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Tata Vega / Al Johnson
I've Got My Second Wind
Melodies International
- Cat No: MEL 21
- updated:2026-05-07
A reissue coupling two recordings of "(I've Got My) Second Wind," written by Al Johnson and Tom Fauntleroy, from Melodies International, the reissue label run by Floating Points and company.
We're glad to be back, starting off 2022 with our new reissue 12” comprising two big big club soul/disco classic versions of “I’ve Got My Second Wind”. Out late March/early April, vinyl only!
Lead singer Al Johnson and Tom Fauntleroy, two US soul & R&B greats who founded their first band at University in Washington D.C. originally wrote and released the song on Johnson’s first solo independent album “Peaceful” in 1978. They’d later go on to rerecord the track for Johnson’s follow up album on major label CBS “Back For More” in 1980 which introduced the song to a wider audience and is the version featured here on this 12”
Tata Vega, American singer from New York would go on to cover the track that same year. Starting her career in the 60s featuring in musicals and performing with various groups, she got signed to Motown by Berry Gordy on the spot who was in the audience at a concert one of Vega’s groups was performing at. Tata Vega’s version of “I’ve Got My Second Wind”, in duet with soul singer George Curtis Cameron was originally released on her fourth solo album on Motown, “Givin’ All My Love”. Reissued and now available on loud 12” for the first time!
Remastered from the tapes by the great Matt Colton, pressed in Italy at Mother Tongue, comes in printed inner and outer sleeves, out late march / early April, play loud!
Lead singer Al Johnson and Tom Fauntleroy, two US soul & R&B greats who founded their first band at University in Washington D.C. originally wrote and released the song on Johnson’s first solo independent album “Peaceful” in 1978. They’d later go on to rerecord the track for Johnson’s follow up album on major label CBS “Back For More” in 1980 which introduced the song to a wider audience and is the version featured here on this 12”
Tata Vega, American singer from New York would go on to cover the track that same year. Starting her career in the 60s featuring in musicals and performing with various groups, she got signed to Motown by Berry Gordy on the spot who was in the audience at a concert one of Vega’s groups was performing at. Tata Vega’s version of “I’ve Got My Second Wind”, in duet with soul singer George Curtis Cameron was originally released on her fourth solo album on Motown, “Givin’ All My Love”. Reissued and now available on loud 12” for the first time!
Remastered from the tapes by the great Matt Colton, pressed in Italy at Mother Tongue, comes in printed inner and outer sleeves, out late march / early April, play loud!
Al Johnson — celebrated singer and songwriter of urban soul often mentioned alongside Marvin Gaye and AOR. This release couples two recordings of "(I've Got My) Second Wind," a song he wrote for his 1978 solo album with Tom Fauntleroy, his partner in The Unifics and a childhood friend. The A-side is the duet cover version with G.C. Cameron, taken from the 1980 fourth album by Tata Vega, the Nuyorican singer discovered by Berry Gordy and signed to Motown. Recorded during Motown's L.A. era, it was produced by Winston Monseque, the Trinidad and Tobago-born producer who worked with Motown and others. Al Johnson, also involved in making the album, handled the arrangement, and the result is a hot, perfect disco cut featuring strings and horns. Al Johnson's own version is the re-recording from 1980's "Back For More," made after he signed to Columbia following his 1978 solo LP. It's urban soul produced by Norman Connors — a slower, more settled tempo that lets the song unfold beautifully. An evergreen classic. Released on 12-inch vinyl, remastered by Matt Colton from the original tapes. (Original Japanese text by Saito)