I can't claim much specialist knowledge on the world of 1970s US funk and disco, but then, that's what attracted me to these releases in the first place. When I saw the cool, retro styled covers of these Backbeats compilations they looked like a great way to educate and enlighten myself about various scenes of 1970s American pop culture that had hitherto passed me by. I'm a bit of a collector too, and my record collection wouldn't feel complete without these niches covered; the fact that the packaging for each has been so lovingly designed as a tribute to the subject matter makes them a welcome addition too. Of course, as the designs allude to, the artwork should rightly be wrapped around a big, heavy chunk of black vinyl but you can't have everything, can you?
Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah the New York disco collection doesn't boast any names that jumped out at me at first glance so as I scanned the names of Eddie Holman, Lucy Hawkins, Loleatta Holloway I didn't know what I was going to get. I'd got this far on blind faith, and my theory that generally speaking you can judge an album by its cover. Turns out I was right.
