Another week with sync issues between the news letter and site, so a bunch of stuff that came in today is just listed below. Classic short week list this week snd mostly just reissues this week, but that’s ok, cuz there’s lots of great albums to reissue out there! Ian just finished refilling the used crates upfront too, so… come on down for a dig!
Current operations…..
– in-store shopping/pick ups – 11 – 6 pm Monday – Friday, 11 am – 5 pm Saturday
(if you don’t want to come into the store for a pick up, call and/or use the back door)
– We will be wearing masks, if you want to, great! If not, that’s also fine, but please be respectful of other people’s space and decisions.
– Sanitize your hands (we’ll have some)
…..pick of the week…..
Steve Reich: Reich/Richter (Nonesuch) LP
This first recording of Steve Reich’s 2019 piece Reich/Richter is performed by Ensemble intercontemporain and conducted by George Jackson. The composition was originally written to be performed with Gerhard Richter and Corinna Belz’s film Moving Picture (946-3), for which Richter’s book Patterns served as source material. “Reich’s music … expands from minimalist austerity to more full-bodied passages and back again,” says the Financial Times. “Reminiscent of his earliest work, it is very beautiful.”
File Under: Avant Garde, Classical
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…..new arrivals…..
Andy Bey: Experience and Judgement (Real Gone) LP
Crate diggers have long dug this 1973 soul jazz classic on the Atlantic label…it’s far more than your usual jazz vocal record. Vocalist/pianist Andy Bey imbues every number here with a spiritual depth and soulful intensity, yet Experience and Judgment is a relaxing, uplifting listen reminiscent of Bill Withers or Roy Ayers. Some credit for this album’s unique vibe must also be given to producer William S. “Bill” Fischer (Eugene McDaniels, Herbie Mann), who composes a couple tunes here and lends his distinctive touch on keyboards. Whether your taste in jazz runs to free, funk, or even quiet storm, Experience and Judgment delivers. Reissued in Sea Blue vinyl to match the album cover and the mood…limited to 1000 copies!
File Under: Jazz
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David Bowie: Black Tie White Noise (Parlophone) LP
1993 brought the long-awaited return of David Bowie, solo artist, with Black Tie White Noise. With Nile Rodgers again producing, the album provided sonic updates to several previous Bowie eras: with the opening instrumental “The Wedding” (inspired by Bowie’s 1992 marriage to Iman Abdulmajid) offering a dance-and-house-inspired tone recalling Low’s brighter moments; the single “Jump They Say” harking back to funkier times, and a cover of Cream’s “I Feel Free” marking a long-awaited reunion with Ziggy-era partner Mick Ronson (sadly, Ronson passed away soon after). Reaching No. 1 in the UK album charts, Black Tie White Noise reassured fans that Bowie’s creative curiosity was insatiable as ever.
File Under: Rock
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David Bowie: Buddha of Suburbia (Parlophone) LP
Asked to write and perform the music for the BBC2 mini series The Buddha of Suburbia, although classified as a soundtrack, only the title track on the 1983 album was featured in the program itself. The television adaptation of 1990 book, written by Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia is a (semi)autobiographical tale featuring Karim – a South London teenager desperate to escape the suburbs which confine him. Kureishi at the time was already well known for his screenplay of My Beautiful Launderette, the 1985 film which centered on issues of sexuality, race and class in volatile 1980’s Britain.
File Under: Rock
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David Bowie: Earthling (Parlophone) LP
1996 was an extraordinarily active year even by David Bowie’s own feverish standards, switching styles and moods effortlessly, embarking on a confrontational tour around the US with Nine Inch Nails and performing acoustically with Neil Young and Pearl Jam at the Bridge Benefit Concert in San Francisco. He had a triumphant summer headlining Roskilde and the Phoenix Festival, and his electric performance at the VH-1 Fashion Awards on October 25, where he debuted his new single “Little Wonder.” It culminated in the early-1997 release of the very direct and hard-hitting Earthling. The dramatic cover art featured David in an Alexander McQueen designed Union Jack coat in a slightly surreal British pastoral setting. The album arose out of the dynamic achieved and harnessed by the end of that summer’s tour. The band working on the projects featured Gail Ann Dorsey on bass and vocals, Mike Garson on keyboards, Reeves Gabrels on guitar and synths, and Zachary Alford on drums, the nucleus of the touring outfit. The record features the avant-garde drum-n-bass extravaganza and top 20 UK hit “Little Wonder” and the crushing “Dead Man Walking,” a reflection on getting older.
