What are your favorite Disco "Classics"?

[gmax137]

Do you hate it now though?

I don't know, I never really heard it much after what, the early 1980s. Turns out, there are worse genres...

the first time I went to a disco with a high end sound system is what did it for me.

I know what you mean, it was certainly impressive. But at the time I thought that snappy sound was kind of fake (or say, overproduced), in the sense that it is not what live music sounded like.

 

[rcgldr]

not what live music sounded like.

Depends on what equipment a band used. Around that same time (1975), some pop | rock | r&b bands, including cover bands I heard, were using high quality components (mixers, compression (mostly for vocals), effects (like reverb), pre-amp, power amp), feeding everything into a soundboard for mixing and output to power amps to high quality speakers, instead of using high powered but noisy guitar amp speakers and PA type systems. Guitar amps and drums were mic'ed in order to feed them into soundboards. Jazz and swing bands had been doing this since the 1940s.

These days, laptops are used for mixing and effects. Image of the setup used by Brothers Igniting A Groove band. Components seen in images: Arturia Keylab 88 MKII keyboard controller, Maschine Jam pad controller, laptop with all midi sounds, mixer, and effects, Behringer X32 Rack (40 input channels), Shure SLXD4 - wireless receiver, Shure PSM300 - in ear personal monitoring system, DigiTech Talker - vocoder box, Furman - switched outlet power conditioner.

From what I posted earlier, using the setup seen in the images above:

Brothers Igniting A Groove - snippets of Never Too Much and The Bird

 

[rcgldr]

not what live music sounded like.

Follow up on feeding everything into a sound board dating back to the 1940's, often done in order to be able to directly record a live performance.

SWING TO BOP (1941) by Charlie Christian live

Wes Montgomery-Four On Six (1965) live

These days, the quality is excellent :

Mary Spender and Josh Turner - Sultans of Swing

Steely Dan was known for very clean sound in their recordings, due to the equipment and the time spent in recording sessions. The Beatles had evolved into a studio band by 1966 with Revolver. The top jazz and swing artists going back to the 1940's had been doing the same.

 

[Hornbein]

One of the better smooth jazz | funk cover bands in our area:

Brothers Igniting A Groove - snippets of Never Too Much and The Bird

They're terrific. That's smooth jazz? Sounds more like fusion. Not whiff of Kenny G.

Fusion had a short life in the USA but found a permanent home in Japan. They play funk numbers and they are pretty good but this is the real thing. First black fusion band I ever heard and I'm liking it a lot.

 

[morrobay]

And then there is this arrangement:

 

[rcgldr]

They're terrific. Sounds more like fusion.

I updated that post.

Really old video:

Brothers Igniting A Groove (BIG) - Superstition

From their Covid medley, link set to dog me out:

Brothers Igniting A Groove - Why You Wanna DOG Me Out + I'm Dreaming

 

[rcgldr]

And then there is this arrangement:

Arrangement of what? No link, just an image.

 

[morrobay]

TicToc

 

[morrobay]

Arrangement of what? No link, just an image.

 

[rcgldr]

TicToc

That link works, showing the DJ's. I thought "arrangement" meant a reference to one of the songs posted earlier in this thread. I couldn't find those DJ's on youtube. There are a few nightclubs with DJ's in my area, but they're very crowded. One of the venues, Skyloft in Laguna Beach, has bands on some nights, DJs on other nights, but it is always crowded. BIG (Brothers Igniting A Groove) at Skyloft, keyboard player (on the left) using DigiTech Talker vocoder box. Recorded with a Note 8, good enough to get an idea (other than it is also very loud there).

BIG - More Bounce To The Ounce

 

[morrobay]

Laguna Beach: Remember The Barefoot? "Downtown" on the main beach boardwalk. Sunday afternoons various Black bands would come down from LA playing soul & motown for crowded dancing .The floor tables seating in three separate groups: the blacks, the gays, and the beach people. But all together dancing to live soul and motown. And in those days just about everyone had been up partying for several days straight. So you can imagine... And while I'm there , there was a club across Pacific Coast Highway from the Barefoot called Frankinstiens. The whole place starting with the entrance painted with black and purple irregular stripes.

 

[rcgldr]

Laguna Beach: Remember The Barefoot? "Downtown" on the main beach boardwalk.

I missed that. I started discos in the LA area in 1975, then later Orange county 1976 and on. I already mentioned Bamaha Mamas (Santa Monica), Destiny II (Culver City), and Crescendo (Anaheim). There was also the Starwood (Hollywood), and Circus (Hollywood). I never went to Circus, but the DJ for Circus worked at a stereo shop called the Ear Drum in Santa Monica, and sold extra copies of those disco 12" promo singles, which I bought a few of. For Orange County, it was Tin Lizzies (?), City Lights (on the top floor of a building near Knott's Berry Farm), McConahays (Costa Mesa), FoxHunter (Costa Mesa). Other venues included places like Bobby McGees, California Sun, Red Onion, ..., and some hotels. The last two were the Arium (Irvine); its dance floor is now a second bar, and St Regis (Dana Point), which became Monarch Beach Hotel, and now Waldorf Astoria. In LA, Hacienda Hotel near LAX had New York Hustle nights 2 to 4 times a month before the hotel was taken over about 10 years ago. The music changed and the dancers aged:

Hacienda Hotel

Disco Dave Sarul

This is what Hustle looked like in the old clubs:
Kevin Collins

Terminal Reaction line dance started in 2009, popular at some clubs, this one at a dance studio:
Terminal Reaction - song is I Don't Need It - Jamie Foxx

 

[rcgldr]

Back on topic:

Temptations - Sweet Gypsy Jane - funk dance song

 

[DennisN]

This thread needs these two songs like a desert needs water...
Two of my absolute favorite songs in the "disco" genre...

