Needle Time

  Idris Muhammad - Power Of Soul [MOVLP 738 NLD 2017 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on Kudu Records in the USA, during 1974, Power Of Soul was the third album by jazz drummer Idris Muhammad in his own right following lengthy spells as stick man for Lou Donaldson & Horace Silver amongst many others. There is no need for me to list the collaborators on this record as they all get a significant credit on the front sleeve. As the title suggests, this is not necessarily a jazz album, artists had developed greatly since the sixties, this record delivers four soulful, jazzy, funky instrumentals as evidence the jazz genre had diversified further, presenting significant sampling opportunities (there are a few on this album) for eighties hip-hop artists like The Beastie Boys. My respect for the Dutch Music On Vinyl label continues to grow, although no mastering engineer or  source material provenance is revealed, this record is carefully pressed by Record Industry and pr...

  Santana - Santana [MFSL 1-303 USA 2007 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] As a young lad, I spent quite a bit of time in California just south of San Francisco -  a long way from my home in rainy Manchester, England. The Bay Area has become a special place for me since, especially the history surrounding San Francisco, it's culture, it's sports teams and subsequently it's music. Once back in blighty, I caught Michael Wadleigh's Woodstock doc on late night TV and there was one particular segment which stood out for me... Afro-Cuban Mexican-American rock, Santana's live performance of their  Soul Sacrifice just blew me away. I've always love percussive music (musicians hitting things) but this was something else. The combination of Michael Shrieve's unique drumming style, and the congas & timbale duel from José Chepitó Areas & Mike Carrabello had me hooked.  I own every album, some in multiple versions, up until and including their 1976 album, Festival . ...

  Cocteau Twins - Sunburst And Snowblind [BAD 314 UK 1983 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] I often wonder if Guthrie & Fraser realised at the time how important these melodic delights would become when they first sat down at John Turner's Palladium Studios at home in Edinburgh to record them. This EP, the accompanying album Head Over Heel s and the follow up Treasure have to be their most inspirational works of art. This is the last of my brief rush of new Cocteau Twins rips, something very different to come tomorrow... A1   Sugar Hiccup A2   From The Flagstones B1   Hitherto B2   Because Of Whirl-Jack

  Cocteau Twins - Peppermint Pig [BAD 303 UK 1983 24-Bit 176.4kHz  FLAC] The single which marked the end of the Cocteau Twins early years with Will Heggie, and not named after a popular candy sweet or the book by Nina Bawden. The Cocteaus kicked off their journey through a world of intricate alliteration in song titles, personally  the carnivore in me prefers my pigs to taste of bacon. Another new high resolution rip, so please offload my previous attempts, this is the one... A1 Peppermint Pig B1 Laugh Lines B2 Hazel

  Cocteau Twins - Lullabies [BAD 213 UK 1982 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] I need revisit a few old twelves, firstly cleaning old vinyl with a Tergikleen mixture and then running through the ultrasonic cleaner. As a vinyl enthusiast and trader, I will say the HumminGuru is a solid investment which will quickly pay for itself.  This brand new high resolution rip of the debut Cocteau Twins EP on 4AD Records is a huge upgrade on anything I have been able to produce before. A1  Feathers-Oar-Blades A2  Alas Dies Laughing B1  It's All But An Ark Lark

  New Order - Music Complete [BXSTUMM390 UK 2015 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] I stopped buying New Order records in 1986, effectively I had fallen out of love after Low-Life, however religiously bought the follow-up singles, but for the first time, began to look for (and find) flaws. I had a pre-release tape of Brotherhood (which I really enjoyed) but the final album lacked the edge of the live versions I had become accustomed to. Everything since has been on compact disc (most unplayed for decades), charity shop purchases, second hand bargain vinyl finds or blog donations. But I bought the Music Complete box-set? For me, this is not a New Order album. there is something missing, some of you will understand, others may not. For me this is a Bernard Sumner album with associated musicians, most of whom do exactly as they are told. There are one or two moments which would remind you of New Order, it is best to ignore those and think of a different band. Before anybody asks, I do not ...

