Label Review. 

2019 live album. Also available on 2CD, and 4CD. 

Our Overview. 

Christy Moore first made his name in the early 1970s in the Irish folk band Planxty who were a big hit in their native Ireland and toured extensively throughout Europe. After they broke up in 1975, Moore went solo and he has traded under his own name ever since (barring the odd Planxty reunion and his 80s ‘Celtic rock’ band Moving Hearts) attracting his first major label deal with Warners in the early 1980s.

Moore hasn’t shied away from expressing from political commentary in his songs with numerous numbers reflecting Irish Republican ideologies and he was once taken into questioning at the Welsh port of Holyhead in 2004 about his songs. Mainly though, Christy has spent his career promoting traditional Irish tunes but with a modern slant and injecting pop and rock flavours into the mix.

Of this new live collection Christy says: “We have recorded all our gigs in recent years. Producer Jimmy Higgins and Sound Engineer David Meade selected these takes from hundreds of gigs. It has been an enjoyable process. Listening back and discovering special moments, riffs that went unnoticed, choruses long forgotten. I have deep gratitude for the mystery of it all. At work I’m surrounded by a great team of comrades. Their talents and vital contributions keep the show on the road. Each night at 8.05 we stand side stage, breathe in the air of expectancy, the intoxicating waft of perfume and after shave. The crew complete their final checks, the lights go down and out we go once more to face the music.”

Label Review. 

1989 album. Contains a green vinyl LP, digipak CD, three 7 inch picture discs, a coke bottle, deck of cards, prescription notepad, drumstick pens, pins, guitar picks and band aids, all housed inside a leatherette satchel. Also available on CD and Vinyl.

Our Overview. 

The biggest commercial success of the most notorious rock band of all time is being released in a 30th Anniversary Edition: Motley Crue’s 1989 album “Dr. Feelgood’ featuring demos, picture discs, pens, badges and more. 2019 has seen not only the release of Motley Crue’s critically acclaimed biopic ‘The Dirt’ - the film sparked a renewed interest in the band, with sales, streams and downloads of their back catalogue soaring as a result - but also marks the 30th anniversary of the album ‘Dr. Feelgood’, their biggest commercial success, the band’s fifth studio album was originally released on September 1, 1989, and featured Crue classics including which contains band classics such as ‘Kickstart My Heart’, ‘Without You’, ‘Same Ol’ Situation’ and the title track.

Bassist Nikki Sixx says: “After feeling robbed of a number one album with ‘Girls Girls Girls’, the band was hell-bent on topping ourselves on every level. 

“Bringing in Bob Rock to produce and push us musically and lyrically was just what the doctor ordered. The band was clean, lean and sober and this album has some of our proudest work.”

The anniversary edition will feature the full album along with studio demos, with the deluxe edition containing the album on ‘coke bottle green’ vinyl, CD, three 7-inch picture discs, a doctor’s bag, a prescription notepad, a deck of playing cards, a pair of drumstick pens, pin badges and guitar picks.

Track Listing:


1. T.n.T. (Terror ‘n Tinseltown) 2. Dr. Feelgood3. Slice of Your Pie 4. Rattlesnake Shake 5. Kickstart My Heart 6. Without You 7. Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.) 8. Sticky Sweet 9. She Goes Down 10. Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) 11. Time for Change 12. Dr. Feelgood (Demo)13. Kickstart My Heart (Demo)14. Without You (Demo)

Picture discs Tracks:

“Dr. Feelgood” Side A: Dr. Feelgood (Demo) Side B: Dr. Feelgood

“Kickstart My Heart” Side A: Kickstart My Heart (Demo) Side B: Kickstart My Heart

“Without You” Side A: Without You (Demo) Side B: Without You

Label Review.

2019 album. Blues.

Our Overview.

Minnesota native and NBC’s The Voice finalist, Nicholas David, is releasing his album ‘Yesterday’s Gone’. The pull of American heartland has been ever increasing in recent years, bringing this gifted, soulful pianist/singer/songwriter to the point where he can deliver, as he likes to say, “music from the heart for the heart”.