I think the first one isn't one of ABBA's most famous songs, but I think it's one of their best.
Particularly (1) the bridge (the part before the chorus) which is masterly composed and out of this world and (2) the rather dark lyrics which is full of jealousy.

It was not intended as a single, but it nevertheless sold great in the UK:

The song was not intended to be a single but after a remixed version gained popularity in nightclubs, the song was released as the album's sixth and final single in the summer of 1981, eight months after the album's release. At the time, it was the highest selling 12-inch record in UK chart history, where it peaked at No. 7.

(1) ABBA - Lay All Your Love On Me
And here's a fun and emotional reaction/analysis video where the guy concludes it is his favorite ABBA song:

(2) ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)

What can I say? This song is just perfection in my opinion... the hooks, the verse, the bridge, the chorus and instrumental part after the two first choruses, they are all just amazing... I wouldn't change one single thing in this song.

And here's another emotional reaction/analysis video of the song:

 

[rcgldr]

This thread needs these two songs like a desert needs water.

I recall those songs, but I've lived in Los Angeles | Orange County since 1975, and I never heard an ABBA song in any of the discos I went to (Bahama Mamas, Destiny II, Starwood, Crescendo, Tin Lizzies, Foxhunter, McConaheys, City Lights, ...) or even venues that had DJ's in addition to other stuff (Big Daddies, Bobby McGees, California Sun, Red Onion, ...).

As for desert needs water, how about rain (multiple versions of this). Trivia: the girl and the guy in the video are actually in the same house (different rooms). May need to turn up brightness for this one.

 

[rcgldr]

This song sounded better in the ultra loud yet ultra clean systems used in the better discos.

Barry White - Esctasy (12 inch 45 rpm single, 1977)

 

[DennisN]

As for desert needs water, how about rain (multiple versions of this).

That was actually the song I thought about when I wrote the quote.
It's one of my favorite songs from the 1990s. A good live version is here.

 

[rcgldr]

It's one of my favorite songs from the 1990s. A good live version is here.

Some modern stuff being used there. She's wearing ear buds for voice monitor, and the drums are mostly controller pads (MIDI). Keyboard is standard, sounds coming from the keyboard as oppose to a keyboard controller hooked up to sound modules or later laptops with sampled sounds. This snippet video shows a high end keyboard controller (Arturia Keylab 88 MKII) using a laptop for sampled sounds and mixing. Each band member has wireless earbuds (drummer has wireless headphones), each with their own mix.

Brothers Igniting A Groove - 2 snippets

 

[sbrothy]

My first record was Boney M. That kinda formed my initial taste. I've moved on since though. :)

 

[rcgldr]

People's Choice - Do It Anyway You Wanna (1975)

People's Choice - Jam Jam Jam (1976)

 

[rcgldr]

Rick James - Love Gun (1979)

 

[hutchphd]

Triple (maybe double?) non-sequitur.

favorite+disco and disco+classics

 

[morrobay]

 

[morrobay]

 

[morrobay]

Italo disco

 

[rcgldr]

Stevie Wonder - Gotta Have You

 

[pinball1970]

Summer Night City is one of my absolute ABBA favorites (besides Eagle, which is not disco but rather progressive rock/art rock according to Wikipedia, a bit unusual for the band).

Eagle is one of my favourite ABBA tracks, just so unusual. Sad and uplifting at the same time.
Use of the flute for the eagle's cry
Brilliant.

 

[difalcojr]

 

[morrobay]

 

[morrobay]

Can we add the Club genre to this topic

 

[difalcojr]

Sure, why not? Wow, what a scene that was in that video!
This jazz group has a funky beat in some of its songs on a new album. This is the first track on a really fine album, so can this genre go in disco topic?

 

[difalcojr]

borderline disco? Heard this for first time ever yesterday. She sang lots of different styles. Made one disco album too.

 

[robphy]

May the Fourth be with you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Day

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meco
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_and_Other_Galactic_Funk

Meco - Star Wars Title Theme/Cantina Band (Ballet by Penney de Jager) • TopPop

 

[Klystron]

Honestly unsure of what constitutes disco music but my favorite: "Stay'in Alive" by the BeeGees.

I recently concluded several months of twice weekly physical therapy where they piped popular music through ceiling speakers over the therapy tables. At the conclusion of 90+ minutes of stretches and exercises, I would rest supine on frozen bags of 'blue ice', a captive audience to their preselected music channel. The BeeGees frequently performed with "Stay'in Alive" seeming to play each time I entered this cool down phase.

I grew to like the song, indeed, found it rather inspirational. Commit to staying alive and walking.

 

[BillTre]

Honestly unsure of what constitutes disco music but my favorite: "Stay'in Alive" by the BeeGees.

I recently concluded several months of twice weekly physical therapy where they piped popular music through ceiling speakers over the therapy tables. At the conclusion of 90+ minutes of stretches and exercises, I would rest supine on frozen bags of 'blue ice', a captive audience to their preselected music channel. The BeeGees frequently performed with "Stay'in Alive" seeming to play each time I entered this cool down phase.

I grew to like the song, indeed, found it rather inspirational. Commit to staying alive and walking.

I have heard Stay'in Alive has the proper beat for doing chest compressions.
As does Another One Bites the Dust.