Reissues
Live!
It's hard to go wrong with Fela Kuti's work from the 1970s, and LIVE!, which features the Afrobeat innovator backed by his powerhouse band Africa '70 and ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker, is no exception. Like all of Fela's recordings from the era, LIVE! consists of just a few tracks, each of which approximates or exceeds the ten minute mark. Yet the arrangements are so dynamic on these tracks, the criss-crossing polyrhythms so absorbing, and Fela's incantatory vocals so entrancing that the long ru…
Astral collapse
rare LP version, long deleted "Shadowy weirdo and adventurer Angus MacLise was a member of La Monte Young's Theater of Eternal Music and later, on the recommendation of his roommate John Cale, the first drummer for the Velvet Underground. MacLise was not present at any of the band's recording sessions, and he quit in late 1965 when the band got its first paying gig (because playing music for money was selling out). He tried to rejoin after the VU started getting some underground credibility, but…
Koola Lobitos 63-68/69..
Recorded between 1964 & 1969. Includes liner notes by Mabinuori Kayode Idowu, Jacqueline Grandchamp-Thiam & Rikki Stein.Mojo (Publisher). Intriguing...KOOLA gathers 6 highlife tracks from 1964-68, ranging from the almost-Caribbean via trad jazz to the nascent funk of 'Wayo'....by THE 69 LA SESSIONS [Fela] had discovered African music in California and the 10 tracks are life-affirming slabs of soul music.
J.J.D. / Unnecessary Begging
"JJD/Unnecessary Begging" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series on MCA. As original LPs, "JJD (Johnny Just Drop)," recorded live at Fela's home/club/compound, Kalakuta Republic, was released in 1977, while "Unnecessary Begging" and its b-side "No Buredi (No Bread)" were issued a year earlier in 1976. These albums were part of what was arguably Fela's greatest period as he released more than a dozen albums between 1975-77! While "Zombie" and "Opposite People" are clearly …
Expensive Shit / He Miss Road
Recorded in 1975. Includes liner notes by Jacqueline Grandchamp-Thiam, Michael A. Veal & Rikki Stein. Newcomers to the music of Fela Kuti are faced with some difficult choices since the late-1990s/early-2000s reissues of his string of classic '70s albums (the reissues put two records back-to-back). In truth, they're all good, so it is hard to go wrong picking one at random. Still, EXPENSIVE SHIT/HE MISS ROAD is arguably one of his best. In addition to its burbling percussive groove, infectious h…
Everything Scatter / Noise For Vendor Mouth
"Everything Scatter/Noise for Vendor Mouth" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series on MCA. It should be noted that unlike some of the other titles in this series, the tracks that make up the "Everything Scatter" LP -- the title cut and "Who No Know Go Know" -- were previously available on CD on the Celluloid label in the late 80s. "Scatter" was part of the original "Zombie" disc, and "Who No Know" was on "Mr. Follow Follow." Both "Everything Scatter" and "Noise for Vendor…
Confusion / Gentleman
Collecting two of Fela Kuti's finest mid-1970s albums onto one disc, CONFUSION/GENTLEMAN presents the revered Nigerian Afro-pop renegade in the midst of an early career stride. Released in '73, GENTLEMAN consists of the latter three out of this set's four tracks, and is particularly notable since it marks the fiery performer's studio debut on the saxophone. Never one to shy away from challenges, Kuti offers up an impassioned sax solo at the beginning of the extended title song (even though he ha…
Beasts Of No Nation / O.D.O.O.
After helping Fela Anikulapo Kuti with Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense, Wally Badarou then produced Beasts of No Nation. Another album that has been combined with this one is the 31-minute "ODOO (Overtake Don Overtake Overtake).
