Official reissue of North Americans' 2018 breakthrough album. Originally limited to 100 vinyl LPs. "For a piece that feels as if it could float away into nothing, GOING STEADY becomes the night." - NPR
quête:float
Frozen Music’ was recorded in New York City 32 years ago and like most of
pianist Andy LaVerne’s releases this album has not lost its original energy
and charm.
Tenor and soprano saxophonist Rick Margitza was then a young rising star under contract with Blue Note. Andy was already a prolific composer who penned
all the tunes of this album. Bassist Marc Johnson who was a member of Bill
Evans’s last trio gave graceful and subtle colouring to LaVerne’s compositions.
“Frozen Music, Andy LaVerne’s third album for SteepleChase, is a solid, modern
blowing session...he makes skilful use of suspensions, pedal points, and ostinatos, which along with the music’s floating harmonies, give the soloists a wealth
of elbow room.” - Mark Stryker, Cadence
Personnel: Andy LaVerne (piano), Rick Margitza (tenor and soprano saxophone), Marc Johnson (bass), Danny Gottlieb (drums)
1976 Space jazz-folk masterpiece infused with prog scents from one of the true legends of Argentinian music, latin rock pioneer Litto Nebbia. Floating electric piano, acoustic guitar, female choirs and moog sounds combine with Litto's own voice and create a unique blend of delicate beauty. The use of analogue synthesizers in this conceptual album was a turn in Nebbia's work at the time. A long 7-minute suite opens the album, mixing acoustic textures with synth sounds, setting the grounds for the entire LP. Songs of introspective darkness alternate with other tracks influenced by sunny bossanova, musical passages fueled with epic energy where the voice of Mirtha Defilpo accompanies Nebbia along with the intricate and enveloping instrumental work driven by Daniel Homer's guitars and Litto Nebbia's keyboards. The album draws a complex soundscape made up of an almost infinite number of musical pieces, rich in layers and textures, that - decades after its original release - still stands out for their modernity. "Bazar de los milagros" is undoubtedly one of the most advanced recordings of those
that appeared in Latin America at the end of the 70s. Includes the song 'La Caída', as recently sampled on Jay Electronica/Jay Z's hip-hop hit 'The Neverending Story'. "Bazar de los milagros" has also been listed on Japanese DJ and music expert Chee Shimizu's Obscure Sound guidebook, a must for record collectors.
First vinyl reissue, including a facsimile version of the 32-page booklet that accompanied the original 1976 release, and remastered sound.
Deep space Electro! Serbian Electro astronaut Kalson returns to his German base Dominance Electricity. The title track Solarni Sistem, featuring Direct Control, is a broken beat Electro opus with precise sound design, that starts minimalistic und organically builds up to epic spacy Electrofunk. The beatless Synthapella bonus version highlights the beautiful synth work. Next stop is the Taurus constellation, to which Kalson drives the listener with a hypnotizingly slow-paced, melodic beat. Somewhere between dark Synthwave and classic Berlin School, Kalson and H! round up the release with an ambient rendition of a theme from the 1994 Amiga video game Universe ...floating into deep space eternity.
Over the course of five records to date, JUNO Award-winning Toronto rapper Shad has used an array of old-school tools to tackle modern problems, addressing the indignities and absurdities of our world through a shapeshfiting melange of boom-bap breaks, dusty soul samples, jazzy improvisation, and 10 dollar words rolled into thousand-dollar rhymes. But after weaving his myriad musical and philosophical interests into a narrative socio-political song cycle—2018’s A Short Story About a War—Shad began building his sixth record, TAO, from a much simpler concept: an image of a circle. Though, in true Shad fashion, he saw something much more profound within its basic round boundaries.
“The thing that inspired this record was this image in my mind of a circle, but it’s getting fragmented, and then the pieces start floating away from each other,” he explains. “And that felt to me like a picture of ourselves as individuals. If you think of our humanity as one whole, there’s all these different aspects of that, whether that’s work, or our relationship to the land, or our relationship to the transcendent, or our relationship to our bodies, or to our inner child?”
orange marbled vinyl
Steven Rutter, one half of B12, returns to De:tuned with a staggering ode to the 90s UK bleep techno era. Opener "O.L.F. ResPekt" sets the bar with a respectful flashback to the trademark sound. "Rewind 273" follows the path with a pitched down composition that strengthens the rather mellow and floaty vibe. On the flip "Incredible" combines the best of both worlds, a real gem for all bleep and bass fiends in signature B12 style.
Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis and pressed on 180 gr vinyl. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!
