DEEP DISCO AND BOOGIE VOLUME 1.

dereksmusicblog ♦ February 11, 2012 ♦ Leave a comment

DEEP DISCO AND BOOGIE VOLUME 1.

For over thirty years I’ve been a fanatical collector of music in all forms. When I first started collecting, vinyl was still king, with tapes, mini discs and compact discs all still to come. Since then, I’ve been unable to resist crate digging, with anywhere where there might be music sold being explored. Previously, this meant hunting second hand shops, record shops and record fairs trying to find something new and brilliant that might change my life forever. Once vinyl started to be replaced by compact discs my love of music never wavered, and I kept crate digging, looking for new and rare music of every genre. When the internet arrived, this allowed me to widen my horizons, all from the comfort of home. With a click of a button I was able to buy music from anywhere around the world in any format, whether vinyl or compact disc. From vinyl I bought a few tapes, but mostly stayed true to vinyl, before converting to compact disc and briefly, mini disc. Over the years, I’ve bought and discovered some great music, but have made my fair share of mistakes. After all, what was I doing spending £300 buying a mini disc player or an almost unlistenable album of free jazz? Occasionally, it seems that the journey to the discovery of new music seems disproportionate to the music itself, with the music almost an anticlimax. However, sometimes, when you discover a little known album that no-one else has, never mind knows about, it’s all worthwhile. One man who knows all about crate digging and discovering rare and little known tracks is Zaf Chowdry, a UK-based record dealer and collector. On 30 January 2012, Zaf released another compilation entitled Deep Disco and Boogie Volume 1 on the Dutch label Kindred Spirits. 

Deep Disco and Boogie Volume 1 is a compilation I’ve been looking forward to hearing and reviewing. It features twelve slices of the deepest disco and boogie. With hard to find tracks from China Burton, Cash and Roy Ayers, sitting comfortably beside the lush sounding C.C. Cameron track Live For Love and the fabulously funky Ojeda Penn. So, Deep Disco and Boogie Volume 1 is quite clearly a compilation crammed chock full of quality music, but what are the album’s highlights? That’s what I’ll now tell you.

Opening Deep Disco and Boogie Volume 1 is one of the compilation’s highlights, China Burton’s You Don’t Care (About Our Love) (Long Version). Released on  Logo Records in 1979, it’s a classic disco boogie track with swirling strings, percussion, bursts of blazing horns and punchy drums combining with China’s lilting, near falsetto vocal to create a hook laden, hugely catchy track. After the vocal drops out, handclaps, reverberating synths and those punchy drums combine with lush sweeping strings, rasping horns and chiming guitars. Together, they create a truly stunning and irresistible sounding track.

Very different and very funky is Ojeda Penn’s Brotherson, released on IFE Records, which combines lush strings with the funkiest bass line you’ll hear in a long time. It’s not only a compelling combination but one that works really well. Add to this breathy backing vocals, bursts of swirling synths, percussion and crisp drumbeats and the track just sweeps along. However, what makes this such a great track is the quivering strings and funky slap bass. With its lush sound, this is a track that mixes funk and disco strings magically.

Now as someone whose a big fan of Roy Ayers’ music, it was good to hear one of his songs on Deep Disco and Boogie Volume 1. This version of Rock Your Roll was a promotional version released in 1980 from his Love Fantasy album also released in 1980. There’s a broken beat influence to the track, a track that welds synths, with vibes, crispy drumbeats and percussion with a funk laden bass line. The tempo is fast, the sound combining funk and soul with boogie, while female vocalists accompanying Roy. It’s a quality track from Roy, quick, catchy and with a real feel-good sound.

G.C. Cameron, or George Curtis Cameron, a former Vietnam veteran who was lead singer with The Detroit Spinners when they were on Motown. He contributes the best track on the compilation, Live For Love (Extended Mix). This is a track that combines soul with the lushest of disco strings. Pounding drums open this Harvey Fuqua produced track, before a beautiful, heartfelt vocal enters. It’s swathed in lush strings that sweep behind him, while flourishes of keyboards and bursts of rasping horns enter. When all this is combined with the soaring backing vocalists that accompany George’s impassioned vocal. So good is this track, that I’ll very definitely be searching out more of George’s music.

Ricky Womack and Christian Essence’s I Need You is like gospel track sung against an arrangement that speeds along at breakneck speed. The tempo is 140 beats per minute, with a spiritual sounding female vocal testifying, while gospel influenced backing vocalists accompany frantic drums, percussion and keyboards. Although the track sounds fantastic, it would’ve sounded even better slowed down a bit, allowing the emotive, gospel tinged vocal to take centre-stage and shine even more.

Although there are many fat, funky bass lines on Deep Disco and Boogie Volume 1, my final choice, The Exoutics’ If You Can’t Feel the Funk has one of the fattest and funkiest bass lines. This track is from The Exoutics’ 2011 EP on the Kindred Spirits label, proving that modern funk is alive and well. When the track opens with some slap bass, percussion and punchy drums, accompanying the joyful vocal you realize that this is a very special track. Later, blazing horns, stabs of synths and searing guitars join the mix combining to give the track a real retro funky sound, reminding me of Bootsy Collins Rubber Band at their best. With a track this good, Zaf Chowdry proves a theory I formed many years ago, that often, compilers keep one the best tracks on a compilation until last. This seems to be the case here.

As someone whose bought and listened to enough compilations to fill a small warehouse I’ve heard a mixture of the good, the bad and ugly. Having listened to Deep Disco and Boogie Volume 1 almost constantly since I got it last week, it’s obvious that the compilation belongs in the first category. Deep Disco and Boogie Volume 1 is a very good compilation, one that avoids some of the tired and all too familiar tracks that usually feature on similar compilations. Instead, Zaf Chowdry has dug deep into the crates to find twelve tracks as good as this. There’s disco and boogie, but with a soulful and funky influence with even gospel twist on Ricky Womack and Christian Essence’s I Need You. All this means Deep Disco and Boogie Volume 1 is an eclectic and compelling compilation. As to the quality of music on Deep Disco and Boogie Volume 1, it’s consistent throughout, without any faux pax or filler. I just hope that Zaf will currently be compiling Volume 2, of Deep Disco and Boogie. If so, I for will be buying Volume 2, and if it’s anywhere near as good asDeep Disco and Boogie Volume 1 then it’ll be something to savor. Standout Tracks: China Burton You Don’t Care (About Our Love) (Long Version), Ojeda Penn Brotherson, G.C. Cameron Live For Love and The Exoutics If You Can’t Feel the Funk.

DEEP DISCO AND BOOGIE VOLUME 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1L6hQnLOB8