...AND THE BEAT GOES ON! The GRAND ILM DISCO POLL results are revealed!

from WIKI

The coda at the end of the song comes directly from Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango's 1972 disco song "Soul Makossa". Dibango sued Jackson and settled out of court for one million French francs, agreeing thereby to waive future rights to this recording but not future use of the material.

news to me!

I agree Tim F, We need some Change!

Yeah I felt fine voting for "Don't Stop..." but couldn't vote for "Wanna..." even though they're like twin godheads controlling the universe with irresistible compulsion.

OTM unto perpetuity.

72.(tie) Evelyn "Champagne" King - Shame (1977)
207 points, 5 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-850672-1175931301_zps6ce41f1c.jpeg

http://youtu.be/2_oGq1USOIo

Can't really find any discussion on this tune on ILM, but maybe you can say something about it?

Evelyn King is probably the youngest artist in this poll; I think she was only 17 when this song came out.

I've never known the title or the artist but this is a classic of course, especially that chorus.

Personally, I prefer her later boogie material; "I'm in Love", "Love Come Down", and "Get Loose" are all awesome. IMO she's still pretty generic on "Shame".

Shame is completely fantastique

changing your middle name to "champagne" is pretty dope imo

let's not preemptively mar this thread with disappointment over things that may or may not yet place (plenty of time for that later) and just enjoy the tunes

btw these covers are awesome! so they'r european? makes me wish disco singles didn't all have those generic labels

also glow of love rules but my fav change tune is not disco but the killer 80's r&b of "change of heart"

xps I know a guy whose middle name is 'Champion' but for some reason he keeps quiet about it. I'd have my full name embroidered on the back of all my shirts.

so far only things on my ballot to have placed are peech boys & jones girls. voted for different giorgio (i wanna funk with you) & patrick cowley songs (mind warp). btw richjuzwiak who is quoted in the menergy post wrote this about p cowley for lgbt history month http://gawker.com/lgbt-history-month-the-aids-masterpiece-of-a-lost-disc-1454245531

"Shame" in my top ten but yeah I prefer "Love Come Down."

xxp http://i.imgur.com/aYmY0No.jpg

If I voted for a "Champagne" track, it would've been "I'm In Love."

71. Class Action - Weekend (1983)
208 points, 5 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-5015025-1382708257-5366_zps82eeb4b3.jpeg

http://youtu.be/j_RcdZzDg3c (music video)
http://youtu.be/PYy02J51SNo (Larry Levan 12" mix)

Derrick May is awesome w/ hates - "Beyond the Dance" is so intense for me.

and Timbaland's "One In A Million" was the most groundbreaking record of the 90's (except for maybe "Soon")

but the high-hat award goes to Class Action - "Weekend (Larry Levan's Weekend mix).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), 3. syyskuuta 2002 20:12

Class Action - did the best ever version of "Weekend", vocals by Chris Wilshire (acapella later sampled by Todd Terry), at least one of the mixes by Larry Levan. "I can't take the heartbeat of you leaving me again...etc." Oh, you know the one. Perfect post-disco/pre-house club track, right up there with C-Bank "One More Shot".

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), 5. huhtikuuta 2005 16:55

THREE mixes of Class Action's "Weekend"??? Just buy it already!

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), 12. huhtikuuta 2006 2:25

listen to this over + over yesterday: goosebump-inducing perfection every time

have a disco christmas y'all

― hubertus bigend (m coleman), 23. joulukuuta 2010 17:21

Yay, Class Action - in my Top 10, and another track which I've loved for over 30 years.

"Shame" was in my long list, but just missed the final cut.

Class Action was #5 in my ballot. I think every aspect of the song - the spiky beats, Chris Wiltshire's spirited vocals, the liberated lyrics, that ultra-catchy synth riff - simply kick ass.

70. Patrick Cowley - Sea Hunt (1981)
210 points, 6 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-114402-1143741113_zps859b6428.jpeg

http://youtu.be/E0L7sKXEdG0

sea hunt is definitely one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard. i played it this one time and my friend was shouting at me "OMG THIS SOUNDS LIKE PORPOISES FUCKING IN OUTER SPACE!!!!"

― jaime, 20. elokuuta 2007 8:05

Sea Hunt. Wow.

― Violent In Design (Masonic Boom), 3. heinäkuuta 2009 18:09

I can't speak to the rest of his catalog -- but most of that record (LP, right? There's certainly 40 minutes of material on there) is outstanding and feels very italo. I particularly love his deplyment of female vocals -- on "Get a Little" but also the wordless cooing doubling the synthesizer lead on "Sea Hunt."

