Caravan Palace: A Swingin’ Disco Addendum to the Songbook

Sorry about the light blogging of late, especially Songbook-wise, but I’m movin’ to Newport News for a “new gig” and travelin’ meantime back to my Cali home.

Thanks to a tip from a tardy commenter on my epic essay on social dance , however, here’s a ‘lil something for you, from La France, no less, a group called Caravan Palace . Swing-done-retro, reminding one of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, but unlike in the 90s, very interestingly and promisingly linked to contemporary “disco” sounds. This studio work shows why their stuff could easily get played at a club.

It’s an example of what I was talking about in my epic essay on disco when I said this:

“From the moment Edison invented recording, various trends were preparing the way for disco, and its full advent in the 70s and 80s was inevitable. Certain folks will always be figuring out that it can be made better, more like the R+B, soul, and funk it came out of, insofar as one brings live musicians thoroughly trained in Afro-American music into the “mix,” and into the “command booth,” so to speak. Various Dee-lites of that sort will always remain possible, and always ready to push back against robotic rhythms and canned sounds while winning over the dancers that have become used to them.”

No, the studio cut isn’t entirely to my taste, but it does put some “joy in my head” about the future. What’s your reaction?

Anyhow, thanks Colin Brown!