This one is an absolute banger. Peak disco, though really on the verge of post-disco. Heatwave is Rod Temperton’s band, the architect (next to Quincy Jones) of Michael Jackson’s sound and success on Off The Wall and Thriller. I can remember my brain lighting up like a disco ball when I first heard ‘Boogie Nights’ by Heatwave, with its impeccable vocal and rhythm arrangements and deep, jazzy groove. The groove change at “dance with the boogie (get down)” will always live in my head, esp. as I used to be in a 70s show, positioned at the keyboard behind a dance troupe for this number.

I also remember hearing Michael Jackson’s ‘Rock With You’ for the first time, as a teenager who had just been exposed to some of his other big hits. This one just did it different for me. Again, the jazzy chord changes, perfectionist arrangements and the deep groove made it stand out.

So this record has all of that and I just don’t get bored during it – it’s peak disco, verging on post-disco. By the latter is meant pushing into 80s studio techniques of additional drum machines, digital synthesizers and the growing mentality of the whole recording studio being an instrument. I’m amazed throughout how hard the kick drum has been ‘pushed’: EQ’d and compressed to get the high end – the click of the beater – so forward in the mix. On iPhone speakers the kick stands out like a modern recording. Like most disco the lyrics are mostly about dancing and partying, but it’s delivered with jazzy pedal chords on ‘Gangsters of the Groove’, contrapuntal vocals on ‘Jitterbuggin”, and violently and unusually groovy kick/bass patterns like on ‘Turn Around’.

They’re all good tracks, musically well put together, even if the songs are at the service of the grooves. The arrangements keep lesser songs interesting, with fluttering flutes appearing when I was tuning out of ‘Dreamin’ You’ and making me a smile a little. The biggest happy surprise was ‘Goin’ Crazy’, which has the classic Temperton trick of the outro being the funkiest part of the song (see MJ’s ‘Thriller’ and ‘The Lady In My Life’). The song hits, with the drums very forward and the 80s heavily reverbed hand claps marking the era the song is in, but it really blew my mind when it seemed like the tune was ready to fade out and then got ridiculously funky. After a little string break, there’s absolute groove magic. Check it out