I think so.
Their greatest tune:
Kool and The Gang. The greatest ever disco group?
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
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This runs it a close second,
Er … Chic?
Kool & the Gang the greatest? With James “JT” Taylor handling the lead vocals for most of the big hits, you’d think I might be inclined to agree, but no too simplistic and a lack of feel for me. No one IMO gets better than Nile & Bernard in their Chic/Sister Sledge incarnations.
Tygers of Pan Tang?
Oh sorry, @uncle-wheaty..
This is the closest they got to disco.
@uncle-wheaty
Rather sadly, I think I can recall the chorus after all these years.
“Paris by night, such a beautiful sight, nothing quite like Paris by night.” I’ll head off to lyric finder shortly.
I rather liked the fact they had a bassist called Rocky.
Edith. Paris by Air of course.
You may be right. However:
Divides the fandom – Michael Jackson
Greatest of all time – Chic
Locals favourite – KC and the Sunnshine Band
Mental Breakdown – The Village People
The one everyone forgets – Heatwave
Either love or hate – The Bee Gees
Fan favourite – Earth, Wind & Fire
Overlooked masterpiece – Kid Creole and the Coconuts
Mental breakdown would be Baccara shurely.
Locals-wise, Boney M wiped the floor with all of these hairy devils, except the Bee Gees.
Chic / Sister Sledge, perhaps? I tend to think of them as a package deal…
KATG are underrated certainly, but Chic are the closest you can get to a definitive best, and I normally argue against “bests”, believing generally there are only favourites.
Kid Creole I’ve always considered post-disco (whatever that means)…
I’m not so sure but they did make one of the greatest funk tracks of the early 70s
Nice music but not sure I would need to listen again.
Like EWF, KATG were a quite sponditious* funk band before they correctly identified which way the wind was blowin.
*Delbert Wilkins tribute entirely appropriate, guy
Speaking of Funk, Inc. here’s Kool Is Back:
The disco version of KATG is not a patch on the funk version. Rather like the two genres themselves, now I think about it. Celebration and Get Down On It are ubiquitous but not in a good way: awful, cheesy, clunky, basic “four on the floor” stuff with absolutely no soul or passion that’s cleared many a dancefloor in my experience. Not even as good a disco band as KC & The Sunshine Band.
See Tiggerlion’s list for a far better selection.
It’s a tough call as – even more than its ugly brother Punk – Disco was best experienced as a succession of ace singles*, with no artist stringing together a run of mega disco hits without drifting in from a grubbier funky sound or adopting its groovy wardrobe to adorn what, unmedallioned, would be catchy upbeat pop anyway**.
I always think of Sister Sledge as emblematic of disco, being elevated to greatness by (those guys again) Rodgers and Edwards, but bringing their own warmth to the party, making their singles more loveable than Chic’s own hits (with the exception of Good Times).
1. Is Donna Summer a band?
2. *Well, yes there’s Off The Wall and SatNigFev, of course
3** Then there’s that old music snob tendency where it’s funk because I like it and it’s disco when I don’t
I know sod all about disco so thanks for the steer above from the Grandmasters of Funk.
Haven’t you remembered this is Afterword?
Not a ‘group’ but in our house the undisputed ruler of all Disco (& that) including the Chic Corp. is Hamilton Bohannon & here’s the proof. https://youtu.be/uMgA49Q-cpY
Serving suggestion: preferably good headphones or VERY loud.
No further question m’lud.
Apologies if the other link didn’t work.
Such a great track, funky disco is the best. There were a few different mixes of that. I think this is the one that I had. which is my favourite, but probably because it was the first one I heard.
In addition to producing Off The Wall, the greatest of all disco albums, he made some very fine disco music of his own.
Stuff Like That
Here’s another permanent favourite of mine, T Connection Do What You Wanna Do
Ace has just released probably the greatest disco record of all time – the 9-plus minute edit of Sylvester’s “Over and Over” – on a 7″ single. It’s a brilliant record – an Ashford and Simpson tune that ebbs and flows with gospel wailing, soaring strings and top tambourine action.
Somewhere I have the 12″ version – sneaked out as a B-side way back.
It’s the 4:38 edit on the 7″, sadly.
tbf 9+ minutes squeezed onto a 7” never ends well..
I wondered if they’d do Pts I & II. But no.
How long can you get on a 7″ at 33rpm, I wonder? 6 or 7 minutes?
I had Free Bird by Lynrd Skynrd on a 45rpm 7” and the sound was okay. Some similar length E.P.s too, often 33rpm.
The big problem was the tiniest imperfection/scratch becomes much more catastrophic..
Having fun listening to all of the above tunes.
Back in the shit night club in Great Yarmouth 1983 where they played none of this quality music!
It was MJ, Shalamar, Shakatak and the shit disco/funk of the day
Shalamar have their place too, in disco wonderland.
and
Tiffany’s?
Might have been The Ocean Rooms if he made his way across the river to sunny Gorleston on Sea.
Rosie O’Gradys!
I am so so sorry @uncle-wheaty
I was so uncool/unaware I one cycled there and went home on my bike,
Never did that again.
I would happily walk the three miles back to Caister-on-Sea with my mates to save the taxi fare!
@uncle-wheaty. Did you ever go to the Big Apple? Nothing like Tiffany’s or Rosies, more for your low rent rock gigs.
No, that one passed me by.
I vaguely recall the name but never attended anything.
You might enjoy this!
https://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/allens-bar-great-yarmouth-gigs-music-scene-1944776
I did enjoy that. I’m sure I went to that Eurythmics gig though I might be getting it mixed up with a Wishbone Ash gig. At Tiffany’s on a Sunday.
The Big Apple was on the Gorleston side of the Haven Bridge.
I was at the Wishbone Ash gig at Tiffany’s. My second ever gig after seeing Budgie and Gillan at the ABC in December 1981 as my first.
Like all the best disco funk (take a bow Chic/Sister Sledge) this one’s basic boom-bap, b-boom boom bap groove is topped off with a funky bass line. You can bet I’ll be doing my best Soul Train steps to this one if it ever comes on.
Worth watching to see Dolly Parton shakin’ that wig.
I always thought that intro was a keyboard!
A few years ago DVDs by Al Green and Stevie Wonder both Live In 72 got 5 star reviews in the music mags. There must have been licensing issues because neither got released. I got a dodgy copy from the iOffer website and the seller also sent me a KC and the Sunshine Band live DVD. I always thought of them as the epitome of disco naffness, but live they are ridiculously funky.
Great to see the love for KC and co. How Acton is a band so aptly named? They really brought the sunshine.
Acton??? Often.
Cuh.
When rock goes disco.
David Byron with “African Breeze”
Van McCoy for me when it comes to pure Disco.
The Hustle a favourite of so many hi fi store listening rooms