RHYZE / DAVIS, JOHN / MONSTER ORCHESTRA - FREE / LOVE MAGIC

Formed in the late 70's, Rhyze were: Roscoe Taylor (lead vocals / trumpet) Elisworth 'EI-T' Anderson (bass / lead vocals) Vince Jackson (guitar / lead vocals) Charles Holmes (drums) Joseph 'Jo Jo' McKnight (congas / percussion) Kevin Barbee (keyboards) Richard Menter (trumpet) and Kenneth Hicks (sax). Their debut release 'Just How Sweet Is Your Love' was issued by the Sam label in 1980 before they signed to 20th Century. Here their album 'Rhyze To The Top' (1981) featured 'Bizarre', popular with the UK soul fraternity and sounding not too dis-similar to the Detroit Spinners 'I'll Be Around'. The band split up shortly afterwards. Albums: Just How Sweet Is Your Love (Sam 1980) Rhyze To The Top (20th Century Records 1981) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

There are at least three people called John Davis who are/were recording and putting out music. 1. John Davis, born in Tennessee, is a founding member of the rock band, Superdrag. Davis' primary roles in the band are that of songwriter, singer and lead guitarist. By the time Superdrag was beginning work on their fourth full-length record, Davis was an alcoholic. One night as Davis was driving, he felt the presence of God. Davis gave up alcohol at that moment, and turned his life to Christianity. This inspired the metaphoric title of Superdrag's fourth album, Last Call For Vitriol. On March 8, 2005, Davis released his first solo album, playing all instruments on the record, with the exception of some bowed strings and percussion. The John Davis album is a combination of his signature pop melodies and a devout faith in God. In March 2006, John put alternate versions of the songs from his album on his website. He released his second solo album, Arigato!, in October 2007. 2. Veteran of many Washington DC area bands including Corm, Q and Not U, Georgie James and Title Tracks. Founded Shute Records. 3. John Davis was one of the most important artists on the Shrimper label. His solo recordings combined minimal lofi popsongs and spoken word parts. He released several albums in the 1990's, including ' Pure Night', 'Leave Home' and 'Blue Mountains'. He's probably best known for his work with The Folk Implosion. This is a collaboration with Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh fame. Davis left the band around 2001. 4. John Davis was born in Anderson, South Carolina to musical parents, and started playing the guitar when he was seven years old. He went on to learn the bass guitar, drums and keyboards and began his musical career traveling around America singing gospel music with his father and his five brothers. In the 70s he joined the army and was stationed in Germany; when he left the army he continued to play with both local musicians and American acts who were touring the country. An experienced producer, in the early 80s Davis worked with Prince cohort Terry Lewis of The Time and in the 90s moved to Los Angeles where he played with Babyface and many other artists on the Solar Records label. The tracks compiled on the Citinite album “Flashcan” were written in 1984. John recalls, “I had a friend, Manfred Radtke, who had a small studio in Kitzingen, Germany. He offered me the chance to work in his studio and there I began to write songs in the style that I really liked, that came out of my soul and heart. One of my favourite bands was Zapp and they often worked with the voice box. At the time, music was very electronic and groups like Parliament were doing a mixture of smooth funk and electronics, and so I mixed them together to create my tracks”. The resuscitation of electro’s most influential producers continues with this reissue from 1984 of John Davis’ best work. With a funk quota that makes Prince himself sound like a bow-legged honky…while production techniques have evolved, it’s nonetheless clear that Juan Atkins’ early work owes a debt to ‘Laser Man’, I-F has spent a lot of time listening to the warm, vocodered melodies of ‘Dream Six-0’, and as for Undergound Resistance’s high-tech sound? Take a listen to the moody chords and angular breaks of ‘Electro-?’ to find out who Mad Mike’s mentor is. 5. John Davis is a Bay Area musician & filmmaker. His background in photography and his insatiable wanderlust have lent themselves graciously to his music making pursuits. More often than not, Davis’ work (made from instruments / non-instruments, found, purchased, invented & otherwise) calls to mind all manner of visual phenomenon, geographic shapes, strange worlds of primordial life, and subtle shift of color and hue. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.