VA - Looking Back: 80 Mod, Freakbeat & Swinging London Nuggets

Sixties British Mod sounds encompassed hard-edged r'n'b and swingin' blue-eyed soul, as well as Who-ish freakbeat power pop. Looking Back provides an excellent and comprehensive overview of all these styles over the course of three CDs.

"A mammoth eighty-track compendium of the finest (mostly) British Mod sounds of the '60s, housed in a clambox with a 48-page booklet, Looking Back boasts a smattering of previously unissued gems from the likes of A Wild Uncertainty, Tony Rivers & The Castaways, The Thoughts, The Trekkas and The Knave, compiled and annotated by Paul Weller biographer and long-time Mod observer John Reed and designed by Andy Morten (Shindig! magazine, Rev-Ola)." - Cherry Red Records

THE APOLLAS - Absolutely Right! The Complete Tiger, Loma and Warner Bros. Recordings

Two songs in, the Wall Of Sound hits with "Who Would Want Me Now," a deep soul ballad that brings to mind the intensity of Loraine Ellison's "Stay With Me." The remaining 24 tracks here also impress, and make you wonder how much soul/funk is still out there waiting to be discovered! The big reissue surprise of 2012 so far.

"On a remarkably consistent five-year span of singles from 1963 to 1968, this Bay Area-born gal trio indulged equally in searing balladry, gritty gospel laced-R&B, and infectious pop, mastering them all with soulful aplomb. Absolutely Right! contains the Apollas’ impeccable mid-'60s oeuvre collected in one place, with the unexpected bonus of several unissued cuts, including Leola Jiles’ heartbreaking masterpiece 'I’ve Got So Used To Loving You.'" - Ace Records

VA - Smash Boom Bang! The Songs and Productions of Feldman, Goldstein & Gottehrer

Running the gamut from raucous garage rock to girl-group pop, Smash Boom Bang! showcases the infectious songs and productions of New York City tunesmiths Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer.

"Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer made loud, drum-and-handclap-infused pop in the first half of the '60s. Not known for subtlety, they took much from the likes of Bo Diddley and Gary 'US' Bonds and pushed the power up to 11, as evidenced on The Sheep's 'Hide And Seek,' arguably the loudest, most in-your-face two minutes in pop." - Record Collector

"If you don’t know the names of Messrs. Feldman, Goldstein and Gotteher, you’ll undoubtedly know 'My Boyfriend’s Back,' 'Hang On, Sloopy' and 'I Want Candy,' and you just might be surprised to find that all three songs were the work (either in songwriting, production or both) of the same team. Smash Boom Bang!  takes its name from three prominent labels, the last of which was founded by Bert Berns.  As Berns’ tragically short-lived career has already been anthologized by Ace, this collection makes the perfect companion to those earlier two volumes." - The Second Disc

THE CARETAKER - Patience (After Sebald)

This newest release on James Leyland Kirby's History Always Favours The Winners imprint has him once again donning his Caretaker guise, and these detourned piano pieces are a classical gas (or maybe more of a gauze, come to think of it—click here to sample this album's outtakes, the supplemental mini-album Extra Patience).

"Leyland Kirby's most recent effort, much like, but unique from, those released previously, exists as a faded daguerreotype of passing time and time passed. Commissioned as the score for Grant Gee's most recent film  [of the same name], it's an amorphous miasma of echoing antiquity, evoking a time prior to the advent of colour film as a crackling grey scale roll." - Exclaim!

"James Kirby's discography as The Caretaker is essentially variations on a theme, but you never quite know what you're going to get out of him. This time around, Kirby has chosen recordings of Franz Schubert works circa 1927 and repurposed them via his usual mix of gentle processing and decay, but here the lines are blurred more than ever between artifacts of age and purposeful manipulation." - Resident Advisor

JOHN K. SAMSON - Provincial

In an era of ever-increasing sonic cross-pollination and general weirdness, Samson is one of scant few songwriters who are more appreciated for their lyrics than anything else. Which is kind of another way of saying that even the most acclaimed indie musicians today tend to be weakest at crafting their words. Over the course of four Weakerthans albums, Samson has encountered no such difficulty, deftly navigating the rocky channel that travels between the shores of the everyman and the hyper-literate. As for their music, however, it's only fair to say that while melodically sound and technically brilliant (Jason Tait is oft-referred to as the smoothest drummer in Canadian rock), the Weakerthans were never much for innovation.

