‘When Salsoul boss Ken Cayre handed over the multi-track tapes of Hit and Run to Walter Gibbons in 1976, the burgeoning art-form of the disco edit was liberated from its previous cut & paste routine. Following on from the likes of Grasso, Burgess, Levan, Scott, and Siano, Gibbons had become a lethal beat mixer, with an ‘uncanny sense of mixing that was so accurate it was unbelievable’, according to Francois Kevorkian. After early edit work with Salsoul releases Nice ’N’ Naasty and Salsoul 2001, Gibbons had established himself as a meticulous artist, able to completely rework existing tracks into new extended amalgams of rhythm and sound. Cayre’s multi-tracks conferred the ability to thoroughly deconstruct each of the songs elements, and Gibbons transformed the cut into an eleven minute opus which fellow tape pioneer Tom Moulton would distinguish as being ‘so different from the original that it must be classified as a new record.’ The resulting 12” would go on to sell 300,000 copies; DJs and the dance-floor would now dictate runnings as never before.
‘Whilst Gibbons transformed the original by banishing the strings and brass, Joe Claussell sets out for a different horizon entirely. The lead guitar is exchanged for a clean, chopped chucking; the vocals are promoted to a new spaciousness. The horns presage a rethinking of the rhythm, and by the time the familiar fuzz guitars are welcomed back, the coalescing orchestra has been sustained and revitalized in a complete surrender to time and pulse. As Holloway’s vocals are pulled into non-semantic expression, the track’s foundation is given a final rinse and farewell, before evaporating in delay. This is an iteration every bit inspired and fresh as Gibbons’ landmark mix.’
‘Red Greg’s edit of this disco holy grail.’
Sometimes considered the greatest soul recording ever made, this was in the news a few years ago because a copy of the UK release on London Records went for £14,543.
Sensationally, the flip delivers the previously unreleased instrumental version by the Funk Brothers — the Solid Hitbound in-house band including Rudy Robinson, Uriel Jones, Eddie Willis, Bob Babbit and Dennis Coffey.
Gorgeous, wistful, tentative two-step from her late, hard-to-find, 1974 LP Love Rhymes (with production by Johnny Guitar Watson and David Axelrod).
Bim.
This Detroiter recorded three songs for Dave Hamilton, all of them funk classics.
Originally issued in 1971 on the trim New Day label, I Got Some is the most down and dirty of the trio.
Sampled by Gang Starr.
Barney ‘Blair’ Perry was the Blackbyrds’ guitarist for their first two albums. He wrote the mighty Walking In Rhythm. Here he is in 1978 with another killer piece of jazzed-up, how-we-roll, funky disco; massive on the two-step scene.
Soul scorchers from Louisiana. A brilliantly convincing cover of Howard Tate, about relationship mindgames, hazily riven with sexual desire; and hard, driven funk on the flip, about men treating women badly. The red-hot band is Buckwheat and his Hitchhikers, before he turned to zydeco — recorded cyclophonically, according to the original label.
A reissue of the 7” issued by ABC in 1974.
Two songs co-written by McKinley Jackson and Lamont Dozier’s brother Reggie; produced by Jackson.
A double header from the Detroiter. Both highly-sought-after sides are reissued here for the first time.
Only previously issued as a UK promo 7”, Lend A Hand became one of the biggest ‘modern’ Northern Soul tracks of all-time after spins at venues like the Highland Room at the Blackpool Mecca, and Wigan Casino. The track was first championed by DJ Colin Curtis in 1974.
From 1969, Come See What’s Left Of Me is on the mellower side of Northern Soul, but still a dancer, and another classic. First ushered onto the Northern scene at the Stafford All-Nighters back in 1985.