Treasure trove of 300+ unreleased New York disco tracks unearthed for imminent release

First album taken from massive previously unknown archive due for release in late October

A huge archive of unreleased tracks from the height of the disco boom has been unearthed, with the first album collated from it hitting the shops at the end of next month.

The find happened when Jerome Derradji of Past Due Records signed Richie Weeks of Salsoul’s The Jammers and Prelude’s Weeks & Co fame. Unbeknownst to Derradji, Weeks had accumulated a literal treasure trove of unreleased recordings on hundreds of reel to reels and cassettes from 1978-85.

Many of the tracks were co-produced with Patrick Adams, who gave Weeks studio time and introduced him to fellow musicians to work with. Vol.1: “The Love Magician Archives – Disco – New York City 1978-79, released by Past Due on October 31, sees the first gems – painstakingly professionally transferred, digitized and archived by the label over a three year period – finally emerge.

Derradji told us: “There is no denying that this may be the find of the century for all the original Disco, Soul and Funk lovers worldwide. An entire new page of New York City’s Disco and Dance Music history is going to be written thanks to Richie’s absolutely mind-blowing work. Because of the sheer amount and quality of the unreleased music here, we’ve decided to space its release on at least 10 compilations that will take us from Richie’s early career in 1978 to his peak popularity in 1985/86, almost year by year.”