Our picks this week. Click the links to order from Amazon.
Continue the journey through joni’s previously unmined archives. This set is an intimate and revelatory spotlight on joni’s prolific peak from 1972-1975, which included her most comercially successful album, Court and Spark, and single “Help Me.” The Set Includes Sessions with Graham Nash, James Taylor, Neil Young and the Santa Monica Flyers, & Tom Scott and the L.A. Express Never-Before-Heard Demos, Early and Alternate Versions of Classic Songs, and Historical Performances. Plus A Gorgeous 40-Page Photo Book and Liners Informed by Conversations with Joni and her Friend Cameron Crowe.
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Jackie McLean - Demon's Dance (Blue Note Tone Poet Series)
Jackie McLean's music weaved in and out of the avant-garde throughout the 1960s with the brilliant 1963 inside-out dates One Step Beyond and Destination... Out!
Eventually leading to full-throated free jazz of the 1967 dates New and Old Gospel (featuring Ornette Coleman on trumpet) and 'Bout Soul.
Demon's Dance, which was recorded in December 1967, found the alto saxophonist maintaining a decidedly post-bop edge with a spirited quintet comprised of trumpeter Woody Shaw, pianist LaMont Johnson, bassist Scott Holt, and drummer Jack DeJohnette.
The six-song set presented a pair of tunes each by McLean, Shaw, and composer Cal Massey with highlights including McLean's churning title track, Shaw's tuneful bossa "Sweet Love of Mine," and Massey's brightly swinging "Message from Trane" in tribute to the great John Coltrane who had passed away early that year. But the album's most striking feature may be the unforgettable cover artwork by Mati Klarwein whose work also graced the cover of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew.
With Pharoah Sanders’ blessing, this limited edition 2 CD box set presents the definitive, remastered version of PHAROAH, his seminal record from 1977, along with two previously unreleased live performances of his masterpiece “Harvest Time."
This deluxe CD box set comes with a 64-page booklet featuring never-before-seen photographs, rare ephemera, interviews with many of the participants, and a conversation with Pharoah himself. This record’s origin story is as elusive as Pharoah was about everything Pharoah.
It was born out of a misunderstanding between him and India Navigation producer Bob Cummins, and was recorded at a crossroads in his career with a group of musicians so unlikely that they were never all in the same room again.
There was a guitarist who was also a spiritual guru, an organist who would go on to co-write and produce “The Message,” and a classically trained pianist—his wife at the time, Bedria Sanders—who played the harmonium despite never having seen one.
At times ambient and serene, at others funky and modal, PHAROAH radically departed from his earlier work. It would become one of the artist’s most beloved records and one of the great works of the 20th century. These exceptional live versions of “Harvest Time”—included here for the first time, and which Pharoah performed during an intense European tour in the summer of ’77—turn the original, beloved composition on its head.
For seasoned listeners and new acolytes both, PHAROAH will never sound the same. 1. Harvest Time (PHAROAH) 2. Love Will Find a Way (PHAROAH) 3. Memories of Edith Johnson (PHAROAH) 4. Harvest Time Live – Version 1 (Harvest Time Live 1977) 5. Harvest Time Live – Version 2 (Harvest Time Live 1977)
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Herbie Nichols was one of the most original pianists and composers in Jazz history. Blue Note founder Alfred Lion considered him to be as unique and important a voice as Thelonious Monk, another singular talent who Lion was the first to record a few years before he signed Nichols in 1955.
Little-known during his lifetime, recognition has begun to grow in recent decades for Nichols' incredibly hip, angular compositions, each of which were miniature marvels built with their own sturdy inner logic. Following his introduction on the two 10" LPs The Prophetic Herbie Nichols, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2., Nichols returned to Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack, New Jersey studio in August 1955 with drummer Max Roach and bassist Al McKibbon-and again in April 1956 with Roach and bassist Teddy Kotick-for sessions that produced Herbie Nichols Trio (BLP 1519).
This 12" LP was another collection of idiosyncratic Nichols originals including "The Gig," "House Party Starting," "Wildflower," and perhaps his best-known composition "Lady Sings the Blues" which was written for Billie Holiday.
Bear Family Records went to the bottom of the shellac box for this Christmas collection.
No jingling bells, no ho-ho's or weird reindeer voices. Instead, swinging jazz at its best, rousing swing of the '30s and '40s, highly danceable, elegant but cool, performed by seasoned jazz musicians.
Featuring Glenn Miller, Paul Whiteman, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Barnet, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Putney Dandridge, Jimmy Ray, Stew Pletcher, Alvino Rey, Stuff Smith and many others.
Thrilling music of the '30s and '40s, highly danceable, elegant but cool, performed by expert jazz musicians, at the time pressed onto a mélange of shellac, slate flour, soot and cotton flakes, to be played with a steel needle (or optionally cactus spikes for lower volume) at an unbelievable 78 RPM and .... extremely fragile. 'Windup', by the way, refers to the suitable playback device with a crank; from today's point of view, very sustainable and environmentally friendly!
Big names like Glenn Miller - with a very special Jingle Bells version, recorded live on Dec 24, 1941.
By now everyone should know, John Carpenter is not only a celebrated filmmaker but also a musical maestro whose soundtracks have become synonymous with the genres of horror, suspense, and science fiction.
