Made In U.S.A. - Melodies (2019)

Made in U.S.A. (Made in Unity, Strength, Ambition) formed in 1975 and only stayed together a few years. Freida Nerangis and Britt Britton handpicked the self- contained unit with the help of Brooklyn native and alto sax player Darryl Gibbs. The other members, also from Brooklyn were Jan 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, most of the others had worked with a variety of artists including Ben E. King, Ecstacy, Passion & Pain, and Joe Bataan. Their first and only LP, Melodies, hit the streets 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 deflated like a pricked balloon when Delight experienced distribution problems. Follow-up "Shake Your Body" failed to shake up the charts. Disco ruled, but for some reason, the group had problems finding work in the many venues in the Big Apple. With no gigs or hit records to keep the spark glowing, the members disbanded. In 1993, Unidisc released Melodies on CD, adding two more versions of "Melodies" to the disc: the three versions are 7:53, 4:44, and 2:46 seconds, respectively. The label also added a shorter version of "Shake Your Body" (4:44); the CD also includes the 7:40-extended version. ~ Andrew Hamilton