Odyssey

Odyssey - Hang Together (1979)
I recorded this live off the UK Tiswas TV show on a 1971 Philips 1500 early domestic recorder. It was an old machine even then, and I still have it.

I don't think this group were given the respect they should have. Some of there tracks are just wonderful! Native New Yorker being one of my fav's.

Odyssey was a New York based dance music band. It grew out of the talent of the Virgin Islands born Lopez sisters: Lillian Lopez (born 16 November 1945), Louise Lopez (born 22 February 1943), and Carmen Lopez who later dropped out of the group.
Filipino singer Tony Reynolds was added, at which point the band became known as Odyssey.

The group was best known for its December 1977 hit "Native New Yorker", which reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was later covered by Frankie Valli. Although a string of albums and singles followed, the group managed only one other R&B chart smash, the Slave produced "Inside Out", written by Jesse Rae, which peaked at #12 in 1982.

Reynolds, for unknown reasons, left after the first album and was replaced by Fayetteville, North Carolina native William "Bill" McEachern, who remained with the group throughout the remainder of its RCA record label output.

In the United Kingdom, the band with its gentle Caribbean style had more success, totalling five Top Ten hits between 1977 and 1982. One of them, "Use It Up and Wear It Out", reached number one in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in 1980. Odyssey thus became the third U.S. act of the year (after Fern Kinney and M.A.S.H.) to reach Number one in the UK, despite failing to chart in their home country. Later hit "Going Back to My Roots" was written by Lamont Dozier.