This album originally saw light of day in 1977, released on producer Clyde Otis’s indie label, Olde World Records. It was the debut long player of a 22-year-old singer, Sandy Barber, a New Jersey native who had first tasted fame coming runner up at a talent contest held at New York’s legendary Apollo theatre. Fortunately for Sandy - even though she didn’t win the contest - her performance was witnessed by talent spotter, Chris Curry, who liked what he saw and heard and arranged an audition for the young chanteuse with producer, David Jordan, who was then working with a disco band called Rare Pleasure.

 Jordan had Sandy sing lead on the group’s single for Cheri Records, ‘Let Me Down Easy.’ Though the record did well on the late ‘70s club scene – it was later sampled to good effect on David Morales’ ‘Needing U’ - Sandy quit the group and eventually ended up catching the ear of legendary songwriter and producer, Clyde Otis. It should have been a case of ‘the rest is history’ given the high quality of Sandy’s resulting debut LP, but sadly for various reasons, it didn’t do well commercially.

Fast forward 25 years and discerning British label, bbe, have dusted down this forgotten gem of a record and given it a new lease of life in the digital age. It really is a lost disco-soul classic. The songs, arrangements (provided by Nat Adderley Jr, who went on to work with Luther Vandross in the ‘80s) and performances are all top drawer. And to cap it all, Sandy Barber’s soulful vocals are absolutely stupendous. ‘Look Out Sky’ is a superb opener and establishes a stylistic blueprint for the rest of the album with its lush strings, punchy brass fills, pulsing groove and captivating vocals.

There are even shades of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ in the classy string arrangement on the optimistic anthem, ‘Don’t You Worry Baby (The Best Is Yet To Come).’ The real killer cut, though, is undoubtedly the funk-infused dance floor burner, ‘I Think I’ll Do Some Stepping (On My Own),’ which also appears as a bonus remix at the end of the original album track sequence (John Morales gives it a good contemporary tweaking with his ‘Alternative Mix,’ which works well because it doesn’t abandon the spirit of the original and the song’s disco-flavoured core).

The high-octane dance grooves are leavened with some strong ballads – such as the dreamy slow jam, ‘The First Time’ – that serve to demonstrate Sandy’s versatility and range of expression. She really is an upper-echelon soul singer and it’s no surprise that she found success later on in her career, when as Sandy B she recorded some storming dance cuts for labels such as Vinylmania, Nervous and King Street (knowledgeable soul fans might also recall Sandy from her time with the early ‘90s duo, Blue Moderne, who recorded for Atlantic).

A great reissue, this, and one that deserves to earn a new lease of life and reach a wider audience. If you’re a serious soul buff, this unmissable.