Steven Rutter, one half of B12, returns to De:tuned with a staggering ode to the 90s UK bleep techno era. Opener "O.L.F. ResPekt" sets the bar with a respectful flashback to the trademark sound. "Rewind 273" follows the path with a pitched down composition that strengthens the rather mellow and floaty vibe. On the flip "Incredible" combines the best of both worlds, a real gem for all bleep and bass fiends in signature B12 style.
Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis and pressed on 180 gr vinyl. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!
‘The Pulse of Iron’ an apt reflection of modern progression into the unknown industrial world. It comes from Narrm based artist, Consulate who has found a home on Pure Space Records for our 10th label release. On this EP, Consulate delivers four tracks of dance music for the dystopian with a slick DnB sheen.
On the A-side ‘Postrach’ the centres the record squarely within the realm of its influences, its intricate percussive patterns offset by industrial ambience. Here a half-time snare cuts through the abyss of ambience, while a floating topline carys you through dreary territories. Completing the A-side is ‘Spec 4’, a subtly staunch percussive track that is fueled by acute vocal sampling, weighty breaks and a hypnotic dub infused bassline.
The flip side heads back into half-time territory with ‘The Fear’. Delayed vocal samples paired with dub-style stabs pulse in a heady but immersive rhythm. Rounding out the record is ‘Warlock’, a percussive track that proves the restraint Consulate has in his craft. Moody, sliced vocals skitter through delayed percussion creating a sense of tension. When it feels as though the storm is just about to hit, you are enveloped by fast-paced jungle breaks drawing you deeper into the eye of the storm.
‘Here beyond man’s judgements all covenants were brittle.’
~
Tracks written, produced and mixed by Consulate on Wurundjeri Land. Pure Space and Consulate both acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land and pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.
~
Pure Space Recordings is the label venture from the beloved radio show hosted by Andy Garvey, and produced by Mija Healey which has broadcast weekly on Eora Nation (Sydney) radio station FBi Radio for over four years. The label focuses on Australian music both for home listening and that made for the club.
2021 sees the release of the long-awaited third album from Pola & Bryson - ‘Beneath the Surface’. Since their debut release in 2015, Pola & Bryson have transitioned from the exciting ones to watch to the unquestionable leaders of new school liquid drum and bass, grabbing the attention of the scene's greats in the process.
“Masterful production and musicality throughout, I love that the album has been made just as much for the home listener as for the clubs. For me, these guys are leading the new wave of liquid drum & bass.” Sub Focus
As digital streaming services continue to dominate as the primary source of music consumption, the wildly contested ‘death of the album’ debate continues to burn throughout the industry. To counteract the current trend of single tracks and playlist placements, Pola & Bryson wanted to experiment with a concept album.
“We envisioned a landscape to act as inspiration to us whilst writing this album. The landscape is made up of 4 distinct sections, each representing a different emotional state. The first being Shinrinyoku (a Japanese term for forest bathing), represented by a dense, peaceful forest environment. Mangata (loosely translates to moon river) takes you to the edges of a cold, misty lake which eventually leads you to Toska, representing a dark and endless cave. All transpiring with Yuugen, a vast and epic mountain range. The album, paired with bespoke animated visuals, paints the perfect reflection of the journey.” - Pola & Bryson
‘Beneath the Surface’ features collaborations with the drum and bass scene's hottest vocal talents, with each being selected to effortlessly meld with the respective soundscapes. After previously working with both Lauren Archer and Ruth Royall with beguiling success, Pola & Bryson knew that they wanted to send some ideas to both artists. This resulted in the creation of two beautifully blissful tracks ‘Under’ and ‘Friend’, which became the first two singles to be released from the album. While Solah and Kojo were specifically picked with their tracks in mind, Manchester favourite Strategy’s appearance on the release was an altogether more organic stroke of serendipity. The duo were unsure whether 'Anaesthetist' was going to make the cut as an instrumental, and were floating the idea of working with a vocalist when Strategy messaged them seemingly out of the blue. They knew in an instant that his sound was the perfect fit for the track.
Over the last five years, Pola & Bryson have steadily ascended from promising newcomers to well-respected leaders of the next liquid generation. The London based pair’s production credentials are now so well-respected that they have recently been commissioned for huge remix projects for Sub Focus x Wilkinson and Camo & Krooked and released a collaborative EP with Brazil’s legendary DJ Marky. Since their debut album ‘This Time Last Year’ on Soulvent Records and then 2018’s award-nominated Shogun Audio LP “Lost in Thought'', punters and peers have been on tenterhooks, anticipating what the duo would bring to the plate next. Effortlessly living up to its hype, anyone who journeys through the ever-changing soundscapes of ‘Beneath the Surface’ will be immersed into a new world of sonic expression.
