Say, What Is This Thing Called Disco?: “Boogie Down” by Eddie Kendricks

People…Hold On was Eddie Kendricks’ second solo album; released in May 1972, it is a strikingly assured piece of work and is generally regarded as the first true disco record. The reason you don’t know anything more about it is in part due to Motown’s typically ham-fisted approach to its own back catalogue – a “limited edition” CD reissue (presumably limited to about thirty copies, all purchased by middle-aged men named Spike who subsidise their record collecting with the proceeds from drug-dealing) appeared in 2016 to no fanfare whatsoever. I suspect that this situation would not have come about if the album had been recorded by, say, David Bowie or Rod Stewart - let alone the lavish repackaging of records by even the most minor of eighties pop stars.

The inherent racism of the music industry and music consumers aside, the record’s acclaim ensured that Kendricks got the best solo start of any ex-Temptation. “Keep On Truckin’,” the first single from his fourth album, Boogie Down!, easily made number one in late 1973, and the title track nearly pulled off a double for him.

Even more concentrated on mood and groove than “Truckin’,” “Boogie Down” makes no concessions to any outside audience – you have to feel it even before listening to it, although really you should be dancing to it. Best experienced in its full-length album version, arrangers Leonard Caston Jr, Frank Wilson and David van de Pitte have a ball playing cat and mouse with strings, rhythm, voices and perspective. Like the best disco, the record could theoretically go on forever, and it gives us a preview of perhaps the biggest overhaul of pop since the fifties later that same year. Welcome to the newness of 1974 – and check out Eddie’s lucky shades of green in the Soul Train performance below.

Date Record Made Number Two: 9 March 1974

Number Of Weeks At Number Two: 2

Record At Number One: “Seasons In The Sun” by Terry Jacks

UK Chart Position: 39

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