In 1980, the 9th Creation began working on new music at a Modesto studio, South East of Stockton. The studio was suspiciously cheaper than all of its competitors. After recording weeks of material, the band discovered the reason. “We didn’t know that the guys that were running the studio were drug dealers,” A.D. Burrise recalls. “There was a big raid.” All the studio’s master tapes were confiscated by the DEA. J.D Burrise unsuccessfully sued the DEA to recover the tapes but to no avail. Luckily Mike Micenheimer saved cassette mix-downs of some of the group’s songs from those sessions. “A Step Ahead” is the the 9th Creation’s lost album. 8 unreleased songs of pure soul, funk, disco and boogie. A1. A Step Ahead A2. More And More A3. Body Energy A4. Always Be Lovers B1. Let It Shine B2. Beautiful Lady B3. Party Down B4. Music Is My Pen & Paper