Pearly Gates - Fading Into The Night (1979)

The final post in this short celebration of the productions of Ian Levine is 'Fading Into The Night' by Pearly Gates. Viola Billups (aka Pearly Gates) was born on 4 July 1946 in Alabama, and she joined The Flirtations with sisters Earnestine Pearce and Betty Pearce in 1964, moving to London in 1968, where their music was popular. She left the group in 1973 and released her first single 'Sad Old Shadow', written by Lynsey De Paul and Don Gould, on Polydor Records under the name Vie, taking up the Pearly Gates name for her second record 'Johnny And The Jukebox' in 1974. Several more singles followed in the late 70's on RCA Records and Bronze Records, and she was a popular artist on TV, being a regular performer on the Cliff Richard show, until in 1979 she completed her first disco album 'Fading Into The Night' with producer Ian Levine. The album was supposed to have been released by American singer Cobie Jones, who didn't make it to the sessions so Gates took over, but as with the other albums that Levine recorded in 1979, it became a victim of the disco backlash, and was shelved. In 1985 she enjoyed a Hi-NRG hit with the song 'Action', and she toured with Madeline Bell and Katie Kissoon, performing with the James Last Orchestra. Two of her unreleased disco tracks were eventually released on 12" singles in Levine's Nightmare Gold series in 1987, and other tracks appeared on a 'best of' CD in 1995, but here is the original full album as recorded in 1979, to close this celebration of the productions of Ian Levine. 

Track listing

01 No Two Ways About It
02 Caught In A Love Trap
03 Fading Into The Night
04 The Race Is On
05 Home Is In The Streets

Loretta Stokes - Kidnap Me (1979)

The next abandoned disco album produced by Ian Levine in 1979 is by Loretta Stokes. Stokes was working as an air stewardess when she was discovered by DJ Rick Gianatos in Chicago in 1979, who presented her to his partner, British producer Levine, who already had a number of hits on his hands with James Wells, Barbara Pennington, Seventh Avenue and others. Levine signed Stokes to United Artists and recorded the 'Kidnap Me' album, only to find executive Artie Mogul of United Artists backing out of the contract, and with the erupting disco backlash of late 1979, Levine soon found himself with an album he couldn't sell, and Stokes' album remained in the can. By 1987, Levine was a successful Hi-NRG producer with his own label, Nightmare Records, when he decided to create the sub-label Nightmare Gold to release a series of 34 12"s with all his lost disco material from the late 70's. All 5 tracks from Stokes' album had been scheduled for individual 12" releases, and although four of them were actually pressed, only 'You'll Never Escape My Love' eventually came out, to minimal attention. The album did make a limited appearance on VCD in 1996, but it too passed most people by, and so here it is in full in this short celebration of Levine's productions. 

Track listing 

01 Kidnap Me
02 You'll Never Escape My Love
03 Restless For You
04 My Conscience Won't Let Me
05 Falling Off The Edge Of The World

Susan Wells - Nightmare (1979)

A couple of years ago I posted a disco album by Moonstone, recorded by the respected record producer and DJ Ian Levine in 1979, but which was never released. As I mentioned then, he actually produced four of these records in 1979, none of which ever saw the light of day, as 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 these albums was by Chicago-based Susan Wells, sister of James Wells, which had been supposed to be released on United Artists in 1979 before the deal fell through. To commemorate Levine's 70th birthday, and as a follow-up to an effusive celebration in this month's Record Collector, I'm posting the other three of those four albums, starting with 'Nightmare' by Susan Wells. 

Track listing

01 Nightmare
02 It Must Be An Ambush 
03 Turn the Key In the Lock

04 Keep On Heading In My Direction 

05 Victim Of Jealousy 

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)