With its anthemic backing track and trippy sped up vocals, Lady Bug is considered by many to be a definitive disco banger. I have always been somewhat dubious of the chipmunk style vocals but Patrick Adams and Greg Carmichael's incredible production work definitely breaks through. There were many 12" versions pressed upon its release in 1978, including the original on Greg Carmichael's Red Greg and a later RCA pressing featuring remix work from two of New York City's hottest DJ's at the time: John Morales and Larry Levan. These were both very early remix gigs for Morales and Levan and in my humble opinion Morales's hypnotic dancefloor mix shines brighter than Levan's more sparse version. UK label BBE recently issued a stellar comp featuring classic Morales remixes and a bunch of unreleased M&M session mixes from the era.

Bumblebee Unlimited - Lady Bug (John Morales Mix)
Bumblebee Unlimited - Lady Bug (Larry Levan Mix)

Let's Go Another Round is probably my favorite Inner Life AND Rainbow Brown track. Both released in 1981, the Rainbow Brown version was produced by Patrick Adams and featured Fonda Rae singing lead while Inner Life's had Jocelyn Brown on vocals and Greg Carmichael handling production duties. Stan Lucas wrote and co-produced both versions. Obviously with its drawn out breaks and funky synths, the Inner Life version is more suited for the dancefloor. Flanked by soaring string lines, the Rainbow Brown interpretation falls more on the classic tip of the disco spectrum. Either way, It is quite nice to hear frequent collaborators Greg Carmichael and Patrick Adams go head to head and display their different production flourishes.

Inner Life - (Knock Out) Let's Go Another Round
Rainbow Brown - Let's Go Another Round

In contrast to its musical predecessor, boogie was defined by slower rhythms and more of a bouncy, dirty and synth oriented groove. But really who came up with this sound? The true answer is Prince, P-Funk and the Gap Band. These were the guys that were playing the gritty, synthy funk tracks in the late 70's. That's not to say that Leroy Burgess and his writing partners Sonny T. Davenport and James Calloway were not on the forefront, they were indeed. Thing is, I like to think of boogie as a sort of indie genre and to the people that have the tasteful hindsight to appreciate it, it is quite arcane. Overall, most of us like to hunt down the rarest records on esoteric and private labels. But these obscure bands that were popping up all across the country in the early 80's were most likely not taking their cues from Convertion or Logg songs, they were doing their best to emulate artists on the level of Prince.

At the end of the day, Leroy Burgess and his Convertion producer Greg Carmichael were very deep in the game, many of their projects were groundbreaking and definitive. Recorded and released in 1980 Let's Do It was one of the very first tracks that clearly defined the "Boogie-Funk" sound of the 1980's. It's also an amazing fucking record.

Both Convertion and Logg performed live shows at the Paradise Garage in the early 80's. Need that damn time machine again.

Convertion - Let's Do It

I will let Donna McGhee tell her own story:

"I have been a professional singer since 1974, my first singing group I joined after singing gospel all my life, was called "THE FATBACK BAND". Our first album was called Rasing hell, and the hit single off of that LP, was called "BUS STOP". I sang with Fatback for over three years, touring with such groups as "Chaka khan", "Frankie Beverly and Maze". "Crown Heights Affair", and "Tedddy Pendergrass". We traveled all over the world. After completing several albums with them, the last LP we recorded with the late great "Phyllis Hyman". In 1977, I signed with a company called Red Greg Records, and we worked with the great Producer Patrick Adams. We recorded several hit records at that time. UNIVERSAL ROBOT BAND was created along with BUMBLEE UNLIMITED, which lead to several hits such as, "DANCE AND SHAKE YOUR TAMBORINE", and "LOVE BUG". Most of the songs recorded were disco hits, and were played at The Paradise Gargage, and Studio 54. While recording with different groups, the company signed me with an Exclusive Recording contract, and my first solo album was created. It was called "MAKE IT LAST FOREVER", traveling from one side of the country to the other, the hit single "It ain't no big thing" was making a huge buzz. While the album was being played all over the country, and other countries such as Japan, England and France. "Love Bug" was up for a Grammy Award, and I was fortunate enough to do the Dick Clark New Years Eve show twice. After my contract was up, I signed under Obago Records, where we recorded "YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME", written by Phillip Thomas from CROWN HEIGHTS AFFAIRS ..."

"You Should Have Told Me" is a rare 12" released in 1979 on the very obscure Obago Label out of NYC. With a haunting mix by Ron St. Germain (who later went to work with 80's alternative rock bands the Cure and Sonic Youth amongst others) I would consider this track to be a very early example of boogie as we came to know it. The B Side "Disco Mix" relies heavily on the trippy vocals, funky keyboard lines and syncopated groove. Donna still performs to this day and you can check out her myspace page here.

Donna McGhee - You Should Have Told Me (Disco Mix)

We have covered the work of Leroy Burgess and Greg Carmichael here at Beat Electric several times now and of course for very good reason. Everything these gentlemen touched turned to solid gold. Logg, which also featured Burgess's cousin Sonny T. Davenport, was probably my favorite of their endeavors. Released on the Salsoul label in 1981, "I Know You Will" (thanks in part to a stellar mix by Larry Levan) is a very heavy lazer soul joint. As respective pioneers of the disco sound with Black Ivory and Bumblebee Unlimited in the 70's, Burgess and Carmichael were obviously on the forefront of the boogie tip as well with this cut. The increasingly rare and pricey Logg LP has quite a few more jams on it, but we will have to share those with you further on down the line.

Logg - I Know You Will (Larry Levan Mix)

The dream team collaboration of vocalist Leroy Burgess with producers Greg Carmichael, and Patrick Adams yielded so many amazing recordings between their many different musical projects. The Universal Robot Band's tenure began in 1976 with the "Dance and Shake Your Tambourine" single and ended in 1982 with the release of the boogie masterpiece "Barely Breaking Even". The majority of Burgess's releases in the early 80's came out on Salsoul, but this single was released on the fairly obscure Moonglow imprint, which makes an original pressing much harder to come by. The 12 inch was reissued in recent years due to the track's high demand and influence in the disco universe.

Universal Robot Band - Barely Breaking Even (Club Version)

Wish was one of the genius offerings from Greg Carmichael and Patrick Adams. They also worked together producing tracks as Bumblebee Unlimited, Clair Hicks and Love Exchange, and The Universal Robot Band. With incredible vocals by La-Rita Gaskin, a ridiculous bassline that is too loud and drums that beat anything but nice and soft, this track very unique. I hadn't realized this before till my iTunes already had a listing as Wish, but an edited version is featured on Chicken Lip's fantastic DJ Kicks Album. I dug this record brand new and unopened out of a pile of 50 cent records, quite a score indeed!

mp3: Wish - Nice & Soft (Instrumental)