File Under: Rock
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David Bowie: ‘Hours’ (Parlophone) LP
1999’s Hours harkened a return to the sounds of the Hunky Dory days. Written solely with long-time collaborator Reeves Gabrels over the previous year, Hours is one of David Bowie’s most autobiographical records. It was also the first complete album by a major artist available to download over the Internet, preceding the physical release by two weeks. Standout tracks include “Thursday’s Child,” “Survive” and “The Dreamers,” and the record’s reoccurring themes of loss and regret are likely to strike hearts universally. With such personal lyrics as “Sometimes I cry my heart to sleep,” Bowie is evoking emotions recognizable to us all and Hours deals more with real life as opposed to imagery and fantasy.
File Under: Rock
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David Bowie: 1. Outside (Parlophone) LP
By 1994, David Bowie and Brian Eno were again collaborating in the studio. The result was the 1995 concept album Outside released as part of a new deal with Virgin Records. This complex project touches on the increasing obsession with the human body as art and the paganization of western society. With its package-arts broken-down style, its haunted sound of ruin and its non-linear story-line of art, murder and technology, Outside predates the new sensibility of movies such as Seven, Copycat and the TV shows The X-Files and Millennium. As befits the multiphrenic nature of outsider art and emotion, Bowie sings in any number of voices: one minute the melodramatic crooner, another the stylized Londoner, another the quiet, intimate recluse of the Berlin years. The song “The Hearts Filthy Lesson,” made the soundtrack of one of the biggest and darkest movie hits of that year in David Fincher’s Seven. This is David Bowie at his most creative and eclectic. It’s an album of depth, variety and power that will surprise and possibly shock you.
File Under: Rock
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David Bowie: Toy (Parlophone) LP
Toy was recorded following David Bowie’s triumphant Glastonbury 2000 performance. Bowie entered the studio with his band, Mark Plati, Sterling Campbell, Gail Ann Dorsey, Earl Slick, Mike Garson, Holly Palmer and Emm Gryner, to record new interpretations of songs he’d first recorded from 1964-1971. David planned to record the album ‘old school’ with the band playing live, choose the best takes and then release it as soon as humanly possible in a remarkably prescient manner. Unfortunately, in 2001 the concept of the ‘surprise drop’ album release and the technology to support it were still quite a few years off, making it impossible to release Toy, as the album was now named, out to fans as instantly as David wanted. In the interim, David did what he did best; he moved on to something new, which began with a handful of new songs from the same sessions and ultimately became the album Heathen, released in 2002 and now acknowledged as one of his finest moments. The seeds of Toy were first sown in 1999 during the making of an episode of VH-1 Storytellers. David wanted to perform something from his pre-Space Oddity career, so he reached back to 1966 and dusted off “Can’t Help Thinking About Me” for the first time in thirty years. The song remained in the setlist for the short promotional tour for the Hours… album, and in early 2000 David and Plati compiled a list of some of Bowie’s earliest songs to re-record. Toy finishes with a new song from which the album takes its title, “Toy (Your Turn To Drive)” was constructed from a jam at the end of one of the live takes of “I Dig Everything.” The track is based around rearranged sections of Sterling Campbell’s drums, Gail Ann Dorsey’s bass and sections of Mike Garson’s piano were looped along with a guitar line of Earl Slick’s that was sampled, time stretched and used as a repeating figure. Lastly, some of Holly and Emm’s backing vocals from the body of “Dig Everything” were cut up and reassembled. Plati notes, “As it was culled from ‘I Dig Everything’ it makes sense to bookend the album with this track – it’s also a fitting postscript to the Toy era.”
