*This is a companion piece to a similarly-themed article on Karen’s site which, all things being equal, should be published at roughly the same time.*
One of the problems with disco music is that there tend to be about 8,000 different versions and remixes of each song, so it’s hard to get hold of the definitive version. Still, here’s an incomplete Spotify playlist which hopefully comes close.
1. **Law Of The Land** The Temptations – the obligatory “historical significance” entry in the playlist, this one starts quite promisingly but goes downhill when you realise it’s just going to squat on a C chord for ages, with no direction or dynamic. There’s a cute little breakdown at about the 3 minute mark but it only lasts for 20 seconds.
2. **Ten Percent** Double Exposure – this one was relatively hard to get hold of, and isn’t on Spotify. It is on YouTube though. The version that I’ve been listening to all week is a thrilling 9:45, which has impacted my view of it somewhat. The version on YouTube is just over 4 minutes long, and much more bearable. Atrocious sound quality though. Anyway, to the song – all of the disco cliches are in evidence here – the brass stabs, the slow strings with the fast run in the chorus, a very funky bassline. Adds up to a very fine disco song.
3. **Don’t Leave Me This Way** Thelma Houston – words cannot describe how much I love this song. Utterly fabulous bassline, and the build up to the first chorus is so perfect that it makes me cry. If your only experience of this is the Communards’ version then you really are missing out.
4. **You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)** Sylvester – again, the original is far superior to the Jimmy Somerville version that you are more likely to be familiar with, but the difference is not so pronounced as with the previous song. That said, it feels a bit busy – I think there are some bongos in there, along with a palm-muted electric guitar (or something that sounds a lot like it) that just don’t let up, and it leaves the song without enough room to breathe. It’s also a bit long – a 3-minute version of this track would be far more listenable than this 6-minute version, but perhaps a bit less disco-friendly.
5. **Weekend** Phreek – the version that I’ve been listening to all week is shorter than the one on the Spotify playlist, provided. Which is the definitive version? I do not know. Anyway, this song is another hit, in my opinion. It takes the best part of a minute to get going, and you have the feeling that there’s something great about to happen. And indeed, there is. There’s a great melody here, with a most appropriate slap bass line.
6. **I Feel Love** Donna Summer – I think you probably already know this one. Very memorable, it’s a song that you think has been rendered lame and cheesy through overexposure, until you actually listen to it and realise the depth in the arrangement.
7. **I Will Survive** Gloria Gaynor – what do you mean, you’ve never heard the Shiny Tight Stuff version?
8. **Disco Circus** Martin Circus – this seems like a fairly dull house track. Not sure what it’s doing in a disco playlist. Maybe I’ve accidentally picked up a remix or something, but it’s all I could find with this title.
9. **Vertigo/Relight My Fire** Dan Hartman – okay, so I will try to put this as unconfusingly as possible. The song on Spotify is eleven minutes long ((it is referred to on Wikipedia as the Full Length Version)). The first half is *Vertigo* which is a sort of instrumental thing that’s rather groovy, and builds up the suspense nicely, and the second half is *Relight My Fire* but it’s a version that doesn’t seem to have verses. It’s too long, and fairly dull. However, the song that I’ve been listening to all week is less than four minutes ((I think this is the one referred to on Wikipedia as the Radio Version)), and is just *Relight My Fire* but with verses. So much more akin to the version that Take That did. Having explained all of this, I’m bored of the subject and can’t be arsed to bother reviewing it. Which is a shame, because if I *could* be arsed to review it, I’d actually have some positive things to say about it. TOO MANY REMIXES! TO THE BACK TEETH I AM SICK!
10. **Go Bang #5** Dinosaur L – another rather boring dance song, this one has delusions of artiness. It just comes off as pretentious and clumsy. Again, it doesn’t seem to belong on this playlist.
God, I love disco.
The next week’s playlist
Random number: 233
Only one playlist on this page – Natalie Merchant & 10,000 Maniacs. And yes, that’s on the facing page to Memphis – I’m starting to wonder about whether this random number generator is really random. The book says:
> The Maniacs were a quintessential college-rock band, yoking good-time party-boy musicians to a solemn singer-songwriter… who finally took off for a solo career.
I could only find half of the songs on Spotify, but here’s the playlist anyway.