Do you know how to do the hustle? Does your heart beat a little faster at the sight of a glittering disco ball? Do you prefer your dance music to combine its beats and rhythms with heart and soul, to be more than an electronic sledgehammer with little room for true emotion? If your answer to some or all of those questions is yes, then chances are you would also agree that the best era of modern dance music was the 70s - the Disco Years. You would probably also support the argument that just a glance at the track listing for Disco Fever's dance-a-licious beats and funk-tastic rhythms is enough to silence any argument against such a claim. For this collection is nothing less than a one-stop provider of the greatest hits of that most magical era in dance music, when pounding bass lines, pulsating drum beats, inventive musical arrangements and soulful singing combined to command even the most reluctant of hoofers to strut their stuff.

The boogie across the dance floor begins with a look at how the whole thing got started. There was no official birth of disco music - it was more a matter of several different strands in popular culture converging at a seminal moment in time. As the '60s were shifting into the '70s, soul music was gaining a harder edge and a more insistent beat. At the same time, New York clubs such as the Loft, headed by legendary DJ David Mancuso, and Nicky Siano's the Gallery were attracting ever-larger crowds. Spinning a record on a turntable was turning into an art form, and dancers responded by staying on the dance floor all night long. Quite simply, the discothéque was the place to be.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, disco was about to claim a musical birth of sorts. With writing and producing teams such as Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff at the helm, a sound called Philly soul had by the early '70s grown to be the most dominant and influential force on the soul scene, sending hit after hit to the top of the charts. Marrying the new hard-edged beat with lush strings and grandiose orchestral arrangements, Philly soul provided the blueprints for the soulfulness, the elegance and energy that was to become the trademark of disco.

Naturally, several Philly soul classics are featured throughout this volume, including one of its most recognizable anthems, I Love Music (Part 1) a No. 1 R&B and No. 5 pop hit for the O'Jays in 1975. The vocal trio, one of the most successful of the '70s, had been around since the late '50s in various configurations. However, it wasn't until they signed with Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International label in the '70s that the O'Jays garnered their first significant hits. They achieved their only pop No. 1 in 1973 with the infectious cattle call Love Train - a true disco prototype that was, like most of their big hits, written and produced by Gamble and Huff.

The other major Philly soul writer-producer was Thom Bell. Although he played an important part in shaping Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International hit factory sound, he also produced acts on other labels, masterminding triumphs from such groups as the Delphonics and the Stylistics. Some of his biggest successes came with the Spinners, on the Atlantic label. Before teaming up with Bell, the Spinners had been signed to Motown, being one of that label's acts whose career never seemed to take off. On the recommendation of no less an authority than the soul queen Aretha Franklin, the group moved to Atlantic, at which time they also gained a new lead singer, Philippe Wynne. Under Bell's guidance they notched up a string of hits, the peak pop achievement being their duet with Dionne Warwick on Then Came You (No. 2 R&B, No. 1 pop). The Spinners chart success continued right up until the tail end of the disco era, by which time they had gained yet another lead singer, John Edwards, as well as a new producer, Michael Zager - himself a notable figure on the disco scene with the Michael Zager Band. Under his guidance, the Spinners scored a pop No. 2 hit with a medley of Working My Way Back to You, originally a 1966 hit for the 4 Seasons, and Zager's own brand new composition Forgive Me, Girl.

Down the coast in the town of Hialeah, Florida, other pioneering steps were being taken within the world of disco music. At T.K. Records, run by Henry Stone, two ambitious young men named Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch were employed. Fooling around in the studio late one night in 1974, they concocted a rhythmic backing track for a new song they had written - and everybody involved instantly recognized that they had a winner on their hands. Once lyrics had been added, the song was given to singer George McCrae and the result was Rock Your Baby, a pop and R&B No. 1 smash in the summer of 1974. With its dry but highly percussive rhythm-box sound, it is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential songs in the history of disco music.

Casey and Finch had achieved the break they were after, and went on to top that triumph with the five No. 1 pop hits scored by their own musical congregation, the remarkably lively KC and the Sunshine Band - naturally named after lead singer Casey. Their first pop chart entry was also their first No. 1 hit, Get Down Tonight, in August 1975. Three months later they scored another chart-topping success with That's the Way (I Like It), certainly one of the most instantly recognizable disco records - its "uh-huh, uh-huh" chorus a strong contender for the title Catchiest Hook in Popular Music History.

By the end of the 70s, a New York-based writing and producing team had taken over as lead disco masterminds. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards were not only the core members of their own musical group but achieved spectacular success with their songs for many other artists as well. It was in 1977 that the pair teamed up with drummer Tony Thompson and female vocalists Norma Jean Wright and Alfa Anderson to form Chic, sporting an image that was as stylish as their name. The band's success was immediate: the very first Chic single, Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah), became a top 10 pop and R&B hit. Soon afterwards, Wright left for a solo career, replaced by Luci Martin, and Chic scored an even bigger triumph with Le Freak. The single spent a spectacular six weeks at the top of the pop charts and five atop the R&B charts in 1978, shifting over four million copies to become Atlantic Records' biggest-selling single ever. Incidentally, "freak out!" replaced a different term in the original lyrics. This celebration of the hedonistic atmosphere at the famous disco Studio 54 actually began as a significantly less celebratory piece of music, after Rodgers and Edwards failed to be recognized by bouncers one night and were denied entrance to the club.

After the success of Le Freak, Rodgers and Edwards were clearly on a roll. It was hardly surprising, then, that other artists wanted to experience their golden touch. Their most successful collaboration was perhaps with Sister Sledge. The four sisters - Debbie, Kim, Joni and Kathy - had been recording since the early '70s without achieving any major hits. That situation was turned around completely in 1979, when the very first single spawned by the partnership, He's the Greatest Dancer (No. 1 R&B, No. 9 pop), provided an exceptionally convincing start, further strengthened by the second single, We Are Family (No. 1 R&B, No. 2 pop). Few would dispute that both tracks belong at the very top of any list of all-time disco classics. "We Are Family was written for us by Nile and Bernard," recalled Debbie Sledge. "It summed up what they thought about us when they met us. It described our close relationship as sisters but also spoke of bonding in whatever situation." The incredibly catchy song was carried forward by the trademark Chic sound of Thompson's elegant drumming, Edwards' ingenious bass lines and Rodgers' percussive guitar playing. Its message of optimism and strength through unity transcended the Sledge family unit, striking a chord with listeners everywhere.

And that's what disco music seemed to do all over the planet by the end of the 70s. It had become the beat of the decade, influencing everyone who had anything to do with the world of music. This volume of Disco Fever alone contains no less than 12 No. 1 pop hits and 15 No. 1 R&B hits, and plenty more that peaked just a notch or two below the summit. That goes some way to proving how significant these songs were at the time, but even more astounding is the fact that three decades later these rhythmic confections sound just as fresh and irresistible as they did when they first enticed dancers to get up and boogie. They guaranteed a great party then—and still do today!

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