DD-DL-03

There were plenty of good male singers dur­ing the disco era but the genre is truly syn­ony­mous with the con­cept of the diva.  From Gloria Gaynor on down, the music achieved its ulti­mate level of expres­sion with female singers han­dling the lead vocals.  Whether they were sweetly coo­ing the lyrics or belt­ing it out a fiery gospel style, the divas of disco were the genre’s true voice.

Thus, it’s nice to see the divas get their due on the skill­fully curated Disco Discharge: Disco Ladies com­pi­la­tion.  As the music’s devo­tees know, disco wasn’t just a series of songs with a thud-thud-thud beat.  It was a vehi­cle for the explo­ration of fan­tasies and emo­tions, a music that could cover an array of moods and styles while still cre­at­ing a sound ideal for danc­ing.  It’s also impor­tant to note that the genre’s female singers had a vari­ety of approaches as diverse as the songs sup­port­ing them.  As a result, this com­pi­la­tion cov­ers a wide swath of stylings under the “disco diva” banner.

There are plenty of ele­gant divas on this set:  Sister Sledge’s “You Fooled Around” is a plush dance­floor epic that sells its hyp­notic cho­rus hook via a seam­less blend of cin­e­matic strings and ele­gant vocal har­monies and “Fly Too High” lay­ers a gos­samer vocal from erst­while folk songstress Janis Ian and jazzy horns over a relent­lessly pul­sat­ing, synth-layered rhythm track cooked up by Giorgio Moroder.  Another win­ner in the ultra-chic disco cat­e­gory is Gloria Jones’ grace­ful “Bring On The Love,”  a song that lay­ers its per­co­lat­ing cen­tral groove with gen­tly strummed acoustics, a sump­tu­ous blend of horns and strings and, most impor­tantly, Jones’ sooth­ingly soul­ful alto vocals.

However, it’s not all dia­monds and caviar.  Disco Discharge: Disco Ladies devotes equal time to delights of the bubblegum-dance vari­ety and they’re all as glo­ri­ously gaudy as disco fans might hope.  Stacy Lattisaw’s perky “Jump To The Beat” has a teen-idol charm thanks to her flirty vocals that dove­tails nicely with its roller-disco sound and an extended mix of Taste Of Honey’s “Boogie Oogie Oogie” rep­re­sents the disco sound at its most single-minded (it boasts one of the genre’s most unstop­pable basslines).  The most delight­fully daft selec­tion in this area might be Sylvia Love’s “Instant Love,” a sci-fi Eurodisco ditty that antic­i­pates Hi-NRG with its hyper drum machines and twit­ter­ing synths.  Her light-as-air vocals are the ideal crown­ing touch.

And that’s not all for diver­sity: Lucy Hawkin’s “Gotta Get Out Of Here” blends an intensely funky, stripped-down instru­men­tal approach with gospel-style vocal tes­ti­fy­ing to cre­ate a street­wise sound, The Ritchie Family’s “Give Me A Break” updates the girl-group mes­sage tune to a Eurodisco level of ele­gance and Andrea True Connection’s “More, More, More” out­does Donna Summer at the porno-meets-disco game (com­plete with a real adult film star­let han­dling the lead vocals).

In short, Disco Discharge: Disco Ladies is a potent reminder that there isn’t just one fla­vor of disco diva.  There’s a ver­i­ta­ble rain­bow coali­tion of approaches going on this set and that it makes it a jour­ney worth tak­ing for disco collectors.