File Under: Rock
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Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco De Lucia: Saturday Night in San Francisco (Impex) LP
Jazz writer Walter Kolovsky proclaimed that Friday Night In San Francisco “may be the most influential of all acoustic guitar albums.” LPs of it have been a demonstration staple on turntables around the world for over 40 years. To celebrate the lasting impact of this singular album and the legendary concert that it represents, Impex Records proudly presents the long-awaited follow up, Saturday Night In San Francisco! Working with hours of original 16-track live session tapes, Al Di Meola and his team have brilliantly curated this musical tour-de-force, bringing to life for the first time on 180g vinyl LP the explosively virtuosic final performance of Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco De Lucia at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, December 6, 1980. In the exclusive essay by music historian Charles L. Granata, Di Meola says of that final night: “It’s exciting because the audience was right there with us, savoring every single note of music. And, we were ripping. It was crazy good!” Impex worked carefully with Di Meola, mixing engineer Roy Hendrickson (SPIN Studio), and mastering engineer Bernie Grundman to recreate the magic of Friday Night In San Francisco so these never-before-released solos and trios burst out of your system with striking clarity, dynamics and technical brilliance. “Crazy good,” indeed.
File Under: Jazz
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Emperor: In the Nightside Eclipse (Spinefarm) LP
Eventually there comes a time when the hype about a band becomes superfluous, and their status alone speaks volumes. Such is the case with Emperor, the black metal gods hailing from Telemark, Norway. Emperor has become known as one of the originators of the symphonic black metal which Norway is internationally renowned for and arguably its most unique export. Their rise to popularity outlines the very development of black metal’s second wave; a period of the genre’s most prolific and controversial material to date. Co-produced by Pytten (Mayhem, Burzum) and featuring the band’s all time classic “I Am the Black Wizards,” their cult 1994 debut In the Nightside Eclipse pioneered the use of atmosphere and melody combined with symphonic and progressive elements and it has been ranked among Slayer’s Reign in Blood and Venom’s Black Metal as a definitive masterpiece of the genre. All of the band’s back catalogue has been remastered by Turan Audio with full guidance from the band, albums have also been recut on half speed masters at the famous Abbey Road studios, with all vinyl art work being carefully restored to how it originally came out by “Dan Capp” Design and illustration to create beautiful vinyl reissues.
File Under: Black Metal
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Ghost Power: s/t (Duophonic) LP
Ghost Power are Jeremy Novak [Dymaxion] and Timothy Gane [Stereolab, Cavern of Anti-Matter and Turn On]. Duophonic Super 45s have previously released music by both artists – Novak via a Dymaxion compilation album and 7″, Gane via various Stereolab, Cavern of Anti-Matter and Turn On releases. Having previously released a limited edition 7″ in 2020, Ghost Power by Ghost Power brings the two musicians together for a full length album. The tracks were recorded in Berlin and New York, both remotely and with Novak and Gane working together in each city.
File Under: Electronic, Library, Stereolab
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Grateful Dead: Europe ’72 (Grateful Dead) LP
From April 7 to May 26, 1972, the Grateful Dead performed and recorded 21 live concerts, plus a set in a television studio, with every night being an exceptional display of the magic that was uniquely the Dead. These concerts and this tour, 50 years later, are still considered one of the highest of high points in the Grateful Dead’s performing career. This 50th Anniversary 180g vinyl 3LP reissue has been newly mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer David Glasser with newly restored audio by Plangent Processes. Europe ’72 not only one of the band’s best-selling releases, but also set the gold standard for live Dead. The band’s first tour outside of North America took them to all sorts of historic and unusual venues in England, Denmark, West Germany, France, Holland and even Luxembourg. Many members of the Dead family came along on what was really an extended working vacation that was designed to both expose the Dead to new audiences and also reward the band for their unlikely conquest of America during the preceding two years. As a hedge against the costs of the nearly two-month trip, the Dead’s label, Warner Bros., paid for the band to lug around a 16-track recorder to capture the entire tour. This was a band at the top of its game, still ascending in the wake of three straight hit albums: Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty and the live Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses). It had been a year since the lineup had gone to its single-drummer configuration, six months since Keith Godchaux had been broken in as the group’s exceptional pianist, and this marked the first tour to feature Donna Godchaux as a member of the touring band. This would also be Pigpen’s final tour with the band. There was a ton of new, unreleased material that came into the repertoire in the fall of ’71 (after Skull & Roses was out) and during the spring of ’72, including “Tennessee Jed,” “Jack Straw,” “He’s Gone,” “Ramble on Rose,” “One More Saturday Night” and “Mr. Charlie.” All those future classics were interspersed with songs from the aforementioned hit albums such as “Cumberland Blues” and “Sugar Magnolia,” as well as spectacular versions of “Truckin'” and “I Know You Rider.”
