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Together Forever

Pa Pa Pa Pa Di Pa Pa

EXODUS
"Together Forever"
Wave Classics I don't know where Francois Kevorkian keeps finding these vintage gems, but I love that he does! Here's yet another pre-house classic finally made available again legitimately on F.K.'s Wave Classics imprint. Produced by Errol Mattis and mixed by Bobby Davis back in the early '80's, the song was first released as a hard-to-find promo on New York's Charlotte Amalie Records. It's been the starting point for countless sample-driven club hits over the years: remember Todd Terry's "Hey Buddy," Raven Maize's "Forever Together," and even last year's underground favorite "House Music" by Eddie Amador (that haunting key riff)? They all used pieces and parts of this Loft/Paradise Garage era staple, and now you can enjoy it in it's full-bodied, original form that still sounds fresh today. Newly remastered from the original 2-track tapes, the full vocal and dub mixes (both 7:55) are featured, plus the previously unreleased "TV Mix" that sounds like a sort of bonus dub. ***

Saturday, 03 April 1999: 'Together Forever' is an intriguing combination of funk, latin and reggae influences. It was originally issued on the obscure Jamaica, New York based label Charlotte Amalie. [the singer was none other than Neville 'Tinga' Stewart]. Following in the footsteps of pioneers the The Peech Boys, Exodus were one of the earliest to include an acapella on the record. It is the superior, more spaced out version, which [the people at BBE] have included on [Disco Spectrum, compiled by Joey Negro]. Thanks to the recent Eddie Amador club hit, it has become a bigger floor filler than ever. Lets also not forget Royal House [Todd Terry], Raven Maize[Quark rds] and Fabi Paris who have all heavily plundered this classic.

On August 23d I wrote:

"I have a question: On what label was the Exodus - 'Together Forever' (1979) released? It was sampled in Todd Terry's 'Yeah Buddy' track. I have the bootlegged acapella but not the actual 12inch

Barry Walters answers:

"Exodus - Together Forever on the Charlotte Amalie label, # Val 033 out of Jamaica, NY, produced by Errol Mattis, mixed by Bobby E. Davis --S.U.R.E.SHOT, mixed by Bob Blank"

Then I asked Barry: "Is the Exodus track a hard find?

To which he replied: "It took me about four years to find it about ten years ago and I haven't seen a single copy since. Because it was on a tiny label, didn't sell much at the time and lived on through play at the Garage, NY mix shows and records that sample it, the Exodus 12" is one of the hardest records to find that I own. It has been bootlegged of course.

Brian Chin:

"Hi, It was on Charlotte Amalie, and you will be happy to know that Tommy Boy is reissuing the dub version on a 4-CD collection called "The Perfect Beats", with liner notes by myself... Cole and Clivilles also made a very clever usage of it in the song 'Nothing Matters Without Love' on that classic Seduction album." Regards, Brian Chin