It's perhaps a bit of a naive wish, then, to hope for a sonic facelift to accompany Samson's first widely released solo album, Provincial. Like most solo releases by the singer/songwriter of a straight-up rock band, this album is pretty much everything our man does in his day job, only turned down to 7 (rather than up to 11, I suppose...). Of course, when we all know that the main attraction will likely be the words, this is hardly a bad thing. And so, despite being a tad samey-sounding, this record is beautifully and attentively written. Even when being so red-flag intellectual as to reference a master's thesis and a website URL in his song titles, Samson never forgets to root his tales in human experience and details—and so grand plights of forgotten towns and a province in fading fortunes are told through minute moments of busted cars, awkward romances and, of course, hockey. In doing so, he once again proves himself as the rare kind of musician who can seamlessly weave threads of politics, sports, domestic life, and punk clubs into a complete and whole tapestry. It's an unassuming little trick, but no matter how many times Samson does it, it never ceases to gently amaze. The guy really is something.

That said, the extra ballast his Weakerthans chums bring to his tunes is at times missed. "Cruise Night" is a tepid counterpart to such out-and-out great pop songs as "Watermark" or "The Reasons," and I can't help but wonder how the sense of drama that so enlivened "Pamphleteer" would sound behind a track like "The Last And." But overall, Samson wears the solo artist tag very comfortably indeed—if it seems too much so on first listen, give it time. Whatever Provincial lacks in audio thrills, it makes up for with a depth of storytelling and observation that few peers appear to have the time (or skill) to bother with these days.

WENDY RENE - After Laughter Comes Tears: Complete Stax & Volt Singles + Rarities 1964-65

Light In The Attic has been on a tear (ha) this past year, with recent reissues and archival finds from the likes of Charles "Packy" Axton, Jim Ford, the Louvin Brothers, Shin Joong Hyun, the Mowest imprint, and Michael Chapman, but we were especially excited and surprised to see this anthology on the label's release schedule!

"This will be the first ever anthology of the mysterious Southern soul queen who cut some of the most achingly gorgeous 45s on Stax and Volt back in the day. While she’s been sampled to death by everyone from the Wu-Tang Clan to Alicia Keys and covered by Lykke Li, little is known about the singer’s short but brilliant career until now. After 45 years spent decidely out of the spotlight, we’re grateful to have Wendy involved in putting together this special anthology, which includes all of her singles and close to a dozen rarities." - Light In The Attic

"Much of Rene's work was recorded when she was in high school (and after she quit), and you can hear it in her voice, which is breathtakingly clean and pure, filled with the sense that she's singing with every ounce of her body. Part of the collection's urgency too is because of the backing band: the tracks feature the Stax session players Charles "Packy" Axton and the members of Booker T. and the MGs at the peak of its powers, including Steve Cropper on guitar and Booker T. Jones on organ." - L.A. Times

HOSPITALITY - S/T

With this debut full-length following a 2008 self-released EP which likely did not garner much attention outside of the band's native NYC, Hospitality introduce themselves to the world at large as the sort of pop group that comes by its mild yet compelling oddness honestly. From the Anglo edges of singer/songwriter Amber Papini's pronunciation (an aspect of their sound which could draw comparisions to Merge labelmates Camera Obscura and The Clientele, as well as such other Brit bands past and present as Belle and Sebastian, The Sundays, and Life Without Buildings) to creative production touches (additional saxes/synths/etc. as required) somewhat reminiscent of a range of contemporaries as varied as Deerhoof, St. Vincent and Spoon, there's a gentle subversiveness throughout this record that drew this writer in, ever more helpless to resist with each repeat listen. While there are plenty of upbeat tracks bound to immediately grab certain listeners, others may fall first for the slowburn lulls ("Julie", "Sleepover" and "Argonauts") where Papini's unshowy gifts for melody and emotional ambivalence might be best deployed.

