Complete Introduction to Disco Box Set

A COMPLETE INTRODUCTION TO DISCO



Release Date: August 30th 2010



Label: Universal Music



Cat No: 5328514



Format: 4CD Hardcover book / Digital



For many it's impossible to imagine a time when disco wasn’t dressed up in a white designer suit with gold chains and a medallion around its neck. After the ‘Saturday Night Fever’ film and soundtrack went stratospheric in 1978 such was the impact of the genre on music it seemed that the only way established rock acts like Blondie, The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart could keep up was to “go disco”, too. Before long the backlash began, culminating in a riotous ‘disco demolition night’ in Chicago’s Comiskey Park during a White Sox game when hundreds of disco records were blown up. The event resulted in several injuries and the demonization of the genre, which was apparently pronounced ‘dead’ in 1980.



But the rock reactionaries were to be proved wrong - we now know that disco lived on, in just about every permutation of dance and pop music since those heady, hedonistic dancing days of the 1970s. For the first time, Universal Music Catalogue’s 4-CD set ‘The Complete Introduction To Disco’ takes a chronological, decade-long journey tracing the metamorphosis and development of the genre from its roots in soul, funk and Motown into a form that effortlessly absorbed European electronica, Latin percussion, big bands, African grooves, thumping beats and gospel-influenced vocals. Indeed, once the disco scene was set – first in New York City before making waves all over the world - the 1970s period gave birth to modern clubland as we would recognise it today. It would be disco music that would, for the first time ever, soundtrack the coming together of a melting pot of sexes, races and sexualities…one nation under a disco groove.



Beautifully packaged and compiled in consultation with those at the centre of the storm at the time, and after exhaustive research into club DJ playlists and DJ charts, ‘The Complete Introduction To Disco’ throws the spotlight on disco’s

groundbreaking producers, vocalists, DJs and house bands, many of whom provide quotes and anecdotes for the set’s detailed sleevenotes. It contains the landmark records from the time – such as Diana Ross’s ‘Love Hangover’ and Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ – alongside overlooked classics that lit up the dance floors of the 1970s. Choc-full of some of the most musically adventurous and life-affirming music ever made, it’s both a serious attempt to rescue the genre from those white suit and medallion connotations AND the box set you can dance to.

Yowsah!



A COMPLETE INTRODUCTION TO DISCO: TRACK LISTING



Part One: First Steps



Love's Theme Love Unlimited Orchestra (4:03)

Backstabbers The O Jays (3:02)

Law Of The Land The Temptations (5:01)

Soul Makossa Manu Dibango (4:25)

Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys The Equals (2:49)

Hot Pants…I'm Coming I'm Coming Bobby Byrd (2:25)

Get Ready Rare Earth (2:45)

Beggin' Timebox (2:46)

Everyday People Sly & The Family Stone (2:20)

I'll Take You There The Staple Singers (3:12)

Theme From Shaft Isaac Hayes (3:15)

Tell Me What You Want Jimmy Ruffin (3:13)

Hey Girl Come And Get It The Stylistics (3:31)

Rock Your Baby (Parts 1 & 2) George McCrae (6:22)

Love Don't You Go Through No Changes On Me - Sister Sledge (3:22)

Girl You Need A Change Of Mind Eddie Kendricks (7:31)

Satin Soul Gene Page (4:23)

Blue Eyed Soul Carl Douglas (4:47)

Shame Shame Shame Shirley & Company (3:43)

Machine Gun The Commodores (2:38)



Part Two: Happy People



The Hustle Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony (4:02)

Get Down Tonight KC & The Sunshine Band (3:07)

Never Can Say Goodbye Gloria Gaynor (6:19)

It's In His Kiss Linda Lewis (3:19)

Forever Came Today Jackson 5 (6:19)

Walking In Rhythm The Blackbyrds (4:11)

Dreaming A Dream (Disco Version) Crown Heights Affair (3:30)

It Only Takes A Minute Tavares (3:54)

Ten Percent Double Exposure (8:57)

That's Where The Happy People Go The Trammps (3:15)

Young Hearts Run Free Candi Staton (4:04)

Open Sesame (Part 1) Kool & The Gang (3:59)

Down To Love Town The Originals (5:53)

Love Hangover Diana Ross (7:49)

Turn The Beat Around Vicki Sue Robinson (3:23)

Cherchez La Femme / Se Si Bon Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (5:42)



Part Three: Disco In Excelsis!



