Disco Discharge Presents Box of Sin

Overview

From 2009 through 2012, the Disco Discharge name was behind some of the most necessary and appealing compilations of 1970s and '80s dance music -- 16 two-disc volumes such as Classic Disco, Disco Boogie, Gay Disco & Hi NRG, and American Hot. Absent since the subsequent album reissue series Disco Recharge, the imprint returns with Box of Sin, a five-disc package of '80s tracks billed suggestively as "full-length gay clubbing." The significance of this music in relation to gay culture is further articulated by journalist and author Paul Burston, who in his foreword to the set describes the sights and sounds he soaked up at Heaven and the Bell in London, and at the Tunnel in Cardiff. Likewise presented with a U.K. perspective and cosmopolitan appetite, the selections -- nothing shorter than a five-minute album version, all 12" versions and remixes otherwise -- are heavier on the commercial end and therefore more attractive to listeners who don't consider themselves serious collectors. It's without doubt an excellent building block covering almost the full spectrum of '80s post-disco, from synth pop and freestyle to Hi-NRG and house, created by a motley assortment of progressive underground dwellers, accidental hitmakers, cunning entryists, and even some avaricious opportunists. Furthermore, it complements previous Disco Discharge compilations with only a little overlap -- an aspect that's due in part to half the tracks dating from 1987 to 1989 and nothing predating 1981. The discs are loosely themed and neatly sequenced with numerous connections that can be drawn from one to another. On the diva-centric, mostly Hi-NRG first disc, the Pointer Sisters' "Jump (For My Love)" somehow sounds fresh as ever when heard between Sheryl Lee Ralph's "In the Evening" and Whitney Houston's "Love Will Save the Day." Hi-NRG innovator Bobby Orlando is behind two of the tracks on the second disc, the Flirts' bounding "Passion" and Divine's equally buoyant "Love Reaction," the latter a comic and irresistible lift of New Order's "Blue Monday." Orlando produced the original version of Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls," and though there's nothing here by the compilation-shy Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, two of the better songs the duo produced for other artists, Liza Minnelli's "Don't Drop Bombs" and Dusty Springfield's "In Private," appear on the third and fourth discs. The final disc, subtitled "Future Shock from the New Kids on the Block," emphasizes early singles from younger acts like Detroit's Inner City (Juan Atkins' remix of "Big Fun"), Chicago's Joe Smooth ("Promised Land"), and London's own S'Express ("Theme from S'Express"). It's not at the exclusion of veterans like former Ikette P.P. Arnold, whose beaming voice powers the Beatmasters' "Burn It Up," or Vaughan Mason, the "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll" producer behind Raze's "Break 4 Love," heard here in its explicit "Drop the Panties" version. Other significant tracks here include Soft Cell's "Memorabilia" (the Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing version with Cindy Ecstasy), Frankie Goes to Hollywood's audacious and world-conquering "Relax" (the New York mix), Company B's freestyle classic "Fascinated," and the appropriate finale (and the lone track that isn't electronic), "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," voiced by Ralph's Dreamgirls castmate Jennifer Holliday. ~ Andy Kellman

Product Details

Release Date:	09/29/2023
Label:	Demon Records
UPC:	5014797909557
Rank:	36464

Tracks

Disc 1

1. High Energy [Extended Version]  - Evelyn Thomas
2. In The Evening [Original 12" Version]  - Sheryl Lee Ralph
3. Another Night [Dance Mix]  - Aretha Franklin
4. Body Rock [Dance Mix]  - Maria Vidal
5. Tell It To My Heart [Club Mix]  - Taylor Dayne
6. Love Will Save The Day [Extended Remix]  - Whitney Houston

Disc 2

7. Passion [Full Length Album Version]  -  Flirts
8. So Many Men So Little Time [Extended Version]  - Miquel Brown
9. Can't Take My Eyes Off You [12" Version]  -  Boys Town Gang
10. The Male Stripper [Original Extended U.S. Remix]  -  Man 2 Man  - Man Parrish
11. Love Reaction [12" Version]  -  Divine
12. Rocket To Your Heart [Remix]  -  Lisa

Disc 3

13. Why? [12" Version]  -  Bronski Beat
14. You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) [Murder Mix]  -  Dead or Alive
15. Theme From S `Express [12" Version]  -  S-Express
16. No G.D.M. (Dedicated To Quentin Crisp) [12" Version]  -  Gina X Performance
17. Relax [New York Mix]  -  Frankie Goes to Hollywood
18. Don't Drop Bombs [Extended Remix]  - Liza Minnelli

Disc 4

19. Oh L'Amour [The Extra Beat Boys 12" Mix]  -  Dollar
20. Fascinated [Club Mix]  -  Company B
21. Love In The First Degree [Jailers Mix]  -  Bananarama
22. New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) [Ian Levine Remix]  -  Bucks Fizz
23. You Came [The Shep Pettibone Mix]  - Kim Wilde
24. Call Me [Viva Mix]  -  Spagna
25. In Private [12" Version]  - Dusty Springfield

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Spagna   Primary Artist
Joe Smooth   Primary Artist
Earlene Bentley   Primary Artist
Dusty Springfield   Primary Artist
Dollar   Primary Artist
Taylor Dayne   Primary Artist
Barry Manilow   Primary Artist
Sheryl Lee Ralph   Primary Artist
Sinitta   Primary Artist
Soft Cell   Primary Artist
The Beatmasters   Primary Artist
Ken Laszlo   Primary Artist
The Flirts   Primary Artist
Ultra Nate   Primary Artist
Dead or Alive   Primary Artist
Lisa   Primary Artist
People Like Us   Primary Artist
Liza Minnelli   Primary Artist
Samantha Fox   Primary Artist
Jennifer Holliday   Primary Artist
Phyllis Nelson   Primary Artist
Vivien Vee   Primary Artist
Sisley Ferre   Primary Artist
Bucks Fizz   Primary Artist
Cappella   Primary Artist
Bronski Beat   Primary Artist
Donna Summer   Primary Artist
Hazell Dean   Primary Artist
Boy George   Primary Artist
Bananarama   Primary Artist
Evelyn Thomas   Primary Artist
Divine   Primary Artist
Whitney Houston   Primary Artist
Maria Vidal   Primary Artist
The Pointer Sisters   Primary Artist
Miquel Brown   Primary Artist
Aretha Franklin   Primary Artist
Gina X Performance   Primary Artist
Ce Ce Rogers   Primary Artist
Scarlet Fantastic   Primary Artist
49   Primary Artist
S-Express   Primary Artist
Robert Howard   Primary Artist
Raze   Primary Artist
Man Parrish   Primary Artist
Man 2 Man   Primary Artist
Animotion   Primary Artist
Time Bandits   Primary Artist
The Communards   Primary Artist
Boys Town Gang   Primary Artist
Inner City   Primary Artist
Company B   Primary Artist
Kim Wilde   Primary Artist
Kym Mazelle   Primary Artist
Laura Branigan   Primary Artist
Frankie Goes to Hollywood   Primary Artist
Sarah Jane Morris   Featured Artist
P.P. Arnold   Featured Artist

Technical Credits

John Conlon   Design,Art Direction