Lightning strikes when he touches my hand, the earth beneath subsides...

In the years following the “death” of disco, dance music became the most “underground” genre, even eclipsing the cresting punk movement. Kept going by the gay clubs, the soul of disco morphed into a cleaner, more robotic groove influenced by new wave. Compilations of this music are hard to find, and they’re mostly on independent labels. Such is the case with Gay Classics Vol V: Heading Out, one of a series of obscure dance records on obscure labels by obscure artists on Hot Productions records. And it is a somewhat harder listen than a normal dance record. Underground it may be, but very derivative, especially in its reliance on covers, with Heading Out featuring three, a disjointed take on “Do You Know The Way To San Jose” which doesn’t fit the pace or phrasing, a megamix of gay icons Bronski Beat/Communards tunes called “Commumix” (though I got to hand it to the singer for keeping up with the falsetto), and a passable version of “Touch Me In The Morning”. There were few “stars” of this genre, though the better songs on here were from more consistent artists like Earlene Bentley with the uplifting “I’m Living My Own Life”, Barbara Mason with the “caught my man on the down-low” of “Another Man”, and Northern Soul diva Frances Nero with the anti-stalkin’ “Footsteps Following Me”. But the true gem of the set is the Flirtations’ “Earthquake”. I had been looking for this on CD for a long time, and had to order this from Amazon even to get it used! With its thundering tympani, and girl-group charm, it transcends its modern-style cheesiness. The rest of the bunch goes from the soundtrack-style fluff like Eastbound Expressway’s “You’re A Beat” to the just plain weirdness of Dekko’s “I’ll Be Your Man”. As a whole, the “gay classics” denotation is kind of flimsy, since besides the obvious gayness of the “Commumix” and the vague self-help from Earlene, none of this is specifically queer, and even “Another Man” as good as it is is sort of a “damn, he’s gay” statement, though I guess you’re really not supposed to think about it. I give this way more bonus points singularly on “Earthquake”’s presence alone, but besides a couple mid-to-low-chart dance diddies, this would require more effort to pay attention from being background music than it may be worth.

Grade: C
Best Cuts: “Earthquake”, “I’m Living My Own Life”, “Another Man”
Weakest Link: “I’ll Be Your Man”

"I'm Living My Own Life" by Earlene Bentley hit #14 dance.
"Emergency" by Laura Pallas hit #71 dance.
"Another Man" by Barbara Mason made #33 dance and #45 in the UK.
"Footsteps Following Me" by Frances Nero made #17 in the UK.
"Earthquake" by the Flirtations hit #26 dance club..

Buy: You can pick up Gay Classics Vol. V: Heading Out at sites like here and here.

And here's a you-tube clip (with only the cover but the whole song) for "Earthquake"..Enjoy.