MAGIC/MY PLACE by CIRCLE CITY BAND

A clubland favourite amongst boogie and soul fans, Circle City Band’s ’Magic’ is made available on 45, coupled for the first time with the band’s follow-up single ‘My Place’.

Originally released in 1983 on Tyscot sub-label Circle City Records, ’Magic’ was a best-selling single in the band’s Indianapolis hometown. Whilst making waves across the Midwest US R&B charts, it became a popular import in the UK and a staple for DJs, often being described by fans as one of the best Slave soundalikes with its classic bass groove and appeal.

In the early 80s, Thomas was introduced to multi-track recording by producer and multi-instrumentalist Reggie Griffin. A fellow Indianapolis native, Griffin was working for Sylvia Robinson in New Jersey at the time as an in-house musician at Sugar Hill Records. “He taught me a bunch of stuff and showed me how to use reel-to-reel,” explained Thomas. “Reggie came home from Sugar Hill Records. He’d done Grandmaster Flash and all that stuff and he bought a drum machine, vocoder and a keyboard with him. I said ‘hey man I got some studio time, come and hang out.’ So he helped me put this one track together and I built this song ‘Magic’. Frankie Crocker broke the record on WBLS and then BET ending up using the instrumental for a theme song.”