"There was a time a few years back when I disliked Disco with a capital D; a time when Ms Summer was just starting to get hits and when, to me, she represented the very worst aspect of Disco. Times have changed, so have I, so has Disco music and so have Ms Summer's records."
— Cliff White
Being stuck under the weight of the Covid-19 crisis to cover concerts, The Guardian's music critics recently decided to put together a list of The 100 Greatest UK No 1s. They didn't do a bad job and I'm not just saying that because my favourite group came in first but there were some questionable choices. They were way too high on "You Spin Me Round" and "Billie Jean", too low on "Mouldy Old Dough" and "Telstar" and "Let's Dance" making it on at all is unforgivable given that the 'one single per artist rule' meant that the vastly superior "Ashes to Ashes" failed to make the list entirely. But, hey, these sorts of lists wouldn't be any good if they didn't piss people off.
In a very strong fourth place is Donna Summer with "I Feel Love". I didn't think it would come in quite so high but I figured it would stand a decent chance of cracking the top ten. It's one of those singles that's annoyingly cited for its importance at the expense of its astounding quality: if it somehow hadn't managed to influence generations of studio boffins and club DJs it would still be an amazing listening experience. I wasn't familiar with it growing up (the only Donna I ever heard was "She Works Hard for the Money" and "This Time I Know It's for Real", which happened to be my favourite song of all time during the spring of 1989) so I was surprised to hear something so ecstatic from just after my birth. The past never sounded so much like the future.
With that in mind, I would like to express how nice it would have been to quiz Cliff White further on his quotation above. Why did he have such a distaste for disco back in the day? What exactly made Donna Summer the representative of all that made it so foul? What happened that made him change his mind? What did her current batch of hits have that earlier efforts lacked? And, finally, did he consider "I Feel Love" to be the "very worst aspect of Disco"? Really?
Hindsight sees the disco boom as a brief period in the mid to late seventies. Weary funk, jazz and soul stars, some obscure gospel singers, a few pop groups of varying degrees of notoriety and performers from the underground gay circuit all cut records heavy on bass and gliding orchestras that had trim 7" mixes for radio and fuller 12" versions for the clubs and a phenomenon was born. Then it died away four years later when an idiot shock jock blew them all up at a baseball game in Chicago. The records were often great but there was nothing remotely progressive about them. "I Feel Love" and its sultry 1975 predecessor "Love to Love You Baby" were forward thinking records but she and collaborators Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte would soon settle into a very successful formula.
Summer became an albums artist for a time before she hit her commercial peak with "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls" in the summer of 1979. This is also the apogee of her American sound. "I Feel Love" and some of her early records came while she was based in Germany but waning interest in her adopted homeland and increasing prominence across the Atlantic resulted in Summer, Moroder and Bellotte basing themselves in the States. Without the presence of Kraftwerk, Bowie and Eno's Berlin period, ABBA at their best and perhaps even the vigour of punk energy as influences, her work became much more R&B and gospel based. It's hard to imagine her brave but still lousy take on "MacArthur Park" resulting from a session in Munich.
This American period was not without its benefits. Rather than having programmed synths to rely on, Summer is joined by some crack musicianship (though some of them were Europeans as well), fantastic backing singers and even nifty studio effects to flesh out the sound of "Bad Girls". The forward-thinking musical minds may have originated on the Continent but the state-of-the-art recording facilities were still in America. This sassy record is the product of a team at team at the top of their game, one that was more than happy to take advantage of being a worldwide "mover" but one not as inclined to experiment.
I don't wish to besmirch a single as good as "Bad Girls" and it's probably just White's view that makes me want to be such a contrary bugger. It's a big improvement on the gauche "Hot Stuff" and doesn't let up for a moment, especially on the 12" version (which he recommends; I like the fact that a record that clocks in at just under five minutes would be the "extended" mix). And, to be fair, White may not have even been referring to "I Feel Love" as the "very worst aspect of Disco". More than the genre, Ms. Summer, even ver times, he has changed. He should've gone back and given her early stuff a fresh listen, he might have given it the revaluation it deserved.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Chic: "Good Times"
"Ah yes, a hit," writes White. "I can hear it in the hand claps, bass line and correct quantity of beats per minute". Yeah, even a Chic fan like myself has to admit they could be a bit clinical. (Odd that a group formed by jazz sessioners that couldn't make things a bit more spontaneous) "Gormless song," he continues. Okay, it doesn't exactly fill the listener's mind with ideas and the little point there is gets hammered "home". I get the feeling our Cliff isn't so keen on this one. He even reckons that the vocalists must have an "unnerving affliction, as if they're being prodded in the chest while they sing." Well, the singers were never what drew people to Chic and it was only when they began improving that part of their game that their popularity began falling off, well, a cliff. But with "Good Times" they enjoyed that monster hit he could easily see coming. But thanks for ruining Chic for me, Cliff.
In a very strong fourth place is Donna Summer with "I Feel Love". I didn't think it would come in quite so high but I figured it would stand a decent chance of cracking the top ten. It's one of those singles that's annoyingly cited for its importance at the expense of its astounding quality: if it somehow hadn't managed to influence generations of studio boffins and club DJs it would still be an amazing listening experience. I wasn't familiar with it growing up (the only Donna I ever heard was "She Works Hard for the Money" and "This Time I Know It's for Real", which happened to be my favourite song of all time during the spring of 1989) so I was surprised to hear something so ecstatic from just after my birth. The past never sounded so much like the future.
With that in mind, I would like to express how nice it would have been to quiz Cliff White further on his quotation above. Why did he have such a distaste for disco back in the day? What exactly made Donna Summer the representative of all that made it so foul? What happened that made him change his mind? What did her current batch of hits have that earlier efforts lacked? And, finally, did he consider "I Feel Love" to be the "very worst aspect of Disco"? Really?
Hindsight sees the disco boom as a brief period in the mid to late seventies. Weary funk, jazz and soul stars, some obscure gospel singers, a few pop groups of varying degrees of notoriety and performers from the underground gay circuit all cut records heavy on bass and gliding orchestras that had trim 7" mixes for radio and fuller 12" versions for the clubs and a phenomenon was born. Then it died away four years later when an idiot shock jock blew them all up at a baseball game in Chicago. The records were often great but there was nothing remotely progressive about them. "I Feel Love" and its sultry 1975 predecessor "Love to Love You Baby" were forward thinking records but she and collaborators Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte would soon settle into a very successful formula.
Summer became an albums artist for a time before she hit her commercial peak with "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls" in the summer of 1979. This is also the apogee of her American sound. "I Feel Love" and some of her early records came while she was based in Germany but waning interest in her adopted homeland and increasing prominence across the Atlantic resulted in Summer, Moroder and Bellotte basing themselves in the States. Without the presence of Kraftwerk, Bowie and Eno's Berlin period, ABBA at their best and perhaps even the vigour of punk energy as influences, her work became much more R&B and gospel based. It's hard to imagine her brave but still lousy take on "MacArthur Park" resulting from a session in Munich.
This American period was not without its benefits. Rather than having programmed synths to rely on, Summer is joined by some crack musicianship (though some of them were Europeans as well), fantastic backing singers and even nifty studio effects to flesh out the sound of "Bad Girls". The forward-thinking musical minds may have originated on the Continent but the state-of-the-art recording facilities were still in America. This sassy record is the product of a team at team at the top of their game, one that was more than happy to take advantage of being a worldwide "mover" but one not as inclined to experiment.
I don't wish to besmirch a single as good as "Bad Girls" and it's probably just White's view that makes me want to be such a contrary bugger. It's a big improvement on the gauche "Hot Stuff" and doesn't let up for a moment, especially on the 12" version (which he recommends; I like the fact that a record that clocks in at just under five minutes would be the "extended" mix). And, to be fair, White may not have even been referring to "I Feel Love" as the "very worst aspect of Disco". More than the genre, Ms. Summer, even ver times, he has changed. He should've gone back and given her early stuff a fresh listen, he might have given it the revaluation it deserved.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Chic: "Good Times"
"Ah yes, a hit," writes White. "I can hear it in the hand claps, bass line and correct quantity of beats per minute". Yeah, even a Chic fan like myself has to admit they could be a bit clinical. (Odd that a group formed by jazz sessioners that couldn't make things a bit more spontaneous) "Gormless song," he continues. Okay, it doesn't exactly fill the listener's mind with ideas and the little point there is gets hammered "home". I get the feeling our Cliff isn't so keen on this one. He even reckons that the vocalists must have an "unnerving affliction, as if they're being prodded in the chest while they sing." Well, the singers were never what drew people to Chic and it was only when they began improving that part of their game that their popularity began falling off, well, a cliff. But with "Good Times" they enjoyed that monster hit he could easily see coming. But thanks for ruining Chic for me, Cliff.
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