Stone classic. Stuffed with monster Lee Perry rhythms like War In A Babylon.
Deep and intense, with Augustus Pablo and the Barrett Bros on call, god-like Tubbys mixing, canonical rhythms, Big Youth and Horace Andy in the mix. One of the top five dub albums of all time. Fifty years old!
What a great record. Soaring early-eighties soul from Bill Withers’ spar — original, loose-limbed and funky, full of emotional intelligence and good vibes. Includes Love’s Too Hot To Hide, two-step heaven.
‘Hey, fellahs…The sisters are not going for that no more…’
Stone cold feminist funk classic from the Female Preacher. The JBs sound like they know there’s no turning back.
CD from BGP.
The great boneman’s 1974 masterwork, with highlights like the ten-minute work-out I’m Payin’ Taxes, What Am I Buyin’, the party-hearty If You Don’t Get It The First Time, the grooving, fist-in-the-air Same Beat (with that sample of Jesse Jackson), and the stunning out-funk of Blow Your Head.
With a 22” x 22” poster featuring the original cover art, as well as a 7-inch flexidisc of the rare Unrubbed Version (without Moog) of Blow Your Head, only available previously on the compilation James Brown’s Funky People Part 3.
Crucial, preposterous David Axelrod!
Composed and arranged by the maestro, a psychedelic garage-rock opera, sung in Latin, with Gregorian chant, pipe organ, lashings of fuzz guitar, strings and horns.
A version of the opener Kyrie Eleison famously featured in the soundtrack for Easy Rider, accompanying several scenes.
This definitive reissue was mastered by Kevin Gray using the original tapes.
Heavy, grooving, excursive, Afro-Latin jazz to usher in the seventies, with two bassists — Cecil McBee and Stanley Clarke — and three drummers, in Norman Connors, Billy Hart, and Lawrence Killian. Fronting alongside Hannibal Marvin Peterson and Carlos Garnett, Sanders solos magnificently.
‘Verve By Request.’ Crucial Pharoah.
Excursions and meditations on an eighteenth century organ tuned to pure thirds, entailing a slightly harsh intonation exploited here to evoke the hostile climate of the Potenza valley during winter and autumn.
‘The sound of the organ with the register of the flute returns a particularly sweet and penetrating sound but, at the same time, a very complex timbre with intricate harmonic texture, given the numerous fluctuations and beats. The warm tones of the organ reflect the good and welcoming souls of the people who inhabit these lands. The absence of dynamics inside the instrument allows the listener to focus and understand the harmonic texture and timbral differences between the various notes more clearly.’
With trombone, trumpet, saxophone, and effects.
A lovely set from 1965 — taking its own path away from Fire Music, but forwards nonetheless — featuring the under-rated pianist Georges Arvanitas, and the drummer James Black, trumping his brilliant contributions to the Live At Pep’s sessions.
Bamboo Flute Blues and Satie’s First Gymnopedie are ravishing stand-outs.
‘Verve By Request.’