“Music Is The Answer”, Colonel Abrams’ landmark 1984 debut release, was mot his first stab at stardom. In fact, earlier the same year he’d recorded a series of dubbed-out demos with Boyd Jarvis at Timmy Regisford’s apartment. Here, those demos – mastered from dusty eight-track tape – get a public airing for the first time. Despite their vintage, all three tracks still sound phenomenally soulful and futuristic, as if all three men were laying down a blueprint for deep house (albeit with the addition of the delay-laden drums that were such a feature of NYC productions during the period). “You Got Me Running”, in particular, is superb, with Abrams’ putting in a superbly impassioned but bittersweet vocal performance.

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