chapter ninedominance

Seeing off Arista and Columbia, Warner Brothers won the scramble for the punk sensation, and Never Mind the Bollocks, released in early November, hit the stores at exactly the same time as the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (which was released in advance of the film).

Featuring six tracks by the Bee Gees (the previously released number-one hits “Jive Talking’ ” and “You Should Be Dancing” plus “How Deep Is Your Love,” “More Than a Woman,” “Night Fever,” and “Stayin’ Alive”), as well as contributions from the Trammps (“Disco Inferno”), Koolandthe Gang (“Open […]

[…] Gees (the previously released number-one hits “Jive Talking’ ” and “You Should Be Dancing” plus “How Deep Is Your Love,” “More Than a Woman,” “Night Fever,” and “Stayin’ Alive”), as well as contributions from the Trammps (“Disco Inferno”), Koolandthe Gang (“Open Sesame”), and MFSB (“K-Jee”), the […]

[…] number-one hits “Jive Talking’ ” and “You Should Be Dancing” plus “How Deep Is Your Love,” “More Than a Woman,” “Night Fever,” and “Stayin’ Alive”), as well as contributions from the Trammps (“Disco Inferno”), Koolandthe Gang (“Open Sesame”), and MFSB (“K-Jee”), the album captured, in the […]

[…] “Jive Talking’ ” and “You Should Be Dancing” plus “How Deep Is Your Love,” “More Than a Woman,” “Night Fever,” and “Stayin’ Alive”), as well as contributions from the Trammps (“Disco Inferno”), Koolandthe Gang (“Open Sesame”), and MFSB (“K-Jee”), the album captured, in the words of Vince Aletti, […]

[…] and “You Should Be Dancing” plus “How Deep Is Your Love,” “More Than a Woman,” “Night Fever,” and “Stayin’ Alive”), as well as contributions from the Trammps (“Disco Inferno”), Koolandthe Gang (“Open Sesame”), and MFSB (“K-Jee”), the album captured, in the words of Vince Aletti, “the broad scope […]

[…] “Stayin’ Alive”), as well as contributions from the Trammps (“Disco Inferno”), Koolandthe Gang (“Open Sesame”), and MFSB (“K-Jee”), the album captured, in the words of Vince Aletti, “the broad scope of pop disco: not the expansive, complex Eurodisco sound that has dominated the clubs for the […]

[…] as contributions from the Trammps (“Disco Inferno”), Koolandthe Gang (“Open Sesame”), and MFSB (“K-Jee”), the album captured, in the words of Vince Aletti, “the broad scope of pop disco: not the expansive, complex Eurodisco sound that has dominated the clubs for the past year but a solid, even […]

Having produced the Love and Kisses album, Alec Costandinos now assembled a studio band—Alec Costandinos and the Syncophonic Orchestra—and delivered an album-length disco opera titled Romeo and Juliet at the beginning of 1978.

[…] accomplished and fully-satisfying work” to date—and in April Costandinos continued his prolific run when Love and Kisses came out with its second album, How Much, How Much I Love You, as well as the title track for the Thank God It’s Friday soundtrack.38 “My next idea was to do Macbeth,” he says.

[…] contingent continued to intensify when Jacques Morali released the second Village People album, Macho Man, at the beginning of March 1978, and further evidence of Eurodisco’s expansion emerged in the same week with the release of Come Into My Heart by USA-European Connection, which was recorded […]

[…] Village People album, Macho Man, at the beginning of March 1978, and further evidence of Eurodisco’s expansion emerged in the same week with the release of Come Into My Heart by USA-European Connection, which was recorded in the holy city of Philadelphia and released on the TK subsidiary, Marlin.

[…] Village People album, Macho Man, at the beginning of March 1978, and further evidence of Eurodisco’s expansion emerged in the same week with the release of Come Into My Heart by USA-European Connection, which was recorded in the holy city of Philadelphia and released on the TK subsidiary, Marlin.

“I said I’d have to think about it. A week later I was in the studio mixing ‘ In the Bush.’ ”

Engineered by Bob Blank, “In the Bush” was the standout track on Musique’s first album, Keep On Jumpin’, which was released in July 1978.

