2019 repress; Double LP version, part 1. 15 tracks on 180 gram gatefold 2LP with liner notes. Artists: Chakachas, Mad Unity, René Costy, Alex Scorier, Open Sky Unit, Plus, André Brasseur, Les Hélions, Chicken Curry & His Pop Percussion Orchestra, Placebo, Black Blood, S.S.O. (feat. Douglas Lucas & The Sugar Sisters, Nico Gomez & His Afro Percussion Inc., and Chocolat's.
The best Belgian dance tracks from the beginning of the '70s. Dire times, they were, full of poverty and hardship. To make a living out of popular music was a near-impossibility in a small country like Belgium. This precarious situation, though, proved to be a blessing in disguise for creative minds. When it's hard to get your hands on some money, trying out as many things as you can seems the logical thing to do. On the other hand, if there's hardly any money to be gained anyway, you may just as well play what you bloody well like. That's what Belgians like to do anyway. Moreover, living in a country where virtually every musical wave passes through also inspires. In the early '70s, those waves were (Afro-)funk, soul, and Latin. The situation as a whole was a favorable one for some visionary musical entrepreneurs. Jean and Roland Kluger created a musical dynasty, American-style, with successful acts like Chakachas and Two Man Sound. Their rival, Marcel De Keukeleire, scored worldwide hits with Amadeo, Chocolat's, and "The Birdy Song." Relying on zealous energy and a shamelessly commercial logic, every effort was aimed at success, so they jumped on as many international bandwagons as they could and tried out their own variants on the local market. Nearly every style in the post-war scene is represented here: Hein Huysmans' jazz-funk, the jazzy prog-rock of Cos, or the fusion of Open Sky Unit. And of course there's Marc Moulin, a name that needs little or no introduction. This is the missing link between the variety orchestras of the '60s and the electronic triumphs of Telex in the late '70s and early '80s. These tracks offer the same sense of adventure and slightly surreal pigheadedness that are also present in the best Belgian contributions to dance music. Think Front 242, Technotronic, or Soulwax/2manydjs. This is the ground they built upon.