Disco emerged from the fall-out of the Black Power Movement and an almost exclusively gay scene in a blaze of poppers, strobe lights, tight trousers, hysterical diva vocals and synthesized beats in the late sixties. Drawing on the music of Sly Stone and Parliament- Funkadelic, and the ethos of pleasure-is-politics, disco was the first musical form to explore the relationship between the machine and the body, and consequently became the progenitor of house, hip hop and techno. As such, and as a genre, disco radically redefined the sensibility of the seventies to the extent where reactionary rockers felt the need to launch a paranoid 'Disco Sucks' campaign at the end of the decade. Featuring artists like Chic, Sylvester, Donna Summer, Larry Levan and Frank Grasso, as well as a discussion of the clubs and labels that defined the period, Turn the Beat Around illustrates how and why disco changed the face of popular culture for ever.
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Excellent. Leaves no doubt that disco lives at the heart of recent music history. -- Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster, authors of Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
Riveting, powerful, and essential. -- Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop, Won't Stop
Riveting, powerful, and essential. -- Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop, Won't Stop
Book Description
A seminal popular culture book on a much maligned genre -- D.I.S.C.O!
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A fair addition to "Love Saves the Day" and "Last Night A DJ Saves My Life", especially in giving credit to some of the major artists such as Kid Creole aka August Darnell; or shedding light (however perfunctory) on the glorious obscurities such as Ozo... On the minus side, however, is that the author suffers from the typical muso disease of opinionating whether anyone actually cares or not. Whereas disco history welcomes more people who take a more analytical attitude, it definitely doesn't need pseudointellectual smartarsing which forgets the sheer joy (which indeed might revel in corniness as well, if need be). Shapiro's contempt for the likes of Patrick Juvet and Dennis Parker is plain silly - they might not have been the greatest singers in the world music history but that's just not the point; they had splendid tunes with catchy arrangements and if Shapiro is unable to enjoy them, it's only due to his snobbishness. All in all, quite an enjoyable read, though.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
An interesting but patchy book - I'm glad I read 'Turn the Beat Around' but was tempted several times to hurl it across the room. And not just because it's written in fluent (ie wordy and somewhat self-important) muso-journalese.
A lot of hard graft has gone into it and there's some fascinating back (and side) story to the rise and fall of disco. Yet I never got the impression the author understood how disco FELT while you were on the floor - that euphoria, that release. By the end I was beginning to question how much he actually likes disco - I suspect his heart is with what he considers more 'authentic' genres like funk.
From David Mancuso on, disco was never just danceable Philly (though danceable Philly is indeed very fine). Latin percussion, orchestrated strings and European electronics weren't hokey and inauthentic bolt-ons, but all part of the mix. They were part of what made disco disco - it was a coming together of things. He disses the Eurodisco sub-genre with the usual anglophone contempt for non-Anglo music, is too dismissive of Donna Summer's talents and tries - wrongly, I think - to shoehorn the Bee Gees into the 'Eurodisco' camp when what they were doing was really blue-eyed R&B. There's also a very odd little chapter on Italo disco that fizzles out with no mention of the genre's 1980s heyday, as though the author was simply too bored to go on.
Buy it by all means. but I'd suggest you also read Tim Lawrence's 'Love Saves the Day' which is less opinionated and more readable. Afterwards dive into Andrew Holleran's 'Dancer from the Dance'. It's a gay novel, but I've never read anything that better describes the irresistible power of the dance floor.
A lot of hard graft has gone into it and there's some fascinating back (and side) story to the rise and fall of disco. Yet I never got the impression the author understood how disco FELT while you were on the floor - that euphoria, that release. By the end I was beginning to question how much he actually likes disco - I suspect his heart is with what he considers more 'authentic' genres like funk.
From David Mancuso on, disco was never just danceable Philly (though danceable Philly is indeed very fine). Latin percussion, orchestrated strings and European electronics weren't hokey and inauthentic bolt-ons, but all part of the mix. They were part of what made disco disco - it was a coming together of things. He disses the Eurodisco sub-genre with the usual anglophone contempt for non-Anglo music, is too dismissive of Donna Summer's talents and tries - wrongly, I think - to shoehorn the Bee Gees into the 'Eurodisco' camp when what they were doing was really blue-eyed R&B. There's also a very odd little chapter on Italo disco that fizzles out with no mention of the genre's 1980s heyday, as though the author was simply too bored to go on.
Buy it by all means. but I'd suggest you also read Tim Lawrence's 'Love Saves the Day' which is less opinionated and more readable. Afterwards dive into Andrew Holleran's 'Dancer from the Dance'. It's a gay novel, but I've never read anything that better describes the irresistible power of the dance floor.
By J. Perl
Format:Hardcover
I really loved this book. I don't really care that it's polemical at times - I just found it consistently entertaining and enlightening.
Doubling as a history of the US, the book also includes some interesting side stories such as that of Northern Soul in the UK.
I guess it helps that I already had a strong interest in but not a lot of knowledge of soul and disco.
I definitely recommend the book unreservedly.
Doubling as a history of the US, the book also includes some interesting side stories such as that of Northern Soul in the UK.
I guess it helps that I already had a strong interest in but not a lot of knowledge of soul and disco.
I definitely recommend the book unreservedly.
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