| Dancin' and Lovin' | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 1979 | |||
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| Genre | Disco | |||
| Length | 36:38 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Producer |
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| The Spinners chronology | ||||
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Dancin' and Lovin' is a 1979 studio album from Philly soul vocal group the Spinners, released on Atlantic Records. This album comes after a long-time association with producer Thom Bell and marks a shift to disco, resulting in a commercial success after a short string of decline.
The Spinners had a series of certified gold albums produced by Thom Bell for Atlantic Records in the 1970s. [1] By 1977, vocalist Philippé Wynne had left the group for a solo career and to work in the music business, [2] leading to a commercial decline for the group and a pair of less successful albums in 1977, followed by a greatest hits album to buoy their profile. After From Here to Eternally and a few songs on the soundtrack to Bell's film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh , [3] the group changed their sound to disco and enlisted a different production technique for this release in 1979. [4] For the first time, the group produced their own music, collaborating with Will Hatcher and Michael Zager. [5]
A review in Billboard upon release recommended the album to retailers and noted that the group still retained its "vocal punch" with the addition of John Edwards replacing Philippé Wynne. [6] The editors of AllMusic Guide scored this release three out of five stars, with reviewer Ron Wynn noting that the band's reinvention worked commercially and allowed them to briefly retire a worn-out formula of soul music, which they returned to with a fresh approach in the 1980s. [7] In a year-end round-up for Billboard , the Spinners were 76th in the Number One Pop Album Artists for this album and 22nd in Number One Soul Album Artists for both Dancin' and Lovin' and its follow-up Love Trippin' . [8]
The Spinners
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
Dancin' and Lovin' was the most commercially successful Spinners album in several years, reaching 11 on the R&B chart and peaking at 32 on the Billboard 200. [9] Additionally, they made their only appearance on Australian charts, topping out at 87. [10] Furthermore, the single releases of "Working My Way Back to You" and "Forgive Me Girl" reached two on the pop charts and six on the R&B charts respectively. [7] Jet included Dancin' and Lovin' in their Soul Brothers Top 20 Albums three times in 1980, reaching 18 on March 20, [11] 20 on April 3, [12] and finally 13 on April 10. [13]
Kool & the Gang is an American R&B, soul, and funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964. Its founding members include brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell aka "Khalis Bayyan", Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, Sir Earl Toon, Woodrow "Woody" Sparrow, and Ricky Westfield. They have undergone numerous changes in personnel and have explored many musical styles throughout their history, including jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, disco, rock, and pop music. The group changed their name several times. Settling on Kool & the Gang, the group signed to De-Lite Records and released their debut album, Kool and the Gang (1969).
MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom Bell, and backed up Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the O'Jays, the Stylistics, the Spinners, Wilson Pickett, and Billy Paul.
Michael Zager is an American record producer, composer, and arranger of original music for commercials, albums, network television, and theme music for films. He teaches music at Florida Atlantic University. Zager was a member of jazz rock band Ten Wheel Drive from 1968 to 1973.
Claudja Barry is a Jamaican-born Canadian singer. Her successful songs were "Down and Counting", "Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes", "Dancing Fever", and others. As an actress, she is known for appearing in the European versions of stage musicals AC/DC and Catch My Soul.
Divine Madness is an album by American singer Bette Midler and the Harlettes, released in 1980. It is a live recording taken from Midler's Divine Madness concert film, released the same year. The album, however, does not contain any of Midler's comedy routines and features only her musical performances from the show and it in fact only provides half of the songs that appear in the film. The original live recordings were also to a large extent edited and re-recorded in the studio for the soundtrack album.
"Working My Way Back to You" is a song made popular by the Four Seasons in 1966 and the Spinners in 1980.
Kenneth "Kenny" Nolan is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles.
Post-disco is a term to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1986, imprecisely beginning with the backlash against disco music in the United States, leading to civil unrest and a riot in Chicago known as the Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979, and indistinctly ending with the mainstream appearance of new wave in 1980. During its dying stage, disco displayed an increasingly electronic character that soon served as a stepping stone to new wave, old-school hip hop, Euro disco, and was succeeded by an underground club music called hi-NRG, which was its direct continuation.
"I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)" is a single by the disco band Instant Funk, recorded and released in 1978, which was later included in their self-titled sophomore album.
Love Explosion is the fourth solo studio album by Tina Turner, released late 1979 on the EMI label in Europe, Ariola Records in West Germany and United Artists Records in the UK. Italy and South Africa followed in early 1980. The album was not released in the United States. It was her second solo album released after she left husband Ike Turner and the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Love Explosion failed to chart, so Turner lost her recording contract. It would be her last album until the critically acclaimed Private Dancer in 1984.
Soul Train: The Dance Years is a series of compilation albums released by Rhino Records in 1999 and 2000, and spun off from the long-running syndicated television series Soul Train.
I Wanna Be Loved by You is Claudja Barry's third studio album, released in November 1978 by Lollipop Records.
Heatwave was a disco-funk band formed in London, England in 1975. Its most popular line-up featured Americans Johnnie Wilder Jr. and Keith Wilder (vocals) of Dayton, Ohio; Englishmen Rod Temperton (keyboards) and Roy Carter (guitar); Swiss Mario Mantese (bass); Czechoslovak Ernest "Bilbo" Berger (drums); and Jamaican Eric Johns (guitar).
The Best of the Spinners is a 1978 greatest hits album from Philly soul vocal group The Spinners, released on Atlantic Records.
From Here to Eternally is a 1979 studio album from American Philly soul vocal group the Spinners, released on Atlantic Records. This album represents their last collaboration with producer Thom Bell and marks a decline in the critical and commercial success of the group.
Love Trippin' is a 1980 studio album from rhythm and blues vocal group the Spinners, released on Atlantic Records. This album comes after a shake-up in the band's sound, shifting from their Philly soul roots and a series of successful albums produced by Thom Bell to a disco sound recorded with several New York-based jazz musicians on 1979's Dancin' and Lovin'. That album's producer Michael Zager returned for this release which was a modest commercial and critical success and brought the musicians back to a more familiar soul sound.