David headed to New Orleans to commence work on ‘Yesterday’s Gone’, with Samantha Fish in the producer’s chair. That week in January resulted in 13 tracks, to be trimmed to 11 for the record, and a collection of songs that displays beautifully both the heartland tug and Crescent City yearning possessing David’s musical mind, body and soul. It’s a naturally keyboard driven showcase for David’s songs, and he’s accompanied by some terrific studio contributors such as guitarists Duane Betts, and the recent Wild Heart Records artist Jonathan Long. Other musicians include Fish’s drummer Scott Graves and renowned Crescent City bassist Charlie Wooton.

David grew up studying piano and singing and listening to classical and jazz music before delving into pop songwriting as an adult. He released several independent solo albums under the name Nicholas Mrozinski, including 2008's Oak Chase Way, 2009's Together We're Stronger, and 2011's In Formation. In 2012, David was accepted onto The Voice and performed for Cee Lo Green's team. During his time on the show, David became a fan favorite for his emotional, soul-inflected style and his image as a caring father to his young son.

Track Listing:

Hole In The Bottom / Heavy Heart / With Or Without / I’m Interested / Peel Back The Leaves / Curious / Okay / Let U Go / Times Turning / Stars / Little By Little

Label Review. 

2019 album

Our Overview. 

‘American Utopia’ began as an album, which received a Grammy nomination and was the first by Byrne to reach the Top Five on the Billboard 200 chart. The concert tour in support of ‘American Utopia’, which inspired the Broadway show, included songs from the new album along with music from Talking Heads and Byrne’s solo career. Byrne and the ensemble performed more than 150 dates in twenty-seven countries over nine months. The NME said it "may just be the best live show of all time."

David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’ features David Byrne with Jacquelene Acevedo, Gustavo Di Dalva, Daniel Freedman, Chris Giarmo, Tim Keiper, Tendayi Kuumba, Karl Mansfield, Mauro Refosco, Stéphane San Juan, Angie Swan, and Bobby Wooten III; Davi Viera also performs on the album. The show’s design team includes Rob Sinclair (lighting) and Pete Keppler (sound). Karl Mansfield and Mauro Refosco are Musical Directors. Choreography and Musical Staging is by Annie-B Parson. Alex Timbers serves as Production Consultant.

David Byrne’s recent works include the launch of Reasons to be Cheerful, an online magazine focused on solutions-oriented stories about problems being solved all over the world (2019); Joan of Arc: Into the Fire, a theatrical exploration of the historical heroine that premiered at the Public Theater in New York (2017); The Institute Presents: NEUROSOCIETY, a series of interactive environments created in conjunction with PACE Arts + Technology that question human perception and bias (2016); Contemporary Color, an event inspired by the American folk tradition of color guard and performed at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and Toronto’s Air Canada Centre (2015); Here Lies Love, a twenty-two-song theatrical production about the life of Imelda Marcos, authored in collaboration with Fatboy Slim that premiered at The Public Theater in New York (2013), travelled to London’s National Theater for a sold-out run (2014–15), and was remounted at the Seattle Repertory Theater (2017); Love This Giant, a studio album and worldwide tour created with St. Vincent (2012); and How Music Works, a book about the history, experience, and social aspects of music (2012).

Byrne curated Southbank Centre’s annual Meltdown festival in London in 2015. A co-founder of the group Talking Heads (1976–88), he has released eight studio albums as a solo artist and worked on multiple other projects, including collaborations with Brian Eno, Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson, and Jonathan Demme, among others. He also founded the highly respected record label Luaka Bop. Recognition of Byrne’s various works include Obies, Drama Desk, Lortel, and Evening Standard awards for Here Lies Love; an Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe for the soundtrack to Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor; and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Talking Heads. Byrne’s work as a visual artist has been published and exhibited since his college days, including photography, filmmaking, and writing.

