DD-DB-cov

As the fans of this genre know, disco did not “die” at the end of the 1970’s.  Instead, it moved back into the under­ground scenes from whence it came and mutated into newer, dif­fer­ently styled forms that kept the beat alive while rework­ing the over­all sound.  One of the best and most suc­cess­ful disco muta­tions was the “boo­gie” sound.  This rhyth­mi­cally insis­tent vari­a­tion of disco worked in a lot of elec­tronic ele­ments as it pro­gressed and thus formed a bridge between disco and the synth-dominated sounds that would dom­i­nate dance music from the mid-1980’s on.

So what exactly does boo­gie mean?  It’s a descrip­tive term that was once applied to “boo­gie woo­gie” piano music, a style where the bass line played by the left hand is just as impor­tant to the song as the melodic line played by the right.  In disco, it refers to a dis­tinct vari­a­tion of the genre where com­plex, melodic basslines drive the over­all sound as strongly as any the other ele­ments of the instru­men­ta­tion.  The melodies also tend to be very busy with funky yet melodic hooks that give it unique blend of sweet­ness and grit, even when the instru­men­ta­tion is pre­dom­i­nantly synth-based.

The new Disco Boogie vol­ume of the Disco Discharge serves up a nice primer in this style for the unini­ti­ated, start­ing with its late-1970’s gen­e­sis and con­tin­u­ing through the mid-1980s.  In the late-1970’s area, Carte Blanche whips up a delight­ful con­fec­tion with “Do You Like It Like That” that lay­ers its pul­sat­ing bass core with airy rhythm-guitar hooks, ethe­real synths and thor­oughly ingra­ti­at­ing chant vocals and Toto’s disco ever­green “Georgy Porgy” blends beguil­ingly jazzy piano licks and a sub­tly insis­tent beat with hyp­notic vocals at cho­rus time from diva Cheryl Lynn.  On a sim­i­lar tip, Average White Band’s “Let’s Go Round Again” is a win­ner from 1980 that brings 1970’s-style Philly Soul orches­tra­tions into the boo­gie era with a thump­ing bass line.

There is also plenty of the synthesizer-layered melod­i­cism that asso­ciate with the genre’s early 1980’s hey­day.  For instance, D-Train’s “Keep On” is one of the all-time boo­gie gems, a grandiose electro-opus where per­cus­sive vocals sell a mes­sage of pos­i­tiv­ity over an ele­gant blend of carefully-arranged synths and live instru­men­ta­tions.  It’s inclu­sion here is all the sweeter since it’s included in Francois Kevorkian’s stel­lar 12-inch mix, which really makes the most the record’s melodic twists and dense lay­er­ing.  Skyy’s “Call Me” is a proto-electro clas­sic that has echoes of the S.O.S. Band as it lays out a sparse but mem­o­rable groove built on a synth-doubled bass lick.  Even the pre-rock clas­sic “Autumn Leaves” gets a sleek synth-update from the Illusion Orchestra (a.k.a. new wave pro­duc­tion auteurs Steve Jolley and Tony Swain).

And that’s not all — cura­tor Mr. Pink adds plenty of delight­ful rar­i­ties and lesser-known tracks, like the Belgian jazz-disco gem “Switch” by Benelux With Nancy Dee (dig that lead flute!) and Maxine Singleton’s stomp­ing synth-funk opus “You Can’t Run From Love,” which comes from the same writ­ing and pro­duc­tion team who cre­ated “Holiday” for Madonna.  Everything included is mas­tered skill­fully in either its album-length or 12-inch ver­sions and Alan Jone’s witty and infor­ma­tive notes seal the deal.

In shout, Disco Discharge: Disco Boogie lives up to its title by deliv­er­ing a hard-grooving good time from start to fin­ish and is another win­ner from Mr. Pink and Harmless Records.