a tribute to the Founders

[Fantomas]

I see that on this forum a lot is said about the influence of the Europeans on Disco and not enough about the American side (the ones that started the whole thing).

I remember that in 1975 (maybe 1976), I read an article on the Reader Digest on the then evolution of Disco. Amongst other things, the article singles out three artists responsible for influencing the Disco sound like no one else. The three are: James Brown, Hamilton Bohannon, and Sly Stone. Although Sly was mostly off the charts by the time Disco was in full swing, there is no denying that his legacy was all over the Disco scene and sound. And ofcourse we had that mega hit from JB, Give it Up / Turn it a Loose / Mother Popcorn Medley from the Live in Augusta Album; what many in those years considered to be the #1 Disco song.

I like Cerrone and all these other European acts, like the Chocolat's, Titanic, Alex C, the Equals (one of my favorites-BSBEB), etc. These people enhanced the Disco sound. But it's fair to say that probably there wouldn't have been any Disco without the contributions from the BIG THREE.

[BrunoRepublic]

What about Barry White? Not to dismiss the contributions of the three you mentioned, but I always considered him to be one of the founding fathers of disco.

[Fantomas]

Actually Barry is great; he contributed much to Disco. But he came after the facts. The BIG THREE were around before White came into the scene.

[Blaxman]

I agree to Fantomas about the "BIG THREE",but I personally think that we could add ISAAC HAYES.



Peace,



Blaxman

[Fantomas]

Blaxman, while you might have a point there, I'm just expressing what I read in the article.

[Funky Dude]

Here are some more artists that made early contributions to the disco:



First Choice -

Armed & Extremely Dangerous 1973

The Player 1974

Newsy Neighbours 1973



Archie Bell & The Drells - They done some really early disco, at least I consider disco in 1968 such as:

I Can't Stop Dancing

Tighten Up



Kool & The Gang - They done some cool early funky disco acts such as:

Love The Life You Live 1971

Jungle Boogie 1973

Hollywood Swinging 1973

Street Corner Symphony 1974



Curtis Mayfield - Although his music falls under R&B and Funk, his music does have the early 70's disco flavour especially these ones:

If There's Hell Below 1970

Move On Up 1970

Get Down 1971

We've Got To Have Peace 1971

Superfly 1972

Pusherman 1972

Junkie Chase 1972

Future Shock 1973



Fatback Band - In 1972 they done some funky disco acts such as:

Street Walk

Street Dance

Free Form



Trammps - They made contribution in the early 70's to the disco era with songs like:

Zing, Went The Strings Of My Heart 1972

Love Epidemic 1973

Where Do We Go From Here 1973



Isley Brothers - During the early 70's they done some great dance songs like:

Lay Away 1972

That Lady 1973

If You Were There 1973

Live It Up 1974

Midnight Sky 1974



Jackson 5 - They sort of started the funky disco guitar sound during the late 60's (correct me if I'm wrong), and they contributed some great dance music in the late 60's and early/mid/late 70's and some early ones to mention:

I Want You Back 1969

ABC 1970

Mamma's Pearl 1970

The Love You Save 1970

Looking Through The Windows 1972

Dancing Machine 1973

Get It Together 1973

Hum Along & Dance 1973

Boogie Man 1974



Ohio Players:

You & Me 1973

Ecstasy 1973

Spinning 1973

Runnin' From The Devil 1974

Fire 1974

Skin Tight 1974



Isaac Hayes - Although you guys already mentioned him I thought I might list some of his early 70's disco tracks:

Theme From Shaft 1971 (Bar-Kays doing the funky guitar wah wah rhythm)

Theme From Men 1972

Truck Turner 1974

Pursuit Of the Pimpmobil 1974

Three Tough Guys 1974



Temptations - One of the biggest Motown soul groups around done some funky dance tracks during the late 60's/early 70's such as:

Keep On Walkin' 1967

Runaway Child 1969

I Can't Get Next To You 1969

Psychedelic Shack 1970

You Make Me So Very Happy 1970

Get Ready 1971

Superstar 1972

Papa Was A Rolling Stone 1972

Plastic Man 1973

Masterpiece 1973

Happy People 1974

Glass House 1974



Those are some artists that I feel also made big contribution to the early days of dance and disco.

[paul]

Ok. I've got my panties in a bunch and this issue has kinda irked me for the last couple of days.

I've gotta side with Graham. Barry White has to be put in there as one THEE influences of disco. This issue really kinda hit home for me today. I was replaying "Loving Is Really My Game" for the hundredth time on my way home in part because I just love the way the strings were infused in the music. Anyway it reminded me that Barry brought about that style with his Love Unlimited Orchestra. That ingredient of adding traditionally classical instruments in a then modern dance style gave disco that certain jene se qua.

Those other guys were important and it would have probably been just nice funky dance music left to them. Barry however made the music disco.

[maarten]

I am a HUGE Barry White fan. If you consider that Love's Theme came out in 1973 and a year EARLIER he released Love Unlimited's "Walking in the rain (with the one I love)", we can only conclude that, while the other three were extremely influential in the rhythm and bass departments (i.e. the rhythmic foundation of disco), Barry was the creator and inventor of the lush orchestrations that were used in disco then and deep house/garage/etc. today.



I would just like to ad Billy Preston for his innovative use of synthesizer in early 70's tracks such as "Outa space".

[Fantomas]

I must disagree with you Paul, Barry White did not make the "music" disco. He just took the "disco" sound in a different direction. The article in the magazine gave credit to a bunch of different artists, but it pointed out the importance of the BIG THREE as the main driving force. Let's not forget that Disco started out as Funk.

[Mixmachine]

Fantomas,I think it was mention here before, anyways, Sly in '79 released a 12" with the upgraded version of "Dance to the music" and "Sing a simple song" from the album "ten years too soon", some how it sounds better to me now than in '79.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Mixmachine on 2002-04-13 13:52 ]</font>