Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan Highlighted on Third RE:VERSAL Release
REV 003 compiles recordings from the pioneering DJs’ respective residencies at The Warehouse and Paradise Garage.
Universal Music’s recently-launched dance imprint RE:VERSAL has unveiled its third release, a four-track collection built around the legacies of Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan. The compilation, out now via a strictly-limited one-time vinyl pressing, includes remixes from each DJ, as well as an original Knuckles track.
Knuckles’ side features his Paradise Ballroom remix of Womack & Womack’s “MPB (Missin’ Persons Bureau)” alongside “What Am I Missin'” with Adeva, while Levan’s side collects his mixes of Gwen Guthrie’s “Peanut Butter” and Syreeta’s “Can’t Shake Your Love.” Knuckles, who died in 2014 at 59, was widely credited with helping develop and popularize house music after it emerged from Chicago clubs in the early 1980s, and was often called “the godfather of house music.”
Levan built his reputation over a decade-long residency at Paradise Garage in New York, a club later described as the prototype for the modern dance venue, where acolytes referred to his sets as “Saturday Mass.” The two met as teenagers in New York and became lifelong friends, both getting their start as DJs at the Continental Baths before Levan moved on to help lay the groundwork for Paradise Garage and Knuckles relocated to Chicago’s Warehouse, the venue that gave house its name. Levan died in 1992, when he was 38.
RE:VERSAL launched last September, pulling from an archive of over 100,000 releases to spotlight deep cuts and rare remixes. Its debut collection, REV001, arrived in October with tracks from Soul II Soul, The Orb and The Future Sound of London, and REV002 followed in December with remixes from Daft Punk, Four Tet and UK garage acts including Wookie and Groove Chronicles. Beyond forthcoming reissues, the brand will also oversee interviews with DJs, live events, radio shows and drops of archival content celebrating the history of dance music.
