Disco Re-duck (1999)

Is pop music ready to turn the beat around? For more than a decade, America's most mainstream expression of dance music -- R&B -- has lolled over a mid-paced beat, geared toward the sexy grind. It seems like aeons since R&B rallied to a brisk beat, stoked for an orgasmic release. In fact, it hasn't since the last days of disco.

Now that trend seems to be changing -- on a dizzying number of fronts. Over the last few months, up-tempo disco-style rhythms have pounded through a host of genres, each to great commercial acclaim. Janet Jackson's hit ''Together Again'' re-created a '70s disco party with such authenticity, some listeners probably checked to see if it was sampled. Will Smith recently struck pay dirt with a pair of old-school-style dance hits, ''Gettin' Jiggy Wit It'' and ''Miami.'' And Cher has been enjoying her first smash in a decade with ''Believe,'' a song that sounds like it never said goodbye to Studio 54. Even Madonna's Grammy-nominated ''Ray of Light'' counters its ''electronica'' label by recalling the furious pace of the disco offshoot High NRG.

Among new artists, two just managed to wangle videos for disco-like songs into MTV's coveted Buzz Bin: Orgy, with an industrial dance cover of New Order's ''Blue Monday,'' and the French group Stardust, with the pseudo-1979 song ''Music Sounds Better With You.'' The platinum metal band Korn has gotten into the act too, backing the track ''Got the Life'' with a boogie-nights beat.

Given all this, could there be a friendlier time for Rhino to hustle into the marketplace The Disco Box, a four-CD retrospective? Over the course of 80 tracks, the glittery package gathers the genre's peak groove things, ranging from those that kicked off the trend in '73, like Love Unlimited Orchestra's swanky ''Love's Theme'' or the Jackson 5's ''Dancing Machine,'' through the pervasive hits of KC and the Sunshine Band, Donna Summer, and Sister Sledge. Better yet, it steers clear of the genre's gaffes (no ''Disco Duck'' here).

The set deserves some drubbing for its failure to license any Bee Gees. That's like releasing a heavy metal set with no Black Sabbath tracks. It's disappointing, too, that the collection holds so few obscurities, robbing it of surprise. The criticism stings, since scores of disco sets have already appeared over the years, including a host of individual volumes issued by Rhino itself, beginning in 1990.

For a sustained run through the hits, though, you couldn't do better than this. You also couldn't find a more convincing defense of the form, in case anyone still needs one. The mere fact that the box collects 80 tracks without running into one bum patch makes the ultimate case for a style that once stood as the most maligned cultural expression since mime. Heard in this context, shorn of polyester clothes and Farrah hair, the songs should strike today's listeners as gems beyond genre, from the thrilling churn of Evelyn ''Champagne'' King's ''Shame'' to the raw soul of Thelma Houston's ''Don't Leave Me This Way.''

The box has a larger function, too. It demonstrates what's been missing from so much dance and R&B music of the last 15 years: namely, a sense of unfettered fun. Modern club styles, like drum-and-bass and trip-hop, represent some of the most avant-garde sounds of now, aping the ambition of art rock or psychedelia. The Disco Box captures a time when dancing signaled only joy.

The set also serves to remind modern pop and R&B acts of the full possibility of melody. For years, popular R&B worked to shrink the tune, the better to stress the primacy of the bass, and thus remain relevant to the hip-hop era. By contrast, tunes like Cheryl Lynn's ''Got to Be Real'' or Tavares' ''It Only Takes a Minute'' prove as melodically elegant as the most indelible hits of Motown.

Fans of such values have great reason for hope. Today's charts increasingly treasure melody and effervescence, as witnessed by the rise of bouncy teen acts, nurtured on the always pop-friendly turf of Europe. Tellingly, disco never fell as far from favor overseas either, holding almost as steady a sway as it has in gay clubs around the world. As such upbeat sensibilities eat further into the American mainstream, the disco set could serve as a kind of musical role model, a primer on how a fresh generation can begin to make that funky music new again. B+

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Various Artists The Disco Box RHINO

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