Imaginational Anthem Vol. 7 is compiled by 20 year old guitarist Hayden Pedigo, from Amarillo, TX.

Hayden has recently been featured in Vogue and The FADER behind his own recent album release, Five Steps. Hayden’s curation represents a balanced cross-section across the modern solo acoustic guitar spectrum.

Vol. 7 is also the most geographically diverse of all volumes in the series, with players hailing from Lisbon, Malta, South America and the UK as well as the US.

As with previous volumes, this one truly represents the state of the art – an area of evolving musical expression that is very vibrant and healthy indeed.

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1.On a Slow Passing Through a Ghost Town-Chuck Johnson (Oakland)
2.Culverts-Sean Proper (Florida)
3.Enchiridion-Norberto Lobo (Lisbon)
4.Trees Return to Soil-Simon Scott (UK)
5.Sea Retreat-DBH (UK)
6.Araucaria-Jordan Norton (Oregon)
7.The Great North American Wilderness-Kyle Fosburgh (Minneapolis)
8.Something, or Oil Paintings-Christoph Bruhn (Minneapolis)
9.USA Self-Michael Vallera (Chicago)
10.Red Bud Valley-Dylan Golden Aycock (Oklahoma)
11.0/3-M.Mucci (Malta)
12.Shadow Study at 6 am-Mariano Rodriguez (South America)
13.Olympic Peninsula Blues-Andrew Weathers (Oakland)
14.My Grandfather’s 12 Gauge-Wes Tirey (North Carolina)

This collection from the Putumayo label offers a breezy selection of dance-oriented songs from the Caribbean region. As the title suggests, the music reflects the cultural melting pot of influences on the Caribbean islands with an emphasis on African traditions. In addition to some nice reggae from Jamaica’s Clinton Fearon (“Come by Yah”) and several spicy, Latin-flavored tracks from Cuba are a number of Haitian selections which really show the mix of both African and European influences, particularly on the song “Mango Fransik (Mango Lafrance)” by Kazak International and Jan Sebon.
All of the songs reflect the unique percussive style that is a mix of African, Latin, and indigenous rhythms, like on “Cachita” by Ska Cubano or “Spence for da Soul” by Fred Ferguson and Graffiti.

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Threaded throughout all of the music here is the sunny, relaxed style typically associated with music from the Caribbean island nations. — AMG

1. Kali – La Grev Bare Mwen (4:23)
2. Clinton Fearon – Come By Yah (3:32)
3. Ska Cubano – Cachita (4:31)
4. Wesli – Bèl Ti Fanm Kreyol (3:30)
5. Michel Blaise – Fem’m Sa (5:28)
6. Asere – A Favor del Viento (3:13)
7. Famara – Famasound (3:31)
8. Mango Fransik (Mango Lafrance) (3:51)
9. Chispa Labori – La Barca (3:01)
10. Fred Ferguson – Spence for da Soul (3:36)

Celebrating the centenary of his birth, Compass Records has compiled this glowing two-disc tribute to British folk icon Ewan MacColl. MacColl’s influence on the British folk revival of the ’50s and ’60s is immeasurable and the range of artists who lined up to pay homage includes both newcomers and folk legends in their own right. Members of the Waterson and Carthy clans are well-represented here and are predictably well-suited to the material.
Martin Carthy’s sprightly rendition of I’m Champion at Keeping ‘Em Rolling gets to the meat of MacColl’s bold charm while daughter Eliza Carthy delivers one of the collection’s standouts in the rousing Thirty- Foot Trailer. Likewise, Norma Waterson (mother of Eliza Carthy) and niece Marry Waterson each offer a cut of their own to great success. Folk luminaries…

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…like Scotland’s Dick Gaughan and former Planxty members Christy Moore and Paul Brady appear alongside MacColl’s many rock admirers like Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), David Gray, Paul Buchanan (the Blue Nile), and Bombay Bicycle Club. Other highlights include Karine Polwart’s chilling take on the powerful “The Terror Time,” Kathryn Williams’ gentle reading of “Alone,” and Chaim Tannenbaum’s poignant rendering of “My Old Man.” But these are just the brighter spots in an already bright field of songs that have been treated with the utmost care and concern, which is a testament to both MacColl’s great body of work and the musicians who were affected by it.

1. The Dictators – Master Race Rock
2. Flamin’ Groovies – Slow Death
3. Mick Farren & The New Wave – Lost Johnny
4. The Count Bishops – I Need You
5. The 101’ers – Keys to Your Heart
6. New York Dolls – Who Are the Mystery Girls?
7. Pink Fairies – Do It
8. MC5 – Sister Anne
9. The Stooges – Cock in My Pocket
10. The Hollywood Brats – Sick On You
11. Hawkwind – Motorhead
12. Sonic’s Rendezvous Band – Electrophonic Tonic
13. Death – Politicians in My Eyes
14. Electric Eels – Agitated
15. Crushed Butler – It’s My Life

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MOJO Presents 15 pre-punk nuggets: From the New York Dolls to the MC5, Hawkwind to the 101’ers, The Stooges to the Flamin’ Groovies, this bespoke, 15-track MOJO collection gathers together the sonic undercurrents that helped to swell the punk explosion of 1976.

