Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
DR. BUZZARD'S ORIGINAL SAVANNAH BAND
(RCA)

Although most often seen as a disco act, Dr. Buzzard loosed an urbane, sophisticated form of dance music in America's bicentennial year. The New York group combined elements of Latin, swing and jazz into its slinky pop, and wrapped it all in a kitschy retro-cool. This debut LP yielded a solid hit, "Cherchez La Femme/Si Bon," which reached No. 27 based mostly on dancefloor play. Each one of these seven songs carries a distinct, damn near irresistible charm that doesn't sound dated three decades later.

This article appears in Dec 26, 2007 – Jan 1, 2008.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...