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

xxp - Wow, 'I Dig You' is indeed fantastic. I only knew Demis from Aphrodite's Child and a couple of ballads ('My Friend the Wind', 'It's Five o'Clock', both great, 'Lovely Lady of Arcadia' not so much), but I guess it makes sense to think of him as the eccentric Greek cousin of the Bee Gees.

Digging a little deeper, I see there's also this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO_lAbitUNg

I wish there was a bar down my road that would let me play disco every Friday...

ArchCarrier, this Demis Roussos edit was one of my most favorite records last year! The a-side is great as well. I saw that "L.O.V.E. Got a Hold on Me" is getting a re-issue soon, too, but it's 30 bucks for pre-order on pbvinyl.com, and that's just wrong. https://youtu.be/gU1wm4uOuow

this Demis Roussos edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU1wm4uOuow

Ooh, that's a good one!

This is the opposite of a deep cut, but I've been watching reruns of 1985 TOTP and this boogie banger is always a highlight. Had no idea they were Dutch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KyM6rCUOiM

Don't forget to check out the Dutch TopPop channel for much more Mai Tai.

On today's James Hamilton blog he mentions one of my favorite disco covers. Never fails to produce a couple of smiles in my direction whenever I play it in front of a crowd:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nwa2YtZRGs

(Not sure about the grammar in that last sentence but you get the idea...)

Oh cool, need to check that out!

Fabulous thread, just saw----this band may have already been mentioned, but can't resist quoting a late great ilxor, as already quoted on Amazon, re Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band s/t debut:

Disco rarely got more musically or lyrically sophisticated than on this self-titled debut album. Long before he took up the role of Kid Creole with the Coconuts, wordsmith August Darnell cushioned small, perfect truths--singer Cory Daye promises to get her "equivalency diploma" in love in "I'll Play the Fool"--in knowingly retro sounds. Stylish, honest, and completely one of a kind. --Rickey Wright
Speaking of Cory Daye, check out her solo album, Cory and Me w Dr B etc. input--the last I heard, she and a bunch of them are still performing together.

Speaking of Africa, don't miss Rough Guide To African Disco, esp, w bonus disc. Disc 1's opening track is weirdly generic, but the rest of it takes disco expectations on a trip.

Ditto this Nicky Siano comp---I'm told he hated the d-word, didn't want it on here, but Soul Jazz insisted---but disco-and-boogie is a handy tag for it---he really likes songs that tell stories that you can/have to dance to:

Siano the Times
Mercury rising as disco evolves out of its prior knowledge
by Don Allred
January 11th, 2005 2:14 PM Issue 02

Blissed-out, but not always totally
photo: Courtesy of Nicky Siano
Nicky Siano's Legendary the Gallery: New York's original disco 1973-1977
Soul Jazz import

In the early '70s, a teenage DJ named Nicky Siano traveled the space-wise
dancefloor of David Mancuso's Loft, before launching his own Gallery. (Gallery
kid Larry Levan later levitated Paradise Garage; he and Siano also worked with disco mystic Arthur Russell.) Despite acid, balloons, and
the food bar, the Gallery wasn't always totally blissed-out. As described in his CD notes, Siano's sound design, influenced by Mancuso's approach, was logically
based on and changing with the rooms and scenes he performed in as the feast
moved around NYC.
The Gallery opened in the summer of '73. Couch-potato arena rock ruled. There and elsewhere, DJs and dancers (especially blacks,
Latinos, gays) were among those, at times closely observed, who chose to carve fresh heat from the vinyl
beast. Spinning out of this disc, the Gallery is mercury still
rising, through crosstown funk, soul, and one gospel
song, personalized: Gloria Spencer proclaims, "I got it! I don't understand it! I got
it!" A jet blasts (like, "Amen!") out of Exuma's "Obeah Man." The Temptations
lay down the "Law of the Land": "You might not like who you are, but you
better start. 'Cause you sure can't be nobody else." But the music rumbles and clatters like a
roulette wheel. Meanwhile, turns out that Bonnie Bramlett's "Crazy 'Bout My
Baby" is crazy like a tambourine and a fox, shaking in wait for that slowhand
dobro.
Loleatta Holloway, Bobby Womack, Bill Withers, the Isleys,
and Undisputed Truth also make the most of prior knowledge and surprise.
Without waiting for the remix: These are original (full-length) LP tracks and
seven-inch singles. Yet great breaks burst out of (and roll through) good
grooves, good songs. Often.
Also see http://www.nickysiano.com/ and http://www.timlawrence.info/.

