James Hamilton's Disco Page

The second collection of James Hamilton’s columns for Record Mirror is now available for order.

Covering the period from 1983 to 1989, this 800-page book, with introductions by Pete Tong, Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson, contains almost 7000 record reviews, and is comprehensively indexed, with around 7000 people and places listed. Each monthly chapter contains aggregated Disco/Club and Hi-NRG/Eurobeat Top 50 charts, as well as edited reviews, news, gossip and opinion from that month, and a YouTube playlist containing almost all the tracks that are mentioned.

Greg and Mike will be launching the book in London on Saturday December 20th, where you will be able to buy signed copies. After their talk, Mike will be recreating one of James’s sets from Gullivers in Mayfair. The event runs from 630pm to 9pm. Admission is free, but places must be reserved in advance. Later that evening, Greg will be DJ-ing a 3-hour set at The Social, from 10pm to 1am.

Meanwhile, recent guests on the Record Mirror Disco Charts podcast have included DJ Paulette, Arthur Baker, Peter Hook and John Morales.

Irvine Welsh joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson to take a look at a Disco Chart from September 1978: a time when, in the wake of Saturday Night Fever’s enormous success, certain UK DJs were starting to plot a different way forwards, with jazz-funk in particular emerging as a significant new force. As we discover, many of these US tunes, although huge on British dancefloors, did not enjoy the same success in their home country.

Dividing his time between London punk clubs and Saturday night discos, Irvine straddled both worlds, at ease with their supposed cultural contradictions. To accompany his new book Men In Love – which picks up where Trainspotting left off, charting its central characters’ progress through the late 1980s – Irvine has released a soundtrack album, accompanied by his Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra, which sets the characters’ stories to lushly orchestrated soulful disco, inspired by the classic sound of Chic and Philadelphia International. During the episode, you’ll also get to hear more about how this musical project came together.

To accompany our discussion, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode (Spotify playlist).

To mark the 50th anniversary of James Hamilton’s first Disco Page in Record Mirror, Alexis Petridis (head rock & pop critic for The Guardian) joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a countdown of the first ever Disco Chart that James compiled (28th June 1975), based on DJ returns from around the UK.

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode (Spotify playlist).

Leee John joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a Disco Chart Top 20 countdown from July 1981.

Already a committed clubber and an active member of the Britfunk community, Leee had just started to find success with his band Imagination, who had been signed to Morgan Khan’s R&B label, and so he has vivid memories of this particular period (including an eye-popping tale of a wardrobe malfunction at Top Of The Pops).

This was a transitional time: the disco era was over, the electronic era had yet to emerge, but the beat went on, with a focus on skilled musicianship and carefully crafted production values. And as always, you’ll also get to hear what James Hamilton thought of each track that we discuss.

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode (Spotify playlist).

Ahead of his success in the 1980s. with the Street Sounds compilations and labels such as Excaliber, R&B and Streetwave, Morgan Khan was already a key player in the music industry by late 1979, licensing tracks for release on the Pye group of labels, and handling promotion work for his signings. This makes him a perfect choice for the latest episode of the Record Mirror Disco Charts podcast, as he had direct professional involvement with several of the records in the December 1979 Top 20 that we’ve selected for discussion, and first-hand memories of the period, which saw disco music entering a new post-backlash phase and preparing itself for the new decade. As enthusiastic, opinionated and knowledgable as ever, Morgan remains one of dance music’s most unforgettable characters, and we had a lot of fun talking to him.

Counting down the Disco Top 20 from 24th September 1977, Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson are joined by Jeff Young: “funk mafia” DJ, presenter of BBC Radio One’s first ever specialist dance music show, remixer, studio owner and music industry professional.

Alexis Petridis has written an excellent piece about James for The Guardian, with quotes along the way from Norman Cook, Pete Tong, Gilles Peterson, Greg Wilson and myself. It’s great to see that finally, all these years later, James’s pivotal impact on UK dance music culture is becoming more widely acknowledged.

James’s columns were a massive formative influence for a teenage Dave Lee, so it was great to have him as our special guest for Episode 2 of the Record Mirror Disco Charts podcast (not least because he was a big help to us when we put this blog together).

This time, we’re looking at a Top 20 from September 1980: it’s a nicely diverse selection of big crossover hits and deeper cuts, once again accompanied by playlists, and my attempts to read out James’s often tongue-twisting reviews!

This set was recreated by Mike Atkinson at Walthamstow Trades Hall on 31st January, using the track listing and mixing instructions that James published in Record Mirror the following week.

The Crusaders – Street Life (0:00)
Joe Sample – There Are Many Stops Along The Way (3:05)
Paulinho Da Costa – Love Till The End Of Time (6:24)
Charanga 76 – No Nos Pararan (Ain’t No Stopping Us Now) (8:53)
Candi Staton – Rock (11:39)
Chic – Good Times (14:03)
Uncle Louie – Full-Tilt Boogie (17:33)
Al Hudson & The Partners – You Can Do It (22:02)
Stephanie Mills – Put Your Body In It (25:06)
Harvey Mason – Groovin’ You (28:06)
Earth, Wind & Fire – Boogie Wonderland (with The Emotions) (32:14)
Slick – Space Bass (37:38)
Tumblack – Caraiba (43:06)
Idris Muhammad – Foxhuntin’ (44:08)
Eramus Hall – Beat Your Feet (48:00)
Cameo – Find My Way (51:27)
Pockets – Catch Me (55:11)

In this new monthly podcast series, Greg Wilson, Mike Atkinson and a special guest discuss a randomly selected Record Mirror Disco Top 20, from any week between 1975 and 1982. These charts were compiled by dancefloor reaction reports, sent in by DJs from across the UK. We’ll also look at how they were reviewed at the time by James Hamilton, whose columns from this period have recently been published in book form as James Hamilton’s Disco Pages 1975-1982. Each episode comes with its own playlist, so that you can listen to all the tracks continuously.

Norman Cook joins us for the first episode, as we take a detailed look at what was happening on UK dancefloors in the week of 28th August 1982: a time of significant change, as the dominant post-disco sounds (retrospectively known as “boogie”) were starting to make way for groundbreaking – and divisive – electronic innovations. With underground import tracks rubbing shoulders with crossover pop hits, this particular Record Mirror Disco Top 20 offers a fascinating snapshot of the period.

Along the way, you’ll also hear about Norman’s beginnings as a DJ, and about the early influences that shaped his future career as Fatboy Slim. Meanwhile, as someone who was playing these tunes at the time, at major venues such as Wigan Pier and Legend in Manchester, Greg draws on his own experience and knowledge to place this music in its proper historical context.

Record Mirror Disco Charts is available on all the standard podcast platforms (Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Deezer etc), and it can also be streamed directly via this link.

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?