Don't Leave Me This Way Thelma Houston (5:41)

Let No Man Put Asunder First Choice (4:23)

Cocomotion (Part 1) El Coco (5:29)

Love In C Minor Cerrone (3:42)

I Feel Love Donna Summer (5:51)

From Here To Eternity Giorgio Moroder (5:58)

Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) - Chic (3:38)

I Need A Man Grace Jones (4:55)

Romeo & Juliet Alec R Costandinos (4:11)

Risky Changes Bionic Boogie (7:15)

In the Bush Musique

Let's Start The Dance Bohannon (5:51)

You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) Sylvester (6:34)

Souvenirs Voyage (6:23)



Part Four: Take Me Home



Vertigo - Relight My Fire Dan Hartman (9:38)

After Dark Pattie Brooks (7:46)

The Runner Three Degrees (3:43)

Take That To The Bank Shalamar (3:23)

Dance With You Carrie Lucas (3:22)

Dancer Gino Soccio (8:23)

Space Bass Slick (7:03)

Can't Live Without Your Love Tamiko Jones (7:03)

I Need Your Lovin' Teena Marie (3:44)

Casanova Coffee (6:08)

The Boss Diana Ross (7:22)

Take Me Home Cher (6:43)

Last Dance Donna Summer (4:58)

....

[Edited 9/10/10 3:58am]

I just got to get my hands on this

luv4u said:

I just got to get my hands on this

it'll make a great Christmas gift

I just made the entire box set minus these two songs, using my CD's I ripped into iTunes,

Space Bass Slick

Can't Live Without Your Love Tamiko Jones

I have a lot of those songs already but it does look like a great set because there are several songs listed that I don't think I've heard of.

vainandy said:

I have a lot of those songs already but it does look like a great set because there are several songs listed that I don't think I've heard of.

I think I have most of these songs already.I wonder why these disco box sets never include hard to find stuff like....

"It Must Be Love" by Alton McClain and Destiny

"Makin' It" by David Naughton

SoulAlive said:

vainandy said:

I have a lot of those songs already but it does look like a great set because there are several songs listed that I don't think I've heard of.

I think I have most of these songs already.I wonder why these disco box sets never include hard to find stuff like....

"It Must Be Love" by Alton McClain and Destiny

"Love Disco Style" by Erotic Drum Band

"Spring Rain" by Silvetti

"Makin' It" by David Naughton

Exactly. And they always have to include Donna Summer, Chic, Sister Sledge, Vicki Sue Robinson, etc. Very great artists with great songs but they are on all the disco sets so you end up with multiple duplicates of songs.

Get Ready - Rare Earth, REALLY?? This is NOT disco.

To answer your question, songs are often duplicated because they're the only ones they can get the rights to place in a compilation and re-sell them. It's sad, because the same songs get circulated.

It's a cheap way for a label to make money, hoping some "newbie" or younger person will pick this up, knowing they haven't purchased them in the first place.

I'm glad I collected and kept the great CD compilations over the past two decades that are now out of print. There's a lot of rare stuff on them.

THIS IS NOT FOR ME/US...........

Bulldog said:

Get Ready - Rare Earth, REALLY?? This is NOT disco.

To answer your question, songs are often duplicated because they're the only ones they can get the rights to place in a compilation and re-sell them. It's sad, because the same songs get circulated.

