Comments on: DONNA SUMMER - “I Feel Love”

By: SteveM

SteveM — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:32:10 +0000

what is meant by ‘dance meaningfully’?! i just dance meanly

emotional connections to “Dance” Music come all too easily for some of us

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:56:48 +0000

Maybe the panel of experts all brought different compilation CDs and they just picked the tenth track on each. It’s a good one, though, if very “token NS entry” in a non-poll like this.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:46:37 +0000

#106 yeah, but this got number 10 on a radio2 poll? How did that happen? I mean, I know a bit of NS but I don’t know this one. Should listen more, I guess…..

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:51:48 +0000

I’ve no idea what the man’s on about; I’ve not been to Poptimism since February and categorically deny any glowstick (ab)use.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:44:34 +0000

Yes you’re on dangerous ground here Rosie - everyone who’s been to Poptimism will have seen Marcello glued to the dancefloor all night, glowstick aloft, teeth grinding, raving his bollocks off while the likes of Kat and Lex are forced into humiliating retreats.

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:32:14 +0000

Have you ever tried to dance to any “Dance” music Peggy?

By: rosie

rosie — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:03:02 +0000

Without discussing any particular record, I continue to maintain that all pop music is, ipso fact, inteded at least in part for dancing to. Regardless either of whether it specifically alludes to a particular dance or of whether it falls into the genre known as “Dance” (much of which, it seems to me, is difficult to dance meaningfully to as it is devoid of any kind of emotion.)

By: mike

mike — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:42:17 +0000

No issues at all with the deserved inclusion of “Where Love Lives” - an absolute classic, and one of those tracks that would always, always drag me onto the floor.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:24:26 +0000

#108-110: No more discussion of that particular record please!

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:23:07 +0000

More pressing: “Where Love Lives” by Alison Limerick wtf?

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:20:44 +0000

So are other records. But their embyronic generation is not in dance-intentional terms. It is not a dance record in the sense of “One More Time” or “Must Be Madison.”

By: rosie

rosie — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:18:29 +0000

Duh! Because, as I said very clearly, it’s a cracking track to dance to. Which part of that don’t you understand, Marcello?

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:12:08 +0000

None of this goes any way towards answering my query as to why that record in particular should be considered specifically as a “dance” record.

By: rosie

rosie — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:42:00 +0000

Marcello @ 104: It all depends what you mean by “dance”. The notion of “dance” as a distinct genre of popular music comes after my pop time. For many of us wrinklies (who are alleged to form a large part of the Radio 2 audience but me being a cussed so-and-so I confine myself to radios 3 and 4 these days), the primary purpose of *all* popular music was dancing. We may raise eyebrows now that Rock Around The Clock was labelled a foxtrot, but then in 1955 a foxtrot is what would have been done to it in most dance halls where it was played.

Of course, it depends on what kind of dance you plan to do, how good a track is for dancing to. The top track in that list is a fabulous track for the leroc[*] dancing that was my chosen style before arthritic knees made it difficult. Tracks like I’m Not In Love or If You Leave Me Now are hopeless for leroc but great for smooching and that is also dancing. You can do a terrificly sexy salsa to Nina Simone’s My Baby Just Cares For Me. My absolute favourite track for lerocing to is was always Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark.

You can tell what a numpty I was when went into Virgin in Bristol in the early 90s looking for music to practice leroc to, and naively went to the section labelled ‘Dance’!

[*] Leroc is French jiving, that is 50s jiving modified for the less frenetic pop music of the sixties when partner dancing remained dominant while the anglo-saxon world moved away from it. Less flamboyant footwork, more sensuous arm and body movement. I for one regret the passing of partner dancing. It’s almost as if the world became afraid of intimacy.

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:58:50 +0000

Northern Soul guv.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:56:12 +0000

10. Key To My Happiness
- The Charades (1966)

uh, what?

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:13:14 +0000

To be fair, Donna’s “Could It Be Magic?” did manage to reach #40 in June 1976, but even Barry’s original didn’t chart in Britain until early 1979 (and Barry won’t be bothering us - at least not directly - on Popular either; much loved in the UK but saleswise predominantly an albums artist).

As for Radio 2 listeners - isn’t democracy a tad overrated (as great a record as the winner is, is it really a “dance” record?)? I don’t approve of the idea of a preordained shortlist but presumably that was a safeguard to ensure that something like “The Birdie Song” or “Agadoo” didn’t come top.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:07:06 +0000

According to the listeners of BBC Radio 2, this is the second greatest dance record of all time (just ahead of “Sex Machine” and, OMGWTF, “Strings Of Life”).

By: intothefireuk

intothefireuk — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:19:26 +0000

The metallic clank of analogue sequencers, mechanised 4/4 drum beats, phased, synchopated hi-hats, swirling synths and effects - familiar enough now but in 1977 ? It wasn’t entirely without precedence though - Tangerine Dream, Can, Kraftwerk et al had been playing with sequencers & synths for years; as had the majority of prog rock bands. The difference here was employing it as a danceable solution (to teenage revolution ? - sorry). Well that and of course Donna’s sultry soulful vocals turning the automated pulse human. Previously heard being amalgamated into a warm discofied, funked up backdrop but now brought into sharp focus by the machines. Beauty & the Beast. It’s not really disco or funk it’s cold, calculating & warm & soothing and I know it’s a significant record but I just can’t love it as much as I’d like to. No, I actually prefer her/Moroders re-invention of Manilow’s ‘Could It Be Magic’ (album version not the castrated single version) from the previous year (which Take Fat would eventually bastardise) which I find a far more sensuous and enveloping record but that did nothing in the chart so what the hell do I know.

Re: Chris Spedding - still touring with Roxy Music & Bryan Ferry (it all fits !) - he also featured on Ferry’s 1976 version of ‘Let’s Stick Together’.

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:16:57 +0000

Who could forget indeed?

By: mike

mike — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:05:17 +0000

And who could forget Messiah’s 1992 “rave” version, featuring that Precious Wilson out of Eruption?

Or indeed the 1995 Rollo & Sister Bliss remix, which helped the track back into the Top 10? (I remember them making quite a decent job of it, but then my 1995 dancefloor memories are, cough, not always to be trusted.)

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:54:13 +0000

I still think it works in a SMiLE/”Good Vibrations” sense.

“Love To Love You Baby + I Feel Love + Johnny Remember Me,” a top three hit for Bronski Beat and Marc Almond in 1985 recorded as a direct response to alleged comments made by D Summer apropos urgent and key 1985 issue.

By: Erithian

Erithian — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:52:39 +0000

Whoops, nothing meant by the word “outings”!!

By: Erithian

Erithian — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:51:16 +0000

And of course another song that signified THA FOOOOTURE back in 1961, “Johnny Remember Me”, was a perfect mash-up partner for “I Feel Love” in one of Bronski Beat’s many fine outings. I dare say you might have played that once or twice?

By: mike

mike — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:45:40 +0000

Well, ahum, I thought it was worth underlining the arguable “novelty song” aspect. The placing at the end of the album is in one sense Radical Future Shock - but in another sense, it’s also kinda showbiz hokey: “Well kids, I hope you’ve enjoyed our little look back at the past - but now, let us transport you into THA FOOOTURE!”