…this new edition runs over two discs with the album being packaged with the ‘Fine Friend’ EP and a great selection of previously unheard tracks and demos as handpicked by the band.
A letdown can still be a strong record. Pale Saints’ second LP In Ribbons (1992) was an instantly memorable gilded masterwork, as texturally splendid as it was jarring and creative. But then enigmatic singer Ian Masters walked, taking his songwriting and bass playing with him, as evidenced by his moody and momentous LP Spoonfed Hybrid. Slow Buildings is nonetheless proof that Pale Saints were wise to carry on with Meriel Barham stepping up to full-time vocalist and former Heart Throbs member Colleen Browne joining on bass. No question, Masters is missed.
Category: remastered
Released in 1957, Thelonious Himself is a solo album by Thelonious Monk. The only exception to this is the final track “Monk’s Mood”, where he is joined by John Coltrane and Wilbur Ware. The album was Monk’s fourth on Riverside and was given a coveted 5 stars by DownBeat magazine. This new edition of the album is released as part of the Original Jazz Classics Series and features remastered audio from the original master tapes.
On each of his first three recordings for Riverside, Thelonious Monk included a solo piano presentation, and for many listeners, these were the highlights of each recital. And so it was decided that Monk’s fourth Riverside recording, Thelonious Himself, would be composed entirely of solo interpretations; well, almost.
In 1977, New York’s Fania All-Stars toured Japan and introduced salsa to the country. That performance directly informed the creation of Orquesta del Sol by percussionist, composer, and arranger Masahito “Pecker” Hashida. Motivated by the Fania tour, he formed Orquesta del Sol in early 1978. Among the first musicians he recruited was veteran jazz drummer Shuichi “Ponta” Murakami. His presence made it easier for Hashida to enlist other prominent players from Tokyo’s studio scene. Thanks to Ponta, the 18-piece ensemble scored a record deal with jazz label Discomate. They stayed together until 2002, releasing five albums. The band’s gigs and recordings influenced better-known acts Orquesta de la Cruz (still active, they include former…
Legend has it that a Welsh prince called Madoc discovered the Americas in 1170, some three hundred years prior to Christopher Columbus. Legend also says Madoc and his men mated with Native Americans, thereby creating a Welsh Indian tribe whose existence belongs to myth.
Such a tale is ideal for Gruff Rhys, the Welsh psychedelic pop artist who has specialized in eccentricity from his very first recording with Super Furry Animals. American Interior captures Rhys’ own attempt to retrace the footsteps of explorer John Evans, who set out in the 1790s to find the lost Welsh-speaking tribe. Evans didn’t find the tribe and for Rhys the journey itself is the destination, a journey he chronicled in a film, in a book, and in this concept album.
Recorded in 1996, Merzbow’s The Prosperity of Vice, the Misfortune of Virtue is one of a series of unique editions from his vast catalogue that reveals a side of his practice often under represented.
During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Masami Akita was sometimes working on film and theatre music. In this space he created a series of recordings that capture the full scope of his sound worlds.
Given the nature of these settings, his compositional approaches were varied, seeking to create both intensely crushing walls of sound and more spatial, and at times rhythmic, pieces that plot out an approach to sound making which atomises his universe of sound, and uncovered the singular detail that is often consumed in the whole.
TV Smith’s first solo album, reissued from the master tapes for the first time.
The artwork has been professionally restored and packaged in a deluxe gatefold sleeve with extensive liner notes by longtime fan and author Dave Thompson.
In January 1983, TV SMITH reunited with their ex-promoter Tim Cross and David Bowie’s ex-guitarist Tim Renwick to record “Channel 5” at Wickham Studios in Croydon. 3 weeks later the album was finished and was to be released in June.
“War Fever” was intended to be the first single, but at that time there was a general election in the country in which the ruling Conservative Party played the card of victory in the Falklands War, so the single disappeared without trace.
The iconic 1977 live album, now fully reimagined, mixed, and mastered for an immersive experience! Mixed and produced by Dan Bornemark, The Complete Live Experience brings a fresh level of clarity and depth to Gentle Giant’s live recordings, capturing the full scope of the band’s artistry as they were meant to be heard.
Over the years, specifically in the early 2000s, Gentle Giant were subject to a series of “official bootleg” releases of dubious if historic quality. It is only right, then, in 2025 a definitive live set is reissued with the requisite sonic and setlist tinkering. Oh yes, and the ubiquitous 5.1 mix. ‘Playing The Fool’ is remixed and mastered and “fully reimagined”. Wasn’t the limited edition 29–CD box set…