More music to accompany Tim Lawrence's Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979. For the most part, these are just videos of the original recording, with nothing more than a picture of the album cover to accompany a high-quality audio upload, so turn off the screen and turn up the volume.

 

 

War - City, Country, City (1972)
Before there was disco, there was the Loft. Using the greatest sound system NYC nightlife had ever known, David Mancuso played songs (no mixing, please) that emphasized musical narrative, emotional release, and psychedelic effects. It wasn't necessarily "dance music," but the dancing followed naturally. This track was a highlight of the Loft's early years.

Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - The Love I Lost (1973)
A classic of "Philly Soul," the rhythmic template of disco is already present: the four-on-the-floor kick drum, alternated with syncopated hi-hat cymbals. This new sound registers as classic soul thanks to the remarkable vocals of the late Teddy Pendergrass.

Love Unlimited Orchestra - Love's Theme (1973)
So textured and lush, this instrumental could pull even the whitest, straightest dancer onto the floor. (ABC Sports used to play this as the title theme for its golf broadcasts on weekend afternoons.) And that waka-chka rhythm guitar! Pure Barry White genius.

MFSB & the Three Degrees - T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia) (1974)
Another classic instrumental produced by Philadelphia International label. Maybe not as over-the-top as "Love's Theme," but for that reason it could be taken more seriously as an essential disco anthem.

Double Exposure - Ten Percent (Original Walter Gibbons 12" Mix) (1976)
The first commercially available 12" single, released by Salsoul. Particularly toward the second half of the track, Walter Gibbon's percussive remixing is still remarkable.

First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (1977)
For many, the disco music heard in gay nightclubs is associated with "girl stuff": a strong, gospel-influenced female vocal singing first-person lyrics of love and pain that can be interpreted from a gay man's perspective. This Salsoul track continues to be remixed and covered into the present.

Instant Funk - I Got My Mind Made Up (1978)
Another Salsoul classic. I first heard this as a sample in De La Soul's "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturday.'"

Hues Corporation - Rock The Boat (1974)
The first disco record to reach #1 on the Billboard charts. Undeniably catchy, too.

Disco Tex & His Sex-O-Lettes - Get Dancin' (1974)
Not the greatest disco song ever, but Disco Tex's vocal should make clear why it was so beloved.

The Bee Gees - Nights On Broadway (1975)
All they wanted was a little of that Philly Soul sound, and suddenly they became the mainstream face of disco. While their songs on the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack take all the glory, this oft-overlooked track was revived by a Jimmy Fallon skit on SNL.

KC & the Sunshine Band - That's The Way (I Like It) (1975)
Supposedly this is an example of the "Miami style" in disco; it has something to do with the energetic horn arrangements. Whatever – this is disco euphoria.

Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Cherchez La Femme (1976)
I sacrificed sound quality so that you could see the group in action: a mixed-race ensemble fusing Latin disco with 1940s big band music and an aspirational retro look. It could only have come from 1970s NYC. The style and music got even more adventurous in their next incarnation, Kid Creole and the Coconuts (who make an appearance in "Downtown 81").

Diana Ross - Love Hangover (1976)
She needs no introduction, of course, but Diana Ross renewed her relevance in the disco era with this hit. Starting with a swooning, slower tempo, the track slips midway into an infectious higher tempo; some might say it recalls the musical dynamics associated with David Mancuso's Loft.

Chic - Everybody Dance (1977)
The disco band that even rockers can love. The sound of Chic was a pair of haughty female vocalists; the de rigeur string section carrying the melody; and the killer rhythm section of Nile Rodgers (guitar), Bernard Edwards (bass), and Tony Thompson (drums, later of the Duran Duran side project the Power Station). The bass line will break most musicians' fingers.

Sister Sledge - He's The Greatest Dancer (1977)
Nile Rodgers imported the Chic sound into all the groups he produced - in this era, most notably Diana Ross and Sister Sledge. "We Are Family" was their biggest hit, but this dancefloor smash namechecked the look of Studio 54: "Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci..."

Silver Convetion - Fly, Robin, Fly (1975)
Eurodisco too often gets derided as soulless, unswinging imitations of American R&B disco sung by non-native English speakers. This international hit won't change anyone's mind about that verdict, but it's not without its own barbiturate-enhanced charm.

Donna Summer - Love To Love You, Baby (1975)
Now this is Eurodisco. Giorgio Moroder's recording genius and Donna Summer's famous orgasmic wail are on full display in this 17-minute mix – the entire first side of her debut album.

Donna Summer - I Feel Love (1977)
It's hard to say which Moroder/Summer collaboration has had more influence on modern music: "Love to Love You, Baby" or this track. I go with this one, which – forget Kraftwerk! – created the template for all sequencer-based synthpop that came in the 1980s.

Cerrone - Supernature (1979)
This French drummer has his own cult among dance aficionados, but I included this track – pretty good Eurodisco, if nothing particularly original by 1979 – just so that you can see the video, which seriously disturbed me when I first saw it.

Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) (1979)

In San Francisco, Patrick Crowley and other producers transformed disco music into something even more synthetic: Hi-NRG. This was the first Hi-NRG record to make any kind of impact. Sylvester's story as a gay/transgender African-American male diva is extraordinary enough to deserve its own book. (Which in fact it has: Joshua Gamson's The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, the Music, the Seventies in San Francisco.)

Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) (1985)
You might not think of this new wave hit as a disco record, but it is. It's the sound of Hi-NRG as transformed by Britain's gay nightclubs of the early 1980s, all high-end and rat-a-tat-tat percussive.