‘It opens with hypnotic, dubwise low-end pressure; then Guess What pushes into Bristol techno territory. Next up the syncopated bass mutations of You’d Never Know; before Swollows Sunshine drifts into electro, ambient melancholy.’

Illmatic cultists mithered about this 1996 follow-up, but it’s aged magnificently, and they were wrong.
‘Amidst production from heavy hitters like Dr. Dre, Havoc of Mobb Deep and DJ Premier, Nas weaves evocative narratives of gang warfare, downtrodden neighborhoods, drug deals gone awry, and gangsta triumph, against a backdrop of samples from Sam Cooke, Etta James, the Isley Brothers, and even Chuck Mangione. With guest turns from Lauryn Hill, AZ, Foxy Brown, and Mobb Deep; classics like Street Dreams and If I Ruled The World.’

Full-on, sex-hungry, hard-grooving, rock-steady, into-the-future electric blues.
Check out Muddy dancing in his last minute on stage. Otis Spann led the closer — torch-carrying verses by Langston Hughes — because the boss was so knackered.
Look at all the people laughing, shouting out, swaying in their deck-chairs… and wonder about Dylan causing such a cataclysmic stink five long years later, on the same stage, going electric the same way (on the same type of Telecaster).

Spine-tinglingly yearning, yet dignified, rootical rocksteady classic — one of Phil Pratt’s top tunes, limpidly delivered by Lynn Taitt — with an ace Tommy McCook version.

On harp and piano — with Pharoah Sanders (soprano sax), Vishnu Wood (oud), Rashied Ali (drums), Cecil McBee (bass), Charlie Haden (bass), Majid Shabazz (bells, tambourine), Tulsi (tamboura).
Transcendent jazz from 1970; full fathom five deep but compellingly accessible. Our favourite of all her records, and over the decades our first recommendation as an introduction to her work.
According to AC’s sleeve note, ‘Anyone listening to this selection should try to envision himself floating on an ocean of Satchinandaji’s love, which is literally carrying countless devotees across the vicissitudes and stormy blasts of life to the other shore.’