The Best Disco In Town

1976 marked a turning point in the Philadelphia music scene, as the soul sounds is was famous for gave way to disco. The Ritchie Family was comprised of two members of the Philly group Honey & The Bees, and was named after their producer Ritchie Rome, who was shepherding them into the disco era. The song's lyricist was Phil Hurtt, whose compositions ("I'll Be Around" by The Spinners, "Mama Never Told Me" by Sister Sledge) were often poignant tales of life's defining moments. This song, however, is about a visit to the hot dance club, a place where "If you make a request, the DJ will do his best." The lyric is trite and filled with buzzwords from the era ("boogie," "groove"), but Hurtt had to make a living. "It was less of a challenge because it was supposed to be fun and camp," he told us. "Those things are easier to do. What I have to do is pull back a bit and allow what the producer is asking for, which is not as as serious or meaningful as the material I would like to write. It's a little bit different."

This was one of the first songs to feature a medley of hits within the song, and the first hit song to do so ("Stars On 45 Medley," released in 1981, went to #1 US using this technique). The songs in the medley were not sampled, but recreated by the backing musicians, which was a group called Gypsy Lane. The first song in the medley is "Reach Out I'll Be There" by The Four Tops. This is followed by some Philadelphia Soul songs: "I Love Music" by The O'Jays, "Bad Luck" by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" by MFSB. Next is "Fly, Robin, Fly" by Silver Convention and finally "Brazil," which was The Ritchie Family's first single.

Ritchie Rome and Jacques Morali produced this song and co-wrote it with Phil Hurtt and Henri Belolo. Morali and Belolo thrived in the disco era, unleashing the Village People on America a year later with help from Hurtt, who wrote songs for the group's first EP - it was during sessions for the Arabian Nights album when they started forming the concept for the Village People (Gypsy Lane once again provided the backing tracks). Morali and Belolo were French, and the "The Best Disco In Town" production was their first production in America.