STREAMING LINKS:

music.apple.com/us/album/step-on-step/1624795817

open.spotify.com/album/2bTfoaj3ik86wBelmfL4Gh

intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/step-on-step

youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mJW5p3BzD5ziz9jrMyQmUfMz-VZ8Ebj6M

track listing:

Roll Tape
Gimme Some Sugar
Daddy's Diddies
Gotta Dig It To Dig It
No Credit For This
Roadtrip
On Your Face
That's The Way Of The World
Imagination
In The Basement
Business
Look B4U Leap
Around The House
Funky Sci Fi
Mini Mugg
Chicago Independent
Surround Stereo
Black Gold
Denim Groove
Notes From Dad
Rubie & Charles
Greatness
Step On Step

First lp under his name basement demos, mostly unreleased compositions all instruments and composed by him

but including a few EWF demo gems like this

Do you know how many people passed on who would come back to life if they could just to hear this first new release? 😭

you hear that cough?the drum machine (sounds like the ace machine what sly used) and synth melody with that rhodes 😎

here’s a nice funky demo to give you an idea of what we are going to be able to get the honor of hearing

Bandcamp bio - “International Anthem is proud to present 'Step on Step', a double LP collection of home recordings marking the de-facto eponymous debut album by enigmatic producer, arranger, and composer Charles Stepney (1931-1976). The music that makes up Step on Step was created by Stepney alone, in the basement of his home on the Southside of Chicago, sometime in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before his untimely death in 1976.

A Chicago born and bred arranger, producer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Stepney is known for his work with Earth, Wind & Fire, Deniece Williams, and Ramsey Lewis, and as a staff producer for Chess Records in the 1960s, where he was an essential creative force behind seminal recordings by Rotary Connection, Minnie Riperton, Marlena Shaw, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Terry Callier, The Dells, The Emotions, and many more. In the decades since his passing, the presence of his name in liner notes and on vinyl labels has become a seal of quality for record collectors, music historians, and aficionados, while his sound has been used by countless samplers in the hip-hop world including Kanye West, A Tribe Called Quest, The Fugees, MF Doom, and Madlib. But in comparison to the post-mortem renown of his sound, or the music he created and the artists he supported while he was alive, Stepney is a greatly underappreciated figure… a genius relegated to the shadows.

One of the signature elements of his “baroque soul” sound is the epic, expansive, orchestral expression of his horn and string arrangements (in many cases brought to life by members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), as heard on Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleurs,” or Marlena Shaw’s “California Soul,” or Terry Callier’s “What Color Is Love.” Hence making it even more special that his de-facto debut LP Step on Step, which sees its first wide release nearly five decades after his death, is a collection of stripped-down 4-track tape recordings featuring Stepney, alone, performing all instruments with minimal means. It is, as said by Chicago culture historian (and author of Step on Step liner notes) Ayana Contreras, “the uncut funk,” an unprecedented depiction of an imbued composer imagining and conceiving music (some of which would eventually become massive studio productions) in its primal state.

Step on Step features 23 tracks, most of which are original compositions by Stepney that were never again recorded by him or any other artist. It also features prototypical, seedling-style demos of Stepney compositions for Earth, Wind & Fire, including “That’s The Way of The World,” “Imagination,” and “On Your Face,” as well as the original version of “Black Gold,” which would eventually be recorded by Rotary Connection (as “I Am The Black Gold of The Sun,” with lyrics by Richard Rudolph). And in addition to the wordless croons of Stepney original and early single “Daddy’s Diddies,” Stepney’s actual voice is heard on a couple occasions across the album, testing microphones and inputs on his tape machine.

All of the otherwise unrecorded, previously unnamed original compositions contained on Step on Step were given their titles by Stepney’s daughters Eibur, Charlene, and Chanté Stepney, whose voices are also heard throughout the album, telling stories and sharing memories about their father. The Stepney Sisters, who produced this album over many years, have long been engaged in efforts to celebrate their father’s legacy and bring his work into brighter light. They’ve cherished the tape reels left behind by their father in the basement of their home, transferring the audio on multiple occasions, and originally compiling the recordings for an ultra-limited CD on their own DIY label (The Charles Stepney Masters) in the early 2010s. “We always talk about how we were trying to develop this and would go to different people and they would go ‘what is this raw stuff…’ It was just the first level of something that became something really great,” says Chanté. “To get this type of intimate look into an artist’s process is really unknown and unheard of… so I just really appreciate the opportunity to give this. I am very happy for my Dad that we’re able to share this with the world in this way, with this amount of respect.”

