This may seem a bit of a random posts but all will become evident
shortly. It has to be one the best double-sided 12" dance records ever on
one of the best dance labels Salsoul.
Salsoul was formed in 1974 and their first release was Joe Bataan's
Latin instrumental version of Gil Scott-Heron's "The Bottle" nationally distributed on Epic. The label's name was
conceived by Bataan from New York street lingo for the musical culture of urban Latinos who were listening to
soul music and combining it with salsa music. Bataan used it for his first
album recorded in 1973 for the Cayre brothers who owned Mericana Records
before forming Salsoul.
The label brought in members of Philly International's MFSB who were in
dispute with Gamble & Huff over royalties, which is perhaps why the
sound is similar and the label often confused as a Philly rather than New
York label. Critically, they signed the trio who are credited most with
creating Disco, Baker, Young & Harris (Ronnie Baker, Earl Young and
Norman Harris). They also signed Vince Montana who was behind The Salsoul
Orchestra who had the label's first hit, Bunny Sigler who discovered and
produced Instant Funk and others,
Baker, Young & Harris had First Choice under contract with Philly
Groove and took them with them.
The label released the first commercially available 12" (only promos had
existed before) which was a 9:48 version of Double Exposure's "Ten Per
Cent", another great tune, mixed by Walter Gibbons in 1976!
The track featured here is Instant Funk double-sider "I Got My Mind Made Up" with "Crying" (written by Bunny Sigler). Other versions were released with
"Wide World Of Sports" on the flip which wasn't extended it was the same
length as album and 7" versions.
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