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The stallion rampant (in more ways than one and not to be confused with R&S Records), has been busy in clubs, parties and festivals tents where HMD keep the floor full all night (and if you’re feeling really HMD, there’s t-shirts for sale at Phonica at the moment, see links below).

Following on from Strut releases Disco Not Disco and Disco Italia, HMS debut compilation is a big one. Founded in 2003 by James Hillard (ex-Nuphonic) and Jim Stanton (ex-Jockey Slut) they were later joined by DJ Severino (CODEX) and fellow Filthy Luka, Luke Howard (ex-Dance Freak and you may recall his solo track ‘High Li’ appeared on the compilation This Is Afro Art! that we had an exclusive on when we were a mere http://www.fly.co.uk - all hail Paul Murphy and Afro Art-ists everywhere).

Anyway, this mix of open-minded disco freaks has ensured that their fans come from far and wide in musical (and other) appreciation as this CD is a heady mix of disco, midd-tempo grooves, funky oddities and percussive Afro beats and even some electro.

And as the world of Cosmic Balearic Beats, Future Disco and Disco Classics all merge into a boogie wonderland; the Horse Meat crew get high on obscure dancefloor monsters like ‘Disco Jam’ and ‘Deetour’. Surely Karen Young and Eddie Drennon were one hit wonders you’d have thought as they are both massive finds from the vaults.

Names that you will recognise are Smokey Robinson (an instrumental mix by the king of Studio 54, Larry Levan) and for the Italo-jazz-funkers, Gino Soccio (who happened to be French-Canadian). No ‘Dance’ or ‘Try It Out’ but the lesser known ‘Its Alright’ which is sounding fresh and hot is a old skool type way.

On the subject of Studio 54, Empire Projecting Penny (Oh, come on now) funk like a sexy machine in a sort of ZE Records meets Rick James; time to freak man!

And it keeps comin’ as The Two Tons (no Fun) depend on us and Sheryl Lee Ralph’s evening is full of magic that wouldn’t be out of place on the ‘revival’ Fame soundtrack with the dodgy guitar solo.

‘Danger’ goes gloriously overboard on the vocals (with questionable lyrics) and big strings to match whilst ‘(Got My) Dancing Shoes’ isn’t that far away from the dreaded Tina Charles (as previously maligned in the introduction to Disco Discharge : Disco Classics); in my defence, I was stuck at a party once with the session drummer on that one that’s always left me with a bit of a phobia. And as a further health warning, Plaza turn out to be mid-70s jazz rock stalwarts Karl Jenkins, Mike Ratledge and Mike Thorne turning their hands to disco in 1979!

So TJM is disco vet Tom Moulton and as we get to the big finish, be prepared for the big horns of The Richard Hewson Orchestra before Laura Green sounds like an uptempo Ertha Kit working for the Manhattan tourist board and Fern Kinney (she of ‘Together We Are Beautiful’) gets closest to a ‘Love Me Tonight’ before we throw our hands in the air and ‘Let It Flow’.

Like other recent Strut compilations, CD2 is the unmixed version and it’s going to be welded to me for quite some time as it’s essential as water.

Reviewed: Various - Horse Meat Disco (Strut) Cat. No: STRUT046CD Release date: July 2009
Tracklisting - CD1 Mixed By James Hillard, Jim Stanton, Severino & Luke Howard
1-01 Ribs 303 - Phone Message (1:32)
1-02 Karen Young - Deetour (Party Mix) (5:41)
1-03 Eddie Drennon - Disco Jam (5:20)
1-04 Empire Projecting Penny - Freakman (5:13)
1-05 Smokey Robinson - And I Don’t Love You (Larry Levan Instrumental Dub) (3:40)
1-06 K.I.D. - Hupendi Muziki Wangu?! (You Don’t Like My Music) (6:08)
1-07 Gino Soccio - It’s Alright (5:55)
1-08 The Two Tons, The* I Depend On You (5:00)
1-09 Sheryl Lee Ralph In The Evening (6:08)
1-10 Gregg Diamond Danger (5:10)
1-11 Plaza - (Got My) Dancing Shoes (4:33)
1-12 TJM - Put Yourself In My Place (4:16)
1-13 The Richard Hewson Orchestra - Love Bite (3:52)
1-14 Laura Greene - Manhattan (4:55)
1-15 Fern Kinney - Love Me Tonight (4:23)
1-16 Tamiko Jones - Let It Flow (6:05)
CD2 Unmixed
2-01 Karen Young - Deetour (Party Mix) (8:15)
2-02 Smokey Robinson - And I Don’t Love You (Larry Levan Instrumental Dub) (6:16)
2-03 Empire, Projecting Penny - Freakman (6:33)
2-04 Eddie Drennon - Disco Jam (6:03)
2-05 Richard Hewson Orchestra - Love Bite (4:37)
2-06 K.I.D. - Hupendi Muziki Wangu?! (You Don’t Like My Music) (8:46)
2-07 Gino Soccio - It’s Alright (7:06)
2-08 Two Tons, The - I Depend On You (5:42)
2-09 Plaza - (Got My) Dancing Shoes (6:27)
2-10 Gregg Diamond - Danger (5:37)
2-11 Sheryl Lee Ralph - In The Evening (6:19)
2-12 Tamiko Jones - Let It Flow (6:50)

Links:
www.strut-records.com
www.myspace.com/strutrecords
www.myspace.com/filthyluka
www.afroartrecords.com/luke.html
www.phonicarecords.co.uk