This new double LP collection on International Anthem presents “a genuine, beautiful, deeply emotional and personal effort by three women to reconnect with their father and validate their own memories of his passion and brilliance,” says label co-founder Scott McNiece. And it’s a long-overdue fulfillment of Stepney’s unsatiated plan to release a solo album – which he once vowed to his daughters that he would do, and that he would name it: “Step on Step.” “

@Johan_DeVito @fellivarda @prince @free @AtTheEquinox
@Flosh @Soupvillain @grimes @Goo @nonamestreets14 @YANDHI @Prbz @AP3 @texmaker @AmoryBlain @DirtyTrees @Thread_Critic_PhD @LegendShkreli @itsYoungAR @Nelly @fortnitegooner @PADYBU @THACKSTON_thereal1

This is already a classic.
Thanks @op for sharing this with us

@tadow @just_MG @Fahim @Moka_Beans @Beers
@XantaClaus @TFM @Campari @Ithaka @baella
@Makoprix @JulesW @MORPHE @Sarcoid @deadac @safe @YoungNastyShawty @TYDOLLA @Bow_And_Arrow @Hedobevibindoe @Jetpack

@localblaccmane @danny @sutra @proper @BIGGWAVE @mm6margiela @wintinger @mink @floofymane @Bestowed @PADYBU @THACKSTON_thereal1 @EuroNymous @blockbeataz @stellarhaus @Librarytrap @SOLARIS @IHS @tradez401 @Sir_Swagalot @Vox @TweedDiadoras @Womanpuncher69 @swissyeezy @Shut @QueenAlexa @lucid

that rhodes hiccup at the start of that’s the way of the world. it’s interesting to hear a moog do the lead melody 😎

which rapper gonna sample this? the intro sounds like someone did already.

the gospel piano chords with that rhodes bass

You can't lose with this fam. I forgot all about that this was released last week Important release, probably one of the top releases if you are an audiophile. I will be back with the download later when it becomes available.

@Johan_DeVito @fellivarda @prince @free @AtTheEquinox
@Flosh @Soupvillain @grimes @Goo @nonamestreets14 @YANDHI @Prbz @AP3 @texmaker @AmoryBlain @DirtyTrees @Thread_Critic_PhD @LegendShkreli @itsYoungAR @Nelly @fortnitegooner @PADYBU @THACKSTON_thereal1

deep in his basement he had a studio and a reel to reel & the genius was working with a drum machine and keyboards on music like this

@tadow @just_MG @Fahim @Moka_Beans @Beers
@XantaClaus @TFM @Campari @Ithaka @baella
@Makoprix @JulesW @MORPHE @Sarcoid @deadac @safe @YoungNastyShawty @TYDOLLA @Bow_And_Arrow @Hedobevibindoe @Jetpack

@localblaccmane @danny @sutra @proper @BIGGWAVE @mm6margiela @wintinger @mink @floofymane @Bestowed @PADYBU @THACKSTON_thereal1 @EuroNymous @blockbeataz @stellarhaus @Librarytrap @SOLARIS @LoveDynamite @tradez401 @Sir_Swagalot @Vox @TweedDiadoras @Womanpuncher69 @swissyeezy @Shut @QueenAlexa @lucid

Another EWF gem in the basement where he's creating the base of the gumbo.

I just want to stress thousands and thousands of people would have died again to hear this who are no longer with us to listen to this.

So the fact we finally are hearing Basement demo history of a pioneer that influenced how you hear Tribe Called Quest, Incognito, D'Angelo & countless others.

That's why I made this thread for the real ones who would discover this thread and hear work like this.

that intro of roadtrip, amazing family legacy 😎

@ryder one of the best new comp’s of the year if dj premier and madlib Pete rock knew about this 😒

ima give it a spin tomorrow ty for blessing us once again AC

i had something else today for a drop but i have a bunch to go through, be back tomorrow hopefully 😎

Did i mention what is cool about this album? so the daughters tell stories as interludes of their legendary father of their short family life with them as children before he passed.

this is a gem of a release fam & i c/s on this like a mf. it’s a celebration of black music brilliance and it’s amazing it exists. 😎

the rhodes with mini moogs and drum machine 😨

Do not sleep

@Serial Beautiful work...the family really has changed the game with this one to allow us to see the demos that he worked on in the basement by himself

for some reason @beamo23 @antidote I think you will like this even though it may not even be on your radar. It's the first release from the Stepney family estate. Their father passed in 1975 when they were children and they want people to know the legacy he left behind with the musicianship arranging and writing abilities of this man who mostly worked in the background on credits of many many influential records including Earth Wind & Fire. Read the description to understand why this is an amazing find.

@vox @prbz what you think. I will be back later to check who listened.

fuqqqqqqqqqqq

how u find this bro