VAN MORRISON - Veedon Fleece

Soft but rugged like the Irish wolfhounds flanking Van the Man on its cover, Veedon Fleece is a must-own for any lovers of Astral Weeks who haven't yet delved into this later, but equally worthy period. Flowing over with mystic jazziness, Irish country soul and turns of phrase like no other, from the whiskey-soaked grunts ad-libbed on "Cul De Sac" to the loneliest of falsettos chiding Linden Arden's paranoid 'living with a gun' on "Who Was That Masked Man", it's not too late to give a listen to this firm fan favourite, one held near and dear by the likes of fellow firebrands Sinead O'Connor and Elvis Costello.

ELODIE LAUTEN - The Death Of Don Juan

An artifact of early digital recording and composition (the year: 1985; the main tool: the Fairlight CMI polyphonic sampling synthesizer), Don Juan transcends both the era of its making and the many styles it encompasses, from speedy-grid minimalism to pensive lyre passages (played on an electro-acoustic model of Lauten's own invention, the Trine) and drawn-out, haunting choral singing (as on the mid-opera "Death Of A Woman", where Don Juan himself is voiced by Arthur Russell--his chief accomplice Peter Zummo also features prominently throughout). This reissue continues Unseen Worlds' mandate, giving deserving cult avant-garde classical works a new audience.

JORGE BEN - Jorge Ben (1969)

Though Jorge Ben had previously recorded many great albums, this is his first undeniable masterpiece, finally reissued via Dusty Groove. Originally a prime influence on the Tropicalia movement, Ben returned the favour, taking Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso's psychedelic experiments and joining forces with A Banda Tropicalista arranger Rogerio Duprat to churn out this collection, including stone classics like "Pais Tropical" and "Take It Easy My Brother Charles". With this album (his first of many to feature backing from Trio Mocoto), Ben had arrived at his signature, much-imitated Samba Soul sound.

P.F. SLOAN - Here's Where I Belong: The Best Of The Dunhill Years 1965-1967

The fame of those few tunes he wrote that broke through ("Eve Of Destruction", "Secret Agent Man") may still precede him, but the mystery that has surrounded P.F. Sloan ever since Jimmy Webb penned a song (concerning the price paid for the act of creative, soul-wringing songwriting) in his honour (and Eugene Landy temporarily lay claim to his identity!) unclouds itself that much more with the release of this Big Beat anthology, collecting Sloan's first two records for Dunhill, Songs Of Our Times and Twelve More Times. Slighted, sneering folkie-done-wrong self-righteousness rarely sounded so tuneful.

DENNIS WILSON - Pacific Ocean Blue

A labour of love decades in the planning, this beautifully-packaged two-disc deluxe reissue of Wilson's 1977 solo opus (only issued once on CD, way back in '91) is here at last--in fact, delays are still holding up P.O.B.'s proper Canadian release, making us one of the few places in town (and possibly the country) to carry this title at the moment! Paired with shelved 'lost album' Bambu, Dennis' wizened but still spry singing recalls Pussy Cats-era Nilsson, playing most of the instrumentation himself despite a long list of collaborators, including co-producer Gregg Jakobson and Beach Boys sessionist Carli Munoz.

VA - African Scream Contest: Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds From Benin & Togo '70s

African funk fans have truly been spoiled this past year, with three installments of Soundway's Nigeria Special series, Drag City-distro'ed Malian reissue label Yaala Yaala up to their fifth title, and Strut just having released its Lagos Jump single-disc follow-up to the unavailable original Nigeria 70 set. Having already enticed Afro-fiends with anthologies dedicated to The Green Arrows and Hallelujah Chicken Run Band, Analog Africa dives right in with African Scream Contest's overview of the '70s scene in Benin and Togo, two countries smack-dab between better-documented hotbeds Ghana and Nigeria.

VAN DUREN - Are You Serious?

Purse-lipped and sleepy-eyed on the black-and-white cover of this 1977 debut for Memphis indie Big Sound Records, Van Duren was waiting for a closeup that never quite came. Having grown up and casually played with Big Star's Jody Stephens and Chris Bell earlier in the decade, it's only fitting that when the time came for Duren's own material to be released, it too bore Anglo-leaning, proto-power-pop tendencies. Similar to Emitt Rhodes, Paul McCartney or Todd Rundgren, the piano work is as impressive as the rockers--songs like "Waiting" show he learned just as much from pre-Wings Paul as Chilton/Bell.

VA - Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump: Original Heavyweight Afrobeat, Highlife & Afro Funk

A more accurate subtitling than could be expected, with an even mix of all three feels as well as welcome veers, like an Africa-meets-rockers take on the "Baby I Love You So" riddim for Chief Checker's "Africa Irie". As with Disco Not Disco, the 2001 3CD set that gave this its name will remain out of print, but there's lots to bask in right here, from Sir Shina Peters' talking-drum juju "Yabis" (the most modern-sounding production compiled) to Bola Johnson's stuttering palm-muted "Ezuku Buzo" and the spacey slapback on Peter King's "African Dialects" (whose 'lost LP' Shango on Strut is also OP).

BILL COSBY - Badfoot Brown & The Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band

Heady, jammy jazz-funk not unlike what Miles Davis concocted one year earlier with Bitches Brew (as much admitted by Cosby himself in the enjoyably digressive liners), the reverberating parade drum left to boom by itself at key passages of "Martin's Funeral" is the one instrument here evoking the players' alias (only Bill's named outright, but perhaps counting The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band among them?), augmented by timbales and trap kit. Guitars dryly scratch akin to what McLaughlin and Sharrock were dishing out at the time, as dual basslines weave around a four-chord electric piano vamp, sampled in '93 by A Tribe Called Quest for "We Can Get Down".

NICK LOWE - Jesus Of Cool

Trying on and sending up as many styles as depicted on the technicolour cover, Lowe's debut (released in North America as Pure Pop For Now People at the time) jumps from disco- and reggae-fied new-wavery to 10cc-like lite balladry, rockabilly sass and spirited pub-rock, already cynical as hell after years with Brinsley Schwarz and as go-to producer for Stiff. It's been a few months since its re-release, but better late than never for a mention on the site, especially considering the pretty-much-unanimous love for it among us staffers. I'd be shocked if it didn't end up being voted our reissue of the year!

VA - Good God! Soul Messages From Dimona

The Numero Group's second installment in their Good God! series (ever-cryptically displaying such info on its sleeve in Hebrew only) finds Chicago's intrepid soul-seekers shedding light on South Side expats Charles "Hezekiah" Blackwell, Thomas "Yehudah" Whitfield and John "Shevat" Boyd, all converts to Judaism led by Garveyite Ben Ammi Carter to move first to Liberia in the late '60s, then to Dimona, Israel in the early '70s, tracking Old Testament gospel soul as The Soul Messengers along with backup women's choir The Spirit Of Israel and Shevat's son's "kid group" The Tonistics.

VA - Spiritual Jazz: Esoteric, Modal And Deep Jazz From The Underground 1968-77

Jazzman follows the successes of such series as Sister Funk and The World's Rarest Funk 45s with another considered compilation of the hard-to-find, this time focusing on their namesake genre. James Tatum's "Introduction" kicks it off with a cool, Oliver Nelson-style horn chart, but the Persian zither of Lloyd Miller's "Gol-E-Gandom" soon takes us into the out and exotic, with other unexpected flavours including the funked-up African choir on Mor Thiam's "Ayo Ayo Nene", the baritone narration recounting The Positive Force's tale of "The Afrikan In Winter", and Frank Derrick and Ronnie Boykin's forays in 7/8.

VA - New Orleans Funk: The Original Sound Of Funk, Vol. 2

What better way to welcome warmer weather than with more Crescent City soul? Another top-notch overview from Soul Jazz as per usual, and as was the case with Vol. 1, this edition of New Orleans Funk features a smattering of familiar tracks and artists (Cyril and Art Neville, The Meters, Allan Toussaint, Lee Dorsey) along with enough lesser-knowns to keep aficionados content. In particular, Eddie Bo's given lots of room to shine, with three tracks here (on top of those just made available on Vampisoul's new In The Pocket With... overview). The perfect mix to heat up any patio parties you may be planning!

