VA - Califia: The Songs Of Lee Hazlewood

The late great Lee Hazlewood was one hell of an ornery contrarian. And, bless his soul, he also happened to be one multi-talented musical tour-de-force: eccentric singer, songwriter, record label owner, and producer. We’ve seen several sterling Hazlewood reissues crop up over the years, but Califia is a compilation with a twist, amassing twenty-five tantalizing tracks he wrote and produced for himself and others between 1956 and ’70.

And those “others” in question? Irrefutable talents like Duane Eddy (whose twangy instrumental hits initially made Hazelwood a record producer to be reckoned with), legendary session guitarist Al Casey, drummer extraordinaire Hal Blaine, blue-eyed soul belter Dusty Springfield, cinematic sex symbol Ann-Margret, and, of course, Nancy Sinatra, who hit the big-time when Hazlewood recommended that she ‘sing like a gal who goes out with 45-year old truckers’ on her immortal 1966 smash, “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’”.

Califia, the latest volume in Ace Records’ unbeatable songwriters and producers series, provides a fascinating sonic portrait of the early years of Hazlewood’s career. Bouncing back and forth chronologically, the disc’s many treasures include Sanford Clark’s bluesy 1956 rockabilly hit, “The Fool”, rhythm ‘n’ blues vocal group The Sharps’ raucous number, “Have Love, Will Travel”, Suzi Jane Hokom’s irresistibly infectious go-go groover, “Need All the Help I Can Get”, Dusty Springfield’s swingin’ “Sweet Ride”, and Lee’s own vocal turn on the creepy oddity, “The Girl on Death Row”, originally written for an obscure film.

In fact, by the late Sixties, Hazlewood had acquired quite a knack for giving his songs a dramatic and panoramic Technicolor big-screen feel. Listen to Ann-Margret’s “You Turned My Head Around” and its ferocious fuzz pedal-powered wall of sound (the teen-aged Phil Spector picked up many a production tip from Hazlewood, by the way), Duane and Miriam Eddy’s twang-a-delic “Guitar on My Mind”, and the album’s smokin’ title track, an undeservedly obscure 1969 duet between Lee and his then-girlfriend, Suzi Jane Hokum, that has all the epic qualities of the hits on which he and Nancy Sinatra shared vocal duties. 

Rockabilly, r‘n’b, country, novelty tunes, garage, stripped-down instrumentals, and orchestrated pop productions: Hazlewood wrote, recorded, and sang (with his inimitable baritone) ‘em all. Nearly everything he touched was imbued with his dry self-deprecating wit, and even if you already have one or more of his solo albums, Califia’s worth getting for the way it sums up his genius. Yes, genius, a word I generally don’t toss around very lightly, but one that pretty much describes up good ol’ ornery Lee to a “t”.

PASTOR T.L. BARRETT - Like A Ship (Without A Sail)

When we reviewed Good God! Born Again Funk earlier this year, it was the opening cut, “Like A Ship (Without A Sail)”, that impressed us the most. Recorded in 1971 by Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth For Christ Choir, the track upped the stakes for standard gospel, which always made the effort to communicate directly with god, this time sonically approximating the sound of a congregation beamed down from heaven above. The gargantuan sound generated by Barrett’s 40-strong youth choir was bolstered by Gene Barge and Richard Evans (both session heavies for Chess Records), guitar giant Phil Upchurch, and Barrett’s own piano chops, which he developed during his time at Manhattan’s Village Gate in the '60s. Back in his hometown of Chicago, Barrett took over the pulpit at Mt. Zion Church and built up a massive flock, with Sun Ra, Phil Cohran, Donny Hathaway, and Earth Wind & Fire’s Maurice White and Philip Bailey all dropping by to dig the deep spiritual vibes. Add to that his involvement in Jesse Jackson’s black-empowerment Operation Breadbasket, and you can see why Barrett’s strong musical/religious influence in Chicago led to a street being named after him!

A serious rarity on the vinyl market, Like A Ship (Without A Sail) is also a rare work of inspiration in every sense of the word: gospel music so rarely sounds this groovy, updating Ray Charles’ sacred soul-jazz to suit the times (“Blessed Quietness”), and at times also showing the influence Hathaway had on Barrett (“Wonderful”). Honestly, as a hardened atheist, I’d join this choir nonetheless just to thrill in the pure oxytocin-induced joy of singing this music. My vote for most sublime reissue of the year!  