  Simple Minds - Love Song [VS 434-12 UK 1981 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Love Song was Simple Mind's seventh single, with a pounding, almost funky bass line, washes of distorted guitar & sequenced synths, it fit's perfectly into their euro-wave period. My copy is the full length five minute EMI pressing, rather than the much shorter alternative CBS pressing. The single backed with the much more intricate & experimental  This Earth That You Walk Upon which just proves that they were truly skilled in their craft, long before they decided to be the Scottish U2 and fill stadiums all over the globe.  A1 Love Song B1 This Earth That You Walk Upon

  Simple Minds - Sister Feelings Call [OVED 2 UK 1981 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] The earlier 'euro-wave' years of Simple Minds represent, for me at least, some of the band's finest work. Sister Feelings Call was one of two mid-price compilations of singles from the era, with associated b-sides and other works. Moving on from their early post-punk albums, the band found influence in the Bowie & Eno Berlin-based collaborations of the late seventies to redevelop their sound into an intricate new-wave formula which eventually became their New Gold Dream . A1 Theme For Great Cities A2 The American A3 20th Century Promised Land B1 Wonderful In Young Life B2 League Of Nations B3 Careful In Career B4 Sound In 70 Cities

  Kenny Dorham - Matador [IMP6042 USA 2022 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on United Artists Jazz in 1963, modern day quality label Impex Records have acquired the rights to this classic, and very hard to find, album by jazz trumpet, Kenny Dorham with Jackie MacLean on sax, Bobby Timmons on piano, Teddy Smith on bass and J.C. Moses on drums. Chris Bellman mastered the original analogue tapes at Bernie Grundman's Mastering Studio. This album was pressed at RTI and is wrapped in a superb quality textured sleeve, released as a limited edition of 5,000. A1 El Matador A2 Melanie-Part 1 A3 Melanie-Part 2 A4 Melanie-Part 3 B1 Smile B2 Beautiful Love B3 Prelude B4 There Goes My Heart

  Azymuth - Jazz Carnival [MRC 101 UK 1979 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Brazilian legends Azymuth have been making records since 1972, they still record & play live today. This single was their first to be released outside of Brazil, and it is nine & a half minutes of latin-funk-jazz-disco magic. I bought this copy back around 1983 when one of my favourite bands had veered towards this sound, citing Azymuth as a major influence, hence bringing the funk from the South American sun into the dreary nightclubs of a rainy Manchester.  A1 Jazz Carnival B1 Fly Over The Horizon (Vôo Sobre O Horizonte)

  Yazoo - Upstairs At Eric's [MOFI 1-020 USA 2012 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Is it really forty years since Upstairs At Eric's ? Possibly one of the biggest selling indie albums of all time was remastered by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in 2012 as part of their Silver Label Vinyl Series from mostly multi-generation analogue tapes or digital masters, pressed by RTI onto standard noisy vinyl. I have a Mute original on my shelves but I thought I would give the Mofi version a run out. For me Vince Clark remains a hero of my synthpop generation, Depeche Mode were never the same since he left, DM resorted to hard drugs and tried to go industrial, Clarke found a girl in Essex and released two classic albums of genuine synthpop. I foolishly always thought Only You went to number one in the UK, it didn't that was The Flying Pickets acapella cover version, instead Yazoo's original only got to the second spot. Totally nuts if you ask me, also why on earth was Situation never a UK single...

