The Disco Files 1973-78: New York's Underground, Week by Week
On November 28, 1975, a 4-hour-long "Disco Dance Party" was held at
Madison Square Garden in New York City, with live performances by
such disco artists as the Trammps, Crown Heights Affair, and Gloria
Gaynor. About 14,000 dancers attended.
Significant funk songs released in 1975 include
"Love Rollercoaster" by the Ohio Players (electro-funk),
"It's All Right Now" by Eddie Harris, "Bohannon's Beat" and "Happy
Feeling" by Hamilton Bohannon, "Low Rider" by War, "Dance the Kung Fu" by
Carl Douglas,
"(Do You Wanna) Dance Dance Dance" by Calhoon, "Honey Butt" by Mandrill,
"And You Call That Love" by Vernon Burch,
"Got to Learn How to Dance" and "(Are You Ready) To Do the Bus Stop"
(electro-funk) by
Fatback Band, "Do It Anyway You Wanna" by People's Choice, "Funky Weekend"
by the Stylistics, "Dynomite" by Tony Camillo's Bazuka, and "You
Don't Stand A Chance (If You Can't Dance)" by Jimmy James and the Vagabonds.
"Brother Green (The Disco King)" by Roy Ayers, "Disco Tick" by Morning After,
"Disco Hustle" by Heinsight,
and "Disco Queen" by Mark Williams
are also funk.
Also check out JB's funk track "It's the JB's Monoaurail", with a bassline
copying B.T. Express's "Express".
"Disco Do It" by Conspiracy is funk-dance, as is "That's the Way (I Like It)"
by K.C. and the Sunshine Band (reached #1 Pop in the USA in November 1975).
"Supership" by George Benson, "Disco Baby" by The Stylistics,
"Let's Go to the Disco" by Faith, Hope and Charity,
and "Where Do I Go From Here?" by LaBelle
were examples of danceable R&B. "Jive Talkin'" by the Bee Gees is
also R&B. Barry White's "Let the Music Play", The Stylistics' "Can't Give
You Anything (But My Love)", Al Green's "Full of Fire",
and David Ruffin's "Walk Away from Love" are disco-flavored soul.
Another non-disco R&B hit in 1975 was "Rockin' Chair" by Gwen McCrae.
"Disco Man" by The Moments is also R&B, despite its title.
"Mister Magic" by Esther Phillips is jazz-funk.
There's also a jazz influence evident in "Expansions" by Lonnie
Liston-Smith and the Cosmic Echoes, a song which can be described as "rare
groove" or jazzy electro-funk.
Jazz-funk masters The Blackbyrds came out with "Walking in Rhythm" and
"Happy Music" this year. Donald Byrd's "Change (Makes You Wanna Hustle)"
is another jazz-funk classic.
"Disco (Where You Wanna Go)" by Elliot Lurie could also be considered jazz-funk.
"Never Gonna Let You Go" by Vicki Sue Robinson,
"Love Don't Go Through No Changes on Me" by Sister Sledge,
"You're My Number One" by Polly Browne a.k.a. Polly Brown,
"(Baby) Save Me" by The Secrets,
"It's Been So Long" by George McCrae, and "There'll Come a
Time, There'll Come a Day" by Basic Black and Pearl are
proto-disco.
"Bye Love" by 5000 Volts a.k.a. Airbus is electro-dance-pop due to
the extra beats throughout the song.
MFSB's cover
of
Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom" is disco-flavored up-tempo jazzy soul
with extra beats throughout.
"Who Loves You" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (reached #3 Pop in
the USA in November 1975) is a pop song whose
only disco beats per se come during the moments in the chorus when the
drum player taps the cymbals about twice a second.
"Disco Body (Shake it to the East, Shake it to the West)" by Jackie Moore
and "Disco Queen" by Copperpenny are funk.
"Disco Lypso" by Mandrill is funky calypso dance music.
"Disco Shirley" by Shirley and Company is old-style rock-and-roll.
"Disco Shuffle" by Isaac Hayes Movement is funk with extensive rock guitar
playing and a big-band horn section.
"The Disco Rag" by Clive Baldwin fuses jazz with disco elements.
Disco Music released before 1975:
Disco Music released after 1975: