Customer Reviews

Disco Years 2

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great collection of disco songs, dating from 1978 to 1982. Eleven of these songs were hits, with five of them going all the way to #1. But even the five songs that were not hits are of a high quality. This CD isn't quite as good as The Disco Years, Vol. 1, but it's still great.

Five stars just for the rare Jackie Moore track 'This time baby'...
a song of despair, hope, and foreshadowed betrayal. Hoo baby!
Amazingly, this was left off Rhino's Disco Box set. A shame.
Add the layered horn charts and super-funky bass of Chic's
'I want your love' and you have an excellent anthology.
Everything else is icing on the cake.

Like all compilations by Rhino Records in the 90's, Disco Years Series, contain original versions, the sound quality is excellent, even today in 2010, with such technology, the mastering done in those years is impeccable. I bought them all. I made an excellent deal in money and product quality.

The disc looks interesting, but after reviewing the content more, and having other disco collection sets, the CD disc appears a bit overcrowded, that's all. I have the cassette version of this issue, and it is more streamlined, and to the point. There are a lot of distractions here like Love & Desire Pt 1 and Forget Me Nots. Also Disco Nights, which is a good song. The cassette is much more listenable, and ends with Cherl Lynn's Got To Be Real as the exclamation point with abrupt end. Cassette has better line up with trimmer menu, nuf said.

The item was for a gift and they loved it. Seller got merchandise to me before Christmas. Awesome.

As I have stated in other reviews, I love disco music. During the height of the disco craze ('78-'79), I was a pre-teen (10-12) and not old enough to go out to clubs. I listened to disco music on the radio and dreamed of one day, to paraphrase Chic, "finding my spot out on the floor." My favorite year as far as music is concerned is 1979. Disco was everywhere that year. This CD contains some of the best songs from that year, including: "I Want Your Love" by Chic; "Ring my Bell" by Anita Ward; "I Wil Survive" by Gloria Gaynor; "Ain't no Stoppin' us Now" by McFadden & Whitehead; "Disco Nights (Rock-Freak)" by GQ; "YMCA" by the Village People; "Heart of Glass" by Blondie; and "Got to be Real" by Cheryl Lynn. Those to me are the best tunes on this CD.

There are 3 other songs on the CD that I like, but I don't really consider them to be true disco tunes. Rather, I consider them to be what disco evolved into after it's official death. "Funkytown" by Lipps, Inc. is a great dance song, but to me it is a fusion of R&B and synth-pop. "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang is a pop tune all the way. "Forget me Nots" by Patrice Rushen is probably the closest to disco of these three songs, but by the time it came out in 1982, disco was so dead that it certainly was not referred to as a disco song.

Those are the 11 songs that I like on this CD. Now, as I stated earlier, I was too young to go to clubs during this time. So, the songs included here that did not cross over to the pop chart were unfamiliar to me when I bought this CD. Those songs are "This Time Baby" by Jackie Moore; "I Like What You're Doin' to Me" by Young & Company; "Last Night a DJ Saved my Life" by Indeep; "On the Beat" by The BBQ Band; and "Love and Desire" by Arpeggio. I have grown to like these songs after repeated listens, but I would have preferred them to be replaced by songs with which I am more familiar. Here is a list of songs that I would have chosen over the ones presented here: "A Little Lovin' (Keeps the Doctor Away)" by The Raes; "You Keep me Dancing" by Samantha Sang; "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" by Thelma Houston; "I (Who Have Nothing)" by Sylvester; "Superman" by Herbie Mann; "Heaven Must Have Sent You" or "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" by Bonnie Pointer; or "Hold on to My Love" by Jimmy Ruffin.

If you only know disco by what was played on the radio, then you are gonna like 11 of these songs and are gonna skip over the other five songs. But the CD is certainly worth owning for those 11 tunes.

Every song is a hit. Not one bad apple in the bunch.

The Disco Years, Volume 2: On the Beat is one hour, one minute, and twenty-nine seconds and was released on June 12, 1990. The Disco Years, Volume 2: On the Beat covers the years 1978-1982. Fifteen of the sixteen songs on the CD hit the charts in at least one category. Ten songs hit the charts in multiple categories. Most of the songs one would recognize; it is the artist that the person might not recognize. Still you might want to get out you seventies clothes. The Disco Years, Volume 2: On the Beat gets an AAA+++.

I Want Your Love-Chic
#7 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
#5 U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
#9 U.S. Billboard Easy Listening
Ring My Bell-Anita Ward
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles
I Will Survive-Gloria Gaynor
#1 U.S. Billboard Pop Singles
#34 U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles
Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording in 1980
Funkytown-Lipps, Inc.
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Celebration-Kool & The Gang
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles (2 weeks at #1)
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Disco Nights (Rock-Freak)-GQ
#12 U.S. Billboard Pop Singles
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles
#3 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Y.M.C.A.-Village People
#2 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
Heart of Glass-Blondie
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
#58 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
This Time Baby-Jackie Moore
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play
I Like What You're Doin' To Me-Young & Company
Last Night A D.J. Saved My Life-Indeep
#10 U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles
#2 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
On The Beat-The B.B. & Q. Band
#8 U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles
Got To Be Real-Cheryl Lynn
#12 U.S. Billboard Pop Charts
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles
#11 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Forget Me Nots-Patrice Rushen
#23 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
#2 U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles
#2 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Love and Desire (PT. 1)-Arpeggio
#70 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles

Too much filler hampers this collection of late-70s disco. Good sound and liner notes, all original versions.

All the cuts are good, they don,t belong together. A DJ didn,t put this together. More thought needs to go in a series like this. A little musical ear needs to set the music. Can,t cultivate a farm if you don,t have a hoe. Needs professional imput. Have a DJ (a club DJ from that era) set the stage for formatting. Better picks make for better sales aslong as there formatted together. Get the picture. Cuts are good, just not the way they were selected.