Death before Disco

Disco biscuit any one?

For my sins, I am listening to Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony "Do The Hustle", great record no matter which way you slice it but for some it smacks of commerciality and is as far away from every thing Northernsoul as humanly possible yet he is a god!

1976 was a great year with some self imposed conflicts, medallions and porn tashes where in abundance and the divide between the genres where huge.

Yes all records are Disco or so they say?

We did have some Disco records cross over to be played at Wigan Casino and Blackpool Mecca.

"Let's not get wrapped up in the Modern versus Oldies thang"

Also, how did these records go down? Were they played as unheard imports before taking off into the main stream? Did they get plucked off the US dance floors?

Who was responsible? Ian, Richard and Sam? Any one else?

Did every one dance, did any one leave the dance floor in disgust, Wigan had their records,

Can we make the list?

Brainstorm "lovin is really my game"

Tavares -- Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel

For my sins, I am listening to Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony "Do The Hustle", great record no matter which way you slice it but for some it smacks of commerciality and is as far away from every thing Northernsoul as humanly possible yet he is a god!

........I'm more interested if you can still do the dance?

Well Disco was alive and well before it ever got integrated into the Northern scene. In fact, it could be argued that the two were always interlinked anyway. The Northern scene adopted First Choice's "This Is The House Where Love Died" - their debut release and then they had the crossover Disco hit with "Armed And Extremely Dangerous" - their second release. Similarly Millie Jackson's "My Man Is A Sweet Man" was a mainstream 'Disco' record which sounded perfectly at home on Northern dancefloors.

Really, when you think about it, the only difference between Northern and Disco is the difference in production techniques which was pretty much the difference between 60's recordings and 70's recordings really. The bpm's are the same and the subject matter in the lyrics was often the same. Some of the more twee Disco tracks from the 70's could be compared to some of the more twee Supremes recordings from the 60's, in which case neither would be played on Northern dancefloors for being too commercial.

I can remember a time when Four Below Zero's "My Baby's Got ESP" was roundly denounced for being 'too Disco', yet it still went on to be a monster eventually. I'd say that the U.S. had very little influence on what was played in the Northern clubs for the most part. The Disco records which the Northern scene liked tended not to be the ones which crossed over and any that did get played got rapidly dropped as soon as they became crossover hits. For that reason I'd never class a record like Tavares' "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" as even remotely Northern despite it's brilliance. It was always a pure Disco record to my ears.

I personally didn't like it when records like Esther Phillips "What A Difference Day Makes" and "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" were played in the Northern clubs. To me they didn't really sit properly with the older stuff and I could hear 'em in all the local clubs anyway. However, I did like the more obscure and obviously less Disco contemporary releases which were played at the time which would never have been played in the local clubs, if you see what I mean.

I can remember happily going out to local clubs and hearing the likes of Van McCoy, George McRae, Tavares etc and loving 'em for what they were in that context but I was looking for something different on a weekend when I hit the nighters............

Who would have though that Imberboy would turn out to be a closet Disco freak? Patrick Hernandez was bad enough but he's now showing alarming signs that his musical education may have been better served had he been hanging out at the Saint in New York rather than hanging around the back streets of Wigan in the early hours.

Have you checked "Savage Lover" by the Ring or Patrick Juvet's "I Love America" yet Simon? They should be right up your street mate!

Ian D

Whoops

Edited July 14, 201014 yr by Soulsmith

Well Disco was alive and well before it ever got integrated into the Northern scene. In fact, it could be argued that the two were always interlinked anyway. The Northern scene adopted First Choice's "This Is The House Where Love Died" - their debut release and then they had the crossover Disco hit with "Armed And Extremely Dangerous" - their second release. Similarly Millie Jackson's "My Man Is A Sweet Man" was a mainstream 'Disco' record which sounded perfectly at home on Northern dancefloors.

Really, when you think about it, the only difference between Northern and Disco is the difference in production techniques which was pretty much the difference between 60's recordings and 70's recordings really. The bpm's are the same and the subject matter in the lyrics was often the same. Some of the more twee Disco tracks from the 70's could be compared to some of the more twee Supremes recordings from the 60's, in which case neither would be played on Northern dancefloors for being too commercial.

I can remember a time when Four Below Zero's "My Baby's Got ESP" was roundly denounced for being 'too Disco', yet it still went on to be a monster eventually. I'd say that the U.S. had very little influence on what was played in the Northern clubs for the most part. The Disco records which the Northern scene liked tended not to be the ones which crossed over and any that did get played got rapidly dropped as soon as they became crossover hits. For that reason I'd never class a record like Tavares' "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" as even remotely Northern despite it's brilliance. It was always a pure Disco record to my ears.

I personally didn't like it when records like Esther Phillips "What A Difference Day Makes" and "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" were played in the Northern clubs. To me they didn't really sit properly with the older stuff and I could hear 'em in all the local clubs anyway. However, I did like the more obscure and obviously less Disco contemporary releases which were played at the time which would never have been played in the local clubs, if you see what I mean.

I can remember happily going out to local clubs and hearing the likes of Van McCoy, George McRae, Tavares etc and loving 'em for what they were in that context but I was looking for something different on a weekend when I hit the nighters............

