Unreleased Vol.1 1978-1985

Randy Muller needs no introduction. He's been writing, arranging and producing groove-laced funk and R&B for over three decades. If you've ever danced or vibed to dynamic jams by the likes of Brass Construction, B.

T Express and Skyy, the name will automatically ring a bell. But even Muller's biggest fans haven't heard it all before. With his latest CD, Randy Muller Presents: Unreleased Vol. 1 1978-1985, the rhythm-centric music man immerses listeners in a classic steamy sound bath, delivering groovy gems that speak to the soul as well as the shoe soles of admirers seeking a slam-banging soundtrack for those times that are better than good. This collection comes up as super-bad as anything Muller dropped straight from the lab. Years after most of them were recorded and mixed, tunes no one even knew existed arrive to embody all of our collective joy, spirit and drive to keep things moving and grooving. Kicking like afrolistics, everything here flows from Muller's funk-saturated template whose gifts couldn't help but keep on giving. He's a perpetual-motion music machine expertly combining synthesis with consistency. You can hear for yourself how never-before-heard titles by the five-man band First Circle and soloist Raphael Cameron gel with new cuts by the horn- and organ-happy combo Soul Biscuits. It's sparkling sonic style bridges vintage '70s funk and R&B and knotty neo-soul. As Muller, the group's mastermind, puts it, We do then and now, all at the same time. First Circle made it's debut in April 1987. Consisting of Glenn Chango Everett (drums, guitars, vocals), Larry Marsden (guitar), Al Lee (lead vocals), Richard Sinclair (percussion, bass) and Anthony Mc Ewan (percussion), the group's EMI Records album Boys Night Out spawned a pair of pumping singles: Workin' Up A Sweat, which heated up both the United States R & B and UK pop charts, and Miracle Worker, another post-release collectible. Unreleased Vol. 1 1978-1985 reveals some of the band's earlier works made under it's former names (Motivation, Pulse, Nyteshift, Full Circle). The set glimpses the range of this bold Brooklyn band: economical, anthropological funk on the one to the solid two and four of a classic reggae groove. The Funk is On, which became the title track of the Instant Funk album that followed the group's mega-smash I Got My Mind Made Up, was originally First Circle's. It swaggers like a dap dude ready for fun on a Friday night. The spirited Is This Party Hot?, meanwhile, captures the band swimming comfortably in the universal solvent - sweat. Everett keeps the rhythm locked in a solid pocket reminiscent of classic P-Funk, framing a squelching groove no true funkateer can ignore. Both songs find the group exploring electro land. On the syncopated reggae pleaser Hold On., singer Al Lee's signature soulful style serves as the perfect ornament atop a slinky riddim that's satisfying like cooked food, as they say in JA. Which bring us to Caribbean crooner Raphael Cameron. The Guyanese-born singer signed a production deal with Muller's company after a chance meeting back on a Brooklyn street corner. Almost immediately, the pair started making demos. In the same Brooklyn studio where many Skyy and Brass Construction hits began, Skyy's rhythm section - guitarists Solomon Roberts and Anibal Sierra, bassist Gerald Lebon, and drummer Tommy McConnell - along with Muller on keys served as backup band for the sessions. The Cameron songs on Unreleased Vol I. were recorded between 1978 and 1979, before Cameron signed to Salsoul Records. His 1980 debut, Cameron, sold over 300,000 units in the US, leapt into the British Top 20, and became an international collectible from South Africa to Paris and Japan. In 1982 Raphael Cameron was named Record World magazine's Top New Male Vocalist and Single Male Artist of the Year at the R&B Music Awards. We really wanted all these songs to be on the first Cameron album, but due to limitations of the medium, we simply could not fit all of the tracks on one vinyl disc. So, If, Song For You, Happy To See Yo