Pardon me for barging in like this
Limited edition of 600 copies including 16 page book This boxed vinyl set is a treasure trove of rare and out of print noise from the vaults of the legendary early 80’s M.Squared label in Sydney Australia. M-Squared has been probably the best-known independent-label in the late 70’s early 80’s also famous for their incredible rare and sought after Vinyl-Releases of Makers of Dead Travel Fast, Systematics, Scattered Order or SPK. The heavy Box features previously unreleased tracks from Scattered…
Saison 1979-82
Amazing box containg the entire Polyphonic Size discography, with all singles, maxi singles, 1st lp produced by JJ Burnel (live for each moment), b-sides and rare tracks, plus superb unreleased material (in excellent sound quality), carefully selected and remastered from roger-marc vande voorde's archives. including unreleased songs (Me Or You, Citizen Of Science, Asakusa Dub, Her Toys Dub), unreleased electronic instrumental tracks (Electronic 14-7, Electronic 65-4, Electronic 69-7, Electronic …
Miscellany Deluxe
PREORDER, 3xLP box edition + tshirt "Much of the music included in this set is exclusive to this vinyl version of ‘Miscellany’. Andrew Liles has compiled a comprehensive anthology including as much varied, interesting and unreleased material as possible. He spent many an afternoon sifting through piles of cassettes seeking the oldest and arguably most definitive pieces of music from literally hundreds of hours of tape.The earliest recordings on these discs date back to 1984. ‘Find a New Husband’…
Army Arrangement
Fela Anikulapo Kuti, inventor of Afrobeat, is one of the greatest musicians ever to have lived. He was an innovator, musically gifted, and more important, he was the people's musician.
Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending
A television special on the I.S.B., made circa 1968/69, but never seen until now. This 80 minute DVD vividly encapsulates the intensity of The Incredible String Band in the late 1960's. Live sequences show the band at the height of their powers, casting a spell on the audiences with their unique blend of theatrical and musical metaphysics. Originally designed for the BBC's Omnibus Arts Programme, 'Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending' was never broadcast, but it enjoyed an independent cinema relea…
Stormcock
Without question this is Roy Harper's best studio effort. Sure I can think of some excellent compilations and collaborative output from this legendary folk/prog/rock artist to be reviewed at another time but even the general critics have to agree in Stormcock being right up there in the vintage category. Four lengthy quality tracks make up Stormcock. Released in 1971 at the same time as Led Zeppelin IV and Pink Floyd Meddle, the quality of material compares favourably and comes very close in man…
Fluxus
Collected here are three radioplays from three Fluxus affiliates, Philip Corner, Alison Knowles, and George Brecht. Each piece is built from a simple element and features a text recited by the author and sometimes others. Corner's piece is an homage to Erik Satie, built from a sparce two chord piano figure and a recitation that teeters along the stereo field. Knowles' piece, which she delivers along with Brecht, Hanna Higgins, and Jessica Higgins, is built from a long list of bean names on top o…
A Nonesuch Retrospective
Philip Glass is one of America's best-known living composers, with a career that spans more than four decades and includes chamber music, symphonies, operas, concerti, film scores, and music for dance. On September 30, Nonesuch Records, which has had a relationship with the composer for more than 20 years, releases Glass Box—a 10-disc retrospective of compositions from his groundbreaking career. Excerpts from Glass’s largest and best-known works, like his operas Einstein on the Beach and Satyagr…
Vanguard Visionaries
Sandy Bull may have been the first man in the '60s folk renaissance to foreground modal drones in his music and thereby forge a link between Scottish ballads, jazz, and sitar meditations. The results are seismic, and when seen in the light of the millennial freak-folk scene, they cast Bull as one of the genre's primary father figures. VANGUARD VISIONARIES seeks to introduce neophytes to Bull's finest noodlings, covering ground that's similar to the previous Vanguard best-of, RE-INVENTIONS. The d…
Arbete Och Fritid
Much needed reissue of this long-lived Swedish band's fourth album, from 1973, with an excellent 20' bonus track from 1974 tagged on. Terry Riley's 1967 visit to Sweden and his work with these musicians when they were still just young ones in High School resonates here, and you get a weird and vibrant mixture of Riley, the Third Ear Band, bits of free improvisation and ancient Swedish folk music all blended into an excellent, droney whole.
Shh!
It's taken a long fucking time, and finally, a fully legit LP - only reissue of this amazing Helsinki monsterpiece from 1970. shh ! is highly collectable in it's original form on the band's own O Records imprint (home of 3rd erection, samsa trio, one point music, etc). In a non - dream state, I've seen 2 copies and both were in a condition slightly more well kempt than hammered ++. shh ! is primarily a document of Pekka Airaksinen's experimental compositions, consisting of primitive samples, gui…
Raga electric
LP version. In the early '60s, fresh from his clean behind the ears years at Harvard, Henry was undergoing rapid ideological shifts: cavorting with Maciunas and the whole Fluxus bit, doing performances at Yoko Ono's loft and recording with La Monte Young; having it out with his Stalinist cohorts over the relative merits of a good blues run and searching for a new musical language outside of the various generic artistic restrictions before him at the time. What he arrived at was an expressive pra…