Off White

In late 1978, ZE Records co-founder Michael Zilkha approached James Chance and offered Chance $10,000 to record a disco album.[1] Zilkha gave little direction and asked the band for its own take on the genre.[2] Anya Phillips, Chance's manager and girlfriend, came up with the idea to rename James Chance and the Contortions to James White and the Blacks for the album.[1] An alternate name, James White and His Blacks, was rejected by Zilkha. Phillips and the band put together outfits resembling 1960s soul singers.[3]

Chance said that he was interested in the monotonous sound of disco music because it "doesn't have beginnings and ends".[4] His persona is an homage to soul and funk musician James Brown.[5] Chance was also intrigued by the shock value of a punk group embracing disco.[6] He received disco records for free and passed time listening to a record for several seconds before throwing it out a window.[7] Chance wrote a piece for the first issue of East Village Eye, praising disco and denouncing "outdated, cornball 'new/no wave' drivel".[6][8]

Off White includes contributions from Lydia Lunch, Robert Quine, and Vivienne Dick.[9] The band spent most of their budget recording the album's first side and used instrumentals for the second side.[10] The album often discusses racial issues, and most of its titles are references to race.[11] Some responded to the Off White with accusations of racism.[12] Chance later responded, "I was the one that brought black music onto the whole punk scene, and I took a lot of shit for it…I was just playing with my whole image of a white person doing black music."[13]

James White and the Blacks promoted the album with a February 1979 performance at Club 57 in the East Village, Manhattan.[12] ZE rented Irving Plaza for the album's launch party, where the band lip synced its songs. The band's live performances included two teenage dancers called the Disco Lolitas.[3]

The band released "Contort Yourself" as a 12" vinyl single.[9] The song originally appeared on Buy, and the group re-recorded it with a disco beat. Chance observed that the tempo was too fast to be played in discos, so ZE labelmate August Darnell created a remix of it. Darnell used a slower tempo and wrote a new guitar part.[14] James White and the Blacks' version of "Contort Yourself" was later included in ZE's 1981 Mutant Disco compilation,[15] its 2003 NY No Wave compilation,[16] Strut Records' 2008 Disco Not Disco 3,[17] and ZE's 2009 compilation for its 30th anniversary.[18]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[19]
Christgau's Record Guide	B−[20]

Upon the album's release, Billboard magazine said that it "commands attention" and described the music as "savage, uncompromising, sometimes dissonant, but always interesting".[5] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau described it as "pretty good to dance to" but added that "like so much disco music it gets tedious over a whole side."[20] AllMusic characterized Off White as "an acquired taste" containing "some of the most challenging, intriguing music to emerge from the post-punk era."[19] The Guardian included Off White in its list of "1000 albums to hear before you die".[21]

James White and the Blacks

• James White – alto saxophone, organ, vocals
• Jody Harris – guitar
• Pat Place – slide guitar
• George Scott III – bass
• Don Christensen – drums

Additional personnel

• Robert Quine – guitar on 6, 7
• Vivienne Dick– viola on 8
• Paul Colin – tenor saxophone on 4, 7
• Kristian Hoffman – piano 2, 3, vocals on 3
• Adele Bertei – piano on 1, vocals on 4
• Ray Mantilla – congas on 3
• Lydia Lunch – guitar on 8, vocals (as Stella Rico) on 2
• Anya Phillips – vocals on 3, 4

• Masters, Marc (2007). No Wave. Black Dog Publishing. ISBN 978-1-906-155-02-5.
• Moore, Thurston; Coley, Byron (2008). No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980. New York: Abrams Image.
• Reynolds, Simon (2006). Rip It Up and Start Again. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-303672-6.
• Young, Rob, ed. (2009). The Wire Primers. Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-84467-427-5.

• Off White at ZE Records
• Off White at Discogs (list of releases)