VA - On With The Show: The Johnny Otis Story, Volume 2 (1957-1974)

As much as we urge those who have yet to hear Midnight At The Barrelhouse to also give that first volume a listen, some of the most irresistible moments on this second set might be when Otis and band tackle R&B rhythms popularized by other outfits, putting their own hep and savvy spin on them, whether the Bo Diddley beats of "Mumblin' Mosie," "Crazy Country Hop," "Hand Jive One More Time" and, well, "The New Bo Diddley," or the "Tramp"-ed up, lip-smacking "Country Girl."

"On With The Show lives up to its title by picking up Johnny’s story from just before where the first volume left off, and carrying it through to the mid-'70s – the point at which he stopped releasing new music and began diversifying his talents into cultural, spiritual and political areas.

Johnny found that he was fighting a losing battle as R&B began to get pushed off the charts by early '60s pop and, subsequently, Mersey Beat. But he still made great music whether the public bought it or not, and On With The Show contains many of the most enduring Otis classics in Johnny's massive catalogue, such as "Castin' My Spell," "Crazy Country Hop" and "Mumblin' Mosie."

The second half of the CD chronicles Johnny's creative renaissance via the 1969 Cold Shot album and its chart single "Country Girl." It also features early groundbreaking performances by his teenage son and nascent guitar hero Shuggie, and several cuts that have latterly become much played rarities on the funk and jazz scenes." - Ace Records

VA - The FAME Studios Story 1961-73 / GEORGE JACKSON - Don't Count Me Out: The FAME Recordings Vol. 1

Ace/Kent's sequel of sorts to 2008's Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story 3CD set, The FAME Studios Story hones in on Muscle Shoals' golden era, while Don't Count Me Out further focuses on George Jackson's peak years at the studio, from 1968 to 1972.

"The FAME Studios Story 1961-1973 is an exhaustive 3CD set derived from two years’ worth of excavations by the intrepid Ace team at the hallowed FAME vault. The result is a full programme of FAME-related releases slated for issue on Ace, Kent, and BGP over the next couple of years, but the lynchpin is this definitive anthology that focuses upon the halcyon days of the studio and the label. It’s an open-minded, celebratory overview that, across 75 tracks, spotlights both artists and records that are either acknowledged greats, or lesser known – yet no less worthy – entries in the lexicon of soul." - Ace Records

"Rick Hall, who owned FAME, knew that if a top soul artist was coming into the studio and some songs were needed, then George Jackson was the man. He was valued so much as a songwriter that his career as a singer was sadly neglected, and only two 45s were issued during his long association with FAME. Luckily for us, Rick Hall held on to a truckload of the other recordings George cut at FAME which have remained in the vaults until Tony Rounce, Dean Rudland and Alec Palao plucked them from the shelves for this terrific release and several future volumes." - Ace Records

THE BATS - Free All The Monsters

Fans of seminal jangle-pop band The Clean were spoiled rotten in 2011 with excellent records from founding members David Kilgour (Left By Soft) and Robert Scott (Ends Run Together). Now there's even more to be thankful for, with the appearance of an album by Robert Scott's other band The Bats; it may be the best of the bunch.

"The Bats are back to remind us how sweet, lovely and connective pop songs can be. Titled Free All The Monsters, the band’s eighth album shows them in top form. Recorded at Seacliff, a former asylum in the grand Victorian style just outside of Dunedin, New Zealand, and masterfully produced by Dale Cotton, it captures some of their strongest songs to date." - Flying Nun

"In their 30 years as a band, The Bats have made only eight full-length records. There are years, even occasional decades, between the band’s statements, gaps that reflect other musical obligations (Robert Scott is in a half-dozen other projects, including The Clean), work, children and family life. Free All The Monsters comes only three years after The Guilty Office, a relatively short span in Bats terms. (It was 10  years between Couchmaster and National Grid.) It sounds very much like The Guilty Office, and, in fact, very much like The Bats have always sounded—a jangle and clatter subdued somehow into melancholy introspection." - Dusted

CASS McCOMBS - Humor Risk

April 2011's Wit's End may have edged out this even more recent entry from Cass McCombs as far as inclusion in our Staff Best of 2011 list went, but it could be argued that with an added pep and immediacy to its riffs leavening his oft-odd lyricism this time around (nevermind that there are riffs to be found on this more-rock-than-folk outing), Humor Risk could be the more approachable album of the pair.