Say I’m Your Number One: Stock Aitken Waterman Singles Box Set is a new 31 CD collection that celebrates the work of late ’80s songwriting and production team Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. The set (released by Edsel in conjunction with PWL) bring together 30 classic releases from 30 different artists including Divine, Hazell Dean, Dead Or Alive, Princess, Mel & Kim, Mandy Smith, Sinitta, Laura Branigan and many more.
Each CD is effectively a ‘maxi’ CD single; remastered and expanded to include 12” mixes, rare B-sides and bonus cuts. 14 of the discs ‘double up’ by containing two classic singles. Examples of this are Rick Astley‘s Never Gonna Give You Up (7 mixes) sharing space with Together Forever (three mixes), or Brother Beyond‘s The Harder I Try (five mixes)…

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…going ‘top to tail’ with He Ain’t No Competition (five mixes). In total there is over 250 tracks, many previously unreleased or new-to-CD.

Tramp Records get their chill on with Praise Poems in what promises to be the first volume in a new counterpart to their existing Feeling Nice and Movements series’. However, whereas the Feeling Nice volumes are mainly about stank funky soul and r’n’b and the make-up of the Movements volumes varies as to the ratio of funk, r’n’b and soul jazz with a tendency towards the funk, here the ratio is reversed. This album is subtitled A Journey Into Deep, Soulful Jazz & Funk from the 1970s and the emphasis is firmly on the soul jazz groove.
As you might expect from the title, the lights are low, the eyes are closed and the body is moving almost imperceptibly to a gentler sort of groove. Be prepared to hear the odd bit of Rhodes piano and vibraphone. In fact, the title track (and many…

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…others on this) are exactly the sort of thing Clint Eastwood’s character might have been heard playing on his late night KRML show in Play Misty for Me. That’s not to say there isn’t anything livelier on here – Bold Breed’s funky soul organ heater Let Me Down Easy for example or the pounding latin rnb of Shango. Highlights include Tom Macke’s Mayfield-esque blaxploitation-type number Can You Understand Sacrifice? and the Ghetto Brothers-like soul-rock of Gemstones’ Cold Soul.

01. Warmth – Praise Poems 6:17
02. Larry Covin – Carefree 2:26
03. Jorge Darden – Alone Again 4:03
04. Lee Stone – What Is Life 2:21
05. Ulysses Crockett – Resurgence 4:12
06. The P.T.S. – Dragon Rock 2:58
07. Cookie Thomas – Black Velvet Soul (Part 1) 2:53
08. Cookie Thomas – Black Velvet Soul (Part 2) 2:16
09. Bold Breed – Let Me Down Easy feat. B.G. 3:05
10. Larry Dismond – God of Thunder and Lightning (Shango) 2:46
11. Raspberries – Strawberries 2:43
12. Bobby Stroup – Wait For Me 2:41
13. Far Out – The Way I See It 2:42
14. Tom Macke – Can You Understand Sacrifice 2:58
15. Gemstones – Cold Soul 3:24
16. Innerflight – Tribute To Ruffian (Part 1&2) 7:25
17. Seeds of Fulfillment – Solemn Solitude 4:28

When the Ace/Kent label began issuing material from Detroit soul producer Dave Hamilton‘s vaults back in the 1990s, as the liner notes to this comp reveal, it expected to only issue a couple of anthology CDs. The deeper it dug the more its appetite was fed, however, and this rather generically titled collection marks the seventh CD compiled from Hamilton’s holdings. As Hamilton is not exactly a household name even among soul specialists, and the artists with whom he worked are unknown even throughout much of soul collectordom, it goes without saying that this is for the particularly fanatical aficionado. About half of the 25 tracks appeared on singles on small labels between 1964 and 1977 (though mostly in the 1964-1970 period that attracts the core interest…

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…from the soul fans apt to consider buying something like this); the others were previously unreleased, or only surfaced on an obscure CD compilation. Even considering that not a one of these artists has even a cult reputation — and that the tracks are sequenced in a herky-jerky, back-and-forth chronology, though most of them were cut in the mid- to late ’60s — it does hold some appeal for genre enthusiasts. Like numerous small-time soul entrepreneurs throughout the U.S., Hamilton was trying almost everything in his quest to make an impact, though much of it sounded derivative of much bigger labels and artists. So you have James Brown-ish funk; obviously Motown-ish productions, Priscilla Page sounding like a yet peepier-voiced Diana Ross on “I’m Pretending” and Chico & Buddy credibly emulating the Temptations in their Norman Whitfield-produced psych-funk era on “A Thing Called the Jones”; pop-disco on the New Experience’s 1977 recording; and gospel-tinged early Southern-style soul on Gene Cooper’s “Look Up and Smile.” Hamilton himself gets into funky blues and instrumental jazz-soul on tracks credited to his own name, and Frenchy & the Chessmen (you couldn’t make these billings up) sound like a cross between Junior Walker and Booker T. & the MG’s on “Beetle Bebop.” It would be too generous to call any of these cuts lost nuggets, but they’re not of solely trivial value. It’s the sound of somewhat, but not abundantly, talented artists reaching for a level somewhat beyond their grasp, yet doing so with a winning sincerity and less polish than those that did get the brass ring. The inclusion of a few cuts with glossy 2011 remixes is a misstep considering that the overwhelming majority of listeners interested in an anthology like this will not enjoy them, and indeed be repulsed by the production. These only afflict a few tracks, however, and the package boasts Kent’s verging-on-academia research into these obscurities in the accompanying 20-page booklet.

