examples of DISCO-REGGAE

This is sometimes my favourite type of vintage dancing music, but it's not really a genre - more something people have dabbled with throughout the years.

Any good examples?

Susan Cadogan - Shame
Johnny Clarke - None Shall Escape The Judgement
360 Degrees - Money
Abba - Name Of The Game
Belle Epoque - Miss Broadway
Talking Heads - I Get Wild Wild Gravity
Boney M - lots of things. Most obvious is Rivers Of Babylon, but I don't like it much.

The first one that springs to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tID6rEcYMgc

Not quite sure what you mean but maybe Ken Boothe's "Walk Away From Love"?

Not sure if you'd also include reggae covers of disco but Soul Jazz did a great comnpilation a few years back, including this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4a8t8gDU08

and this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0u7PbcPBA

that comp is fantastic, 2nded dorian. studio one also put out the 'disco mix' comp a few years back, which is ace.

although rereading dl's second post i think we're thinking of something else to the intentions of this thread

Reggae that is disco; disco that is reggae - take it as you will :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUA1CIipenY&a

@stevie Yeah, I don't think we're on the same tip as those initial suggestions but I'll take any excuse to post those tunes.

and i'll take any chance at listening to them!

Eddy Grant - "Romancing The Stone," "Walking On Sunshine," "Electric Avenue"
Lots of Grace Jones (esp. early '80s)
Linx - first (and maybe only?) album
USA-European Connection - Come Into My Heart"
Stevie Wonder - maybe "Boogie On Reggae Woman" and/or "Master Blaster (Jammin'") (I'd need to doublecheck the disco quotient on these)
Probably some Hot Chocolate songs, too.
some Goombay Dance Band, I think

Delroy Wilson - "I'll Do Anything For You"

Coupla Funkadelic tracks, which only serve to illustrate that US funk/soul artists doing reggae is generally not a great idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCAVDg2uXWg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO5VV5PISHU

kalyan were really a disco/funk/soca group, but i can't stop playing this album this week and i figure some people here will appreciate how awesome this track is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahF-RyUxiHc

Slits' cover of Heard it Through The Grapevine is almost in this category.

Also, tons of Kid Creole and the Coconts/August Darnell, right?

peter tosh - buk-in-hamm palace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULXdGjFkKBc

Also maybe stuff like:

Gibson Brothers "Cuba" (and other tracks on their LPs probably)
Johnny Chingas "Samba"

Though those probably have as much Latin-American in their rhythms as Jamaican. Probably still have at least as much reggae as "Miss Broadway" (which I always thought of as having more a Bo Diddley beat) or "Name Of The Game" (which I never thought of as reggae or disco, really, though that doesn't mean it's not), though.

Also, wouldn't plenty of Soca fit here? Or is the Caribbean influence in that always calypso rather than reggae? (Hard to know where exactly the line is drawn sometimes.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IornRX6v-kI

Don't know if Sly and Robbie's "Rhythm Killers" qualifies (they cover Ohio Players and Pointer Sisters) and a rock guitar element is pretty pervasive through most of it, but I love that record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O6bBsn2Z4w

rhythm killers is one of the greatest records ever made. i hated it at first, but there are so many great things going on. highly creative music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK8zAssTv7Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSaJB8bnW3Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVTEEeOEfKw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPMkjslzs70

i am so fucking psyched about getting home to listen to these.

If you guys like, I can make a DJ mix based on these tracks?

I Roy's album, Whap'n'Bap'n is full of disco.

Alphabet, in particular is really great.

Although, now that i'm looking at it, the album is listed as Roy Reid.

http://www.roots-archives.com/release/1780

That is I Roy

other super disco jam on the album is called Jive Time.

It sounds like I Roy.

this one melds the two splendidly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTQJwVQMFXY

I love this rhythm so much:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5U4tH4xl_A

wow, beta blog, that steel and skin track is wonderful

Wow indeed. That's great. Gonna have to order that CD. Are the rest of the tracks good quality?

that steel and skin track was the first thing i thought of.

this is the second

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUFehaMonSo

sorry, that's a terrible sounding video (and why didn't he edit out the 30 seconds of fumbling to put the record on in the beginning?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UpY2t2wBYs

Is that Clout as in 'Substitute'?

Delroy Wilson - "I'll Do Anything For You"

Aaaargh...meant Denroy Morgan obviously. (See "Performers With Names That Practically Rhyme" thread. Whenever I think of this song, "White Man In Hammersmith Palais" accidentally sneaks into my head.)

Never thought of Belle Epoque's "Miss Broadway" as reggae. I always buy Beckett 12 inches in the hopes that they will be disco-reggae.

omg yes. a friend was playing that steel an skin album in his car a few months ago and i had forgotten what it was until now!

this is one of my favorite genres of music as well, fwiw

can't forget about this one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yn5I7g_DIg

lots of laid back songs, actually

no mention of island records yet is weird guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byj0LFfjEDY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SizxCxCJZjs

Thinking lots of British pop-funk stuff from the early '80s (not just Linx, who I mentioned above, but also Junior, the Quick, Imagination, David Grant solo) could fit here as well. (Hot Chocolate obviously a major inspiration for that whole scene.)

(sorry for the formatting mishap)

A new disco-reggae compilation.

not going to click through all the youtubes to figure it out, but hopefully this thread didn’t get to 200 posts without mentioning tyrone davis “rise up” (wackies)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OrOahkRgvA

More reggae-disco than disco-reggae, but I just pulled out "Nightflight to Venus" and I'm def adding "Never Change Lovers in the Middle of the Night" to my playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjaXcIAcLY0

Yeah that's a classic. I think I put that on my original mix made from suggestions to this thread. I absolutely love it

Atmosfear's Dancing in Outer Space has a couple of moments when it becomes almost reggae - the laser-ska bit between 2:17 and 2:52, and that liquidy dub bit between about 5:25-6:25 which sounds like the dubwise equivalent of paddling a canoe in choppy waters.

