A great package – one that features the self-titled Taana Gardner album from the legendary New York club act on West End Records – plus lots of bonus material too! The core record is the only full length album cut by singer Taana Gardner – quite a surprise, given
how much impact she had on the clubs with her 12" singles at the start of the 80s! The album's got Gardner as a much richer singer than
you might expect – able to lay back on a mellow track as well as step out on a groover – always with that higher range of vocals that really made her a standout at the time, but in ways that
are never gimmicky or poppy at all. And in fact, there's a lot more depth to the record than
you'd guess from the dated exercise cover image – a classic soul approach that's also quite a surprise for the mostly disco West End label too. Tracks
are all nice and long – and backings
are by Sunship, with Bernard Wright on Fender Rhodes. Titles include "Work That Body", "We Got To Work It Out", "When
You Touch Me", "Paradise Express", and "Just Be A Friend". 2CD set features lots of bonus material – Kenton Nix extended mixes of "When
You Touch Me", "Just Be A Friend", and "Work That Body" – plus two key non-LP singles, "That's The World (12" club)" and "Heartbeat (12" club) – and lots of later mixes that include "No Frills (Larry Levan mix)", "I'm Comin (radio mix)", "Work That Body (MAW re-edit)", "When
You Touch Me (MAW re-edit)", "Work That Body (wing it for the A-Man Tom Moulton edit)", and "Paradise Express (Gomi's tribute vocal)".