1. Jason Isbell – Speed Trap Town
2. Sleaford Mods – Face to Faces
3. Ezra Furman – Lousy Connection
4. Shelby Lynne – Son of a Gun
5. Sonny Vincent – Through My Head
6. Duke Ellington – Afrique
7. Samantha Crain – Kathleen
8. Flying Saucer Attack – Instrumental 7
9. Daniel Romano – I’m Gonna Teach You
10. Stewart Lee & Stuart Estell – Polly On the Shore
11. The Dream Syndicate – Like Mary
12. The Deslondes – The Real Deal
13. Rachel Grimes – The Herald
14. Fraser A. Gorman – Shiny Gun
15. Omar Souleyman – Enssa el Aatab

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Greg Caz and Deano Sounds have teamed up once again to bring you another fine package of vintage Brazilian music. The Brasileiro Treasure Box of Funk & Soul digs out some super rare bits from the fringes of Brazil’s Tropicália movement and the emerging boogie sound that would dominate the latter half of the decade. Some highlights include: the extremely rare and funky “Labirinto” by 2001 & Beto, the blistering psychedelic funk of Antônio Carlos & Jocafi’s “Quem Vem Lá,” the essential rare groove track “Bananeira” by Emilio Santiago, Osmar Milito E Quarteto Forma’s rare “América Latina” sampled by Madlib, Tom Zé’s unstoppable riff on “Jimmy, Renda-Se,” and many others.
Here are some words on the project from co- compiler and Brazilian music aficionado, Greg Caz:..

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…“Without necessarily having a central theme other than funky nuggets from the first half of the 70s, we believe this compilation displays its own particular sense of logic, and that these songs ultimately all sound fantastic together. Regardless of one’s familiarity, or lack thereof, with artists like Antonio Carlos & Jocafi, Os Incríveis, Toni Tornado or Celia, the material on these 45s speaks its own truth and justifies their inclusion here. Many of these were originally available as singles, while others were taken from albums, but all are guaranteed to find their way into many DJ boxes and playlists.”

Shirley Collins‘ achievements are both legion and widely recognised; spanning a good 6 decades.
At the tail-end of the ’50s, Shirley accompanied Alan Lomax on field-trips to the southern States, both collecting and documenting, and often making recordings of, a large number of singers and their songs that have since become an integral part of what might be termed the American folk canon.
As a wonderfully pure-toned singer with a truly timeless and honest, direct performing style and a reputation for staying absolutely faithful to the songs, Shirley has tirelessly championed English traditional song, initially via solo work, then via seminal recordings in tandem with guitarist Davy Graham (Folk Roots, New Routes) or her sister Dolly (Love, Death and the Lady), and further seminal…

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…recordings involving the integration of early-music with folk (Anthems In Eden, Amaranth) and charting the birth and early progression of folk-rock (No Roses et al.). Imaginative innovation went hand in hand with Shirley’s refreshingly unadulterated performing style, and she was involved in some way in a large number of the most influential LPs of the key folk-revival decade that straddled the 60s and the 70s. Towards the end of the 70s, though, Shirley suffered from the onset of dysphonia, and the resultant enforced retirement from singing signalled a change in emphasis in that the successive three decades have been spent in an equally ambassadorial role: that of lecturing, writing on, and presenting authoritative talks on, English folk tradition. Last year, however, after much persuasion by Current 93’s David Tibet, Shirley felt able to make a very tentative return to live singing, performing (unbilled, as an opening treat at a Current 93 concert) a couple of songs, accompanied by Oysterband’s Ian Kearey on guitar. That surprise was followed, early this year, by two brief appearances at Cecil Sharp House: the first (in tandem with Linda Thompson – a fellow-sufferer from dysphonia – and John Kirkpatrick, at the concert remembering Bob Copper, and the second as part of Wesley Stace’s Cabinet Of Wonders show. In just a few months’ time, Shirley’s due to return to CSH to perform in a celebratory 80^th birthday concert (that’s planned for 31^st October).