It's a cheap way for a label to make money, hoping some "newbie" or younger person will pick this up, knowing they haven't purchased them in the first place.

I'm glad I collected and kept the great CD compilations over the past two decades that are now out of print. There's a lot of rare stuff on them.

THIS IS NOT FOR ME/US...........

And if you're going to up Issac Hayes, "Don't Let Go" is disco song, not "Shaft"!

yeah,I'm always amazed at some of the songs that appear on these sets.There always seems to be some confusion about what songs were the earliest disco songs."Everyday People" by Sly and the Family Stone??!! I don't know how that song made it onto this set,lol.

SoulAlive said:

yeah,I'm always amazed at some of the songs that appear on these sets.There always seems to be some confusion about what songs were the earliest disco songs."Everyday People" by Sly and the Family Stone??!! I don't know how that song made it onto this set,lol.

They should've included Dynamite instead, its rhythm section has ALL the ingredients of a disco birth.

As attractive as that look, I hope there will be a consistent Salsoul Records boxet. Now THAT would've been my money's worth.

So then what in everyone's opinion is the best disco box set/comp ever released?

sextonseven said:

So then what in everyone's opinion is the best disco box set/comp ever released?

THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH COMPILATIONS!!! It's always one person at a labels opinion and/or their point of view.

Really, no comp is perfect, even if I make up a "best of" disco, funk, Hip-hop, R&B, someone else will not agree with my picks. Collect them all and make your own.

Bulldog said:

sextonseven said:

So then what in everyone's opinion is the best disco box set/comp ever released?

THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH COMPILATIONS!!! It's always one person at a labels opinion and/or their point of view.

Really, no comp is perfect, even if I make up a "best of" disco, funk, Hip-hop, R&B, someone else will not agree with my picks. Collect them all and make your own.

I didn't ask for a perfect one, I asked what the best one was in your opinion. Is there not one that has been released that is better than the others or are they all equally frustrating to you?

sextonseven said:

Bulldog said:

THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH COMPILATIONS!!! It's always one person at a labels opinion and/or their point of view.

Really, no comp is perfect, even if I make up a "best of" disco, funk, Hip-hop, R&B, someone else will not agree with my picks. Collect them all and make your own.

I didn't ask for a perfect one, I asked what the best one was in your opinion. Is there not one that has been released that is better than the others or are they all equally frustrating to you?

I haven't seen a really good compilation as far as disco goes because they always seem to repeat the most popular songs on each one. As for some funk and jams though, my favorite is Rhino's "Phat Trax" Volumes 1-7. All the tracks are either full length album versions or 12 Inch versions.

Its really an emphasis on earlier disco rather than later disco. The Pre disco songs go way back. Get Ready by Rare Earth is more melodic 3Dog Night Pop, the group were apparently the only white non pop group on Motown in 1969. Get ready dates from 1969 and is well before disco started.

Shaft is not such as bad choice, as it has the symphi sound of pre 1976 disco and the funky wah wah guitar that is usually found as backing in pre 1977 disco songs (Love to Love you baby is a prime example).

What the set needs is more Eurodisco like Cerrone, Boney M, Amanda Lear, Baccarat and Abba, and even a few British tracks like Dr Kiss Kiss by 5000 Volts, I love to love by Tina Charles and Get Right back to where we started from by Maxine Nightingale.

Otherwise its better than the standard disco disc with Bee Gees and Gloria Gaynor and that I love the Nightlife song. Good to see I need a Man by Grace Jones is on it as well.

Most of the songs on this set are more proto-disco than anything... then again it DID say "A Complete Introduction to Disco" but then where is Eddie Kendricks' songs from the genre's early decade ("Keep on Truckin'", "Boogie Down", etc.). Unless I didn't read the set list right I don't see 'em. That's an insult.

OK, I see "Change of Mind" but no other EK song that would signify the "start of disco".

