I bet everyone has some newsy neighbors... lol...

Bump...

I always thought it was closer to the late seventies but I guess that make sense. It's not quite disco or maybe it's really early disco. I like it. I like just about anything I hear from First Choice.

VinnyM27 said:

It may not have been "disco" in the traditional sense, but it sure INFLUENCED disco. In fact I think First Choice released one of the very first disco hits in "Armed & Extremely Dangerous" in 1973.

But yeah First Choice rules.

Timmy84 said:

I never even heard of First Choice before I listened to the disco/classic dance station on Sirius. They play a handful of their hits, including this one (and "Armed and Extremely Dangerous"). One of these days, I'll buy a collection of theirs.

VinnyM27 said:

I first heard about them when VH-1 aired that countdown of the greatest dance songs of all time. I think their song "Doctor Love" appear at the seventies or something, and Lil' Kim was there talking about how First Choice was always playing around her momma's apartment. And also Mary J. Blige covered their "Let No Man Put Asunder", I had a feeling it was a cover and on the disco channel on my Time Warner channel, I heard the original and was mesmerized. It wasn't earlier this year that I began to snoop around other songs by First Choice and realized they were sampled by Chubb Rock on his song "Treat 'Em Right" (he sampled "Love Thang") and I kept thinking "wow, this group must've been really underrated").

That's when I discovered they had a few hits before "Doctor Love" and their songs were among the first dance songs to chart successfully before "Rock the Boat" and 'em.

I'm like "how clueless was I not to know this..."

Of course my so-called favorite R&B station wouldn't dare play any song from a group that "didn't have a number-one record or a memorable one" but First Choice had songs for days!

Timmy84 said:

It's funny that it was disco stations on satellite and/or cable that we first got exposed to hearing their songs fully like that. Obviously they were very influential. I was kind of surprised by the Strobe playing them so often. I knew there were dance/disco one hit wonders I hadn't heard of, but they would play several of their songs. I liked the songs, but was shocked I never heard of them before that. Seems like their career had two major phases. One was the philly soul stuff like "Newsy Neighbors" while "Let No Man Put Asunder" is from Salsoul, I believe. It's a bit more in your face.

VinnyM27 said:

Yeah I agree about "Let No Man..." being more in-your-face. Then again their Philly Soul joints ain't to be fucked with. The subject matter wasn't what was really common in 1970s R&B/dance music. I mean, talking about womanizers and noisy neighbors in 1973 and 1974 was new stuff. Maybe that's why they aren't as known as their contemporaries like the Three Degrees for example because they didn't sing about seeing a wayward lover again, lol.

Timmy84 said:

I was thinking musically. "Dr. Love" also came from that album (or at least that point in their career). It was more overtly disco while the earlier tracks were more subtle and laidback with a funky groove while the later tracks are a bit heavier but cool. Good point about the lyrics.

VinnyM27 said:

Yeah I understand what you meant, I knew it was just the musical outlet you were talking about.

Timmy84 said:

I just found a good topic for a thread: What was the first disco record?