File Under: Rock
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Half Japanese : Crazy Hearts (Fire) LP
Half Japanese return with another thrilling ride into unknown charters encountering beasts, celebrities, and menaces. Purveyors of noise and indie rock for over four decades, Half Japanese have inspired generations of fans from musicians and critics alike. Now set to release their 19th studio album Crazy Hearts continues with their detuned, outsider pop capturing you in the way that only Jad Fair ever can. A philosophical psych-tinged journey, these whip-smart observations are uplifting with life-affirming sentiments (Wondrous Wonder) that we are familiar with. They meld melodic classic rock riffs with heavier bass lines and darker, more twisted tones on My Celebrity and A Phantom Menace. Half Japanese deliver another well-wrought album with their usual DIY ethos and art punk spirit at its core (Undisputed Champions), all whilst wearing Jad’s heart firmly on its sleeve (Crazy Hearts). Recorded across various studios in Spain, France and the US, Jad Fair is accompanied by his longstanding band members John Sluggett, Giles Vincent Rieder, Mick Hobbs and Jason Willett. Mastered by Brian Pyle and mixed by Jason Willett of the band. Album includes artwork from American illustrator and cartoonist, Gary Panter and David Fair.
File Under: Indie Rock, Punk, Outsider
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Hampton Hawes: Four! (Craft) LP
Much like Art Pepper, a fellow Angelino, Hampton Hawes would make an excellent subject for a Hollywood biopic (and like Pepper’s memoir Straight Life, Hawes’ Raise Up Off Me is a classic account of the jazz life that could serve as the screenplay). Even more memorable than his evocative prose were his funky, irrepressibly grooving trio and quartet sessions for Contemporary, his primary label throughout his career. Like a West Coast Horace Silver, Hawes honed an utterly personal church-steeped sound inspired by but not beholden to bebop, and this collection captures the breadth and depth of one of jazz’s most appealing yet unsung pianists. Four! highlights the timeless talents of Hawes (piano), Barney Kessel (guitar), Shelly Manne (drums) and Red Mitchell (bass). First released in 1958 and recorded by legendary engineer Roy DuNann, this new edition features all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Bernie Grundman. The record is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QRP and presented in a Stoughton Old Style Tip-On Jacket.
File Under: Jazz
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Weldon Irvine: Cosmic Vortex (Pure Pleasure) LP
After two visionary LPs for his own tiny Nodlew label, Weldon Irvine signed to RCA for “Cosmic Vortex (Justice Divine)”, exploring the deeply spiritual and political terrain of his previous efforts on the kind of grand musical scale that major-label funding accommodates. This is a big, bold record by any measure, with a startlingly pronounced focus on lyrics and vocals. At the same time, however, the melodies spread out like tentacles, informed by the improvisational sensibilities of jazz and the deep-groove spirit of funk.
File Under: Jazz
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Liars: They Threw Us All In a Trench… (Mute) LP
They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top is the first installment of the new Liars reissue series, where every two months an album from their back catalog will be released on recycled colored vinyl. The campaign kicks off with Liars’ debut album, originally released in 2001 and recorded over two days in Brooklyn, New York with producer Steve Revitte (The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Beastie Boys). At the time of its release Liars were Melbourne born Angus Andrew (vocals & pedals), Aaron Hemphill from LA (guitar & drum machine) and Nebraskians Pat Nature (bass & synthbox) and drummer Ron Albertson.