[Edited 9/8/10 23:06pm]

Huggiebear said:

Its really an emphasis on earlier disco rather than later disco. The Pre disco songs go way back. Get Ready by Rare Earth is more melodic 3Dog Night Pop, the group were apparently the only white non pop group on Motown in 1969. Get ready dates from 1969 and is well before disco started.

Shaft is not such as bad choice, as it has the symphi sound of pre 1976 disco and the funky wah wah guitar that is usually found as backing in pre 1977 disco songs (Love to Love you baby is a prime example).

What the set needs is more Eurodisco like Cerrone, Boney M, Amanda Lear, Baccarat and Abba, and even a few British tracks like Dr Kiss Kiss by 5000 Volts, I love to love by Tina Charles and Get Right back to where we started from by Maxine Nightingale.

Otherwise its better than the standard disco disc with Bee Gees and Gloria Gaynor and that I love the Nightlife song. Good to see I need a Man by Grace Jones is on it as well.

Rare Earth's "Get Ready" is more funk oriented as is "Shaft". It has "disco elements" least "Shaft" does.

sextonseven said:

So then what in everyone's opinion is the best disco box set/comp ever released?

Rhino's four-CD Disco Box is the most impressive disco retrospective yet assembled, featuring 80 tracks and exhaustive liner notes which chronicle the music's history, artists, innovations, and subsequent influence. Like many of the best Rhino anthologies of this sort, The Disco Box is a mixture of acknowledged classics and neglected yet surprisingly high-quality lesser-knowns (although the emphasis here is more on the former). The result is an enormously infectious, entertaining package that makes the best case yet for the importance and creative viability of disco in its heyday. There are a couple of minor flaws -- most disco fans will be able to name a few absent favorites (none of the Bee Gees' historically crucial Saturday Night Fever tracks were available for licensing, for example), and others may bemoan the lack of extended 12" club versions, which simply wouldn't fit into a compilation of this scope. At any rate, The Disco Box is still as definitive and well-done an overview as we're ever likely to see, and even at four CDs, it's the perfect introduction. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

The DISCO BOX (Rhino Records)

DISC ONE
01) Love's Theme - Love Unlimited Orchestra
02) Dancing Machine - The Jackson 5
03) Rock The Boat - The Hues Corporation
04) Honeybee - Gloria Gaynor
05) Doctor's Orders - Carol Douglas
06) Get Dancin' - Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes
07) Shame, Shame, Shame - Shirley & Company
08) Never Can Say Goodbye - Gloria Gaynor
09) Get Down Tonight - KC & The Sunshine Band
10) Hustle, The - Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony
11) It Only Takes A Minute - Tavares
12) Fly, Robin, Fly - Silver Convention
13) I'm On Fire - 5000 Volts
14) Love Machine (Pt. 1) - The Miracles
15) You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate
16) Boogie Fever - The Sylvers
17) That's The Way (I Like It) - KC & The Sunshine Band
18) More, More, More (Part I) - Andrea True Connection
19) Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Staton
20) Turn The Beat Around - Vicki Sue Robinson

DISC TWO
01) Shake Your Booty, (Shake, Shake, Shake) - KC & The Sunshine Band
02) Get Up And Boogie - Silver Convention
03) A Fifth Of Beethoven - Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
04) Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
05) Car Wash - Rose Royce
06) Don't Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston
07) Best Disco In Town, The - The Ritchie Family
08) Disco Inferno - The Trammps
09) Boogie Nights - Heatwave
10) I Feel Love - Donna Summer
11) Keep It Comin' Love - KC & The Sunshine Band
12) Dance With Me - Peter Brown/Betty Wright
13) Everybody Dance - Chic
14) Shame - Evelyn "Champagne" King
15) Boogie Oogie Oogie - A Taste Of Honey
16) Get Off - Foxy
17) I Love The Nightlife (Disco 'Round) - Alicia Bridges
18) In The Bush - Musique
19) Hot Shot - Karen Young
20). Got To Be Real - Cheryl Lynn

