Various Artists — Boogie On The Mainline – A Collection Of Rare Disc

In simpler times, disco took the world by storm and managed to paint itself into every corner of the globe. Not surprisingly, synth loving, beat driven Germany celebrated its open parameters and supreme danceability. This during a time when Neue Deutsche Welle, thrash, and industrial music were on the rise as well, showing how diverse a music scene there was in Germany during this time.

Boogie on the Mainline is a compilation of ten German and one Austrian disco/funk/boogie tracks from 1980-1987. On the whole, European disco has a decidedly different flavor than American disco (excluding the Moroder produced tracks), and growing up hearing the latter, the former is definitely a fun, refreshing surprise. Usually involving more synths and less of the standard four on the floor beat, European disco opened up quite a few more doors and allowed more sub-genres to form from it. With excellent compilation series like I <3 Italo Disco and Too Slow to Disco churning out excellent, non-standard disco records, what better time to delve into this groove filled genre?

Disco usually covers subjects such as dancing and love, subjects most people would associate with the German language. However, all but one of these tracks are in English, and the one in German works very well. This shouldn't be a surprise, though, as Boney M is (sorta) German disco. With the soft, danceable funk on numbers like "Don't Stay for Breakfast," "You're Just Yourself," and the very Change reminiscent "Dancing Shoes," synth and bass push the drive forward. A handful of the tracks take a very laid back, yacht-y approach, and let the slow rhythm worm its way into the listener's ear and force control of his or her body. Varied arrangements and different instrumentation keep Boogie on the Mainline very interesting, and the eleven tracks fly by begging for repeat spins.