Skys the Limit – Don’t Be Afraid on the independent JMJ label is an incredibly rare slice of funky soul with an insistent disco back-beat released in 1976. The original copy of the record goes for staggering prices online, with copies on average fetching between £700-£800 pounds on Discogs. The record in its original form was effectively a private pressing arranged and released by the group, who would subsequently use it as a form of advertisement rather than sell it in shops, seeing the record more likely given away at gigs and functions rather than sold.
The A side is the vocal version of Don’t Be Afraid, a funky soul workout featuring some strong vocal harmonies and some funky guitar picking, in among some well phrased 11th chords and plucky basslines which give the track a rich and soulful register. The B side of the seven inch is for many the real highlight and the reason why the price of the original seven has skyrocketed so much. In essence, it is effectively an extension of Don’t Be Afraid although musically similar expanding on some of the nascent themes of side 1, to which the second side feels like Part 2. It employs a spaced-out synth line in the same vein as Kool and the Gang’s Summer Madness which whirrs and meanders across the musical basis of the track, hitting octave notes and cool, harmonic registers. The drumming and the percussion liven up a notch, as the players develop into a session like movement, almost jamming and expanding upon certain underdeveloped musical progressions and themes from the A side, sounding almost jam-like in it’s freedom.
Buy the 7 inch single HERE
Check out side A HERE and side B HERE
