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LEE McDONALD - SWEET
MAGIC
In May 1992, during my
first trip to San Francisco buying second hand records for our mail order
business, I visited the famous Groove Merchant store in Haight Street, then
home of the fledgling Luv n Haight record label. Michael McFadden asked me if I
had ever found a copy of that Lee McDonald record, and if I found one could I
let him know, as he was after a copy. The album proved very elusive, and in
fact it was five years before I found a copy with a New York dealer. We had the
record only one day before an eager collector bought it for £300; I hadn't
even had time to listen to it. The following year I was fortunate to found four
sealed copies with a dealer in Los Angeles. We listed it in our monthly vinyl
catalogue and were inundated with calls. I had to wait another year before I
actually heard the record, by which time we had started our record label. I
knew instantly that we should try to reissue it. So three years on here it is
at last, finally made available to all soul fans and collectors, one of the
most sought after, rare, and revered soul albums of all time. What about the
music itself, the label says it was released in 1981 on a small label 'Debbie'
in New Jersey, but it was probably recorded a couple of years earlier. The
album stands up well against anything recorded at that time, including the
great cover versions of Ecstasy Passion and Pain's 'Ill do anything for you'
and the Carpenters 'We've only just begun' which have been Modern Soul Classics
for many years. But listen to the other songs notably 'Show Me' and 'Gotta get
home' when Mr McDonald really gets down. Of the man himself, he remains as
elusive as the album itself, despite numerous phone calls, letters, Internet
searches, we still haven't located him. In a way this sums up the aura of the
record, which has proved to be almost the Holy Grail to many soul collectors.
Hopefully this release will expose this music to a much greater number of soul
aficionados than those lucky (and rich) enough to have heard it before.
Track list (click  to hear tracks - one minute clips)
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