Various Artists - Boogie Nights: Classic Disco Anthems / Various (CD)

All Music Guide

Boogie Nights: Classic Disco Anthems is another colorfully packaged, two-disc compilation of '70s and '80s dance music put together by Union Square Music (semidisguised here as a Party People Present release). Like '80s Groove Sessions, Funk Sessions, and Soul Sessions, it throws together hugely successful material with more overlooked, semiburied treasures; one can sense that the people in charge of putting the selections together are either DJs or frequent club-goers. However, the fact that they were able to cram over 30 tracks onto two discs is something of a double-edged sword; while it's an impressive quantity, the inferior single edits are often given the nod over the far superior 12" versions (typically the way this stuff was meant to be heard/danced to). Still, the compilation trumps most other disco anthologies, spanning the early '70s to the early '80s with a strong cross section that pays due to just about every year. From disco's formative days, there's Osibisa's "Sunshine ...Day," LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade," and New York City's "I'm Doing Fine Now," and it runs right up to '80s cuts like Indeep's "Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life," Bohannon's "Let's Start II Dance Again," and Midnight Star's "Midas Touch." The liner notes aren't to be overlooked: a short piece of fiction paints a sexually tense scenario around the cover art, which depicts a dapper gent flanked by two ready-to-party females: "He (Danny) had a long night's partying ahead and even when both Mel and Kelly mouthed the chorus to 'You're the One for Me' at him, he tried not to let it get to him." Lip-synching D Train as seductive device? A sure-fire winner every time -- I think we all know what happened to Danny that night. - Andy Kellman, All Music Guide Read more Less