Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
*****
Tom Moulton's continuous segueing of the songs on side "A" of Gloria Gaynor's NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE LP is often cited as the first time this concept was put into use.
Not to in any way detract from its significance because Tom certainly well advanced the idea and heightened it to a new level when he directly mixed the three tunes into each other providing nonstop club play of several songs from Gloria's LP ......... (and his doing so certainly had enormous effect on the club scene) ....
..... but as for it being the first time this mixing concept came about and it being the first time club DJs got any inkling of it ?? :icon_rolleyes:
Not so fast !!!:icon_smile:
From Billboard's
THE BILLBOARD BOOK OF NUMBER ONE HITS
1985 edition
Again not to take anything from Tom , but this breakthrough concept appears to have made its impact first from under the influence of:The track (LOVE'S THEME) was written as an overture for the girl's (Love Unlimited) album UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE UNLIMITED . As the first cut on the album , it segued directly into the vocal track UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE . It was a sensation on the dance floor , as club DJs could play all eight minutes and 17 seconds of the two songs without lifting the needle ---- setting a trend that would become s.o.p. in discos.
Mr. Barry White .
******
Last edited by remicks; February 11th, 2008 at 11:52 AM.
you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Indie Release [Level 4]
yet another reason to love barry white...mmmmm barry
No Longer Charting
There's a BIG difference between taking relatively disparate tracks and somehow giving them a flow and consciously sitting down, writing two similar sounding tracks and finding a way to link them together.
The segue was not invented by Disco artists, DJs or remixers. My instinct tells me that there would be literally hundreds of instances of tracks segueing into each other from all the music genres prior to the 1970's, if one were to delve.
Therefore, Barry can't take any real kudos for what he did. It was already a tried and tested technique.
Chart Hit [Level 6]
The Beatles did this on their White Album and Abbey Road (1968 and 1969). Marvin Gaye also did this on his What's Going On album (1971).Originally Written by QUINNY
"Everyone knows the real reason why you got that part it was the time you spent on that casting couch"--Antoine Merriwether
"Excuse me, Miss Thing, but both of us spent time on that couch"--Blaine Edwards
Underground Hit [Level 5]
Re: Disco under the influence of Barry White .....
.. I never understood how two slow/mid-tempo tunes like "Love's theme" & "Under the influence" ever became disco hits to start with .. don't get me wrong, they are perfectly pleasant records .. lots of swirly strings & enough saccharin to remove your front teeth .. but stompers they ain't ( .. it must have been a quiet month in the disco world that year ) .. However the Gloria Gaynor "Never can say goodbye" medley storms along, never missing a beat .. catapulting the listener full-throttle into the next tune .. lifting the spirit & the mind .. it must have sounded amazing back then .. especially to an audience that broke into a sweat over "Love's theme" ..
Last edited by ashley; February 11th, 2008 at 11:18 AM.
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Slow-to-mid tempo tunes were common among the underground clubs, particularly in the wee hours of the morning. Hence, the term "morning music" (and its sister word sleaze). Since a night's worth of music had to conclude in timely fashion, songs like "Love's Theme", "Under The Influence Of Love", et al., were ideal.
"Everyone knows the real reason why you got that part it was the time you spent on that casting couch"--Antoine Merriwether
"Excuse me, Miss Thing, but both of us spent time on that couch"--Blaine Edwards
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
The point isn't that Barry White invented anything here. I think the kudos apply because of the way Barry's decision to use this mixing technique on his album impacted the disco scene specifically ..
I'm sure DJs were already learning to tightly segue between songs but this instance reinforced the concept. ( "Hey the crowd likes this smooth flow between songs ; we should mix songs tightly together, like this!!" ) As far as I know this is the first recorded application of an intentionally tight segue within the disco era (?) .
And especially noteworthy is how the DJs were drawn to it. They liked this idea of tightly segueing songs and recognized their crowds positive response to it . And because they liked it and began playing UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE and LOVE'S THEME as one this helped establish a precedent when mixing .
Furthermore, the attraction of playing these two songs consequently helped establish a recognition of the power of the clubs to break records. It was the club DJs that broke LOVE'S THEME first ! It could have remained just a glorified album intro had it not been for the clubs discovering it and using it beyond that context.
I'm not so sure morning music existed at this time (maybe in NYC?) . I think early in the disco era , it was so exploratory there was more of an "anything" goes approach . A wide variety of BPMs were played throughout the night . The evening's weaving of sounds and styles was far more varied so I don't think LOVE'S THEME was necessarily saved for 4 AM ....or if there were even clubs that stayed open that long in the beginning ( ?:icon_question:? ... Anyone?? )
*****
Last edited by remicks; February 11th, 2008 at 01:25 PM.
you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Platinum Record [Level 8]
I'm not familiar with the early days of disco dj'ing, but weren't dancefloor dj's already cuttings songs back to back anyway? Or did they play a song, have dead air, and then play the next song? Or did they play the song, talk, and then play the next song? I think one song running into the next on that LP wasn't anything new, and it certainly didn't influence disco record making (sorry Tom Moulton), since the majority of LPs featured songs broken apart, not continuous play, unless it was some K-Tel disco record.
Remicks, I'm afraid Barry White, just like Ike, didn't have as much influence on the disco sound or culture as you and I like to argue about. Perhaps the 8 minutes was a blessing for DJs who needed a bathroom break, but that's pretty much it (besides the 'morning music' explanation).
Disco Funk
Underground Hit [Level 5]
Re: Disco under the influence of Barry White .....
.. talking to people who were alive & kickin' in the early 70s, it seems records were not really programmed for mixing .. records were indeed played back-to-back on the dancefloor .. djs would deliberately maintain a flow by spinning similar sounds (for example playing a few popular Motown hits together) .. but records were not run in & over each other, keeping a constant beat (unless the dj just got lucky) .. I really think the Gloria Gaynor "Never can say goodbye" medley caused a revolution .. it's one of those big bang moments, when everything changed forever .. overnight clubs went from spinning records next to each other, to mixing records into each other .. Tom Moulton opened the door to a whole new future .. dance music was never the same again ..
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Casablanca Records took advantage of mixing when it released the EP Get Down And Boogie in 1976, which was two sides of songs mixed into the other. Salsoul Records followed suit with Disco Boogie in 1977.
I don't think it was unusual by the time Barry White began the rise towards his peak to hear a song or two on an artist's album blend into the next. This was already done on some Beatles and Marvin Gaye albums. There was also instances of it on Stevie Wonder's Innervisions (1973). Honestly, it was the hardcore disco scene that made mixing on LPs a reality.
"Everyone knows the real reason why you got that part it was the time you spent on that casting couch"--Antoine Merriwether
"Excuse me, Miss Thing, but both of us spent time on that couch"--Blaine Edwards
Triple Platinum Record [Level 10]
But I think the point is 2 dance tracks segued together to keep the dancers on the dancefloor...admittedly there is a brief break [loss of beat] between "Love's Theme" & "Under The Influence Of Love"...as if the DJ swiped the slip cue from left side to right side...the beat is not constant is my point..but DJs (Bobby Viteritti in a famous old mix for a Troc party & Jerry Bonham on the most recent RtP used this combo in exactly the way it was originally recorded....so it does stand the test of time.
Stevie Wonder & The Beatles & Marvin Gaye may have done segues between tracks on their LP's--but it wasn't done in an attempt to keep dancers on the dance floor. Barry White did exactly that and it was in early 1973 that he did it...in the early formative gestation period of what would eventually become DISCO.
And yes, the BPMs are around 100 on these 2 tracks---but that was very common in dance tunes of the early era....many of the famous dance tracks form the early days of disco were in the 100-118 BPM [slow by later standards].... think "Rock The Boat"/ "Rock Your Baby"/ "Shame, Shame, Shame" /"Swearin' To God"/"To Each His Own"/"Love To Love You Baby"/ "More, More, More"/"Dancing Queen/ "Stayin' Alive"....etc.............
"Lost inside adorable illusion...."
No Longer Charting
Santana's Album Santana pre-dates Barry by 3 -4 years AND was intentionally done for dancing to, don't ya think? Their music was certainly a staple in many a disco of that time. I must listen to their first two albums again...it's been over 30 years since I last did so.
Sorry, Remicks and all the other Barry White fans here, but Barry didn't really do much in the true Disco era (post '75/6) apart from regurgitate old formulae and he certainly didn't invent the segue as a method of keeping a groove going.
Nice try, but flawed.
Triple Platinum Record [Level 10]
So Q--you're saying that Santana segued different tracks for dancing on their early LPs??? I don't have the actual LPs...so I don't know...just "Greatest Hits" comps on CD. But I really doubt they segued one track into another like Barry White did.
"Lost inside adorable illusion...."
Platinum Record [Level 8]
. 
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If we're going way back, would the Dance To The Medley by Sly & The Family Stone count? That was 100% pure dance, and they were all different songs cued up in a medley, which is essentially the definition of an unbroken group of songs played consecutively. That record was put out in late '67 or early '68 if I'm not mistaken.
Disco Funk
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