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VA – Groove with a Feeling: Sounds of Memphis Boogie, Soul & Funk, 1975-1985...
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Memphis didn’t stop making soul music in 1975. It was no longer the epicenter of the soul universe (or of rock & roll, for that matter), but musicians didn’t leave...
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VA – Ola Belle Reed and Southern Mountain Music on the Mason-Dixon Line (2015)
In 1966, folklorist Henry Glassie traveled from Philadelphia to the town of Oxford, Pennsylvania to see Alex & Ola Belle and the New River Boys and Girls play their exciting brand of Southern...
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VA – Blanck Mass Presents: The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears Re-Score...
Blanck Mass corrals a haunting spectra of sounds from Helm, Phil Julian, C Spencer Yeh, Konx Om Pax, and Roll the Dice to provide an alternative score for Bruno Forzani and Héléne Catet’s 2013 giallo...
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VA – Here Today! The Songs of Brian Wilson (2015)
Brian Wilson famously abandoned the road for the studio in 1965, but in the years prior to that transition he was already something of a studio rat, spending a fair amount of time writing for (and...
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VA – The Rough Guide to Unsung Heroes of Country Blues (2015)
On this excellent release from the World Music Network’s ever-reliable Rough Guide series, a host of unknown early blues artists get their due. While Robert Johnson, Son House, and a handful of other...
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VA – The Rough Guide to Latin Disco (2015)
It shouldn’t be too surprising that five of the 12 selections on The Rough Guide to Latin Disco originate from the Salsoul label. The term ¾ coined by legendary Latin/Soul/Disco visionary Joe Bataan,...
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VA – Island Records Presents Lovers Rock: 30 Romantic Reggae Classics...
Jamaica was at a dangerous and combustible spot as the 1970s rolled in, beset by class disparity, crushing poverty, increasingly barbed friction between the country’s two political parties, and...
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VA – Rough Guide to Psychedelic Cumbia (2015)
‘Psychedelic’ is a buzzword being used a lot these days, especially to sell evermore obscure treasures dug up from the world’s once lost, now rediscovered, international musical archives. In some...
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VA – Borrowed By The Beatles (2014)
Though their songwriting would ultimately be emulated by pop/rock bands all the way into the 21st century, the iconic Beatles, like many of their contemporaries, spent their early years honing their...
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VA – Nippon Girls 2: Japanese Pop, Beat & Rock ‘N’ Roll 1965-1970 (2014)
It was five years ago, that Big Beat International, a subsidiary of Ace Records, released Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat and Bossa Nova 1966-1970 to critical acclaim. The follow-up, Nippon Girls 2:...
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VA – Radio Niger (2014)
A lot of labels have found their niches by delivering the sounds of the world to us by compiling songs that would otherwise be unavailable outside their milieu of their creation. Sublime Frequencies...
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VA – Folk Music of the Sahel, vol. 1: Niger (2014)
The Folk Music of the Sahel consists of field recordings collected in the Republic of Niger during the course of six expeditions undertaken by Hisham Mayet between 2004 and 2014. This first volume in...
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VA – Mojo Presents: David Gilmour and Friends (2015)
1. David Crosby & Graham Nash – Don’t Dig Here 2. Ulver – Everybody’s Been Burned 3. Phil Manzanera – Sacred Days 4. David & Joe Gilmour – Here, There & Everywhere 5. David Courtney – When...
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VA – Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels: The Blissed-Out Birth of Country Rock,...
In its assessment of rock music in 1972, Billboard magazine noted the trend toward overblown rock, like Procul Harum with the Edmonton Symphony. Another trend was dubbed Teutonic Noise Rock, meaning...
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VA – Soul Jazz Records Presents Sounds of the Universe: Art + Sound 2012-15...
Soul Jazz Records’ offshoot label Sounds of the Universe has spent the past three years releasing a series of 12″ singles under the Art+Sound moniker, complete with hand-etched art pieces incorporated...
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VA – The Complete Stax-Volt Soul Singles, Volume 3: 1972-1975 (1994, Reissue...
The third and final chapter of the definitive collection of the great Memphis soul label Stax focuses on the early-mid 1970s. During those four years, the label was winding down, since it was unable to...
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VA – The Rough Guide to the Music of the Sahara: Second Edition (2014)
The Sahara Desert region is nearly as big as the continental U.S.A. A vast, hot, often harsh place, it runs through ten African countries with numerous artistic and musical cultures contained within...
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VA – Rastafari: The Dreads Enter Babylon, 1955-83: From Nyabinghi, Burro and...
The historic-yet-sadly-dilapidated Ward Theatre in the middle of downtown Kingston, Jamaica is normally closed to the public. But it played host to a unique performance this past June, one that closed...
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VA – Disco 2: A Further Fine Selection of Independent Disco, Modern Soul and...
The second audio companion for the 2014 book Disco: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Cover Art of Disco Records is just as valuable as the set that preceded it, Disco: A Fine Selection of Independent...
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VA – Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 1-4: Ballads, Songs, Social...
Originally released in 1952 as a quasi-legal set of 3 double-LPs and reissued several times since (with varying cover art), The Anthology of American Folk Music could well be the most influential...
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