Eddie Harris’ bassist with an effects box and guests like Lester Bowie and Phil Upchurch. Same vibes as Charles Stepney, the best Ramsey Lewis Cadets, early Earth, Wind And Fire…
‘Verve By Request.’

Parker playing doson ngoni, dudek, and flutes of bamboo, cedar & walnut; Cooper-Moore on his hand-crafted ashimba and harp; Hamid Drake on frame drum and drum kit.

‘Balancing music, antithetical to destruction. Music to draw sustenance from. Some measure of fortitude, at least, for compassionate souls in the elevating struggle against increasingly inextricable imposed realities that parse a human being’s value solely on what they are able to consume.
‘This is music for sunrise and sunset. Daily music. Healing, centering, mantra, heart music.’

As Parker puts it in his sleevenote: ‘The theory behind this music is the music itself. Empty and fill the heart and soul with sound, letting it dance. Without pretense. We are trying to get to a flow - earth, sky, and flowing water sounds that jump out of the painting… The story, the plot is, life is beautiful. Must be to be life. War is death fueled by hate. How do we stop war? Never start one.’

Great album this; recommended with infernal heat. Beautiful close-harmony singing, killer tunes, tough rhythms, engaging songs. Junjo at Maxfield Avenue, with the Roots Radics. Heavy and luminous from start to finish.

Thrilling primitive gospel from Alabama. Fuzzy, loud, dissonant guitar somewhere between Pops Staples, John Lee Hooker and the outsider R ‘n B of Hasil Adkins. True testifyin’ magic, and highly recommended.

Sublime soul music from 1969, produced by Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd, with strings and horns supervised by Arif Mardin. This edition by Run Out Groove; heavyweight sleeve, numbered.

Their legendary 1969 collaboration — featuring Whistle Stop, and Airto in full flight.

Jarvis Cocker’s thrilled to bits — ‘Here, at last, is the the soundtrack to maybe THE underground film of all time in all its crazy daisy glory’. A mental cut & paste of Czech orchestras, folk, jazz and experimental sounds.

Bagpiping meets Partch DIY and the singing of Pandit Pran Nath, at the grass roots of Fluxus, in an empty swimming pool. Long, slowly building drones, lightly processed, with snatches of melody. Check it out.

Startling, exhilarating concrete music by this experimental Canadian film-maker, beloved of Stanley Kubrick and George Lucas. (A homage to him is embedded in Star Wars.)

From 1982 — with the Roots Radics and Jah Thomas at Channel One.

At the fountainhead of soul jazz and boogaloo, the stinging opener is an all-time, humungous, utterly irresistible jazz hit.
Joe Henderson and Barry Harris are superb throughout. Don’t miss Hocus-Pocus.

This essential reggae LP was recorded at Randy’s and the Black Ark, and originally released in 1975 on Black World. Powerful songs, steeped in no-messing revolutionary socialism, beautifully delivered by Max Romeo at his peak, clear as a bell, with expertly lean production by Bullwackies’ Clive Hunt (besides Pete Weston and Lee Perry himself). The CD adds a heap of dubs, and toasts by Prince Far-I and I-Roy.

“Got to clean up your hammer and sharpen your sickle… In this time of revelation… Dread… Coming from high places where there is no screw faces… Selfish barbarism has got to stop.”

Their seminal 1979 LP debut with Dennis Bovell at the mixing board. 180g vinyl.

At the harmonium; bleak and utterly captivating. Terrific arrangements by John Cale.
A stone-cold classic.