Twenty-one songs, running right back to 1971: assured, lovely, intelligent, good-humoured singer-songwriting, mixing up Americana, folk, pop, art rock, and gentle experimentalism.

Originally released in 2007 this redux edition includes new masters from a recently found pristine tape reel and was remastered by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering in Portland, OR. Revised artwork;  extensive liner notes by Arthur’s partner Tom Lee.

From seventies Guinea-Bissau, a captivating, poignant blend of anti-colonial militancy and the knot of homesickness, regret, loss and melancholy at the heart of saudade. Sung in Guinean Kriol, and reviving traditional musical genres like Gumbé, lavished with jazz, Latin, funk and general dancefloor nous, José & Cobiana Djazz went down a storm nationally, hugely influencing local bands like Super Mama Djombo, and hailed by giants like Orchestra Baobab, Letta Mbulu and Miriam Makeba (with whom Zé Carlos recorded his only solo album).
Lua Ki Di Nos, The Moon Is Ours, is a mixture of thumping, blistering high-life, with burning horns and mesmerising guitar lines, for dancing, and sublime, swaying, moodily contemplative body-rockers. The mournful Na Kolonia, for example, is knockout. Locked up for his politics on Ilha das Galinhas, a few miles off the coast of Bissau, the singer wonders what has become of his friends. ‘Where is Sara? Back at the colony. Where is Saidu? Back at the colony. Uncle Malam, tell them not to cry, not to suffer. One day we’ll be back in Bissau, a day that is slow to arrive. Our brothers from Bissau, don’t forget about us. If you think that we’re dead, we haven’t died, we’re waiting here.’
Ace.

The CD is from Fontana / Decca France; with a sixty-page booklet.

‘Classic Vinyl.’

‘Classic Vinyl.’

The jazz organist’s masterpiece — with Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson and Elvin Jones in 1965.
Young’s playing is steeped in the new thing — especially JC — but pulsating, intense, and sparking with a restless, propulsive creativity which would lead him to collaborations with Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Bitches-Brew Miles and co, in just a few years time.
Three brilliant compositions by Shaw — including The Moontrane, and an arrangement of Kodaly — a Joe Henderson, a Monk, and Hammerstein and Romberg’s Softly As A Morning Sunrise.
‘Ultimate HQ CD’ from Japan, using the recent Craft transfers and mastering.

With Herbie Hancock, Reggie Workman and Joe Chambers in 1966. A rocking title track, a hard blues, some tasty bossa, and the first time out for Footprints. Unmissable.

‘Ultimate HQ CD’ from Japan, using the recent Craft transfers and mastering.

Deadly, dubwise space disco by the Gaylad — a version of The Earons’ Land Of Hunger, hauling it from Compass Point in the Bahamas, to downtown Kingston, Jamaica.