains criminally underrated.

I'd also rate these tunes:

Black Gold - C'mon Stop
Mark Clark - Take Me I'm Yours (obviously)
Donald Byrd - Thank You For Funking Up My Life
Melba Moore - Love's Comin' At Ya!
Shalamar - Right in the Socket
Dr Togo - Be Free
Vera - Take Me To The Bridge
The Brooklyn, Bronx & Queens Band - On The Beat
Empire Projecting Lisa ‎– Freakman

The credits on It Should Have Been You, incredible. Produced by Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Steven Stanley and mixed by Larry Levan. I wonder what else I've missed from that team of superheroes.

This appeared on a spotify song radio, released in 1981, sailed under the radar for me.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XT-iikjgH0s

love that, fern had some great songs!

Vera - Take Me To The Bridge

Love this song, such longing in the voice.