America is a Disco

I've always been fascinated by America's relationship with disco. In the seventies, the general public grew to adore disco, then when the nation's consciousness was saturated with disco (and began to overflow), overnight everyone hated any kind of disco-sounding music. Well, maybe it wasn't that black & white. People like Donna Summer had viable careers into the 80s because of their ability to evolve (namely, to adopt synthesizers and new wave), but much of this music bore the heavy stamp of disco's vast influence. Yet, most people today, while fondly recalling say, C+C Music Factory or Duran Duran, will in the same breath denounce Donna, Gloria, Diana, and the like. I think most Americans are proud, and when they realized that most of the popular disco of the time was a European creation, their egos got a little bruised.

Well anyways, here is a link to the archive on BSR, and here is a playlist with all the info you've been dying for.

Festival - I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You - Evita
Voyage - Lady America - Best of Voyage
John Tropea - Living in the Jungle - Faith Presents TK Disco
Donna Washington - 'Scuse Me While I Fall in Love - Capitol Disco
The Salsoul Orchestra - Run Away (feat. Loleatta Holloway) - Magic Journey
Gichi Dan - Cowboys & Gangsters - Mutant Disco 1
Peech Boys - Don't Make Me Wait (12") - Journey Into Paradise
Amanda Lear - Blood and Honey - Queen of Chinatown
Trussel - Love Injection - Journey Into Paradise
Mann Friday - Love Honey, Love Heartache - Journey Into Paradise
Yoko Ono -Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him - Double Fantasy
ABC - Poison Arrow - Lexicon of Love
Garcons - French Disco Boys Edit - Divorce
Charles Jackson - Ohh Child - Capital Disco
Stratavarious - I Got Your Love - Get Up and Move Your Body


I haven't been able to find much about a lot of these artists, but a couple are definitely active today. ABC/Martin Fry are releasing a new album this year called Traffic. You can listen to sample tracks on their website (linked above). I have to say I'm surprised just how similar to Lexicon of Love a lot of these new songs sound, which I guess can be both good and bad. They should be touring the states later this year to coincide with the US release of their album.

Another big active name up there is Yoko Ono. In the past few years, she's become much more active than she has been in a very long time. Last year, she managed to release two remix projects, Yes, I'm a Witch and Open Your Box, and opened the new Imagine Peace tower in Reykjavik, Iceland. Then she launched a brand new official website (linked above), which is literally packed full of every bit of info you could ever want on her and her work. To top it all off, she's been doing some sporadic live retrospectives and right now she has a new art exhibition going on at the Galerie Leong in NYC through the end of May called "Touch Me." Busy, busy. (And she's 75!)