Disco Party: Vinyl LP

Pre-Order Item. Release Date Subject to Change.
Label: Mr Bongo
Release Date: 26th June

OBSCURE HOLY GRAIL FUNK PROTO-DISCO HEATER ALERT! The reason this collection of gloriously uplifting and intensely dancefloor friendly liquid groovers is so obscure is because it comes from The TSG Label, set up as a tax scam, big budgets thrown at records not designed for anyone but with players who could play their nuts off for a fast $$$. What you get is releases like 'Disco Party', which looks like a record you'd skip past at the chazza but what lies on this black disc is some serious instrumental dynamite.

For those who dig: big lush disco funk instrumentals, holy grail funk slappers and big drum breaks. 

Mr Bongo presents a reissue of one of the rarest releases on the illustrious 
and now ultra-rare tax scam label TSG Records
A label with a checkered past, operated by Lloyd Price and with alleged ties to boxing 
promoter Don King. The album in question, Disco Party by Reality, is a stunning 
journey through '70s dancefoor-focussed funk into early proto-disco grooves. Back in 
mid-'70s Manhattan, Dr. Otto Gomez and a group of fellow New York musicians 
including Tony Dixon, Norman Drayton, Tony Dupree, Al Jones and Fred Nanton were 
brought in for a recording session by songwriter and producer, Billy Nichols. Laying 
down one of Nichols' songs and a selection of the group's own, they were paid as 
session musicians and thought little of it. The tapes came to the attention of Lloyd 
Price who struck a deal with Nichols unbeknownst to Gomez and the rest of the band. 
Price then pressed the album and put it out in 1976 on a newly formed subsidiary 
label, TSG Records, that would later be documented as one of the US tax scam labels 
of the '70s. 
Such labels were created to exploit a loophole in the US tax system, running up 
infated production costs / losses that investors or the parent label could write off 
against their tax bills. Releases on these labels were never intended to have 
commercial success. They would usually be produced in incredibly limited pressing 
numbers and have little to no promotion or distribution. As such many of these 
records instantly fell into obscurity, becoming mythical amongst DJs and record 
collectors. Sadly, this meant that artists like Dr. Otto Gomez and friends never had the 
chance for their record and their talents to shine at the time. In fact, it was only when 
Jazzman reached out for their 2022 reissue that Dr. Otto Gomez became aware that 
the album had ever been released and heard the story behind it.
Disco Party is a time capsule where '70s instrumental funk edges and intertwines into 
an early disco sound. The sessions are for the dancefoor, minimalist and groovebased. The bass and drums are at the forefront, providing the pulse of the album. 
Driving funky guitar licks, and a brilliant horn section weave their way in and out of the 
productions. Highlights include the uplifting feel- good 'Let's Party People', the early 
disco swagger of 'Reality', and 'Disco Party (Let's Have A)' with its wah-wah groove 
and percussion break, which could easily have found its home on a Blaxploitation flm 
soundtrack of the period.
It's not just rarity that makes this record so sought after, but rather the fact that it is a 
superb example of dancefoor-focussed mid '70s funk and disco.
One of the rarest releases on the illustrious and now ultra-rare tax scam label TSG 
Records.
Disco Party by Reality, is a stunning journey through '70s dancefoor-focussed 
funk into early proto-disco grooves.
Created to exploit a loophole in the US tax system, albums on labels like TSG 
were originally produced in incredibly limited pressing numbers and with little to 
no promotion or distribution.