Motown Disco: Soulful Grooves from the ’70s and ’80s

June 10, 2010 | By In Movie |

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5 Comments so far

  1. Steph In Sobe on June 10th, 2010

    Nice to have so many classics in one package. Whould never expect the US to allow this here. At least it’s available for a few extra bucks.
    Rating: 5 / 5

  2. Patrick Frierson on June 10th, 2010

    I was skeptical about picking up this Anthology for a long time. It’s been available for a few years, but every time I heard samples and snippets from it, I couldn’t get over the breezy and sunny arrangements that bubbled underneath the soulful melodies of Marvin, Eddie Kendricks, Diana Ross, and The Tempts. Generally, I felt this anthology was too pop oriented for it to have the spell binding effect that I normally look for in my Funk, Disco, and House records. To me, it sounded like typical catchy up tempo disco records with extended instrumental passages thrown in there as a coincidence. That style is cool with a lot of people, particularly those who like a more simple style to their dance music. For hardcore dance lovers like myself, this could be a bit underwhelming since Motown never truly been a label that catered to the taste of those who preferred gut bucket rawness in their R&B music (Funk and Underground Disco). They always been a record label geared towards the mainstream soul audience (Blacks and Whites alike). So In Motown Disco, you will get Disco Soul tracks with clean production qualities, streamlined grooves, carefully structured melodies, good songwriting, and radio friendly hooks – The key ingredients necessary for Chart success. On several occasions, Motown were able to strike gold in this period with hits from Thelma Houston, Diana Ross, Rick James, and Teena Marie.

    Sleek production nuance notwithstanding, Motown Disco is an excellent anthology in its own right. Where as a lot of the mainstream disco music at the time was often bloated and clunky, Motown effortlessly combined contemporary smarts with the tried and true formula that made them the soundtrack to young America in the late 60′s and early 70′s. Many of these songs are not that far removed from the catchy up tempo singles they released in their commercial heyday. Adding some extra bump, strings, synthesizers and extending the groove made them sound relevant without compromising the initial formula. The aid of songwriting and production gurus like Ashford and Simpson, Norman Whitfield, Pamela Sawyer, Holland, Doizer, and Holland, and Leroy Burgess helped in giving these songs an authentic sense of style that was missing from most of the mainstream disco records at the time. Listening to these songs you can tell that Berry and company had an excellent understanding of the music being produced at the time and they used everything in at their creative convenience to make sure these songs were every bit as worthwhile as anything being released from Philly International or Salsoul.

    A major consensus is that Motown was one of the critical figures in creating some of the innovative production techniques that will later be utilized in the disco era. Listening to the 21st Creation cover of Martha and Vandellas “Nowhere to Run” it’s hard to argue that fact since the extended take on that classic sound like a night at the Go Go with a Glitter ball spinning on the ceiling. The song is a good example of Motown’s pop savvy gliding smoothly into the disco era. The Tempts and Eddie Kendricks turns out some early proto disco with “The Law of the Land” and “Standing in the Rain” respectively. Law of the land in particular has a bumping 4/4 bass drum underneath a flowing Norman Whitfield groove. While the song doesn’t represent Norm nor the Tempts at their epic best during this period, it still makes for a solid listen and a nice warm up for faster tempo smokers like The Originals “Down to Love Town”. Of course a Motown Disco anthology wouldn’t be one without the most recognizable hits from the label at the time with Diana Ross seven minute hedonistic classic in “Love Hangover”, Thelma Houston’s monolithic remake of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes classic, “Don’t Leave Me This Way” and the ever so popular get together jam session in Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give it up” (here in its rare eleven minute version). Since Rick James came to the label with a harder sound, it’s not surprising that he turns out the toughest jams with his own “You and I” and Teena Marie’s “Behind the Groove” which was produced by him.

    Motown were able to achieve a rare feat at the time. The label was able to produce “commercially accessible disco records” that were also quality records. Nine times out of ten, in order to get quality dance records, you had to go underground to the independent giants like Westend, Prelude, and Salsoul. So hearing a major record label producing authentic dance records was refreshing. There were other major labels releasing the same high quality material such as Atlantic and their subsidiary labels, but those labels were few and far between. The only downside to this anthology is that the best songs are the most popular selections- that’s it. The lesser known selections such as the Supremes “High Energy” are good, but it doesn’t reach the same level of excitement as the songs people will be most familiar with on this compilation. That may be a disappointment to some since they always look to hear a “lost classic” that didn’t become a hit but it was a great record nonetheless. While these may not be the grittiest nuggets in the bucket of disco gold, the songs on Motown Disco are powerful enough to leave a smile on your face- and gritty or not, that’s the purpose of real dance music.

    Rating: 4 / 5

  3. Howard Moore on June 10th, 2010

    I absolutely loved the CD, “Motown Disco”. I was looking for the long version of Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” and found this disco collection. My young nephews and nieces don’t understand why the songs are so long when they hear them playing in my truck, but, it brings back wonderful memories of my teen years. Now, I’ve got to find a CD with “Doctor Love” and “Love Bug” and I’ll be set for life!
    Rating: 5 / 5

  4. Tom on June 10th, 2010

    Don’t think that this is yet another disco compilation – this one is special. Motown rounds up some of its most popular disco/dance tracks from the 70′s and early 80′s including Diana Ross’s “Love Hangover” and “The Boss”; Thelma Houston’s euphoric “Don’t Leave Me This Way”; Marvin Gaye’s 11-minute epic, “Got to Give it Up”, and Teena Marie’s “Behind the Groove”. It also features obscure classics such as Thelma Houston’s “Saturday Evening, Sunday Morning” and Carl Bean’s groundbreaking “I Was Born This Way”, one of the first gay disco anthems, and in fact, one of the first gay anthems to even include the word “gay”. There are also some early tracks from Rick James, making this a collection of classics and rarities.

    What also sets this apart from other disco compilations is that Motown never fed into the cheesy aspects of disco (ie. Village People) so you won’t find “Y.M.C.A” or “Disco Duck” here.

    Motown may be better known for its classics from the 60′s but in the 70′s I think they became far more interesting. The music became edgier, and stars like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and even Diana Ross, strived for both artistic credibility and commercial success and frequently achieved both.

    This compilation demonstrates that Motown could move with the times but they never lost their edge — or their funk. A highly enjoyable collection
    Rating: 5 / 5

  5. John L. Hughes, Jr. on June 10th, 2010

    MOTOWN DISCO finally pays tribute to Motown’s contribution to the 70s disco movement. When it comes to disco, historians automatically think of TK or Casablanca as the ultimate disco labels while leaving out Motown. Some historians seem to forget that Motown was Billboard magazine’s #1 disco label in 1974 and 1975.

    Smash #1 pop hits “Love Hangover” (Diana Ross), “Got To Give It Up” (Marvin Gaye), “Keep On Truckin’” (Eddie Kendricks) and “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (Thelma Houston) are here in their 12″ version glory. However, the real treat is the rare cuts by such Motown disco acts as Tata Vega, The Dynamic Superiors, Finished Touch, Platinum Hook (with its take on the Funkadelc classic “Standing On The Verge Of Gettin’ It On”), and Carl Bean (“I Was Born This Way”, one of the first known gay pride disco anthems ever. Not bad for 1978).

    Overall, this collection offers proof that Motown made great dancefloor stompers during the 70s, while retaining the soul that made the label special in the first place. Here’s hoping there’ll be a sequel.
    Rating: 5 / 5

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