.

And xgau almost nailed this one:
Midnight Rhythm [Atlantic, 1979]
At last a whole disco album that actually brings off all the disco tricks--exploding out of the speakers, washing over the room, and so forth. The thump of the bass drum never dominates the rhythmic pulse, and the lyrical tag lines avoid the words "dance," "dancer," "dancing," "dancin'," and "disco"--until an orgasmic break (repeated once) that goes "Dancin', dancin', dancin', dancin'." Monofunctional but potent. A-
"almost nailed" because dunno that it was really the first, though obv. he heard more than most people, certainly me, but yeah at the time it was kind of like back when Jefferson Airplane's After Bathing At Baxter's was the first whole acid-rock album I heard that sounded like all those psychedelic posters etc. looked. . Also dunno about "monofunctional," because some of it was good for tripping as well as dancing; I had flashbacks to it when first heard Algiers.

extremely recommend that everyone in this thread follow @garageclassics on twitter; a bot that tweets discogs of paradise garage-era classics twice an hour. insanely high quality curation despite the massive volume. would be better if it were youtube links but whatever; i go every couple weeks and add a few dozen trax to a tidal playlist and jam it all week

rhyze - just how sweet is your love

rome jefferies - good love

five special - why leave us alone

Some more great re-issues I just picked up on Juno:

Kleeer - Intimate Connection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fhXIWjDmkU

Tommy Stewart - Bump & Hustle Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=718GGUbH3ho

Donnell Pitman - Love Explosion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmNcW8WdxMo

This is the Kleeer track that got my dancers going last Friday, in the bar up the road - discovered a couple of months ago.

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

That Donnell Pitman track's interesting - it's basically Ripple "The Beat Goes On And On" with a vocal plonked on top, but it works....

love kleeer. lots of good jams spread among their albums.

that rome jefferies is neat, thanks flopson! hadn't heard it before but greg henderson was already a familiar name cos he also did this classic which recently appeared on the sam records anthology set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft8uYVnrzgc
Greg Henderson - Dreamin'

ah i've heard 'intimate connection' before but i forgot about it, haha excellent track! seeeriousss...

i've spammed ilm about this song before but i've been binging on it once again lately...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y1lgh166rk
Fern Kinney - Groove Me (1979)

starts off as a pretty sweet pop reggae track and then it veers off into outer space about halfway through. so good and pretty easy to find cheap ime. cover of a king floyd southern soul song btw, original is fucking excellent too if you don't know that.

and this is another track off the same fern kinney album as the above

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaxyQF0jegQ
Fern Kinney - Baby Let Me Kiss You (1979)

bit more of an electronic one but still really spacey and again it's really easy to find the 12" in the UK - it's the b-side of her big hit 'together we are beautiful'

Both of those big staples on the Balearic scene

Early Cameo is SUCH a treasure trove. "It's Serious" is one of my top jams (and I suspect it's the first track to use the "oo-wa oo-wa" chant, swiftly plundered by Michael Zager), almost all of the Secret Omen album is great, and I've just discovered "Cameosis" from 1980.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9av9tY3vTY

hooooly shit, more incredible afro disco edits. the flip of this one's great, too, and there are still cheap copies on discogs. i will be snapping one up tonight for sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwXJ4OyLpwM

here's another great discovery for me this week. all 4 tracks are hot on the brazilian tip. someone on discogs is saying that it will be getting another pressing in the next couple weeks. gotta have it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRPBvCXrzDs

xp i dig those Cameo tunes. didn't realize what a big band they were.

that amadou balake is gorgeous!

those cameo boys sound drilled as fuck on those tunes - so tight!

This is my discovery of the week (again thanks to the James Hamilton blog): Debbie Jacobs - 'High on Your Love'.

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

That intro!

Ooooh, I missed that, creamy!

Re: the Kleeer song, I keep hearing "Internet Connection" :)

Weird Al needs to get on that right quick.

