Can't You See That I Love Nobody Else

x. Geraldine Hunt – “Can’t Fake the Feeling” - There are two songs by Geraldine, who is also the mother of Freddie James, that are absolutely essential: “Heart/Heart” and “Can’t Fake the Feeling.” While both hits were originally released on Prism Records, I believe, this track is her most successful effort. Between the satin strings and chocolate bassline, this type of track’s influence on French Touch, and its pop offspring genres, is completely obvious. If you take out the strings, and make the voice a vocoder … this is “Something About Us” take two. Although, Ms. Hunt’s vocals are really what pull this song together and make it work, and taking her out of the equation would be a travesty. In other words, the significance of this track is not purely referential. This is some serious shit. Disco, funk, champagne soul … all in one sweet little package.



x. Shift – “Roller Rink Funk” - This is one of the most obscure tracks I can think of. Not that that means anything on its own, but it does mean that I wa lucky to find it on CD! To be honest, I really just collect records, and it takes a hell of a lot to get me to pick up anything in a digital format. But when walking into a record store, I heard this track and it was all over. My mom was a big disco queen from Florida, which had a HUGE scene, and she broke it down for me like this … there were two types of clubs. First, there were the Abba type spots, and they were usually filled by well-to-do white yuppies. At this sort of venue, one could expect cocaine and boring string arrangements that sacrifice funk for orchestration. Secondly, there were the Roy Ayers type clubs where you would find a largely African-American and queer audience. These were the places where you would hear tracks with just bass, drums, guitar, and vocals. You know, the type of tracks that really blur the lines between disco, funk, soul, and early hip-hop. This track is of the second category, and, basically … it fucking rocks. You can find more of these tracks on a compilation called “Deep Disco Culture Vol. 1” …