THE STONE ROSES - S/T (20th Anniversary Edition)

While many credit Nirvana for bringing about the sea change between the silly glam of '80s rock and the alt-rock/indie revolution of the '90s, the Stone Roses’ monumental debut beat Nevermind by a couple of years. Primarily a British phenomenon, the band virtually laid waste to the whole indie scene for a while, as others were forced to adapt, take a back seat, or die out. Having clearly studied the sonorities of the Byrds, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, George Clinton, and even Can, the band made classic rock (and–gasp!–extended guitar solos) acceptable once again, while exploring the dance culture that was then emerging in Manchester. Twenty years on, a generation of Britpop has failed to even approach the genius of this album–the Roses themselves fizzled out after an abysmal second album. Three formats of this classic are available: the Special Edition will get you an updated remaster of the original album; a 2CD/DVD Legacy Edition includes demos and a live DVD; and the Collector’s Edition boasts all of the above plus three vinyl LPs and a disc of their famed B-sides which, on their own, are more impressive than some artists’ whole career discographies. One of the greatest British rock records, and still relevant today.

OLATUNJI - Drums Of Passion (Legacy Edition)

Before 1959, if you wanted to hear music outside of the Anglo-American experience, you could go for the ersatz (though nonetheless charming) exotica of Les Baxter and Martin Denny, or find warmth in the recent calypso craze popularized by Harry Belafonte (who was criticized for his inauthenticity). Then along came Nigerian-born Babatunde Olatunji, discovered by John Hammond and asked to record the music he had been performing with the ensemble he had formed to fund his studies. The impact of these recordings is immeasurable–his influence is all over Serge Gainsbourg’s Percussions album (especially on “New York USA”), and “Jin-Go-Lo-Ba” was a perfect fit when covered on Santana’s monumental self-titled debut. That Drums Of Passion sold 5 million copies speaks to its accessibility, and lends credence to the claim that it was the record that started "world music". The production and remastering here is remarkably clear and spacious, with this Legacy Edition's second disc featuring more percussion and call-and-response singing on the enclosed sequel album, More Drums of Passion.

ANN PEEBLES - I Can't Stand The Rain

Thanks to the sample of the title track, Ann Peebles’ voice will be forever associated with Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”, which introduced the southern soul singer to a new audience and further added to the cachet of this underrated classic. Produced in Memphis by Willie Mitchell in 1973, this is Peebles’ best album and one of the finest examples of the Hi Records sound, right up there with Al Green’s best work. Steeped in themes of lost love, Peebles handles her material with restraint and sweetly nuanced sensuality. Check out “A Love Vibration”, “You Got To Feed The Fire”, a devastating cover of Joe Simon’s “(You Keep Me) Hanging On” and the great “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down”, and you’ll see why '70s soul aficionados rate this record so highly.

JACQUES DUTRONC - Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi: 1966-1968

If Serge Gainsbourg was the prime purveyor of Parisian pop in the '60s, Jacques Dutronc didn't lag far behind. Dutronc emerged as one of France's answers to Bob Dylan in 1966, releasing several hit singles and a debut album consisting of acerbic and ironic social commentary wed to an Anglo r'n'b-derived garage-rock beat. So strong and consistent was that album that it's featured almost in its entirety on this very welcome compilation that also includes the best of his more baroque and orchestrated late-Sixties recordings. Suave, debonair, and almost always tongue-in-cheek, Dutronc went on to have a successful career in film as an actor, but this CD will introduce his music to wider non-Francophone audience, and even if your grasp of French is tenuous, there's still plenty here to enjoy.

BOBBY CHARLES - S/T

Sounding here like a Cajun, countrified Randy Newman or an older bon-vivant equal to The Band's Rick Danko and Richard Manuel, Bobby Charles' career was (attempted to be) revived with this 1972 set, co-produced by Danko and including contributions from Manuel, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, John Simon and Dr. John. With Vetiver having covered "I Must Be In A Good Place Now" and local rock'n'soul revue Steamboat featuring Charles/Danko co-write "Small Town Talk" in their repertoire, these songs have been kept alive by a current generation of musicians, and are now back in print (while the limited pressing lasts) via Rhino UK's arm of the Encore series.

(This review first ran on our site in November 2008 upon the disc's initial reissue. Although unavailable for several months thereafter, a recent warehouse find of copies means that this lost classic is once again up for grabs, so come in and pick up a copy before it goes out of print yet another time!)