  The Doors - L.A. Woman [APP 75011-45 USA 2012 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on Elektra Records in 1971. It is time once more to dump my mid-eighties Warners Records mid-price pressing of an album by The Doors for what is very much a superior quality release. Mastered by the late Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab from the original analogue tapes and pressed onto two 45rpm platters by those very careful folks at Quality Record Pressings, here is L.A. Woman , very much as it was meant to sound. You should all know this album, though I would bet never before as good as this.... A1 The Changeling A2 Love Her Madly A3 Been Down So Long B1 Cars Hiss By My Window B2 L.A. Woman C1 L'America C2 Hyacinth House C3 Crawling King Snake D1 The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) D2 Riders On The Storm

Cabaret Voltaire - Drinking Gasoline [CVM 1 UK 1985 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Drinking Gasoline is four eight minute slabs of pure power industrial electro released as a 12" 45rpm double pack back in 1985. I remember much confusion over titles back when it was released as it appeared the tracks were mislabeled according to the gatefold sleeve and labels. My copy is a first week purchase and hence has no correction sticker.  Looking back, I was always sure the tracks were put in the wrong order on the sleeve as the etching on the run offs shows that Big Funk should have been side A, Kino on side C and so on. Anyway, this oversight doesn't spoil your enjoyment of this fine electronic hard funk as only Cabaret Voltaire could produce. Or perhaps, Porky just got it wrong. Recorded & released during their most productive period between the  Micro-Phonies and  The Covenant, The Sword And The Arm Of The Lord , I would likely agree with anybody who suggests that this is the l...

  Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman [EKT 44 UK 1988 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Tracy never got her revolution, she heralded the end of the Reagan years with her folksy rock only to discover that the Bush dynasty was coming. Her lyrical subject matter always championed the underdog, the downtrodden and the abused. The eleven beautifully crafted compositions adorning her debut album made her an overnight worldwide superstar, however like many other protest singers, she sold millions of records, tapes and compact discs to an adoring middle class and nothing changed. I often wonder what she thought of William Jefferson Clinton. Never reissued on vinyl, the Tracy Chapman debut album was digitally recorded in Hollwoood CA, mastered at Masterdisk NY - my British copy was pressed by Record Service in Germany. Like many WEA releases in Europe, the pressing is okay - I have washed away the years since I last played this record with a Tergikleen and distilled water solution, then given it a spi...

  Ray Charles - Genius+Soul=Jazz [A-2 USA 2021 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] If you had told me back in July 2010 when I began seriously ripping vinyl, that one day I would post some big band jazz from Ray Charles, then I would have likely laughed in your face. Well, then here you are.... This post was supposed to happen yesterday, however I had better things to do yesterday evening. Originally released on Impulse Records in 1961, this immaculate pressing emerged in the spring of last year, courtesy of Analogue Productions and their Acoustic Sounds Series of Verve/Impulse reissues.  I have often been critical of modern day vinyl releases, this is how good they can sound when properly mastered on good quality flat vinyl using the AAA process. You will pay an extra fiver or a tenner for a release like this, however when they sound as good as this, they are worth every penny. Play loud. A1 From The Heart A2 I've Got News For You A3 Moanin' A4 Let's Go A5 One Mint Julep B1 ...

  Nina Simone - I Put A Spell On You [PHS 600-172 USA 2020 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on Philips Records in 1965, and repressed numerous time since, here is the widely acknowledged superior pressing by the team at Analogue Productions as part of their Acoustic Sounds Verve Series. Mastered from the original analogue tapes by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound, pressed at Quality Record Pressings and wrapped in a high gloss finish tip-on jacket made by Stoughton Printing. Just sublime. A1 I Put A Spell On You A2 Tomorrow Is My Turn A3 Ne Me Quitte Pas A4 Marriage Is For Old Folks A5 July Tree A6 Gimme Some B1 Feeling Good B2 One September Day B3 Blues On Purpose B4 Beautiful Land B5 You've Got To Learn B6 Take Care Of Business

