Seville - One Down And You To Go/Show Me The Way

On July 29, 1980, members of Washington, DC band Symba entered Bias Recording Studios in Falls Church, VA to lay tracks for a new project. They had already recorded a full length for Venture Records earlier that year, with popular tracks "Body Bait" and "Hey You." Here their intention was to shop a fresh sound to Venture artist Sandra Feva – which they did by having vocalist Julia McKirt (stage name Julia Nixon) demo Feva's proposed parts. Co-producer Al Johnson arrived with a military orchestra in tow, ready to arrange horns and strings as he did on Symba’s earlier album. He also wanted to accompany the band with the in-studio Rhodes. Studio owner Bob Dawson oversaw the session, and Symba worked two originals onto to 2” tape; Show Me The Way, and One Down, You To Go. Neither Feva nor Venture took the bait, so Symba’s longtime manager and co-producer Dickie Williams picked up the slack, starting his own label, Kayo Records, to distributing the recordings as a single. Dickie’s favorite car became the name of the one-shot studio band. That fall, the Seville single was mastered at Frankford/Wayne in NY then cut to vinyl -- less than 500 copies were pressed in that first and only run. Williams had a hard time even giving away copies, so to better their chances at radio play, he returned to to the studio with some help to tweak the original product. Warm synth and piano found a home on the same 2” tape, adding some pop ethereality. This second run was never committed to vinyl until today. For the first time ever, Federal Green Records is proud to present these archived takes, mixed by the same hand that recorded them – Master Engineer and Bias Recording Studios owner Bob Dawson. Dawson worked his magic alongside the very same Dickie Williams, composer and original Symba guitarist Michael Zakee Jones, and Federal Green staff, on a warm May evening earlier this year. We absolutely love the final product, and we hope you will too. Oh, and we decided to include the count on Show Me The Way as a posthumous tribute to the incredible genius who executed it, Mr. Al Johnson. May he rest peacefully.