Monday, May 21, 2012

The Death of Disco

RIP not only Donna Summer late last week but also the Bee Gees' Robin Gibb yesterday, aged 63 & 62 respectively, both from cancer. They are not extensively represented in my record collection, but while immersed in late 70s new wave, krautrock and prog, I could still find time for these two peerless proponents of disco. 
Donna Summer's I Feel Love was, of course, A Very Important Record. I still have the original 7" from 1977 and the later Gary Cowley remixed 12". Interestingly, it came out during the recording of Low, and Bowie is on record as saying: "One day in Berlin ... Eno came running in and said, 'I have heard the sound of the future.' ... he puts on 'I Feel Love'... He said, 'This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.' Which was more or less right". Of course it was mainly Moroder, but without Summer's orgasmic tones (taken to extremes on Down Deep Inside), it would probably have amounted to nothing.
Perhaps I wouldn't have admitted it at the time (a guilty pleasure), but the the Bee Gees' tight-trousered falsettos were almost as compelling, especially circa Saturday Night Fever in 1978, the soundtrack to some clumsy forays onto the dance floor for anyone of my generation. 

1 comment:

  1. I, like Mr Eno, also have a great like for her "State of Independence", originally by Jon Anderson and Vangelis - not that you'd guess it from her version.
    As for the Bee Gees, I'll say nothing.......

    ReplyDelete