Repress
Humanoid invades De:tuned with a new and highly anticipated 7 song album of classic acid cuts. Flashback to the '88 acid-house spirit! Brian Dougans embarks on another journey of 303 breakbeat euphoria followed by fast, frantic and beat driven productions. The additional 10" completes the hallucinating trip with 2 floating acidic corkers.
Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis and pressed on 180 gr vinyl. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!
Repress
blue marbled vinyl
Humanoid invades De:tuned with a new and highly anticipated 7 song album of classic acid cuts. Flashback to the '88 acid-house spirit! Brian Dougans embarks on another journey of 303 breakbeat euphoria followed by fast, frantic and beat driven productions. The additional 10" completes the hallucinating trip with 2 floating acidic corkers.
Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis and pressed on 180 gr vinyl. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!
- A1: Freedom Ft. Jack Tyson-Charles
- A2: One For The Trouble
- A3: Recipe For Love Ft. Jack Tyson-Charles
- A4: Coco
- A5: Brown Sugar Ft. Herbal T
- A6: The Gypsy Ft. Jack Tyson-Charles
- B1: The Contender
- B2: Missing Me Ft. Jack Tyson-Charles
- B3: No Guts No Glory
- B4: Making It Right Ft. Juliette Ashby
- B5: On The Road Ft. Jack Tyson-Charles
- B6: Here We Go Again Ft. Wax,Herbal T,Eom
A Wide ranging, eclectic and progressive musical outlook has always been the Lack of Afro approach. His latest material follows suit as he harnesses disparate musical styles ranging from funk, soul and hip-hop to create a contemporary yet vintage musical escapade of superb songs.
On his 4th studio album for Freestyle Records, the influences, sounds and musical textures are more eclectic than ever. Below, Adam talks us through some of the his favourite moments on 'Music For Adverts'.
First out of the box is the steaming funk killer Freedom: This time around I knew I didn't want an intro or a skit to start the album - I needed a strong, heavy opener - I had the melody for the chorus floating around in my head. It was then just a case of working with Jack Tyson - Charles on the rest of it and getting the vibe that the song required.
Long time Lack Of Afro collaborator Herbal T features on Brown Sugar: I had an idea of doing a disco track with an emcee on it, which you don't really hear often. This is actually the first time I've sung on a Lack of Afro track, adding my backing vocal warblings on the choruses! Special shout to George Cooper for the howlin' Hammond solo at the end too.
Of the gritty instrumental No Guts, No Glory Adam explains: I wanted to include 3 instrumentals as I always have a soft spot for them & it's what people know me for. The 'choir' was recorded by layering up my own voice in different octaves, nothing is auto-tuned, its all real. The studio allows me to do stuff like that but I could never sing live - I'll leave that to the proper vocalists.
'Proper vocalist' Jack Tyson - Charles again features on The Gypsy, which as Adam explains uses the classic song format to great effect: One of my favourite LOA tunes to date, Its in keeping with the album mission statement of wanting to write 'proper songs' instead of just grooves.
one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a
book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.
Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.
The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.
Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).
Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?
one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a
book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.
Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.
The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.
Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).
Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?
Far Out Recordings presents the peerless and criminally undervalued Quartin catalogue, beginning with the reissue of Jose Mauro’s forgotten masterpiece Obnoxius. Over the course of the 60s, Roberto Quartin released more than 20 albums in Brazil on his label Forma, by artists including the likes of Eumir Deodato and Quateto Em Cy. Selling the rights of Forma to Polygram in 1969, Quartin struck out for pastures new at the dawn of the 1970s with the launch of his self-titled label. Significant works and high-water marks for Brazilian music overall followed in that decade’s first year, with Victor Assis Brasil Plays Antonio Carlos Jobim and the aforementioned Obnoxius. These singular gems in Brazilian music, difficult to categorise yet compellingly haunting, have for too long gone unheard.
Today, very little is known about Jose Mauro and as a result those searching for some kind of insight on the man behind the music must attempt to glean what they can from the music itself. One rumour claims he died in a car accident shortly before the album’s release, a fact that could have lent his brief musical career a touch of mythology were it not for how scant the details concerning any other aspects of his life are. The political turmoil from which the album emerged is significant also; recorded during an era of oppressive state censorship, the album, like all the Quartin catalogue, is the result of steadfast defiance in the face of a crushing military dictatorship. While many musicians of the era fled the country, preferring their prospects in the affluent, liberated USA, rebellious, young musicians like Mauro chose to stay and reflect their anger at the authorities through thinly veiled protest songs such as the stirring ‘Apocalipse’. Herein lies the basis for a more dramatic theory; that Mauro was in fact abducted by the military! Whatever the truth, the mystery remains unsolved, and all that remains is his bewitching music, all of which is composed by Mauro and Ana Maria Bahiana. Production on the record was cancelled after Mauro’s death and it was never sold commercially until its rerelease decades later. What appeal does Mauro’s music hold to today’s listeners, forty-something years removed from its conception? Simply put, there is very little else that sounds much like it all. Take the title track of ‘Obnoxius’. A wholly singular piece of music, blending string-drenched melancholia with orchestral pomp, sunny psychedelic strumming with propulsive percussion, topped off with Mauro’s yearning vocals. The result is indicative of Mauro’s unique blend of sounds from Latin Jazz and samba to psychedelic folk and baroque orchestration.