"McCombs must be given credit for his ability to surprise; Humor Risk, his sixth album, comes only seven months after Wit’s End and could not possibly be more different despite sharing producer Ariel Rechtshaid and a handful of collaborators. In fact, it’s practically Wit's End's inverse; it offers the same number of songs, yet trades its predecessor’s icy austerity for warmth and motion, making it a welcome surprise from a musician who proves himself less and less predictable with every record." - Coke Machine Glow

"It’s very evident that Wit's End and Humor Risk have two different feels. Although Wit's End is more cohesive atmospherically and production-wise, Humor Risk is the better representation of McCombs as a songwriter in the 'classic' realm. His folk-rock approach never sounds stale, and when it does, it’s always due to strategic repetition." - Obscure Sound

KIM JUNG MI - Now

When Light In The Attic compiled Beautiful Rivers And Mountains this past fall, an anthology of tracks led by/produced by/featuring Shin Joong Hyun, many of us on staff here were especially struck by "The Sun," a track featuring the vocals of psych-folk songbird Kim Jung Mi; we're glad to now have the chance to listen to this reissue of Now, Mi's 1973 full-length effort produced by Shin.

"At the dawn of the 1970s, South Korea’s rock music scene was at its zenith. Much of the reason for this was the god-like musical touch of guitar wizard, songwriter, producer, and arranger Shin Joong Hyun. For this album, he took a young girl named Kim Jung Mi, and transformed her from a wallflower student into a folk-psych chanteuse in record time (if Francoise Hardy is the Marianne Faithful of France, then Kim Jung Mi is, I suppose, the Francoise Hardy of Korea)." - Light In The Attic

"Kim Jung Mi's Now is probably one of the oddest albums I've ever heard. That's not because Now sounds especially exotic, though. On the contrary, it's because it doesn't. The point isn't that the album is derivative. It's that it's familiar. When I listen to 'Lonely Heart,' for example, I feel like I'm hearing something for the thousandth time, even though I can't exactly put my finger on where. It's too psych for Sandy Denny, not bluesy enough to be Janis Joplin, not smoky enough for the pop cabaret of Julie London, not over-carbonated enough to be Serge Gainsbourg—but it's somewhere in a world where all those things are on the jukebox." - Splice Today

GUIDED BY VOICES - Let's Go Eat The Factory

Try as we might to deny it, none of us is immune to the powers of sentimentality. For a good handful of us (this writer included), this knee-jerk response simply can't be overlooked in the curiosity about this record.

Do I even need to go into the reasons why? If you're on this site, probably not but just to be safe... Let's Go Eat The Factory represents the first album by the 'classic' line-up of Guided By Voices since 1996's exceptional (and, in my opinion, career best) album Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. While GBV (led by the human songwriting vending machine that is Bob Pollard) would go on to record many more albums with different personnel, it was the line-up of Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Kevin Fennel and Greg Demos that turned indie rock on its ear in the mid-'90s.

The magic of this equation centred around two key elements: spartan, hissy home recording, and an uncanny ability to unleash literally dozens of exceptional pop hooks through songs that lasted only as long as it took to express them. For example, 1995's Alien Lanes contains a mind-bending 28 songs in only 41 minutes. And unlike hardcore albums with a similar work rate, this trait had nothing to do with either speed or a blurring sameness of the material—these records were wildly unpredictable, leaping from muscular arena rock to mini-prog suites to surreal psych and anywhere else they fancied. Though the group spawned a legion of imitators, they were quite unlike any other band.

So it's not surprising that even though Pollard had never stopped releasing albums since GBV's official end in 2004 (and at the rate of about four a year!), many of us who had left the group behind are emotionally drawn back to the band by this news. And Let's Go Eat The Factory does replicate some of their fabled magic, in that it at least sounds the part. After Bushes saw the career basement-dwellers begin to embrace the professional studio, the band grew increasingly distanced from their trademark lo-fi style. Although Pollard has been all over it in his solo releases since, it's a real jolt just to hear how scrappy Factory sounds. This low production value works hand-in-hand with the charmingly less-than-tight performances to create an atmosphere that truly is reminiscent of classic GBV. Loose, impulsive, messy...love it.

