Sam Weiss started the Long Island City-based label Old Town in the ‘50s, and over the following decades released soul, doo-wop, and gospel 45s. As disco took hold of New York in the mid-‘70s, Weiss started his SAM imprint, which released a string of hit singles on the then-emerging twelve-inch format, allowing time for producers to slowly milk the energy and emotion of a track for dance floor denizens. “Ain’t That Enough for You” by John Davis & The Monster Orchestra was the label’s first smash, but it was “Let’s Lovedance Tonight” that became the international best-seller. Beyond the pulsating hypnosis of those tracks, this collection features work by Greg Carmichael, one of the most visionary and original producers of the era. Convertion’s “Let’s Do It” is representative of the loose yet unshakably steady groove that was Carmichael’s trademark. Many of these tracks were favorites of Larry Levan, the forward-thinking DJ at New York’s Paradise Garage. While disco was being subsumed by the industry as a disposable form of radio schlock, Levan was using records like these to advocate a vision of dance music for the future: sophistication and transcendence through everlasting rhythm.