This extremely rare Promotional release out of Philadelphia is known as the very first 12" single ever. It was in fact a Promo release for the official 7 inch "Straight From My Heart / Don’t Throw Your Love To The Wind" that would be released in the same year 1973. In addition, a promotional 12 inch single of “Straight From My Heart” was also pressed at 33 1/3 rpm. It has the same label numbers as the 7 inch version. The B-side of the 12 inch is blank. Those Promo's were mostly for radio & DJ's back then, as the first commercial "12 would only be sold to the public around 1976. That was "Ten Percent" by Double Exposure on Salsoul Records. Another candidate for the first commercial release might arguably be the "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes on Stax.

The very first release on Mel Cheren's West End Records. For this release Mel asked the famous upcoming star DJ Jimmy Stuard, from a New York nightclub 12 West, to do the final mixing. Jimmy agreed and while listening to the mastertape he discovered there was still some more space free on it. So after asking Mel if he could use that empty space to add some personal ideas, he played around with the tape, returned it, playing it backwards and ending up obtaining a weird loud and harsch scratchy sound which he instantly loved. With Mel's agreement Jimmy managed to fit it in the song and thanks to the succes of it, he is since known as the pioneer of a unique DJ technique that would be born out of this, the scratch! Grandmaster Flash remembered later on that this record was what brought the idea of the scratch, because many early hip hop DJ's used Sessamoto in there sets and wanted to duplicate and recreate that great particular sound with other vinyls.
Being the very first record mixed by Jimmy it was unfortunatly also his last. During a fire at the Everard Baths in Manhattan in May 1977, he died while he was asleep.
Before this US disco release, the track was already known as the soundtrack for the Italian Movie "Sessomato" out of 1973. The tittle then was translated in English as "How Funny Can Sex Be ?"
Mel kept the original tittle as the artistname but well also for the song tittle. Sesso Matto in Italian litteraly means Mad Sex.

The very first vinyl record with an instrumental version on the B-side. This would be the beginning of a total new approach in vinyl world. Wand, a subdivision of Scepter Records were doubting to release this instrumental version, thinking buyers would have a cheap impression, feeling robbed for their buck, as this was really uncommon to think that strong "out of the circle" for a recordcompany. But the club Dj's were amazed with it. It was an instant hit, and would become the standard for many years to come, till this day. Disco Icon Mel Cheren (later West End Records) had a crucial role pushing the idea while he was working for Scepter Records at the time, and they finally agreed to try it. Mel would later on receive a Billboard Trendsetter Award for this. It provided the so important DJ's opportunities for more creative mixing. And we all know what followed from that day on...

Different covers of this song also followed afterwards, and the one from South Shore Commision was probably always considered to be the best version by most people. But that's obviously just a matter of personal taste. This original one has a great groove and vocal, and of course it is a very important piece in music and vinyl history. A must have for both reasons!

An amazing debut release by this German duo. Exploring the borders of different genres and making it their own, this is already a timeless gemm for me, instant shivers!
Lotti started the Sorry Entertainers nearly 5 years ago as a DJ-project playing on different venues including a residency at Bar 25 (Circus) in Berlin. Some time after Lotti met Raz Ohara with whome he connected pretty fast musically. So they went in the studio which resulted in this splendid first release, full of ear for detail, musicality and originality.
If I had to choose a favorite it would be "Desperate Pilgrim" it's so smooth and powerfull, but all 3 tracks are really great. The only thing that "could" be missing here is an instrumental version of "New Age". Nothing wrong about the vocal release, it's great, but an extra instrumental version would probably have been more used by DJ's in particular occasions.
Anyway, a stunning release! Timeless and made with much musical taste & feeling!

Titled after Künzer’s one year old daughter Philomania. Each track has a different twist to it. “Philomena I” is a cosmic synth fuelled work. The track has the energy of Explorer alongside a warbling analogue line with some vocoder additions to boot. Another element is added to the mix when some Faber style space lands in the latter stage of the track. “Philomena II” sees a change in tone. This time the beats are lowered as a downtempo air arrives. Embedded in the analogue swirl and soft beats are gentle rising vocals. There is a electro boogie within the bars of this piece, but it is the electronic depth that rings true. The final instalment, “Philomena III” keeps the heavy synthesizer sound going. The track is a keyboard day dream, a medley of notes rising and falling with an epic Vangelis undertone running throughout. Warm female vocals cascade into the frame, with notes shifting within the synthesizer sphere of sound.