Label Review. 

1959 album with 2 bonus tracks. Also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

“First Lady of Song’s” - Ella Fitzgerald - new release of ‘Hello Love’ with bonus tracks. By 1957, Ella Fitzgerald, one off the greatest female interpreters of the American songbook, was already a star with over twenty years experience as a professional singer. She had performed in countless venues and settings and recorded numerous sides. She was also the inspiration behind Norman Granz’s “Songbook” concept, which had become possible with the recently developed technology of “long play” LPs. The “Songbook” albums consisted of carefully designed multiple-LP box sets devoted to Ella singing the works of some of the best jazz composers, many of which resulted in best-selling albums.

Granz also presented Ella in an entirely different context. As a concert promoter with his Jazz at the Philharmonic, he recorded many performances and was one of the first record producers to issue live recordings. At forty-years old, Ella was reaching the peak of her abilities. Between 1957 and 1959, Ella recorded a series of sessions with the Frank DeVol Orchestra from which several albums were culled, among them Hello Love, presented here, and the better known Like Someone in Love. Ella and DeVol would record together on many other occasions. Other albums they collaborated on consist of Ella Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers (recorded on November 28, 1958), Ella Wishes You a Merry Christmas (from July 15-16, 1960), and Hello Dolly (March 3-4, 1964).

Presented here is the complete original LP ‘Hello Love’ (Verve MGVS- 6100), featuring the legendary Ella Fitzgerald backed by an all-star orchestra conducted and arranged by Frank DeVol. Among the band members are Harry “Sweets” Edison, Pete Candoli, Ben Webster, and Barney Kessel. Nine tracks from the same session which weren’t issued on the original LP (among them a rare vocal guitar duet with Herb Ellis on “Detour Ahead”) have been added as a bonus. ELLA FITZGERALD, vocals on all tracks Orchestra arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol Los Angeles, July 1957-March 1959.

Track Listing:

Label Review.

2019 album. Americana.

Our Overview.

‘Trio’ is the new album from Carter Sampson, an Oklahoma born and raised, award winning singer songwriter with a big voice. The Oklahoma City-based artist is blessed by a musical family legacy that includes talents like Roy Orbison.  Her journey as a naturally independent, free-spirited musician has seemed almost predestined at times. At age 15 she began experimenting with sound as a way to pass the time; now her creativity has matured into the dedicated and passionate performance that makes her a favorite female vocalist.

Carter Sampson burst onto the European Americana scene in 2016 with the release of her album “Wilder Side”. Both the general public and the media lauded the singer and her CD with all the praise one can imagine. As a result, in the first year after the release, the Queen of Oklahoma (as she is lovingly titled by both her fans and her colleague Okie songwriters) spent almost as much time in Europe as in her beloved Queendom: the Great State of Oklahoma.

Holland, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy: no matter where she went and how little she would understand of the local language (or how little the locals would understand hers for that matter): Carter’s charismatic and openhearted performances won over every single punter in the audience and media critics alike. 2018 saw the release of “Lucky”, a highly anticipated new album by this Oklahoma songstress.

After an absence of 18 months, Carter sets sail for another European tour, this time with 2 band members: Kyle Reid and Jason Scott. For the occasion, the Trio recorded 5 audience favorites in the touring set up. 4 originals and one well chosen cover now available on CD EP.

Track Listing:

Highway Rider / Since I Fell For You / Wilder Side / Queen Of Oklahoma / Rattlesnake Kate

Label Review.

2019 album. Indie.

Our Overview.

‘’I Entered The Void’ is a stunning foray into Tuva Hellum Marschhäuser’s beautifully haunting sound, both delicate and raw, aching and triumphant. Tuvaband is the solo project of singer, songwriter and producer Tuva Hellum Marschhäuser. She captures a strange magic in her songs through her songwriting and distinctive sound production, together with her feather-light vocal.

