Cerrone

After Cerrone's third album, the quality of his output took a nosedive. He immersed himself deeply in the swirling keyboard sheen of French disco in particular -- of which he was king -- and Euro-disco in general, and forgot the deep funky emotionalism of the New York club scene that made disco such a wild phenomenon in the first place. (Anybody who has a hard time believing it can listen to anything by Sylvester, Donna Summer, the earliest Village People, or the Trammps for confirmation of this assertion.) On his seventh offering issued in 1980, Cerrone's memory seemed to come back. This CD reissue tells an interesting tale: While he was not about to give up all that French lushness quite yet, he did remember that disco music was indeed about emotion and funk as well as frivolous ecstasy with a cheesy dance beat. Cerrone enlists disco chanteuse Jocelyn Brown to help on several cuts here, brings back his acoustic and Fender Rhodes pianos along with a real bass player instead of a synthesized one, and jumps headfirst into the murky waters of the coked-up New York club sound once again, to thrilling effect. Tracks such as "Hooked on You," with its positively diva-like vocals, and the soulful reggae-funk of "Some One to Love" offer a different view of not only Cerrone, but also disco itself. Here was substance and rhythm, production and grace, musical sophistication and pop accessibility melded together in a tight, glossy whole that was as pleasant and instructive to listen to as it was to play for the coke zombie masses on the nightclub's dancefloor. Solid, serious, and ecstatic; disco didn't get much better than this. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide