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The other day I was digging through piles of albums I’ve picked up over the years at garage sales and thrift stores and I see GQ’s “Disco Nights” and I was kind of surprised that I had picked this one up in the first place. My memory of this short lived band was that they came on at the very tail end of the dying disco scene with some rather generic fodder in a vain attempt to grasp the last few dollars left in this quickly drying up former bottomless money well. I’m glad I gave this band one more chance as they are much better than I remember and are actually a fairly hot jazz influenced funky RnB dance band. Like most 70s RnB bands, the members of GQ were basically jazz and gospel musicians who took on RnB because that was where the party was at. The interplay between guitarist Emanuel Raheim LeBlanc and bassist Keith “Sabu” Crier is super hot as they push these songs with driving funk and fusion riffs. All four band members sing, but once again, LeBlanc takes the lead spot with his soaring EW&F style melodies. EW&F makes for a good reference for the GQ sound, also The Brothers Johnson, but GQ’s songs are a little more stripped down for the dance floor.
Every track is a dance floor burner, “Disco Nights” was definitely meant to be a high energy party album. The only thing close to a ballad is the album closer, “I Do Love You”, which hits a medium groove for the one slow dance number. Do you remember this band, do you remember how bad RnB radio got in the late 70s ("Ring My Bell")? Give GQ another chance, you may be as surprised as I was, these guys can groove and rock your party.
