LABEL: We Want Sounds
CAT NO: WWSLP39
BARCODE: 3700604728061
Tracklisting:
1. Missing You
2. Mary’s House
3. Disco Blues
4. Teddy Bear
5. Love Rite
6. Three Wise Men
7. Uncle Sam
8. Saturday
9. God Bless The Soulfire People
10. Come On With It
ROBERT COTTER – Missing You
LP – Vinyl (2021 Reissue)
Reissue of Robert Cotter’s ultra rare 1976 album, Missing You in partnership with Robert Cotter himself. Originally released on the notorious Tiger Lily label, the album was never properly released at the time and most copies were destroyed before they could hit record store shelves. The few that survived now command unreasonable prices. The album, recorded in New York between 1975 and 76, is also Chic’s earliest recording – or The Big Apple Band as the group was known, which Robert Cotter was fronting at the time alongside fellow musicians Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards, Tony Thompson and Robert Sabino. The album’s audio has been remastered and the reissue comes with its original artwork plus a 2 page insert featuring liner notes by Love Injection’s Barbie Bertisch and Paul Raffaele telling the whole story.
The album features a wide array of styles, from the funk of the title track and ‘Disco Blues’ to the soulful acoustic feel of ‘Three Wise Men’ and the conga-led mid-tempo groove of ‘God Bless The Soulfire People’. The tracks showcase Cotter’s amazing range as a singer and also as a composer. The two Big Apple Band tracks, ‘Love Rite’ and ‘Saturday’ are not only great, but also give an insight into the origin of the Chic sound. These songs are historically invaluable as the group’s only recordings just before it morphed into Chic (A remake of ‘Saturday’ would actually become a hit for Norma Jean Wright two years later produced by Rodgers/Edwards). The album finishes with the incredible “Come On With It,” a politically-charged diatribe against Nixon featuring a darker psychedelic edge. When the album was pressed, Cotter got a few copies and never really heard back from the label. He moved on with his career – performing and recording for various other labels – and never really looked back on his debut album.
Greater than the sum of its parts, Missing You is a unique album and a bonified classic that finally gets the release it deserves forty-five years on. Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue the album in its original glory for everyone to appreciate.