Today, Obnoxius retains its strange, otherworldly appeal – A firm favourite amongst a small circle of deep diggers including Madlib, Gilles Peterson, Floating Points. Jose Mauro’s mournful and melancholic vocals create a dark, brooding atmosphere that stands in contrast to the usual joyfulness and high-spirited rhythm of the more prominent Brazilian music of the era. Despite this air of foreboding, Mauro’s confident baritones, chord patterns and sumptuous arrangements have the ability to induce in the listener an almost trance-like state of ecstasy. Mauro’s long hidden masterpiece, a complex and uniquely stunning work is being offered the chance to be heard by the wider audience it has always deserved. A second Jose Mauro release, A Viagem Des Horas, compiling more incredible tracks unreleased in Mauro’s lifetime, will follow, alongside other unreleased jewels from the Quartin catalogue, from the likes of Piri and Victor Assis Brasil…
Japanese DJ mastermind Hironori Takahashi emerges with a new vinyl release for Kin-Ben LABEL. It is an effortless, seductive, hypnotic and floaty piece of work. Simply put, the entire EP is exceptionally DJ friendly. The one and only remixer on the record is a Spanish techno powerhouse and Tsunami Records founder Christian Wunsch.
Birthed in Brooklyn from her home studio during lockdown, producer and stay-at-home DJ Lauren Ritter unveiled her own, newly-minted label Rift Vision last winter with four deep,
glittering, dream-like compositions. As the world begins to re-open, Rift Vision returns with a stellar cast of guest artists to provide their own take on her four originals.
The inimitable Octo Octa kick-starts the project, giving “Vespers” an injection of energy with groovy, bouncy percussion that underpins the track’s warm and buoyant pads. Bumako visionary Jenifa Mayanja gracefully pairs vocals and rhymes from Tenesha The Wordsmith and
JB!! AKA Dirty Moses with warm, floating, and glistening melodies that refresh “Thirst Trap” for the summertime.
Liverpudlian Andy Ash is no stanger to the scene. Improving his production skills over many years, Andy has an impressive list of labels he released on: Stillove4music, Delusions of Grandeur, Dessous or Foto Recordings just to name but a few. After two compialtion tracks for Quintessentials, it’s time for his first full release! The „Lightbulb EP“ starts with „Lightbulb transaction“, a straight floating club track just perfect for these summer nights. The b-side goes deeper, focusing on slower beats yet keeping the „summer vibe“. Andy Ash is not only a master when it comes to the perfect blend of House, Disco and Techno, he is also a very talented painter, as you can see on his artwork! Hats off for the music and the design Andy!
Crystal Winds legendary sophisticated soul LP first released on the privately pressed Cash Ear label in 1982, it's mad to me these amazing tracks have never made it to 45 yet so time to put that right, the classiest of classy 70s soul sides for your Djing and listening pleasure, you all know how much I love floaty 70s joints, not sure it gets better than this.
The key figures behind Crystal Winds were Paul Coleman and M.C. (Morris) Brown, both alumni of the band Rasputin's Stash which had had two albums out in the mid-'70s which had done reasonably well for Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion and Chicago indie Gemigo, respectively.
Between them, keyboardist Coleman and saxophonist Brown wrote the vast bulk of the album (guitarist Martin Dumas co-wrote Lover's Holiday with Brown, and one J.Lagrone is added to the credits of So Sad and Signs of Winter's Time) and handled the male lead vocals, with the distaff element provided by Theresa Davis. Brown wrote the horn arrangements, the pair did the string arrangements, and legendary concertmaster Rich Tufo (associated with Curtis Mayfield and other Curtom acts including Linda Clifford) was also on hand for the album (credited with conducting and orchestrating both strings and horns). Guitarist Dumas had also been a member of Rasputin's Stash, as had drummer E.Frank Donaldson (who plays on two tracks).




