PARLIAMENT - Osmium

Osmium, the 1970 debut recorded under the Parliament mantle, might be the ultimate example of '60s genre experimentation, as rock, soul, chamber pop and country all blend into one hazy, cross-colour audio rainbow. This shouldn't surprise listeners, considering that this band came off onstage like the Temptations backed by a wild, storming psych band. Starting out as a barbershop-born vocal soul group (the Parliaments), the group morphed into an even higher version of Sly & The Family Stone. After their first mind-blowing 1969 effort as Funkadelic, George Clinton and co. had something else up their sleeve. Alongside face-melting jams like "Funky Woman" and "Nothing Before Me But Thang", it's some of the other tunes here that challenge the listener with potentially unfamiliar sounds emanating from the session, such as "Little Ole Country Boy"'s tongue-in-cheek twang. On "My Automobile", you can almost imagine the band writing around a piano Brill Building-style, while album closer "The Silent Boatman" is as strong as any pop song of its time. This album is one of a kind, and, in this writer's opinion, very hard to top.

VA - Black Rio 2: Original Samba Soul 1968-1981

Seven years after the first Black Rio collection, British DJ Cliffy finally returns with another killer batch of samba-funk numbers culled from years serving as one of the top dealers in the rare Brazilian vinyl market. Here Cliffy proves that the genre is far from spent, introducing previously unknowns (Super Som Lord and the improbably-named Pete Dunaway) and giving exposure to once-ultra-rare tracks (Sonia Santos’ “Poema Ritmico Do Malandro” and Renata Lu’s “Faz Tanto Tempo”) while not shying away from tested dancefloor stormers (Edson Frederico’s “Bobeira”, Emílio Santiago’s “Bananeira”, and Bebeto’s “Princesa Negra de Angola” form an anthemic threesome toward the end) to make a perfect soundtrack for prolonging the summer. Grab this now and let the good folks at Strut know that you won’t wait another seven years for part three!

EMITT RHODES - The Emitt Rhodes Recordings 1969-1973

An early contender for Reissue Of The Year, this is a monumental release, one that made me flip when I found out that Hip-O Select was putting out all of Emitt Rhodes' 4 solo LPs. Along with Paul McCartney and Todd Rundgren, Rhodes possessed a near superhuman ability to write pure opiate classic pop melodies, sang with a golden voice, and had a vision that could only be realized by handling production duties and playing all of the instruments on his albums (with the exception of his debut The American Dream). Just 20 years old when he went out on his own after splitting his previous band the Merry-Go-Round, Rhodes should have had a long and successful career on the pop charts but was stymied by a foolhardy contract with ABC-Dunhill (6 albums, 3 years!) and the standard publishing relinquishment story. The would-be star left the industry in disgust and never recorded another album.  Whether you are already familiar with Rhodes' music or not, you need this in your collection. He certainly deserves the royalties (finally) and much wider renown.

VA - Chartbusters USA Special Edition: Sunshine Pop

With “oldies radio” becoming more and more a relic of the past, this collection is not as superfluous as it may seem at first. While previous sunshine pop digs have focused on rarities of the genre, Ace has gathered an excellent cross-section of canonical artists (The Lovin' Spoonful are perhaps most tied to the tag, along with Donovan, the Association, and the Beach Boys), more recently-acknowledged classics (Cass Elliot’s impossibly beautiful “It’s Getting Better”), and brave inclusions that challenge definitions of sunshine pop (black groups like the 5th Dimension and The Friends of Distinction are often ignored in favour of all-white track listings). The timing could not be better for this savvy set as a giddily optimistic, feel-good soundtrack to lazy summer days. Your reunion with melody starts here.

VA - Wild Thing: The Songs Of Chip Taylor

Often overlooked as a singer-songwriter, Chip Taylor’s renown rests quite comfortably on his two most famous songs, “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning”. Originally a country performer before the lure of professional golf distracted his attention, he returned to songwriting after an injury curtailed his career on the green. His country roots lent an earthiness to his tunes which attracted the attention of highly respected singers from various idioms of popular music including Aretha Franklin, The Hollies, Peggy Lee, and Waylon Jennings, all of whom exercised good taste throughout their artistic peaks (Spiritualized’s early take on “Anyway That You Want Me” is beautiful, but would not have worked here). Taylor's reputation helped him establish his solo career in the '70s, although he never rose above cult status. Seek out Angels & Gamblers, a collection of his solo work that complements this comp nicely, to get a better understanding of this highly underrated songwriter.