VA - Local Customs: Lone Star Lowlands

Venerated excavating reissue label the Numero Group rarely do rock (their power-pop sets notwithstanding), so it comes as an even bigger surprise that they would devote a 'numero' (034, to be precise) to demos from an obscure recording studio in Beaumont, Texas, two hours from Houston. 

Known for producing the Winter brothers, Barbara Lynn, and a lot of oil, Beaumont, from the sounds of this collection, had quite a lively and diverse scene. Local bands with their eyes on the big-time demoed material at the Lowland studios during the classic-rock era. Numero, in typical fashion, listened to every single tape in the studio’s archive, and after two years they assembled this impressive set of could-have-beens.

Of course, there's some southern blues-rock here, thanks to bands like Circus and their fitting-to-form cowbell. Most interestingly, though, the best material here avoids clichés. Insight Out are unmistakably country-tinged rock, and “It Makes You Feel So Bad” is a paean to friendship à la The Band’s “The Weight”, while Morning Sun do good takes on CSN (“Where’s Love Gone Today” features hilariously out-of-time cowbell) and Emitt Rhodes bubblegum (“Let’s Take A Walk In The Woods”). Meanwhile, “Dream Away” by Hope could have been in Neil Young’s ear just before penning his “Harvest Moon”. 

And who knew that Texas had a pub rock scene? The Next Exit go all Dr. Feelgood and proto-Television on “Take A Look At Your Friends.” Linda Crowe gives an unexpectedly fast piano-led waltz, channeling Dionne Warwick more than Janis Joplin, on “I Still Remember”, and the delightfully-named Sassy will break your heart with his Bobby Charles-esque “She’s My Daughter.”

On it goes over twenty-two tracks (twenty-eight if you fetch the double vinyl!); Lone Star Lowlands will easily sit among the top rock comps released this year.  

TAGES - Studio

Long before ABBA released their string of Seventies smashes and more than thirty years before The Hives burst out of their garage, Sweden was boasting some of the best bands to hail outside the U.K. and the U.S. Singing mainly in English, beat/mod combos such as The Shanes, The Lee Kings and The Namelosers put out records almost on par with what the finest Anglo/American groups had to offer. At the top of the Swedish pop crop was Tages, whose singles and albums reflected the evolution of English rock from the early to late '60s (and, might I add, bloody brilliantly at that!).

Tages' fifth and final LP was Studio, released in late 1967 and now finally available for the non-Swedish world to savour in all its melodic glory, especially if you're already partial to albums like The Zombies' Odessey And Oracle or even Sgt. Pepper. But no matter how much Swingin' London pop rubbed off on Tages' style, they still weren't afraid to psych things up with traditional Swedish classical and folk influences, instead of simply strumming a sitar.

With bonus tracks consisting of their last few singles, socially-conscious lyrics about then-taboo topics like unwed motherhood and transvestism, charming flower-power idealism, and more hooks than a meat locker, Tages' Studio is something that's worth checkin' out—a hard-to-beat pop-sike treat and one of the most impressive reissues I've heard this year. 

VA - The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria

Just a few months after Soundway Records announced that the Nigeria Special series was coming to a close with the release of Nigeria Special Volume 2 and Nigeria Afrobeat Special, they've backtracked on that promise, sort of (not that any of us at the shop are disappointed!).

The World Ends continues on from that already-legendary series, though not in title, yet this could have easily been titled as the second volume to Nigeria Rock Special from a couple years back. That this one is a double CD (divided into two separate double-vinyl sets with bonus tracks for guaranteed deep grooves to shake floors with) adds to the question of why label boss Miles Cleret may have considered putting his Nigerian crates on ice. I, for one, am still hoping they will start focusing on single-artist collections and original album reissues. Until then, let’s dig into the music presented here, shall we?

Though virgin ears would never think of this as 'rock', Nigerian rock kept its African roots while happily taking in the sounds of Anglo-American youth culture, bringing the guitar to the fore at the expense of horns, which lessened in importance in the early '70s rock bands. The guitar increasingly became a lead instrument, in contrast to both the complex arpeggios of highlife rhythm patterns and the waka-waka comping role that the guitar played in Afrobeat. In post-Biafran War Nigeria, the youth were looking for something new, and this collection documents how young musicians sought a break from older modes associated with the past.

