the very first disco song???

[remicks]

*****
Quite a juicy find , but I 'm suspicious as it has way too many disco elements to be from 1972 ... any confirming this ??
It sounds almost El Coco -ish .
Since its from an LP titled "Pop-Shopping" Juicy Music From German Commercials 1960-1975 and the dates of each commercial aren't included ----- my money is on the 1975 end of things . (???)


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does this one deserve a mention ?? Sort of a fast -paced : James Brown meets early synth , with a marching band and Billy Preston on organ. .....

1970

[JussiK]

The label of the vinyl 7" of Moulinex says it's made in 1972. Also, the cd liner notes say the track is from 72. I can't see a conspiracy here.

The gorgeous Lalo Schifrin tune is syncopated enough to count, but does have a very speedy arrangement spelling jazz/rock fusion. Love the track but not quite sure of it's protodisco-ness. The 1971 7" of "Scorpio/Dirty Harry" by Schifrin which was not heard in the film itself has a bit more accented rhythmic pattern.

The idea that first disco records were of American origin seem absurd to us here in Europe. The first soul records, that we can buy. But danceable soul is not the same thing as disco. Still, I can understand Americans being in denial, having been raised under impressions like everything with subtitles is unwatchable, free health care equals socialism etc.:-) - It's a cultural difference.

I could not find a sound clip of Jerry&Lola's 1970 "Love Love Love" in the net, that's totally authentic 1977 Munich 4 on the floor snare drum disco already with a stomping arrangement, naughty lyrics plus those strings.

[remicks]

The label of the vinyl 7" of Moulinex says it's made in 1972. Also, the cd liner notes say the track is from 72. I can't see a conspiracy here.

I'm impressed that you have this 45 so ready at your access. You must be quite organized Jussi . I would so LOVE to see your collection.

It would appear then that Gert Wilden (!) was doing the Silver Convention string thing years before them!

I could not find a sound clip of Jerry&Lola's 1970 "Love Love Love" in the net, that's totally authentic 1977 Munich 4 on the floor snare drum disco already with a stomping arrangement, naughty lyrics plus those strings.

We have to hear this !! I will keep my eyes& ears opened!
__________________

The idea that first disco records were of American origin seem absurd to us here in Europe. The first soul records, that we can buy. But danceable soul is not the same thing as disco. Still, I can understand Americans being in denial, having been raised under impressions like everything with subtitles is unwatchable, free health care equals socialism etc.:-) - It's a cultural difference.

Some years ago I pinpointed what I consider to be the "first" disco song imo..... by that I mean I can sort of draw a line and say --- here comes this song - and then everything else that comes after it. I can find nothing that predates it that sounds more disco . I have since been searching for a song to do so .... and that's why I've held off on mentioning it ... but as of yet one has not materialized . :

I think in this coming year 2011, I shall at last reveal that record .
Hint: It's from 1969 and it's American.


*****

[twiceage]

Unlike the song 'Moulinex' , 'Love, Love, Love' is not really disco

here is a sound clip for a better appreciation: Lola & Jerry - Love, Love, Love ; composed by Gerhard Heinz.
http://westsounds.com/flash_player/f...e=1&id=2133350

[JussiK]

If "Love Love Love" ain't disco "Love To Love You baby" ain't Disco, either...:-)
-So, 2011 will be the year of Revelations. I'll post a disco record from 1968.....and here's a taster, check the 4/4 arrangement, the rhythm, the break, the girl chorus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdlMr...eature=related

[remicks]

twiceage :

Unlike the song 'Moulinex' , 'Love, Love, Love' is not really disco

here is a sound clip for a better appreciation: Lola & Jerry - Love, Love, Love ; composed by Gerhard Heinz.
http://westsounds.com/flash_player/f...e=1&id=2133350

thanks for the sound clip!! most interesting ... love the sound of his - whatever.... springing to life throughout the song ....

I'm beginning to wonder if Giorgio had an original bone in his body. (OK , I exaggerate). He is smart to have encompassed some very talented people around him ....

If "Love Love Love" ain't disco "Love To Love You baby" ain't Disco, either...:-)
-So, 2011 will be the year of Revelations. I'll post a disco record from 1968.....and here's a taster, check the 4/4 arrangement, the rhythm, the break, the girl chorus:

A beautiful piece of music that one indeed and quite discoey!! Heavily latin tinged.
a short hop , skip, and a jump away from :



of that same year wouldn't you say???

When it comes to disco, I'm first on board when acknowledging the importance of the schmaltzy big orchestral EZ music that preceded it . Rather intercontinental would you agree ... seeming to come from many corners .....

I think MY HEART SKIPS A BEAT is an excellent example of the genre but-
is it that much of a departure from others of the period such as this one out of
Los Angeles two years earlier :




lousy sound but what a dance party!!



oh what fun they had in the sixties. underwater bartenders even. that's the only time I'll smoke .... in a pool ...underwater ....

*****

[JussiK]

Damn you snatched the Piero Umiliani from under my nose, that was the track I was referring to in my earlier post, the one I was going to throw on the table as the "firts ever disco track"! :-)
The gorgeous Herb Alpert stuff is certainly nearly there but that was obviously meant to belong to a mutated bossa/samba subgenre, one that tried to pass the easyfied rhyhthms off as the real thing. So, despite their mutated quality they had a distinct, established form. Disco when it was born was a new musical hybrid that could not really be filed under anything.

But hey, come on people, it's obviously quite useless for any of us to try and claim some 60's tune is the very first disco track, like were we there during that time, wearing a kaftan and majestically pointing a finger to a thing like "Mah-Na Mah-Na" - HERE is the very first record belonging to a musical genre of a brand new era?

Disco in it's real 70's onwards form and 60's Discothéque are 2 different things....or are they? The shortened word disco was already used in England widely during the early 70's, in same sentences as track names for northern soul, pop, European-made afrofunk tunes etc. Disco or discothéque? Funk-based and soulful dance music or poppy euro sounds? Go figure.

[remicks]

Damn you snatched the Piero Umiliani from under my nose, that was the track I was referring to in my earlier post, the one I was going to throw on the table as the "firts ever disco track"! :-)

Ohhh, that is sooo satisfying. (tongue out, :-) )

The gorgeous Herb Alpert stuff is certainly nearly there but that was obviously meant to belong to a mutated bossa/samba subgenre, one that tried to pass the easyfied rhyhthms off as the real thing. So, despite their mutated quality they had a distinct, established form. Disco when it was born was a new musical hybrid that could not really be filed under anything.

But hey, come on people, it's obviously quite useless for any of us to try and claim some 60's tune is the very first disco track, like were we there during that time, wearing a kaftan and majestically pointing a finger to a thing like "Mah-Na Mah-Na" - HERE is the very first record belonging to a musical genre of a brand new era?
.

Except , ------
I DO lay claim as to the very first disco track !! :-) All else disco lines up behind it .

Come'n - I guessed yours . Mine's American: from 1969 .............name that ( "changed the music world" ) tune!!!


*****

[JussiK]

I could not possibly quess what a 1969 American song posing as the first ever disco song could possibly be...unless! Unless it's "Beginnings" by Astrud Gilberto! Yes, it has GOT to be that, what with the title and everything! But that's Brazilian in origin, right? I give up.

In any case, there are countless northern soul hitettes made during the 60s played in Blackpool in GB during the early 70's when the word disco was already in use, obscure no-budget things made in Chigago or someplace that nobody outside the specialist circles ever heard. The legions of northern soul devotees claim the right to name the first disco track. So, yours must be a northern soul track, right, and you're a Carrier of The Torch as they say?

Buit I've already won, so I don't get it. If yours is from 1969 how could it possibly be the 1st disco track if Man-Na was realesed a year earlier? Cause if something is protodisco, Mah-Na is just that. And I do have so many others made in Europe in my Longchamp bag of disco esoterica, , from that year of 1968...and in fact, from earlier. 1969? I could name so many. You got to do better, even if all this is absolutely meaningless! :-)

[discokicks]

I'm really enjoying this recent discussion and hopefully we don't start a war of the worlds over the America vs Europe disco beginning.

I was quite thrilled when JussiK mentioned James Last....

James Last - Happy Brasilia / El Condor Pasa (7", Single) at Discogs

"Happy Brasilia" is from 1970. It later became a cult item in early New York discos, and is still a biggie today among breakbeat djs. Works like magic.

In the mid-60s, James, of German heritage, seemed to grab onto a new idea of linking songs together with similar rhythms to create the party medley. His non-stop dancing albums, all of them mostly instrumental with some occasional background vocals, also added in crowd noises (hoots and hollers) to help create the mood that there's a heedless party going on. I'm not aware of any other band leader who did that at that time. These albums that started in '65 and on must have, at the very least, played some influence in creating music strictly for dancing feet...perhaps he didn't make the very first disco song but James Last planted seeds for it.

Interestingly, I grew up listening to one of his double Non-Stop Dancing albums. My hip oldest sister (God rest her soul) bought it when I was just a youngun in the late '60s. Four sides of non-stop party music that grabbed a hold of my disco soul very early in life. Listening to it today, I love how Mr. Last upped the rhythm in songs like Harper Valley PTA , A Lovers Concerto and the Beatles' No Reply...and he obviously was aware of their common 130bpm when he put the pop songs Simon Says/ Mony Mony/ Yummy Yummy Yummy together...yes sir, I can still boogie to this!

Here's a sample of the fun...



and here's the James Last Band joining in on all of 1976's disco glory....

[JussiK]

The absolute earliest oldest dance track I've ever played in my life is THIS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6IJK...eature=related

It's Morricone, who else, recorded in 1966. At the time of it's realese the tune was huge at the legendary Piper Club of Rome which was at that time the most glamorous and famous nightlife establishment in the world. Check the 4/4 structure of the track, the use of the orchestra, and the fact that it does not belong to any previously established musical genre. It's not pop, it's not soul, nor is it rock. And that it was big in the clubs. So, behold: ProtoDisco. Made in 1966.

I spinned this during the peak hour last summer to a crowd of 20 yrs olds at a hip club in Helsinki, and it got the guys coming up just to see the sight of this Holy piece of Vinyl rotate on the Technics.

James Last is STILL around, doing sold out tours around Germany. Other bandleaders who had crowd noises in their albums include Billy Strange from the USA. I got his early 60's "A Lotta Limbo/Limbo Rock" party record last year, it's got 2 side-long tracks on each side, just like later disco concept albums. Of course the music is not disco by any stretch of the imagination but the A Lotta Limbo side is nothing but hot percussion, perfect for the cooler floors of today with a definite hipster flava.

[athenian1977]

Sorry JussiK, that song is not even relevant to this thread or even to a common "proto-disco song"...absolutely not! Check Esther Philips "just say goodbye" better to get an idea of proto-disco, I think it's from 1966..
Cheers mate!

[JussiK]

I know I know...it's just those places and the music I play...squirrelling down the stairs lined with pink nylon saluting everyone like a parakeet on speed, wearing a Disney-on-Ice tailcoat, it does things to you.

[remicks]

I could not possibly quess what a 1969 American song posing as the first ever disco song could possibly be...unless! Unless it's "Beginnings" by Astrud Gilberto! Yes, it has GOT to be that, what with the title and everything! But that's Brazilian in origin, right? I give up.

In any case, there are countless northern soul hitettes made during the 60s played in Blackpool in GB during the early 70's when the word disco was already in use, obscure no-budget things made in Chigago or someplace that nobody outside the specialist circles ever heard. The legions of northern soul devotees claim the right to name the first disco track. So, yours must be a northern soul track, right, and you're a Carrier of The Torch as they say?

I didn't realize Jussi that you were in England in the early 70's using the word "disco" ???
And I don't think you are seriously touting that a "Northern Soul" song could possibly be the first disco song since that would make it an American release and you've made your position clear on the impossibility of that .
But no the song I'm referring to isn't "Northern Soul" .... it's from 1969 - an important point ....it's from the post "Northern Soul" style era .... when something newer was abrew here in the States ....

The legions of northern soul devotees claim the right to name the first disco track

Why in the world ?? The NS crowd danced purely to older , pre-disco songs . Even as the disco train, loaded to capacity, pulled away from the platform and churned down the tracks , The NS crowd was still diving for older tunes in the dumpster behind the station.

Buit I've already won, so I don't get it. If yours is from 1969 how could it possibly be the 1st disco track if Man-Na was realesed a year earlier? Cause if something is protodisco, Mah-Na is just that. And I do have so many others made in Europe in my Longchamp bag of disco esoterica, , from that year of 1968...and in fact, from earlier. 1969? I could name so many. You got to do better, even if all this is absolutely meaningless! :-)

I don't know how it works in Europe , but in the American judicial system , all sides get to be heard before a "winner" is declared. But there are still a few hundred days left in 2011 and I'm thinking I'll hold off some before presenting mine,
I'll wait and see if anyone in the interim brings forth a song here that changes my mind . .. ....
Sorry Jussi, {but IMO} , MAHNA MAHNA ....... didn't .


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[JussiK]

No way I was ever there at the Blackpool Mecca but like everyone, I've read the books on the subject. People like Rosco used the D word as you know. And it's some of people from the Northern Soul scene like Ian Levine who claim they created the disco scene. I think NS is just that, soul, not disco.

But hey, if something has been proven to be from 1968, or from 1966 like the Ennio Morricone track, and has been proven to be ProtoDisco by documented history of the Piper Club and in importantly, by current kids into cosmic/space/euro/beach disco - and it's young club crowds who have the final say, not people of older generations, like it or not and live with it -, how can something from 1969 be declared as an older example, even by American judical systems? Of course anything is possible there judging by films. Not that i'm big on Hollywood cinema but I've seen my share. Still, present concrete evidence from 1965 and we have a new disco trainspotter supremo:-)