_{“Winners and Losers” by Gypsy Soul is one of two albums being released by Escape Music on 20th October that gives rock fans a chance to hear tracks that have been lost to the archives for too long. (The other being “In Range” by Target). Gypsy Soul formed in 1987 and disbanded in 1989 without releasing an album, but they had recorded a number of tracks. These have now been brought together for the album “Winners and Losers”. I featured the track “The West” on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 13th October.}

_{The four original members of Gypsy Soul had been brought together by Ronnie Montrose and his manager and Montrose produced the first demo. The two recognizable names would be vocalist Johnny Edwards who went on to front King Kobra and Foreigner for brief periods and guitarist J K Northrup. The others were Larry Hart on bass and Glenn Hicks on drums and they were later joined by Justin McDaid on rhythm guitar.}

_{Several big labels including Geffen, Atlantic and MCA took an interest in the band but no deal was ever agreed for the release of an album. Edwards, Northrup and Hart all performed on the “King Kobra III” album and “Burning In Her Fire” made it onto that release. Edwards performed on the 1991 Foreigner album “Unusual Heat” which included the Gypsy Soul track “Ready For The Rain”.  Others were included on Northrup’s two albums with vocalist Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot etc).}

J_{K Northrup has produced and mixed this new release and “Winners And Losers” features 14 tracks written and recorded by the band during its brief existence. It’s unfortunate that they weren’t able to be released back in the 80’s when you expect they would have been very well received.}

_{Track List:}

_{1-Fat City  03:38 / 2-Fire And Water 03:35 / 3-Winners And Losers 04:02 / 4-Ready For The Rain 04:36 / 5-Sheila 03:44 / 6-Candy Apple Red 03:16 / 7-She’s Waiting 04:07 / 8-Survival In The Streets 04:35 / 9-Dancin’ Feet  03:09 / 10-Burning In Her Fire 03:36 / 11-Rough Life 04:34 / 12-The Kid Is Back In Town 03:59 /  13-Outside Looking In 03:39 / 14-The West 04:19}

_{About “NI Rocks Recommends”}

_{The simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends” is to acknowledge and promote some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI. I'll not be giving marks or ratings or analyzing the tracks in great detail; just telling you something about the artist and the album. It’s a personal recommendation to go check something out, not a traditional “review”!}

_{My musical tastes cover most things rock; from the not too melodic to the not too heavy. The albums that I’ll be recommending are those that you’ll hear me playing tracks from on my shows on Rock Radio NI.}

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