If you already have Nigeria Rock Special, you’ll have some idea of what to expect here, which, in Woodstock terms, is much more Santana and Sly Stone than, say, Canned Heat or Ten Years After—groove still rules here over heaviosity, hips and feet-shaking over headbanging. “Nwantinti/Die Die” by Ify Jerry Krusade opens with a Spector-esque teenbeat teaser before a drum comes in, sending the track into a much more rump-shaking direction. Many of the tracks here sung are in non-Pidjin English, and The Action 13, with their overt rock riffage replete with proto-Neil Hagerty near-free soloing, exemplify this.

I could keep going, but I’ll save it for the inevitable next installment of Nigerian music from the great people at Soundway. Trust me: there’ll be more to come.

LO BORGES - S/T

Over the years, I have not been able to get beyond a couple of songs on Milton Nascimento’s 1972 career-defining Clube Da Esquina. Blame the slick production and smooth baroque vibe, but I have avoided most of the other musicians associated with that album, including Lô Borges.

Well, more fool me. With 14 songs over 27 minutes, this is in many ways antithetical to Nascimento’s overblown album, though equally hard to define. Many songs are fragmentary yet fully realized, densely packed with quirkily muscular musicianship and atmosphere that could have only been produced in the '70s. Here, there are echoes of Paul Williams’ melancholy (“Faca Seu Jogo”), Serge Gainsbourg’s stoned funk (“Você Fica Melhor Assim”), and Pierre Barouh’s international bohemian folk-jazz Saravah label (“Pensa Você”); and, in this post-Tropicalista period, Borges even cleverly morphs a Nilsson-tinged ditty into a psychedelic forró (“Não Foi Nada”)!

This is a wonderfully odd, shape-shifting album that will have you scratching your head for years to come. 

VA - Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth

Ah, bubblegum music. You'd think that in this day and age, this chewy, sticky genre would get the respect it deserves, right? I mean, sure, lots of folks who groove to '60s soul and garage may give lip service to the pleasures found in aurally masticating a wad of sugary cud, but do they actually take this stuff SERIOUSLY? This reviewer does...

Not too solemnly, though, as befits a style of music that was the missing link between mid-'60s teenpunk and early-'70s glam. Bubblegum pop/rock, specifically whipped up to appeal to kids too young to wrap their heads around—and blow their minds to—hard psych, is celebrated here in all its gooey glory: a tasty re-ish of a compilation first released in 1969 by Buddah Records, one of the prime purveyors of pop (bubblegum division). The British label Rev-ola has lovingly included a buzzin' dozen of the fourteen tunes on the original album, along with an additional seven sweet ditties.

Most of the big bubblicious names are here: The 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Ohio Express, and The Lemon Pipers keep cool company with the likes of The Shadows Of Knight and Salt Water Taffy. From "Yummy Yummy" and "Chewy Chewy" to "1, 2, 3 Red Light" (covered by the early Talking Heads) and "Indian Giver" (nicely redone by The Ramones years later—those New York punks knew a tasty piece of gum when they chewed one), these studio concoctions go beyond their creators' intentions of appealing/pandering to susceptible youth. With bright melodies, double-entendre nursery rhyme lyrics, and occasional garage grit, a type of pop once dismissed as disposable fluff has ultimately never lost its flavour one bit. Chew on!

BOB ANDY & MARCIA GRIFFITHS - Young, Gifted & Black

It’s about time! That’s what I have to say about this latest set of Universal reissues of original albums that feature classic Trojan singles. As a fan of the song “Young Gifted & Black” by Bob & Marcia since childhood, I’m very pleased with this release in particular.

Marcia Griffiths started with Byron Lee’s Dragonaires in 1964. Later, as one of the I Threes, she gave sweet trio harmony to Bob Marley during his Island years. Along the way, she recorded her best-known singles, “Feel Like Jumping” (divine!) and “Electric Boogie” (unfortunately huge). Bob Andy was a songwriter and a former member of the Paragons (“The Tide is High”) by the time this album was recorded in 1970.

Their best-known hit, the title track, was a radical reworking of Nina Simone’s powerful paean to black pride, given mass appeal by Trojan, who furnished it with a delicious string arrangement in England, guaranteeing its message a mass audience. The choice of unlikely covers shows how the duo had a keen ear for the underrated classic (“Private Number” by Judy Clay and William Bell, and “Get Ourselves Together” by Delaney & Bonnie), and totally surprising (who would have thought Simon & Garfunkel’s “Keep the Customer Satisfied” would work in a Jamaican context?). Their versions of “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” are more typical, but no less appealing.