In today's post: The Invisible Man's Band - All Night Thing (1979)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MMntuWZ5o4

The band were formerly known as Five Stairsteps, of "O-o-h Child" fame, featuring Keni "Risin' To The Top" Burke and his brothers.

my roommate funky brewster just put this on the turntable, ufff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKqLmiMXja8

and now this one. dude has expensive taste:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIZ5suObstA

Cubie Burke - Down For Double (1982)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKO7BW1mIFU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmkTTE1CAJ8

Anarchy In The UK covered in a disco stylee :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnx4Ky8v6tg

Memorably deployed near the climax of Can't Stop the Music.

Well, memorable to me in any case.

Thanks for that Sex Pistols cover, Paolo! I love it. The original is by the Black Arabs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZmZ1Z9o73E

Aha, I suspected as much and had been meaning to cross-check, thanks for confirming!

In today's post: Carrie Lucas - Dance With You, as liberally sampled by a certain late 90s monster hit. The YouTube doesn't do it full justice compared with the 12", but HOLY SHIT THIS IS SO GREAT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BHww8urQGE

Obv introduced to that song via the sample that eclipsed it, but man the original is a barnstormer. Way closer to the on-beat than most disco

Yeah that carrie lucas bangs, love that!

Playlist from last Friday's DJ gig at the bar up the road:

Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes - Wake Up Everybody
Bill Withers - Lovely Day
ned doheny - to prove my love
donald byrd - love has come around
candi staton - when you wake up tomorrow
invisible man's band - all night thing
Norman Connors - Captain Connors
light of the world - pete's crusade
george duke - brazilian love affair
mass production - shante
tower of power - lovin' you is gonna see me thru
charles earland - let the music play
kleeer - it's magic
raul de souza - daisy mae
azymuth - jazz carnival
eddie henderson - prance on
debbie jacobs - high on your love
double exposure - ten percent
grey & hanks - dancin'
herbie mann - hijack
shalamar - right in the socket
d train - you're the one for me
david joseph - you can't hide (your love from me)
loose joints - is it all over my face?
talking heads - I zimbra
narada michael walden - I shoulda loved ya
gene chandler - get down
shalamar - I owe you one
the source ft candi staton - you got the love (original 1986 version)
sister sledge - thinking of you (dimitri from paris remix)
george benson - give me the night
Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
queen - another one bites the dust
sugarhill gang - rappers delight
Positive Force - We Got The Funk
Patrice Rushen - Forget Me Nots
Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
players association - turn the music up
bobby thurston - check out the groove
Quincy Jones - Ai No Corrida
chic - le freak (dimitri from paris remix)
marvin gaye - got to give it up (the reflex re-edit)
Freeez - Southern Freeez
odyssey - use it up and wear it out
Sly & The Family Stone - Dance To The Music (John Luongo remix)
gloria gaynor - never can say goodbye
sylvester - you make me feel (mighty real)

nice! how did it go down? am picturing the ruins still smouldering here

The original Source/Candi Staton went down particularly well, as nobody seems to know it; I had a similar reaction with Tony Lee's "Reach Up" a few weeks ago, when people realised it had the vocal from Phats & Small. Looking forward to pulling a similar trick with Carrie Lucas on Friday.

George Duke, D-Train and Players Association were all requests. The D-Train sounded particularly fantastic; I never quite know what's going to sound best on my PA system, until I play it out. On the downside, the Debbie Jacobs didn't sound great, although it plays fine at home.

Sylvester got the most dancers, obviously. But the early-set jazz-funk was much appreciated, too.

can't argue with the d-train, huge song!

got lucky and picked up this bomb for a couple of quid at the weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5XS1CZV9w4
Tamiko Jones - Can't Live Without Your Love (1979)

Great track, I also bought it a couple of months ago.

Best Night Ever at the bar up the road on Friday; I hit a sweet spot with this sequence, and was rewarded with a packed floor.
Tailgunner - Jimmy McGriff
You And I - Rick James
Can't Live Without Your Love - Tamiko Jones
Everybody Here Must Party - Direct Current, with a flukily spot-on long-running mix into...
R.R. Express - Rose Royce
Backstrokin' - Fatback
Far Beyond - Locksmith
On The One - Cameo
Let's Get Funktified - Boiling Point
Let's Get Serious - Jermaine Jackson
You Got The Love (1986 original version) - The Source & Candi Staton
Going Back To My Roots - Odyssey
Take Me I'm Yours - Mary Clark (I'll play requests when they're as good as this one)
Which Way Is Up - Stargard
Star - Earth Wind & Fire

Dance With You - Carrie Lucas into Streetplayer - Chicago also worked a treat.