‘I Entered The Void’ is no exception. On the new album this magic is reinforced by a heavier, more full sound, which emphasize this quality even more. The album is a melancholic, personal and atmospheric indie pop/rock album. Tuvaband, playing with a band for the first time, is capable of building musical storms out of the songs on “I Entered The Void”.

Track Listing: I Entered The Void / He Said Me Too / Genuine / Ambiguous Flies / Young Adults And Old Grown Ups / Submerged / Arthur / Poisoned / I Don’t Feel Much Wiser / The Void

Label Review.

53 tracks. Includes CD debut of the 8 tracks he recorded with Chicago pianist Erwin Helfer in 1957. Jasmine.

Our Overview.

American Delta blues pioneer Big Joe Williams was the epitome of the rambling, wandering itinerant bluesman so romanticised in the early days of blues discovery and record collecting. The guitarist, singer-songwriter rambled across the United States from coast to coast in the 1920s and ‘30s and was notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar.

This 2CD collection features many of his most famous recordings in the post war years. His most famous composition was “Baby Please Don’t Go” eventually a major pop hit for Belfast’s blues rockers, Them in the UK and later for Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes in America.

The really exciting attraction of this compilation is the CD debut of the 8 tracks he recorded with Chicago pianist Erwin Helfer in 1957. These 8 tracks only ever appeared on two very rare UK Eps on the Collector label. This overview of Joe’s career goes on to embrace his career in the 60s when he became a popular performer on the global blues network. Fully detailed liner notes.

Track Listing:

CD 1: His Spirit Lives On / Baby Please Don’t Go / Stack Of Dollars / Mellow Apples / Wild Cow Moan / P Vine Blues / Bad And Weak Hearted Blues / King Biscuit Stomp / I’m A Highway Man / Banta Rooster Blues / Mean Stepfather Blues / House Lady Blues / Don’t You Leave Me Here / Jivin’ Woman / She’s A Married Woman / Mama Don’t Allow Me / Delta Blues / Over Hauling Blues / Whistling Pines / Friends And Pals / Juanita / She Left Me A Mule / Bad Heart Blues / Baby Please Don’t Go / Ride In My New Car With Me / Rather Be Sloppy Drunk / Cottage Grove Blues

CD 2: Goin’ Back / My Baby Left / King’s Highway / Lula Mae / All I Want Is My Train Fare Home / I’m Talkin’ About You / Joe Williams’ Blues / Don’t Leave Me Here / Cow Cow Blues / Crawlin’ King Snake / I May Be Wrong / Keep AKnockin’ / Cottage Grove / Meet Me In The Bottom / Bessemer Baby / Baby Please Don’t Go (Highway 49) / Shake Your Boogie / Jump Baby Jump / Mean Mistreater / Prison Bound / Whistlin’ Pines / Bluebird Blues / Elevate Me Baby / T.B. Blues / King Biscuit Stomp No 2 / Rootin’ Ground Hog

Label Review.

2019 album also available on Vinyl.

Our Overview.

One of rock’s celebrated post punk era songwriters Nick Cave, along with his merry bunch of music men The Bad Seeds are releasing ‘Ghosted’. The Australian musician known for his literary style and baritone voice says the album - their 18th - is full of the most beautiful songs he has ever recorded. Like C.S. Lewis’ 'A Grief Observed', this devastating album is the work of an artist attempting to make sense of loss. "Peace will come," Nick Cave assures us, although it never really does.

'Ghosteen’s' album cover, a kitschy, fairytale landscape illustration that looks not unlike one of those leaflets Jehovah’s Witnesses hand out at shopping centres? His description of the album is also pretty gnomic: the eight songs on the first album are “the children”; the two lengthy tracks and spoken word piece on album two are “their parents”.

The result is perhaps the most straightforwardly beautiful set of songs that Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have ever recorded, which fits with the album’s lyrical themes. When you listen to Ghosteen, the “children”/ “parents” description makes sense. Cave has talked about how his son’s death altered his work, how he found a way to “write beyond the trauma … to propel [myself] beyond the personal into a state of wonder”. And, despite the appearance of regular Cave themes – the first thing you hear is him invoking Vegas-era Elvis – Ghosteen appears to depict that process. For all the cinematic attractiveness of their arrangements and the title track’s opening meditation on the beauty of the world, the long songs on album two seem darker in tone, filled with sleepless nights, departures and desperate fantasies of escape: “I’m waiting for peace to come,” repeats one ambiguous line in Hollywood. The songs on album one, meanwhile, sound like the result of working through those emotions: lighter, calmer, concerned with empathy and faith. You feel the shift most clearly on Sun Forest, in which Cave does his patented apocalyptic thing – screaming horses, burning trees, hanging bodies, Jesus mad with grief – before the lyric suddenly flips – “the past pulls away and the future begins and I say goodbye to all that, / and the future rolls in like a wave… and the past, with its savage undertow, lets go” – and ends up exhorting the listener: “Come on, everyone!”

Most listeners seemed to take Nick’s last album ‘Skeleton Tree’ as an extended treatise on grief, ignoring Cave’s insistence that the songs predated the loss they were presumed to be about. In fairness, you could see why, given how bleak and disturbing it sounded. But if ‘Ghosteen’ is the album people supposed its predecessor to be, it sounds like nothing like you might expect of an album informed by tragedy. On one level, it shouldn’t be surprising that it’s as good as it is: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have been in a career-high purple patch since the last double album they released, 2004’s ‘Abettor Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus’. Nevertheless, listening to Ghosteen, it’s very hard indeed not to be taken aback.

‘Ghosteen’ is one of the most devastatingly accurate accounts of grief that you’ll ever listen to. Yet it’s also, astoundingly, one of the most comforting. Few mediations on grief manage to navigate despair and catharsis as well as this. Cave encourages us to candidly speak about grief, be it through wild imaginings, eerie hauntings or gentle longings. Only then, as he points out, can we find some sort of “peace of mind.” Whatever form grief takes, Cave encourages us to find beauty in pain, even when it might be difficult to do so. These are probably the most painful songs Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds have ever recorded, but they’re also the most beautiful: it is a work of extraordinary, unsettling scope.

Label Review.

Documentary originally released in 2000. With bonus live CD from Winterland 1973.

Our Overview.

Songwriter, singer/guitarist Steve Marriot, was a mod icon and frontman for British hitmakers the Small Faces and Humble Pie and ‘Life And Times Of Steve Marriot’ is a compelling documentary about one of rock’s most dynamic, exciting and sadly unsung heroes of rock and roll, via the use of previously unseen photos, memorabilia, and home movies.

‘Life And Times Of Steve Marriot’ showcases revelatory interviews with Humble Pie’s Peter Frampton, Jerry Shirley and Greg Ridley, the Black Crowes’s Chris Robinson, Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick, John Waite, Bad Company/Free drummer Simon Kirke, Quiet Riot’s Kevin Dubrow, Ricky Byrd and Marriott historian John Heller Includes rare fiery performance footage of The Small Faces and Humble Pie, drawing the viewer closer to this wonderful and underrated artist.

Features a bonus concert of the 1973 Winterland show. This beautiful deluxe 3 disc digipack includes a Blu-Ray, DVD and CD.

Marriott is remembered for his powerful singing voice which belied his small stature, and for his aggressive approach as a guitarist in mod rock bands Small Faces and Humble Pie. Marriott was inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Small Faces. Marriott became a popular, often-photographed mod style icon through his role as lead singer and guitarist with the Small Faces from 1964 until the end of 1968. Marriott was influenced from an early age by his heroes including Buddy Holly, Booker T & the MG’s, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Muddy Waters and Bobby Bland.

