dude...mixing up the bass and drums is what makes a disco mix! and guess who did the disco mix of nicolette larsen...Jimmy Simpson...brother of Valerie Simpson of Ashford & Simpson...IT'S A DISCO RECORD! GET OVER IT!
Well, it's the slowest dance song I ever heard, but if you say it is, it is!
...and what is up with your use of the term "mildly funky"...is that supposed to be an insult?
Actually, no - I think that's a pretty accurate description if I do say so myself. I'd say it again, and it really wouldn't be insulting anyone. (I truly apologize if I insulted you.) The musicians gave it enough of a "fonky" feel to get by, but it's not exactly going into Nile Rodgers territory...I'll bet even the musicians themselves would have said that.
you can keep your slap-bass riddled con-funk-shun records
keep 'em? nope, i dont need no Con Funk Shun; id just as soon throw them away. if i wanna hear some slap bass, ill do like you say and go back to dissecting my moldy rockabilly collections!
i guess i'm just a little bit too young to see the continuity from what i think of as disco to what i know as new wave...
It was a weird time. Even though I was born in 1970 and was a bit young, I *did* listen to a lot of radio. Yacht-rock was for the hopelessly square over-30 set and dentist's offices; it was "old people's" music. And my perception back then was that disco was getting played out by 1978-79 (I remember the release of THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY movie) and was pretty much pass?? by 1980 just like KISS, Sean Cassidy, Farrah Fawcett and John Travolta. Sure boogie was going strong by then, but it didn't sound like disco to me and I'm sure most kids my age didn't think of it as disco either; just contemporary black music. So when bands like ABC, Heaven-17, and The Style Council began incorporating disco into their sound a mere few years later, it almost sounded like throwback music to me. I was really puzzled as to why bands would be employing a sound that was D.O.A. just a few years before, and even more puzzled as to why their listeners didn't realize that it was just Disco done up in New Wave drag. Of course now I understand why, I don't care, and I just enjoy it.
i'm not offended...it's the internet...it's fun to get riled up
thing is...i'm totally obsessed with disco and 12" singles and i just love it when i find a track that doesn't seem like it should be on 12" with a disco mix...nicolette fits that bill. i found out it was on a 12" when i heard a killer nyc disco dj drop it in a set and it totally killed. it's all about context sometimes. and believe it or not mid-tempo disco jams are all the rage these days...check out lovefingers or dreamchimney and you'll see what i mean...granted, it's all the rage amongst bearded nerdy record collectors of a certain age...probably 28-35...who think of themselves as being vaguely funky.
rockabilly is something i'd love to get into but don't have any idea where to start...didn't keb darge put out a comp? those records can be $$$$$$$
ok...that first Style Council clip is most definitely disco...i think they may be an exception to the rule because Weller was clearly going for a 70s sound on those records emulating the disco crossover tracks he was hearing at northern soul nights.
Agreed. Us Americans often underestimate the importance of Northern Soul to early new wave. Hell, Soft Cell covered not one but THREE northern classics: "Tainted Love," "Where Did Our Love Go," and "What."
i'm not offended...it's the internet...it's fun to get riled up
thing is...i'm totally obsessed with disco and 12" singles and i just love it when i find a track that doesn't seem like it should be on 12" with a disco mix...nicolette fits that bill.
While we're riffing on unlikely disco singles...what's your take on "Black Betty" by Ram Jam?
The hit we know from the radio is too choppy to work on a dance floor (I'm assuming)...but Epic released a 12" disco remix of it that added a straight four-on-the-floor rhythm...I kinda like it, trashy as it is!!!
rockabilly is something i'd love to get into but don't have any idea where to start...didn't keb darge put out a comp?
Yes, he did put out a comp, and that might be a good place to start, since a lot of the songs he chose are classics that have already made the rounds on other compilations...otherwise, get a good Sun anthology with their more obscure acts like Sonny Burgess, and work your way through to other albums...I could think of some more adventurous titles (Vol. 1 of Sin Alley, for starters), but I gotta go soon and that's what popped in my mind at the spur of the moment...
while abc's look of love was made for club play...( bought it when it came out) im not calling it straight up disco, same with juniors "mama used to say"...if yall are gonna lump abc in with disco...then lump culture clubs "i know you miss me" (as some others) in as well...same sound. imo not disco.
strings.. 4X4 best with hit hat open. 2 examples of pure disco: lenny williams/ running evelyn king champagne/ i dont know
evelyn also had huuuuge success on the boogie tip..that sound that was coming out of nyc during that time..the radio was killing shit there. not that i lived there then but visited family often.. what an amazing time for dance music in nyc.
nicolette 12" vers= soft rock with a disco twist and they got the most boring disco remixer ever to do it Jim Burgess ( no relation to Leroy)
back to topic. im reaching but...disco rock...philip bailey and phil collins... easy lover ?
Well, it's the slowest dance song I ever heard, but if you say it is, it is!
actually, check the intro to diana ross/ love hang over....donna summers/ love to love you baby and for good measure...tanya gardners/ heartbeat and when you touch me all of which beat the shit out of nicolette in the slowest dance song contest.
Wow, disco or not, there is so much terrible music mentioned on this thread. Basically none of this shit ever got love in the disco world. Maybe it got love from your parents on their 8 track player in the suburbs when you are a kid, I don't know. Some of the only worthy ones that were mentioned:
Hollies "Dragging My Heels" is actually a crossover classic on the disco/house/classics scene. Deodato "Whistle Bump" is also another classic that got/still gets played. Level 42 "Starchild" isn't disco, but is definitely a Garage and Club classic.
What's funny about this thread is, what exactly is a disco artist anyways? I don't know, but I know plenty of r&b musicians were experimenting with certain rhythms and drum patterns and tempos in the 70s, maybe even adding strings and even playing around with arrangements that were influenced by the Philly sound, some mutated from the Motown sound, and shit morphed and took off from there. Are Gamble & Huff disco? They are r&b producers primarily, and that was just their own sound, that influenced many other musicians. Is Teddy Pendergrass disco? Is Leroy Burgess disco? Is Eddie Kendricks disco? These artists received heavy play in the disco scene for their disco cuts, but it's all just r&b with a different beat really.
BTW crazypoprock, you should know that Harvey/rub&tug/lovefingers etc aren't "disco" djs, but stoners getting their eclectic groove on. Sure they throw in some disco with their cool mid-tempo weird stuff, but that would not go over at a party of loft/galaxy 21/better days/garage heads in nyc. More power to them though, they have their own thing going on.
Wow, disco or not, there is so much terrible music mentioned on this thread. Basically none of this shit ever got love in the disco world.
I thought that was the point of this thread...not so much the tracks that killed it at the real discos, but the non-disco acts who wanted a piece of the action. And just because some fading rock act inserted a disco beat doesn't mean they did it right.
We could just as easily do a thread on disco acts trying to go rock, BTW...Grace Jones, KC & the Sunshine Band ("Let's Go Rock & Roll"), Gino Soccio (I saw an ad for his S-Beat album in a 1980 issue of Trouser Press, so I'm assuming he was experimenting w/new wave or something), etc..
i dont care what anybody says... kc & the sunshine band are the shiiiit !
I'm sure somebody will disagree, but compared to most disco, KC's records were pretty raw!
AND JUST SO NO ONE WILL THINK I'M TRYING TO DERAIL THE THREAD:[/b]
I know it's pretty obvious, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" yet.
alot of that danceable miami sound (george and gwen, clarence ) was real raw.
i heard queen mad bite the dust for some spaghetti western or something..movie soundtrack thing. another song i never grow tired of after 1x million plays.
i dont care what anybody says... kc & the sunshine band are the shiiiit !
I'm sure somebody will disagree, but compared to most disco, KC's records were pretty raw!
alot of that danceable miami sound (george and gwen, clarence ) was real raw.
I started to say...it's well known around these parts that I'm no disco admirer, yet TK put out quite a few things in that vein that I kinda like, like Foxy's "Get Off" and Peter Brown's "Dance With Me" (I always considered Clarence and the McCrae's more properly soul). And as far as KC, some of his records are just a step or two away from private-press funk...
BTW crazypoprock, you should know that Harvey/rub&tug/lovefingers etc aren't "disco" djs, but stoners getting their eclectic groove on. Sure they throw in some disco with their cool mid-tempo weird stuff, but that would not go over at a party of loft/galaxy 21/better days/garage heads in nyc. More power to them though, they have their own thing going on.
i dont care what anybody says... kc & the sunshine band are the shiiiit !
