Disco Dessert 9/7/18 - "Livin' It Up (Friday Night)" by Bell & James...

"Livin' It Up (Friday Night)" was the debut single from soul-disco act Bell & James. Leroy Bell, the nephew of Philadelphia Records producer Thom Bell, hooked up with Casey James to write songs for the label and studio, including Elton John's top ten soft-disco single "Mama Can't Buy You Love", which led to their own contract. Their self-titled first album including this ode to the start of the weekend, which climbed to #7 on Billboard's R&B chart, and #15 on the pop Hot 100 in America, but incredibly did not even appear on their Disco/Dance singles chart at all. I smell shenanigans! Nevertheless this classic disco anthem is not even available on either iTunes or Amazon for either purchase or streaming (it is on Spotify on a multi-artist CD from A&M), and the CD can only be bought as an import. (It is available on Rhino's Soul Hits Of The 70s collection of CDs). It'd be a crime if this song got lost in the cracks if the whole business turns into a "streaming-only" one.