RAMSEY & COMPANY

Love Call (reissue)

Celestial Echo

More rare, buried treasure from Miche and St Clark's archival Celestial Echo imprint. This time round, they take us back to 1979 and the sole self-released single from Manoir Ramsey's short-lived band, Ramsey & Company, an outfit originally assembled to perform in Catskills, New York's "supper club circuit". It was a single that became something of an underground staple in the UK's early 80s modern soul scene - and with good reason. 'Love Call' is a solo-laden, horn-heavy disco-soul number packed with heavy riffs, gritty guitar licks and some suitably jazzy Rhodes tinkling. Original B-side ''Let Grease', meanwhile, sounds like a long-lost jam from a forgotten Blaxploitation move, with Ramsey and company trading killer solos throughout.