VA - An England Story: The Culture Of The MC In The UK, 1984-2008

Following up Soul Jazz's 2006 Dynamite Dancehall collection (a compilation that was in heavy rotation here in the store, especially those Lady Saw tracks) with this UK-focused set, An England Story highlights the influence of Jamaican dancehall on Britain's ever-evolving mutant forms of black beat-based music, from hip hop, trip-hop and ragga jungle to 2-step, grime, dubstep and beyond. In the words of London Posse's Rodney P, "This is a UK thing, it's hip hop and it's reggae...and those Americans don't know about that".

VA - Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story 1980-1986

Bankrolled by Island founder Chris Blackwell, the heyday of Nassau's Compass Point Studios happened during the first half of the 1980s, when the Compass Point All-Stars (led by Sly & Robbie and featuring guitarists Barry Reynolds & Mikey Chung, percussionist Uzziah Thompson, and synthesist Wally Badarou) gave the world yet another example of Jamaican music's endlessly adaptive abilities, cutting tracks with everyone from disco queen Gwen Guthrie to post-punkers Lizzy Mercier Descloux and Ian Dury. Funky Nassau features Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads, and tons of dubby dance-pop obscurities.

EARTH, ROOTS AND WATER - Innocent Youths

Thanks to Kevin "Sipreano" Howes and Seattle's Light In The Attic Records, Jerry Brown's legacy continues to grow, following last year's crucial Summer Records Anthology with a CD reissue of this 1977 LP, originally released in a pressing of only 500 copies. Anyone who loved the dub-tinged roots of Noel Ellis' self-titled album will surely take to the playful mixing touches added to the Summer house band. Howes' liners are particularly illuminating when describing the punky reggae party these Maltoners partook in, embraced as they were by the Two Garys and other rockers outside the Jamaican community.  

JIM FORD - Point Of No Return

AWOL for decades until he was tracked down in a Mendocino trailer park, Bear Family has already graciously given us an expanded edition of Ford's lost 1969 R&B/country classic Harlan County as Sounds Of Our Time (#21 on our Staff Best of 2007 reissues, for those playing the home game). After Sounds' success, reissue producer L.P. Anderson planned to put together a new studio album and even a live concert appearance for his client, all to take place in 2008. Sadly, Ford died in November of last year--this collection is the second of what Anderson promises will be a series of archival releases.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6

With an emphasis on the post-Biafran War early '70s and making a concerted effort to extend beyond the well-mined Lagos-centric scope, Nigeria Special brings together highlife and Afro-rock obscurities, many of which have never before been issued on CD. Boasting lovingly reproduced Waxpoetics-style sleeve spreads of all the sourced LPs and 45s and detailed biographies of the featured bands, this hefty comp is a testament to the wealth of music made in Nigeria in this golden age of African funk.

GRAM PARSONS - Archives Volume One: Live At The Avalon Ballroom 1969 with the Flying Burrito Bros.

A pivotal force in the transformation of the Byrds; the inspiration behind The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses"; youthful singing partner of Emmylou Harris; dead at 26 via the usual career-making cause of drug overdose. Despite all of these claims to fame, the influential country/rock prototype that was Gram Parsons is a relative unknown. Even the crowds on this rare 2CD set are an appropriate mixture of wildly enthusiastic and politely indifferent. All of which perfectly suits Parsons' legend: he was an artist of immense inspiration and bad luck whose beautiful music still waits to be discovered by so many.

ARETHA FRANKLIN - Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul

After a mind-blowing display of charismatic star-power at Aretha Franklin's free show on Bloor Street last week, I can't stop listening to this collection of unreleased gems from her Atlantic-era prime. Admittedly, none of this material is as instantly memorable as the classic hits from the proper album releases; still what is here is top-notch soul, sung with a passion and insight that you don't see much anymore. Bow down to the Queen Of Soul!