Ripple’s “The Beat Goes On and On,” mixed by 12 West resident Jim Burgess and released at the end of 1977, was a big club hit, but the release of the Salsoul Orchestra’s fifth album, Up the Yellow Brick Road, which included an abysmal “Fiddler on the Roof” medley, and Saturday Night Disco Party, […]

[…] at the end of 1977, was a big club hit, but the release of the Salsoul Orchestra’s fifth album, Up the Yellow Brick Road, which included an abysmal “Fiddler on the Roof” medley, and Saturday Night Disco Party, which revolved around a series of Bee Gees “interpretations” by Montana’s band, […]

[…] hit, but the release of the Salsoul Orchestra’s fifth album, Up the Yellow Brick Road, which included an abysmal “Fiddler on the Roof” medley, and Saturday Night Disco Party, which revolved around a series of Bee Gees “interpretations” by Montana’s band, represented a dramatic collapse in judgment.

[…] hit, but the release of the Salsoul Orchestra’s fifth album, Up the Yellow Brick Road, which included an abysmal “Fiddler on the Roof” medley, and Saturday Night Disco Party, which revolved around a series of Bee Gees “interpretations” by Montana’s band, represented a dramatic collapse in judgment.

Double Exposure came out with their third album in the summer and, with no twelve-inches to distract customers, sold next to nothing, and the once-mighty Loleatta Holloway suffered a similar fate when her follow-up album, Queen of the Night, flopped in the charts.

The DJ, who’d become a born-again Christian some time between the closure of Galaxy 21 at the beginning of 1977 and his return from a stint at a George Freeman discotheque called the Sanctuary in Seattle, delivered a landmark remix of Love Committee’s “Law and Order” in which instrumental phrases […]

He then produced a perfectly executed blend on Salsoul Orchestra’s Greatest Disco Hits before he added three minutes of discordant drama to Tom Moulton’s smooth mix of “Just As Long As I Got You” by Love Committee.

He then produced a perfectly executed blend on Salsoul Orchestra’s Greatest Disco Hits before he added three minutes of discordant drama to Tom Moulton’s smooth mix of “Just As Long As I Got You” by Love Committee.

Having launched its catalogue with Emanuelle Nera, an Italian motion picture import, and Sessomatto by Sessomatto, another Italian release that was mixed by Jimmy Stuard shortly before the Everard Baths fire, the label built its reputation around a series of Moulton mixes that included “Mary […]

[…] Everard Baths fire, the label built its reputation around a series of Moulton mixes that included “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” by the Dick Lee Sound of Inner City, Jakki’s “You Are the Star,” and the Michele album Magic Love. As Mel Cheren, the joint label head, writes in his autobiography Keep On […]

[…] mixes that included “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” by the Dick Lee Sound of Inner City, Jakki’s “You Are the Star,” and the Michele album Magic Love. As Mel Cheren, the joint label head, writes in his autobiography Keep On Dancin’, “Although we were still waiting for our first unqualified smash […]

[…] smash hit, we were up and running, pumping out product, racking up sales, a real record company.”45 West End’s first unqualified smash duly arrived in June 1978 with the release of “Hot Shot,” which featured Karen Young’s feverish vocals alongside a raw blend of Afro-Latin rhythms, jazz, and R&B.

[…] eight hundred thousand, and Cheren maintained the momentum by commissioning Walter Gibbons to mix “Doin’ the Best That I Can” by Bettye LaVette and the ubiquitous Moulton—who had also mixed Dan Hartman’s high-spirited “Instant Replay” for Blue Sky and produced Grace Jones’s second album, Fame, for […]

[…] by commissioning Walter Gibbons to mix “Doin’ the Best That I Can” by Bettye LaVette and the ubiquitous Moulton—who had also mixed Dan Hartman’s high-spirited “Instant Replay” for Blue Sky and produced Grace Jones’s second album, Fame, for Island—to provide a “Mega Mix” of Michele’s “Disco Dance.”

