Search - Village People :: The Best of the Village People: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

Good collection - But Missing "Go West"

Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 04/15/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If the Casablanca record label was the Monarchy of the Disco Nation, The Village People were their finest ambassadors. More than any of the prefabricated disco machines that the decade produced, it is the VP's cavity provoking bubble-gum dance records that made strobe lights and disco balls accessible and acceptable to party people of all stripes. Add in the undeniable fact that the innuendo laden singles and their stereotyped get-ups made gay subculture visible and you can actually add the term "culturally significant" to the Village People's list of accomplishments.But all that pales when placed next to the vibrancy of this brief but solid collection of 10 singles. Like all of the best radio confectionary creampuffs, the songs here convey a kooky innocence (the Navy had to let in on the joke before they backed off their decision to use "In The Navy" as a recruitment jingle) that remains timeless. And in the post-AIDS decades, the more obvious 70's call to the disenfranchised like "San Francisco" and "In Hollywood" are even poignant. Deny it if you dare, but secretly you know this stuff is great. Just see if your limbs don't start contorting into the alphabet next time "YMCA" gets played on some football arena PA or at your next company party. I double dog dare ya. PS: You may want to get the version of this from the Casablaca/Mercury release dated 1998. That CD contains "Go West" and drops the 12 mix of "YMCA.""

Quo Vadis, Baby?

Alberto | Italy | 01/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"OK.

In order to understand how much a few reviews here knew about the Village People, and about this specific collection, and thus how much reliable a few of them they can be to craft your own guesswork and decide whether to purchase this cd or not, you may want to consider that some of these reviews complain that "Go West" is a track missing from the compilation.



Well, it is not. It is only missing (arguably overlooked) by the Amazon list of tracks. But it is NOT missing from the actual, physical disk.



Isn't it cute, to review a cd you didn't even purchase, in order to suggest whether the others should or shouldn't purchase it?



Now, it happens I have purchased the cd indeed. So I do know "Go West" does is in it.

And I am here to say: you should buy this cd too. Now, baby.



Then, of course, many of these reviews are concerned with labeling the Village People as "homosexual" or as "a gay group". That's not a new one. The New Yorker was busy a few months ago assessing whether Gogol was gay, rather than one of the greatest Russian writers ever. Many critics were busy for decades trying to understand whether Shakespeare was gay - unsuccessfully busy, by the way. Many guys tried to claim Ernest Hemingway was gay - because also if you are not, who told you you could not be such all the same, very very very very secretly? Isn't it?



I must say that if the Village People were gay, that's fine to me: because I am not, so I just couldn't care less about what they preferred sexually. In order to listen to their music, I am not required to share more than their music, and to judge them only after that.

Because when I purchase a cd, I want to listen to the music, not to the gossip. And when I read a book, like a Gogol title, I want to cultivate my spirit, and learn how to fly at a higher level, not how to sink in the undergloom of the (very) small talk.



The Village People didn't become famous insofar as gays. They did inasfar as they produced some of the best disco music ever. That's the reason. Because it is not enough to have some specific sexual preference, in order to be famous. Or just everybody could become very famous very fast and very cheaply.



Now, disco music IS silly music. It WANTS, it MEANS to be silly. It is in the fact it means to be silly, that all its value resides. If it would have meant to be serious, it would have become ridiculous. The Village People does not MEAN to be the Pink Floyd! It never meant to be the Dire Straits!

Its purpose wasn't of being esoteric or mysterious. It sounds silly, meaning to be it; it sounds FUN, meaning to BE fun. Just fun. Plain fun. Obnoxious fun, if you prefer. But fun.



Disco music wants to be an hymn to the joy of being alive together. It wants to suggest incarnated fleshes that none the less dance together in the valley of death and in the wilderness. It wants to deliver the idea of joy. It wants to speak of the Homo Ludens by Huizinga (search Amazon books, to know more about this name...).

Disco Music wants to be the apotheosis of a soul that decided that for a moment, maybe even for a few minutes, it is possible, maybe it's even worth while, being happy. Completely, absolutely, entirely happy. A thing they do not want you to be, you know. No more harrowing dilemmas; no more death; no more wounds; with the twilight of the idols behind your shoulders, you may even decide to smile for a second before this unjust earth.



When it comes to express this feeling, all the saints marchin' in, all the living souls dancing together, the Village People produced some of the best pieces ever. Simply.



YMCA needs no introduction. You listen to it, and it justifies itself.

Forget serious music for a moment. And you will enjoy YMCA in all its glory, like an exploding JS Bach fugue, like a Beethoven climax, like a dazzling set of fireworks, like the very same meaning Wolfgang Mozart at times voiced. And what's wrong, if this round it's expressed in a simpler tone?

Once over with this cd, you're still on time to go back to the old bitterness.



But once in your life you ought to listen to what the Disco truly meant, to its message; and then you need this cd, you need the Village People. And when you shall have understood the meaning of their message, you would not care a damn it any longer about whether they were gay or not. They were the Village People, and the made some of the best disco ever. And this is why you, me, and many others still listen to them today. They had something to say. Yes, they did.



Occasionally, men and women can be absolutely happy, with no drama, with a serene gaze. Occasionally.



In those occasions, your soundtrack is "YMCA" - or "San Francisco" by the Village People. At full volume, and with earphones (if at home). And forget all the rest.



"Macho Man", "In The Navy": if you do not know how to smile, you won't like them. But the day you may decide it is a good day for smiling, you may truly regret not to have got at least one copy of the Village People's disco music in your shelves.

So get it, also if today you're not happy.

For at times, also the sun rises.

At times, of course. But the Village People are for THOSE times exactly, and in THOSE times ONLY they can be understood."

All your favorites

Mark Kolar | Dillon, Montana USA | 05/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this cd has all your favorite village people songs from the hits such as ymca and in the navy to other great songs like cant stop the music. These songs really showed what 70s music was about. if u are a fan of disco or pop music this is a must. i would also recommend The best of the village people"