POLL: Vince Aletti's Essential Disco Singles of 1975

The original list is actually a top 75, the above is the first 30 - some notable songs that didn't make the cut are "Jive Talking" (43), "Love Rollercoaster" (66), "Do The Bus Stop" (70).

"Inside America" is fantastic. It's on Frankie Knuckles' Choice mix.

Murray did a lot prior to that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggy_Murray

That Boogie Man Orchestra cut is the one discovery from the book that blew me away - basement Barry White embracing its disco heart more openly. And I bet it gave ELO some bassline ideas for "Last Train to London."

But oh yeah of the songs I knew before I read the book, easily Crystal Grass: "Crystal World" - totally fetching angst funk that helped give birth to "Theme From S'Express."

xp!

This one's a personal favourite:

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

Or okay spacefunk.

This Boogie Man Orchestra is great!

Reminds me of Barry White scoring a detective series in the Hart To Hart vein.

I just bought the Moxie bootleg 12" version of "Where Is The Love" earlier today (after years of loving the Danny Krivit edit on the first Mr. K Strut comp), so my indecision re: that track vs. "Dreaming A Dream" is settled.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Just played the great Aletti-curated 1978 Polydor Steppin' Out: Disco's Greatest Hits comp yesterday, and the Crystal Grass cut blew me away again (so did both Bionic Boogies and Kongas and Fatback Band, so I'm pulling albums off the shelves), so I'm very tempted to go with "Crystal World". (Used to own an album by them that didn't have that cut on it; no idea why I got rid of it.) Put "El Bimbo" by Bimbo Jet in a 100-greatest-singles-ever list I did for Radio On in the early '90s, too. Also love the Tavares and Shirley & Co and other stuff up there. (Only a few I'm not familiar with.) But I'm going for "Free Man" by South Shore Commission today -- surprise!

I'm just a Top-40 disco guy, only know the hits, so three-quarters of these I've never heard. It's highly unlikely in any event that I'd vote for something ahead of "I Love Music," which I count as one of the greatest songs of the decade--the long version found on Philadelphia Classics.

Re Crystal Grass: I just heard their version of Jorge Ben's "Taj Mahal". Destroy.

Excelente coreografia, muy lindas chicas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deXt2lkMpZU

Voted "Brazil" for its overall vibe. Sheer disco bliss.

"Dreaming a Dream" is just so feel good and epic - one of my favorite disco tracks ever. I love getting lost in the swirling upper registers and then the bass line comes up to meet everything - gives me the chills every time (like 400 times!).

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Well, that's decided then.

Second time today I could've been kingmaker/tiebreaker in a poll had I voted. ("Shame Shame Shame" for #1)

For shame!

Yeah, out of those I probably would have voted for "Shame Shame Shame" too. It doesn't have the lushness of some other favorite disco productions, but it's such a sparse, undeniable groove.

On a couple recent DJ gigs I've tried spinning "Blow Your Whistle," resulting in floor-clearing. Love that one, though.

I would dance to "Blow Your Whistle" anytime, anywhere.

No Bohannon!

Cool list, though. Where is this from?

Vince Aletti wrote a weekly disco review column for Record World magazine that was compiled in a book by the DJ History crowd:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Disco-Files-1973-1978-Yorks-Underground/dp/0956189601/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297707359&sr=8-1

This is (the top of) his EOY singles list from 1975...I don't have it in front of me but I think Bohannon was probably on the albums list.

aye the self-titled is in the albums list.