For little islander minds (not mine of course) but when something/anything comes from a rather large land mass that’s a mere 22 miles from the Great British coastline, there has been problems assimilating concepts and cultures in the past. Which is mighty odd if you ask me but there’s one thing that Europe totally adopted, it was the wonder of disco. Not convinced? If you want to talk about coals to Newcastle, you need say no more than Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer, I rest my case.

I say this as after Harmless’ Disco Discharge : Disco Classics and Disco Discharge : Disco Ladies, I can just imagine (or even hear myself of all things) thinking the Euro Disco edition would be second best. Well it ain’t and even better than that, it’s full of surprises!

There’s a bit of ‘cheating’ going on with a couple of Change tracks (Luther Vandross and all) and Sparks’ ‘The Number One Song In Heaven’ (I’d forgot just how good this one was) but what diggers will want to hear is that on CD1 is the very hard to find ‘Margharita’ by Double Massara (Oh! really).

CD2 kicks off with Moroder inspired ‘77, She Gave Me Heaven’ from Gaz Nevada (he must be Italian with such an obvious made up name like that) and there’s some Shalamar/Cheryl Lynn synth bass lines that are on the cheese side of Classic Gold radio playlists; don’t mean to sound harsh as I’ll sing along to Change’s ‘Change Of Hear’ at the top of my voice along with y’all (this one could have even made the “Classic” set!).

And talking of which, they did have one of their tracks on “Classic” so perhaps the obvious guy missing from the “Euro” edition found his way onto the “Classic”, and that’s Cerrone. Only mention, as his productions are so far from Laura Branigan that I’m beginning to worry but you can see why the next edition in the set is, Gay & HiNRG.

The Disco mix of ‘I’m Not Scared’ doesn’t help (albeit there’s a spoken word break in French and as a “Euro” album, there’s hardly any vocals that aren’t in English) but then, can you imagine disco with Polish lyrics? Thankfully, if Propaganda did, they decided against it on ‘P Machinery’ that turns out to be the highlight on CD2 with a mix of prog rock and jazz influences that includes a vibe solo (as a side note, there’s a big Polish Jazz element to this years’ London Jazz Festival; for a 101 see HERE).

The last four tracks on this CD I’ve never heard of and they’re as varied as the rest of the set, and it’s cool to hear a ‘scratch mix’ of a disco track which will no doubt spawn some imaginative retro hip-hop disco mash-up boogie combinations; especially with the hand clap break. I might even ride that wave myself?

With a 22 track double set, you’re not going to think they’re all great but I’m ready for some more disco fun at least. Only seen this one in Universal Sounds/Soul Jazz so might be the best place to check it out first. Don’t forget you need Disco Discharge : Disco Classics and Disco Discharge : Disco Ladies with this one to really live it up.

Reviewed: V/A - Disco Discharge: Euro Disco (Harmless) Cat. No. HURTCD086 Release date: 5th October 2009
Tracklisting:
CD1
1 Don Ray - Garden Of Love
2 Change - Angel In My Pocket
3 Silver Convention - Love In A Sleeper
4 Beautiful Bend - That’s The Meaning/Boogie Motion
5 Massara - Margharita
6 Space - Magic Fly
7 Giorgio Moroder - From Here To Eternity
8 Sylvia Love - Extraterrestrial Lover
9 Sparks - The Number One Song In Heaven
10 Easy Going - Fear
11 Vivien Vee - Give Me A Break
CD2
1 Gaz Nevada - I.C. Love Affair
2 Advance - Take Me To The Top
3 Change - Change Of Heart
4 Kano - I’m Ready
5 Laura Branigan - Self Control
6 Eighth Wonder - I’m Not Scared (Disco Mix)
7 Propaganda - P Machinery (Polish)
8 Mike Mareen - Dancing In The Dark
9 Fun Fun - Happy Station (Scratch Mix)
10 Time Bandits - Live It Up
11 Yvonne Kay - Rise Up (For My Love)

Links:
www.harmlessrecordings.co.uk
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco