Gloria Gaynor: I Have a Right

What kind of world are we living in where this album is out of print? This was Gloria Gaynor’s follow-up to her 1978 LP Love Tracks, with its comet-like “I Will Survive” flattening the Tunguska River forest of America’s disco dreams. Sort of like how that metaphor flattened this paragraph. Shut up. Anyway, 1979 was just about the last year that disco could justify these kind of production values, and justify them it had to, because of course quantizing the beat, sequencing the orchestra, and dropping in perfect synthesizer hits had to be achieved through an effective but costly process known as “hiring a bunch of A-list session musicians”. And holy cow is it all there in your headphones: octave-steppin’ bass lines, endless tcka-tschsss hi-hats, kew-wacka-kew wah-wahs on muted guitar strings, and a trumpet solo from Doc Severinsen.

Note that this digital transfer is a virgin, one of just a few on my hard drive: I bought a still-sealed vinyl copy, cracked it open, and put it on the turntable, and that first play is the one you’re hearing now. I needed a new copy because my original copy is, um, (coughing fit). I was gifted this record in first grade, and I listend to it a lot – A LOT a lot. Truly an allotment. How beat up is it? Let’s just say visiting hours are over – forever.

Let Me Know (I Have a Right)

Say Somethin’

You Took Me In Again

Don’t Stop Us

Tonight

Can’t Fight the Feelin’

Midnight Rocker

One Number One

Album audio & artwork

DISCLAIMER: To the best of my knowledge, this work is out of print and not available for purchase in any format. If you are the artist and are planning a reissue, please let me know and I’ll remove it from the blog. Also please get in touch if you’ve lost your art &/or sound masters and would like to talk with me about my restoration work.