especially interesting how that whole movement interplayed with the religious doctrines of the black community back then
"Stand On the Word" is ofc great, but funnily enough for once Larry Levan had nothing to do with it. in fact no one can even remember him playing it at the Garage.
whole backstory as to how it was mislabeled a Levan joint, but it was actually found by Walter Gibbons, who in the early 80s was a member of the same church
Gibbons (John the Baptist to Levan's Jesus) actually had the most complicated relationship with the church, and the intersection of religion/sexuality/race of any of those dudes. it's a story I encourage you/anyone who cares about the history of dance music to look up, but in short ca. 78 at the height of his powers he caught religion heavy and it destroyed his career. clearing dancefloors playing gospel at peak hour, refusing to remix or play records that were too licentious (in disco!), preaching to everyone, and so on. a very sad death too, like so many of that generation.
anyway, I'm hardly an expert but that relationship between worldly, pleasure-oriented music and the black church definitely predates disco, and post-dates the brief, glorious post-disco, pre-AIDS heyday of the Garage. there are endless examples, of which this is only one. definitely 100% my favorite gospel house record ever, a perfect hybrid of spiritual and temporal ecstasy.
Engineer: GOD