  The Beatles - Let It Be [602507138653 UK 2021 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Rather than let George Martin get the appropriate production credit, The Beatles chose to let Phil Spector smother it with effects and over-dubs, then give the disgraced American the final production credit, and then spent the next fifty years trying to put it right.  I am not enough of a Beatles aficionado to contrast, compare and provide a worthy opinion - I come from the post-punk-industrial generation, however I could not resist the re-hype regarding Peter Jackson's expansive re-work of the accompanying movie. I am slowly working through that, meanwhile I succumbed to this purchase to hear what all the fuss was about. Mastered using the DMM method by Miles Showell, likely from a digital file (that seems to be the Abbey Road way these days) of the Giles Martin & Sam OKell remix from analogue tapes, and pressed onto special non-flat vinyl by Optimal Media in Germany.  A1 Two Of Us A2 Dig A Po...

  Herbie Hancock - Future Shock [25AP-2672 JPN 1983 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] The HumminGuru arrived yesterday and with a queue of stuff awaiting bath time, I will kick off with the original Japanese pressing of Future Shock. I say Japanese pressing with some intrepidation as there is no clue where it was pressed. The master was cut at Masterdisk in New York, but as always with some Japanese Sony/CBS/Columbia releases, the final product could have been pressed on either side of the Pacific. I would say this version is a decent upgrade on my original UK, which I ripped a few years back. The master of the jazz piano, Herbie Hancock went electro with this fine album from 1983. Whilst not groundbreaking, Herbie was one of the many musicians who dragged electro and scratch out of the underground and into the mainstream. Hancock still ladles out the jazz-funk during some tracks (like the title track), but it is Rockit which grabbed all the attention. Aided and abetted by Bill Laswell, this ...

  Almunia - New Moon [C56LP004R UK 2019 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Today's second album is something which was been on my wish list for a while. I was never lucky enough to find the original 2011 numbered gatefold edition of 300, however recently I happened upon the 2019 repress (again just 300) of Almunia's debut album New Moon . I posted their second album, Pulsar back in May 2021, so the link may still be alive (just). Pulsar had a very dreamy & chilled Balearic feel, New Moon takes on the form of progressive space-rock, smothered in floating Floydian guitars and effects which twinkle across the room from speaker to speaker. The mood remains relaxed, the melodies are addictive and the world now awaits the next installment from Almunia ....given previous form, you will need to be quick or like me, you will be waiting years for a repress. Never before has music created by two Italians with a laptop and a guitar sounded so good. Pure ear candy. Enjoy. A1 L&G Psychedeli...

  Wild Nothing - Nocturne [BELLAV356 UK 2012 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Jack Tatum, from Blacksburg, Virginia has been making great indie-pop records since the late noughties, acquiring a deal with New York label, Captured Tracks following his imaginative dreampop cover of Kate Bush's Cloudbusting . Nocturne is his second long-player and his first for the UK, with Simon Raymonde's Bella Union empire - this version is pressed by our noisy Czech cousins at GZ Media and comes in an interchangeable design sleeve (hence the image above). Being an incredibly talented chap, Tatum plays all instruments (except the acoustic drums) on this record which is literally packed full of catchy indie-pop tunes, revealing his influences from British bands such as The Smiths, New Order and literally anything from Sarah Records. I love this album, he will struggle to better it, actually the only downside is his decision to use modern compression techniques which results in some loss of fidelity. This ...

  Lè Travo - Erring And Errant [DE-056 USA 2014 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] More Belgians  ....actually make that one Belgian, Patrick Bollen, a Joy Division and Bauhaus fan from Tienen near Leuven, supported by more Belgians including Luc Van Acker. Erring And Errant was first released on Bollen's Working Records in 1985 and has become an important and quite sought after slice of low country synthwave with mint copies fetching over 100 euros on the secondary market.  This 2014 re-press on Dark Entries is superbly mastered and includes three additional Van Acker produced tracks which originally appeared in 1984 as part of a shared album. The music crosses over between synthwave, goth & industrial and makes a bloody good listen from beginning to end. Strangely never released in other markets, this album would have fitted rather well as an early Wax Trax Records release. This new 176.4kHz rip is a marked improvement on anything I have attempted before with this record. A1...

