(March 28, 2024) Mention the phrase “disco divas,” and Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, and Thelma Houston are a few names that immediately enter the conversation. Yet in addition to those select few who transcended chart boundaries to become internationally renowned with anthems closely tied to their legacies, there are many more who fundamentally helped shape the versatility of the genre with recordings that thrived in discos around the world—but didn’t find their way to airwaves at a time when radio play dictated big sales figures and name recognition.
(March 28, 2024) Mention the phrase “disco divas,” and Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, and Thelma Houston are a few names that immediately enter the conversation. Yet in addition to those select few who transcended chart boundaries to become internationally renowned with anthems closely tied to their legacies, there are many more who fundamentally helped shape the versatility of the genre with recordings that thrived in discos around the world—but didn’t find their way to airwaves at a time when radio play dictated big sales figures and name recognition.
Newark’s Taana Gardner is one such important, yet often overlooked, disco diva. While her 1981 disco-funk masterpiece “Heartbeat” made Billboard’s R&B top-10 and went on to be sampled by artists ranging from De La Soul to SWV, her self-titled debut album released two years earlier played a pivotal role in stabilizing the soulful roots of disco and ensuring its staying power in nightclubs long after the commercial backlash at the close of the ‘70s. UK-based SoulMusic Records is shining a much-deserved new spotlight on these recordings (as well as “Heartbeat” and several other later efforts) in a new, two-CD collection entitled When You Touch Me: The West End Recordings. (click link to see on Amazon.com)
The title cut, “When You Touch Me” (#10 on the disco chart in ’79), is the perfect encapsulation of R&B tunefulness and dance floor pulsations that Gardner and songwriter-producer Kenton Nix mastered over more than two decades of working together. A deftly unique hybrid of quiet-storm and get-down groove, the song opens with a decidedly midtempo, romantic glide before easing unmistakably into an all-out frenzy. But this isn’t of the dramatic nature of Summer’s “Last Dance”—lyrically or musically. Rather, it’s a decidedly authentic tale of holding out for that right someone—even when “they call me rigid, even frigid”—before surrendering to the passion that “makes me feel alive, makes me burn inside.” And it’s delivered with Gardner’s impeccably powerful range, going in an instant and back ‘round again from sultry and understated to sassy and soaring.
“When You Touch Me” also stands out for being one of a handful of disco gems co-written by the late producer-remixer Larry Levan, legendary DJ of New York’s storied Paradise Garage. His masterful mixing touch here ensures that all of the distinctive instrumental elements, from the engulfing bass line of T.M. Stevenson (who passed away just weeks before this reissue was announced) to the standout organ fills and Van Gibbs’ seductive guitar intonations, have their chance to shine.
The original LP version of “When You Touch Me” clocks in at nearly 11 minutes, and there’s an even longer 12” mix. Both of those are included on When You Touch Me: The West End Recordings; but so are two radio edits. We present here as our latest SoulTracks Lost Gem the “Special Disco Radio Version” of the track, which highlights all of the best features of this soulful disco jewel in just four-and-a-half minutes. Take a listen below and be transported back to a distinctively New York-minded style of no-frills disco.