Such has been the nature, and massive extent, of Shirley’s influence on the folk scene, not least in the raising of its perception of the indigenous English tradition, that independent film company Fifth Column is engaged in making a documentary film about Shirley’s life and work (The Ballad of Shirley Collins). Back in April, as a fund-raising venture to aid the film project, Earth Recordings released (on Record Store Day) a triple-LP (vinyl) set that presented brand new versions of a host of traditional folksongs from Shirley’s own personal song (performing) repertoire, sung by a veritable host of fellow-performing-artists taken from right across the spectrum. The CD incarnation of that set is now released too, sporting a handsome eleven bonus tracks (housed on a third CD). And even that sum-total of over 45 recordings proves inadequate in terms of quantity! For indeed, such is the high regard in which Shirley is held by her peers and contemporaries, that the 60 or so potential contributors to this tribute set ended up being whittled down to just under three-quarters of that number. Several of these are names you wouldn’t expect to find in this context, and an unusually high number of them were previously unknown to me – but this only goes to show the breadth of Shirley’s influence, for each contributor conveys a distinctive, often unusual perspective on both the songs themselves and their importance to the ongoing, living tradition of song.

The individual performances on the set provide persuasive, incontrovertible evidence that the folk tradition is alive and well and very much kicking, being carried proudly and triumphantly forward and onward and taking root in some unexpected places. The assembled cast has drawn much readily acknowledged inspiration from Shirley’s pioneering, enthusiastic and entirely heartfelt espousal of our common song heritage. And those characteristics are reflected in the artistes’ song-interpretations, which though transcending any stance of a mere “desire to be different” for their own sake, nevertheless at times contain some quite radical arrangements and gestures that engender a pause for thought at the very least – so that the whole set proves a thought-provoking as well as entertaining and musically convincing experience. All the while remembering Shirley’s own philosophy that “a folk voice should just be a conduit for the song”, a credo fully and unwaveringly demonstrated in her own pure, humble, no-emotional-pretence singing.

It’s a given (and a cliché) that any tribute-album is by its very nature something of a curate’s egg. And when its three CDs enjoy a total playing-time of close on 3½ hours, there’ll inevitably be a small quotient of (comparatively) less artistically successful items, which here fit into the “experimental but perfectly tolerable” bracket.

But again, given the nature of such things, the set includes a large amount of seriously stunning listening, from higher-profile and lesser-known musicians alike. And the bar is raised right from the outset with Will Oldham (in his Bonnie Prince Billy persona) with Chicago’s Bitchin Bajas, conjuring a drone-backed lament-style take on Pretty Saro that approximates the spare, doleful atmosphere of the Shirley & Dolly recordings. The remainder of the set, Disc 1 especially, sees no lowering of the standard or interest, and highlights of that first disc include Bonnie Dobson’s swirling 60s-style organ-waltzer Hares On The Mountain; Trembling Bells’ sturdy folk-rock-styled account of Richie’s Story; Blur’s Graham Coxon doing a grand job on Cruel Mother; and Lee Ranaldo’s majestic grinding electric take on Plains Of Waterloo, which unfolds with inevitability and cumulative power. Jackie Oates’ Banks Of The Bann is predictably enchanting, and Meg Baird’s Locks & Bolts is by turns acerbic and strangely soothing. Johnny Flynn’s take on Rambleaway could’ve come straight off a mid-60s folk-troubadour album, and The Owl Service and Laura Cannell (Horses Brawl) together tackle Shirley’s early-music piece Edi Beo (from Amaranth) with true depth of understanding. Rachel Dadd’s delicate, breathy, banjo-accompanied take on Polly Vaughan might be thought to undersell the nature of the ballad, attractive though it sounds; but I have to admit that Josephine Foster’s reverberant, low-fi recording of Love Is Pleasing is not a comfortable listen. Arguably the biggest surprise of the first disc, though, is the committed and idiomatic quality of stand-up comedian Stewart Lee’s rendition of Polly On The Shore, where he’s accompanied by concertina player Stuart Estell.

Moving on to disc 2, the sepulchral vocal of Kristoffer Rygg is a key feature of Norwegian experimental musical collective Ulver’s version of Poor Murdered Woman (one of the tracks singled out by Shirley herself, by all accounts). Other high points come with Olivia Chaney’s limpid account of Oxford Girl; Rozi Plain’s repro-lo-fi Long Years Ago; Sally Timms & The Mini Mekons‘ Go From My Window, with its buzzing bees a-droning; and the weird, whispery, twittery bird and nature sounds created vocally by Hebridean singer Polly MacLean on London-based Slate Islands’ Proud Maisrie. Also appealing is the Floyd-like dreamy floaty drifty psych of My False True Love by Orlando and Tom Furse, while Chris Joynes (one-time collaborator with Stephanie Hladowski) brings some intricate guitar patternings to his take on Pleasant & Delightful. Disc 2 also contains a non-traditional song, Never Again, written by Richard Thompson, which Shirley sang on For As Many As Will with Dolly’s piano for accompaniment, this is here reflected in Tunng & Farao’s hushed rendition which develops into an eerie electronic haze. Disc 2 contains a couple of tracks that didn’t quite work for me – Belbury Poly’s church-bell-ushered robotic-vocoder-morris ritualised Cambridgeshire May Carol is rather over-cacophonous, and Barbarossa’s dreamlike electropop Dearest Dear feels mildly soporific.