Who would have though that Imberboy would turn out to be a closet Disco freak? Patrick Hernandez was bad enough but he's now showing alarming signs that his musical education may have been better served had he been hanging out at the Saint in New York rather than hanging around the back streets of Wigan in the early hours.

Have you checked "Savage Lover" by the Ring or Patrick Juvet's "I Love America" yet Simon? They should be right up your street mate!

Ian D

THE RING Savage Lover starts like "Magic fly" by Space! It then gets all Sara Brightman and I'm sure I can hear 24hrs a Day as well?

Patrick Juvet's "I Love America" is a well classy track and one I have always loved.

Not for the Northernsoul dance floor but that's my opinion, I'd still love to have a time machine to go back to the seconds of the first ever plays of what we all know as the sounds of Northernsoul.

Good post murder Beat but do not slate Mr Hernandez

Was this played at Wigan?

if doing audio listings then thread belongs in audio forum with the rest of members audio threads

I thought the out and out disco records were hand picked by Ian Levine on his forays to NYC clubs, broken at The Mecca, after which they crossed over to the mainstream UK discos. I'm referring to Crown Heights Affair, Brass Construction, NYPA and stuff like that. I think the porn taches were a northern thing. We certainly didn't sport them down our way...

Edited July 14, 201014 yr by macca

if doing audio listings then thread belongs in audio forum with the rest of members audio threads

Is it the Youtube clips that are the problem Mike?

Honest question mate coz I know you love Disco, Ive seen you dance

running around here

am posting in one place and you are posting in other

have answered in feedback

once you let me know have read this will remove the duplicate posts here

duplicate posts removed

Dont know if this ever got played at wigan, but it is a fab disco track, i was in palma last weekend at a club on the beach at cala estancia and suddenly in amongst all the technoie stuff the Dj started mixing this in then brought the whole track in, f**kin' awesome...enjoy

silvetti - spring rain -

Edited July 14, 201014 yr by garswood

It was inevitable I guess that two dance scenes would have tracks that were popular to the fans of each music.

One name not yet mentioned is Ian's cohort Colin Curtis. Like Ian and the others names so far CC had a good ear for tunes that might cut the mustard with Northern Soul fans.

Disco is more likely to be liked than say the rock sounds of Crow, and the like. And often many of the producers that learned their trade in the 60s making the traditional music many Northern Soul fans love, will have moved on to the new techniques in the 70s, and brought with them their love of soul, both musically and lyrically.

A friend posted Moments - 9 times on here facebook page the other day. i must have played it a dozen times since. its easy to see why a tune of that rare quality would be popular with those into the 80s sound, those into popular music, and those who have an ear for quality soul.

Ref Spring Rain. Dunno about Wigan, but it was very big at St.Ives and Cleethorpes for sure...

Edited July 14, 201014 yr by macca

another great disco track that crossed over

honey cone - somebody is always messing up a good thing -

can you keep audio to the audio forum

as said before if goes down road of a audio thread then going down road of moving etc again

thanks

mike

Love disco.

Lots of records in common between the UK soul scene and the early / mid 70s New York based "disco" subculture (it didn't really get labelled "disco" until the mid 70s -they called it "party music" before that, I believe). Brothers Guiding Light "Getting Together" is one that always crops up on playlists from clubs such as The Loft, The Gallery, etc.

(Bit engrossed with the Tour De France at the minute but will have a think and post up some more later...)

Edited July 14, 201014 yr by son of stan

I think my partner Ian likes that sort of thing!

As for me................. Well i am a Rockabilly Gal!

Debbie X

Dont know if this ever got played at wigan, but it is a fab disco track, i was in palma last weekend at a club on the beach at cala estancia and suddenly in amongst all the technoie stuff the Dj started mixing this in then brought the whole track in, f**kin' awesome...enjoy

silvetti - spring rain -

There's a red hot re-edit of Silvetti around at the moment which I played at a beach party in Ibiza in May and which blew 'em away. I reckon they heard me play it and now it's crossed over to Majorca!

Ian D

Oi Simon stop nicking me readers,matey..... There's athread going on about Disco and the 12" of Brainstorm is quite simply one of the best tracks ever made!!

I think i prefer Simon's threads now... you're going to have to come up with something good soon Webby.

Pretty sure there is a Disco topic in refosoul and a good discussion from a while back in all about the soul, can someone find them?

Oi Simon stop nicking me readers,matey..... There's athread going on about Disco and the 12" of Brainstorm is quite simply one of the best tracks ever made!!

Is this a Boot of Webby's thread? :lol: :P

Dont know if this ever got played at wigan, but it is a fab disco track, i was in palma last weekend at a club on the beach at cala estancia and suddenly in amongst all the technoie stuff the Dj started mixing this in then brought the whole track in, f**kin' awesome...enjoy

silvetti - spring rain -

Defo played at the casino.

Ref Spring Rain. Dunno about Wigan, but it was very big at St.Ives and Cleethorpes for sure...

Yep spun at wigan .

another great disco track that crossed over

honey cone - somebody is always messing up a good thing -

Never heard it before , but it gets the thumbs up from me

Never heard it before , but it gets the thumbs up from me

biscuits anyone?

biscuits anyone?

BISCUIT ANYONE?? SURELY THIS IS ANOTHER THREAD!!!!