The Strangers - The Strangers LP [Be With Records]

Format: LP in printed sleeve.
CAT: BEWITH194LP

A stone-cold Salsoul classic and, without question, one of the label's brightest ever moments. The Strangers’ eponymous LP was originally released in that golden year of 1983 and is one of the great albums of the post-disco era. It’s an all-time favourite LP for Be With, and it's an absolute honour to be able to give it the reissue treatment.

Still strangely overlooked – but not for long – The Strangers contains flawless tracks with first-rate production and includes the perennial Paradise Garage favourite, “Step Out of My Dream.”

Are they really strangers to us? Well no, they shouldn’t be. The Strangers was an American electronic-funk studio project made up of Edward “Tree” Moore, Howard King, and Hubert Eaves III, all key members of Mtume and the Gary Bartz NTU Troop, and, in Eaves’s case, one half of D-Train.

Now I KNOW you’re going to love this.

The record kicks off with the heavy-hitting electro-funk of “Wanna Take Your Body,” featuring Gary Bartz on saxophone (!) and getting more and more sensational and irresistible as it goes. The twisted and explosive “Let Me Take You Home” has a punk-funk, post-Prince vibe – energetic and delicate all at once, whilst “Show Me How You Like It” is pure FUNK, with a simply incendiary groove.

Side B is absolute perfection. It kicks off with the NTS favourite, “Love Rescue,” a track so polished it hits from the first second and, whilst maintaining a constant energy, elevates its vocals and melodies into the realm of EMOTIONAL POP.

Next up is “Step Out Of My Dream,” moving with complete ease: the undisputed masterpiece that was huge amongst London DJs and the UK soul scene; it’s not hard to see why. It’s a gliding, smooth, and deeply soulful piece, an unrepeatable magic of those that only happen once.

The ethereal “It’s Too Late” is the perfect slow jam before this extraordinary set closes with the devastating “Stimulation,” a synth-drenched proto-acid jam: a perfect slab of 80s funk and a vocoder-driven groove exercise that walks with complete confidence.

Meticulously remastered and cut by Simon Francis and Cicely Balston at Abbey Road, respectively, and pressed to the highest possible quality at Record Industry in Holland.