Over my 20-plus years in and out of the entertainment industry, I’ve seen a lot of revivals. ’50s rockabilly, ’60s garage rock, ’80s electronic and recently ’90s grunge. But ’70s disco still gets the cold shoulder, at least in the US. And no, just because you stood through The Village People or Gloria Gaynor at a street festival, it does not make you a disco expert. The love of that mainstream, Top 40 disco is primarily retro kitsch. I’m talking real disco, the stuff of the gay nightclubs back when girls weren’t allowed to have bachelorette parties in the backrooms.
If you’re a fan of underground (or at least not Top 40) disco of the ’70s you’re not a stranger to digging in the crates of your local record store or thrift shop looking for beat up old 12″ singles and hoping for one gem in ten. So it’s really great to see DJs like the UK collective Horse Meat Disco not only bringing it back to the gay clubs but to your local music stores and iTunes. HMD’s second compilation, Horse Meat Disco II shows the novice disco listeners that the era wasn’t as much about the hit-you-over-the-head obviousness of the Bee Gees and KC, but more about a slower, sexier groove you could seduce your prey to. The comp reels you in with Sylvester, its one mainstream artist nod, and glides through the US and European nightclub scene with a few oddities (Bravo and Electra) and quite a few soulful, but obscure soul tracks (Tempest Trio, First Love) with tons of sexy in between. The smells of poppers and Marlboros practically lift off the disc.
You can pick up HMD II in stores on vinyl and CD August 17 and keep an eye out for an October gig somewhere in Chicago! Get a free download and preview the album over at www.horsemeatdisco-thealbum.com.