Disc 3 contains some gems too: Miz Stefani’s My Bonnie Boy has a defiant guitar-rich tread, Marco Pirroni & Jen Vix’s fuzz-drenched Turpin Hero feels rather like what the Velvets might’ve made of it; Elle Osborne takes an understated banjo-backporch view of The Murder Of Allen Bain; and strange avian samples and weird electronica infuse Ruby’s Bad Girl. Vermont-based Matt “MV” Valentine and partner Erika “EE” Elder stretch T Devil out into a quasi-Cowboy-Junkies nine-minute improv-cum-workout. By contrast, Susan Stenger’s electronic-filmscore approach to Barbara Allen/Idumea seems to go nowhere much in its seven-minute span. — FolkRadio

The sixth volume in Jazzman’s Spiritual Jazz series presents a plethora of examples denoting the shift of the vocalist’s role in ensemble play commensurate with the evolution taking place in the music itself as explored by acknowledged masters and young lions alike. Compiled and annotated by Gerald Short, these tracks are sequenced aesthetically rather than chronologically, offering a varied and satisfying roots-and-branches approach.
The emergence of the Civil Rights movement’s embrace of early soul and gospel, as well as an international view of that struggle, is made plain by “Tears for Johannesburg,” from Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite with Abbey Lincoln on lead vocals. Charles Mingus’ title track to 1974’s Mingus Moves, written by Doug Hammond, features…

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…the composer and Honey Gordon upfront. The tune weds modal jazz to African rhythms. This approach is underscored by Sadaka’s “African Violet” from 1981, reflecting the full fruition of a Pan-African approach to jazz. Clifford Jordan’s “John Coltrane,” from 1973’s Glass Bead Games, offers chant-like vocals by the saxophonist/composer and his quartet — bassist Bill Lee (Spike’s dad), Billy Higgins, and Stanley Cowell. And no collection of spiritual jazz vocal music would be complete without Leon Thomas. “Prince of Peace” features him in the company of Pharoah Sanders from Sanders’ 1969 Izipho Zam. “The Ladder,” by the Singers and Musicians of Washington High School in Los Angeles, is from a private-press album issued in the ’70s, while Haki Madhubuti’s spoken word “Rain Forest,” from 1984’s Medasi, underscores the depth of the links between modal jazz, African rhythms, and the oral tradition in poetry. “African Sunshine” is the A-side of a single by Eddie Gale, recorded in 1972 and issued three years after his classic Blue Note albums. Gary Bartz and NTU Troop, with vocalist Andy Bey, create vibrant, spiritual soul-jazz on “Celestial Blues.” There are two cuts by Byron Morris & Unity from 1972 and 1974; this fine group was almost completely overlooked by anyone outside the N.Y. Loft scene. The final track, “Spirits Up Above,” is by Vibration Society, a loose-knit group dedicated to playing the music of Rahsaan Roland Kirk that featured Steve Turre, Hilton Ruiz, Junior Cook, and Leroy Williams in its lineup. It was produced by Will Friedwald, who also lends a socio-historical liner essay to introduce the album. All of the music here has been painstakingly remastered by Colin Young, and Spiritual Jazz, Vol. 6: Vocals is one of the more diverse and well-balanced collections in the series.

For the casual reggae listener, the Midlands were probably just the home of the likes of UB40 and Musical Youth, but gently scratch beneath the surface and a plethora of acts quickly emerge.
The album begins with Handsworth’s Steel Pulse whose first single, Kibudu Mansatta Abuku, (1976) is represented twice with the added inclusion of b-side Mansatta. Two delightfully lazy tracks with some great backing guitars and reverbs that seem to dub out for an age, it sets the scene for the remainder of the quite brilliant 15 track album.
Many tracks included here are unreleased or appearing for their first time on CD. Musical Youth appear in their pre-Duchie days with their first release, a tough roots track in Political. With vocals by Frederick Wait Snr (The Techniques) who was…

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…also the Father of Patrick and Junior.

There are some quite fantastic dub versions in Rome (Oneness), Fa-Ward (Groundation) and Mr Workhard (Carnastoan), the former of which was previously only ever available on a 12” single from the Black Symbol (also contributing In The Name Of Jah) by-product. This is reggae and dub at its very finest – simple, easy tracks – no nonsense classic roots.

Carnastoan provide a brilliant upbeat dance reggae mix not dissimilar to the sort of stuff that Adrian Sherwood and On U-Sound would become synonymous with years later. Maybe showing that whilst Sherwood is often credited as being a ground-breaker, he was also serving to add his own incredible skills to a sound that was in desperate need of greater exposure.

Further inclusions come from the mighty Capital Letters and the unbelievably talented Benjamin Zephaniah whose respective tracks I Will Never and Unite Handsworth were pivotal milestones in the 70s and 80s reggae scene. We are also treated to a real gem in Instruments by Mystic Foundation which has remained unreleased for 30 years, quite remarkable considering the quality of the track.

Perhaps one of the most exciting things about the album is the addition of the words ‘Vol 1’ to the title indicating that there are many more precious releases on the way. — louderthanwar

The heart of black American music beats somewhere in that nation’s southern states.
Whether it was Memphis or Alabama’s Muscle Shoals that produced the greatest blend of blues, gospel and the dash of country that combined to form the purest, finest and most emotional soul music of the Sixties and beyond is open to debate.
But as this follow up to Kent’s award-winning Take Me to the River box set shows, Southern soul was often a state of mind rather than a geographical location. So while the first CD of this 3CD set mines those two recording centres, the other two discs in the set take us further afield to Nashville, Miami and Texas, while the third CD concentrates on those vocalists who recorded authentic Southern soul without venturing across the Mason-Dixon line.

