Balearic Modern Jazz Funk sensation from 1985 by Ghia. Previously unissued. Limited Edition of 350 copies.

Ghia - Down At The Hilton (TAC-012)

It's Hard To Get In The Showbiz

Upstairs - It's Hard To Get In The Showbiz (Preview Mix) (TAC-010)

Following the recently released "At The Hilton" single, The Outer Edge is proud to present "Curaçao Blue", Ghia’s first full-length album. And it is simply mind-blowing, to say the least! Ghia delivers Balearic jazz-funk at its finest. The LP features 10 unissued recordings in a similar vein as featured on the single, recorded from 1985 to 1988. An essential pick for any collection, whether you are a DJ, a home listener, a music lover, or a modern jazz-funk/synth-funk aficionado.

Ghia - Curaçao Blue (TAC-014) Preview Mix

The Outer Edge is proud to present the first ever vinyl release of “No Message” by Art P, a still lesser known and lost masterpiece from the P.A.P. archives. Art P (initially Art Programming) was an electronic music duo consisting of Jens-Markus Wegener and Frank Grotelüschen. On “No Message”, originally released in 1985, we hear the band’s most profound work, a detailed and unique mixture in between of Electro and the synth-laden edge of New Wave.

Art P - No Message (Preview Mix) (TAC-011)

More info here: https://theouteredge.bandcamp.com/

Hans Hass - Welche Farbe hat der Wind (Marian Tone Rework) (Preview) (TAC-013)

Smoothest Street Soul, recorded ca.  1988/89! A full Ghia EP can be downloaded FOR FREE via Bandcamp: https://theouteredge.bandcamp.com/album/crystal-silence-ep

Ghia - Crystal Silence (FREE DOWNLOAD)

OUT NOW: "This Is" by Ghia! The lost album from 1991! What you will hear is timeless, soulful music with a pop appeal, sometimes on the edge of the downtempo genre, then with one foot in the street soul and synth pop territories – yet with an absolutely unique twist and comprised only of their own compositions. Cautiously, it may even be submitted as the missing link between mid/late 80s soul by bands such as Sade, and later trip-hop groups like Massive Attack. Let us celebrate Ghia and their music, which had been shelved for more than 30 years but has now finally been released on The Outer Edge.

This Is

Ghia - This Is (Preview Mix) (TAC-015)

We're thrilled to release two exciting electro tracks by Art P, as well as the classic minimal synthwave tune 'Der böse Osten' by related band project Die Synthetische Republik on this limited split 12".
More info and purchase here:
https://theouteredge.bandcamp.com/album/genscher-pull-n-push-der-b-se-osten

Art P / Die Synthetische Republik - Split 12inch (Preview Snippet) (TAC-018)

As a first release on our newly founded label, we are proud to offer two totally unique and undiscovered Ethophian synth groove recordings by blind keyboardist Haile Mariam G. Ghiorgis. Both tracks are taken from the highly collectable and extremely rare debut solo album “Tigill Lemenor (Survival)”. An LP that Ghiorgis released privately in 1985 on his own Pentaton label. 

Born in Ethiopia in 1952, Haile M. Ghiorgis originally worked as a music instructor after school and played music together with several prominent groups of his countrymen – he was the keyboardist of Mahmoud Ahmed & Ibex Band and played for national stars like Tilahun Gessesse, among others. Due to the communist revolution in Ethopia in 1974, Haile decided to leave his motherland and due to his blindness in 1977 he was allowed to do so. Finding a new home in Hamburg, he performed together with various bands, including the afro pop group Soulful Dynamics and Jah Love (an early band of funk drummer and reggae artists Curvin Merchant aka Jamaica Papa Curvin). When those groups disbanded, Ghiorgis was retrained as a piano-tuner but also focussed on his own music.

Haile M. Ghiorgis was particularly fascinated by the digital-controlled synthesizer and rhythm-machines, whose operation he mastered without any difficulties in spite of his blindness. The drums came from a Yamaha drum computer and were recorded first. On top of that, bass and the melodies were added. Haile was using a Yamaha DX-7 keyboard, an old small Roland synth as well as an organ by Solton.

On the album, which was recorded in his small home studio in Hamburg on a TEAC 8-track tape machine, Haile M. Ghiorgis harmoniously blends western pop and jazz music with his native country’s folklore. Our favourite track, “Man biye?” is a sort of melancholic love song – it means “What shall I call you?”. A man searches for something though in vain to compare with the beauty of his beloved. The atmospheric instrumental features brilliant synth solos over deep downtempo beats – sort of like jazzy ethno synth funk in slow motion.

Side B of the single concludes the release with an uplifting solid disco track, simply called “A Happy Disco Song”. As it says in the liner notes of the LP, the song esteems Ethiopian hospitality and relates how welcome every stranger is and how even the poorest is ready to share with him. The track has a charming “private” vibe and surely should appeal to DJs and disco/boogie aficiandos.

The original LP “Survival” was primarily sold on live shows when he was on tour in the late 1980s throughout Europe, accompaning fellow Ethopian musicians including jazz legend Mulatu Astatke, among others, and almost never pops up. Therefore, we are very happy to be able to offer you this brilliant piece of music on a fresh sounding 7” single.

TAC-001 Haile M. Ghiorgis - Man Biye? / A Happy Disco Song (Snippet Preview)

Revival is an as-of-yet totally undiscovered electric jazz rock recording from 1977 composed by visual artist and multi instrumentalist Herbert Bodzin. It features brilliant soulful fusion with echoed Fender Rhodes, phased flute, and electric bass and guitar. Most tracks are overdubbed with synthesizers. Fellow musicians are Hans Kämper (of legendary Krautrock group Annexus Quam), Bernd Szemeitzke, Peter Johannesdotter and Bernd Schöttner. Unreleased instrumental versions taken from the rare protest album "Niedersächsische Schlachteplatte".

TAC-003 Herbert Bodzin - Revival (The Electric Jazz Rock Recordings)

Herbert Bodzin’s “Revival II” is the next exciting vinyl highlight on our young label. It features completely unreleased electronic music which was recorded between 1979 and 1982. On the album we can hear the sounds of legendary analogue machines like the ARP 2600, the Korg PS-3300, the Roland System-700 Modular synthesizer, the PPG Waveterm and the PPG Wave 2.2 as well as classic synths like the Roland Jupiter-8, the Polymoog and the Prophet-5. The album additionally features Bernd Hollendiek, as well as Bodzin’s two sons, Stephan and Oliver Bodzin. Most of the music they performed was completely synthesizer based while Oliver Bodzin played drums on a few tracks. The songs are a mixture of mostly ambient, deep, psychedelic, yet experimental and futuristic sounds as well as more vibrant recordings that featured the complete band. One of these vibrant tracks is “Lifting Blue” which qualifies as a unique version of space rock. On other tracks like “Voices of the Mind” we hear deep melodies topped with dreamy vocoder voices. “Against the Wall” sounds like it could be taken off of an Italian horror movie soundtrack while the mid-tempo “Orbital” pre-dates the sounds of techno and trance. As a side note, the album may also show early musical influences of Stephan Bodzin, who became world famous in the 1990s as one of the leading techno producers. Without any doubt, “Revival II” should be an exciting lost masterpiece of German electronic (rock) music and a must have for synth music lovers – revived and finally alive!

Revival II - The Electronic Tapes 1979-1982

TAC-004 Herbert Bodzin - Revival II - The Electronic Tapes 1979-1982(Snippet Preview)

With a loudly pressed vinyl single “To the Westcoast / My Fate” by Ara Pacis we are proud to officially release two of the most exciting AOR tracks hailing from Germany.

Ara Pacis, a group from the island Föhr in the North Sea, was originally founded in 1971. Initially influenced by blues and classic rock by The Rolling Stones, The Who, and the like, they were also inspired by bands such as Steely Dan as well as the German/British group Lake. However, Ara Pacis created a style of their own when their privately pressed and self-distributed “To the Westcoast” LP was released in 1979. The songs were mainly characterized by two-part guitar riffs by Töns Brautlecht-Deppe and Wolfgang Schiffner, who also were the core songwriters of the band. 

The freshly remastered single starts with the title track “To the Westcoast”. Due to its sunny and yacht-y vibe it is easily amongst the best and most authentic tunes out of the “Westcoast rock” genre recorded in Germany. With family connections in California, lead singer Töns Brautlecht-Deppe was able to create and capture the feeling of the Pacific sea shore just perfectly.

The single is backed with a revised studio version of “My Fate”. Here, lead singer Töns Brautlecht tells his story about getting into playing guitar as a young boy. The track is also featured on the album but the version we present on the 7" vinyl is an unreleased, even quite funky and more powerful take. It was recorded in 1981 at the Rüssl studio in Hamburg where Brautlecht had just started to work as an engineer.

On the digital EP versions we are happy to offer two additional tracks off of the highly collectable LP as well as four tracks from the studio sessions in 1981 which have been remastered from tape. Three of these are alternative takes of album tracks while “I Don’t Know” is exclusive to the EP.
   
As the "To the Westcoast" LP was released during a time when styles like New Wave, Synth Pop and Punk became popular in Germany and the interest in organic and soulful rock declined, Ara Pacis’ debut remained relatively unnoticed until today and even the Krautrock collector’s scene does not seem to be fully aware of this hard to find gem yet of which only 1000 copies were originally pressed. The band is still kept in good memory by their fans as a quite legendary live act and although they officially split in 1982, the group still served their fan base with revival concerts in 1990 and 2002 plus a website with full band story and lots of images from the early days.

We hope this single sheds new light on this great band. It is limited to 350 copies and released in a beautiful picture sleeve which shows the original LP artwork.

To the Westcoast / My Fate (Revisited)

TAC-005 To the Westcoast / My Fate (Revisited) (Snippet Preview)

Official re-release of two of the finest Afro Funk / Island Boogie tunes recorded in Germany.

Experience’s “Share It With You” and “Happiness” can both be found on the highly collectible private LP release “Oh! What A Feeling” from 1982. The group consisted of Anthony Flaverney from Trinidad, Curvin Murchant from Jamaica, Daniel Kofi Jefferson from Ghana and John Inniss from Trinidad, and was founded in Hamburg.

Anthony Flaverney, the lead singer on both songs, was active as songwriter and musician in Germany since the mid-1970s, most notably appearing on the Peter Herbolzheimer arranged “Caribbean Rock“ album by Malcolm's Locks (be sure to check their funk version of Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up”!). Curvin Merchant, a highly respected drummer from Jamaica, settled in Germany around the same time. Before forming Experience, he was a member in several groups, including highly successful pop acts like Boney M. Later he became known as "Germany’s Grandfather of Roots Rock Reggae", among other things building up the "Reggae Center" in Hamburg. Flaverney and Merchant are joined by Daniel Jefferson on bass and John Inniss on steel pan. The band existed for about 2 years, touring in Germany and Europe, unfortunately recording only one album which features a unique mix of Reggae and Funk.

The first track on our single, “Share It With You”, should give any serious music lover goose bumps. It was written by Flaverney and features a deep funk groove, steel drum solos and fantastic soulful vocals. It’s that type of tune you will play in a DJ set and people will come up to you and ask what it is. The single version is slightly edited.
Side B continues with “Happiness”, an equally great track with positive vibe and attitude, written by Flaverney and Jefferson. Again, the steel pan sounds give it that special compelling “Island” vibe from Trinidad.

The single is limited to 400 copies and comes in a beautiful picture sleeve showing part of the original artwork from the “Oh! What A Feeling” album.

TAC-006 Experience - Share It With You / Happiness (Snippet Preview)

Buy here:
https://theartlesscuckoo.bandcamp.com/album/im-always-right-the-wdr-tapes-1977

I'm Always Right

TAC - 008 Imagination - I'm Always Right(Snippet Preview)

Get it here: https://theartlesscuckoo.bandcamp.com/album/whats-your-voodoo

What's Your Voodoo?

TAC-007 Ghia - What's Your Voodoo? (Preview)

Bandcamp: https://theartlesscuckoo.bandcamp.com/album/shake-it

We are proud to present the official 40-year anniversary issue of Imagination’s debut album Shake It. Remastered from original tapes, this deluxe edition is a double vinyl LP with gatefold sleeve, featuring a newly available lyric insert. Shake It covers a diverse spectrum of styles and sounds, all combining to a unique soulful amalgam that ranges from sunshine AOR funk (“Mornin’ Lights”) and leftfield disco (“Strawberry Wine”) to psychy, epic, downtempo, vocoder grooves (“Can’t Stand Without You”) and more. Originally released in 1980, it fast became one of Germany's most collectible privately-pressed LPs. This double vinyl issue makes the LP available once again at a far more reasonable price, featuring the original, illustrious, eye-catching, Roy Lichtenstein-influenced banana art, as well as previously unavailable press pictures and more.

Shake It

TAC-009 Shake It (Album Preview Mix)

The Outer Edge is a label by German record collector DJ Scientist aka John Raincoatman. The label merges the former imprints The Artless Cuckoo (2015-2022) and Boogie On The Mainline.

The Outer Edge

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