  Lou Donaldson - Alligator Bogaloo [BST 84263 DEU 2019 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on Blue Note Records in 1967, this 2019 re-issue was mastered in the USA and pressed at Optimal in Germany.  Sax legend Lou 'Mr. Shing-A-Ling' Donaldson's line-up includes (the) George Benson on guitar, Lonnie Smith on the organ and funky drummer Leo Morris (aka Idris Muhammad). This swinging sixties funky-soul-jazz sound is synonymous with the period, complete with a wonderfully kitsch sleeve. Donaldson's two 1967 albums are among the most sampled in the jazz genre, with those instantly recognisable drum loops forming part of many a rap artists repertoire some twenty years later. This will be the last from me for three or four days, so enjoy. Get those toes tapping! A1 Alligator Bogaloo A2 One Cylinder A3 The Thang B1 Aw Shucks! B2 Rev. Moses B3 I Want A Little Girl

  Donald Byrd - Byrd In Paris [SR10/1 FRA 2021 Mono 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on the Brunswick label in 1958, in France & Germany. I mentioned a few weeks back about the growing number of European (& Russian) labels releasing poor quality unlicensed jazz records, using compact disc (or worse) sources. Sam Records is not one of those labels. Fred Thomas runs Sam Records as a one-man-band, out of Paris, focusing on exceptional quality remasters from original tapes, pressed onto good quality vinyl. The label specialises in repressing releases from old French labels from the fifties and sixties, such as Brunswick, Barclay and Philips, most of which never saw release outside Europe. Back in those days, many American musicians hot footed to France, releasing a plethora of products only for the French and European markets. I have acquired a couple of his releases, here is one from trumpet legend Donald Byrd repressed from the original mono recording. I don't poss...

  Solis Lacus - Solis Lacus [SDBANSELECTION06 BEL 2022 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on the Selection Records label, back in 1975, Solis Lacus were a Brussels based jazz/soul/fusion band who released just one album. Sdban Records, out of Ghent, have just secured the rights to a re-press, so let's take it for a spin. This version replicates the library-style sleeve of the original rather than the more garish French repress. I've mentioned before that I believe Belgium to be the home of European jazz (sorry Paris), with a thriving scene that has lasted & continued to grow over the decades. With a sound close to the fusion period of Herbie Hancock and as experimental as Marc Moulin's Placebo, this five piece ensemble revolved around the keyboard skills of Michael Herr. The bass is funky and tight like the drums which are let loose on a fabulous solo during  Little Green Man (around the two minute fifty mark, should you be feeling lazy). This is very much a ...

  Presage - Presage [PSMLP 1 ITA 2019 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] If you've been around here a while, you will know I do like the occasional obscurity. I regularly pester local record store owners with requests to hear snippets of the unusual in case I find something different to catch my interest, or browse new release/reissue websites for soundbytes. I'll put this album into the 'something different' category. I have ripped this album before in 2019, but think I can do better now ....and I have. Presage are an Italian band, led by ital-disco's Gian Piero Reverberi whose roots were originally in the Italian prog scene. If you like me, you find lyrics & vocals on some Italian releases challenging, you will be pleased to know that this is an instrumental album. Originally released on the For Sale Records label in 1983, Presage produce an unusual blend of classic seventies rock, new-wave and disco. It actually works should the disbelievers need to question. This record...

  Pigeon - Yagana [SNDW12044 UK 2021 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] If only all jam sessions were this good. It was to be a quiet Friday night in for me, however there is an Afrobeat part going on in my living room. I think I have only ever posted 5 or 6 African styled records in my blogging career, and some of those two or three times. This one first surfaced at the back-end of 2021 and was only available in choice record stores, it has now at last been given a wider release. Pigeon are an Anglo-African conglomerate operating out of the Kentish port town of Margate, They are Guinean singer Falle Nioke, Graham Godfrey on drums, Steve Pringle on keyboards, Tom Dream on guitar and Josh Ludlow on bass. Their Yagana EP was born out of a jam session, following a different kind of session in a Margate public house. These four tracks vary from infectious upbeat Afro-Funk to post-PiL grinding post-punk. This record is quite extraordinary, and not since Masimba Bele , some thirty-nine years a...

