FIRST REISSUE OF THE ULTRA-RARE 1976 FUNK ALBUM RECORDED WITH THE BIG APPLE BAND (CHIC / NILE RODGERS & BERNARD EDWARDS) In collaboration with the artist, Wewantsounds is reissuing for the very first time Robert Cotter’s ultra-rare funk album released in 1976 with The Big Apple Band (Chic), featuring the original sleeve, remastered sound, and an insert with notes written by Barbie Bertisch and Paul Raffaele of New York magazine Love Injection. Robert Cotter’s Missing You, released in 1976 on Tiger Lily, had all the ingredients of a hit: a talented singer and songwriter, tailor-made tracks including a few potential hits, and a team of talented musicians to back him up. However, very few copies of Missing You survive to this day. Not that the album didn’t sell well at the time, it simply didn’t sell at all. Almost no copies made it into the shops, and for good reason. The label, Tiger Lily, a sub-label of Roulette Records, the label of the notorious Morris Levy, was in fact a tax scam whose main purpose was essentially to lose money. The label was only active for a few years and disappeared without a trace after releasing around sixty albums, including Missing You. Robert Cotter began performing in the late 60s. After touring with the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, he met Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. The pair were looking for a singer for their new group, The Big Apple Band, with Robert Sabino on keyboards and Tony Thompson on drums. Robert Cotter wrote a few tracks and recorded them between 1975 and 76 with The Big Apple Band on one hand and with musician friends from his previous groups on the other, giving the album its great diversity. The album offers a wide range of styles, from the funk of “Missing You” and “Disco Blues” to the acoustic soul of “Three Wise Men” and the conga-driven mid-tempo groove of “God Bless The Soulfire People.” The tracks showcase Cotter’s talent as a singer and songwriter. The two Big Apple Band tracks, “Love Rite” and “Saturday,” are not only excellent, but also offer a glimpse into the origins of the Chic sound. The album closes with the incredible “Come On With It,” a politically charged diatribe against Nixon with darker psychedelic arrangements. Once the album was pressed by Tiger Lily, Cotter left with a few copies under his arm and never heard from the label again. He continued his career and recorded for various other labels... without really thinking back to Missing You. The album has since become an underground classic on the global soul and disco scene, trading for gold among DJs and collectors. Wewantsounds is happy to right this wrong and reissue the album forty-five years later!