[…] by commissioning Walter Gibbons to mix “Doin’ the Best That I Can” by Bettye LaVette and the ubiquitous Moulton—who had also mixed Dan Hartman’s high-spirited “Instant Replay” for Blue Sky and produced Grace Jones’s second album, Fame, for Island—to provide a “Mega Mix” of Michele’s “Disco Dance.”

[…] by commissioning Walter Gibbons to mix “Doin’ the Best That I Can” by Bettye LaVette and the ubiquitous Moulton—who had also mixed Dan Hartman’s high-spirited “Instant Replay” for Blue Sky and produced Grace Jones’s second album, Fame, for Island—to provide a “Mega Mix” of Michele’s “Disco Dance.”

Rodgers’s queue-jumping credibility was raised when Chic notched up its first disco hit with Tom Savarese’s debut mix of “Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah).” “Bert Lockett broke Chic,” says Michael Gomes.

[…] Off” was changed to “Freak Off” which was changed to “Freak Out.” “Within twenty-five to thirty minutes, we had the biggest hit record of our lives.”50 Moulton went on to produce the Jones album, but Chic now had “Le Freak,” which they went on to record at Tony Bongiovi’s Power Station studio.

[…] role in generating another of the year’s biggest hits, Gloria Gaynor’s triumphant torch song “I Will Survive.” Having promised that she would never say goodbye, Gaynor had all but disappeared from the music scene, and Park Avenue Sound, released in May 1978, provided further evidence of her […]

[…] of the year’s biggest hits, Gloria Gaynor’s triumphant torch song “I Will Survive.” Having promised that she would never say goodbye, Gaynor had all but disappeared from the music scene, and Park Avenue Sound, released in May 1978, provided further evidence of her descent into bland anonymity.

“I Will Survive,” released a couple of months later as the B-side of “Substitute,” a cute pop song, also looked like it would sink without a trace until Richie Kaczor started to play the record at Studio and it became one of his signature anthems.

[…] San Francisco, where he performed alongside Izora Rhodes and Martha Wash, and in 1977 he recorded Sylvester, which included a cover of Ashford & Simpson’s “Over and Over.” The twelve-inch became a big record in New York—it was huge at the Loft—and in 1978 Sylvester started to compose songs for a […]

[…] where he performed alongside Izora Rhodes and Martha Wash, and in 1977 he recorded Sylvester, which included a cover of Ashford & Simpson’s “Over and Over.” The twelve-inch became a big record in New York—it was huge at the Loft—and in 1978 Sylvester started to compose songs for a follow-up LP.

[…] where he performed alongside Izora Rhodes and Martha Wash, and in 1977 he recorded Sylvester, which included a cover of Ashford & Simpson’s “Over and Over.” The twelve-inch became a big record in New York—it was huge at the Loft—and in 1978 Sylvester started to compose songs for a follow-up LP.

The collection included “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” a gay affirmation song that made Carl Bean—who had covered Valentino’s “I Was Born This Way”—look like he was still in the closet, and when Patrick Cowley, a lightman at the City Disco, heard the song he suggested that the two of them work […]

[…] included “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” a gay affirmation song that made Carl Bean—who had covered Valentino’s “I Was Born This Way”—look like he was still in the closet, and when Patrick Cowley, a lightman at the City Disco, heard the song he suggested that the two of them work together.

Evelyn “Champagne” King’s “Shame”—which featured Bunny Sigler’s rhythm section, Instant Funk, and a mix by David Todd— was released in September 1977 and eventually broke into the charts the following summer after it received strong play in Boston and New York clubs.

Linda Clifford’s soaring “Runaway Love,” released as a seven-inch in April and a Jim Burgess twelve-inch in May 1978, started to scale the Hot 100 in July, thanks in no small part to the vocalist’s feisty, improvised rap around the themes of vengeance, fire, and accusation.

Further sisterly breakthroughs were logged with strutting superwoman Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman,” which was produced by Arif Mardin and written by Ashford & Simpson, and Cheryl Lynn’s debut, “Got to Be Real.” At the same time, established divas continued to control the charts like never before.

