What are the five gateway albums to build a boogie collection from?

downtownrobbrown

SSIA

pino

I give you 100 songs:

http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/articles/the_building_blocks_of_boogie.html

Found this SS thread, where the above link was posted, randomly earlier today when searching something not boogie-related.

http://www.soulstrut.com/forums/viewthread/45900/

:feelin_it:

RAJ

phatmoneysack

and if you have the $$$$

DocMcCoy

As that rather good list pino reposted illustrates, boogie is/was really a singles-driven genre in much the same way as most other forms of mainstream black music tend to be. Although the SS way is to argue in ever decreasing circles over the etymology, boogie is really just a catch-all term for early 80s post-disco r&b aimed at the dancefloor, and I don't recall it ever being adopted as a genre tag prior to the late 80s. When that stuff was actually hot in the streets, it would have been referred to as soul or funk, or even "electrofunk", which the purists used to particularly bristle at.

Although most of the albums on that list are solid, I'd probably be inclined to recommend a few decent compilations before all but a couple of 'em. That first Shep Pettibone Kiss FM Mastermixes comp on Prelude from '82 was a game changer for me personally - I'd definitely call that a gateway album. There's also that series of "The West End Story" compilations from the early 90s. There are four volumes covering many of the label's key releases from the late 70s through until around '83 and they're great guides if you decide you want to track down the original 12"s - very often it was the dubs that got all the club play, and there aren't too many comps (if any) that focus on those versions.

Co-sign on Logg, though - anyone getting into boogie definitely needs plenty of Leroy Burgess. Same goes for associates of his like Patrick Adams or the Aleem brothers, although in the former's case there's a lot of overlap with disco and traditional r&b throughout his catalogue. I doubt any of this is news to most of us, though.

willie_fugal

^^^what Doc said^^^

this is a great comp to start out with:


also, any of Arni Kristjansson's boogie mixes are greater starters too. they were posted here BITD but are up on his soundcloud page too: it looks like some of the tracklists aren't on there but they were posted here...

also, another cheap, classic boogie LP = Change - "Miracles"

phatmoneysack

DocMcCoy said:

. That first Shep Pettibone Kiss FM Mastermixes comp on Prelude from '82 was a game changer for me personally - I'd definitely call that a gateway album.

good call. I was considering listing this, but wasnt sure it classified.