The Joy Of Disco (BBC Documentary)

[EricMontreal22]

These are too funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50Av0hyJul8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QyAyvg0maA

[alphanguy74]

Well, Eric... I will say the British are ones that like to be thorough with historical stuff, so for this docu, I think that might be part of it. the lion's share of disco that I like most, tends to be the earlier, more transitional stuff, Hues Corporation, George Macrae..... and these:

And this is damn close to being my favorite of all time:

[EricMontreal22]

House music seemed to fly under the radar in the 80's and early 90's.

It was probably the real successor to disco, yet never really gets any recognition or notice. There were other kinds of "club music" during this time, but at least up to the early 90's, that was the most noticeably trend, and then it was suddenly out of favour by the mid 90's.

I guess by then "dance music" was primarily pioneered in Europe with heavy electronic elements.

House and maybe trance, which sorta came about at the same time in a slightly different direction, were definitely the real successors to disco. You could even hear it starting in some underground disco songs at the end of the 70s--beats, which had gotten faster and faster slowed down a bit, etc. But as you say disco became a big part of Europop, for good and bad, and even in the USit really never fully went away--New Wave had a lot of the synth disco elements, acts from Duran Duran to Paula Abdul in the late 80s weren't really all that removed, despite disco being a dirty word (not to mention Madonna)

Her extended cover of MacArtur Park will also be her definitive moment in my life.

For me too--hearing it live (not the full 17 minute suite but she did do the full actual song--not the edit which cuts out my favorite part, the bridge) is, perhaps sadly, one of the highlights of my life so far.

[EricMontreal22]

I can see why they edited it out (I wonder if it played on the radio that way at the time) but it's certainly something to hear I had mostly just heard some of the shorter versions.

Disco did have that raw sexuality which became more about some goofy fun. It had a very interesting history.

And of course who can forget:

I think this really threw rock fans too. They weren't used to a sexuality that was playful, and often eithe rfeminine or, well, fairly gay--in rock sex was all about machismo. Of course this element is another reason some see disco as vacant or decadent, which in some ways by the end of the disco era it had become, but that's not really what it was about and I think was more a product of the late 70s in general.

Of course there were some gay disco classics that took what was hinted at with the Village People in a much further direction...

(Do not listen to this--which has a full blown bisexual orgy sequence, in a public place...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwxCLRLtBXQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNesGpMG6Oc

Well, Eric... I will say the British are ones that like to be thorough with historical stuff, so for this docu, I think that might be part of it. the lion's share of disco that I like most, tends to be the earlier, more transitional stuff, Hues Corporation, George Macrae..... and these:

I admit my interest is more the Moroder sound probably around 1977--Donna's whole Once Upon a Time album is probably my favorite record. But I *love* Doctor's Orders.

[DRW50]

It's interesting to hear about the gay men who tell you you shouldn't support Donna Summer. I guess that time of their lives they can never move past. It's instinctual. They're not going to be connected to issues today. For instance, how many enjoy that gay-baiting crap from Katy Perry, who is from a super religious background.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

A lot of the pop remixes in the 80's and early 90's had a huge House influence.

Not to mention that the most popular remixer at the time, Shep Pettibone (who is of course known for producing Madonna's Vogue and most of her Erotica album) was a prominent House DJ first.

[alphanguy74]

Eric, one of my favorite Donna songs is actually her first minor hit from 1974. It's Moroder as well... but decidedly different from his later work:

[EricMontreal22]

It's interesting to hear about the gay men who tell you you shouldn't support Donna Summer. I guess that time of their lives they can never move past. It's instinctual. They're not going to be connected to issues today. For instance, how many enjoy that gay-baiting crap from Katy Perry, who is from a super religious background.

That drives me crazy--while I think people shouldn't take too much offence from pop music one way or another, do people not remember her first song was You're So Gay (and no, it wasn't meant as a complement...)

