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

I'm the number one voter here. should I be satisfied or dissapointed with this placement?

Kendricks was at #79 on my longlist. Tough choices.

Love and voted for the D-Train, the album version with the slow piano intro is all time!

Didn't vote for Magic Fly (voted for Just Blue instead) but very happy to see it make the list. I heard it on Radio 2 a while back and it just sounded amazing.

Love this Eddie Kendricks song but again I voted for s different song that probably has no chance of making it. It was one of the last songs I had to cut. As mentioned by various people on the Motown poll the album it comes from is an absolute classic.

Great list so far, almost every song a masterpiece.

xp on "Paradise" - that was my #1. That chorus is undeniable - it's manna. Alfred OTM, of course.

"A Lover's Holiday" is a little too sub-Chic for my taste, though it's certainly a good song. No disagreements about that first Change record, but "Paradise" transcends its obvious influences - it delivers what the title promises.

u guys "hold tight" is the Change sleeper

GYNACOM way way too low

man even that acronym sounds uncomfortably sexist

lmao

The whole album feat. "Paradise," "Hold Tight" and "Miracles" is astonishingly great.

Amen to that - I even voted for "Miracles," but I doubt it'll place.

I almost did, but went for "Paradise" instead.

"Miracles" is glockenspiel heaven

61. Universal Robot Band - Barely Breaking Even (1982)
239 points, 6 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-1740858-1348582248-6667_zpse84ea18e.jpeg

http://youtu.be/1E4q7LuUoH4

Universal Robot Band: "Barely Breaking Even" is about as joyously perfect as 80s groove gets.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), 7. syyskuuta 2004 12:28

Has Any Music Ever *BURSTED WITH JOY* to the Same Extent as Early Beatles Songs Such as "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me?"

Perhaps not bursting in Tim's prescribed way, but Universal Robot Band - Barely Breaking Even.

― Rob Uptight (Rob Uptight), 20. heinäkuuta 2005 0:31

Universal Robot Band - Barely Breaking Even

Greg Carmichael and Leroy Burgess early 80s disco masterpiece

― Confounded (Confounded), 5. lokakuuta 2005 5:26

"Barely Breaking Even" by the Universal Robot Band == awesome.

― Bill in Chicago, 21. elokuuta 2007 20:14

yessssss

YESSSSSSSSSSS

60. Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive (1977)
244 points, 8 votes, one 1st place vote.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-671814-1386434573-1332_zps9cf18f4f.jpeg

http://youtu.be/y29r3oKSwL0

Feel like it's kind of like their "Stairway to Heaven" -- once uniformly regarded as their best work, then discarded as lesser known stuff came into favor and once again regarded as a high point (if no longer *the* high point).

― Naive Teen Idol, 20. kesäkuuta 2012 20:13

oh, and i only dress like barry gibb when i go to work. someone stands at the entrance of the floor ready to cue "staying alive" so that i may strut my way into the office. when i leave, the top four buttons get buttoned and the gold medallion hidden.

― fred solinger, 6. kesäkuuta 2001 3:00

there's been times when "stayin alive" is going when i think that groove is up there with mankind's greatest achievements. so that one.

― andrew m., 12. huhtikuuta 2007 21:21

obviously, "Stayin' Alive" - guaranteed to be played on the radio sometime today, guaranteed to annoy a lot of people, guaranteed to make me happy! "Agh, this sounds so girly!" Well that's what makes it rule, duh.

― Poppy (poppy), 10. joulukuuta 2003 5:19

"Stayin' Alive" may be about the speed of normal walking, but something in its funk makes you have to strut, swagger, or lope, all of which I think work for a "Walkin' Asshole" mix.

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), 17. toukokuuta 2006 18:15

Those harmonies are the most frightening things on earth -- it's like the Nazgul.

"Barely Breaking Even" was a revelation, that was one of the handful of songs in the top 100 that I hadn't heard before. So thanks for bringing it to my attention, what an incredible groove!

well
well
WELL

damn "Barely Breaking Even" is incredible

Stayin' Alive - love it, didn't vote for it

i didn't know the whole gibbs story, i.e. all those early records, until a year or so ago, which makes me love the disco hits even more. i don't think i could have resisted voting for 'jive talkin,' which rings all my bells for 'pop masterpiece'.

i'll never be able to unhear "feel more of the flavor on the dancefloor" when i listen to "stayin' alive"

"Barely Breaking Even" was one I discovered off an ilxor's disco top ten (maybe Andy K's) some time ago, it's the kind of thing I'd never have discovered but for ILM!

;_; love u guys so much ;_;

Use in medical training

"Stayin' Alive" was used in a study to train medical professionals to provide the correct number of chest compressions per minute while performing CPR. The song has close to 104 beats per minute, and 100-120 chest compressions per minute are recommended by the British Heart Foundation,[5] and endorsed by the Resuscitation Council (UK).[6] A study on medical professionals found that the quality of CPR is better when thinking about "Stayin' Alive".[7] This was parodied in the season 5 episode of comedy series The Office "Stress Relief".

