We've looked a bit a Now's, mainly from the Updating the Now's angle as the original Now That's What I Call Music series started in late 1983 so there was a period before of less good compilations and certainly a lack of Year based Greatest Hits sets so we've been going back so far in to 1973
The last Updating post was from June last year looking at Alt Rock.
Now these days is a massive brand when it comes to compilations so there are a few others on compact disc dotted about but one recently did come out on December 1st last year which does slot well within the vinyl Now collection here.
Now have a few vinyl only series releases and one series is Now Eighties Dancefloor which so far has two issues an another due at the end of February.
The main aim of the series is gather up 80's dance music within genre specific issues and for these they are either regular single or radio edits rather than 12" remixes.
This appealed as it has a high proportion of tracks I don't have on vinyl albums and covers a period where I used to make my own compilation tapes from singles.
Following the height of its’ popularity in the late 1970s, Disco in the early 1980s retained the irresistible melodies and beat but became primarily synth driven.
The era saw some of the genres’ biggest hits including this collections’ opener ‘Flashdance…What A Feeling’ from Irene Cara – this theme from the film ‘Flashdance’ was not only a massive selling single, but the song also won multiple awards including an Academy Award. Lipps Inc. produced a timeless hit with ‘Funkytown’, and Shalamar with ‘A Night To Remember’, Odyssey with ‘Use It Up And Wear It Out’ and Indeep’s ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ were all huge commercial Disco hits.
Disco masters Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic feature here in their roles as producers and writers with Diana Ross’s massive hit ‘Upside Down’, ‘Why’ from Carly Simon, and the peerless ‘Spacer’ from Sheila & B. Devotion and in 1984 remixed Sister Sledge’s ‘Lost In Music’ which became a massive hit again and is included here in its full 12” version.
Amii Stewart’s classic version of ‘Knock On Wood’ was remixed too joining it, Donna Summer enjoyed huge success with ‘She Works Hard For The Money’ in 1983, and other established Disco superstars celebrated returns to the charts with an 80’s Disco sound including, and featured on this collection, KC & The Sunshine Band and Evelyn “Champagne” King.
The prevalence of the synth in the 1980s gave rise to new and exciting sounds and to tracks that were created with fusions of genres.
One thing I liked about it was on this collection it celebrates ‘ELECTRO’ – a sub-genre of Electronic Dance music that combined elements of Disco, Funk and Hip-Hop and featuring a heavy synth backing, and the commercial Electro-Pop hits it produced.
In 1984, Chaka Khan who had achieved huge success with the Disco classic ‘I’m Every Woman’, had a worldwide smash with a cover of Prince’s ‘I Feel For You’ which combined Disco, Funk, R&B, Synth-Pop and Hip-Hop – to stunning effect.
In addition 1984 saw Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced a classic fusion of Disco, R&B, Funk and Synth-Pop for the S.O.S Band with ‘Just Be Good To Me’ and also included here are hugely influential Electro-Pop gems from Freeez, Rockers Revenge feat. Donnie Calvin, Malcolm McLaren, Break Machine, and Rock Steady Crew.
In the latter half of the 80s, Disco and Electro-Pop continued to evolve and fill dance-floors. Taking influences from both genres, Expose and Company B enjoyed ‘freestyle’ hits and DJ, remixer and producer Jellybean had a string of hits including ‘Just A Mirage’, and Whitney Houston became a global superstar.
One of her signature tracks ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ serves as a stellar example of how Dance music had evolved through the decade and remained as vital and uplifting as ever.
This usefully expands upon my original NOW and HITS compilations and their Ronco and KTel predecessors.
No comments:
Post a Comment