  Love - Forever Changes [MFSL 2-402 USA 2016 2x45RPM 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Whilst I await the arrival of a HumminGuru ultrasonic cleaner, I am ripping some more recent pressings, the majority of which should be in minty tip-top condition. Therefore, next up is the Mobile Fidelity double 45rpm edition of Love's classic Forever Changes . MoFi make big claims over their Gain 2™ Ultra Analog 45RPM 180g Series, stating that these are mastered at half speed from the original master tapes where possible, capturing and uncovering as before undiscovered sonic information. I am not technically proficient enough to understand how this makes a difference or decide whether it is just something dreamed up by their marketing department. Possibly considered as the leaders in their field of quality reissues, they have been around for a while, MoFi have had their share of issues - most infamously a very expensive Beatles box set made from the wrong master tapes, there have also been quality ...

  Yoshio Suzuki - Morning Picture [HRLP238 JPN 2021 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on JVC Records in 1984, Morning Picture is the fourth album by Japanese multi instrumentalist Yoshio Suzuki. Recalling the UK release back during the eighties' new-age period, when the genre was used to lump modern jazz, modern classical and modern folk together in an attempt to sell expensive compact discs to audiophiles. Suzuki has enjoyed a recent resurgence with thanks to Floating Points and the growth of the modern Balearic scene.  Late last year, the HMV Record Co in Japan repressed Morning Picture as a very limited release, I couldn't resist picking up a copy. Yoshio plays all instruments on this record, some tracks will have a familiarity about them, Valpolicella September Walk especially. This music is based around a piano and a double bass, with a significant injection of the feeling of space. The Yoshio Suzuki sound is rich and deep, this is not a headphone album, thi...

  Eva Cassidy - Songbird [G8-10220 DEU 2X45 2021 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] You don't need to be a fan of Eva Cassidy (but I would bet someone close to you is), to appreciate her extraordinary talent and feel the immense sadness that this amazing voice was cut off in her prime by cancer. This is the American vocalist who made Fleetwood Mac's Songbird her own, in fact it is highly likely that she has made every song covered, her own. This double 45rpm album is a collection of her works spanning an all to brief career which began with a remarkable album (cd only) of jazz & blues standards & interpretations with the king of go-go, Mr. Chuck Brown. This is also, very possibly, one of the finest mastering to vinyl work that you are likely to hear on an independent record label album. That is easily helped by the 45rpm pressing - however, according to Michael Fremer, it may only be eclipsed by the Steve Hoffman USA-only remaster for S&P Records in 2003, but that was a 33rpm ...

  Verve - Gravity Grave [HUTT 21 UK 1992 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Following closely behind She's A Superstar , Gravity Grave was the second single by Wigan's Verve. The track is an eight minute assault on the aural senses, driven by what could be the simplest of Roger Waters bass lines from early seventies Pink Floyd, the track builds and builds to a crescendo of melodic noise, the subtle bass & drum break, around the four & a half minute mark, gives you enough time to come up for air until the hypnotic noise immerses you once more.  This track needs the space and depth as afforded by a hi-fi system, so for the full effect, put the headphones away and play loudly. A1 Gravity Grave (Extended Version) B1 Endless Life B2 A Man Called Sun (Live)  

  The Left Banke - Walk Away Renee [NRIC 022 UK 1984 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] In the late eighties, as I was becoming disillusioned with then current music trends, I began looking back at the seventies and sixties for music new to me. I would consider myself as a bit of a labellist, and Bam Caruso Records ticked all my boxes, so I built a hefty collection of their extensive releases. The Bam-Caruso psyche compilations, which I had been peddling at my chain store music retailer, had fueled my interest in the alternative sixties to a point (early Floyd, Velvets and Them) and I also began to investigate the artists Phil Smee had compiled on Rubbles etc. I have all the Rubbles albums among my collection, they will feature at some point. Bam-Caruso had obtained the rights to The Left Banke back catelogue and these were eventually to find their way into my collection. Often misconceived as a British pop band, they were actually American and from New York, their baroque and strings sound ...