Further sisterly breakthroughs were logged with strutting superwoman Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman,” which was produced by Arif Mardin and written by Ashford & Simpson, and Cheryl Lynn’s debut, “Got to Be Real.” At the same time, established divas continued to control the charts like never before.

Donna Summer reached number one with the seventeen-and-a-half-minute “MacArthur Park Suite,” even though the song—originally written by Jimmy Webb—included some unlikely lyrics (“Someone left the cake out in the rain/I don’t think that I can take it/Cause it took so long to bake it/And I’ll never […]

[…] Philadelphia’s finest female trios returned with storming singles: First Choice came out with Tom Moulton’s galloping twelve-inch mix of Hold Your Horses,” and the Three Degrees released their new album, New Dimensions, which was produced by Moroder and featured the pumping “Giving Up, Giving In.”

[…] Philadelphia’s finest female trios returned with storming singles: First Choice came out with Tom Moulton’s galloping twelve-inch mix of Hold Your Horses,” and the Three Degrees released their new album, New Dimensions, which was produced by Moroder and featured the pumping “Giving Up, Giving In.”

[…] impact when he commissioned Jim Burgess to deliver a twelve-inch remix of Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”54 Within a matter of weeks the blond crooner was celebrating the best-selling single of his career, and Caviano wasn’t coy when it came to taking credit for the rocker’s […]

The simultaneous release of “YMCA” by the Village People demonstrated that disco didn’t have to assume rock’s gravelly posture in order to be consumed as straight.

Siano was still playing at Buttermilk Bottom when he released “Kiss Me Again” by Dinosaur, a collaborative recording with Arthur Russell.

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

Ripple’s “The Beat Goes On and On,” mixed by 12 West resident Jim Burgess and released at the end of 1977, was a big club hit, but the release of the Salsoul Orchestra’s fifth album, Up the Yellow Brick Road, which included an abysmal “Fiddler on the Roof” medley, and Saturday Night Disco Party, […]

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

[…] where he performed alongside Izora Rhodes and Martha Wash, and in 1977 he recorded Sylvester, which included a cover of Ashford & Simpson’s “Over and Over.” The twelve-inch became a big record in New York—it was huge at the Loft—and in 1978 Sylvester started to compose songs for a follow-up LP.

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Loft 1977–78, chosen by David Mancuso

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

Levan’s second remix—the altogether more significant “I Got My Mind Made Up” by Instant Funk—arrived a couple of weeks later at the beginning of December 1978.

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

Evelyn “Champagne” King’s “Shame”—which featured Bunny Sigler’s rhythm section, Instant Funk, and a mix by David Todd— was released in September 1977 and eventually broke into the charts the following summer after it received strong play in Boston and New York clubs.

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

[…] eight hundred thousand, and Cheren maintained the momentum by commissioning Walter Gibbons to mix “Doin’ the Best That I Can” by Bettye LaVette and the ubiquitous Moulton—who had also mixed Dan Hartman’s high-spirited “Instant Replay” for Blue Sky and produced Grace Jones’s second album, Fame, for […]

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

That was certainly the case with “Weekend” by Phreek, a studio agglomeration headed by Patrick Adams and featuring Christine Wiltshire on lead vocals.

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

The collection included “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” a gay affirmation song that made Carl Bean—who had covered Valentino’s “I Was Born This Way”—look like he was still in the closet, and when Patrick Cowley, a lightman at the City Disco, heard the song he suggested that the two of them work […]

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

[…] smash hit, we were up and running, pumping out product, racking up sales, a real record company.”45 West End’s first unqualified smash duly arrived in June 1978 with the release of “Hot Shot,” which featured Karen Young’s feverish vocals alongside a raw blend of Afro-Latin rhythms, jazz, and R&B.

on the select discography for Paradise Garage 1977–78, chosen by Larry Levan

Levan’s second remix—the altogether more significant “I Got My Mind Made Up” by Instant Funk—arrived a couple of weeks later at the beginning of December 1978.

That was certainly the case with “Weekend” by Phreek, a studio agglomeration headed by Patrick Adams and featuring Christine Wiltshire on lead vocals.