His innate talent for composition and his deep understanding of how music can elevate storytelling have left an indelible mark on the world of cinema, and a haunting presence in people's record collections.
Anthology II continues the celebration of his compositional genius via an excellently sequenced collection of some of his most iconic pieces of music from his extensive filmography, all newly recorded with his musical collaborators Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter.
The compilation opens with "Chariots of Pumpkins" from Halloween III that perfectly captures the eerie essence of the cult classic film with it's pulsating synths and haunting melodies. The listener is engulfed by a sense of unease and anticipation, before being thrust into "69th St. Bridge" from Escape From New York, a dynamic track that encapsulates the futuristic and gritty nature of the film via the use of throbbing bass lines, driving rhythms, and electronic textures.
The record has also an isolating tone as it skulks through ambient leaning tracks such as "Fuchs" and "To Mac's Shack" from The Thing, and "Walk to the Lighthouse" from The Fog, all of which display a slower tempo, foreboding undertones and an ethereal atmosphere that feels like a distant whisper. All of which has been cautiously laid in preparation to the grand finale.
The iconic and instantly recognizable "Laurie's Theme" from the original Halloween. It's simple yet menacing piano melody which has become synonymous with the horror genre, concludes the album by striking fear into the hearts of listeners.These tracks represent just a fraction of John Carpenter's impressive musical repertoire. With each haunting note and pulsating beat, his soundtracks continue to resonate with audiences, forever etching his name in the annals of film music history.
Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog features brilliant new re-imaginings of the music of Louis Hardin, aka Moondog, the blind composer who lived on the streets of Manhattan and became known in the 1960s as “the Viking of Sixth Avenue” for his striking appearance. His beautiful and haunting music was an inspiration to Philip Glass and Steve Reich, who referred to him as “the godfather of minimalism.” Conceived as a collaboration between the Brooklyn-based Ghost Train Orchestra and the legendary Kronos Quartet, the project quickly expanded to include numerous guest vocalists —including Marissa Nadler, Joan Wasser (aka Joan As Police Woman), Jarvis Cocker of Pulp fame, acclaimed singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, and vocalist Petra Haden, known for her striking a cappella works. Collectively it’s a stunning and talented lineup, digging deep to revitalize Moondog’s uplifting message for a new generation.
The official release of The White Stripes Peel Sessions on 2 stuffed-to-the-brim discs. Capturing Jack and Meg at the precipice of international renown in the hubbub of "White Blood Cells," their two live sessions with famed BBC DJ John Peel are arguably the best document of the White Stripes at that time.
Bear Family Records delivers a wonderfully relaxed CD compilation that spreads good cheer in rain as well as sunshine with songs like Raindrops, Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, Just Walking In The Rain, It Might As Well Rain Until September or Crying In The Rain.
Stylistically, we cover a wide range from R&B, soul and blues to country, doo-wop and pop.
Opening with Dee Clark's stratospheric Chicago soul classic Raindrops, the carefully curated collection casts an uncommonly wide stylistic net encompassing R&B and blues by Billy (The Kid) Emerson, Big Maybelle, Christine Kittrell, and Irma Thomas, country by Lefty Frizzell, Merle Kilgore, and George Jones, and vocal group goodness via The Royal Jokers, The Prisonaires, and Little Anthony and The Imperials. B.J. Thomas' Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, Johnnie Ray's Just Walking In The Rain, Carole King's It Might As Well Rain Until September, and The Everly Brothers' Crying In The Rain just had to be included, while rarities by 'Cile Turner, Jerry Byrne, Bill Wimberly and The Country Rhythm Boys, Dorsey Burnette, and The Hap-Cats render the set appealing to serious collectors.
If you threw a house party in London in the late twentieth century, before the smart phone rendered it redundant, you could guarantee that the following morning there would be a dog-eared copy of the A to Z behind the sofa, or under the coffee table, probably in a Tesco bag. Everybody had at least one. It was an essential aid in understanding London.
It joined the dots and threw up obscure names printed over hitherto unexplored grids of streets: Alperton, Shooters Hill, Honor Oak, Tooting Graveney, Childs Hill, Ladywell.
It invited you to create your own personal map of London, discover your own secret routes, your own special places.
You could peruse the A to Z with the knowledge of who lived where - Sandy Denny in Wimbledon, before she moved to Muswell Hill which was already legendary as the home of the Kinks. Arterial roads as grisly as Archway Road (Rod Stewart) or Holloway Road (Joe Meek) or could be made magic through their pop connections.
Put together by Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley, this is the soundtrack of London's centre (Bert Jansch and John Renbourn's 'Soho', Nick Drake's 'Mayfair') and it's hinterlands (Al Stewart's 'Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres', Humble Pie's 'Beckton Dumps', Julie Driscoll's 'Vauxhall To Lambeth Bridge') with a few transport links (Barbara Ruskin's 'Euston Station', Norma Tanega's 'Clapham Junction') thrown in to help you navigate your A to Z.
This isn't London swinging cinematically, but it has the exact feel of the city's streets and suburbs in the late 60s and early 70s. What might be lurking in these locations, waiting to be uncovered on a cold winter Saturday? Corner caffs with Pepsi signs. Second-hand record shops and rickety street markets. Many are gone, but not all. This compilation is a musical travel guide - squint, and sometimes London can still seem magical. This is it's soundtrack.
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