VA - Legends Of Benin

The accelerated pace of African reissues is working toward a collective deepening of understanding of the wealth of music to be found on the continent in a logical, non-jarring way. Following up from their survey of heavy jams from Togo and Benin on last year’s African Scream Contest, Analog Africa returns with a focus on four artists from Benin’s classic funkified '70s period. Only El Rego et Ses Commandos appeared on the previous comp, and here they show a strong Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown’s “Funky Drummer”) sense of funk. Honoré Avolonto limns closer to the Fela model of Afro-funk, while Gnonnas Pedro & His Dadjes Band open things with an unusual and infectious dance track, “Dadje Von O Von Non”, that shows unlikely and subtle new-wave quirkiness. The real revelation here, though, is the astounding Antoine Dougbé, whose songs are the most relentlessly rhythmic and danceable tracks I’ve heard all year. A full disc of his work would be much appreciated.

BETTY PADGETT - S/T

One of the lesser known Betties of soul, Betty Padgett did secure some renown in Florida when she put out her debut in 1975 at the age of 21, and got regional dancefloor play with the two-part “Sugar Daddy”, a rare groove that could have been a bigger hit had it not come a bit early for the disco period. What is even more interesting about this record is that half of the tunes are actually reggae tracks. While it was not unusual for artists to throw in a token reggae song to up their hip factor, Betty turned up the lovers rock on four tracks here (including a version of “My Eyes Adore You”), and did it so convincingly that one would be forgiven for thinking that she cut the session in Kingston. For my money, these are the strongest selections here, so if you’re a fan of soul and reggae in equal measure, you won’t go wrong with this nice reissue.

PISCES - A Lovely Sight

In the late '60s, Rockford, Illinois musical collective Pisces ran a studio that they used to produce a body of work that, had they lived in San Francisco or another city with a vibrant psychedelic scene, might have made some waves. Aside from geography, another key detail working against them was the fact that they never issued an album of their work. It's sad, really, because with their knowledge of production techniques and a skill for writing the kind of material that extrapolated, quite convincingly, from the key hallmarks of pop-psychedelia–heavily treated instruments, backward-masking, mixed male-female harmonies a la Jefferson Airplane, and an overall autumnal mood–it's easy to believe that had these songs coalesced into a proper album, they could have been contenders, regionally at the very least. The flanged-out “Mary” could be Os Mutantes backed by Jaki Liebezeit on drums, while the gentle folk of “Are You Changing In Your Time” marvelously boasts the talented vocals of Linda Bruner, who features on four tracks. The lost psych department trickles slowly these days, but you’d be wise to check this out, along with the recent reissue of The Golden Dawn’s Power Plant.

TIMBER TIMBRE - S/T

Timber Timbre has long occupied a place in many hearts--a secret, dark, mysterious place, somewhere near the left ventricle, maybe. His first two releases, Cedar Shakes and Medicinals, were raw, atmosphere-soaked, rural woodsy songwriting at its best. For his latest self-titled set, Taylor Kirk steps calmly out of the wilderness and into the studio. With bold organ lines and warm guitar tones, he once again wows us with his spooky melodies and haunting vocals. Timber Timbre is one of those rare artists who manages absolute continuity between releases, yet adds plenty of variation to keep us fascinated. This album is sure to secure his spot in the old left ventricle, and hopefully finds him nestling into some new hearts, too.

This review first ran in January 2009 upon the release of Timber Timbre on Out of this Spark. On June 30th 2009, Timber Timbre is being re-released on Arts & Crafts, and will appear on vinyl for the first time.

RODRIGUEZ - Coming From Reality

When DJ David Holmes opened his tremendous Come Get It I Got It mix-comp with the eerie, psych-folk ode to drug-dealers “Sugar Man”, excited listeners perked up their ears wondering who this mysterious Rodriguez guy was. Having already developed a cult following in Australia, demand for a proper North American reissue of the failed American singer-songwriter’s two studio albums grew. For me, his debut Cold Fact, licensed to Light In The Attic last year, was a bit of a disappointment, possibly because there was no way the rest of the album could not live up to the promise of its centerpiece/masterpiece, the aforementioned “Sugar Man”. His follow-up, recorded a year later in 1971, though lacking anything as mind-altering as his signature song, is overall a much stronger album. Here the cynical troubadour’s attraction to seedy imagery (seemingly put-on, but charming nonetheless) is tempered with more tuneful and tender side on the best songs. His band is much more together this time around, giving his songs greater sense of groove, and the string arrangements are spare and always well-placed. After this record, he recorded no more but recent interest has led to his current tour. Check him out on the West Coast if you can Friday, July 3 at a free Harbourfront Centre show!

