Come to Me // Let Go

Out of print for decades, Joli's debut is one of the few disco records that's solid all the way through. It's unusually rich because writer/producer Tony Green bridges the gaps between various subgenres. There are lush sweeping arrangements characterizing early disco driving tunes of a length usually seen only in late disco. The rushed metronomic rhythms normally found in Europe are supplemented by noisy percussion - particularly timbales ("Let Go") - and solos on everything from vibes to sax, more common to American records. The classic "Come To Me" embodies these contradictions: insanely overdone yet moving and sincere; endless but never boring; ridiculous but unforgettably catchy - it may be the best disco song of all time, certainly in the top three with "Dim All The Lights" and "Love Hangover." Even a silly track like "Playboy" is elevated from mediocrity by deft keyboard and rhythm guitar lines, and Joli manages the tightrope act of oversinging just enough to give the material undeserved weight ("Don't Stop Dancing"), without boiling over into self-parody.

Tony Green: guitar
Peter Dowse: bass
Derek Kendrick: drums
Robby Goldfarb: keyboards
Dennis Lepage: horns
Richard Baudet: horns
Miguel Fuentes: percussion
Barbara Ingram: backing vocals
Carla Benson: backing vocals
Evette Benton: backing vocals