Soul-Funk

DJ Fryer's Athens of the North label continues its relentless charge the annals of funk and disco, focussing attentions here on the mid '70s debut of Jeanie Tracy. Glance at the discography of the Houston-born singer and you are presented with a storied recording career that includes credits alongside Bobby Womack, Aretha Franklin and Sylvester so it's little surprise to see that original copies of Making New Friends / Trippin On The Sounds rarely change hands below the $1000 mark. Originally released on Marvin Holmes' Oakland-based Brown Door Records around 1975, this Athens of the North edition is a must for any self-respecting 45 wielding selectors out there! The A-side is a recognised classic of the rare groove canon but it's "Trippin On The Sounds" that you need to hear; a glorious horn-laden deep funk nugget.

Jeanie Tracey's "Can I Come & Play With You Tonight?" should probably be considered something of an in-demand gem, seeing as copies of the original 1983 12" version go for significant sums online. Happily, the crate diggers behind the admirable Athens of the North imprint have decided to give it the reissue treatment, giving all of the chance to own a copy. The original is a sweet boogie killer, with Tracey's smooth vocal riding a backing track heavy with vintage synthesizers, snappy drum machine hits and elastic live bass. Flip for "Hot (For Your Love)", an end-of-night slow dance number smothered in evocative strings and Tracey's tear-jerking vocal.

Boogie Beats Records debut release is the little known band Bourbon And Maxx, Mystery Man was originally released on 12" in 1981 on Esscore Records, New Jersey USA, it was a very limited press, its highly collectable and rarely comes up for sale. The original clocks in at a whopping 10:25mins with a beautiful vocal intro, this band really is a family affair with several of the members being related, and you can hear how tight they were when you listen to this song, great drums and percussion, seriously thumping bass line, great guitar and piano work with that oh so soulful voice to top it off, this is one hell of a jam. We are also very proud to have MadDisco do an edit of this song, slightly rearranging and extending the best parts.

Limited Edition 12" released in conjuction with the forthcoming compilation, Tropical Disco Hustle Volume Two - COS 13-LP.

"G.Q" stood for "good quality", they were not joking. As well as a few top 10 hits G.Q also had a wealth of brilliant disco bangers across their 70s output. Here we present 2 favourites of my own,k 'Lies' and 'is It Cool?' . Not only of mine buy clearly Theo Parrish's also as he featured both on 'Ugly Edits' over a decade ago, great as it saved me from playing the LP in clubs and fighting the feedback. These track have always sat next to the best rare modern soul and Deepfunk classics with ease, they are some of the best records in the Genre. To top it off we got a new perfect master from Sony and cut the 45 at Timmion cutting Lab in Finland and its sounds great. A personal favorite, im delighted to be able to put this out with the care it deserves. "See that there's a party going on...,...,"- Played By Theo Parrish- 2 Deep Disco Classics on 45 for the first time- Brand new master from Sony cut at Timmion Cutting Lab, Finland.

Following the runaway success of their re-release of James Mason's cult classic "I Want Your Love" a few years back, Rush Hour asked the legendary disco-soul producer whether he had any unreleased material in the archives. After rooting around, he unearthed enough material to fill an album, Recollection Echo, which hits stores later in the year. Before that, Rush Hour present two previously unheard gems; the breezy, soulful disco brilliance of "The Rhythm of Life" (which, brilliantly, features Bernard Purdie on drums, and Fonda Rae on backing vocals), and "Up Jump", a brilliantly strange - and thrilling - combination of pitched-down electro beats, vocoders and spiraling soul vocals. That album should be pretty sensational; until it's released, these two tracks will more than suffice.