I find I often encounter gay men "of a certain age" who feel it's their role to educate me, or complain about how gay people my age don't understand the struggles of the past, etc. Maybe that's true of every generation no matter what...

[DRW50]

I love Doctor's Orders. Is that the original version? I know Carol Douglas only.

Was that a real orgy or just simulated or...I haven't listened, not sure how that even stayed on Youtube :0

[EricMontreal22]

A lot of the pop remixes in the 80's and early 90's had a huge House influence.

Not to mention that the most popular remixer at the time, Shep Pettibone (who is of course known for producing Madonna's Vogue and most of her Erotica album) was a prominent House DJ first.

Was just going to mention Pettibone, who of course Madonna discovered due to his 80s remixes of her work like Express Yourself (Jellybean is somewhat House influenced as well)

I love Doctor's Orders. Is that the original version? I know Carol Douglas only.

Was that a real orgy or just simulated or...I haven't listened, not sure how that even stayed on Youtube :0

Ha it's very very much stimulated, involving the female singer who somehow turns into a prostitute at that point of the song and a gay cop and john, or something... LOL I BELIEVE Caroil Douglas did Doctor's Orders first.

Eric, one of my favorite Donna songs is actually her first minor hit from 1974. It's Moroder as well... but decidedly different from his later work:

Ha I own this album (I guess no big surprise), and go back and forth. It's fascinating to me how Moroder was doing all this shlager-pop in the 60s and early 70s, which Lady of the Night is a classic example of (the album actually often sounds like very early ABBA before they got, well, particularly good IMHO ). DOnna sounds terrific on it, and I find this song fun as well as the hysterically campy The Hostage which was a big European hit, but... It's amazing to me how in a year Moroder and her totally changed their style to disco and suddenly sounded so much more sophisticated so quickly (granted the B side of the Love to Love You Baby album has a bit of this style still).

[alphanguy74]

Eric... Sunny Leslie, which is the version I posted did the original Doctor's Orders... Carol's came VERY soon after, Sunny's was a hit in UK and Europe, and Carol's was a hit in the US.

[alphanguy74]

This one is great... and had a big resurgence when PWL did a remix of it around 1990 or so. The gay bars played it EVERY night.

this is the 1990 version:

[EricMontreal22]

I like Feels Like I'm in Love (I probably heard the PWL mix first) a lot, though I don't think I could handle a full album of her vocals... LOL I feel similar about another big UK disco hit, which oddly when I lived in Montreal one drag queen DJ played every single time she did her set (granted it was Wednesday "Cheese" nights, which were great fun).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seu2xuMQnIA

[alphanguy74]

I adore that song, too. Tina Charles' voice is one I can't listen to alot, but I never get tired of that song.

[EricMontreal22]

I adore that song, too. Tina Charles' voice is one I can't listen to alot, but I never get tired of that song.

Feel exactly the same, and I had a feeling you liked it...

Some other Eurodisco faves. Madleen Kane was a high end European fashion model, who wanted so badly to be a singer that she put all her money towards a disco career, though she has an awful voice. Still, I love this over the top, grandiose, Eurodisco Suite from 1977, done with many of the same musicians as Donna Summer--I remember one Disco book called it an amazing, cinemactic, love story told in four acts with all the schmaltz of a 1940s Hollywood romance, and that pretty much sums it up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3UgUij2Wdk

And some of Giorgio Moroder's best disco productions not for Donna Summer... He did two albums with 3 Degrees who reinvented themselves as disco stars, and they really are pretty terrific:

(This song was part of a 15 minute medley on the original album--Sheena Easton did a hilariously over the top cover of it in the late 90s for her very gay covers album)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QZKZ3eqOXY

And my favorite song of theirs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jeey8SuDn9I

Of course he had some cross over hits, like this song for Blondie from his excellent American Gigolo soundtrack--apparently Blondie fans were horrified that they would actually choose to work with him (though he originally wrote it for Stevie Nicks, who was busy). The full 7 minute mix is far better than the regular edit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7-imfjm7dE