This is joyful and I think it deserves to be included in this thread: https://soundwayrecords.bandcamp.com/album/chi-town-reggae

Great stuff!

I thought I'd posted about it here already, but the Risco Connection comp has been a highlight of my year: https://riscoconnection.bandcamp.com/album/risco-version

xp hah, I opened this thread wondering if it was going to be that!

Moka, how on earth did I miss that extensive spotify playlist you posted way upthread? amazing work!

Annette Brissett - Drums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCTXl_lKFFo

so good. i love Love Power.

pretty cheesy but this is good summertime fun imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epMbespU4JI
margino - you turn me on

shame there's no dub version tbh because the synths are great but the singing is a bit much

Forgive me if this has been posted before (I can't see it) but this compilation looks great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4UJf0NXelY
https://rockashacka.bandcamp.com/album/reggae-funkyfied-2

That Margino track sounds so much like Yvonne Chaka Chaka's "I'm In Love With a DJ". I assume it's the same producer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL4WaCvrFdo

Yep. Attie Van Wyk

agreed, Moka’s Spotify playlist is a complete banger.

Ernest Ranglin’s “Soft Touch” is complete fire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0ACPrHCGCM

slight afrobeat flavour too

Great song!

Glad some of you have enjoyed the playlist! I need to do a clean-up and add more… in the meantime I have added some of the great suggestions so far!

Love this playlist, moka. Thanks for taking the time and trouble.

favourite new disco-reggae nature-hippy jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVZqHYdgQ2w
Sheila & Des Majek - Let Us Plant a Tree Today

That's very satisfying, NickB.

What a tune that is

as everyone's kids head back to the covid factory i mean classroom, i submit bunny wailer's "back to school." disco-adjacent groove in the "rapper's delight" vein.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kzgXlC7KCo

Basically just a disco track - the reggae flavour is barely discernible - but this track comes to mind, I guess, because Dan-I was Jamaican and the track was on Island.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7VlbIPas7E

I couldn’t see if this has been posted, all killer, no filler. Hustle! Reggae Disco

Monkey Chop is fantastic!

Produced by The Buggles IIRC?

i'm sure Dan-I appeared on TOTP back then but Youtube has no proof. And yes, a Buggles production.

Anyone heard his track with Big Youth?

I couldn’t see if this has been posted, all killer, no filler. Hustle! Reggae Disco

― Dan Worsley, Thursday, September 26, 2024 10:08 AM (three days ago)

this rules

did Bill Campbell ever get a mention? cos he had a few of these...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4dd8T6tb0Q
Bill Campbell - Boogie All Night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlo96gTGbAc
Bill Campbell - Nearest To My Heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO2Hbb10xFE
Bill Campbell - Blue Without You

he was also on that amazing Soundways Body Beat comp, electronic soca and calypso...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5ikGw5sLvY
Bill Campbell - Body Beat

Also he did a version of Leon Haywood's "Don't Push It, Don't Force It" which i've never heard...

https://www.discogs.com/release/4742544-Bill-Campbell-Dont-Push-It-Dont-Force-It

and this one is super intriguing, though i'm not sure about the reggae content...

https://www.discogs.com/release/11818782-Bill-Campbell-We-Are-Funky

and he produced a whole bunch of stuff forf other people which i really don't have a grip on at all but here's one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGC-8-vdEYs
Belinda Parker - Don't Make Wave

OH SHIT! how the fuck could i forget this absolute delight...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymvqwNGWO2I
Bill Campbell - Chicks Are Cheeky

okay i realise i'm just having a conversation with myself now (sorry!!), but this is the 'We Are Funky' track that i linked to, which came out on a b-side under the name Campbell Allstars...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sz5xomh1Tw

not very reggae i'm afraid, but a pretty cool electro boogie experiment nonetheless. bit of a pricey one now though since the A-side appeared on one of those great AOTN lovers comps:
https://www.discogs.com/release/2200525-Valerie-Harrison-Campbell-Allstars-Fools-Paradise-Lets-Get-Funky

should add that he was also the guy behind Family Choice btw, who are on that Hustle! comp upthread (they did 'Reggae Beat Goes On')

okay one last Bill Campbell joint and then i'll STFU. but it's a big one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7HTwg9Bkf8
Deirdre Murray – You Can't Turn Me Away

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgU4PPHbGlY

Does Carly Simon's Why count? Yeah - it's a Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards production, but there's a bit of reggae influence there.

Actually I know "Why" - it doesn't have a pure uptempo disco beat I guess.

I know what you mean about "Why?" it's got that low-end lope and the way it's quite repetitive you could definitely hear a dub version working. Has there ever been a dub of this?

This Dennis Bovell tune is great!!

not a dub but there's a pretty good reggae version by Stella from a few years ago. rest of the EP is nice too if you're at all into zouk...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiowjlmxOz0

ISTR a Steely and Cleavie version in about 1992 which sounded very much of its time (I am a big fan of that late 80s early 90s sound).

Yeah there it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l_q1pHXJs4

enjoying these!

the French label, Patchworks, is one to look out for - lots that might come under this banner

here's a fave:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQn_4cg-Abo

Just ordered that Dennis Bovell album on the strength of the track giraffe posted.

"kung fu fighting"

I couldn’t see Tapper Zukie - Vision of Love shared. So here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqLIU2jmGgA

bought this one yesterday, killer production...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRTVD0IbsIE
Marcia Griffiths - Electric Boogie (Dub Mix)