Just Wanna Make You Dance

dsco's Podcast

I’ve been revisiting Results, the album the Pet Shop Boys put together for Liza Minelli. When it came out, I thought it was perhaps the ultimate in camp, but that’s too glib an assessment. Time has been kind to it. Liza was meant to sing “Rent,” and the Pet Shop Boys were meant to goose Sondheim. For that alone, it has staying power, yet those two no longer strike me as the sole highlights. “So Sorry, I Said” and “I Want You Now” are top-drawer Tennant/Lowe compositions. Also making an imprint is another non PSB-penned number. “Love Pains” was first introduced by Yvonne Elliman, who seems eternally fated to toil in the shadows of the Brothers Gibbs and Our Savior Jeebus. I think her “Love Pains” was a minor hit with the cognoscenti and proved it had staying power: PSB remembered it and knew it would fit Liza like a glove. Their arrangement didn’t stray far from the one provided here by an emerging Michael Omartian, who—based primarily on his work with Donna Summer—always struck me as at best workmanlike and at worst career cold water. But this is the song I would slap on to illustrate how disco morphed into high NRG; it has a mechanical propulsion, and more or less jettisons strings or horns for sweetening. But its structure and hookiness all were learned on the classic disco dancefloor. I find Results to be La Liza’s only completely successful album, and it blows my mind that she recorded it in the evenings after playing a residency in London with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. In fact, Neil wanted Ol’ Blue Eyes to duet with Liza on So Sorry, I Said. Even the prospect of it makes me giddy.

Fire were a trio whose material was penned and produced by K.C. and Richard Finch; sadly it’s brought down by rather muddy production. Dream Disco is Max Berlin’s’s magnum opus. The trio Maxxi had a regional hit with Just Wanna Make You Dance before James Brown and the JBs took it over; they did keep Maxxi around for the vocals. All-in-all, one of the Godfather’s better disco efforts. Teresa Wiater is almost up there with Pete Best in the apex of the rock ’n’ roll hall of what could have been. She cut the original vocals for Tom Moulton’s masterwork, La Vie en Rose. She decided she didn’t want to commit to disco, and wouldn’t sign on for release. Grace Jones—who was sniffing around Moulton at the time—heard the demo tape, recognized its brilliance, and announced she wanted to take it on. Moulton, who had a reputation for his bluntness, told Grace he didn’t think she was up to it. She won out (how could you lose a battle with Grace Jones?), and her wildly pitchy performance proved that Tom knew what he was talking about, but Grace was such a force that it work well nevertheless.

I’m wild about set closer Three Steps, and I didn’t know the Reflections at all until I picked up a recent comp that complied the disco hits, focusing mostly in the U.K., of 1975. It was a very good year.

I Think I’ll Do Some Steppin’ on My Own—Sandy Barber ’78 + Love Pains—Yvonne Elliman ’79 + In Love with Love—Debbie Harry ’87 + You Treat Me Good—Fire ’78 + Estrelar—Marcos Valle ’83 + A Little Bit of Your Love—Doris Duke ’75 + Dance On (Disco Darling)—Randy Raider ’78 + I Feel Good—Boney M ’84 + Icare—Bertrand Bergalat ’18 + Dream Disco—Max Berlin’s ’78 + Just Wanna Make You Dance—The JBs with Maxxi ’79 + Once and for All—Teresa Wiater ’78 + Get It Up and Dance—New York Disco Orchestra ’78 + You’re All I Need to Get By—Jaisún ’77 + Three Steps from True Love—The Reflections ’75