I'm sure somebody will disagree, but compared to most disco, KC's records were pretty raw!
KC & The Sunshine Band weren't even disco when they started. The dance music thing just sort of morphed into that, but man some of their early stuff was straight up funk. I mean, "I Get Lifted"? I sometimes prefer the KC version over the George McRae...and KC produced them both! Even some of their hits like "(That's The Way) I Like It" and "Get Down Tonight" get lumped in with disco, but really I don't think those songs are disco proper at all. If anything, I'd say that a lot of KC & The Sunshine Band's music was funk with some disco window dressing to make it acceptable to the disco crowds. Very little of their music was just straight four on the floor beats, you know?
This song right here is my jam by them too... so nice.
i dont care what anybody says... kc & the sunshine band are the shiiiit !
I'm sure somebody will disagree, but compared to most disco, KC's records were pretty raw!
alot of that danceable miami sound (george and gwen, clarence ) was real raw.
I started to say...it's well known around these parts that I'm no disco admirer, yet TK put out quite a few things in that vein that I kinda like, like Foxy's "Get Off" and Peter Brown's "Dance With Me" (I always considered Clarence and the McCrae's more properly soul). And as far as KC, some of his records are just a step or two away from private-press funk...
now this thread is turning into a tk related celebrate the catalog jump off.
yessss! dance with me 12" with betty wright on back up vox, the foxy lp is the shit....the trama lp is crazy. i still need the dubois lp...plenty of timeless music coming out miami during that time.
i just put the 12" version of i'm your boogie man on a mix thats about to drop...stay tuned.
please dont go is my jam. kc= under rated as fucccck b/w funky ass white guy suprising the hell out of black crowds when booked to perform live.
even his 80s guilty pleasure hit..."give it up" is doing it....."evv er ee body wants you"
ooooooo donger, no mod powers here...ha ha, disco isnt about you and nyc.
BTW crazypoprock, you should know that Harvey/rub&tug/lovefingers etc aren't "disco" djs, but stoners getting their eclectic groove on. Sure they throw in some disco with their cool mid-tempo weird stuff, but that would not go over at a party of loft/galaxy 21/better days/garage heads in nyc. More power to them though, they have their own thing going on.
i dont care what anybody says... kc & the sunshine band are the shiiiit !
I'm sure somebody will disagree, but compared to most disco, KC's records were pretty raw!
KC & The Sunshine Band weren't even disco when they started. The dance music thing just sort of morphed into that, but man some of their early stuff was straight up funk. I mean, "I Get Lifted"? I sometimes prefer the KC version over the George McRae...and KC produced them both! Even some of their hits like "(That's The Way) I Like It" and "Get Down Tonight" get lumped in with disco, but really I don't think those songs are disco proper at all. If anything, I'd say that a lot of KC & The Sunshine Band's music was funk with some disco window dressing to make it acceptable to the disco crowds.
That's a pretty apt way of putting it - funk with disco window dressing. There's two really early K.C./Sunshine Band tracks that fit this description, "Queen Of Clubs" and "Blow Your Whistle."
This song right here is my jam by them too... so nice.
Oh, "Ain't Nothing Wrong?" I have a version of this by, of all people, Paul Revere & the Raiders! It's from 1976 on the Drive label (TK subsidiary)...as you can guess, it does not have their garage-rock sound from the sixties, and it's definitely not a rock-guys-go-disco thing either (KC's version is funkier)...if anything, the Raiders version sounds like Pablo Cruise or Ambrosia, and the next time one of y'all decide to do another "mellow-yacht-rock" mix, you'd do well to track this down.
Back to the topic: Sweet didn't just rip off ELO ("Love Is Like Oxygen") on their 1978 LEVEL HEADED LP - they also made their own disco/funk/yacht tune:
Sweet - Strong Love
Disclaimer: Sweet is one of my favorite bands but that song is the definition of tepid
Even some of their hits like "(That's The Way) I Like It" and "Get Down Tonight" get lumped in with Disco, but really I don't think those songs are Disco proper at all. If anything, I'd say that a lot of KC & The Sunshine Band's music was Funk with some Disco window dressing to make it acceptable to the Disco crowds.
I have to disagree.
