Let's All Chant : Expanded Edition

The Michael Zager Bands "Lets All Chant" was among the more unorthodox disco hits of 1978. Lyrically the tune was nothing special; "Lets All Chant" offered the usual disco cliches about dancing and working your body. But musically, Zagers single grabbed your attention by combining a disco/funk beat with a European-influenced, oddly baroque (some would say pseudo-baroque) sensibility. "Lets All Chant" was as infectious as it was quirky, and it made you want to hear what the rest of this debut album by producer/arranger/composer Zager sounded like. Unfortunately, the other songs on this uneven LP fall short of the excellence of the title song. "Freak," "Music Fever," and "Love Express" are catchy, if generic, disco items that arent as interesting as "Lets All Chant" but worked well on dancefloors. The only thing on Lets All Chant that one would want to go out of his/her way to avoid is the corny, ultra-cheesy "Dancin Disney," a disco medley of Disney songs. But this LP has more ups than downs, and it remained in the libraries of many dance club DJs long after its initial release in 1978. ~ Alex Henderson