Disco Rocket was the third in K-Tel's run of "continuous disco music" albums though it was the first 2 record set to bear the tag. With twenty-one of the album's twenty-four tracks being authentic club hits from the Disco charts, this was more than just an exercise in trendy branding, this was bonafide boogie beats. For further proof of the set's credentials, check out the abbreviated K-tel Scale chart below.
Disco Rocket [1977]
| ||||
Billboard Top 40s | ||||
Pop | R&B | DISCO | ||
Play That Funky Music | Wild Cherry | 1 | 1 | 12 |
New York, You Got Me Dancing | Andrea True Connection | 27 | 4 | |
Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel (Part 1) | Tavares | 15 | 3 | 1 |
Goin' Up In Smoke | Eddie Kendricks | 30 | 11 | |
Once I've Been There | Norman Connors | 16 | 30 | |
Slow Dancin' Don't Turn Me On | Addrisi Brothers | 20 | ||
Car Wash | Rose Royce | 1 | 1 | 3 |
The Greatest Feeling | Melba Moore | |||
You're My Driving Wheel | The Supremes | 5 | ||
Stone To The Bone | Timmy Thomas | 12 | ||
Tangerine | Salsoul Orchestra | 18 | 36 | 6 |
Dazz | Brick | 3 | 1 | 7 |
I'm Your Boogie Man | KC & the Sunshine Band | 1 | 3 | 9 |
Disco Lucy (I Love Lucy Theme) | Wilton Place Street Band | 24 | 7 | |
Do What You Wanna Do | T-Connection | 15 | 1 | |
Love Machine (Part 1) | The Miracles | 1 | 5 | 20 |
Magic Bird Of Fire (Firebird Suite) | Salsoul Orchestra | 3 | ||
Superman | Celi Bee & the Buzzy Bunch | 3 | ||
Hot Line | The Sylvers | 5 | 3 | |
Love In Motion | George McCrae | 4 | ||
Spring Rain | Silvetti | 39 | 4 | |
Love Hangover | Diana Ross | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Magic Fly | Kebekelektrik | 9 | ||
Down To Love Town | The Originals | 1 |
Why the abbreviated chart? As you can see, most of the songs hit the disco chart, including four #1s. However, only about a dozen songs found their way out of the clubs and onto the streets although there were five #1 Pop songs and four #1 R&B songs. Without causing the album too much embarrassment, HERC will only say it scored "below 20" on the K-tel Scale which is primarily based Pop Top 40 performance.
As had become their modus operandi, Disco Rocket was also issued as two separate records (Vols. 1 and 2) and the eight track version featured a jumbled tracklist to allow evenness throughout the four programs. The program times listed on the tapes indicate that Disco Rocket was just over 80 minutes, start to finish.
For HERC's M!X of the Disco Rocket album, 12" disco mixes were used whenever available which means that although seven songs are not yet available on Spotify in acceptable versions, the seventeen song playlist below clocks in at over 95 minutes.
Great TV spot for "Disco Rocket" came up on my YouTube feed the other day... Like to have it entered into the public record for all to enjoy: Blast Off!
ReplyDelete