Made In U.S.A

One cold and miserable day in Brooklyn I stepped out of my steam heated apartment for my weekly hunt at the 5th Ave Record Shop in hopes of finding a jewel. This record shop is always a hit or miss. I usually spend my day rummaging through the entire shop until I find something I can go home with. Usually at this spot I look for 45’s because the LP’s are not in the greatest condition (and overpriced,) but the past couple months the store had been completely dry. 

The shop is run and owned by an older fellow named Tony who seems to have time traveled from 1962.  He is a small brute man with white hair, glasses, and always wears a short sleeved button-up shirt tucked into dress pants. His musical taste is a narrow range spanning from rock to Doo Wop from the 60’s, which is good to know, if you’re looking for something he doesn’t care about.  The shop is so cramped it appears to be falling in on itself and gives off an odd smell of wet cardboard and stale farts. On any given day you can go in and find a couple of semi- homeless looking characters from the neighborhood hanging around chatting up inside jokes on constant repeat. 

This day I came in on a Disco kick. I entered and said hello to Tony. In his thick Brooklyn accent he acknowledged my presence with a stuttering, “Ah hey hey hello.” As I went through the first bin of records, the album Made In U.S.A. caught my eye. The cover is on that classic coke induced disco look. It has the seven members posing on a drawing of the United States wearing red polyester suits with the the lead Madam Jann Harrison holding them down. I noticed that this LP was on the De-Lite label (Kool & The Gangs label). I placed the record on the broken Numark portable turntable which was barely balanced on a stack of records and placed the needle on the first cut. Within five seconds I knew I had found a keeper. Without listening to the rest of the album, I paid Tony and went on my way home. The neighborhood was a sea of screaming teenagers in bright colored clothes, grey sky and brown stones. As I passed fifteenth street a homeless man sprawled on the ground keeping warm under an afghan rug yelled out to me in a drunken slur, “Spare some change young blood!” “awright, awright, a vinyl man!, awww-right. Made in U.S. Of A, ohhh! Hey you wanna see some-in crazy?” He stumbled onto his feet and pulled four teeth out of his jacket pocket. “These are the teeth of Daryl Gibbs. I won them in a poker game,I won these motherfuckers! Awright.” He then popped the four canines into his mouth like baby aspirin and swallowed.

Made In USA (Made In Unity, Strength Ambition) formed in 1975 and had a very short run in the music industry. Freida Nerangis and Britt Britton, produced the album and picked the band line up with the help of Brooklyn native and alto sax player, Darryl Gibbs. The other members, also  from Brooklyn, were Jann Harrison (vocalist), Willie Slaughter (bass), Herbert Aikens (tenor sax), Kevin Hood (keyboards), Charles Morais (guitar), Ruben Faison (alto sax), and Greg Henderson (trumpet). Harrison, a statuesque beauty had sung with the Exciters. The horn section consisted of the players from Crown Heights Affair. As stated on discogs.com, “Their first and only LP Melodies hit the public in 1977. It was a true indicator of the groups' skills, and contained no overdubs, or extra musicians because it was important to them to be able to duplicate their recordings live.” Nerangis and Britton composed most of the songs including the title track "Melodies." The single sold well in New York and Florida but had a stagnant period when De-Lite experienced distribution problems. Then their follow up "Shake Your Body," failed to move up the charts. It became harder for the band to get gigs in NYC and soon the members disbanded. 

This album is disco at its best. The compositions are seamless with electrifying horn riffs and bouncetastic bass. A lot of the tunes have beautiful synth lines accompanied by a drummer that is consistently in the pocket. Side A is much better than Side B. However, on side B the song,“Shake your Body” is a banger. The song starts with the kick and hi hat preparing you for the groove. Jann Harrison comes in with the help of the band singing “move your body, move your body, move it from side to side.” This song is synth driven with sexual moans and creamy horn lines. It is mind blowing to me that a band with this much talent had so much trouble getting their name out. If you happen to cross paths with this record you should probably pick it up, you won’t be disappointed.