This is a superb pop/rocksteady record, right up there with other duet albums like the aforementioned Delaney & Bonnie’s Home, and Bobbie Gentry & Glenn Campbell’s collaboration. 

VA - John Armstrong Presents: South African Funk Experience

There have been endless collections over the years documenting various forms of global funk, mostly from west Africa, but this is the only collection of South African funk that I can think of, and it’s brought to you by John Armstrong, curator of the similarly-named Cuban Funk Experience. Armstrong has been a collector of South African music since the 1980s, and his deep knowledge shows in the detailed notes on each of his selections. 

The set he’s put together is not funk in the way we think of funk in the west, though there is definitely a strong black American influence to shake up the joyful tone that characterizes popular South African music. The Mahatolla Queens are wonderful as usual, whether on their own (“Asambeni Bafana”) or backing up Mahlathini (“Wozan Mahipi”). Ex-pats are represented as well, and Armstrong gives some spotlight to exiles in Britain such as Chris MacGregor (on the Joe Boyd-produced “Andromeda”) and Dudu Pukwana. As the World Cup starts to recede from memory, keep the party going with this one. 

ALICE CLARK - The Studio Recordings 1968-1972

First things first: cue track two, “Don’t You Care”, a vocal and instrumental tour-de-force that became an anthem of the early-'90s London club-jazz scene, when it was rescued from oblivion by rare-groove crate diggers. The same cannot be said about the mysterious Alice Clark, who recorded the track for her only album and then disappeared into total obscurity. Nobody really knows very much about her beyond fuzzy recollections from her sessions. What we do know is that she lent her powerful vocals to the Mainstream label, better known for jazz releases but looking in 1972 to tap into the soul market (also check out A Loud Minority: Deep Spiritual Jazz from Mainstream Records 1970-1973,  which came out last month).

Clark’s self-titled album, found here along with a couple of sides she had previously recorded with Warner, gets an extra boost from the Mainstream players, especially from exceptionally propulsive drums and horns, and arrangements from Ernie Wilkins. The thrill I get listening to “Don’t You Care” (penned by Bobby Hebb of “Sunny” fame) has made it my most-listened-to track of the year so far. What makes this album such a unique thrill—much tighter and jazzier than typical soul, from a singer too Lyn Collins-raw for jazz—is what made it so unmarketable when it came out. It's a shame; she should have been bigger than this. 

(As a postscript, if I had known in January that this would be released domestically, I still would have bought the expensive Japanese import after sampling a few tracks. You just can’t pass up a discovery of such urgent greatness as this. This will surely be in my year-end list—highest recommendation!)

VICKI ANDERSON - Wide Awake In A Dream: James Brown Productions From The Pre-Funk Years

This one might surprise those who are more familiar with Vicki Anderson’s '70s funk period. Anderson got her start in the James Brown Soul Revue in 1965, replacing Anna King before vacating her position with the entry of Marva Whitney in 1968. While she did rejoin in 1969 for another three years before being replaced by the equally tough Lyn Collins, it’s her original stint as one of Brown’s Soul Sisters that provides the focus here. Her earliest work fits neatly into the early female soul genre, but that doesn’t make it any less worthy. An early highlight is “My Man”, which I’m willing to bet money was a key influence on the Zombies’ “Time of the Season” with same syncopation and background sighing ahhh’s, and a near-identical key. 

Aside from Motown, New Orleans (in particular Irma Thomas’ waltz-time classics) provides the strongest shading to her stylings. It’s all prime '60s soul, made all the more exciting by a couple of great duets with Brown on “Think” and an incendiary reworking of the Everlys' “Let It Be Me” that will knock the top of your head off. Of course, she also duets with Bobby Byrd, Brown’s right-hand man and Anderson’s husband by this point, on “Loving You”. There’s a reason why James Brown called Anderson the best singer he ever had in the Revue—now it’s up to you to find out why.    

VA - Bo Diddley Is A Songwriter

A reference to the album Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger, this collection is a cracking tribute to the man who brought a cooler style and exoticism to black rock’n’roll as compared to the volcanic Little Richard and the country-influenced riffage of Chuck Berry. Bo Diddley’s patented clave-derived groove (he actually tried to copyright that beat!), augmented by the ever-faithful Jerome on shakers, became one of the primordial ingredients of rock and continues to influence new generations of musicians. Since the Originator, as he is also known, was not a songwriter in the traditional sense of selling songs for a living, this is more of a covers collection, which is just fine considering the talent that’s been assembled by the always-reliable folks at Ace as part of their ongoing series spotlighting the great songwriters of the rock era. 

