| And just
what is our point, you might well ask? Only this: that disco
as a songwriting medium has never been adequately explored, except by Boz
Scaggs. You heard me. If you don’t believe me, do as I did and
find a twenty-five cent bin with a copy of Juxtaposed with You in
it. (The sticker on my copy reminds me that a quarter, plus tax, is exactly
what I paid for it: smartest damn quarter I ever spent.) What you’ll
find is a record so perverse as to make even Nurse With Wound’s densest
collages seem a little rote: it attempts to take the bare bones of the style
then under construction at the hands of people like Giorgio Moroder (I have
his work with Donna Summer in mind, but take your pick) and Bunny Sigler
and infuse it with an emotional urgency that scrapes directly and constantly
against the music’s easygoing, smooth grain. Dance music from the
‘80s forward has moved steadily away from the sound of the human voice,
focusing instead on The Beat and all it contains, and because we don’t
really have all day, we’re not going to get too deeply into the question
of whether or not dance music works best with or without vocals. Juxtaposed with You, though, suggests gently but firmly that there were some
very interesting song-related avenues left to stroll down while supplying
an easy beat for dancing. |
