Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979 |
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Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979
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by Tim Lawrence and Tim Lawrence
Sales Rank: 185753
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List Price: $24.95
$16.47
At Amazon
on 6-21-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 498 pages
Published by: Duke University Press October 2003
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0822331985
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0822331988
Book Dimensions:
8.8 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
Weighs: 1.6 pounds
Library Journal
"[A] fine, groundbreaking history filled with fresh information and thoughtful perspectives. . . ."
Product Review
"[A] fine, groundbreaking history filled with fresh information and thoughtful perspectives on the disco decade, the result of his hundreds of interviews and exhaustive research. Scores of photographs and signature discographies nicely complement the text."
--Library Journal
"[A] detailed history of the disco phenomenon. . . . Lawrence brings a fan's enthusiasm and a scholar's rigor to Love Saves the Day, which deftly documents and celebrates a much-derided yet enduringly influential genre of popular music."
--Kevin Riordan, Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)
"THE book on club music in America -- a massive volume that contains more information about the New York scene than we'd ever hoped to learn! The book fills in gaps that we've always been unsure of, and tells the full story of the evolution of New York dance in the 70s--going way past the hype!"
--Dustygroove.com
"[F]abulous reading, and this book looks destined to become a classic, opening up a whole lost world of night-time dance culture to generations for whom previously it was merely a rather imprecise legend."
--Bradley Winterton, Taipei Times
"The book is nothing less than revelatory, time-traveling to pivotal moments like the birth of beatmatching (and snark-baiting the bitchy, bitter jocks that fell off after failing to master the new technique) and describing the atemporal space of the dance floor itself. The book immerses to the point of excess - at times you want to set aside the quotes, throw on a boa, and set off in search of some sex, drugs, and 'Soul Makossa.' But the book's broader implications - especially the missteps of the record industry and the pressures put upon art, leisure, and self-expression in a time of socioeconomic unrest (a nice bit of "unpacking," as we used to say in grad school) - make Love Saves the Day as timely as it is tantalizing."
--Philip Sherburne, Boldtype
"[A] vivid and lively look at the clubs, promoters, dancers, record producers, musicians, and DJs who created seventies dance culture. . . . Love Saves the Day delivers what a serious reader wants from a history of disco: it combines a fan’s interest in the music, anecdotes, and gossip with a scholar’s analysis of the movement’s social and political impact."
--Seminary Co-op Bookstore
" . . . will surely stand as the definitive history of dance music's early years."
--Joe Madden, Jockey Slut
"Thanks to an impressive amount of research Tim Lawrence . . . creates an evocative portrait of the Big Apple DJ demimonde of the 1970s."
--Peter Shapiro, The Wire
"Lawrence provides the first really in-depth look at the key years when dance music emerged from the so-called underground into the mainstream. . . . [His] original and deep research alone makes Love Saves the Day essential reading for anyone who wants to know the who, what and where of disco's earliest years and why a musical style came to symbolize and entire decade."
--John-Manuel Andriote, Lambda Book Report
"[T]his book tells it all. The birth of mixing, the first cat to run clean doubles (not a hip hop dj), the sound systems, the first 12 inch singles, record pools and the beginning of club and street promotion. So many myths exposed and so many questions answered. The facts are here, and so are the characters. . . . So many legends finally get their stories told. The contributors were very candid and it shows cause there's a definite lack of the grandstanding and posturing that is often found in hip hop history books. You really feel like you get the straight story here. . . . [I]f this shit puts food or your table, if you want a pair of turntables, if you wanna open a club, shit if you even want to smell a 12inch single, you have to read this book. I get a little emotional about this shit, but shit man these guys are the reason we are all here today. This is a must own."
--Roctakon, Turntablelab.com
"Lawrence has accomplished the seemingly impossible feat of cuing up every famed and arcane component of disco’s ethos and executing a narrative possessed by a seamless grace that’s comparable to the work of the legendary DJs who are duly chronicled. . . . [A] most significant examination of this watershed period within our pop-cult heritage."
--Frank Halperin, Philadelphia CityPaper
"[An] exhaustive journey through the pulsating dance floors of '70s New York."
--Mike Gwertzman, New York Post
"Lawrence's astounding research and wide focus make this [disco's] definitive chronicle so far."
--Michaelangelo Matos, CityPages (Minneapolis)
"Essential reading for anyone interested in discovering the origins of DJing, clubbing, and the music we dance to."
--Easy Jet Inflight Magazine
"[P]acked with detail . . . without turning dull; [Love Saves the Day] offers a non-hagiographic treatment of dance-music icons. . . and, perhaps best of all, Lawrence's riveting storytelling puts you deep in the proto-disco moment. . . . Love Saves the Day not only gets dance-music history right--it refocuses that history to include those unjustly excluded from it."
--Ethan Brown, New York
"[A] densely detailed and heartfelt account of the era."
--Bruce Tantum, Time Out New York
"Tim Lawrence's disco culture tome is one of the sharpest books on dance music to date, striking a balance between you-are-there club descriptions, socioeconomic analysis, and musical critique."
--Tricia Romano, The Village Voice
"Packed with interviews with the key players, it's as good an introduction as you'll find to an all-too-often overlooked period in musical history."
--Phil Mongredien, Q
"[A]s Tim Lawrence illustrates in Love Saves The Day, the story of disco is richer than its battered reputation lets on. . . . [A]n exceedingly well-reported history. . . . Love Saves The Day works as an eye-opening history of a movement that found a nation taking time out to dance."
--Andy Battaglia, The Onion
"Lawrence has documented the scene with a fan's affection and a scholar's thoroughness. . . . His interview subjects, veteran DJs and clubgoers all, best convey in their own words what it was like to be on the dance floor at the Loft, the Gallery or the Paradise Garage when the crowd--drenched in sweat, screaming and whistling, arms in the air--gave itself up to rapture."
--Tom Beer, Newsday
"This brilliant study of the birth of disco and the spawning of a million different subgenres of same is crucial reading for anyone who thinks they know their club culture. Because until you've read this, you might as well know nothing, nada, zilch."
--Susan Corrigan, I-D
"[E]verything a good history should be--accurate, informative, well-organized and thoughtful. It is also everything a quality read should be--fresh, thoughtful and provocative. . . . Love Saves the Day is, as so many critics have noted, the definitive book on dance music in the 1970s."
--Lisa Neff, Chicago Free Press
"[Love Saves the Day] does an great job of covering both the gay and straight discos of New York and Fire Island. . . . [It] takes us back to a decade when the music was queen."
--Jesse Monteagudo, The Weekly News (Plantation, FL)
"Lawrence has compiled a detailed, complex, fascinating, and unique history of disco dance music. . . . Highly recommended."
--R.D. Cohen, CHOICE
"[T]o some, a respectful history of disco may seem as perverse as a paean to strip malls. Tim Lawrence's Love Saves the Day boldly overturns that story. . . . I, for one, will not be able to dismiss dance culture so quickly, and his book should become a fixture in the libraries of serious students of American pop."
--Philip Christman, Paste
"Captured within the books 456 pages is a spirit of adventure and pioneering that night-crawling dance addicts now take for granted. . . . Lawrence goes beyond layman's terminology in his explanation of technical issues, and it's refreshing to read a narrative from someone so well educated and well informed - at no point does his authority come into question. . . . Obviously the result of exhaustive research, Love Saves The Day is rich with information that drives home the point that the evolution of disco, and dance music culture on the whole, isn't going to get lost in the bowels of music history. Quite the contrary, what Lawrence presents us with is the inarguable value of this often shamed area of musicology. . . ."
--Christopher John Treacy, Bay Windows
"[A] fully comprehensive, well-composed analysis of dance culture during its most crucial and subliminal time during the seventies. Tim Lawrence has done his homework and his dynamic delivery also possesses a delightful, intimate style. This book can be enjoyed on numerous levels. Confident about its authenticity yet open minded it is littered with amusing anecdotes and stories. . . . [A] revealing, captivating and enlightening read."
--Roberta Cutolo, Straight No Chaser
"Lawrence composes his narrative in an eminently readable and focused manner. . . . Love Saves the Day successfully and sympathetically demonstrates how spaces like New York City's The Loft and Chicago's Paradise Garage have served for countless dancers as temporary environments where the rhythm of the music conjures up a socially egalitarian and physically satisfying universe."
--David Sanjek, American Studies
“An extraordinary exercise in cultural history, this detailed and inspiring study lovingly excavates a crucial period in the evolution of Western music culture.”
--Jeremy Gilbert, Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory
"[T]his is as close to a definitive account of Disco as we're likely to get, and as entertaining as a great night out."
--Richard Smith, Gay Times
"Even if you have no interest in disco music, this is a book that offers a detailed and entertaining analysis of American culture in the 70s that thankfully manages to avoid the predictable tacky stereotypes. . . . Love Saves The Day manages to provide a superb political and social context for one of the most misunderstood and derided musical sub-cultures of recent history."
--Phil Thornton, Swine Magazine
"Love Saves the Day is exhaustively researched and generally written in a lively manner. Although it serves more effectively as a documentary record than a critical analysis, Lawrence's moments of interpretation are mostly lucid and thought-provoking."
--Paul Williams, Cultural Studies Review
"This book is more than a historical document; indeed, it houses more anecdotes . . . and reminisces than a million different lifestyle magazines, with the added bonus that these aren’t about over hyped ‘celebrities’, they’re about people who were ‘faces’ in a time and place that is directly responsible for the hedonism and the heartbreak that comprises modern clubbing."
--Manu Ekanayake, Trustthedj.com
“[A]n extraordinarily rich work that ought to transform the ways we write the history of popular music. . . . [A] marvelous book. . . .”
--Mitchell Morris, Journal of Popular Music Studies
Reader Reviews
This is an exceptional historical analysis that introduces, in chronological order, the key events and personalities in the 1970s American disco dancing scene, including the major remixers, DJs, nightclubs, musicians, singers, record producers, and magazine journalists. The playlists provided throughout the book are very good snapshots of each period of 1970s R&B and disco, and many of the photos are well selected. Lawrence first explores the roots of dance-oriented nightclubs, then known as discotheques, where attendees danced to recorded rather than live music. Discotheques had already existed in the U.S. by the mid-1960s but then declined for a number of years until revitalized in the early 1970s. Besides the concept of a "discotheque", Lawrence also mentions (page 26) that the mirror ball was a fixture of a typical disco and also in the Loft parties run by David Mancuso. The atmospheric aspects of a disco -- lighting, dancefloor, etc. -- were also important to dancers, though one big negative was the high volume of sound emanating from the speakers in many discos, such as Paradise Garage (pages 347-348). The most necessary element was a large supply of good danceable music. Disco DJs gained influence when they caused many records to become big sellers and formed record pools. Lawrence notes (page 307) that in some downtown discos the dancers danced freestyle whereas in suburban discos the tendency was towards regimented dance steps like the latin hustle and line-dancing. The story of disco as a separate musical genre begins with the merging of funk and Philly soul elements with a constant four-on-the-floor beat, thanks to Earl Young's innovations in drumming (page 120). The interest in this music among Americans escalated quickly, as witnessed by early pop chart hits like "T.S.O.P." and "The Love I Lost". The continued development of disco music led to improvements in sound quality and increased available song lengths and record formats (like the 12-inch single). On pages 167 and 174-177 Lawrence chronicles the beginnings of Eurodisco, a sub-genre developed by European producers like Michael Kunze and Giorgio Moroder characterized by ultra-lush violins, "minimalist vocals", and a more monotonous stomping dance beat. Lawrence notes that Eurodisco produced many "anonymous" singers who garnered far less attention than their producers and had very few concerts, if any. He revisits Eurodisco's growth on page 257 when he quotes Tom Moulton's opinion that Eurodisco, in contrast to the kind of disco that came out of Philadelphia, "lacked soul" and was too mechanical, and to a certain extent this is true. However, one can point to the success and brilliance of several producer-created disco groups like Shalamar and Musique to counter the argument that all "artificial" groups were untalented. While disco as a new sound in 1974 and 1975 was seen as the answer to increasing record sales, pages 222-224 contain era statements about how the excess of new disco releases, many of them poor in quality, were already saturating the music market by 1976, and how sales were suffering even then. On pages 321-322 Michael Gomes prophetically warned that unless disco continued to innovate and vary it would die. The same troubles were noted in the summer of 1979 when a recession hurt sales of all records, but especially disco, and simultaneously everyone seemed to be releasing some "disco version" of an old standard or some contrived bland song that most people couldn't get excited about, and many in the record industry and media again complained about an alleged lack of creativity. The record labels were clearly not selective enough (page 386). On pages 366-369 we learn that disco didn't stem the fall in sales but actually contributed to it. The consequences of the sales decline and rampant criticism were devastating; in the second half of 1979 new disco songs were not given as much of a chance on the radio and the style fell out of fashion among many. However, one positive result (noted on page 391) was that dance music once again became more R&B-oriented and creative. One could argue that the best days for disco creatively were in 1980-1982, even though mainstream popularity was steadily disappearing then. Disco was far from dead at the end of 1979, as disco radio hits like "Celebration" and "Never Knew Love Like This Before" were still yet to come, and roller-discos and new disco products still proliferated in 1980 and early 1981. However, this culture was in decline, and Lawrence gives interesting discussions of Billboard Magazine's exaggerated claim of February 23, 1980 that disco was "alive, healthy and thriving" (page 390). Ironically Radcliffe Joe's "This Business of Disco", an industry guide, was published by Billboard Books in 1980. By that time "dance music" was the new preferred term for the music (page 386) due to the stigma of "disco". The author also mentions how disco spawned and influenced new forms of music, including garage, house, techno, rap, and 1980s pop. By 1994, the original disco style was re-emerging as both a nostalgic recollection and a current genre in production. Now is the perfect time to remember how dance music got started. With this book Tim Lawrence provides a thorough, readable treatise full of interesting anecdotes and quotes and ample bibliographic references. It covers everything from "The Hustle" and "Saturday Night Fever" to the sociological/cultural aspects of the story and will interest a broad range of readers.
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Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979
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Price: $16.47
Updated on 6-21-2008.
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