Athens Of The North

When Terry Kane - a sound engineer who was barely twenty years old at the time - built an 8-track recording studio above Henry Stone's office space in the Hialeah area of Miami, he probably never envisaged that he was laying the bedrock for a creative hub that would spawn over 25 gold records and over 100 million record sales worldwide. In the process, it would help to make Henry Stone a legend of American music.At one end of the spectrum, warehouse boy turned global superstar Harry Wayne Casey - better known as leader of K.C. & The Sunshine Band - was pumping out disco classics on a massive scale with ubiquitous airplay and sell-out shows. At the other, Rodney Matthew and his group Formula 1, were relying on the might of the T.K. distribution machine to propel them into the spotlight. As remarkable as their 1977 masterpiece on Du-Vern records was, it inevitably failed to have the seismic impact of The Sunshine Band's commercial dance pop.For every success story like T-Connection, with their firebrand funk-disco fusion and major label achievements, there were equally talented acts such as Stevens And Foster who also called on Stone's services to showcase their vision: judging by the scarcity of original copies of their self-written and produced modern soul jewel on Jerri Records, they also failed to reach beyond the Sunshine state, save for the rarified ears of collectors and connoisseurs.The sheer amount of records that came out of those modest premises at 495 SE 10th Court - about 8km from Downtown Miami (as the pink flamingo flies) - is mind boggling. With a huge roster of in-house labels as well as production and distribution deals, label boss Henry Stone was a passionate, busy, and exceptionally well connected man.Stone would nurture the early careers of the likes of million seller Betty Wright, as well as provide a platform for Milton Wright and Leno Phillips (her older brothers) to express their creativity. Clarence Reid (AKA Blowfly) and Willie Clark penned a raft of amazing tracks for acts such as Jimmy 'Bo' Horne and Little Beaver (AKA Willie Hale, who would also write a wealth of material for others), while T.K. in-house band Miami's own Robert Moore also released records on yet another T.K. imprint, Blue Candle.The music scene in Miami and indeed, Florida, at the time was fertile and moved quickly with the times, there were hit-makers and risk-takers, shining stars and those who never went far.As a living document of Henry Stone's remarkable legacy, the diverse styles and ideas coming out of Miami-Dade County and beyond, as well as a glimpse at the successes and near-misses achieved by a dazzling array of artists at the time, this collection serves as an invaluable insight.- Press Page with images and text: http://athensofthenorth.com/henry/- first press of the 2LP includes holy grail bonus 7"- Brand New - Thousand Years- 18 incredible tracks from the Man who invented Disco- Selected by Rare Disco connoisseurs Euan Fryer & Ian Wright- Release will tie in with up and coming award winning documentary 'The Record man' about Henry Stone and his music in Miami. Film to see worldwide cinema release this year: http://www.therecordmanmovie.com/- Almost all tracks on LP reissued for the first time- Extensive sleeve notes from record collector and writer Jason Stirland- Personal Sleeve Notes from Joe Stone (Henry Stone's Son)- Original Artwork by renowned Scottish graph artist Elph - http://akaelph.com/- Unseen personal photographs from the family

Produced by Philadelphia's Legendary Sonny Hopson, Santiago is Indeed Neftali Santiago from Mandrill who took a break from the band in 1975 and did a little experimenting, this came out of a 6 hour sessions in which 3 tracks were recording, two being on this 45 and is Santiago's only lead vocal to date . The band lasted a year in that time supporting Gil Scott Heron and The Ohio Players live. A two sided disco stormer with all the right ingredients, great guitar hook, solid horn section and great vocal.Essential Disco

Two gold standard musical compositions I won't insult by labelling with a genre. 'Truth is the key' is one of my favourite tracks period, the Arp solo just does it for me in every way. The vocal will be familiar as Irene Datcher also sang on the James Mason LP (who also features on these tracks) . 'Dreamflower' should need no introduction, famously Sampled by Erykah Badu's 'Didn't Cha Know ' and many others. This is a sublime landscape is notable for Ryo Kawasaki's dreamy guitar work, Stone cold classic. Both sides surprisingly have never graced the 7" format until now , absolutely essential 45.

'll be honest, I had forgotten about Samuel Jonathan Johnson until i heard Theo Parrish play it recently. I used to spin the LP years ago but my copy got lost or beat. Soon as I heard it I made a call and sorted out the 45, just an amazing solid Groove on Sweet Love, you cant help but feel it. The flip 'Reasons, is the other great track from the same Columbia LP 'My Music' . First time on 45 for both of these, once they are gone that is it. Disco Essential!

Stone cold classic, although Pastime Paradise has been reissued a couple of time on compilations every single reissue has used the rocky LP version which is not nearly as good as the original 7" cut. As we at Athens of the North like to do things right we went back to the Sony Tape vault and had the 7" version transferred for the first time since the O.G 45 was cut. This 45 sounds fantastic, much stronger then the O.G 45 cut so it's a no brainer. On the flip we took one of our favourite track from the LP and introduced it to 7" for the first time, Mambotango is a dreamy sountracky latin disco number I used to spin on warm up duty, very new York.

2015 Issue that contains one track from each of the two 7"s released by T'Spoon (Billy J. Bruner), in the 80's on Oil Capital Records.