On 15 June 2011, the song was featured in a Hands Only CPR PSA campaign video from the American Heart Association and featured actor and medical doctor Ken Jeong in the classic John Travolta outfit from Saturday Night Fever.[8]

Vinnie Jones also stars in a UK version of this CPR video in association with the British Heart Foundation shown on TV circa January 2012.[9]

haha yess

59. The Crusaders featuring Randy Crawford - Street Life (1979)
249 points, 7 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-87212-1343907509-4345_zps81848bbf.jpeg

http://youtu.be/JVvLNMIGHTE

Also, "Street Life" by the Crusaders is GREAT, probably even in its 11-minute album version, but that's 1979, so never mind.

― chuck, 25. lokakuuta 2003 3:15

I really thought the Def Leppard cover of Street Life would be the Randy Crawford one, major disappointment

― the same relation to machines as that which machines have to man (Matt #2), 28. syyskuuta 2010 0:15

4. Crusaders – Street Life
Immaculate in every respect, including the presence of Ms Crawford.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), 9. lokakuuta 2006 12:51

Again, this is a song where probably everyone knows the radio version, but the 12" version is quite different. Try it out, it might change your opinion for better – or worse.

For me, "Street Life" was the first disco song I really fell in love with with during my adult years; I was getting into jazz, picked up a Crusaders comp which had the full-length version (I'd heard the tune on the radio, of course, but never knew the artists, so I had no idea it was by this jazz-funk band) and those strings just pulled me in.

I had to cut it from my ballot though, which made me sad.

So pleased to see "Barely Breaking Even" represented. My sister got me into the track in the late 1980s; it was a big tune at Kiss FM club nights, before the station got its licence.

And, yes, you need the full length album version of "Street Life".

NB There are links between "Barely Breaking Even" and "Weekend" - both co-written by the wonderful Leroy Burgess, both co-mixed by John Morales of M&M.

(...the Class Action version, that is.)

god i love john morales

the M&M comps were my intro to 70's nyc disco. soo good

the version of Street Life used over the opening of Sharky's Machine is amazing but i've no idea which version that is.

I hadn't heard "Barely Breaking Even"! Great job, ILM.

the M&M comps were my intro to 70's nyc disco. soo good

― flopson, Monday, December 9, 2013 3:02 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

me too

damn "Barely Breaking Even" is incredible

― Tip from Tae Kwon Do: (crüt), Monday, December 9, 2013 4:11 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^ wow, never heard this before. 1984? Too late to be Disco with a capital D, by my arbitrary rules, but still...

the version of Street Life used over the opening of Sharky's Machine is amazing but i've no idea which version that is.

― piscesx, Monday, December 9, 2013 6:04 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark

otm

Two of the GYNACOM quotes are from me but I ended up voting for a different Eddie Kendricks track that feels more disco to me. Can i add another "YESSS" to Barely breaking even' showing up.

Wow, that first "M&M Mixes" comp is awesome. The La-Rita Gaskin "Never Can Say Goodbye" appears to be a completely different song than the one everyone knows. And it's amazing.

Barely breaking even is from 1982
http://www.discogs.com/Universal-Robot-Band-Barely-Breaking-Even/release/310462

The M+M remix of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is probably in my top 20 pieces of music ever.

58. Loleatta Holloway - Love Sensation (Tom Moulton Mix) (1980)
250 points, 7 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-763878-1370373487-4593_zps6f50ce04.jpeg

http://youtu.be/2IMWCCP7sY0

Actually I'd think about this in terms not of what was a typical-sounding record, but what encapsulates the spirit of disco best i.e. fantastical, glossy hedonism with an epic sense of drama.

Therefore I nominate Patrick Juvet - "I love america"

Either that or Donna Summer - "Love trilogy" or Salsoul Orchestra - "Love sensation"

For much the same reasons that "Move your body" or "Reachin" epitomise 80s house not by being typical, but by being evocative...

― Jacob (Jacob), 21. toukokuuta 2004 8:40

Am I missing something? WTF did Black Box do apart from rip off Lolletta Holloway's Love Sensation? Pfft.

― oats (oats), 13. lokakuuta 2004 15:56

This song basically invented screaming-diva gay house

Well, maybe house. Maybe. But certainly not disco. The Black Box magii merely recombined Holloway's vocal which means that "Love Sensation" is already screaming-diva and gay gay gay.

― Kevin John Bozelka, 10. elokuuta 2007 1:01

And yet she remains kind of immortal in that she was first and foremost famous for old recordings of her singing voice being cut and pasted into new pieces of music.

― You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), 23. maaliskuuta 2011 4:26

In which we attempt to list all the songs, hit or not, that have sampled or (urgh) "interpolated" Loleatta Holloway's "Love Sensation".

Sadly (though perhaps understandably), most of the ILM discussion on this tune and Loleatta Holloway seems to revolve around Black Box and others who sampled it.

Sorry to rewind, but have to cosign the love for Barely Breaking Even, I'll never tire of that one. The other Universal Robot Band output is solid and fun stuff but nothing of the same caliber as BBE, such a knockout.

And the sleeve for Magic Fly, for real, how rad is that. I love that you can almost feel the rough paper texture in the scan.

some solid and fun and very timely Universal Robot Band action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NEnSkpbmCY

damn the bassline on "Paradise" is incredible!