My Disco Top 25 - mostly common, a few rarely ever mentione

[DanceMan]

It was very difficult putting this list together, to say the least, as you all know....only the Top 5 are constants over the years with Evelyn Thomas flip flopping with Deniece...of course, I needed at least three divas in the Top 5: Diana, Babs and Michael....

1) LOVIN' IS REALLY MY GAME - BRAINSTORM
2) THE MAIN EVENT - BARBRA STREISAND
3) FOREVER CAME TODAY - THE JACKSON FIVE
4) THE BOSS - DIANA ROSS
5) I'VE GOT THE NEXT DANCE - DENIECE
WILLIAMS
6) GOIN' TO A DISCO - THE PLAYERS'
ASSOCIATION
7) SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE - JANICE MCLAINE
LIFE IS MUSIC - THE RITCHIE FAMILY
9) HI ENERGY - EVELYN THOMAS
10) CANDIDATE FOR LOVE - T.S. MONK
11) CAN YOU HANDLE IT - SHARON REDD
12) NEW ATTITUDE - PATTI LABELLE
13) MUSIC IS MY WAY OF LIFE - PATTI LABELLE
14) LOVE SHOOK - PATTIE BROOKS
15) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - BONNIE
POINTER
16) I JUST KEEP THINKIN' ABOUT YOU BABY -
TATA VEGA
17) THAT'S WHERE THE HAPPY PEOPLE GO - THE
TRAMMPS
18) LET YOURSELF GO - THE SUPREMES
19) HEAVEN KNOWS - DONNA SUMMER
20) TURN THE BEAT AROUND - VICKIE SUE
ROBINSON
21) GO DANCE - BILLY MOORE
22) THIS WILL BE A NIGHT TO REMEMBER -
EDDIE HOLMAN
23) I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN - GLORIA
GAYNOR
24) MY CLAIM TO FAME - JAMES WELLS
25) STAR LOVE - CHERYL LYNN

I wish I could find this many dance songs from the 90's....

[paul]

Hey Danceman, interesting list. I'm glad to see Bonnie Pointer get some run. Hey, I don't remember that Jackson 5 song. Can you give me more info on it?

[DanceMan]

Thanks, Paul, for the commentary on the list. Most of the songs that I favor are ones with a 'storyline' with some drama thrown along with the melody and arrangement. That is one of the reasons I really don't care for much of today's music, I cannot understand what they are singing and the beats all sound the same.

"Forever Came Today," was a single released in the summer of 1975 from the LP, MOVING VIOLATION. It was their last release on Motown and it was actually released after the group signed with Epic, so Motown didn't give it the fanfare it deserved. Check it out, it has some good slow burners as well as the dancers, "Body Language," and the title cut....I am beginning to sound like a press release.

[california mike]

'forever came today" was also a diana ross and the supremes single from 1968. it was the last charting single they had written by holland-dozier-holland, who penned their previous 15 hits!!

[markydefad]

"Forever Came Today" was the soundalike single followup to "Reflections"--BUT "Some Things You Never Get Used To" was actually released in-between. Both (STYNGUT &FCT) only charted nationally in the Top 30, as I remember. I always liked "Forever"...the Supremes version is around 100 bpm BUT more a ballad than a slow groove morning track. The Jackson Five sped up the tempo to around 118 bpm and had a BIG dance hit...#1 on the charts I posted earlier this summer. The long version of the Jackson Five version has recently been released on yet ANOTHER Motown 2-CD anthology--that's where I finally got my hands on it. Worth owning.

[markydefad]

Danceman,

I am a big fan of most of the stuff on your list.

BUT THREE (3) songs I've never heard of!!!!
#6, #10, and #21--Also, don't really remember "Love Shook" BUT I see that it's the track AFTER "Girl, Don't Make Me Wait" (my fave) on the Pattie Brooks LP. I'll have to give it a spin.

[markydefad]

Oh, I guess I should say that "The Main Event" was NOT a big fave of mine....didn't even own it til recently when I found it at Amoeba. Don't know why...just sorta sounded generic to me, I guess.

AND you know I AM a fan Of Barbra's...I just wish she hadn't lost her sense of humor somewhere in the '70's...she NEVER wants to be FUNNY anymore....THAT was one of her greatest gifts, IMHO. Love those funny songs on the early LP's and her crack comic timing in the early movies. Too bad she decided she was ONLY a DRAMA QUEEN and made miserable movies (to watch) like "Nuts"!!!! More "What's Up, Doc" would have been appreciated. :lol:

[BrunoRepublic]

Well, you *have* seen the "Mecha Streisand" episode of South Park, have you not? That was pretty damn funny. :lol:

[markydefad]

Graham,

I wasn't too impressed with "Mecha-Streisand", sorry to say. Couldn't they have even attempted to get someone to try to sound like her??? OR, am I confusing the episodes? Mecha-Streisand was a big monster, right? But there was one episode where they had Streisand buying up everything and whoever did the voice wasn't even trying to get it right.

