Julien Jabre

Based on the mainstream disco that has survived the ’70s, I’ve always sympathised with the "disco sucks” rioters. Of course, I figured there were great underground tracks that never got radio play, otherwise how do you explain how disco eventually morphed into house, but I hadn’t much heard any of ‘em. Now French producer Julien Jabre has assembled a "disco-tech” mix that follows disco’s evolution over three decades, taking the listener logically from the ‘60s French orchestral mood music of Philippe Sarde to the starry-eyed ’90s epic techno of Detroit’s Carl Craig. In between he hits all the bases, from Herbie Hancock’s lush "Stars in your Eyes” (with Ray Parker Jr. on vocals) to an instrumental of Marvin Gaye’s "After the Dance” and the horn-filled funk disco of Georges Duke. Throw this on at a house party and if your living room doesn’t turned into a de facto discothèque, then your friends are lame.