In recent weeks, SoulMusic Records has kept up its busy slate. Through the Caroline label, SMR has offered up reissues of The Dells' Charles Stepney-produced Cadet album Freedom Means (featuring classics like "One Less Bell to Answer," "If You Go Away" and "Make It with You"), The Dramatics' ABC release Shake It Well (featuring the hit R&B title track) and Evelyn "Champagne" King's 1988 RCA album Flirt. Through Cherry Red Group, SoulMusic has also reissued Tasha Thomas' 1979 Midnight Rendezvous as a deluxe 2-CD Expanded Edition.
Midnight Rendezvous was the only album recorded by Thomas, who died at the all-too-young age of 34 in 1984 following a battle with cancer. Thomas first made her mark as a background singer, joining the elite club of first-call session vocalists. In this capacity she sang on records by artists as diverse as Louis Armstrong, Carly Simon, B.B. King, Jim Croce and KISS. She also attained Broadway immortality in the role of Aunt Em in the original 1975 Broadway cast of The Wiz, just one of her theatrical credits.
Thomas' solo career saw single releases on labels including Roulette and Buddah, but it wasn't until Atlantic Records (the label for the cast recording of The Wiz) came along and offered Thomas a full album. That offer was based on the success of songwriter James R. Glaser's erotic "Shoot Me (With Your Love)," a double entendre-laden disco floor-filler on Orbit Records that captivated dancers at the Paradise Garage and Studio 54 without national distribution. With Atlantic's powerful backing, "Shoot Me" made it to No. 25 R&B and also cracked the Billboard Hot 100, and soon, producers Glaser and Peter Rugile were back in the studio with Tasha.
Midnight Rendezvous was a first-class affair, with orchestrations by Don Sebesky (known for both his work at CTI Records and on Broadway) and musicians including David Sanborn and veterans Charles Collins and Bob Babbitt. Both Collins and Babbitt played with MFSB while Babbitt also made Motown history as a Funk Brother. Funky disco workouts like the title track and "Hot Buttered Boogie" sat on the album alongside more mid-tempo and mellow offerings like the ballad "You're the One I Love" co-written by Tasha and Misha Segal and a smoldering soul take on the Johnny Mercer/Doris Tauber standard "Drinking Again."
Though Thomas appeared on television to promote the album, some behind-the-scenes snafus between the artist and her record company scuttled any hopes of a follow-up. Though tracks were cut for a second album, it never materialized. Tasha later teamed with a new pair of songwriters, Michael and Richard Berardi, but those tracks, too, remained unreleased. She returned to work as a background vocalist, likely cutting her last tracks in 1982. She died two years later of cervical cancer at 34.
SoulMusic's 2-CD Expanded Edition includes a comprehensive new essay by Justin Kantor as well as excerpts from Thomas' interviews with Blues and Soul, as well as the original sleeve notes. The second disc includes ten rare single mixes, including five distinct versions of "Shoot Me (With Your Love)" as well as two of "Street Fever" and "Hot Buttered Boogie," and one of "Midnight Rendezvous."
Tasha Thomas' lost disco classic is available now from SoulMusic Records and Cherry Red at the links below!
Tasha Thomas, Midnight Rendezvous (Atlantic SD-19923, 1979 - reissued SoulMusic Records/Cherry Red WSMCR 5130D, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
CD 1
- Midnight Rendezvous
- Street Fever
- Shoot Me (With Your Love)
- Hot Buttered Boogie
- You Put the Music in Me
- Wake Up Morning Glory
- You're the One I Love (From Day to Day)
- Drinking Again
CD 2
- Shoot Me (With Your Love) (Single Vocal Version)
- Shoot Me (With Your Love) (Single Instrumental Version)
- Shoot Me (With Your Love) (Promo Single Short Version)
- Shoot Me (With Your Love) (Instrumental)
- Shoot Me (With Your Love) (12" Single Version)
- Street Fever (12" Single Version)
- Street Fever (Single Version)
- Hot Buttered Boogie (12" Long Version)
- Hot Buttered Boogie (Single Version)
- Midnight Rendezvous (Single Version)
CD 2, Tracks 1 & 2 from Atlantic 45-3542, 1979
CD 2, Track 3 from Atlantic promo 45-3542, 1979
CD 2, Tracks 4 & 5 from Orbit Records OR-700, 1978/Atlantic DK-4706, 1978
CD 2, Track 6 from Atlantic DK-4730, 1979
CD 2, Track 7 from Atlantic 45-3568, 1979
CD 2, Track 8 from Atlantic DK-4704, 1979
CD 2, Tracks 9 & 10 from Atlantic 45-3606, 1979
Thanks for this cool write-up, Joe! I am so glad that SMR honored Tasha's legacy with this first-ever CD issue of her one and only, magical album. It was wonderful to get Peter Rugile's input on the creation of "Shoot Me" and subsequent sessions!