Tracks: Tin Soldier / Itchycoo Park / Lazy Sunday / Paradise Lost / Take Me Back / Natural Born Woman / Alabama 69 / Sad Bag Of Shaky Jake / Stone Cold Fever / For Your Love / 4-Day Creep / 30-Days In The Hole / I Don’t Need No Doctor / Hot N’ Nasty / Black Coffee / Bigger They Come / I Won’t Let You Down

Label Review.

2019 album also available on 2CD and Purple Vinyl.

Our Overview.

‘Blue Eyed Soul’ is the much awaited twelfth studio album, and the groups first new album in four years, by British pop sensations - the sleek multi-million selling groove machine - Simply Red. Fronted by vocal powerhouse Mick Hucknall, since the band formed in Manchester in 1983 they have continually incorporated many influencing genres into there recordings, from reggae rock, new romantic and jazz. But what they have become synonymous with and perhaps the band’s biggest source of inspiration is soul music, frequently citing monolith artists like Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye as influences, having incorporated many of their recording techniques into their sound. And ‘Blue Eyed Soul’ is the rawest, funkiest, dirtiest, brassiest and most purely 100 per cent soulful concoction of their stellar career.

‘Blue Eyed Soul’ features 10 tracks written by Mick Hucknall and produced by long time collaborator Andy Wright. “I wanted to push my voice a little harder, challenge it a little bit, give myself something to really sing to," said Hucknall. The album is said to have been inspired by classic funk and soul artists such as Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland and Tower of Power. ‘Blue Eyed Soul’ is the sound of Simply Red firing on all cylinders.

"At this stage of my career, I could do one of those dark reflective albums looking back on my life and all that kind of stuff that people tend to do at a certain age,” Hucknall added. “But I thought sod that! I wanted to make something punchy. I want to have a good time.”

The album was recorded at Mark Knopfler’s British Grove studios in London, where the Rolling Stones recently made their acclaimed Blue & Lonesome.

Label Review.

2019 album now includes Sting's new live recordings from My Songs Summer 2019 Tour. The CD album will feature a remix added to the original My Songs album (total of 31 tracks) and bundled with a folded tour poster inside an O Card. My Songs Live 1LP features just the new live recordings. Also available on Vinyl.

Our Overview.

Bassist and lead singer Sting - a nomenclature given when a fellow musician in the Phoenix Jazzmen caught sight of his black and yellow striped sweater - has forged his name in the annuls of rock history as both the principal songwriter and lead singer with the Police and for his successful, distinguished solo career. And now he is set to present his songs again with the release of ‘My Songs: Live.’

The 11-song set, recorded during his My Songs World Tour earlier this year, follows ‘My Songs’, a collection of revisited and revised versions of his solo and Police songs, which came out during May. The studio set features updated sonics, dynamics and arrangements based on the way the songs have evolved for him over the years. Sting told Billboard at the time that, "I'm constantly tinkering and I'm always wanting to make the songs as contemporary as they can possible be....The songs change every night when I sing them, and I'm always hearing something I haven't actually discovered there. It's discovery within that repetition, too...We just want to recontemporize the stuff."

Evidence of that can be found on ‘My Songs: Live’ most particularly in the livelier, polyrhythmic-flavored first verse of "King of Pain," which flows into an open, airier rendition of "So Lonely" and then a charged "Desert Rose." "Russians," meanwhile, flows into a delicately drawn "Fragile." "This is my life in songs," Sting writes in the live album's insightful song-by-song liner notes. "Some of them reconstructed, some of them refitted, some of them reframed, and all of them with a contemporary focus."

The ‘My Songs’ exercise received a thumbs up from Police drummer Stewart Copeland, who similarly "deranged" the band's song for his movie Everyone Stares. "I thought it was very interesting," Copeland says. "There's nothing that says these songs can only exist in one form. It's fun to do different things with them. I think we all feel license to f*** 'em up if we want."

‘My Songs: Live’ features Dominic Miller and Rufus Miller on guitar, Josh Freese on drums, Kevon Webster on keyboards, Shane Sager on harmonica and backing vocalists Gene Noble and Melissa Musique.

As for future recordings, Sting told Billboard before ‘My Songs' release that, "I'd like to make something totally new. I don't know what that is, what it sounds like or what it looks like. I just have to trust that the muse will appear. I've written hundreds of songs, but I can't tell you how I should do it. I don't really know. I'm always happy when they materialize, but if I knew exactly where that button is that you press that suddenly makes that happen, then I'd keep pressing it. But, you know, it shifts all the time. You always think that the last song you wrote is the last song you'll ever write -- which is probably a good way to think."

Label Review.

1961 album. Jazz.

Our Overview.

‘Africa/Bass’ was the eight studio album by the American saxophonist and jazz virtuoso John Coltrane and his debut on the Impulse label. This 1961 Impulse album was particularly notable for Coltrane’s use of the expanded sound provided by a ‘big band’ with trumpets, trombone, baritone sax, Eric Dolphy’s bass clarinet and flute, and (most unusually) French horns, euphonium and tuba. Overlaying this backing is one of Coltrane’s great quartets with Messrs. Tyner (who, with Dolphy, did the arranging), Workman and Jones. The album’s centrepiece is the extended Coltrane composition, ‘Africa’. The tune’s luscious arrangement provides hints of Ellington, Gil Evans and even Charles Mingus in the brass harmonics and ensemble dynamism that Coltrane man ages to coax from these players.

Elsewhere, the other Coltrane original, ‘Blues Minor’, provides another trademark blast of tenor pyrotechnics from the man who hardly lets up for the tune’s seven-and-a-half minutes. By comparison, Coltrane’s version of Greensleeves is a relatively restrained affair, in effect, mimicking the man’s superlative version of My Favourite Things recorded the previous year, with its jaunty soprano sax theme, but given an added dimension with its ‘big band’ accompaniment. Finally, there’s ‘Song Of The Underground’, a traditional song recorded at the same session and included here as a bonus track.

All tracks orchestrated and conducted by Eric Dolphy. John Coltrane - tenor & soprano sax; McCoy Tyner - piano, Jimmy Garrison - bass: Elvin Jones - drums; Plus: Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, Julian Priester, Eric Dolphy, Paul Chambers, Art Davis, and others, Recorded May and June 1961.

Tracks: Africa / Greensleeves / Blues Minor / Song Of The Underground Railroad

Label Review.

1972 album.

Our Overview.

Spectacular green Vinyl release of the influential German band Cans’ ‘Ege Bamyasi’. The eclectic and avant-garde group Can were founded in 1968 by Irmin Schmidt, Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit, forming a group which would utilise and transcend all boundaries of ethnic, electronic experimental and modern classical music. Can were at the forefront of the Krautrock movement combining rock trappings and funk-inflected rhythms that were always three steps ahead of contemporary pop scene of the 1970s. From their very beginning, their music didn't conform to any commonly held notions about rock & roll -- not even those of the countercultures.

‘Ege Bamyasi’ was Cans’ fourth studio album and was released in 1972, Often described as the "tense" Can album, ‘Ege Bamyasi’ drops the haze and hits with a sharp pang from the get-go. ‘Ege Bamyasi’ was bolstered in part by the success of its single ‘Spoon’ - the proto synth-pop (or synth-rock) song was the title theme to the popular German television show Das Messer.

"Pinch" is reminiscent of concurrent Miles Davis; a tough, dissonant take on rock, always kept sparse enough as to be unsettling. Likewise, "One More Night" was dry and efficient in the extreme, though, musically having more in common with Steve Reich than Davis. "Sing Swan Song" was Can's best ballad, while "Vitamin C" is still the best funk ever to come out of Europe which according to Pitchfork, is “still the best funk ever to come out of Europe.” The track has recently been heard in shows such as Preacher and The Get Down. The band would refine their sound even more in coming years, but they wouldn't really ever get better than this.

