Mike Davis Monster

This is the story of the one the great disco labels, a legendary label who were at the forefront of a genre during its fruition and creative peak. Sam Weiss started SAM Records in Long Island City, New York in 1975. Sam, and his brother Hy, were born in Romania before moving to the Bronx in New York City when they were young. Sam and his brother were no strangers to the music business having been in the industry since the mid-50s running labels Old Town and Parody Records.

Silva Screen Records presents new digital recordings performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic conducted by Nic Raine featuring Crouch End Festival Chorus (Choir Master - David Temple), also the Westminster Philharmonic Orchestra, plus The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis, Neil Richardson and Kenneth Alwyn. The two CD set of twenty-eight tracks, over 130 minutes of music including such selections - "THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN" (1935-Franz Waxman) - "THE THING" (1951-Dimitri Tiomkin) - "THE EXORCIST" (1973-Mike Oldfield) - "HALLOWEEN" (1978-John Carpenter) - "THE HAUNTING" (1999-Jerry Goldsmith) evokes a string of horror and tension. As usual a few stand outs - "THE DEVIL RIDES OUT" (1968-James Bernard) Bernard's inexorable music may be simply stated, but the orchestration is venomous. This track is surely one of the most formidable and succinct realisations of the satanic in music. "SIX SENSE" (1999-James Newton Howard) this composer adopts a potent blend of richly realised Americana to subtly underscore events, never overtly signposting every narrative twist and turn.

Soul Steppin': '80s Soulful Steppers Review by Thom Jurek
Backbeats Records is strictly a compilation company based in the U.K. whose releases are distributed throughout the European Union at a budget prices. What they do is simply compile collections of dance music by well-known and obscure artists from the disco era to the latter '90s. And for what it’s worth, when it comes to licensing, they do a terrific job, and this set is a case in point. Compiled by Ian Dewhirst, Soul Steppin' collects 14 jams from the disco era – many of them extended 12" versions such as the Dells’ “All About the Paper,” the original 12” mix of the Impressions' “Fan the Fire,” Walter Jackson's lone entry into the period with the killer “Touching in the Dark,” a midtempo romantic stepper done in that killer baritone of his. Dee Dee Sharp turns in “Easy Money,” and Teddy Pendergrass’ slick, funky “You and Me Right Now” is also here. But along with the bigger names are one-offs, tracks by artists that were a hit on the dancefloor but never really went anywhere else, such as Sound Troupe's trippy meld of smooth future funk, Latin rhythms, jazz, and disco strings for “Can You Really See Me.” Also included is Greg Henderson's lone club classic, “Dreamin,” with its Latin congas, Chic-esque handclaps, and Larry Graham-styled bass solo. This set is pure nostalgia to be sure, but it’s a gas from start to finish.