DISC THREE
01) Shake Your Groove Thing - Peaches & Herb
02) Y.M.C.A. - Village People
03) Le Freak - Chic
04) I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
05) Livin' It Up (Friday Night) - Bell & James
06) Instant Replay - Dan Hartman
07) You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) - Sylvester
08) I Want Your Love - Chic
09) Knock On Wood - Amii Stewart
10) Disco Nights (Rock Freak) - G.Q.
11) Love And Desire (Part 1) - Arpeggio
12) He's The Greatest Dancer - Sister Sledge
13) Ain't No Stoppin Us Now - McFadden & Whitehead
14) Ring My Bell - Anita Ward
15) Bad Girls - Donna Summer
16) Born To Be Alive - Patrick Hernandez
17) Good Times - Chic
18) Don't You Want My Love - Debbie Jacobs
19) H.A.P.P.Y. Radio - Edwin Starr
20) I Shoulda Loved Ya - Narada Michael Walden
21) We Are Family - Sister Sledge

DISC FOUR
01) Heart Of Glass - Blondie
02) Lost In Music - Sister Sledge
03) I'm Caught Up (In A One Night Love Affair) - Inner Life
04) Got To Love Somebody - Sister Sledge
05) Funkytown - Lipps, Inc.
06) Celebration - Kool & The Gang
07) Lover's Holiday, A - Change
08) I Like What You're Doing To Me - Young & Company
09) Glow Of Love, The - Change
10) Cruisin' The Streets - The Boystown Gang
11) On The Beat - The B.B. & Q. Band
12) Forget Me Nots - Patrice Rushen
13) Get Down On It - Kool & The Gang
14) It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls
15) Last Night A DJ Saved My Life - Indeep
16) I.O.U. - Freeez
17) Give It Up - KC & The Sunshine Band
18) Change Of Heart - Change
19) Fresh - Kool & The Gang

The Disco Box is incredible! 80 disco songs.I especially enjoy discs two and three,which mostly cover the years 1976-1978.The only complaint I have is Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" is presented in a lame remix(?) version that doesn't sound as good as the original version.One interesting thing about this set is that it takes you beyond the "disco years" (late 70s) and shows you how disco evolved in the 80s,proving that disco didn't really die in 1979 after all.

Harlepolis said:

As attractive as that look, I hope there will be a consistent Salsoul Records boxet. Now THAT would've been my money's worth.

I hear ya! I've been waiting YEARS for a Salsoul Records box set.

vainandy said:

SoulAlive said:

I think I have most of these songs already.I wonder why these disco box sets never include hard to find stuff like....

"It Must Be Love" by Alton McClain and Destiny

"Love Disco Style" by Erotic Drum Band

"Spring Rain" by Silvetti

"Makin' It" by David Naughton

Exactly. And they always have to include Donna Summer, Chic, Sister Sledge, Vicki Sue Robinson, etc. Very great artists with great songs but they are on all the disco sets so you end up with multiple duplicates of songs.

I wish Rhino Records would put together another disco box set,this one focusing on the songs that don't appear frequently on other compilations.For example,Gloria Gaynor's "Anybody Wanna Party?".THAT'S the type of song I wanna see on a disco compilation!

Rhino also did a superb job with their Disco Years CDs.They did seven volumes and I wish they would continue with it.Volume 5 is the most consistent....

If this isn't the hokiest boatload of batshit Idon't know what is

IAintTheOne said:

If this isn't the hokiest boatload of batshit Idon't know what is

Ah come on Ness,you know you want this set for Christmas

boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? don't make me

SoulAlive said:

IAintTheOne said:

If this isn't the hokiest boatload of batshit Idon't know what is

Ah come on Ness,you know you want this set for Christmas

UptownCitizen said:

No Loleatta Holloway? Wow.

that's why we desperately need a Salsoul Records box set