Back in May the DEMON MUSIC GROUP launched their Demon Music Singles Club with a cornucopia of newly mastered 7-inch and 12-inch reissues across multiple genres and eras from soul and disco to house and techno. The releases included rare mixes and tracks unavailable since their release. Most became available for the first time on 7” vinyl and were kitted out in new sleeves / house bags !!!
The discs were curated by Demon’s Dom Williams, a successful DJ and avid vinyl collector who said at the time: “These issues will celebrate the glory of rare releases, very special mixes, over-looked B sides and iconic artwork. As importantly the releases are all fully licensed in collaboration with famous labels like SAM Records, Easy Street, HDH and Fresh Records!”
May’s batch of releases included classics by William DeVaughn, Greg Henderson, Rhyze, Rosie Gaines, and Freestylers and this week the Demon crew will be unleashing a whole new tranche of discs. Let’s highlight some of ’em.
So we’re starting with one of soul’s best-loved groups – HAROLD MELVIN & THE BLUE NOTES. Their new 7” Demon release pairs ‘Prayin’ with ‘Baby I’m Back’. Both cuts come from 1980’s ‘Blue Album’ and Teddy P had gone by then of course and Sharon Paige chipped in. ‘Prayin’ ’is the better-known track but McFadden and Whitehead’s ‘Baby I’m Back’ offers all the usual Philly disco flourishes.
DORIS DUKE is a totally different kettle of soul fish! Her work was deep and emotional rather than disco, but Demon have chosen to resurrect her searing ‘Woman Of The Ghetto’ (originally recorded by Marlena Shaw) to reissue. The flip is more disco-oriented – RHYZE’S ‘Free’. The disc comes with the original SAM artwork.
Maybe a little more intriguing is a three-track 12” disc from TRAVIS BIGGS. Biggs was a keyboardist who worked with Isaac Hayes during the late 1970s, a period that found Hayes flirting with disco. Biggs released two spacy, synth-driven LPs of his own during that era; 1976’s ‘Challenge’, on TB&C Enterprises, and 1979 ‘s ‘Solar Funk’ on MCA subsidiary Source. The Demon release features tracks from ‘Solar Funk’ – ‘Tibetan Serenity’ (sampled by hip hop legend J Dilla), ‘Autumn Jewel’ and ‘After The Storm’. This one comes with a 12” disco bag sleeve mirroring the original album artwork.
Amongst the other releases are cuts from The Glen Adams Affair (‘Just A Groove’ / ‘We’ve Got To Make It’), Convertion (‘Let’s Do It’ / ‘All I Want Is You’), Hector Rivera (‘At The Party’’ / Do It To Me’), Komiko (‘Feel Alright’’ /’Feel Alright’ (instrumental) and Phats & Small (‘Feel Good’ & ‘Feel Good’ (Mutant Disco 12”) / ‘Tonite’)
Learn more @ https://demonsinglesclub.tmstor.es/
