Various Artists - Tribal Rites Of The New Saturday Night: Brooklyn Disco 1974-5 (2023)

EU import

From the back CD insert of this compilation from Ace Records:

In 1975, writer Nik Cohn investigated the burgeoning discotheque scene in Brooklyn for New York magazine; two years later, his feature would be filmed as Saturday Night Fever. These are the records Cohn heard in those dark dance dens - irresistible R&B and soul, disco, before it was disco.

Click the magazine cover below to read Cohn's (fictional) article from the June 7, 1976 issue of New York magazine:

Wisely, in addition to copping the article's title, the CD cover utilizes the magazine's illustration by James McMullan.

This compilation hearkens back to a time when DJs went out and found the music to play; dancers went out and found the clubs. In the early seventies, the disco was the venue and not a genre of music. It's always a pleasure to discover new-to-me disco music, perhaps the most joyous music ever produced. Pairs well with Super Rare Disco, Volumes One and Two.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks with peak positions on the Billboard dance chart (to be fair, some of the tracks here weren't released as singles or were b-sides. Plus, Billboard first published a dance chart in the issue dated October 26, 1974; some tracks were released prior to that date):

Song	Artist	Year	Dance
Helplessly	Moment Of Truth	1975	3
After You've Had Your Fling (Get Down To the Real Thing)	The Intrepids	1975	-
Welcome To The Club	Blue Magic	1974	-
I Can't Move No Mountains	Margie Joseph	1975	-
Supernatural Thing (Pt. 1)	Ben E King	1975	-
Mellow Me	Faith Hope & Charity	1975	18
Georgia's After Hours	Richard "Popcorn" Wylie	1975	-
Date With The Rain	Eddie Kendricks	1972	-
Just As Long As We're Together (In My Life There Will Never Be Another)	Gloria Scott	1974	14
Wendy Is Gone	Ronnie McNeir	1974	-
Got To Get You Back	Sons Of Robin Stone	1973	-
Night Of The Wolf (Tema Del Lupo)	Ivano Fossati	1973	-
Good Things Don't Last Forever	Ecstacy, Passion & Pain	1974	-
Tell Me What You Want	Jimmy Ruffin	1974	5
Keep It Up	Betty Everett	1975	-
Free & Easy	Satyr	1975	-
Each Morning I Wake Up	The Major Harris Boogie Blues Band	1974	14
It's The Same Old Story	Act I	1974	-
You Can't Hide Love	Creative Source	1973	-
The Whole Damn World Is Going Crazy	John Gary Williams	1974	-
If That's The Way You Feel (Then Let's Fall In Love)	White Heat	1975	-
Wake Up Everybody	Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes	1975	-

According to my ear, the two tunes with which I was familiar prior to this CD purchase were Jimmy Ruffin's Tell Me What You Want as well as the final cut, Wake Up Everybody. While it's all very good and a great way to spend 76 minutes, my top picks today are I Can't Move No Mountains, Date With The Rain, Just As Long As We're Together, Good Things Don't Last Forever, If That's The Way You Feel, and the high energy instrumental, Night Of The Wolf. The set also includes a cover of Earth Wind & Fire's You Can't Hide Love that I wish I'd heard years ago.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None