― Naive Teen Idol, 15. lokakuuta 2009 19:10

This is only the second non-single on the list, after "At Last I Am Free". It's not hard to see why people (myself included) voted for it, anyone who loves epic synth instrumentals should love "Sea Hunt".

Apparently the tune is a cover version of the theme from a late 50s TV show of the same name:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HFdvCy6ivY

Sea hunt is epic, my fav cowley tune

huh didn't know it was a theme tune cover, but that makes sense! It's a very "action tv" oriented melody.

Btw, everyone should read that Patrick Cowley article Flopson linked to a few posts above... It's a touching text, and the anecdote at the end of the article is hella impressive.

wonder what change songs are going to show up. feel like "angel in my pocket" has a good chance.

― From the Album No Baby for You! (Matt P)

I went for The Glow of Love, it was one four songs I voted for with Luther Vandross on vocals.

I voted for a few Change songs - "AIMP" wasn't one of them - and will be very disappointed if none place in the top 50.

'Ain't nobody' is still (11 years after the quote above) some days my favourite song ever but yeah it's not disco and I didn't vote for it.

'A Lover's holiday' somehow slipped off my ballot at the last minute, I think partly because it never registered much with me until i heard Greg Wilson play the LNTG edit out, before that I was always a 'searchin' kind of guy or a 'glow of love' kind of guy on a Sunday.

I was a woman-with-a-purpose-in-the-city the other day when Shame came on in the car

69. Chic - My Feet Keep Dancing (1979)
211 points, 4 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-2255109-1272628018_zps62ce1bf9.jpeg

http://youtu.be/A75Bb0erCU4

The incredible restraint of the strings on "My Feet Keep Dancing" is quite nice. In my head that strident triplet (is it?) comes in every few lines, on the track it happens something like twice. And the tap solo w/Bernard repeating this incredible surging figure OVER AND OVER is nice, too. And! Tony does the most incredible drumroll, just a straight long duggaduggadugga that's pretty fucking stunning after nothing (I think. Effectively, anyway, really) but that same exact and perfect beat for the whole song.

― Mr Mime (Andrew Thames), 21. huhtikuuta 2004 15:09

My God, this is powerful stuff, almost religious. Undeniably physical music that is utterly ethereal yet tough as nails at the same time. There's a deep chasm of melancholy and sadness at the heart of what are, on the surface, very jubilant songs, and I find that undercurrent unbearably affecting. The austerity, tightness and restraint in something like the tap-dance breakdown and slow build-up in "My Feet Keep Dancing" makes me feel like my lungs and heart are going to explode.

― Clarke, 3. helmikuuta 2008 20:25

listening to 'my feet keep dancing' right now and thinking how NEXT LEVEL the groove on this is, the short, rapid guitar bursts

― deej, 1. heinäkuuta 2007 23:21

Reverend, the way Rodgers/Edwards mixed strings and Thompson's drums negate the need for extra percussion! Listen to "My Feet Keep Dancing" again! Their ethos is crafting this huge drama using minimalist ends.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, 1. heinäkuuta 2007 23:27

Generic is the last thing i would call a song like (and i hate to use this example again but its the one i've been playing over and over today) "my feet keep dancing" - so many of their best songs seem like an exercise in originality/creativity, an attempt to take a standard soul-disco formula and make it interesting, while keeping the same communal vibe and incredibly lockstep-tight dance grooves. You can here them experimenting w/ hemiolas and other rhythmic tricks, minimalism, playing the groove of the guitar-bass-drums off the strings-horns-lushness, bells and handclaps, using a small palette of instruments and styles (how many times did you ever hear nile rodgers guitar doing the 'nile rodgers trick') but somehow making it all sound v. v. different from song to song...everything in their catalogue sounds so distinct to me

― deej, 2. heinäkuuta 2007 8:45

"My Feet Keep Dancing" - the greatest song from this greatest of disco bands

― Kevin John Bozelka, 11. syyskuuta 2009 18:39

TOO LOW. Love the tapdancing breakdown and the general Red Shoes vibe.

Why is it so easy to find great ILM quotes on Chic tunes, but not on the other tunes in this poll?

Because Chic?

Those are great quotes, but then this is one of the greatest songs by one of the greatest bands.

68. Luther Vandross - Never Too Much (1981)
212 points, 5 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-206392-1274370533_zps72a5c2fe.jpeg

http://youtu.be/uoI_tWf3pH8

This is easily Never Too Much, it's one of my favourite songs ever. I'm a huge fan of the Never Too Much album, only seven tracks but they're all brilliant.

― Kitchen Person, 5. joulukuuta 2012 0:49

There are other good ones on that list too, but Never Too Much is just a perfect R&B single.

― jetfan, 5. joulukuuta 2012 3:14

i sang "never too much" at karaoke once and it was actually surprisingly boring to sing.

― fennel cartwright, Wednesday, December 5, 2012 1:28 AM

i did the same! & its so true. it's def more about how he uses his voice than that melody

― D-40, 5. joulukuuta 2012 17:30

Luther's schmaltzy more often than not, but he's great nonetheless. "Never Too Much" will always remind me of early 80's NYC R&B radio - WBLS, KISS, KTU. It was a standby on those stations, and those were GREAT stations at that time. Frankie Crocker anyone? Anyone? Hello?

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), 18. heinäkuuta 2003 18:42

Oh Papa

Right ON! Heard *Never Too Much* on one of Theo Parrish's mixes and had to quiz him to find out what it was. Fortunately I found a 12" of it.

I used to sing it to my girl... I shall do so again.

― factcheckr (factcheckr), 9. helmikuuta 2007 6:47

Luther Vandross "Never Too Much" Classic or Dud?

I think it's fair to say Luther Vandross was the finest male vocalist disco produced. (Though obviously his biggest successes were post-disco; I'm not sure if "Never Too Much" really counts as disco either.)

67. Sister Sledge - He's the Greatest Dancer (1978)
222 points, 7 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-2595493-1292281973_zpsea7c0323.jpeg

http://youtu.be/TDwutKpVyas

He's The Greatest Dancer has so many killer lines - "The place was so boring / Filled with out-of-towners touring", "Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci", "He looks like a still"!!

― etc, 5. toukokuuta 2008 1:20

I love Will, but nothing is better than "He's the Greatest Dancer".

― I Ain't No Addict, Whoever Heard of a Junkie as Old as Me? (noodle vague), 27. elokuuta 2005 14:24

Hi, my name is Cliff Purvis. Have you ever heard that called He's The Greatest Dancer by Sister Sledge? I like to play that song really loud in my dressing room before I give lectures at real estate seminars. It makes me feel like I can take on the world.

― Display Name, 3. heinäkuuta 2007 10:23

Sister Sledge's "We Are Family"/"He's the Greatest Dancer" 12-inch may be the greatest double-sided single by anybody, ever

― M Matos, 12. maaliskuuta 2002 3:00

Three great songs back to back to back.

"My Feet Keep Dancing" was my Chic pick. In my universe it was as huge as "Le Freak" and "Good Times."

Sister Sledge's "We Are Family"/"He's the Greatest Dancer" 12-inch may be the greatest double-sided single by anybody, ever

Really?! Those were issued together?

Amazed only seven votes for this, I thought it was a universal.

Never Too Much is way too low. It was my number two and it's one of the most perfect songs ever created.

Great Chic and Sister Sledge songs but not the ones I voted for. Not sure which of the ones I voted for will place as He's The Greatest Dance is so low.

Might have been let down by vote splitting. I know that some people only went for one song per artist and when the competition is Lost In Music, We Are Family and Thinking Of You (all within the first five tracks of the same album) it's going to be tough.

Xp

I love "Never Too Much" but didn't vote for it, because I feel it's more R&B than disco... Maybe some others felt the same way and that's why it's so low?

(xpost)

Yeah, I tried to keep my votes to one-per-artist, except for a couple of personal favourites (Sharon Redd, Boris Midney) with whom it would've been impossible, so there was no room for "He's the Greatest Dancer", as great as it is.

I went back and forth whether to include 'Never Too Much' because of this, but finally decided to leave it in (I think? I'd have to check my ballot). I probably put it lower than I otherwise would have because I was hesitant about its disco status.

I went relatively unorthodox on my Chic picks. For Sister Sledge, I went with "One More Time," tho "He's the Greatest Dancer" was close.

I excluded "Never Too Much", on not-really-what-I-call-disco grounds. "My Feet Keep Dancing" is a great Chic pick, although not one of mine.

has anyone started spotify/youtube playlists yet?

i have a slow day at work so i can

http://open.spotify.com/user/miketd/playlist/4za5ZvxZ6pUQZrcmhkbJja

There are some duplicates on that Spotify list, where the full length versions are only available in the UK. In those cases, WilliamC has added alternative versions that can be streamed in the US.

Twice as many good times