Cargo Records

The Sleeping Bag Sessions + Dinosaur L

Whether it’s hip hop, it’s face pointed reverentially to the old school, or house stealing disco riffs by the truck load, people are increasingly intrigued by back-in-the-day. And common to both the aforementioned scenes and much more is one person, Arthur Russell, a man some regard as the best songwriter of the 20th century.

In 1981 Arthur set up Sleeping Bag Records with Will Socolov, the first release being the Dinosaur L album ‘24-24 Music’ as Dinosaur L. Arthur continued to be involved in production and mixing duties for the label, but parted company with Socolov in 1985, leaving behind a great legacy many songs now regarded as classics.

Previously offered as a CD-only reissue, Dinosaur L’s hugely influential ’24 24 Music’ is now also to be made available for the first time ever on double LP, including the complete original album tracklisting plus rare 12” remixes and edits by Francois Kervorkian and Larry Levan.

Dinosaur L was an alias donned by Arthur Russell, a man whose contribution to dance music in the late seventies and through the eighties was formidable but only quietly acknowledged in his lifetime. His innovative leftfield dance productions were way ahead of what people were used to hearing at the time, and have since become integral parts of the development of modern house and club music. His biggest tunes, ‘Go Bang!’ and ‘Is It All Over My Face?’ were worldwide club hits and are still played today, and his entire body of work has been much sampled. Deluxe digipak CD also features extended artwork based on the original sleeve and detailed liner notes.