REVIEW: Various, The Disco Box (Rhino)
- Bob Gajarsky
The master label of reissues, Rhino, has released this definitive four disc set of the disco era simply titled The Disco Box.
The eighty songs bring together in one collection the best (or worst) of the disco era in all their full-blown polyester glory. The Ritchie Family's "The Best Disco In Town" was the knee-jerk reaction to the medley / Stars on 45 fever which gripped the nation, and even resulted in a huge smash of Beethoven's "modernized hits" (thank you, Walter Murphy). While the Pittsburgh Pirates were utilizing "We Are Family" as their World Championship theme song, the country was shake-shake-shaking their booty to KC and the Sunshine Band and enjoying good times provided by Chic. Sex ran rampant in the clubs and in the music (Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", Musique's "In The Bush", "More More More" by the porn queen Andrea True Connection). Truly, it was the age of decadence and dancing, and nowhere is that more apparent than The Disco Box.
Arguably the most interesting part of the set occurs on the fourth disc, where the generic 'disco' sound, after being run into the ground in the late 70s, re-emerged and influenced much of the 80s dance scene. Blondie's "Heart of Glass" predated the 80s alterna-boom, "I.O.U." by Freez helped launch the freestyle craze, and "It's Raining Men" by the Weather Girls (formerly 2 Tons of Fun, performing at fairgrounds around the country) helped make Martha Wash's voice, if not her image, a staple at dancehalls around the world.
Today's "wedding songs" ("I Will Survive", "Celebration", "Y.M.C.A.") unmistakably show that disco has crossed over from the clubs to the mainstream. VH1 "Behind the Music" specials on Studio 54 and the glamourized excesses of the era have brought the sensations of the seventies back to the forefront at no time since the end of the gas crisis. And thanks yet again to the folks at Rhino, the feel and groove of those times has been indelibly captured on four compact discs.
