Moonstone - Moonstone (1979)

British record producer Ian Levine had burst onto the scene in 1975, producing the hit single 'Reaching For The Best' with The Exciters, and several more productions followed over the following years with the likes of Evelyn Thomas, Barbara Pennington, L. J. Johnson, Tyrone Ashley, Doris Jones, James Wells, Eastbound Expressway and Seventh Avenue. 1979 saw him produce four disco albums, none of which would be released at the time, and the cost of producing them left him indebted and unable to record for four long years, until he bounced back with Miquel Brown's million-selling single 'So Many Men, So Little Time' in 1983. One of those 1979 albums was by Moonstone, which was a studio project for Salsoul Records which fell through at the last minute, and although Levine's business partner Rick Gianatos wanted to shop the tapes around for other record labels, Levine wasn't keen, as he disliked session singer Liza Strike's original vocals, and recut the tracks, two of them with Karen Pree and three of them with Evelyn Thomas. In the end the tracks would sit in the can until they leaked in the early 90's, although some recordings, such as the mix of Karen Pree's 'Stop When The Light Is On Red' remain lost. I wouldn't say that disco is one of my favourite genres, and it has certainly dated since its heyday in the 70's and 80's, but it's worth resurrecting the album for fans who still have a soft spot for it, and I'm posting a mix of the Strike/Pree/Thomas versions, so that we can get an idea of each singer's take on the tracks that they recorded. 

Track listing

01 Out Of The Ball Game (feat. Liza Strike)
02 You're Sending Me Delirious (feat. Karen Pree)
03 Stop When The Light Is On Red (feat. Liza Strike)
04 Love In The First Degree (feat. Evelyn Thomas)
05 Summer On The Beach (feat. Evelyn Thomas)
06 Sleaze (feat. Evelyn Thomas)