
You can’t have a disco list without some MJ and it’s got to be a slice of Off The Wall. (Side note: MFSB stands for ‘Mother Father Sister Brother’.) MFSB’s album by the same name – which also features Soul Train theme ‘T.S.O.P.’ – was a landmark release for the Philly soul movement. Possible the biggest underground hit in NYC’s late ’70s disco scene, for many this is the Paradise Garage anthem. (Philadelphia International Records, 1979) MFSB TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia) / Love Is The Message The instrumental is great ammunition for your disco blends.ĩ9. If its influence on samplers is anything to go by, ‘Outstanding’ is a certified classic Ice Cube, Biggie, Mary J Blidge, Madonna, Ashanti have all taken bites out of this soul boogie bomb. In treading a different path you may also find that a few widely acclaimed superstars have had to make way for some lesser known gems, but every time have sought to make the case for inclusion. Nu-disco or anything that could possibly fall under this category is therefore also out. Bollywood disco, a vast industry but almost exclusively released in LP format, is one such casualty.Īs far as dates go, we’re talking exclusively here about the decade between 19 (although the odd track may have been penned before or released after), and are happy to include records that sail close jazz and soul at one end and RnB, funk and boogie at the other. First up, as the original 12″ format, its that which we’re limiting ourselves to here, reluctantly excluding a wealth of incredible album-only tracks and 7″s that frankly warrant a round-up in their own right. And with a term as slippery as “disco” have set a few ground rules to help you navigate the list. We are not trying to re-write the canon here, simply add to it. Fuelled by voracious selectors and intrepid reissue labels bringing back 12″s from Beirut to Port Of Spain, our understanding of the genre has become all the richer. What has forever been defined by the glitter-ball aesthetic of Saturday Night Fever, has, slowly opened its arms to embrace a world of different musics, loosely connected by the idea, feel or groove of “disco”.