VA - Panama! 2: Latin Sounds, Cumbia Tropical & Calypso Funk on the Isthmus 1967-77

Not known as a hotbed of musical activity, nobody would have expected the excellent Soundway label to put a whole collection together spotlighting a country best know for its canal. Well, here they are with a surprising follow-up—surprising not only because the middling quality of the original may not have warranted a return record-hunting expedition, but also because part two has vindicated the project. The cuts on this collection, as with the first, reveal no sound that is particular to Panama except for an openness to pan-tropical idioms, funky grooves and some delightfully lo-fi recording techniques. Styles are mashed together with no regard for orthodoxy and it's on these tracks that this collection really comes to life. Cumbias take on an “eastern” sense of melody and vocal timbre; salsas feature guitar; and the calypsos sound nothing like calypso. In other words, the variety here will make this a fail-proof summer soundtrack.

BECK - One Foot In The Grave: Expanded Edition

Much like Dylan and The Band's Basement Tapes (also recently reissued, as it were), One Foot In The Grave saw Beck Hansen temporarily setting up camp in a new town, in this case Olympia, Washington, woodshedding with willing players (K Records' Calvin Johnson, The Spinanes' Scott Plouf, Lync's Sam Jayne and James Bertram, and Chris Ballew from The Presidents Of The United States) and cobbling together an inspired, ramshackle and oft-old-time-influenced batch of songs ranging from the nonsensical and light-hearted to the dead-serious and forlorn. Beloved by many since its initial release on K back in 1994, this expanded edition on Beck's own Iliad imprint practically doubles the playing time, including the originally-omitted blues-harp stomper title track, the tender two-chord ballad "It's All In Your Mind", and enough other unreleased off-cuts to fall for that budding young 'alternative' troubadour all over again.

VA - Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa

Remember that whole Blur vs. Oasis snafu and its London art-schoolers vs. Manchester lads battle for British supremacy? Oasis may have borrowed most blatantly from the Beatles catalogue, but it's always been clear that Blur best understood the Fab Four's spirit of innovation and exploration. So while Liam Gallagher launches his attack on skinny jeans with mundane new clothing line Pretty Green, Blur/Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn's Honest Jon's label has slowly but surely been archiving all manner of exceptional unheard music from around the world. Calypso has been a big part of the label's identity from the start, and Marvellous Boy fits right in. Detailing a vibrant movement in West Africa in the '50s and '60s when African ex-pats were returning to home soil from the Caribbean, this collection is sunny and effortlessly enjoyable, but it also carries a historical punch courtesy of the label's typically thorough and well-written liner notes, as well as tracks like "Dick Tiger's Victory", which chronicles the Nigerian middleweight boxer's success in America. The range of genres within is impressive, from swing and highlife to Afro-Cuban jazz and military bands, and it's no shock that Marvellous Boy is a winner from start to finish. Patio music of the highest order.

THE VASELINES - Enter The Vaselines

Just as Nirvana rose above the grunge pack with their love of melody, Scotland's Vaselines distinctly strayed from the path of their peers when they emerged in the year of the legendary C86 comp that firmly established bookish, asexual and twee as key features of indie-pop to this day. What set The Vaselines apart from the crowd was a scrappiness that put them in league with the American indie scene, especially the burgeoning home-recording/lo-fi aesthetic led by Calvin Johnson. Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee were defiantly sloppy, carefully balancing his vocal laziness (and wild fuzz-guitar solos) with her sunny exuberance. Buried under the amateur playing and production, though, were classic tunes that would endure far beyond their initial run (in fact, they are actively touring once again, playing Lee's Palace on Fri. May 15). By 1989 they were history, and in 1992 Sub Pop reissued the two EPs and album (Dum-Dum) that comprised the entirety of their released output as The Way Of The Vaselines: A Complete History. Here, you get that collection, along with a bonus disc of live performances and demos that make clear why Kurt Cobain loved The Vaselines enough to cover three of their songs throughout Nirvana's career (and name his daughter Frances).

JOYCE, NANA VASCONCELOS & MAURICIO MAESTRO - Visions Of Dawn

Despite the trio billing and the outstanding ensemble playing throughout, for all intents and (collectors') purposes, this is Joyce's great unreleased record from the mid-'70s. All three were graduates of Luis Eca's Familia Sagrada that toured Mexico and produced the legendary (and insanely arranged) La Nueva Onda De Brasil. Recorded during the same European stint that produced the beautiful Passarinho Urbano, this album was recorded in Paris but never issued until now. An excellent transitional album, Visions bridges her folky psych-samba of the early '70s and points to the dancefloor jazz heights she would achieve with 1980's Feminina after hooking up with future husband Tutty Moreno. The legendary Nana Vasconcelos handles percussion duties and keeps things dreamily atmospheric, occasionally ramping up the energy on tracks featuring Joyce's emerging scat singing style. Thanks to Far Out, the only full-length that remains unreleased from her first decade of recording is the Claus Ogerman-produced Natureza from 1977. Don't miss her when she makes her Canadian debut this summer!