The tracks include two songs from releases that were no longer digitally available “Live and Love” and the first version recorded in New York of “Feeling Good To Me”. Three tracks, “Tell Me Like it Is” (the first studio version), “Walk Away” and “Play Play Play” came from a 12-song demo session recorded live at National Sound in Baltimore. The sonic quality was so uneven that John Grant and I re-animated “Walk Away” and “Play Play Play” with a live audience to hide the imperfections. It turned out fantastic, delivering the hard-hitting drive DC Star was so well known for, and fit the “Fantasy” theme perfectly.

The unreleased versions of “Is It You?”, “Makin’ Time”, and “Wasted Time” are from the original (pre-Picture Disc) mixes done by iconic recording engineer Michael Brauer. The songs are raw and clean and "Makin' Time" includes a third verse that was edited off to save time for a single. 

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Before we produced the original picture disc we knew that the sonic quality of picture discs was inherently thin. This is because the grooves can’t be cut as deep into the vinyl due to the image imbedded in the middle of the disc. We produced them as souvenirs and they were remarkably successful. But the ones we sent to the radio stations (that were autographed and sealed) were accompanied with black vinyl “Promotional Copies” for the stations to actually broadcast.

In another little-known fact; At the time “Is It You?” was released, the industry standard for “singles” airplay was done from a cassette tape with only the one song! This way the DJ could have 12 cassette decks each with one cassette cued up and ready to play between album cuts.

After the picture disc was mixed (so weak in order to sound “commercial”) by Eddie DeJoy and John Bonjiovi’s uncle Tony Bonjiovi, I hated it. … I was in a hotel in upstate New York the first time I heard the master tape and cried for an hour as I listened to it twice.

Our manager David Sherbow was so moved that he hooked me back up with Michaael Brauer to remix harder versions of “Is It You?” and “Makin’ Time” for the “singles” radio stations cranked out. Those are the versions on “The Best of DC Star Records” and got the most airplay thanks to their inclusions in the Miller Brewing Company’s “Rock To Riches” regional advertising campaigns. That is why I wanted for DC Star fans to hear the real, raw and unadulterated versions of “Is It You” and “Makin’ Time” hot from those original sessions.

This rendition of “Wastin’ Time” is also raw and unedited. Unlike the original edited track that ends with a fade out, this long version (reminiscent of classic jam tune Free Bird) has a magic “button ending”. Kenny Taylor’s last note harmonizing with his lead track is one of the highest pitched things I ever heard. When that take ended the studio went completely silent. All of us at the mix console and every else in the room froze and just stared at each other … speechless. Ken’s microphone was still on but it remained quiet until we heard him take a juicy swig off his bottle of “Rock and Rye” whisky and say “What’s next …?”

The version of “Don’t Call Me Punk” I intended to use for impact was a composite of several incomplete mixes. Unfortunately, efforts to sew it together weren’t successful. So I had to use the version of “Don’t Call Me Punk” that came from the “Best Of DC Star” masters.

“Show Me The Way” is from the last demo DC Star ever recorded and features vocalist John Frederick. John had just done a demo with another group that was produced by Greg Lake of ELP. But that demo was passed over by the labels so he joined DC Star for the last year the band toured full time. John was very nice did a good job singing. But the recording efforts weren’t enough to garner the second shot with Atlantic Records and spelled the end of the group.

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