"Disco Proper?"
These/Those songs were directed right at the Disco Ball.
Funk w/out any changes and sing-along choruses......too obvious..IMO.
Comments
Well, it's the slowest dance song I ever heard, but if you say it is, it is!
Actually, no - I think that's a pretty accurate description if I do say so myself. I'd say it again, and it really wouldn't be insulting anyone. (I truly apologize if I insulted you.) The musicians gave it enough of a "fonky" feel to get by, but it's not exactly going into Nile Rodgers territory...I'll bet even the musicians themselves would have said that.
keep 'em? nope, i dont need no Con Funk Shun; id just as soon throw them away. if i wanna hear some slap bass, ill do like you say and go back to dissecting my moldy rockabilly collections!
It was a weird time. Even though I was born in 1970 and was a bit young, I *did* listen to a lot of radio. Yacht-rock was for the hopelessly square over-30 set and dentist's offices; it was "old people's" music. And my perception back then was that disco was getting played out by 1978-79 (I remember the release of THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY movie) and was pretty much pass?? by 1980 just like KISS, Sean Cassidy, Farrah Fawcett and John Travolta. Sure boogie was going strong by then, but it didn't sound like disco to me and I'm sure most kids my age didn't think of it as disco either; just contemporary black music. So when bands like ABC, Heaven-17, and The Style Council began incorporating disco into their sound a mere few years later, it almost sounded like throwback music to me. I was really puzzled as to why bands would be employing a sound that was D.O.A. just a few years before, and even more puzzled as to why their listeners didn't realize that it was just Disco done up in New Wave drag. Of course now I understand why, I don't care, and I just enjoy it.
thing is...i'm totally obsessed with disco and 12" singles and i just love it when i find a track that doesn't seem like it should be on 12" with a disco mix...nicolette fits that bill. i found out it was on a 12" when i heard a killer nyc disco dj drop it in a set and it totally killed. it's all about context sometimes. and believe it or not mid-tempo disco jams are all the rage these days...check out lovefingers or dreamchimney and you'll see what i mean...granted, it's all the rage amongst bearded nerdy record collectors of a certain age...probably 28-35...who think of themselves as being vaguely funky.
rockabilly is something i'd love to get into but don't have any idea where to start...didn't keb darge put out a comp? those records can be $$$$$$$
Agreed. Us Americans often underestimate the importance of Northern Soul to early new wave. Hell, Soft Cell covered not one but THREE northern classics: "Tainted Love," "Where Did Our Love Go," and "What."
While we're riffing on unlikely disco singles...what's your take on "Black Betty" by Ram Jam?
The hit we know from the radio is too choppy to work on a dance floor (I'm assuming)...but Epic released a 12" disco remix of it that added a straight four-on-the-floor rhythm...I kinda like it, trashy as it is!!!
Yes, he did put out a comp, and that might be a good place to start, since a lot of the songs he chose are classics that have already made the rounds on other compilations...otherwise, get a good Sun anthology with their more obscure acts like Sonny Burgess, and work your way through to other albums...I could think of some more adventurous titles (Vol. 1 of Sin Alley, for starters), but I gotta go soon and that's what popped in my mind at the spur of the moment...
while abc's look of love was made for club play...( bought it when it came out) im not calling it straight up disco, same with juniors "mama used to say"...if yall are gonna lump abc in with disco...then lump culture clubs "i know you miss me" (as some others) in as well...same sound. imo not disco.
strings.. 4X4 best with hit hat open.
2 examples of pure disco:
lenny williams/ running
evelyn king champagne/ i dont know
evelyn also had huuuuge success on the boogie tip..that sound that was coming out of nyc during that time..the radio was killing shit there.
not that i lived there then but visited family often.. what an amazing time for dance music in nyc.
nicolette 12" vers= soft rock with a disco twist and they got the most boring disco remixer ever to do it Jim Burgess ( no relation to Leroy)
back to topic.
im reaching but...disco rock...philip bailey and phil collins... easy lover ?
ok debate team..lets go !
Hollies "Dragging My Heels" is actually a crossover classic on the disco/house/classics scene.
Deodato "Whistle Bump" is also another classic that got/still gets played.
Level 42 "Starchild" isn't disco, but is definitely a Garage and Club classic.
