Exploring disco's roots ... a non-stop medley of candidates

[remicks]

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I trust many amongst us are experiencing similar pleasure as I , in investigating the music from this era , often thrilled by the assorted treasures we are not already familiar with .
I especially like listening to stuff from the earliest disco days and the early 70's ... and connecting the dots as to how these various influences then became disco .....

I just got a whole new pile of old 45's and could comment on so many ....but right now I'm finding Don Downing's LONELY DAYS LONELY NIGHTS in strong need of a mention .
The song is from 1973 and in it one can hear so many elements of the soul music of that period that are rapidly coming together to become disco ....

The very opening of the song is similar to Stevie Wonder 's WE CAN WORK IT OUT
then it kicks into a Thom Bell Spinners sort of a drum groove ...with a dialogue one might hear on a Chi-lites / Eugene Record or a Stylistic's Hugo and Luigi number .... there's also a hint of the Stax sound ... with a Johnny Taylor 's WHO's MAKING LOVE feel .... also even some falsetto harmonizing a la Bee Gees here ( maybe because of that other already famous " lonely days...lonely nights " song .... "where would I be without ...." )
And then just for additional flavoring , the B-side is an Al Green styled number.

--- All this added it up together makes for an interesting merging of sounds ..... 8)

But especially when you figure just who it is here that is honing up his production skills using all these various sounds on this record :

The producer is Meco Monardo
..... who within the coming year is going to bust the disco scene wide open with :

Gloria Gaynor and the revolutionary NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE

8) 8)

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[Disco Funk]

Dream World is the one song of his that gets most mentioned because of it being Tom Moulton's first commercial attempt at a disco mix, if I'm not mistaken. But I really do like Lonely Days And Lonely Nights. Its too bad Moulton didn't work on that cut as well. There isn't even an instrumental mix of that cut. The falsetto is great, and its a catchy melody.

I wonder why Meco didn't make a whole album with Don Downing. In addition to those two songs I mentioned, I think there were another single or two from the '73 to '75 period.

Doctor Boogie from his later years is a cool track, if you haven't heard it yet.

Disco Funk