the very first disco song???

[Paulo]

An impossible question since the original styles of music played in discos was Soul ,Funk & R&B and even progressive jazz.

That's true. So along with Isaac Hayes - Shaft (71) / Papa Was A Rolling Stone - Temptations (72) / Masterpiece - Temptations (73), I will include Marvin Gaye's WHAT'S GOING ON - 1971....

..."No way, I can hear you say. That's R&B"... Well, I don't know, it has a steady dance beat and those strings...

If there would be such a thing as DISCO 1971/72 then WHAT'S GOING ON would work along with SHAFT and PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE.

I would also pick up 2 songs which were giant hits here in Brazil in 1974 and which for sure have early disco ingredients (although they both beggin with ROCK):
ROCK THE BOAT (HUES CORPORATION)
ROCK YOUR BABY (GEORGE McRAE)

[NickNack]

Originally Posted by peppertree5706

Not Shaft. It does not have a constant beat, though it is an excellent record.

It may not be heavy, 4/4 on the floor, but it's constant. If anything inspired Crown Heights Affair to do "Dreamin' a Dream", it was "Shaft".

[efunk_adelic]

how bout these gems:



Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight ('71) no strings
Family Affair - Sly/Family Stone ('71) no strings
I'll Take You There - Staple Singers ('72) no strings
Back Stabbers - O'Jays ('72)
I'll Be Around - Spinners ('72)
Could It Be I'm Falling In Love - Spinners ('73)
Love Train - O'Jays ('73)
Keep On Truckin' - Eddie Kenricks ('73)
The Love I Lost - Harold Melvin/Bluenotes ('73)

[QUINNY]

So far as I'm concerned the original Disco music was the Motown dance hits from 1964/65 along with a healthy smattering of Ska. Those were records you only heard in a Discotheque, when I was but a mere lad and they were good to dance to.

I'd put TSOP by MFSB as the real first Disco record and the Gloria Gaynor album with the continuous/segued first side as the real 'light switch' moments. Both sounded sooooo new and sooooo different at the time. I never went overboard about either of them, but I knew things would never be the same again. You could just feel it in yer water. :lol:

[originalbigm]

Originally Posted by efunk_adelic

how bout these gems:



Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight ('71) no strings
Family Affair - Sly/Family Stone ('71) no strings
I'll Take You There - Staple Singers ('72) no strings
Back Stabbers - O'Jays ('72)
I'll Be Around - Spinners ('72)
Could It Be I'm Falling In Love - Spinners ('73)
Love Train - O'Jays ('73)
Keep On Truckin' - Eddie Kenricks ('73)
The Love I Lost - Harold Melvin/Bluenotes ('73)

All examples of R&B or Soul Hits.The Love I Lost was very disco in it's beat and delivery.However all the replies prove my point. Impossible to point to one exactly.Sort of like trying to find the missing link between ape and man.It may prove more interesting to try and focus on the different styles of "disco" and try and pinpoint the first record of that genre.i.e. the philly sound.

[Paulo]

Everybody knows what disco is from 1975 to 1980, but when we reach the borders (1973 or 1982) things get blurred. What's disco, what's soul ??

It is difficult to classified, because DISCO was being born as a SOUL offshot.

Of course all songs mentioned in this topic were soul numbers. If disco had not happen, they would be classified today as SOUL.... But since DISCO existed, obviously there would be early 70's soul songs which already have disco elements.

That's why I love the idea of having a very elastic definition of what disco was in the very beggining (or in the end).

So all those songs mentioned are soul numbers, but they are also in the root of 70's disco music... they are disco.

[Nano]

My definition of "disco", at least in the beginnings, is soul/funk songs that were specially aimed to the dancefloor (longer, no solos, instrumental drum breaks to make the mix easier...) Certainly "TSOP" is one of the first to fit the bill. I guess MFSB was not a band conceived for touring: they were just too many.
The other leg are the machine-leaden beats that made things even easier for disco dee-jays: Silver Convention, Giorgio Moroder and, first and foremost, TK Records with Harry KC's productions.

The sequence could be like this:
1) Around 1972-73 Philly Sound has imposed his sophisti-soul and some indie labels begin to experiment with rhythm machines.
2) Both parties realize their more steady-beat driven songs ("TSOP", "Rock your baby", "Fly Robin Fly") become hits at discotheques, where people dance to the records in absence of the artists, and that dee-jays -the guys who put the records- tend to blend one song into another.
3) They begin to produce aiming to that market (Trammps, Tavares, KC & The Sunshine Band) and there comes the disco boom.
4) Some funk bands, seeing this market possibilities (or wanting to change with the times?) change slightly their sound to attract disco dancers.

Of course, all this is MHO.

[Outsider]

"Bad Luck" - Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes

:evil:

[peppertree5706]

Dance, Dance, Dance, by The Beach Boys from 1965 had the disco beat. Through the whole record. You can record a BPM on it and it would be a disco beat.

The Beach Boys... They just are not disco. No matter how good their song is, people will not put them in the disco class.

But check out, Dance, Dance, Dance and give it independent thought. It is a fine record.

[markydefad]

I've always said it was "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes (1971)--THE link between the downtown funky street sound of Sly Stone ("Family Affair") and the sleek uptown orchestral string sound of Barry White ("Loves Theme").

Granted, it doesn't have a drum beat until Isaac starts the vocal ( around 2:00 into the song)--BUT IT'S THE SOUND OF DISCO!!!! :D

First time I ever heard anything like it--VERY INFLUENTIAL on musicians and producers of the time. Witness Norman Whitfield's "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" from the following year.

If you can't hear it-- you must be deaf. :P