Paging Marilyn Michaels!!!!! (Used to do a great Streisand impression--on Ed Sullivan, in the olden days...we used to watch by candlelight in our cave). :grin:

[BrunoRepublic]

It could be that they had to deliberately make it not sound like her, due to the threat of a lawsuit (this is why "Patrick Swayze" has such a high whiny voice in Clerks: The Animated Series).

OTOH, don't forget what the disclaimer says:

"All celebrity voices are impersonated... poorly."

Part of the initial shock of South Park is how shamelessly shitty the production values are. One of the creators explained that they couldn't figure out how to make the animated figures walk, so they decided to have it snowy all the time to hide their legs.

Another South Park episode was done in "Spooky Vision". It was a Halloween episode, and Barbra's face is in all four corners of the screen for the entire episode.

Sadly, "Spooky Vision" on the South Park pinball game is something else entirely...

[NickNack]

DanceMan,

I really like your list. Lots of 'early' stuff thrown in. I'm also a fan of T. S. Monk. "Candidate for Love" and "Too Much Too Soon" --- man, oh, man.

Thanks for including "Let Yourself Go" by The Supremes. Should be a 'dance classic'.

[NickNack]

On 2002-09-19 13:11, markydefad wrote:
The long version of the Jackson Five version has recently been released on yet ANOTHER Motown 2-CD anthology--that's where I finally got my hands on it. Worth owning.

Longer version? Longer than what --- the lp? Does it have the instrumental or vocal ending of the song? What anthology is this?

I'm just full of fucking questions. :lol:

[DanceMan]

On 2002-09-19 13:18, markydefad wrote:
Danceman,

I am a big fan of most of the stuff on your list.

BUT THREE (3) songs I've never heard of!!!!
#6, #10, and #21--Also, don't really remember "Love Shook" BUT I see that it's the track AFTER "Girl, Don't Make Me Wait" (my fave) on the Pattie Brooks LP. I'll have to give it a spin.

Hi Marky:

Thanks for your comments. Well…well…well…the songs you inquired about I knew some people would have questioned them….but MARKYDEFAD???? Well, wonders never cease….

Anyway, “Goin' To A Disco,” was on the Players Association LP on Vanguard with Love Hangover and it was also a 12” but I am not sure if it was promo only and/or commercial, but it was a single….Also, it was a really great disco/funk/jazz kind of cut strangely, I never ever heard it anywhere but once on a WKTU mix nite and on my turntable constantly…I still own it. I blame Vanguard for the lack of doing anything with lots of their music.

“Candidate For Love,” was by T.S. Monk (son of the late Thelonious, the jazz great) and it was also on his Mirage LP which featured his debut single, “Bon Bon Vie,” (Gimme The Good Life) – tell me you heard of that one, please!....”Candidate” was sort of a Shalamar/Dynasty kind of good happy feeling song but with a bit more elaborate production…..I guess you can tell I like songs with Drama and Gusto…..no techno nut here.

“Go Dance,” by Billy Moore was on Emergency and it was released while I still worked there in the late summer/early fall of 1979. Unfortunately, it came out when a) the disco back-lash was happening and b) Emergency was going through a disco – funk makeover, as well as the powers-that-be were overthrown as well as the entire staff, so there was nobody left caring to promote the song or anything that followed for awhile…I had a special place in my heart and dancing shoes for the song, deservedly so. It is worth checking out and if you liked Theo Vaness, you will love Billy.

I own everything by Babs, except that damn 12” of “Shake Me, Wake Me…” otherwise the storyline behind “Main Event” sums it up for me….music, dancing and romancing…who could ask for anything more!

[Nano]

Bom-Bom-Bom-Bom-Bom-Bom-Bom-Bom-Vie!!!
Give me the good life... the good life... give it to me!
A hell of a dance song! And I'm big fan of Thelonious Sphere Monk, the father.
DanceMan, I guess you do know the whole T.S. Monk album? I remember seeing him in the cover with a pink suit... Is it good as a whole? Any jazzy tune besides the funky ones? Obviously this is not on CD...
Marky, I absolutely agree with you about Barbra's humor. She's a good actress, but in the 80's went for the Oscar run and lost something in the middle. What's up Doc? is a great comedy. LOL for most of the movie, specially the last half hour.

_________________
I don't mean a thing (if ain't got that swing)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Nano on 2002-09-19 19:14 ]</font>

[SandraDee]

Danceman, I recently bought an imported vinyl single of Billy Moore's Go Dance & I now love it too. I'd never heard it b4 but I'm obsessed with buying all those disco records form '79 that unfairly got lost in the 'disco sucks' backlash. Emergency records were one of the many labels along with Prelude & Salsoul who seemed to get funkier & straighter in the 80's when hi-nrg took over in the gay clubs.

That Players Association track is brilliant too. I have all their LPs on CD as Players Association were quite big in the UK when jazz-funk was the dominant sound in the best clubs, so their stuff is readily available over here.