Today, we're taking a look at two upcoming titles in a soul and R&B vein from Omnivore Recordings!
This Friday, May 3, our friends at Omnivore have a treat for fans of Earth, Wind & Fire. The visionary founder and leader of EWF, the late Maurice White (1941-2016), only released one proper solo album in his lifetime (1985's Maurice White). Working on the R&B and Dance chart-topper "System of Survival" for EWF's album Touch the World, White inaugurated a friendship and collaboration with producer-songwriter Preston Glass. They continued to work together for almost three decades, producing 40 songs together. In 2019, three years after White's passing, Glass issued a dozen of their collaborative tracks as Manifestation.
Omnivore is bringing Manifestation to CD for the very first time, and to sweeten the pot, they're adding six previously unreleased tracks. This release (also available digitally) is released in cooperation with Platinum Garage Recordings and SoulMusic Records. Michael Graves has newly remastered the audio, and SoulMusic Records founder David Nathan, a friend of White's, has provided the new liner notes.
But that's not all the label has coming up for R&B fans. On May 31, Omnivore will release Get Up & Boogie: The Worldwide Singles from the groundbreaking Eurodisco group Silver Convention. Their sparkling 1975 single "Fly, Robin, Fly" charted in more than a dozen countries, reaching the top spot on the US Billboard Hot 100, Disco, and Soul surveys. The third single spun off from their debut album Save Me, "Fly, Robin, Fly" nabbed a Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance and made it clear that The Munich Sound - soon to be recognized the world over as Eurodisco - was here to stay. Despite enduring several personnel changes from the lineup that recorded Save Me, Silver Convention remained global chart fixtures through 1981, mostly with the songwriting-production team of Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze spearheading their releases. Seventeen of those sought-after 45s from around the world, originally issued on various labels and often featuring exclusive mixes and edits unique to each country, are being collected for the very first time on Get Up & Boogie: The Worldwide Singles. The anthology also showcases the development of Silver Convention's sound, which incorporated soul, R&B, and pop as well as disco and dance.
Among the many highlights on this floor-filling collection are "Get Up and Boogie (That's Right)" (a U.S. No. 2 hit kept from the top spot by Wings' "Silly Love Songs"), the infectious "San Francisco Hustle," the sensual "No, No, Joe" (a moderate U.S. hit), Munich-meets-Philly collaborations "Spend the Night with Me" and "Get It Up" (arranged and conducted by The Monster Orchestra's John Davis and featuring Don Renaldo's Horns and Strings), and the non-LP side "Cafe au Lait." Most of these international mixes and edits are new to CD, and this set also doubles as a Silver Convention "greatest hits" or "best-of" package. All of these rare singles have been restored and remastered by the Grammy-winning Osiris Studio, while TSD's Joe Marchese has provided new liner notes. Get Up & Boogie: The Worldwide Singles will be available on CD as well as digitally.
You'll find pre-order links and track listings for both upcoming Omnivore releases below!
Maurice White, Manifestation (Omnivore OV-543, 2024) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- Sweet Surrender
- Panic Button
- Storybook Love
- Laid Back Aphrodisiac
- I Couldn't Be Me Without You
- Breakin' In A Brand New Heart (Interlude)
- True Love Is Forever
- Wiggle (Long Version)
- To The Top
- Young Hearts
- You're Supposed To Say You Love Me
- Before The Day You Were Born
- Keep Your Faith In Love
- Can't Fight This Feelin'
- Crazy 'Bout
- Rekindle The Flame
- Spiritual High
- Sincerely
Tracks 13-18 previously unreleased
Silver Convention, Get Up & Boogie: The Worldwide Singles (Omnivore OV-547, 2024) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- Save Me (Single Edit) (Midland International JB-10212, 1975; U.S. 7")
- Fly, Robin, Fly (Stereo Single Long Version Edit) (Midland International JH-10339, 1975; U.S. 7")
- Tiger Baby (Single Radio Edit) (Magnet MAG 69, 1976; U.K. promotional 7")
- San Francisco Hustle (Single Version) (Jupiter Records 6.13194 AC, 1981; German 7")
- (There's) Always Another Girl (Magnet MAG 95; 1977; U.K. 7")
- Fancy Party (Single Version) (Papillon PAPL 915; 1977; Holland 7")
- I Like It (Special Disco Edit) (Magnet MAG 43, 1975; U.K. 7")
- Get Up and Boogie (That's Right) (Single Version) (Midland International MB-10571, 1976; U.S. 7")
- No, No, Joe (Single Version) (Midland International JH-10723; 1976; U.S. 7")
- Dancing in the Aisles (Take Me Higher) (Single Version) (Midland International JH-10849, 1976; U.S. 7")
- Everybody's Talking 'Bout Love (Single Version) (Magnet MAG 81, 1976; U.K. 7")
- Summernights (Polydor 2814 067; 1977; France promo 7")
- Telegram (Single Version) (Midsong International JH-10972; 1977; U.S. 7")
- Hotshot (Single Version) (Midsong International JH-11062, 1977; U.S. 7")
- Spend the Night with Me (Promo Single Short Version) (Midsong International MCA-40896; 1978; U.S. promotional 7")
- Cafe Au Lait (Jupiter Records 100 241; 1979; German 7")
- Get It Up (Jupiter Records 6.13194 AC; 1981; German 7")
Larry Davis says
Preordered both...now I'm not sure, and maybe you know, but the people behind Silver Convention (is it true that Omnivore is reissuing their whole catalogue??) are ALSO behind German girl group Arabesque?? I heard they were...in case you don't know, Arabesque released 9 albums between 1978 & 1984 and were even bigger than ABBA in Japan!! To me, aside from Girls Aloud, Arabesque were the most consistent, enjoyable girlgroup of the post 1960's, mixing Eurodisco, bubblegum & punk/new wave...and had many lineup changes in their first couple of years...but by 1979 had settled on the trio of Sandra Ann Lauer (known mostly as Sandra Cretu or just Sandra, the most successful German female singer of the 1980s & the Voice of Enigma), Michaela Rose & Jasmine Vetter...they made an incredible & consistent 9 albums up through 1984, which was when Sandra began her solo career with now ex-husband, producer Michael Cretu...but there is a link between Silver Convention & Arabesque...
Hans de vries says
No link between the producers of SC and Arabesque. Except a female trio, made in Germany.
Frank says
Looking forward to the Silver Convention singles collection. I have all the Big Break Records reissues of the first four albums. I see now that Love in a Sleeper is available for downloading and streaming as well on CD. Are these official releases? I would really love to have that on CD. Spend the Night with Me, Mission to Venus, Acuestate Conmigo and the title track are fantastic
Joe Marchese says
Hi Frank, yes, "Love in a Sleeper" is an official release by the current rightsholder, though I'll note that the physical edition is a CD-R. Omnivore's releases are fully licensed and official, and are pressed CDs with beautiful packaging and comprehensive notes and credits. Hope you enjoy!
Frank says
Hello Joe, thank you so much for the reply. I will purchase the download but not the CD. I hope Omnivore will do an official CD release of Love in a Sleeper. Have bought many of the Real Gone/Second Disc releases. I really hope you can work on getting out more Supremes and Diana Ross releases with Universal.
Joe Marchese says
Thanks for the kind words, Frank. We hope so, too. 🙂