Customer Reviews

Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
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Shapiro eschews the standard chronological format in his book, documenting the rise of US disco with a topical format instead. This approach sets it apart from the other books that have come out about disco. He also spends a greater amount of space critically describing the music itself, which also is a change from the other books. (In fact, he incorportates material from his other book, the Rough Guide to Soul, in his musical analyses.) He is able to embed the history of disco in a detailed examination of US society and politics-- something some other authors have tried but not succeeded at.

*Turn The Beat Around* thus comes across as a serious examination of disco-- both the genre of music and the style of nightclubbing. It is able to recognize the different subsets of disco that emerged over time (electronic, Eurodisco, Hi-NRG, soul-based, etc), to describe these subsets in meaningful ways, and to link 70s disco with the R&B-based dance musics that followed in the 1980s.

Shapiro is able to view the discotheque scene from various angles-- from the perspective of serious clubbers who started off in the late 60s, of the singles who took to the trend in the mid-70s, of the US citizens who did not join in and might have been benignly accepting of what they heard on the radio in the late 70s or were dismayed by the sounds of this Sodom-and-Gomorrah of race, gender, and sexuality upheaval.

His book is not as first-hand as the memoir *Keep On Dancin'* or the research piece *Love Saves The Day.* It is not as much a valentine as *Saturday Night Forever.* It is less academic than *You Better Work* but less accessible than *Last Night A DJ Saved My Life.* Shapiro provides a good balance of journalism and criticism, and this above all marks *Turn The Beat Around* as a good volume on the subject. Unfortunately, it comes on the heels, at least to US readers, of these other books that have pretty much covered the territory.

Who knew that disco would ever become respectable enough for a wave of books about it? By the time disco had transitioned from minor club scene to worldwide phenomenon in the late `70s, punk had also arrived, and the two styles were like armed camps, with disco dissed as "gay music" (like that's a bad thing) and punk extolled as raw and real. I guess those sad, grim, grungy straight punks couldn't stand the image of all those queer party boys, mindlessly writhing on the dance floors of every major urban center with their black brothers and sisters, dressed in chiana and sequins and waving fans and feathers while the fog machines cranked and huge speakers thumped out trancelike beats and diva shrieks at earsplitting levels. Punks declared "death to disco" and mounted record-burning campaigns but could do little to stop their least favorite musical form.

Author Peter Shapiro, who appears to be straight, seems to know more than any non-queer should about disco, and says it with panache in what is probably the best of the recent slew of books on the subject. Shapiro expertly ties the emergence of the form to the new gay freedom mixed with an increasingly empowered African-American community - the perfect musical marriage between queers and blacks as both consumers and creators of the joyous soundtrack to liberation. The author has obviously done deep research to uncover the personalities behind all those obscure sounds. The dates, personnel, even studio locations are all here. This was no small task; no musical genre has ever been as faceless as disco, with many of the "groups" simply studio musicians hired for a session or two by the real creator, the producer. But Shapiro casts his net much wider, weaving such elements as DJ culture and its superstars, disco's influence on hip hop, legendary venues like Studio 54 and the Paradise Garage and even gay bathhouses, and much more into this rich portrait of a music-based culture pulsing with creativity. A detailed discography, an amusing photo section of period disco performers and fashions, a useful song index, and a notes section round out this wonderful read.

Turn The Beat Around: The Secret History Of Disco is the story of a music genre born from the social and economic turmoil of the 1970's. Blending elements of post-civil rights African-American culture, the newly out-and-proud gay movement, and the syncopation of the recently developed synthesizer, disco became a craze that flared brilliantly in its time, then fell by the wayside to fond memories and derisive scorn as its pop-culture peers of punk and hip-hop rose in its place. Chapters of Turn The Beat Around explores New York, where disco originated; disco's links to sexuality, its feverish era of popularity, its movement underground, and its legacy today. Turn The Beat Around is a thoroughly researched, plain-terms, no-holds barred scrutiny, recommended for ordinary disco fans and music students alike.

Mr. Shapiro places the 1970s disco craze in a social-political-economic context and points to its historical precedents. Scholarly, but fun to read . . . I never found it boring. With vivid description and juicy details, the author takes you back to those heady days and makes you feel what it was like to be in the midst of it all. This book will make you rush out and buy a vintage disco box set. Its scope is such that it deserves to be turned into a documentary.

TURN THE BEAT AROUND:THE SECRET HISTORY OF DISCO is a well researched and brilliantly written book by Peter Shapiro that provides an eye-opening look at the underbelly of the disco phenomenon.

Focusing on the clubs, djs, and producers that shaped the "disco sound," Shapiro follows the music of the late '60s from the New York City boroughs to the underground gay clubs in Manhattan to the evolution of music that finally swept across America in the '70s.