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Usually southerners by birth they took their musical heritage and feel with them to Detroit, Chicago, New York or Los Angeles.

So with 75 tracks in all to savour you can immerse yourself in some of the greatest soul music to have been recorded in the US. Whether it’s well-known tracks such as William Bell and Judy Clay’s sublime cheating song “Private Number” and Joe Simon’s yearning “Message to Maria” or lesser-known gems such as Clay Hammond’s supercharged “Take Your Time” or “George Perkins’s gospel-infused “How Sweet It Would Be” the standard never slips.

If you needed to pick just two standout tracks, go for Toussaint McCall’s overpowering and majestic tale of lost love “Nothing Takes the Place of You” which famously featured in John Water’s original film version of “Hairspray” and the often-rumoured about but never heard until now transcendent version of “Yesterday” by the Soul Children cut in 1971 but never released. It’s one of the most intense and spine-tingling Southern soul performances that you’re ever likely to hear.

After the release of Brazilian Disco Boogie Sounds, Favorite Recordings follows-up, this time focusing on its homeland language. Helped by a close connoisseur friend, DJ and collector Charles Maurice presents a fine selection of what he thinks represent best the amazing energy of this specific movement and period. With 10 rare titles, all produced between 1975 and 1984, he shows a perfect picture of what you could find in French record stores at that time.
On one hand, tracks by Overdrive, Marché Noir, Didier Makaga or France-Lise, were produced by underground artists and labels from the French Caribbean and African community and also filled with the raw spirit of this Tropical stamping. On the other hand, tracks by Beckie Bell, Kelly, Le Club,…

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…or Bernard Guyvan, were released by major labels such as Trëma, Carrere, Disques Vogue, or Pathé Marconi, thanks to confirmed independent producers, acting not only in France, but also in Canada and the US. — favoriterecordings

Rare or previously unissued psychedelic gems from late 1960s San Francisco, produced at Leo Kulka’s studio, Golden State Recorders.
When it opened for business in the autumn of 1965, Golden State Recorders was the first large Hollywood-style studio inSan Francisco, with a brand new solid-state board and an expansive main room, perfect for replicating the ambience of the psychedelic ballrooms. Indeed, founder and chief engineer Leo de Gar Kulka had begun offering his services right as the Bay Area witnessed the explosion of its own well-documented rock scene, and thus during its first few years Golden State was the local independent recording venue most frequently visited by the city’s new breed of musician, along with the hordes…

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…of attendant A&R men hopeful for the next big thing. Golden State hosted some of the most genuinely trippy and experimental rock recording sessions held in San Francisco in the late 1960s, but Kulka could not keep his large facility going on bookings alone, and so he also used the studio to attract talent that could be secured to a contract and sold on to labels. Reflecting the prevailing atmosphere in the Bay Area, much of what Golden State recorded under its own production umbrella had a frisson of psychedelic fancy, and at this juncture some 50 years hence, recordings deemed failures at the time are now collectors items, or certainly worthy of a second look, as “Golden State Psychedelia” amply demonstrates.

Some of the earliest and best-loved releases in Big Beat’s “Nuggets From The Golden State” series were based on repertoire from Golden State Recorders. This latest instalment continues to celebrate the studio’s legacy, restoring material from deleted volumes, as well as exhuming more psychedelic gems from the GSR vault. Since Ace Records acquired the catalogue in 2006, we have had the opportunity to revisit the tapes, this time with a fine-toothed comb.

Therefore, aside from rare singles by the Tow-Away Zone and Seventh Dawn, “Golden State Psychedelia” is comprised wholly of material that did not see release at the time, and was all recorded between 1966 and 1971. Highlights include the commercial pop-psych stylings of the Bristol Boxkite, Carnival and Ticket Agents, the punkadelic Goody Box and Immediate Family, and some outrageous studio experiments by Magician and the Gants. With full details on the participants contained in the liner notes, “Golden State Psychedelia” is a package no fan of this entrancing genre will want to miss.