Where it's not quite up to snuff is in the songs themselves. As unorthodox as both '94's breakthrough Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes were, they were also relentless in their presentation of hit after hit after sun-warped hit. In this respect, Factory has more in common with the records that led up to that breakout pair, Vampire On Titus and Propeller—good records, but ones with more than their fair share of filler. So while "The Unsinkable Fats Domino," "Imperial Horseracing," "Laundry and Lasers" and "Hang Mr. Kite" are all pretty great, many others sound like these newly reformed gents are still struggling to find that magic balance between spontaneity and quality control (the latter admittedly never a GBV strong suit, even at their peak).

If there's one truly magical thing about Factory though, it's the return of Tobin Sprout. Just hearing his voice again on a GBV record is cause for celebration—his gentle boyish tenor always an appealingly contemplative foil to Pollard's brazen, cocky obfuscation. His contributions, like "Spiderfighter," "Old Bones" and "Waves" are some of the LP's best, and put into sharp relief just how much he's been missed by the band (and Pollard) over the past fifteen years.

With another disc apparently already recorded and ready to go in May, it seems like this reunion may be a bit more than a passing fancy. If that's the case, I wouldn't bet against Factory being the harbinger of even better things to come. In other words, Bee Thousand II this is not, but hey, it's only January...

OXFORD AMERICAN - 13th Annual Southern Music Issue

Whether the holiday season takes you out of town or lets you do your running around at home this year, Oxford American's music issue is a trustworthy travel companion, stuffed with approachably academic takes on the artists and cultures of the Southern states by a star-studded cast of critics (focusing this year on the Magnolia state, Mississippi). A must-read and a fantastic gift idea, complete with an equally informative and entertaining 27-track companion CD compilation.

VA - Eccentric Soul: The Nickel and Penny Labels

It's been two and a half years since the last volume in Numero's Eccentric Soul series (Smart's Palace) was released; getting to now hear such stellar cuts as Little Ben & The Cheers' "I'm Not Ready To Settle Down" and Jerry Townes' "Three Sides To A Triangle," though, has made The Nickel and Penny Labels well worth the wait.

"Chicago’s Richard Pegue was one of the most intriguing figures to come out of the Chicago soul scene in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Raised during the city’s fertile Doo-wop era, Pegue immersed himself in music immediately. He cut his chops as a mobile dj, record store clerk and recording artist before stepping into the booth as one of Chicago’s most enduring radio personalities to grace the city’s airwaves. The Nickel and Penny labels featured in this compilation are twin sides of the same eccentric coin, Pegue himself. He was the writer, arranger and producer of some of the most beautiful Chicago soul records in the ’60s and ’70s; too bad they all went out of print weeks after being released." - Numero Group

"Little Ben & The Cheers’ “I’m Gonna Get Even With You” is hummable as hell, but spikes its classic Motown punch with a shot of ego-wounded nastiness, and the vigorous pulse and righteous back and forth singing on South Shore Commission’s “Shadows” are just two of a half-dozen earworms that the song will lodge in your brain." - Dusted

VA - Big Band Present: Italo Funk Experience

Another excellent entry in Nascente's Experience series. Bene!

"Italian Funk Experience features lost soundtrack gems from cult soundtrack composers such as Piero Piccioni & Piero Umiliani, modal-jazz classics from Lee Konitz & Giovanni Tommaso, twisted Italian funk from the likes of Tony Esposito and super-rare pieces from the cult Italian library music label Rotary, many composed by Italian jazz-legend Amedeo Tommasi.

Big Bang is the production name of Simone Serritella, head honcho of the Italo-jazz re-release label Arision, and under his production name Big Bang, a celebrated jazz-dance producer and favourite of Gilles Peterson." - Demon Music Group

VA - Dynamic Grooves: Funk and Groovy Soul From the Vaults of Scepter, Wand, Dynamo and Musicor

Complementing/supplementing Kent's Manhattan Soul comp from earlier this year, the ACE family of reissue labels (this time around, BGP) unearths yet more late-'60s/early-'70s NY soul.

In 1960s New York, both the Scepter/Wand and Musicor/Dynamo groups of labels were at the peak of the independent label scene. They had hit artists from across the musical spectrum, but with a very strong foot in the world of soul. By the late '60s, as that world was starting to be strongly influenced by funk, they were in a position as established players in the industry to sign up recordings from all around the United States. Dynamic Grooves focuses on the labels’ output, providing a snapshot of the scene in which they worked at this time. - Ace Records

VA - This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel On 45RPM 1957-1982

Yeti publisher Mike McGonigal's previous gospel compilation curated for Tompkins Square, the mighty triple-disc Fire In My Bones: Raw + Rare + Otherworldly African-American Gospel 1944-2007, wowed us the moment it came into our shop almost exactly two years ago; This May Be My Last Time Singing is of an equally impressive girth, value and calibre.

"Get ready for fiery sanctified soul, heavy Pentecostal jams, drum machine gospel, slow-burning moaners, glorified guitar sermons and righteously ragged a cappella hymns! The music on this compilation was originally released on small label 45s, mostly in the 1960s and '70s. At least one-third of the records were self-released, paid for by a church congregation or the artists themselves. Others were on regional labels (typically run by one single producer) little known today outside of a small circle of collectors. This vibrant music is incredibly honest and almost criminally unknown." - Tompkins Square

MARINE DREAMS - Marine Dreams

Though Attack in Black are no more, its former members have carried on, producing a total of 2 EPs and 4 LPs since that band's demise in 2010. The latest of the bunch is AIB bassist Ian Kehoe's excellent debut as Marine Dreams.

"Nothing flashy, just 10 concise, crisply tuneful jams that go exactly where they should in subtly ingenious ways, shot through with a keen sense of wit and an audible appreciation for classic songcraft. Some pretty hot guitar playing, too. You’ll think fondly of Big Star, Guided by Voices, the Buzzcocks, the Who and Tom Petty hangin’ with Jeff Lynne while it’s playing and feel very good indeed about hitting “repeat” when the half-hour is up." - Toronto Star

"It’s the kind of record you can easily listen to over and over again and again; a true record from start to finish.  It’s something that he and his fellow AiB buddies seem to understand intrinsically.  Each of their solo efforts during their current hiatus, as well as their last Attack In Black full length, are documents made to be digested as a whole." - Quick Before It Melts

"Marine Dreams is everything I love about guitar music. Kehoe’s ability to find melody from the most inauspicious chords and captivate me with premature endings and new beginnings is a lost skill." - Herohill

DILLARD & CLARK - The Fantastic Expeditions Of Dillard & Clark / GENE CLARK - White Light / GENE CLARK - Roadmaster

Sundazed just reissued three albums Gene Clark released between 1968-1972, including his acclaimed collaboration with Doug Dillard. You can't go wrong with any of them!

"Gene Clark was front and center as tambourine player, singer and principal songwriter for the Byrds, but in early 1966 he flew the coop. A gifted songwriter, expectations ran high for a stellar solo career, but those hopes were dashed when his debut solo album and single both failed to chart. Dropped by Columbia Records the following year, Gene's career remained in limbo until teaming up with banjo player extraordinaire Doug Dillard for The Fantastic Expeditions Of Dillard & Clark."

"Tiring of the Hollywood fast lane by 1969, Gene and new wife Carlie moved up to Mendocino on the Northern California coast. It inspired a body of songs unlike anything Gene had composed before. Their stark simplicity and stripped down arrangements—acoustic guitar, harmonica and voice—evidence a deeper insight into life and an overall optimism rarely found in his previous body of work. The resulting album, White Light, produced by renowned guitarist Jesse Ed Davis, remains one of Gene's most accessible and much-loved recordings among fans and critics."

"By 1972, Clark had settled into a new life far from the adulation that still surrounded someone of his stature as a former member of the Byrds. However, he still owed A&M Records one more album. Gathering together the cream of the L.A. country-rock fraternity—innovative guitarist Clarence White, Chris Ethridge on bass, ex-Byrd and Burrito Brother Michael Clarke on drums, pedal steel guitarist extraordinaire Sneaky Pete, Byron Berline on fiddle and pianist Spooner Oldham—Gene set about recording an album of pure country rock unfettered by any commercial dictates." - Sundazed