Buddy Holly was the first key figure to pay homage to the man born Ellas Otha Bates, and sings “Bo Diddley” here, but check his famous “Not Fade Away” (not included), which also showed such a strong influence that the song became a rare cover of another white artist by the Rolling Stones. Casual fans of the sophisticated Zombies may not know they did a raucous take on “Roadrunner”. Similarly, others will swoon over The Everly Brothers' Byrds-y cover of the soda-fountain classic “Love is Strange”. Let us not forget that The Pretty Things named themselves after one of the late master’s songs, and that tune turns up here. You might have already heard Captain Beefheart’s “Diddy Wah Diddy” and the New York Dolls' lascivious ode to a rock’n’roll nurse in “Pills”, but add in The Downliners Sect, Ian & Sylvia, Los Lobos, and The Animals and you’re beginning to get an idea of the sheer magnitude of Bo Diddley’s influence. This is a virtual history of rock music all in one snappy package. Doot doola doot-doo, doot-doo!

JOHNNY HALLYDAY - Le Roi de France 1966-1969

Let's play a little game of "what if": what if instead of staging a soul/gospel-infused comeback in 1968, Elvis Presley attempted suicide, dropped acid, and then recorded psychedelic rock? Obviously that scenario never transpired, but something awfully similar happened to France's version of Elvis, Johnny Hallyday, when the former teen idol began to convincingly adopt all the trademarks of LSD-fueled pop/rock.

The RPM reissue label has now handily put onto one disc the cream of Hallyday's attempts at total heavyosity; backed by Jimmy Page, Brian Auger, The Small Faces and other hard-hitting British musicians, the French vocalist belts out song after song, and sounds not unlike Tom Jones fronting the early Deep Purple (and that's a compliment, by the way!). With some gorgeous orchestral pop tunes thrown in for good measure, this compilation should appeal to those of you who gleefully discovered last year's excellent RPM collection of Jacques Dutronc. Vive la France, indeed!

VA - You Baby: Words & Music by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri

Of all the brilliantly gifted songwriters who created Top 40-bound confections for '60s hitmakers, Philip "Flip" Sloan remains the most enigmatic. Originally from New York City, Sloan moved to Los Angeles with his parents and by his late teens had already become a prolific tunesmith. Teaming up with the equally young and talented Steve Barri, Sloan came up with demos given to r'n'b and surf combos as well as female pop vocalists—compositions which would often get released by acts on the Dunhill label (home of The Mamas and the Papas and The Grass Roots).

This long-overdue comp features several of the hits penned by Sloan and Barri, along with many more obscure gems. It makes no difference if we're talking Beach Boys-like harmony surf-pop by Jan and Dean, jingle-jangling folk-rock by The Turtles and The Searchers, irresistably infectious Merseybeat-style melodicism by Herman's Hermits, or the most infamous doomsday protest song of 'em all by Barry McGuire, this dynamic duo excelled at crafting instantly and eternally memorable material. After having listened a couple of times to the twenty-five tracks here, the odds are good that you'll be eager to hear more.

The aforementioned enigma of P.F. Sloan basically involves his failure to establish himself as a singer-songwriter in his own right despite having proven himself so successful a hitmaker for others. After releasing two albums that flopped in the marketplace, his label, Dunhill, apparently forced him out of the music biz when he refused to curtail his attempts to forge a solo career and instead stick to churning out radio-friendlier tunes for hire. Sloan, for all intents and purposes, eventually disappeared, even if his knack for folk-rock introspection peppered with his unique pop smarts was compelling. It's quite a sad story, one that nevertheless finally ends on a redemptive note, with the 2008 reissue of Sloan's solo recordings, not to mention this new anthology of the hook-filled singles he co-wrote with Steve Barri.

