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It’s Disco Friday :)
- Thread starter Helix
- Start date
Well, some of the chord progression is almost the same, and the vocal melody isn’t quite copied, but the phrasing is similar. None of that is litigious. But what struck me the most, all those decades ago, was the bass work, so close. It’s almost like that old Tommy Roe song “Sheila”, which was a painfully obvious calculated Buddy Holly redux…
I keep missing Fridays, it's disturbing.
Voyage - Scotch Machine \ Bayou Village
Voyage - Scotch Machine \ Bayou Village
The title and lyrics remind me of this song - "If It Don't Fit, Don't Force It" - Kellee Patterson:
Yeah, it's a cool groove. Not really "disco," but close enough for this thread!Nice bass line, I'd play it.
Let's see, these were in the closet behind my leisure suits and a pile of gold chains . . . .
The Mighty O'Jays, 'Living for the Weekend' with a young Anthony Jackson on bass:
The Reverend Al Green, with the relentless Memphis groove of 'Love and Happiness':
Teddy Pendergrass-era Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, with the late Ronnie Baker driving 'Bad Luck':
The always fabulous Ashford and Simpson, with the slappy 'Don't Cost You Nothin' '
. . . . and again on 'It Seems to Hang On' with that elegant, suspended groove. TOO clean.
One of my favorite Toto tunes, played back in those disco halls back then, with the remarkable Cheryl Lynn contributing, David Hungate on bass, Jeff Porcaro on drums, 'Georgy Porgy'.
Wet Willie had THE best 'weekend' song, previously mentioned, but another side from those days, the Tom Dowd produced 'Poor Judge of Character':
And the Masters at Work: CHIC produced records for others, like Diana's 'I'm Coming Out' and others, but to me the most fiendishly machine-like funk I ever heard, Sister Sledge's 'He's the Greatest Dancer'. Listen to the first 50 seconds of this before the ladies step up to the mic, then woodshed this tune and learn Bernard Edwards' part note for note . . . . and be amazed. This kills me every time I hear it. God Rest BE and Tony Thompson, as awesome a rhythm section (along with Nile Rodgers) as ever walked this Earth.
Tunes like this are why I never understand the offhand 'disco sucks' idea: There's a whole lotta bass playin' going on under the best records of those days.
The Mighty O'Jays, 'Living for the Weekend' with a young Anthony Jackson on bass:
The Reverend Al Green, with the relentless Memphis groove of 'Love and Happiness':
Teddy Pendergrass-era Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, with the late Ronnie Baker driving 'Bad Luck':
The always fabulous Ashford and Simpson, with the slappy 'Don't Cost You Nothin' '
. . . . and again on 'It Seems to Hang On' with that elegant, suspended groove. TOO clean.
One of my favorite Toto tunes, played back in those disco halls back then, with the remarkable Cheryl Lynn contributing, David Hungate on bass, Jeff Porcaro on drums, 'Georgy Porgy'.
Wet Willie had THE best 'weekend' song, previously mentioned, but another side from those days, the Tom Dowd produced 'Poor Judge of Character':
And the Masters at Work: CHIC produced records for others, like Diana's 'I'm Coming Out' and others, but to me the most fiendishly machine-like funk I ever heard, Sister Sledge's 'He's the Greatest Dancer'. Listen to the first 50 seconds of this before the ladies step up to the mic, then woodshed this tune and learn Bernard Edwards' part note for note . . . . and be amazed. This kills me every time I hear it. God Rest BE and Tony Thompson, as awesome a rhythm section (along with Nile Rodgers) as ever walked this Earth.
Tunes like this are why I never understand the offhand 'disco sucks' idea: There's a whole lotta bass playin' going on under the best records of those days.
Two facts can be highlighted after watching this video:
1. Rickenbacker basses are not only for rock music.
2. The bass player was a disco-monster; one could call him the “titanium elbow bass player” !!! Oh my poor right arm …
My left (fretting) hand somehow suffers even more than the other one when I play like this.
I played a Mapleglo 4001 during my DiscoDaze® in the late '70s. No one ever came up to me and said it was the wrong bass for the genre.
I saw Sylvester and the Hot Band before pre-disco (on April 14, 1973, to be exact
).
