the very first disco song???

[Dirk Diggler]

I believe this will be a never ending discussion, but I like it.

As much as I agree with most of you. After watching a Disco documentary a long time, I believed for a very long time that the Disco genre kicked off with Van McCoy's 'The Hustle' and Gloria's 'Never Can Say Can Goodbye'.
I couldn't help but finding them in this thread.
Now, I know better of course... (Thank God)

[Disco Funk]

Originally Posted by Huffstutler

Also I must note that after over 30 years no one has come up with a "first", do you think we will find it now?

Instead of looking for a "song" maybe we need to be looking for a "sound" - who penned the first composite disco sound whose components include the 4/4 beat, strings, bpm, etc... Some will say Barry White but who was he influenced by? Others will say Gamble & Huff but who were they influenced by? When did all of the pieces come together to make what we consider traditional disco opposed to psudo disco?

If we can find the first person maybe we can find the first song.

Eric

I'm gonna sound like a broken record, but I'd still have to go with Al Green's Lets Stay Together, since it influenced the drumming style on I'll Be Around. It probably also had to do with the Sigma Studio acoustics, because the sound of the drums on Al Green's song is kind of thin, but on I'll Be Around and subsequent philly songs, it's loud and pounding. Perhaps at that point, after doing that Spinners cut, and hearing out loud the beat sounded, they initially went the tom-drum-on-snare route, but eventually went to four on the floor.

Here's one of the earliest philly Four on the Floors:

Stay with Me - The Futures



Now, by four on the floor, I'm referring to kick drums on the down and up beats (i.e. shadowing the snare drum) to produce a heavy sound on every beat.

That track was from 1972.

So were the Trammps singles, including this one:



The mentioning of the Trammps recording is important, because they were resurrected in '75, while disco was in full swing, and remixed by Tom Moulton as the 'Legendary Zing Album'. My point is that the music didn't sound old or out-dated, unlike some of the tracks on Moulton's 'Disco Gold' LP.

Sometime in late 1972, True Reflection recorded 'That's Where I'm Coming From', which was performed on Soul Train that same year, but not put out on LP until 73:

That's Where I'm Coming From

Then in Feb '73, the single by Fantastic Johnny C pairing 'Don't Depend on Me' / 'Waitin For The Rain' was released. Both great songs, it was the latter song that really pulsed in the four on the floor disco groove. It's hard to tell in the mono mix, but there was a stereo instrumental mix released a year later, which you can hear the instrumentation better:

Waiting For The Rain

But I think going back to the Spinners record is important, since it was the one that got national airplay. After that, I think Atlantic started sending it's artists to Philadelphia to try to cash in on the new sound.

All of the tracks mentioned above featured the baker-harris-young rhythm section, or some small variation of it. And while I'll Be Around sounds a little too slow to be a true disco song, it was the first of its kind, and all the guys did was ramp up the BPMs, like they did on their previous 'northern soul' tracks like 'Family Affair', 'Nation Time', and 'The Robot', and even Nat Turner's Ruby Lee and You Are My Sun Sign

Disco Funk

[Huffstutler]

Broken Record... well, maybe CLICK, well maybe CLICK, well maybe you do in a sense

You seem to be focused on nothing more than the drums. Where do the strings come in? If all you have are drums, guitar, a couple horns... what you have is Archie Bell and the Drell's "Tighten Up". You are falling into that "Funk" pigeonhole again. True, the 4/4 drum beat is key but not all encompassing when it comes to the "disco sound" just like funk isn't the only kind of disco.

Eric

[Disco Funk]

Originally Posted by Huffstutler

Broken Record... well, maybe CLICK, well maybe CLICK, well maybe you do in a sense

You seem to be focused on nothing more than the drums. Where do the strings come in? If all you have are drums, guitar, a couple horns... what you have is Archie Bell and the Drell's "Tighten Up". You are falling into that "Funk" pigeonhole again. True, the 4/4 drum beat is key but not all encompassing when it comes to the "disco sound" just like funk isn't the only kind of disco.

Eric

I think a large chunk of disco is about the rhythm section. Maybe 90%. There are lots of disco songs that didn't have any strings. Also, lots of uptempo tracks by guys like James Last, Lawrence Welk, Percy Faith, etc... that had lots of strings were not disco.

Anyway, it probably doesn't matter whether or not I refer to them because Philly dance music had lots of strings!! :)

Disco Funk

[Huffstutler]

True... I am thinking that most early disco songs and probably that elusive "first" had lots of strings... outside of the Philly Sound.

Eric

[Disco Funk]

I mentioned World by the Sweet Inspirations as being the earliest example of disco I could find, with the disco drum groove. That track was from 1970 or 71.

Here's a track from the city that I've said was the birthplace of disco. It came out in 1969 and features many of the future MFSB members. Grover Mitchell's Cry.



Disco Funk