File Under: Rock, Post Punk
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Maggot Brain #9
“Raymond Pettibon on the cover! And on the inside, in a wide-ranging and sweet interview by Adam Woodhead, Pettibon walks us through his entire career, and even makes economics sound interesting. Columns: Lucy Sante (their first autobiographical writing for us, touching and brilliant); Mimi Lipson with a tear-jerker of an advice column; The forgotten hip-hop column is on the enigmatic Son of Bazerk!; A look at forgotten early Hawaiian music in the reissue column; We go into detail about why the mysterious Seymour Glass from Bananafish matters so much; We revisit the roadside America column with a dinosaur theme because why not; There’s a terrific first-person account of growing up in DC right when Fugazi hit and why that band was such a crucial signpost for misfits of all stripes at the time. Also featuring: Cheri Knight: The great Seattle-based scribe Dave Segal goes deep on this neglected experimental pop musician from Olympia in the ’80s; David Nance: Editor Mike McGonigal is fascinated by the way Nance manages to mix up tributes, and collaborations, with such strong solo material; Amy Ruhl: The cinematic visual artist is explored in depth by Chelsea Wolfe; John Brannon: the most epic and excellent career spanning photo packed feature by photographer Doug Coombe; Melvins photo tour diary, entirely by Buzz Osbourne, photos and words; Lidia Yuknavitch: Alex Behr turned in a brilliant interview with the cult writer; Kan Mikami: The Japanese outsider blues-folk musician and actor is interviewed by the LA-based saxophone player and composer Patrick Shiroishi; The Willies: And here we have thanks to Tyler Wilcox the most Maggot Brain type article, a big in-depth, lyrical feature on the Feelies ambient offshoot who have never been written on in-depth; Sarah Elizabeth Schantz: We have some brilliant and timely fiction that deals with gun violence by this great writer.”
File Under: Reading
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Thelonious Monk: Monk’s Dream (Impex) LP
Recorded at the tail end of 1962 and originally issued in 1963, Monk’s Dream served as Thelonious Monk’s debut for Columbia Records after releases for Blue Note, Prestige and Riverside. Working with producer Teo Macero and featured in a quartet setting with Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), John Ore (bass), and Frankie Dunlop, (drums), Monk’s Dream was the best selling LP of Monk’s lifetime, ultimately contributing to his appearance on the cover of Time magazine in 1964. The eight-song set features five Monk originals including the rhythmically complex “Five Spot Blues” and “Bolivar Blues,” as well as a pair of solo sides sans accompaniment in “Just A Gigolo” and “Body and Soul.” Although a majority of the tracks had been previously recorded in various live settings with different titles, this quartet is regarded by many as one of the best groups Monk was ever associated with and it is their studio interpretations of the material that remain the definitive versions and add up to one of Monk’s signature albums! Mastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI, Impex Records’ all-analog 180g vinyl LP reissue allows full immersion in Monk & Co.’s telepathy. Tight, controlled bass lays low under supple mids and crisp highs in ways even the best original pressing can’t touch.
File Under: Jazz
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OK:KO: Liesu (We Jazz) LP
Helsinki quartet OK:KO releases their third album “Liesu” with We Jazz Records on 15 April. The band, led by drummer/composer Okko Saastamoinen and including saxophonist Jarno Tikka, pianist Toomas Keski-Säntti and bassist Mikael Saastamoinen (of Superpostion & Linda Fredriksson “Juniper”) is a scene favourite in Finland and has recently garnered some international attention with their melodic, dynamic and original approach. The OK:KO sound is adventurous yet accessible, and contemporary yet rooted in the lineage of acoustic small group jazz. When listening to OK:KO, you can feel that their influences also come from out of the musical realm. After all, isn’t this just how it should be? Making music from your own life. Here, you can tell that the landscape of rural Finland, its poetic, at times even melancholy beauty, is ever present. It’s folk song country. But don’t be fooled, these guys form a real flesh and blood jazz band. That means that the music just starts when the first note hits, and onwards from there, we’re in for a wild ride. Whether punchy like on “Anima”, solemn like on “Arvo”, or just trekking out there on a skiing lane of their own like on “Vanhatie”, what you’ll get is pure OK:KO. Melodic, interactive, honest and forward-reaching contemporary jazz music. That is something we appreciate – a lot!
File Under: Jazz
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Amanda Shires: Take It Like A Man (ATO) LP
Grammy and Americana Award-winning singer/songwriter and violinist, Amanda Shires, has pushed the reset button with Take It Like a Man, a record that is so unlike anything she has ever recorded that you would be tempted to think it was her debut album instead of her seventh. Shires, who also plays in The Highwomen, worked with producer Lawrence Rothman (Angel Olsen, Kim Gordon) to make a fearless confessional, showing the world what turning 40 looks like in 10 emotionally raw tracks.
File Under: Folk, Country, Rock
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Tool: Fear Inoculum (RCA) 3LP
Fear Inoculum is the Grammy award-winning masterpiece from Tool. Following the release of the limited edition single pressing ultra-deluxe 5 disc vinyl box set, this critically acclaimed album is available now as a 3 disc 180-gram set, that features new artwork in a triple gatefold jacket and an exclusive poster. Tool members include drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, bassist Justin Chancellor and vocalist Maynard James Keenan.
