VA - Disco Fever, The 154 Greatest Disco Anthems of All Time [2024] (14CD)

Genre: Disco
Codek: MP3@320

Track lists:
CD01:
01. Love Unlimited Orchestra - Love's Theme (Disco Purrfection Version) 6:56
02. Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive (Original 1978 12" Extended Version) 8:01
03. Chic - Le Freak (Original 1978 12" Single Version) 5:29
04. Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive (Original 1977 12" Promo Extended Special Disco Version) 6:56
05. Donna Summer - I Feel Love (Original 1977 12" Special Disco Version) 8:15
06. The Trammps - Disco Inferno (Original 1976 Full-Length Album Version) 10:53
07. Village People - Y.M.C.A. (Original 1978 7" Single Version) 3:43
08. Donna Summer - Love to Love You Baby (Original 1975 Full-Length Album Version) 16:53
09. Evelyn "Champagne" King - Shame (Original 1977 12" Extended Version) 6:35
10. The Pointer Sisters - I'm So Excited (Original 1982 12" Mix) 5:40

CD02:
11. KC and the Sunshine Band - That's the Way (I Like It) (Original 1975 Full-Length Album Version) 5:06
12. Amii Stewart - Knock on Wood (Original 1978 12" Version) 6:52
13. Patrick Hernandez - Born to Be Alive (Original 1978 12" Extended Version) 7:29
14. Bee Gees - Night Fever (Original 1977 12" Promo Extended Special Disco Version) 4:48
15. Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way (Original 1976 Full-Length Album Version) 5:44
16. Tavares - Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel (Original 1976 Full-Length Album Version) 6:34
17. The S.O.S. Band - Take Your Time (Do It Right) (Original 1980 12" Long Version) 7:42
18. Kool & the Gang - Celebration (Original 1980 12" Version) 4:58
19. Diana Ross - Love Hangover (Original 1976 Full-Length Album Version) 7:46
20. Donna Summer - Hot Stuff (Original 1979 12" Extended Mix) 6:41
21. Michael Zager Band - Let's All Chant (Original 1977 12" Disco Version) 6:50
22. A Taste of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie (Original 1978 Full-Length Album Version) 5:38

CD03:
23. KC and the Sunshine Band - Get Down Tonight (Original 1975 Full-Length Album Version) 5:20
24. Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony - The Hustle (Disco Purrfection Version) 7:25
25. Lou Rawls - You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine (A Tom Moulton Mix) 9:58
26. Kool & the Gang - Ladies' Night (Original 1979 Full-Length Album Version) 6:25
27. Vicki Sue Robinson - Turn the Beat Around (Original 1976 Full-Length Album Version) 5:35
28. Gloria Gaynor - Never Can Say Goodbye (Original 1974 Full-Length Album Version) 6:22
29. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - The Love I Lost (Original 1973 Full-Length Album Version) 6:25
30. New York City - I'm Doing Fine Now (Tom Moulton Remix) 8:20
31. Barry White - Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe (Original 1974 Full-Length Album Version) 4:31
32. Alicia Bridges - I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round) (Original 1978 Full-Length Album Version) 5:35
33. Sister Sledge - We Are Family (Original 1979 Full-Length Album Version) 8:22
34. Rose Royce - Wishing on a Star (Original 1978 Full-Length Album Version) 4:50

CD04:
35. Earth, Wind & Fire - September (Disco Purrfection Version) 7:36
36. Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (Original 1979 Full-Length Album Version) 6:03
37. Rick James - Give It to Me Baby (Original 1981 12" Extended Mix) 5:42
38. Edwin Starr - Contact (Original 1978 12" Special Mix) 7:16
39. Blondie - Heart of Glass (Original 1979 12" Disco Version) 5:57
40. Donna Summer - Bad Girls (Original 1979 Album Version) 4:55
41. Chic - Good Times (Original 1979 Full-Length Album Version) 8:10
42. Andrea True Connection - More, More, More (Original 1975 Tom Moulton 12" Mix) 6:16
43. The Weather Girls - It's Raining Men (Original 1982 12" Extended Mix) 5:28
44. Earth, Wind & Fire - Let's Groove (Original 1981 Full-Length Album Version) 5:39
45. Sister Sledge - He's the Greatest Dancer (Disco Purrfection Version) 12:28

CD05:
46. Barry White - You're the First, the Last, My Everything (Original 1974 Full-Length Album Version) 4:34
47. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - Bad Luck (A Tom Moulton Mix) 8:01
48. MFSB feat. The Three Degrees - TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia) (Original 1974 12" Extended Version) 5:49
49. First Choice - Smarty Pants (Tom Moulton Extended Mix) 5:17
50. ABBA - Dancing Queen (Original 1976 7" Single Version) 3:53
51. Bee Gees - You Should Be Dancing (Original 1977 12" Promo Extended Special Disco Version) 4:46
52. Tavares - More Than a Woman (Original 1977 7" Single Version) 3:17
53. Silver Convention - Fly, Robin, Fly (Original 1975 12" Extended DIsco Version) 7:44
54. Anita Ward - Ring My Bell (Original 1979 12" Midnight Mix) 8:09
55. Cheryl Lynn - Got to Be Real (Original 1978 12" Version) 5:08
56. Earth, Wind & Fire feat. The Emotions - Boogie Wonderland (Original 1979 12" Special Disco Version) 8:15
57. KC and the Sunshine Band - (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty (Disco Purrfection Version) 8:13

CD06:
58. Patrice Rushen - Forget Me Nots (Original 1982 12" Special Dance Mix) 7:14
59. Sheila and B. Devotion - Spacer (Original 1980 Full-Length Album Version) 6:13
60. Odyssey - Native New Yorker (Original 1977 12" Disco Mix) 5:33
61. First Choice - The Player (Original 1974 Full-Length Album Version) 7:15
62. Boney M. - Daddy Cool (Original 1976 7" Single Version) 3:28
63. The Hues Corporation - Rock the Boat (Disco Purrfection Version) 8:22
64. The O'Jays - Love Train (A Tom Moulton Mix) 6:16
65. The Trammps - Hold Back the Night (Extended Mix) 8:55
66. Barry White - You See the Trouble with Me (Magnums Extended Mix v2) 6:55
67. The Rolling Stones - Miss You (Original 1978 Bob Clearmountain 12" Special Disco Version) 8:35
68. Grace Jones - Pull Up to the Bumper (Original 1981 12" Long Version) 5:46

CD07:
69. ABBA - Lay All Your Love on Me (1981 12" A Raul Dance Mix) 7:47
70. Lipps Inc. - Funkytown (Original 1980 12" Version) 7:49
71. Diana Ross - Upside Down (Original 1980 Album Version) 4:04
72. Stephanie Mills - Never Knew Love Like This Before (Original 1980 12" Mix) 5:26
73. McFadden & Whitehead - Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now (Original 1979 12" Disco Version) 10:42
74. Yvonne Elliman - If I Can't Have You (Disco Purrfection Version) 9:26
75 Gladys Knight & the Pips - Baby, Don't Change Your Mind (Magnums Extended Mix) 6:25
76. Madonna - Holiday (Original 1983 Full-Length Album Version) 6:07
77. Stacy Lattisaw - Jump to the Beat (Original 1980 12" Version) 5:17
78. Evelyn "Champagne" King - Love Come Down (Original 1982 12" Version) 6:13
79. Karen Young - Hot Shot (Original 1978 12" Vocal Version) 8:36

CD08:
80. The Jacksons - Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) (Original 1979 12" John Luongo Disco Mix) 8:38
81. Prince - 1999 (Original 1982 Full-Length Album Version) 6:19
82. Donna Summer-MacArthur Park Suite: MacArthur Park / One of a Kind / Heaven Knows / MacArthur Park Reprise (Original 1978 12" Single Sided Promo Version) 17:35
83. Marvin Gaye - Got to Give It Up (Part 1 & Part 2) (Original 1977 12" Full-Length Promo Single Version) 11:55
84. Eddie Kendricks - Girl You Need a Change of Mind (Original 1972 Full-Length Album Version) 7:32
85. Double Exposure - Ten Percent (Original 1976 Walter Gibbons 12" Disco Mix) 9:43
86. The Spinners - The Rubberband Man (Original 1976 Full-Length Album Version) 7:24
87. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - Satisfaction Guaranteed (or Take You Love Back) (Morning Star Re-Edit) 7:23

CD09:
88. Al Downing - I'll Be Holding On (Original 1974 Tom Moulton 12" Disco Mix) 5:35
89. First Choice - Armed and Extremely Dangerous (A Tom Moulton Mix) 6:35
90. The Three Degrees - When Will I See You Again (A Tom Moulton Mix) 5:53
91. Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free (Mike Maurro 1976 12" Disco Remix) 6:33
92. The Emotions - Best of My Love (Original 1977 7" Single Version) 3:37
93. Shirley & Company - Shame, Shame, Shame (Original 1974 Single/Instrumental Version) 8:37
94. Loleatta Holloway - Love Sensation (Original 1980 Tom Moulton 12" Mix) 6:33
95. The Three Degrees - Giving Up, Giving In (Original 1978 12" Disco Single Version) 6:10
96. Viola Wills - Gonna Get Along Without You Now (Original 1979 12" Long Version) 5:26
97. Tamiko Jones - Let It Flow (Original 1976 Tom Moulton 12" Mix) 6:49
98. Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting (Disco Purrfection Version) 6:06
99. George McCrae - Rock Your Baby (Original 1974 Full-Length Album Version) 6:25

CD10:
100. Barry White - Never, Never Gonna Give You Up (Original 1973 Full-Length Album Version) 7:52
101. The Detroit Emeralds - Feel the Need (A Tom Moulton Mix) 7:04
102. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (Original 1983 12" Version) 6:23
103. Rick James - Super Freak (Original 1981 12" Disco Mix) 7:05
104. D Train - You're the One for Me (Original 1981 Vocal Version 12" Mix) 6:57
105. Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music (Original 1976 Album Version) 4:58
106. Average White Band - Pick Up the Pieces (Original 1974 Album Version) 3:58
107. Brass Construction - Movin' (Original 1975 Full-Length Album Version) 8:41
108. The Four Seasons - December, '63 (Oh, What a Night) (Disco Purrfection Version) 7:34
109. First Choice - Doctor Love (Tom Moulton Unreleased 12" Mix) 7:44
110. Sister Sledge - Thinking of You (Original 1979 Album Version) 4:28
111. Chic - I Want Your Love (Original 1978 Full-Length Album Version) 6:54

CD11:
112. Carol Douglas - Doctor's Orders (1974 Extended Version) 5:28
113. 5000 Volts feat. Tina Charles - I'm on Fire (Disco Purrfection Version) 6:58
114. Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing (Original 1975 7" Single Version) 4:02
115. Johnnie Taylor - Disco Lady (Original 1976 Album Version) 4:27
116. The O'Jays - I Love Music (A Tom Moulton Mix) 9:44
117. The Intruders - I'll Always Love My Mama (A Tom Moulton Mix 12" Promo Version) 9:49
118. MFSB feat. The Three Degrees - Love Is the Message (A Tom Moulton Mix) 11:24
119. The Crusaders feat. Randy Crawford - Street Life (Original 1979 12" Full-Length U.S. Disco Mix) 7:48
120. Manu Dibango - Soul Makossa (Original 1972 Non-Edited Single Version) 4:25
121. Roy Ayers feat. Ubiquity - Running Away (Original 1977 12" Long Version] 6:56
122. People's Choice - Do It Anyway You Wanna (A Tom Moulton Mix) 5:37

CD12:
123. Rose Royce - Car Wash (Original 1976 Full-Length Album Version) 5:08
124. Jackie Moore - This Time Baby (Original 1979 Special 12" Disco Version) 7:14
125. Dan Hartman - Instant Replay (Original 1978 Tom Moulton Special Disco Version 12" Mix) 8:20
126. Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) (Original 1978 12" Disco Version) 6:32
127. Narada Michael Walden - I Shoulda Loved Ya (Original 1979 Full-Length Album Version) 6:38
128. Yarbrough & Peoples - Don't Stop the Music (Original 1980 12" Long Version) 7:50
129. The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight (Original 1979 Sugar Hill Records 12" Long Version) 14:34
130. Blondie - Rapture (Original 1981 12" Special Disco Mix) 9:59
131. Indeep - Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life (Original 1982 12" Version) 5:40
132. Boney M. - Ma Baker (Original 1977 7" Single Version) 4:35

CD13:
133. Joe Tex - Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman) (Original 1977 12" Single Version) 6:42
134. Labelle - Lady Marmalade (Disco Purrfection Version) 7:57
135. The Blackbyrds - Walking in Rhythm (Disco Purrfection Version) 7:42
136. Jigsaw - Sky High (Disco Purrfection Version) 8:14
137. Boney M. - Sunny (Disco Purrfection Version) 8:32
138. Maxine Nightingale - Right Back Where We Started From (Disco Purrfection Version) 7:38
139. Donna Summer - Love's Unkind (Original 1977 7" Single Version) 4:26
140. Chic - Everybody Dance (Original 1978 12" Mix) 8:28
141. Sister Sledge - Lost in Music (Original 1979 Album Version) 4:41
142. Commodores - Brick House (Original 1977 12" Special Length Disco Version) 6:11
143. The Whispers - And the Beat Goes On (Original 1979 12" Long Version) 7:34

CD14:
144. George Benson - Give Me the Night (Original 1980 12" Long Version) 4:58
145. Quincy Jones - Ai No Corrida (Disco Purrfection Version) 9:46
146. Gonzalez - Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet (Original 1977 12" Disco Single Version) 7:58
147. Foxy - Get Off (Original 1978 Special 12" Disco Remix) 5:44
148. Musique - In the Bush (Original 1978 12" Special Disco Remix by Francois K) 7:33
149. Lime - Babe, We're Gonna Love Tonite (Original 1982 12" Single Version) 6:53
150. Cerrone - Supernature (Original 1977 Full-Length Album Version) 9:44
151. Rose Royce - Is It Love You're After (Original 1979 12" Extended Version) 5:50
152. Silver Convention - Get Up and Boogie (Original 1976 12" Disco Version) 7:52
153. Heatwave - Boogie Nights (Original 1976 Full-Length Album Version) 5:02
154. Donna Summer - Last Dance (Original 1978 12" Disco Remix Version) 8:10


Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars.

Since this year (2024) is the 50th anniversary of when disco music really took off in 1974 and started to become mainstream, I decided to revisit my previous compilation and completely rebuild it from scratch and replace many tracks with far superior, better quality, sharper, highly detailed, brighter sounding remasters, with a considerable amount mastered from the original master tapes, plus expanding the collection by over 50 songs.

Yes, there were a few songs released in 1972 and 1973 which were really the precursor to disco as we know it, but it was 1974 where the genre really took off with smash hits such as 'Rock the Boat' by the Hues Corporation, 'Rock Your Baby' by George McCrae, and 'Never Can Say Goodbye' by Gloria Gaynor.

Disco music was initially called discotheque music. Early mainstream disco hits on the American pop charts included "The Love I Lost" by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (released December 1973), "Rock the Boat" by the Hues Corporation (released February 1974 on their "Freedom for the Stallion" album and released as a single in May 1974), "T.S.O.P." by MFSB and the Three Degrees (on the January 1974 MFSB album "Love is the Message" and released as a single in March 1974), and "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae (released July 1974). The first #1 song on the American Disco chart upon its debut on November 2, 1974, was "Never Can Say Goodbye" by Gloria Gaynor.

Disco started as a mixture of music from venues popular among African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, gay Americans, and Italian Americans in Philadelphia and New York City during the late 1960s to early 1970s. Disco can be seen as a reaction by the 1960s counterculture to both the dominance of rock music and the stigmatization of dance music at the time. Several dance styles were developed during the period of 70s disco's popularity in the United States, including "the Bump", "the Hustle", "the Watergate", and "the Busstop".

In the course of the 1970s, disco music was developed further, mainly by artists from the United States and Europe. Well-known artists included the Bee Gees, ABBA, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, Giorgio Moroder, Boney M., Earth, Wind & Fire, Chic, KC and the Sunshine Band, Thelma Houston, Sister Sledge, Sylvester, The Trammps, Diana Ross, Kool & the Gang, and the Village People.

Manu Dibango's 'Soul Makossa' was the first disco or discotheque record, in part because it wasn't obviously a disco record yet nevertheless brought the phenomenon into focus.

'Soul Makossa' created a storm when David Mancuso started to play it at The Loft. Other DJs started to play it as well. Then dancers went out looking to buy it. The interest resulted in 'Soul Makossa' being the first record to enter the Billboard Hot 100 thanks to play by party DJs, because the record entered the charts without receiving any play on US radio. In this sense, 'Soul Makossa' is the first discotheque record, or is the first record that was indelibly associated with the discotheque dance floor and the new array of sounds that, when recurring elements were merged together, would go on to be the foundation of disco.

Eddie Kendricks' 'Girl You Need a Change of Mind' a gorgeous song from the album People... Hold On is also often cited as the ground zero of disco. 'Girl You Need a Change of Mind' is the prototype. The elements to it are a gospel influence, the way it's arranged (by Frank Wilson), the use of strings, the breakdown and buildup (which is straight out of the church). There was never anything prior to that that covers so much of what this song does in terms of structure and template.

While performers garnered public attention, record producers working behind the scenes played an important role in developing the genre. By the late 1970s, most major U.S. cities had thriving disco club scenes, and DJs would mix dance records at clubs such as Studio 54 in Manhattan, a venue popular among celebrities. Nightclub-goers often wore expensive, extravagant outfits, consisting predominantly of loose, flowing pants or dresses for ease of movement while dancing. There was also a thriving drug subculture in the disco scene, particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights, such as cocaine and quaaludes, the latter being so common in disco subculture that they were nicknamed "disco biscuits". Disco clubs were also associated with promiscuity as a reflection of the sexual revolution of this era in popular history. Films such as Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Thank God It's Friday (1978) contributed to disco's mainstream popularity.

The "disco sound" was much more costly to produce than many of the other popular music genres from the 1970s. Unlike the simpler, four-piece-band sound of funk, soul music of the late 1960s or the small jazz organ trios, disco music often included a large band, with several chordal instruments (guitar, keyboards, synthesizer), several drum or percussion instruments (drum kit, Latin percussion, electronic drums), a horn section, a string orchestra, and a variety of "classical" solo instruments (for example, flute, piccolo, and so on).

Disco songs were arranged and composed by experienced arrangers and orchestrators, and record producers added their creative touches to the overall sound using multitrack recording techniques and effects units. Recording complex arrangements with such a large number of instruments and sections required a team that included a conductor, copyists, record producers, and mixing engineers. Mixing engineers had an important role in the disco production process because disco songs used as many as 64 tracks of vocals and instruments. Mixing engineers and record producers, under the direction of arrangers, compiled these tracks into a fluid composition of verses, bridges, and refrains, complete with builds and breaks. Mixing engineers and record producers helped to develop the "disco sound" by creating a distinctive-sounding, sophisticated disco mix.

Thomas Jerome Moulton (born November 29, 1940) is an American record producer. He experimented with remixes in disco music, and this led to its wide adoption as a standard practice in the industry. He also invented the breakdown section, and the twelve-inch single vinyl format in the process.

Early records were the "standard" three-minute version until Tom Moulton came up with a way to make songs longer so that he could take a crowd of dancers at a club to another level and keep them dancing longer. He found that it was impossible to make the 45-RPM vinyl singles of the time longer, as they could usually hold no more than five minutes of good-quality music. With the help of José Rodriguez, his remaster/mastering engineer, he pressed a single on a 10" disc instead of 7". They cut the next single on a 12" disc, the same format as a standard album. Moulton and Rodriguez discovered that these larger records could have much longer songs and remixes. 12" single records, also known as "Maxi singles", quickly became the standard format for all DJs of the disco genre.

The large-format single record was Moulton’s creation. When pressing an acetate (a demo record) of Al Downing’s “I’ll Be Holding On” for Chess Records executives, the engineer ran out of 7-inch blanks. He ended up pressing the single on a 12-inch record instead.

Moulton didn’t like how the record looked, though - there was an ocean of unused space on the edges. So he asked mastering engineer José Rodriguez to boost the volume and dynamics as much as possible to fill more of the 12-inch record. He ended up creating a better-sounding and louder product, which ended up being the standard for nightclub DJs.

“Of course, when I heard it, I almost died,” he told DJhistory.com. “And at that time, there were only about seven- or eight-disc jockeys around, and I used to see them on Fridays, and I would give them acetates.”

After catching on at clubs, the 12-inch format was introduced commercially with the song “Ten Percent” by Double Exposure.

Moulton continued innovating for the rest of his career. He produced three albums for Grace Jones in the late 1970s and put out a couple of records under his own name. He also tackled the expansive Motown catalog, too, proving that he wasn’t limited to thumping disco beats. Moulton once estimated that he’s mixed more than 4,000 separate songs, and various record labels have put together boxed set compilations of his work. In recent years, he’s given extensive interviews about his history and philosophy - simply, he puts the song above all else.

And, in 2004 he was inducted with the first class into the Dance Music Hall of Fame along with superstar producer Giorgio Moroder and the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer.

So, next time you’re grooving along to a sprawling, 12-minute remix of your favorite song, remember you have Tom Moulton to thank.