1. The Goody Box – Blow Up (Norman Hadsell) – 2:37
2. The Carnival – Meditorium – 2:19
3. The Tow-Away Zone – Shab’d (Joan Cutting, Phil Franks, Randy Molitor) – 2:58
4. The Bristol Boxkite – Sunless Night (Bill Ellis, Sandra White) – 3:03
5. The Immediate Family – Rubaiyat (Kriss Kovacs, Omar Khayyam) – 2:38
6. The Ticket Agents – Black Diamonds (David Salk) – 2:04
7. The Short Yellow – Highway Highway (Gary Thorp) – 2:21
8. Celestial Hysteria – Speed (Harold Greer, John Allan, John Barsotti, Mark Buvelot, Mary Hazlewood) – 2:38
9. Magician – Fuck For Peace – 3:58
10.The Carnival – Infinitation – 2:16
11.The Bristol Boxkite – Mad Rush World (Bill Ellis) – 2:44
12.The Seventh Dawn – Don’t Worry Me (Darius Phillips, Sue Phillips, Tom Noyer) – 2:37
13.Just Slightly Richer – My Kind Of People (Dan Talbot) – 3:01
14.The Tow-Away Zone – Daddy’s Zoo (Bill deHaan, Phil Franks, Randy Molitor, Ray McCarty) – 3:45
15.The Short Yellow – Hand Full (Gary Thorp) – 2:43
16.The Goody Box – Ah Gee (Norman Hadsell) – 2:31
17.The Immediate Family – Wet Chant (Kriss Kovacs) – 5:36
18.The Bristol Boxkite – Chasing Rainbows (Frederic Chopin, Harry Carroll, Joseph McCarth) – 2:22
19.Celestial Hysteria – New Song Aka Going Home (Harold Greer, John Allan, John Barsotti, Mark Buvelot, Mary Hazlewood) – 2:57
20.The Carnival – Years Have Passed Away – 2:13
21.Just Slightly Richer – Solitude (Al Roberts, Dan Talbot, Larry Goldberg, Robert Sanders, Steve Allyn) – 2:51
22.The Bristol Boxkite – Who Are We (Bill Ellis) – 2:27
23.The Short Yellow – Start Seeing (Gary Thorp) – 2:29
24.The Royal Family – Love Is The Greatest Thing (The Royal Family) – 2:48
25.The Gants – Sunday At The Lotus Parlor (Brian Johnson, Dennis Battaglia, Kim Edwards, Tim Grand) – 2:51

Studio One Showcase brings together a new fine selection of classic tracks from Freddy McGregor, Horace Andy, Johnny Osbourne, Sugar Minott, The Heptones, Wailing Souls and other seminal reggae artists all recorded at Studio One in the 1970s.
By the start of the ’70s, Clement Dodd’s Studio One record label was at a crossroads. The previous two decades had given the producer and record label more success than most aspired to in a lifetime.
From the mid-’50s on, the Downbeat Soundsystem had conquered all opponents – from Duke Reid to Prince Buster – and shaped and led the musical landscape of the dancehall. In the 1960s, the establishment of Studio One Records at 13 Brentford Road in Kingston, Jamaica, had led to a Ford Motors -esque production line of hits that similarly…

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…defined reggae music.

But the 1970s was to prove Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s most challenging and yet ultimately the most creative decade of all. Like the most zealous and resourceful of pioneers, Studio One was about to embark on a stunning era of reinvention, adaptation, stripping down and versioning, each step of which marked new musical developments in reggae music – roots reggae, deejay, dancehall, rub a dub and more.

This album presents an overview of this exciting and ground-breaking decade of the 1970s at Studio One, during an era where, despite challenges from new producers, political turmoil, and almost constant musical and technological innovations in reggae, Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd was able to maintain his position as the pioneering leader in reggae music, and to maintain Studio One is the number one sound in reggae music. Always.”

The sound of Japan’s early house music scene has only reached the Western hemisphere in the last few years. Even then, we only catch it in glimpses: An RBMA Radio show dedicated to pioneers like Ecstasy Boys and Frankie Knuckles’ production partner Satoshi Tomiie; Rush Hour’s illuminating Sounds from the Far East compilation, which gathered the crucial productions of Soichi Terada.
But there is a wealth of Japanese deep house and dance music that never made it off the island, much less across the Pacific. Add to it now this set from two French DJs, Brawther & Alixkun, who have dug up their favorite tracks for Once Upon a Time in Japan, spanning the heyday of the Major Force label in the early ’90s to the late ’90s.
For new listeners unacquainted with early ’90s…

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…house, the set could easily scan as just a dope set of unheralded tracks that thumped far from the fare of “Club MTV.” T.P.O.’s opener “Punk Inc. (Hiroshi’s Dub)” dates from 1989, when the group was pivoting away from conscious rap toward hip-house (and a few years on, into deep house). Those hip-hop drums are subsumed on the remix in favor of a percolating kick and a phase high enough to give you a nosebleed.

Dig into some of the backstories behind these tracks and it gets slightly odd. The vocalizing that goes with Yutsuko Chusonji’s “Blessing (Magic Ware Remix)” scans as gospel house in the vein of the Sounds of Blackness, made all the more baffling by the fact that Chusonji is known as a famous mangaka rather than as a dance music producer. For those taken in either by the pan flutes and saxophones of Mood Hut (or, you know, Biebs), check YPF’s lone single, “Trance of Love (Tokyo Offshore Mix)” which scans as Balearic house complete with sax solo. Or else check the lovely flute that wafts over Akiko Kanazawa’s “Sawauchi Jinku (Terada Mix).” Tethered to a tough beat courtesy of Soichi Terada, it’s the most overtly Japanese-sounding track here, as Kanazawa is an enka singer whose career dates back to the mid-’70s.

The echoing piano figures that opens the Ecstasy Boys’s transcendent 10-minute epic “Chi Chi Chi Gan Kanon” could slot into almost any attendant Frankie Knuckles remix of that era. Which makes sense in that the trio of Mitsuru Kotaki, Shiro Amamiya, and Tatsuro Amamiya did have singles on N.Y. house labels Quark and Strictly Rhythm, and could have factored into the sets of the day. Throughout the track, the snares stutter, dive and then climb skyward, building until the midway point, wherein that piano returns and takes the track even higher. And even as the track slowly ebbs away, those drums reverberate and shoot up and down like swallows at play. As these 15 tracks suggest, no one comp can serve as a catchall for that country’s dance history, but it’s a thrilling overview nevertheless. One hopes that the story behind Once Upon a Time in Japan continues to be told.

Jamaica is not an easy place to preserve valuable master tapes. Heat, humidity and hurricanes have destroyed many collections of priceless recordings.

Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee’s archive of tapes has survived a biblical list of disasters, but he still has a mighty treasure trove of material stored in the musical vault of his Duhaney Park studio.

The 16-track compilation, Next Cut! Dub Plates, Rare Sides & Unreleased Cuts, comprises rare sides, one-off dubplate mixes transferred from the original 10” acetates, and unreleased cuts taken from the unmixed 4-track tapes. Featuring Johnny Clarke, Barrington Spence, Linval Thompson, Tommy McCook, Prince Jammy, Wayne Jarrett, Vin Gordon, Cornell Campbell and Barry Biggs.

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1. Johnny Clarke – Down in a Babylon AKA Live Up Jah Man
2. Barrington Spence – Blood of Babylon
3. The Aggrovators – Blood of Babylon Dub
4. Vin Gordon & The Aggrovators – Enforcement
5. Tommy McCook – Death Trap (Steppers Cut)
6. Linval Thompson – Big Big Girl
7. Linval Thompson – Ethiopian Girl
8. Johnny Clarke – Blood Dunza
9. Barry Biggs & Tommy McCook – Tapetone Special
10. The Aggrovators – A Friend Indeed Dub
11. Prince Jammy – Crucial Dub
12. Vin Gordon & The Aggrovators – Split Second
13. Wayne Jarrett – Satta Dread
14. Scientist – Satta Dread Dub
15. Cornell Campbell – The Gorgon (Steppers Cut)
16. Linval Thompson – Supernatural Love
17. Johnny Clarke – It’s a Disgrace
18. The Aggrovators – It’s a Disgrace Dub

The initial idea for Songs of Separation: Reflections on the Parting of Ways came to bass player Jenny Hill in the run-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. At the time, her musical commitments meant she was spending a lot of time away from her home in Scotland to travel around England. During her travels she became aware of the different types of messages that were being sent and received in both nations. With this in mind, she launched the project to bring together ten women folk musicians from Scotland and England, “to create a recording which reflects on the issue of ‘separation’ in its many forms, through traditional song”. The other nine musicians selected for the project were Eliza Carthy, Hannah James, Hannah Read, Hazel Askew, Jenn Butterworth, Karine Polwart, Kate Young,…

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…Mary Macmaster and Rowan Rheingans and, as the project gained momentum, its theme broadened to cover a range of separations – personal, political, social, cultural, family/gender, communication, supernatural, home/work, identity (British/Scottish), land/natural world, to name a few – and, in June 2015, the ten assembled on the Isle of Eigg to write, rehearse and record what became the finished twelve songs comprising the album.

Following successful excursions into rare tropical and island sounds with the ‘Sofrito’ series, ‘Haiti Direct’ and ‘Calypsoul 70’ albums, Strut Records turns its focus to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius for a new compilation, Soul Sok Séga.
Séga first developed as an insular music and dance form after slaves arrived on Mauritius (then île de France) from East Africa and Madagascar during the 17th to 19th centuries, using Créole language and rhythms played on the large ravanne circular drum, the triangle and the maravanne, a box filled with dried seeds. Séga was essentially frowned upon and marginalised by the Mauritian bourgeois until the 1950s when singer Ti Frère began to play a more Westernised fusion of séga. Through Ti Frère and his contemporaries like Serge Lebrasse, the music…

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…began to be popularised during the ‘60s and became fully accepted after the ‘Night of the Morne’ event in 1964 as the Créole community asserted ist cultural identity. ‘Soul Sok Séga’ documents the heyday of séga in Mauritius during the 1970s as a new generation of contemporary artists broke through. Jazz, soul, funk and rock elements all began to be effortlessly infused into traditional séga folk roots to create some inspired fusions. A talented new wave of artists including Jean-Claude, Claudio, Marie Josée and Roger Clency became domestic stars and began to take the music to international stages for the first time. Meanwhile, cult artists like the James Brown-influenced Ti L’Afrique, Coulouce and Christophe all enjoyed a more brief but important moment in the spotlight. Since this era, séga has now been adopted as the national music of Mauritius and the original ‘70s music is a revelation for any fans of tropical music and world sounds.

The compilation is by DJ duo La Basse Tropicale (Natty Hô and Konsöle), based in the neighbouring island of La Reunion.