What's funny about this thread is, what exactly is a disco artist anyways? I don't know, but I know plenty of r&b musicians were experimenting with certain rhythms and drum patterns and tempos in the 70s, maybe even adding strings and even playing around with arrangements that were influenced by the Philly sound, some mutated from the Motown sound, and shit morphed and took off from there. Are Gamble & Huff disco? They are r&b producers primarily, and that was just their own sound, that influenced many other musicians. Is Teddy Pendergrass disco? Is Leroy Burgess disco? Is Eddie Kendricks disco? These artists received heavy play in the disco scene for their disco cuts, but it's all just r&b with a different beat really.
I thought that was the point of this thread...not so much the tracks that killed it at the real discos, but the non-disco acts who wanted a piece of the action. And just because some fading rock act inserted a disco beat doesn't mean they did it right.
We could just as easily do a thread on disco acts trying to go rock, BTW...Grace Jones, KC & the Sunshine Band ("Let's Go Rock & Roll"), Gino Soccio (I saw an ad for his S-Beat album in a 1980 issue of Trouser Press, so I'm assuming he was experimenting w/new wave or something), etc..
I'm sure somebody will disagree, but compared to most disco, KC's records were pretty raw!
AND JUST SO NO ONE WILL THINK I'M TRYING TO DERAIL THE THREAD:[/b]
I know it's pretty obvious, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" yet.
alot of that danceable miami sound (george and gwen, clarence ) was real raw.
i heard queen mad bite the dust for some spaghetti western or something..movie soundtrack thing.
another song i never grow tired of after 1x million plays.
or pink floyds, brick in the wall ?
I started to say...it's well known around these parts that I'm no disco admirer, yet TK put out quite a few things in that vein that I kinda like, like Foxy's "Get Off" and Peter Brown's "Dance With Me" (I always considered Clarence and the McCrae's more properly soul). And as far as KC, some of his records are just a step or two away from private-press funk...
KC & The Sunshine Band weren't even disco when they started. The dance music thing just sort of morphed into that, but man some of their early stuff was straight up funk. I mean, "I Get Lifted"? I sometimes prefer the KC version over the George McRae...and KC produced them both! Even some of their hits like "(That's The Way) I Like It" and "Get Down Tonight" get lumped in with disco, but really I don't think those songs are disco proper at all. If anything, I'd say that a lot of KC & The Sunshine Band's music was funk with some disco window dressing to make it acceptable to the disco crowds. Very little of their music was just straight four on the floor beats, you know?
This song right here is my jam by them too... so nice.
now this thread is turning into a tk related celebrate the catalog jump off.
yessss! dance with me 12" with betty wright on back up vox, the foxy lp is the shit....the trama lp is crazy.
i still need the dubois lp...plenty of timeless music coming out miami during that time.
i just put the 12" version of i'm your boogie man on a mix thats about to drop...stay tuned.
please dont go is my jam.
kc= under rated as fucccck b/w funky ass white guy suprising the hell out of black crowds when booked to perform live.
even his 80s guilty pleasure hit..."give it up" is doing it....."evv er ee body wants you"
ooooooo donger, no mod powers here...ha ha, disco isnt about you and nyc.
Great cut. I'm kinda surprised it wasn't sampled more often.
I wish I could ban you right now.
That's a pretty apt way of putting it - funk with disco window dressing. There's two really early K.C./Sunshine Band tracks that fit this description, "Queen Of Clubs" and "Blow Your Whistle."
Oh, "Ain't Nothing Wrong?" I have a version of this by, of all people, Paul Revere & the Raiders! It's from 1976 on the Drive label (TK subsidiary)...as you can guess, it does not have their garage-rock sound from the sixties, and it's definitely not a rock-guys-go-disco thing either (KC's version is funkier)...if anything, the Raiders version sounds like Pablo Cruise or Ambrosia, and the next time one of y'all decide to do another "mellow-yacht-rock" mix, you'd do well to track this down.
And where did I first hear this funk/disco song? On a Northern Soul comp of course.
Sweet - Strong Love
Disclaimer: Sweet is one of my favorite bands but that song is the definition of tepid
What the hell are you dudes on?
I have to disagree.
"Disco Proper?"
These/Those songs were directed right at the Disco Ball.
Funk w/out any changes and sing-along choruses......too obvious..IMO.