Omaggio レコード& CD

Review: Recorded and released two years before she gave us the iconic vocals on Indeep's "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life", Beckie Bell's 1979 debut release enjoys its first repress in 37 years. You don't even need hindsight to hear the promise she had at the start of her career. "In The Right Place" was a spacy, almost bluesy disco jam where she's not afraid to take full command while "Johnnie's Home" still sparkles with reggae fusion funk that's often attempted but seldom smashed in such a sexy way.

Review: The sole single from obscure French boogie outfit Klaps, released in limited quantities at some point in the early 1980s, has long been an in-demand item amongst moneyed record collectors. This reissue, then, should be great news to all those unwilling to fork out upwards of L500 for an original copy. It's a sublime slice of rubbery, synth-heavy electrofunk complete with sugary-sweet crew vocals and starry, early '80s soul touches. The flipside dub, which adds a little reverb and delay while allowing each musical element more room to breathe, is arguably even better. Some obscure, in-demand records are not all that great: "All The Way You Move" is fantastic.

Review: Jocelyn Brown will also be one of the most recognisable voices in soul and disco and here she gets called upon by Raven aka Elliot Roscoff. He is a legend in the music game who has played a key role in turbo-hits by artists like Philipp Glass, Grover Washington Jr., Jan Akkerman, Jesse Green, Candi Staton, Peggy Lee and many more. He also signed plenty of the early disco hits to the iconic West End label and keeps on serving up the tunes that make dance floors go wild. This one is a real stepper, with silky bass, colourful synths and a heart aching diva vocal that soars and soars.

Review: God bless the folk sitting in the Omaggio office - without them some people wouldn't be remembering this totem of New Wave by Sound On Sound, and others not be hearing it for the first time via this reissue. Cult sounds that can't help but define an entire decade, this is mid-80s on record in the most unabashed incarnation imaginable, and it's impossible not to fall head over heels from the word go.

Restored by the highly regarded Peter Gillis - sound artist, composer, general legend of the Euro House scene - heads get two tracks of snare-topped, tom-heavy, disco-infused indie dancefloor material that could either soundtrack a movie's street scene (perhaps panning across rough and tumble pre-millennium New York) or the club sequence, and do both equal justice. One for those who know what makes people move.