The Trammps — Burn Baby Burn – Disco Inferno-Albums 1975-1980(CD

From Cherry Red’s soul, disco, and funk sub-label Robin Songs here’s an eight CD boxset bringing together the total output from Philadelphia’s The Trammps-who were one of the first disco bands, penning such dance floor classics as "Disco Inferno", "Love Epidemic", and "Hold Back the Night". This set highlights the band's ear for both great grooves and tunes, as well as forays in more streamy soul/ R&B, and other related genres.

The eight discs come presented in a glossy flip side box- this features a red, black, yellow and dull silver colour scheme. Each of the discs is presented in its own colour card slips- these replicate the original vinyl covers- which often show the band in their groovy & flared matching suits. Also featured is a sixteen-page glossy booklet- this takes in a new seven-page write-up about the band, and the featured albums by Charles Waring- who has written for the likes of Mojo & Record Collector. Also featured we have vinyl labels, band pictures, and of course full album credits.

The pre-history of The Trammps goes all the way back to the 1960s and a project called The Volcanos, later known as The Moods. The Moods membership included gospel-influenced lead singer Jimmy Ellis, and Earl Young – drummer and soulful baritone singer, who were joined by brothers Stanley (guitar, vocals) and Harold 'Doc’ Wade (Bass Vocals). Seemingly at some point in 1972, the band shifted their name to The Trammps, which saw the key members bringing in more players.  After a few singles the band's first album was their 1975 self-title- this originally appeared on Gold Fleece, which was part of Philadelphia International Records. 

So, kicking off this boxset we have the bands self-titled debut- this took in ten tracks, with the focus being on an early disco/ soul blend. The album's front cover shows the band, in green trousers and open chested orange/ green shirts, as a five-piece- but when we flip over we see the total album line-up of eleven players. The album opens with swooning ‘n’ grooving horns meets strutting bass and guitar of “Stop and Leave” with a nice blend of Ellis punchy soulful gospel lead, and sightly wavering backing vocals. Moving through the album we have swooning backing vocals, chiming vibes, hazed guitar and keys of “Every Dream I Dream Is of You” which has the deep lover man vocals of Earl Young. There’s pacey flow, funking groove, and rising horns of the instrumental “Trammps Disco Theme”. We have vaguely Parisian horn jiving of “I Know That Feeling” which mixes together Ellis lead vocals, back vocals and a few lows from Wade. With the album been topped off with the rather screaming and yelling James Brown gospel soul meets doo-wop of “Shout”. As debuts go this offers up a good enough selection of different types of tracks, sure some of it’s a little derivative- but what debut release isn’t- on the whole, it’s a promising start.

On disc two we have the band's follow-up album The Legendary Zing Album, this was also from 1975, and found the band moving Buddah Records. The album is a nine-track affair and comes in at a fairly swift just over thirty-four minutes. We kick off with the medley track “Penguin at Big Apple/ Zing Went the Strings of My Heart”- it’s out basically been a more strutting guitar version of “Trammps Disco Theme”. Before moving on to the second track/ part- which is a cover (originally by James F Hanley in 1934- then later by Judy Garland). The band got to number 17 in the US charts with the track, and its great strutting of clean guitar layers soul doo-wop backing vocals, blend of deep and soaring gospel. Moving through the album we come to the album's other single “Sixty Minute Man”- which is  another cover, this time it was originally played by Bill Ward and His Dominoes in 1951.  This version finds flowing and jaunting string work, and a tight grooving soul groove with very James Brown squeals and deep baritones. The remaining tracks move from throbbing bass and swing strings of the instrumental track “Sruboard”, onto the swooning and lightly grooving vibe lined “Rubber Band” which moves from sailing backing vocals led chorus, onto tight jiving verse with passioned vocals by Ellis.  The vibe on this album feels more upbeat soulful, with lighter disco touches. It’s certainly a great, largely punchy follow-up album- and you can hear why the band started to rise in popularity from this point on. The disc bonus track is a single version of the Zing track.

Disc three gives us 1976’s Where the Happy People Go, and this saw the band signing to major label Atlantic. The album was a seven-track affair, and it really saw the band sharpen their dance floor grooves- with three of the album's tracks coming in over the seven-minute mark. We go from the title track, which starts off all grand piano flourish and smoky sax lines- before kicking into a meaty bass line, snaping ‘n’ hissing drums, swirling horn & string work, and of course great disco beat. Another lengthy jam is “Disco Party” and this is classic grooving campness, with wack-wack funk guitars/bass, sailing keys, and swoon horn touches. Moving we have the funk ballad of “Hooked For Life” which features some great thick horn embellishments, and sentimental string sweeps. With the album playing out with the clip-clop beats, hazing Hammond organ, bumping bass and light blue flicked guitar tones of the instrumental track “Love Is A Funky Thing”. Where The Happy People Go is a most consistent third album, and it shows the band really coming into their own. The CD is finished off with four bonus seven-inch versions of album tracks.

