Inner Life

Patrick Adams and Jocelyn Brown say to hell with your received “disco died in ‘79” wisdom: here’s a miracle of a record featuring one of the best Motown covers ever recorded in “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” the love-affirming cruiserweight bout “(Knock Out) Let’s Go Another Round,” and a host of album tracks that’d be most dance club contemporaries’ best singles. Do yourself a favor and cop a reissue with the Tee Scott and Larry Levan mixes.

This 1981 album from Leroy Burgess and Patrick Adams’ studio project Inner Life is up there with the very finest of the disco era, a superb record from start to finish. Luring you in with a lovely, floaty, soft soul ballad, the six tracks that follow are like a showcase of everything that was great about disco: expert, propulsive Latin and funk derived rhythm tracks, sophisticated arrangements, epic strings, outstanding diva vocal performances from Jocelyn Brown, and they even include a bold cover of Motown’s evergreen “Aint No Mountain High Enough” which is carried out with great aplomb. Disco legends Larry Levan, Tee Scott and John Morales all get mixing credits on various tracks and there’s not a dull moment or a dud song in sight, which to be frank, can’t be said for that many disco albums from 1981. Disco music at its best.