VA - Palenque Palenque: Champeta Criolla & Afro Roots In Colombia 1975-91

Another genius set from Soundway, purveyors of no-nonsense global Afro-diasporic music, this time opening the book on champeta, a popular form for blacks in Cartagena and Barranquilla, cities that lie on the Carribean coast of Colombia. While most know Colombia for cumbia and its many permutations, head compiler Lucas Da Silva, boss of his own Palenque imprint, follows the development of champeta’s beginnings in the '70s, when local musicians took to Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat and began to integrate the Black President’s rhythmic sensibility and interlocking guitar parts into their local styles, which already took in soukous, calypso, zouk, and compas.

If you have a copy of the Fela tribute album Black Man’s Cry from earlier this year, you’ll be familiar with Lisandro Mesa’s “Shacalao,” one of a handful of covers of Kuti’s “Shakara” and an early example of champeta. Then, as it is now, it was the soundtrack blasted by sound systems in the rougher parts of town, but what you get here are the raw goods before modern production techniques slicked things up. 

Volume 2, please? Or how about a trawl through other untapped Colombian forms like fandango and puya next? There have been a few Colombian comps put out lately, but we’ve barely scratched the surface, folks. Soundway, bring it on!

MIRIAM MAKEBA - South Africa's Skylark

This being the summer of South Africa’s World Cup, it was only natural that the reissue gods would grace us with a bounty of musical gifts to provide the soundtrack to half-time breaks and post-game parties. Nascente, the label that has also recently put out the excellent Beginner’s Guide to South Africa (3 discs for $18.99!), brings us a generous survey of one of the legends of South African music, the late Mariam Makeba. There have been many collections of her work in the past, but this one covers the broadest span of her career (including her early years with the Skylarks, my personal favourite Makeba period). Exiled to America, where she recorded some of her most famous recordings (“Pata Pata” and “The Click Song” are here, of course), Makeba became deeply involved in the Civil Rights movement and caused a stir when she married Black Panther Stokely Carmichael. In fact, the marriage left her a hot potato for bookers and label bosses, as tours and record deals were cancelled. What followed was a spell in Zaire (she performed at the Rumble In The Jungle match between Ali and Foreman), where she recorded for the fantastic Syliphone label, tracks from which are also included here.

You couldn’t overstate Makeba’s position as one of the great female vocalists of the last 50 years. Off the top of my head, she’s right up there with Elis Regina, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield, but upped the ante by singing in multiple languages and countries, bridging the gap between South African jazz and American folk, soul and funk, and never compromising her political views. Over two discs and forty-five selections, there’s just too much great music to resist here. Get on this now!

VA - Nicola Conte Presents Spiritual Swingers

Originally available last year only as a very expensive Japanese import, fans on these shores of Nicola Conte can rejoice in gaining tantalizing hints of his famously deep record crates. Following his two-part Viagem series of rare bossa nova and Brazilian jazz, the stylish Italian thrills us this time with a smashing set billed as “spiritual swingers,” but it would be more aptly referred to as “the roots of spiritual jazz”, since most of this material predates the heyday of spiritual jazz, most famously typified by A Love Supreme by John Coltrane (1965) and Karma by Pharaoh Sanders (1969).

Yes, it’s an unorthodox take on the sub-genre, since most spiritual comps focus on Black Power Afrocentrism, hippie exoticism, indie-label free jazz wigouts and outrageously long and meditative sleigh-bell-sprinkled vamps. However, Conte wouldn’t be so well respected if he didn’t know his stuff. Going as far back as 1957 for Lorez Alexandria’s oft-compiled “Baltimore Oriole,” he showcases a period in jazz in which space, mood, timbre, and tonal colour were trademarks of such forward-thinking labels as OJC, Prestige, and Fantasy. So you get homages to Miles’ Kind of Blue (Mark Murphy doing “Milestones” and the Klaus Weiss Trio’s oceans-deep “Subo"), Anita O’Day (!) taking on Horace Silver’s “Senor Blues,” the Quincy Jones-arranged “Swahili” by Clark Terry, George Gruntz’ “Spanish Castles” (joined by the great Barney Wilen on soprano), Alice Clark’s arranger Ernie Wilkins waltzing to “The Hooter,” and so much more.

You would need a small fortune to own all of these tracks in their original form, which would mean nothing if the music wasn’t so expertly sequenced and so completely inspiring. A pure triumph, and proof of how important vinyl excavators are in this current musical climate. Don’t miss this one.