With biting humour, Shapiro provides in-depth critical analysis of the night life culture that created the disco craze and provides ample research to back it up. Not only does the author go into analyzing songs, djs, and nightclubs, he also explains what was going on in daily life that caused people to search for "something" outside of themselves.

I found the book exciting and informative. However, if you are looking for a book that focuses specifically on the disco superstars of the day (i.e. Donna Summer, The Bee Gees etc.), this might not be the book for you. Although they are mentioned, TURN THE BEAT AROUND... concentrates on the djs/producers and nightclubs that created disco and not the commercialization of it.

I teach a history of popular music class at the college level and am always looking for extra source material to augment my own notes. Thanks to Shapiro's book, I learned more about disco in the first chapter than I have since I started teaching the class. His research is thorough, including specific names of pioneering individuals, groups, and songs, along with vivid descriptions of related places and events. I appreciate the documentation, which includes at the back of the book, insightful end notes, a bibliography of interesting sources, as well as what every history teacher loves - a time line! I will admit, with so many names I actually took notes so I could keep up with all the personalities. I'm glad I did; I also purchased the DVD Disco: Spinning the Story [[ASIN: B0007X1NVU]] and my list helped me recognize and realize the significance of the interviewees. I wish this book had a soundtrack, but since it doesn't, the DVD is the next best thing.

"Turn The Beat Around" is a compelling read; Shapiro has knocked himself out compiling facts and figures to tell the history of a genre of music that is considered fluff in a way that is decidedly NOT fluffy, and therein lies a bit of the problem. It's something akin to describing at length the adventures of Spongebob Squarepants in terms of the number of pixels the character takes up on screen, or his place in the social context of the current recession (cough, depression) the US is facing. While the book can't help but nod to all the sex and drugs and goings-on that accompanied the disco scene that ran literally from the last day of the 1960's to the first day of the 1980's (one of many points Shapiro, oddly, does NOT address despite his verbose handling of the subject), the one thing strangely missing is a sense of the joy that went with the era. It must have been fun...why else would it have lasted as long as it did?

Shapiro treats the subject reverentially, and this work would fit in well in a college curriculum. It is very much of the ilk of the college study tome, and reminds me of the sense of dread I felt when I took an elective on the history of rock and roll, only to find we'd be studying it with the clinical eye of a chemist more than the appreciative angle of someone who enjoys the medium of music. Depending on your views this will be a good thing or a bad thing. If you want an intense, politically-charged, historically in-depth (nearly 300 dense pages) analysis of a period in time when a certain style of music was in favor this is your book. You will definitely learn WHAT happened, and more WHY than you ever wanted to know (by the middle of the book I began to dread the appearance of a new name or subject--it meant we'd have to go all the way back to the Civil War to find the roots of what led up to, say, "Le Freak," before getting to the point of how popular it was). However, if you want to get a sense of what life was like for those that lived during the era, how they felt about things then and how they feel now in retrospect, this isn't your book. I was also surprised by a number of omissions (no mention of D. Summer's "Bad Girls" and how a disco-rock crossover managed to be one of the biggest hits of the era the same summer disco supposedly "died?") and rearrangements of facts (Shapiro bounces around in time a lot, until you get quite dizzy). It is also a little skewed in balance, whole sections concentrating on subjects better suited to another book on black rights, Northern soul or America's place in the world of industry. However, the earliest chapters documenting the birth of the disco "scene," and the chapters that analyze recordings, are highly addictive, fun and satisfying.

Frequently funny, remarkably researched and thought out, the book is very readable and entertaining, but it begs for an edit and leaves one scratching one's head; it's a rather "un-fun" book about a fun subject.

********

I actually went back and decided to bump this up a star, as I've been thinking about this book ever since I read it, and will keep it for the incredible amount of reference material enclosed--I bought a lot of music listed after reading it and researching. I can't say that for any other book I've read of late. This is good stuff.

Turn The Beat Around: The Secret History Of Disco is the story of a music genre born from the social and economic turmoil of the 1970's. Blending elements of post-civil rights African-American culture, the newly out-and-proud gay movement, and the syncopation of the recently developed synthesizer, disco became a craze that flared brilliantly in its time, then fell by the wayside to fond memories and derisive scorn as its pop-culture peers of punk and hip-hop rose in its place. Chapters of Turn The Beat Around explores New York, where disco originated; disco's links to sexuality, its feverish era of popularity, its movement underground, and its legacy today. Turn The Beat Around is a thoroughly researched, plain-terms, no-holds barred scrutiny, recommended for ordinary disco fans and music students alike.

I am a child of the Seventies and a lover of the disco sound. I was into dressing up, going out and dancing in the clubs back in the day. So when I saw this book in an article, I had to get it. It is very good and the author is very thorough when he is going over this era. Those times were fun to me, so I am definitely reminiscing. It's a great topic with great information.

This could have been such a great book... the sermonizing is braided into the text in such a way that you can't skip the preachy segments. Wall-to-wall sub-collegiate sociology clichés.