File Under: Metal
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Eddie Vedder: Earthling (Republic) LP
Earthling serves as Eddie Vedder’s first solo album since releasing Ukelele Songs in 2011 and third overall. Helmed by reigning Grammy Producer of the Year Andrew Watt and recorded at his Beverly Hills studio, the new collection comes introduced by the singles “Long Way,” “The Halves” and “Brother The Cloud.” Earthling features collaborations with a multitude of music legends including Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr, and Elton John. In a New York Times Magazine interview Eddie noted: “the album is structured kind of like a concert: The special guests come out at the end. Stevie, then Elton, then we’ve got our “Mrs. Mills” song with Ringo. Then the last special guest was my father, whom I really didn’t get to know.” Right out of the gate, Earthling landed to widespread critical acclaim. Spin hailed “Brother The Cloud” as “a multi-faceted rock track with a powerful finish,” and Rolling Stone praised, “Despite its upbeat, guitar-heavy arrangement, the track explores the emotional upheaval caused by the loss of a close companion.” Brooklyn Vegan dubbed it an “anthemic and punky rock song with terrific vocal performance from Eddie and very hooky chorus,” and Stereogum put it best as “a positively ripping, arena-worthy rock anthem.” Other standouts include “Long Way,” of which Variety noted, “the strident, guitar-driven “Long Way” finds Vedder narrating a tale of a man haunted by a lost love,” and “The Haves,” which Stereogum described “a searching heart ballad about personal connection, and it addresses the increasing divide between rich and poor.”
File Under: Rock, Pearl Jam
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Roger Webb: Vocal Patterns (De Wolfe) LP
When you drop the needle on Vocal Patterns, you are entering a world that is equal parts suave, smooth, cool, nostalgic, and kitsch. With haunting and beautiful vocals, upbeat numbers, and smooth sounds made for a late 60’s summer holiday, let this cult classic transport you back to a simpler time. Originally released in 1971, Vocal Patterns features compositions by Roger Webb and vocal performances by Barbara Moore. This powerhouse duo has their own recognition outside of library music. Roger Webb worked as a musical director alongside the likes of Rex Harrison and Bette Davis and wrote songs for Shirley Bassey and Johnny Mathis. Barbara Moore, composer of the de Wolfe cult classic Vocal Shades and Tones, collaborated with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Dusty Springfield, and Tom Jones.
File Under: Library
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Neil Young + Promise of the Real: Noise and Flowers (Reprise) LP
Neil Young + Promise Of The Real deliver the new live album, Noise & Flowers, that captures the group in all their glory on their 2019 European tour. The release will be accompanied by a similarly titled concert film that’s included in a Deluxe Edition of the album. Noise & Flowers documents a 9-date tour that began just two weeks after Young’s lifetime friend and manager of more than 50 years, Elliot Roberts, passed away at age 76. Performing alongside a photograph of Roberts taped to his road case, Young approached each show as a celebratory memorial service to honor his late friend. It’s a trek the legendary singer/songwriter describes as “wondrous.” “Playing in his memory [made it] one of the most special tours ever,” Young says in the album’s liner notes. “We hit the road and took his great spirit with us into every song. This music belongs to no one. It’s in the air. Every note was played for music’s great friend, Elliot.” In paying tribute to the manager who guided Young’s career for over a half-century, Noise & Flowers explores all corners of his vast discography. It balances all-timer anthems (“Mr. Soul,” “Helpless,” “Rockin’ in the Free World”) with rarely aired ‘70s deep cuts (“Field of Opportunity,” “On the Beach”) and ’90s gems (“From Hank to Hendrix,” “Throw Your Hatred Down”). His frequent backing band since 2015, Promise of the Real effectively bridges the extremes in Young’s sound, infusing his raging rockers and country serenades with their casual brilliance and telepathic intuition.
File Under: Rock
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Various: ATA Records: The Library Archive Vol. 2 (ATA) LP
The spirit of KPM, DeWolfe & I Marc 4 distilled in a lockup garage in Leeds returns for a second helping. The funky, atmospheric, evocative and sometimes downright weird output of companies such as DeWolfe, Cavendish, Burton and the ubiquitous KPM have always been a guiding inspiration for ATA Records, as evidenced in the spooky soundtrack works of The Sorcerers, the big band brass of The Yorkshire Film & Television Orchestra and even in the soul-jazz of The Lewis Express (‘Theme From The Watcher’). It only seemed natural for the team at ATA Records to scratch their own Library itch and so last year’s “The Library Archive Vol. 1” was born. Recorded over a series of sessions in the Alladins cave of vintage recording equipment that is ATA studios, it featured many of the stalwart musicians from the label who can also be found recording with The Sorcerers, Work Money Death and The Lewis Express. Garnering praise from Library aficionado Shawn Lee (“Holy F*$K this sounds great! ATA really smash the classic British Library sound. 10 out of 10”) and the Don of British Library Music himself Alan Hawkshaw, “The Library Archive Vol. 1” was very well received and so a follow up was inevitable. Recorded during the Autumn of 2020, “The Library Archive Vol. 2” still has the golden age of European Library music squarely in it’s sights, but this time the focus is drawn more to the wonky organ work of Italian quartet I Marc 4. Opening track ‘The Glass Eye’ starts things off with a tense bass riff, atmospheric percussion and a haunting organ melody. ‘Mosey Rambler’ brings things into more amiable territory before ‘Windie Man’ soundtracks an early 70s sporting highlights reel or student hash party. ‘Ice Cool’ introduces vocal elements reminiscent of Barbara Moore’s ethereal output before ‘Cleared For Launch’ blasts into the upper atmosphere and ‘Swamp Cat’ Channels Johnny Hawksworth’s theme tune to ‘Roobarb’ to close out the first side. Side B kicks off proceedings with the knockout ‘Fight Or Fuzz’ before settling into the Addam’s Familyesque ‘Mysterious Manor’. The frenetic organ and bongos of ‘Push & Go’ could quite easily accompany detectives Regan & Carter as they chase down another east end villain, while ‘Sensed Presence’ brings a sense of otherworldly menace. ‘The Actuator’ gets the wheels moving before LP closer ‘Going Galactic’ takes us back to the mothership. Each track has been lovingly crafted with a keen ear for authenticity and the same eye for detail shown on ‘The Library Archive Vol. 1’, recorded on the same instruments and equipment and with the same techniques as the music that inspired it. The Library Archive is a labour of love for the label with more volume’s planned.
File Under: Library
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…..restocks…..
Air: Moon Safari (Parlophone) LP
Caustic Wound: Death Posture (Profound Lore) LP
Patsy Cline: Sweet Dreams (Third Man) LP
Coil: Time Machines (Dais) LP
The Cure: Three Imaginary Boys (Rhino) LP
Damned: Damned Damned Damned (BMG) LP
Nick Drake: Pink Moon (Island) LP
Ella Fitzgerald: How High the Moon (Universal) LP
Fontaines D.C.: A Hero’s Death (Partisan) LP
Fontaines D.C.: Dogrel (Partisan) LP
Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On (Motown) LP
Idles: Ultra Mono (Partisan) LP
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: Soul Time! (Daptone) LP
Jr. Thomas & The Volcanos: Rockstone (Colemine) LP
King Geedorah: Take Me To Your Leader (Brainfeeder) LP
Kinks: Village Green Preservation Society (BMG) LP
Cate Le Bon: Pompeii (Mexican Summer) LP
Massive Attack: Mezzanine (Virgin) LP
Molchat Doma: etazhi (Sacred Bones) LP
Shuggie Otis: Here Comes… (Music on Vinyl) LP
Placebo: Ball of Eyes (Music on Vinyl) LP
Placebo: s/t (Music on Vinyl) LP
Placebo: 1973 (Music on Vinyl) LP
Smiths: Strangeways, Here We Come (Rhino) LP
Tame Impala: Currents (Modular) LP
Thundercat: It Is What It Is (Brainfeeder) LP
Tonstartssbandht: An When (Fire Talk) LP
Tonstartssbandht: Dick Nights (Fire Talk) LP
Tonstartssbandht: Hymn (Fire Talk) LP
Neil Young: On the Beach (Reprise) LP
Various: Cameroon Garage Funk (Analog Africa) LP