Cans' powerful influence has never diminished and their indelible mark is apparent in the bands who freely acknowledge their importance, from Portishead, James Murphy, New Order, Factory Floor, Public Image Ltd, Mogwai, Kanye West and Radiohead, as well as across other disciplines such as visual art and literature.

“Can are impossible to classify and it’s impossible to ignore their seismic influence on so many diverse musical paths” - Richard Hawley

“Can are the most revolutionary band ever” - Stephen Morris (New Order)

Label Review.

2019 debut album. Rock.

Our Overview.

The applauded - and one of the UK’s hottest rising trios - Bang Bang Romeo are releasing their eagerly awaited debut album ‘A Heartbreaker’s Guide To The Galaxy’. The ability to create a wonder-filled world of their own is one that hasbeen possessed by some of music’s most exciting and memorable artists, from David Bowie to Radiohead and many more in between.Doncaster’s Bang Bang Romeo are adding their name to that list with their debut album ‘A Heartbreaker’s Guide To The Galaxy’. Melding drama, dark euphoria, stratospheric tunes and cinematic finesse together to transport their fans away from everyday life. As acclaimed by Huw Stephens, BBC Radio 1 “They sound just like a Tarantino soundtrack”.

Frontwoman Anastasia ‘Stars’ Walker commented: “We would like to invite you to the first stop in our universe. To worlds of runaways and natural born astronauts. To favourite bad decisions under blood red skies, star crossed species and hurricanes gunning for war. The adventure begins…”  Stars – Bang Bang Romeo

Fronted by vocal powerhouse Anastasia Walker with Ross Cameron and Rich Gartland (guitar/drums), Bang Bang Romeo are a force to reckon with. The female-fronted band is on a quest to dismantle a male-dominated industry, confronting topics like femininity, body positivity, and sexuality, all served with a side of British wit and attitude. Walker, who goes by Stars, sends audiences into a frenzy with her “once in 20 years voice.” Their larger-than-life performance recently landed them on P!nk’s 2019 Summer UK tour, with other slots at major festivals and reviews from BBC Radio 1, Billboard, and NME to name a few. It’s Bang Bang Romeo’s world and we’re just living in it.

Bang Bang Romeo are the first UK signing to Eleven Seven Label Group and will be released on Allen Kovac’s Five Seven imprint.

Recorded in Birmingham, New York and Los Angeles, the band have worked with a roster of industry heavyweights on the album, including producers and co-writers Nick Furlong (Avicii, All Time Low), American Authors guitarist James Shelley and his production partner Michel Heyaca (Tinashe, Nick Jonas), New York’s Heavy (Goo Goo Dolls), and the UK’s Red Line Music team. Meanwhile, the record has been mixed by Grammy winner Mark Needham (The Killers, The 1975), and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Arctic Monkeys, Beastie Boys, The Clash).

Label Review. 

2019 album (Bloc Party). Also available on vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

Kele is a founding member and lead singer of Bloc Party and ‘2042’ is his fourth solo album. “There is a history of black entertainers feeling that after they have achieved a certain level of success that they are above discussions of race but that idea is a delusion,” says Kele. “As a person of colour living in the western world, it does not matter how much wealth one accumulates, race will follow you wherever you go. With [the song] “Jungle Bunny” I wanted explore this idea: In a time of such rampant division and public racism, what is the responsibility of the black entertainer?”

Following 2017’s largely acoustic ‘Fatherland’ (released under his full name and featuring a duet with Olly Alexander from Years and Years), marks something of a return to the adrenalised electronics of his previous two solo records, ‘Trick’ (2014) and ‘The Boxer’ (2010), whilst broadening the sonic palette by bringing in elements of his work with Bloc Party and a litany of other influences and ideas.

As an artist, Kele Okereke has never stood still, relentlessly seeking new ways in which to present his luminous songs. Whilst sonically markedly different from ‘Fatherland’, lyrically ‘2042’ picks up a thread from that record whereby Kele’s life experiences and relationships suffuse the album with some of his most personal lyrics yet.