VA - Deutsche Elektronische Musik: Experimental German Rock and Electronic Music 1972-83

Aside from a bunch of outrageously-named collections from a few years ago (Kraut! Demons! Kraut!, for example, or Obscured by Krauts, to name but two), there has been a surprisingly small industry dedicated to this highly-fetishized era of German progressive rock and electronic music. Leave it to Soul Jazz, then, to not only do it with authority, but to have the nerve to stretch the timeline into the early '80s, when the genre had been largely abandoned by its diehard fans. Heck, even today, the umbrella term “Krautrock” (conspicuously unmentioned in both the title and subtitle of this set) and its main proponents are largely unknown to most Germans.

Key events of the last couple of years have precipitated this release, namely the recent tours of Cluster and Faust; the remastering of Kraftwerk’s definitive catalogue and release of an unauthorized but leagues-deep DVD, Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution (check our shelves!), which documented both the band and the development of the scene as a whole; and Black Dog Publishing's Krautrock: Cosmic Rock and Its Legacy book from last winter (we’ve got that one, too!).

Soul Jazz serves up a double-disc survey that kindly summarizes the key players (minus the preciously protective Kraftwerk) that would satisfy neu-comers and vets alike. Sequencer-meisters Cluster and solo members Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, along with Kluster's enigmatic Conrad Schnitzler (who shows up on the cold wave “Auf Dem Schwarzen Canal”) are here; so is the more hippy flute-crazy wing (Kollectiv, Ibliss). Of course, there’s also Can (post-Mooney/Sukuki), Faust, Harmonia, Neu!, Ash Ra Tempel, and Amon Düül II. And then there are late entries La Düsseldorf and E.M.A.K., who both underline how key the Teutonic influence really was on rock's New Wave.

A highly immersive experience, replete with fine liners and wonderfully garish packaging, Deutsche Elektronische Musik is wholly mind-expanding, and a mere scratching of the surface of an oft-referred-to but underheard world of music.

MINNIE RIPERTON - Perfect Angel

Before recording Perfect Angel in 1973, the late Minnie Riperton’s career was already on the wane after spending the late '60s with the Rotary Connection and then going solo with the Charles Stepney-produced Come To My Garden in 1970. Coaxed back to the studio three years later and driven by the guiding hand of Stevie Wonder on a bunch of key tracks, it was a slow build on the sales front, mostly because of its broad scope, covering rock (opener “Reasons”), weird jazz-soul (“Take A Little Trip”) and, of course, the twee-est soul track in history (“Lovin’ You”). It was the latter, originally a melody to soothe her daughter (former SNL cast member Maya Rudolph), that audaciously dropped drums in favour of Fender Rhodes, chirping birds, and those earth-shattering whistle-range notes, and guaranteed the album its place in the pantheon of hard-to-place R&B records. Nearly 40 years later, it still holds up as strongly as material from like-minded artists like Syreeta and the great Jon Lucien. Oh, and dig that delicious cover, too! 

VA - Keb Darge & Paul Weller Present Lost & Found: Real R'n'B & Soul

The first eye-opening Lost & Found set, from Keb Darge and Cut Chemist, surprised everyone by ignoring the funk in favour of rockabilly (!) and jump blues, and helped forge the way for the micro-'50s revival niche. Darge, a former disco dance champ way back in the day known to collectors for being the supreme chief of deep funk 45s (his DJ sets are legendary), teams up this time with the Modfather, Paul Weller (whose unceasing recording career eclipses the fact that he has been a soul connoisseur for nearly 40 years) on Lost & Found take two. Both are expert selectors, and have been responsible for some seriously deep comps over the last decade. While both are in a relative comfort zone, you can imagine the smiles they shared when they agreed to the challenge of keeping things pre-1970.  

Darge takes the first slot, straying from the funk while not losing the feel for hard-driving numbers, whether they be Northern jumpers or '50s big-band blues. His choice to open with Big Mama Thornton’s “They Call Me Big Mama,” hardly a deep cut, shows that he is going for a vibe more than he is trying to display his cache of rare gems. He still wins on the rarities front, though, especially with the only A-side recorded by Big “T” Tyler, the rocking “King Kong.”

Paul Weller goes for the sweeter, skittering sounds of hidden sides from better-known singers like Tammi Terrell, Bobby Bland, and the Dells, and takes a chance on a couple of straight blues shakers from Albert King (the classic “Crosscut Saw”) and Slim Harpo. The end result of this matchup is a collection better suited for a party than for the dancefloor, but don’t be surprised if you hear a cut or two in the clubs played by a DJ clearly taking a cue from this excellent matchup.