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The first volume, across 30 tracks on 2-LPs, pressed on 1 Green and 1 Blue vinyl, presents the best in HI-NRG and POP.
Originating in U.S. gay clubs in the late 1970s and early 1980s, this up-tempo Disco, often with synth-driven electronic instrumentation and characterised by a pulsating rhythm and it’s unrelenting beat became hugely popular in the charts of the mid-80s. The then new production and writing team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, produced their first #1 - for Dead Or Alive with ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’, a huge hit for Hazell Dean with ‘Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)’, and crucially ‘You Think You’re A Man’ for Divine – which, courtesy of a truly fabulous ‘Top Of The Pops’ appearance, brought this underground genre in to the living-rooms of ‘80s Britain. DJ and producer Ian Levine created a huge anthem with Evelyn Thomas’ ‘High Energy’ and popularised hot U.S. club tracks through his Record Shack label, and Jimmy Somerville enjoyed massive chart success as part of Bronski Beat, who with Marc Almond covered ‘I Feel Love’, the 1977 Donna Summer classic, often cited as the influence and basis for ‘Hi-NRG’, and as the lead singer of The Communards, who had the best-selling single in 1986 with their energised cover of the Disco standard ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’.
Essential Hi-NRG club tracks are included from Barbara Pennington, Miquel Brown, and Sheryl Lee Ralph. Established club hitmakers Boys Town Gang, Man 2 Man and The Weather Girls all enjoyed huge crossover chart hits. By the late ‘80s, Stock, Aitken & Waterman produced classics of the genre for Bananarama and Donna Summer, whilst using components of Hi-NRG to create pure Pop smashes for Kylie Minogue and Mel & Kim.
Hi-NRG influenced Pop consistently produced some of the decades’ biggest Dance tracks including ‘Relax’ from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Bananarama’s ‘Venus’, the sublime ‘Voyage Voyage’ from Desireless, London Boys’ ‘Requiem’, ‘Tell It To My Heart’ by Taylor Dayne, and Sinitta’s ‘So Macho’ – plus established artists enjoyed huge floor-filling hits including ‘Jump (For My Love)’ from The Pointer Sisters, Kim Wilde with ‘You Keep Me Hangin On’, and the incredible Pet Shop Boys produced ‘Losing My Mind’ by Liza Minnelli, whilst a fusion of styles created irrepressible Pop-Dance smashes from Malcolm McLaren, Laura Branigan, Sabrina and Maria Vidal.
The influence of Disco was pervasive across many genres during the 1980s – but Disco itself was far from over. It evolved throughout the decade, often in conjunction with other genres, in particular Electronic Dance Music. So stay tuned, as the next journey back to the 80s Dancefloor is all about DISCO & ELECTRO!
Tracklist
LP1 – SIDE A
1. The Communards with Sarah Jane Morris - Don’t Leave Me This Way
2. Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
3. Hazell Dean - Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)
4. Bananarama - Love In The First Degree
5. The Weather Girls - It's Raining Men
6. Barbara Pennington - All American Boy
7. Boys Town Gang - Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
8. Donna Summer - Love's About To Change My Heart (PWL 7” Mix)
LP1 – SIDE B
1. Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax
2. Malcolm McLaren - Double Dutch
3. Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hangin On
4. Desireless – Voyage Voyage (PWL Britmix)
5. Liza Minnelli - Losing My Mind
6. London Boys – Requiem
7. Laura Branigan - Shattered Glass
LP2 – SIDE A
1. Evelyn Thomas - High Energy
2. Hazell Dean - Searchin' (I Gotta Find A Man)
3. Sheryl Lee Ralph - In The Evening
4. Miquel Brown - So Many Men, So Little Time
5. Divine - You Think You’re A Man
6. Man 2 Man – Male Stripper
7. Bronski Beat with Marc Almond - I Feel Love / Johnny Remember Me
LP2 – SIDE B
1. Bananarama - Venus
2. Mel & Kim – Respectable
3. Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky
4. Sabrina - Boys (Summertime Love)
5. Sinitta - So Macho
6. Maria Vidal - Body Rock
7. The Pointer Sisters - Jump (For My Love)
8. Taylor Dayne - Tell It To My Heart