I’m not typically a big disco fan. And I was definitely never nicknamed J-Disco (clears throat).
Digging around at the Night Owl record show in Portland I came across this one. Definitely a case where the cover just caught me. I mean, look at it. Plus it’s on Big Tree Records, which is always a little intriguing given the label’s history.
As soon as I put it on and heard the first track, also the title track, I knew I made the right call. It’s a bluesy soul song about what I’m assuming is their neighborhood, Cicero Park. The lyrics tell a story of gentrification through urban development. The guitar is rumbling and perfectly distorted. Disco strings come in at one point but not in an obtrusive way, and a flute line that fits just as well plays over the bridge.
The second track, “Could Have Been Born in the Ghetto,” opens with a similarly bluesy guitar. Wait, is this a disco record or not? Hold on, yeah, the disco strings arrive a little earlier this time, but still tastefully placed in a way that never steers the feeling out of the blues realm. Interesting. The vocals shine again, this time reflecting on the possibility of being born in the ghetto and the set of circumstances that would’ve come with it.
There are more disco-forward tracks later in the album, but the feel of the whole thing is set by these first two songs. They establish something the rest doesn’t abandon.
The other mysterious thing is I’ve never seen this record before or since. Glad I grabbed it.