Only Europe excl UK!

Michigan Band EJ & the Echoes: Rediscovering a Soul Legacy

The story of EJ & the Echoes represents a remarkable chapter in Michigan's music history and the early American soul scene. Its origins date back to the late 1950s, when Everett J. "EJ" Gronda was already active as a young musician. While studying at Central Michigan University in the early 1960s, he met the talented vocalist Manuel "Manny" Holcolm. Together with other musicians, they formed vocal groups that soon performed throughout the state and even recorded near Detroit's legendary Motown studios.

In 1963, Gronda founded EJ & the Echoes, a band that quickly gained popularity at dances, clubs, and weddings across Michigan. With Manny Holcolm as lead singer, the group developed a distinctive harmony-driven sound, blending influences ranging from the Beatles to James Brown. The band served as a house band in Traverse City, opened for national acts, and performed regularly at well-known Detroit venues.

Between 1964 and 1967, EJ & the Echoes released several singles on the Diamond Jim Records label. Although major commercial success eluded them at the time, their recordings later found international recognition. Today, their songs remain staples of the British Northern Soul scene.

After the band dissolved, the members pursued different paths. EJ Gronda became a schoolteacher but remained devoted to music throughout his life. In 2006, the musicians reunited for an emotional jam session. EJ Gronda passed away in 2022, followed by Manuel Holcolm in 2024. Their musical legacy endures-on this vinyl release, dance floors, and in the memory of a remarkable era.

Our sincere thanks go to author and blues historian Fred Reif. He wrote the accompanying text and provided all the pictures of the band printed in the gatefold cover. Without him, this project would not have been possible.


- deluxe gatefold vinyl LP with detailed liner notes and unseen photographs
- the vinyl LP comes with a full album download code
- ALL songs appear on Vinyl-LP / digital for the very first-time
- complete discography of all their extremely rare original 7" singles
- pressed on BIO VINYL => Replacement of petroleum in S-PVC by recycling used cooking oil or industrial waste gases

A-SIDE

A1. E.J. & The Echoes - Put A Smile On Your Face
A2. E.J. & The Echoes - You're Gonna Hurt
A3. E.J. & The Echoes - I Had A Hard Time
A4. E.J. & The Echoes - People Say
A5. E.J. & The Echoes - Never Ever Leave Me
A6. E.J. & The Echoes - If It Takes A Life Time

B-SIDE
B1. E.J. & The Echoes - If You Just Love Me
B2. E.J. & The Echoes - One Of These Days
B3. E.J. & The Echoes - End Of Our Love
B4. E.J. & The Echoes - Treat Me Right
B5. E.J. & The Echoes - Say You're Mine


Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

2026 repress

Territories: World excl. UK

FORMAT 2x12" 140g, full printed sleeve, dl card

TRACKLIST
1 / A1. Oak Bank 06:37
2 / A2. Second Magnitude Stars 06:41
3 / B1. Metal Pig 06:55
4 / B2. We laugh and clap at the circus 05:41
5 / C1. Leadership Contest 06:34
6 / C2. Masks & Archetypes 06:17
7 / D1. Subcultures 05:59
8 / D2. Hope Not Hate 05:57

Release Info:
In March 2023, Tresor Records will release "Crash Recoil", a new album by Surgeon. It marks Anthony Child's first techno LP in five years, following a period in which he felt uncertainty in his role as a techno producer and found it tough to locate inspiration. This new album encounters him drawing on spontaneous techniques to arrive at unchartered topographies. "Crash Recoil" originates from Surgeon's recent live sets, where he experimented with constraints in performing and embracing the twists, turns and paradoxes that arrive from this. Each fresh iteration on consistent MIDI sequences and hardware reconfigured tracks into dierent constellations, creating an inspiring vortex of unpredicted events where ideas could flourish. This new approach allowed him to capture the spontaneous energy of his live shows in a way he had never done before. "This is not a live album, since it has not been recorded in one go during a live performance. In the same way that bands tour songs before going into the studio to record an album, I was able to explore these songs and hone their eectiveness during my live performances before creating a studio version."
The result is eight tracks that emphasise a new techno sound for Surgeon, drawing in references from across the musical spectrum. "I can hear Coil, King Tubby, Detroit Techno and The Cure all wrapped up with 30 years of DJing," Surgeon says of the album. Melancholic hum-like ambiences smudge around unadorned, near-droning basslines, crunching rhythm and percolating arpeggiations. The tracks carry unique and potent locomotion, with a low-slung grind through toughened terrains, breathing with a free spirit, untethered by a studio-based perspective. We hear manifestations of the same raw material across the album, like a textural motif, carving new variants and creating a cohesive work full of recollection.


Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Territories: Worldwide

DLP: Limited Edition 45rpm Half Speed Master Cut, Heavyweight Silver Cardboard Sleeve, Sticker

Tracklisting DLP
A1. Flashback
A2. Just An Illusion
B1. Music And Lights
B2. So Good, So Right
C1. Body Talk
C2. Heart 'n' Soul
D1. Changes (Larry Levan Dub)
D2. Burnin' Up

Info

WRWTFWW Records unleashes the first ever release of legendary post-disco, funk, soul and electronic UK trio Imagination's cult album Night Dubbing in (well deserved) double LP format. The limited edition full-length comes with pristine audiophile treatment and luxurious packaging : a 45rpm and Half Speed Mastered DLP housed in heavyweight silver cardboard sleeve.
Imagination's singular 1983 album Night Dubbing is a refined deconstruction of black British soul and club pop, filtered through the deep studio and mixing techniques of dub music. Elegant, restrained, and, in its very own subtle way, radical, the record reshapes choice selections from the group's stellar catalogue into an immersive and out-of-this-world listening experience.

The special mixes on Night Dubbing are built on time and space. Basslines elongate and dissolve. Vocals appear, vanish, and reappear like ghosts. Drums fall away into vast silences, while echoes, tape edits, and precise engineering manoeuvres smoothly slide across the stereo field, revealing themselves like magic over repeated listens. Far from simple extensions or 12" versions, Night Dubbing treats the studio itself as an instrument, opening new dimensions of sound.

Often cited as a foundational record in the genesis of the house genre, the album also features the historic Larry Levan remix of "Changes", a Paradise Garage anthem that helped shape the direction of club music for decades to come.

More than 40 years on, Night Dubbing remains a seminal work. Its influence continues to echo through contemporary dance music, offering a blueprint for how pop could be transformed into something darker, stranger, more physical - a timeless sound that drifts effortlessly from the dancefloor into space.

Important note : it sounds amazing played on 33rpm too !

Points of interest
- For fans of disco and post-disco sounds, funk, soul, electronic, deep grooves, heavy basslines, beautiful synth, classics, dancing, sharing, loving, world peace.

- First-ever double LP release for Imagination's Night Dubbing album in full audiophile 45rpm Half Speed Mastered cut. Housed in heavy SILVER sleeve !


Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More