Italo-disco always had a cheap and naive element to it, both because of the purpose of most of its creators (produce 'easy' discotheque hits) combined with their limited equipment (they wanted to copy the bright U.S disco style without access to its high quality live session players and studio facilities, therefore the creative use of electronics nowadays sounding experimental and groundbreaking in retrospective).
In comparison, 'After Dark' and the whole Italians Do It Better productions sound a lot more arty and sophisticated, with a good dose of NYC poseur attitude (references to obscure industrial/minimal-wave -the two Dark Day covers- whereas the disco covers/remixes present here are obvious 'debutant' choices ; cover art is a rip-off the 1969 movie 'Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice's artwork scored by Quincy Jones etc...) and a general vibe that is way more 'cultured'.
Therefore, what you hear here is not genuine disco music but rather indie-artschool-students-fashionistas' take on disco and italo : the unashamed, naive and sexy discotheque fun is replaced by a more intellectual, dark and self-conscious approach.
Not a bad thing though : 'After Dark' is a brilliant, sleazy, intoxicating record, but disco-funk heads might find it lacking groove and energy, italo heads might regret a relative absence of naive, sexy fun in benefit of a white, indie-orientated loose and narcotic charm tres post-Galaxie 500.

I love italo-disco because the aesthetic of it is so precise: it's sinister, sexy, and sooo much fun. These artists really do a nice job of using that classic italo-disco style. The fact that a group of people enjoy this genre to create such an authentic album is really charming. And this is one darn good listen. My favorite tracks are those by Glass Candy. I highly recommend picking it up (if you can find it!).