I've been spending so much of my time listening to Nu Disco and leftfield edits lately that hearing actual true-to-soul Disco is a shock to the system. Cult label UTC is a dredging operation, scraping the best of the recent and not-so-recent past - I have no idea of the licensing behind it but as someone that likes music more than lawyers, I'm not going to think too much about it. And frankly, re-releasing Geraldine Hunt's "Can't Fake the Feeling" under the title Geraldine Hunt's "Can't Fake the Feeling" is a hell of a lot more honest than some Abelton monkey scarcely leaving a fingerprint on a classic track and inserting his name next to the original artist. (Note: If you do that... cut it out.)
You'll know the title track from the classic intro, which is preserved here just as it was on the original release of Ted Taylor's original "Ghetto Disco" on the notorious T.K. Disco label from 1977. The trick is that the original is distinctive as hell, so it's probably going to be either a standard player in the repertoire of a more eclectic DJ or a gimmick in the set for someone that stays inside the lines.
The aforementioned Ms. Hunt's "Can't Fake the Feeling" is the second strongest track on here. The 12" remixes were a Garage staple or so they say and remain probably Geraldine's most memorable release. (And for something else memorable about her... ask Robert Williams sometime.)
Initially, I panned both cuts from NY Disco Machine but especially "Light My Fire", which struck me as some sort of horror out of a Merv Griffin Show outtake. Yes, it's a cover of The Doors song, yes it's pretty cheesy and... you know what? After a few minutes, the building Moroder synths had won me over with their black magic. Unlike "Ghetto Disco", this is probably a gimmick song in anyone's hands, but it really does cook. Listen to the whole thing all the way through rather than a 2:00 sample and see if you agree.
Review by: Terry Matthew / august 2011 issue
Available: Released August 1 2011; available from Juno Download.
Terry Matthew is the managing editor of 5 Magazine. You can contact him at 