  Muddy Waters - Folk Singer [APB 1483 USA 2021 24-Bit 1764.kHz FLAC] There has been a recent 'shoot-out' online with many opinions on the differences between the Analogue Productions 45rpm reissue of Folk Singer and the Mobile Fidelity 45rpm one-step super vinyl edition. I don't possess the ears or the equipment (or the more expensive MoFi edition), I only own the 33rpm edition of the Analogue Productions release, so here it is. Originally released on Chess Records in 1964, this album is lauded by many as the best-recorded blues album of all time. This edition, mastered by Bernie Grundman, puts you in Chess Records Ter Mar Studio in Chicago, sitting in between Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy and Clifton James during the unplugged acoustic sessions for this album. Every detail captured by the live microphones, including the full studio atmosphere and all the acoustics can be enjoyed by the listener in the highest clarity. If the blues have never previously been your...

  Ryo Fukui - Ryo Fukui In New York [WRJ009LTD CHE 2020 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] It's a chilled & relaxing Sunday morning, so that can only mean one thing... I was initially considering something appropriate from a pile of Blue Note Tone Poet, Impulse /Analogue Productions, Verve/Analogue Productions, one MFSL and a few Blue Note Classic vinyl releases, ignored those (for now) and pulled out this release from the We Release Jazz label of Japanese pianist Ryo Fukui.  Originally only released as a compact disc in Japan in 1999, this is a digital recording superbly mastered for vinyl by Sidney Claire Meyer, one of a new generation of considerate mastering engineers, operating out of Emil Berliner Studios in Berlin, Germany. The record was pressed by Optimal Media, who can produce quality pressings when the record label is willing to cover the premium. The album was recorded at at Avatar Recording Studios, New York in February of 1999 and features Lisle Atkinson o...

  Car Crash Set - Join The Car Crash Set [ANNA 01.2008 DEU 2014 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Kiwi bands always seem to get a raw deal, if it wasn't for Split Enz (who most thought came from Australia) and John Peel's exposure of the Flying Nun label bands, many would never be heard outside their home market. I think it must be down to distance, after all these two islands are approx three hours from the nearest other state. A handy place to be when Vlad The Mad is threateningly waving his missiles around, but not far enough away for secret agents from a major European state to sink the ship belonging to peaceful environmental protesters (there I go again).  Here is a fine compilation of some works of Car Crash Set, a New Zealand indie-synthpop band from the eighties who released one very hard to find album and six singles on Reaction records between 1983 & 1986. This release came courtesy of German synthwave reissue label Anna Logue Records, pressed in 2008 and later again in 20...

  The Danse Society - Say It Again [SOC 128 2x12 UK 1985 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] That eighties phenomenon of twelve inch double packs was used as a marketing tool to push single sales in the competitive UK singles chart. I don't think the idea ever worked for Arista Records and their (short-term) investment into The Danse Society. The label also paid for Stock, Aitken & Waterman to produce the a-side, as well as threw money at image consultancies to polish the band's image, in addition to their new polished pop sound. Consequently front-man Steve Rawlings was re-modeled to look like a cross between Pete Burns and Anna Friel. Only kidding of course, Miss Friel was only nine years old when this single came out, but you'll see what I mean in the video below. This is the last in my run of releases by The Danse Society, and likely their most commercial. Having four different tracks adds to the value of this release, still mildly goth, the a-side is restrained synth-pop with a...