‘Philomena’ sees Aube undertake a project of diverse styles. Cosmic synth, laid back electronics and a analogue soundtrack piece. Three highly talented artists coming together for three tracks.
Limited Vinyl edition, high quality 180 gram vinyl.

http://www.aube-prod.com/?p=356

There are two versions of Red Shoes, both produced by Sergio Bonzanni. One of them was pressed as a very limited promo under another alias named 'Miami' (Upstart Records 1988), but the original was never pressed on vinyl before this release. The big difference between both versions was the vocalist. The original studio recording was sung by Renato Rovetta (Jerry Moon), but at that time Renato had to leave Italy for professional reasons, wich made it diffcult to release it without a possiblity for live performances afterwards. So another singer was chosen for the Miami release. Nevertheless Renato's original vocal master was wel kept all those years and after a good master-restoration it finally gets his deserved vinylrelease on I Venti's ID Limited as well as a proper brand new 80's flavoured coverart. This record is also the very first ID Limited release with coloured labels instead of the usual black & white.

Thanks to Flemming Dalum for making this upload possible!
L'Anima, as the second part of the tittle refers to, is a great Italian cover of Status Quo's classic "In The Army Now". The instruments melt well with the very specific and unique strong voice of Wesley Johnson.
Many prof producers probably won't find this song a highflyer because of the lack of good mastering and finishing of the end product, but as a listener what matters isn't always the technical soundperfection, but more the feeling and mood this song will give you. For that reason, as well as for the great voice, I certainly like to call it a brilliant song! No doubt.
Exists also the English version by Wess, simply called "In The Army Now". You will find that version on the B-side of the original "7 single released on Disco Più SpA (Italy), which is probably as rare as this one, but certainly worth checking out if you have the chance to hold it in your hands..
This info, even if scarce, is in memory of Mr Johnson who died exactly one year ago, on 21st of september 2009, R.I.P.

Please notice that the A-side is released on a different label then the B-side of this record. Keeping there original catalognr and labelnames on the same record. Not really common..

These days it's rare to find records where every single song is a killer. Lucci keeps surprising me on the wonderful Messalina label. That label is just Wow! This fourth in a row is again sublime.
'Take Me To The Mudbone' cleverly mix a latin Santana edit with dubbed vocal elements of the '89 classic 'Take Me Away' from Jeff Mills/True Faith into a deep 10 minutes long 'chef-d'œuvre'
On the back Lucci chooses to edit the big Paradise Garage classic "Cream" by Bionic Boogie's Gregg Diamond. Cutting the best parts of the song to rework it, it became a wonderfull sexy disco groover. This will heat the dancefloor up.. A must have!
This side ends with a blissed out edit of Fleetwood Mac's forgotton 'Brown Eyes'. A classic from there '79 Tusk LP on Warner Bros Records.

What a brilliant record again from Clark Graeme. A big part of his magic is certainly his choice of reworking those specific songs, but man the way he does it every time is truly amazing. "Night Flight" gives us a very smooth edited version of Stevie Wonder's fantastic "Love Light in Flight". What a vibe.. A long and very interesting build up ending in the warm vocals. Hearing it for the very first time, I just lost it! A masterpiece. On the B-side you get a very surprising edit of the catchy Ghostbusters "Savin the day" soundtrack by Alesi. A truly killer, this will rock your dancefloor! Again a very smooth edit that takes just a little time to reach his "boom" point, but when it gets there, it just blows me away. It tooks me some time to get used to the chorus at the break. I guess that was a struggling point on this edit, but Graeme works his way out of it very nicely. The third edit of Unfinished Business is just a fabulous boogie moment, even if the 2 first ones blows my mind a little bit more.. A must have record, you won't be disappointed.