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Classic Disco Set Openers and Closers So I'm looking for all the disco fans out there!
I've been getting into disco over the last year, and I have radio show on Ann Arbor's WCBN 88.3 FM called Thank God It's Friday, playing the best in early disco, boogie, italo, and early house. (Wednesdays 1-3am, you can listen to it here: http://www.wcbn.org/listen.html )
So I'm creating this thread to share suggestions...
I'm always on the hunt for great set openers and closers. I'll include some of my favorites and thoughts, and if you've got some, please feel free to share. I tend to veer toward the funky side... I haven't had a HI-NRG show yet, but I will soon.
I start most of my sets with Ashford & Simpson's "Bourgie Bourgie", the instrumental. I do it as a conscious acknowledgement of Larry Levan, who was a big fan of the song.
Good set openers:
Loleatta Holloway : "Runaway" Cerrone: "You Are the One" Boney M : "Sunny" Instant Funk : "I Got My Mind Made Up" Clara Lewis : "Needing You"
Good set closers:
Voyage : "Souvenirs" 12" (the best!) Grace Jones : "La Vie En Rose" 12" (Moulton Mix) Cerrone : "Look For Love" 12"
What do you think?
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You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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Nice post, and refreshing to hear someone actually taking the time to choose a good opener, such as, Bourgie Bourgie. Love that tune, Such a feel good song. I did read somewhere that song was a Levan standard. Much respect.
I can respect a dj that can put together a good "dance Music" set, and it looks like you know what you're doing, and that you really respect the artform. Im gonna check your sets out this weekend.
A nice upbeat disco jam I always like to mix in is "Mandolay" by La Flavour. I think it's from 1980, possibly 1979. Katie Kinisky: "So What Are The Latest Dances, Nell?"
Nell Carter: "Anything The Black Folks did Last Year" | |
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Larry Levan and the Paradise Garage - Those were the best times of my life . Oh the memories - Wow!
Change - Heaven Of My Life Donald Byrd & 125th St Band - Love Has Come Around Sergio Mendes - The Real Thing The Whatnauts - Help Is On The Way Sylvester - Over and Over Prince - When Doves Cry Eddie Kendricks - Date With The Rain Frontline Orchestra - Don't Turn Your Back Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions Third World - Now That We've Found Love Chaka Khan - I Know You, I Live You Womack & Womack - Baby I'm Scared Of You Jean Carne - Was That All It Was Central Line -Walkin' Into Sunshine Eddy Grant - Nobody's Got Time/Timewarp Tribal House - Motherland AFRICA The Music's Got Me - Boyd Jarvis MFSB - Love Is The Message
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"Love Has Come Around" and "Baby I'm Scared of You" are two of my favorites. | |
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Great thread idea.
"Last Dance" by Donna Summer is always a good and appropriate one to end a set with. Another good disco set ender is a slower song from the disco era such as "I Just Wanna Be Your Everything" by Andy Gibb, "Please Don't Go" by KC and The Sunshine Band, etc. I was too young to go to discos during the disco era but when I was going out to the gay clubs during the house era of the early 1990s, the only slow music that was played in the clubs was during the drag shows. Other than that, the DJs were mixing the uptempo house jams all night long but you always knew when the club was about to close when they played that one slow song at the end of the night. I always thought it was a great idea to put you in a horny mood at the end of the club night in case you were taking somebody home. But then again, if you were there all the way up until the club closed, chances are you were going home alone anyway. Now that I come to think of it, that damn slow song at the end of the night used to piss me off on those nights when I didn't get lucky. It was kinda like they were rubbing it in. Maybe that's not such a good idea after all.
As for set openers, I know I can rack my brains sometimes trying to think of something to open a set with. I like to start off if I can, with something that either starts with a unique intro before the music starts or maybe something that starts off slow and becomes fast. Some good disco set openers that I can think of would be "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer that starts off with the siren or "Star Love" by Cheryl Lynn that starts out slow and becomes extremely fast. "Dim All The Lights" by Donna Summer is another one that starts out slow and ends up fast. "The Groove Line" by Heatwave is another great set opener because of the intro. But then again, sometimes I like to start off with a bang with something hard and slammin' right out of the gate like "Get Off" by Foxy. Not only does that one start out hard, but it lets the listener know that if the rest of the mix is like this, it's gonna be a sho nuff ass shaker. Plus, I like to start out with it sometimes because it's hard to mix that intro with something else because of the "ooowa ooowa's". Start out with something that you have a hard time mixing the intro because if it's your first song, you don't have to attempt to mix it and possibly fuck up. . . .
[Edited 2/15/11 0:08am] Andy is a four letter word. | |
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yeah! | |
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walking intop sunshine too! | |
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i'm from the NYC, so i'm thinking a little of of paradise and the KISS mastermixes, shep pettibone and them...
soho-hot music chic-chic cheer unlimited touch-searching to find the one fonda rae- over like a fat rat d train- keep on rockers revenge- walking on sunshine gwen guthrie-padlock status IV- you ain't really down (acapella then vocal) ESG- moody sharon brown-i specialise in love first choice-let no man put asunder gwen guthrie- it should have been you phyllis hyman- you know how to love me colonel abrams-i'm not gonna let ten city-devotion adeva-respect byron stingily-sing a song michelle weeks-the light
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i forgot about these cuts...
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Levan's mixes for Guthrie are great | |
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