Next up on disc four, we have 1976’s  Disco Inferno- it once again appeared on Atlantic records. It featured another six tracks, and as with the last album the track runtimes were creeping- with only one track hitting around the four-minute mark, three nearing the seven-minute mark, and the title track sliding in just shy of the eleven-minute mark- and this certainly has its pros & cons. With a  track like “Starvin”  we get a great floor filler, fitting well its length- with jiving strings, swinging horns and bounding bass line, with along the way nice shifting layers of jamming keys, with hazy guitar and backing vocal breakdowns.  Though the following track “ Feel Like I've Been Livin' (On the Dark Side of the Moon)” with its bounding keyboards/ piano, cascading guitar layers, horn vamping, and rather showy vocal harmonies feels way too overblown/ stretched for its fairly basic building blocks. Then we of course have the title track and floor-filling disco classic “Disco Inferno”- and this sadly falls between the two camps- it starts off great with its snapping percussion, jiving keys, and stabbing strings pulling you out to the floor- sadly by around the six-minute mark, it’s starting to feel a little tired/ burnt out- with rather blues guitar licks, horn rolls, and tired vocal exchangers. The remainder of side two is taken up by “Don’t Burn My Bridges” starts off nicely urgent with stab horn & strings but shifts into rather cliched and unmemorable disco. Though the final track “You Touch My Hot Line” has a good descending bass line, climbing keys & strings & a soulful chorus- been the shortest track here at the four-and-a-half-minute mark.  As a whole album, Disco Inferno does feel rather uneven/ less focused- but there are classy moments on display.

On disc number five we have 1977’s The Trammps III-and once more this was another Atlantic release. It featured eight tracks in all,  there is a good mix between shorter and longer jammed-out grooving track; and for the most part it’s a consistent and varied album. We kick off with the stabbing and trumpeting horn lined soul disco of “The Night the Lights Went Out”- which details a power outage in NYC, when the singer was making love. The track features some nice grooving bass lines, sweetly sailing strings, and a great percussion/ jiving organ breakdown with people chatter about the blackout. Moving on we expressive horn wails and cascading keys soul-pop of “Living The life” – which details single man's life. There’s the boogie-woogie to moody piano meets jaunting horn ‘n’ string rises of “Life An't  Easy”, or we play out with trumpeting horn and overblown singer-songwriter pop-soul balladeering of “It Don't Take Much”. The album runs forty-three minutes in total, been a memorable and entertaining ride. The CD takes in two shorter single versions of album tracks.

On disc six we have The Whole Worlds Dancing- which saw the band having a year or so break been released in 1979. Once again, we’re on Atlantic , with the album featuring seven tracks over its thirty-eight and a bit runtime. We kick in fine regenerated form with “Love Insurance Policy” as it’s a great upbeat and swinging disco tune- with great upfront electro tom hits, busily jiving string and horn work- and a very neat hand clap, electro tom, and blues piano breakdown.  We have the bounding bass meets jaunting horn ‘n’ string grooving & swooning of the title track. There’s funk-soul strut and stomp of “Soul Bone”, or swing horns & joyfully slice string lined disco of “Love Magnet”. Again, another  even and enjoyable album. The CD finished off with two seven-inch versions of album tracks.

Disc seven takes in Mixing It up- this was released on Atlantic Records again, appearing in the year 1980, which was the point when really the disco trend was very much waning- and this album certainly shows that. It’s an eight-track album, which opens up with the album's one and only single “Hard Rock and Disco”- and this was the band's attempt to merge disco and rock, sadly it’s more than a little cringe-inducing. The disco grooves feel very bland, and the rock elements very tame and rather blues-tinged in their flow- but worse of all they really stretch things out for nearing seven minutes. Moving on we have a few more worthy moments like scratching bass groove & upfront jiving keyboards of “Music Freek”, there are the handclaps ‘n’ funk bass groove of “V.I.P”. Through we equally we have the awkward sampled disco whistle, lame tinkling percussion, and dumb lyrics of “Dance Contest”. So, Mixing It Up is very much a mixed bag, and you feel their star is fading with the disco genre itself.

Finally, on disc eight we have the band's final album 1980’s Stepping Out, once again it another Atlantic records release, surpassing the unevenness of their previous album, it’s not too bad, though it’s much more of a soul-funk record, with the disco elements often paired back. The nine-track album goes from the mid-paced swooning groove of “Loveland”. Onto the strutting funk bass meets grooving synth tones of “Mellow Out”, through to plodding soul ballad march of “I Don’t’ Want to Ever Lose Your Love”. With the album playing out with the more urgent horn and light rocking funk disco of “Breath Taking View”- which like much of the record features some great grooving to spacey synth stabs.

It is normal/ standard for disco bands/ projects of The Trammps ilk to just get a best-of compilation, so it’s great to see Robin Songs putting out this career-spanning boxset. Yes, they had some great singles, but they also wrote creative and worthy album tracks too. If you’re a fan of 70’s disco/ groovy 70’s sound this really is a no brainer release.