Lonnie Liston Smith and The Cosmic Echoes-Renaissance. Label: BGP. Format: LP. Release Date: 26th August 2022. Innovative, influential and way ahead of the musical curve, describes the music of Lonnie Liston Smith, and specially the five albums he recorded with The Cosmic Echoes for Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman Productions between 1973 and 1976 This began with …
Lonnie Liston Smith-Live! Label: BGP. Format: CD. Innovative, influential and way ahead of the musical curve describes the music of Lonnie Liston Smith. Especially the music he recorded with The Cosmic Echoes for Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman Productions. A total of five groundbreaking albums were released by the label starting with 1973s Astral Travelling. This continued right through to …
Lonnie Liston Smith and The Cosmic Echoes-Renaissance. Label: BGP. Format: CD. Innovative, influential and way ahead of the musical curve, describes the music of Lonnie Liston Smith, and specially the five albums he recorded with The Cosmic Echoes for Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman Productions between 1973 and 1976 This began with Astral Travelling in 1973 with …
Directions In Music 1969 To 1973. Label: BGP. Format: CD. By the time of John Coltrane’s death in 1967 rock was by far the most popular musical genre in America. A headline in Downbeat magazine warned that: “Jazz as We Know It Is Dead.” The future of jazz looked bleak. Fortunately, fusion rode to the …
Lofts and Garages-Spring Records and The Birth Of Dance Music. Label: BGP. Format: CD. Release Date: ‘30th’ October 2020. As 1979 dawned, the tide was turning against disco, which had been one of the musical success stories of the late-seventies, and had provided the soundtrack to dance floors across the world. That was about to …
Cult Classic: Leon Thomas-Full Circle. For Leon Thomas, Full Circle represented the end of an era. It was the last album Leon Thomas released on Flying Dutchman Productions, and marked the end of his “classic period.” It had started four years earlier in 1969, when Leon Thomas released his debut album Spirits Known and Unknown. …
Horn Rock and Funky Guitar Grooves 1968-1974. Label: BGP. Nowadays, music historians regard 1968 as the year that American rock returned to its soulful roots. The man responsible, was one of the true legends of music, Bob Dylan, who joined forces with The Band, and they went in search of a chimerical America, and what …
If You’re Not Part Of The Solution-Soul, Politics and Spirituality In Jazz 1967-1975. Label: BGP. By the late sixties, jazz like the blues was at a crossroads and both genres risked becoming irrelevant to a new breed of record buyers. The problem was, that jazz was no longer as popular as it had once been, …
Southern Groove: Hotlanta, Aware and Clintone Funk and Soul. Label: BGP. Throughout musical history, colourful and controversial characters have always been attracted to the music industry in the hope of earning fast and easy money. While that night have been part of the attraction why Michael Thevis founded the Hotlanta, Aware and Clintone labels, it …
The Best Compilations Of 2017 Part 2. Conrad Schnitzler-Filmmusik 2. Label: Bureau B. Filmmuzik 2, just like Filmmuzik 1, is the perfect starting place for newcomers to the music of Conrad Schnitzler. Both albums are a gateway to the rest of Conrad Schnitzler’s back-catalogue. These compilations will be the first step on a voyage of …
The Best Compilations Of 2017 Part 4. Magnetband-Experimenteller Elektronik-Underground DDR 1984-1989. Label: Bureau B. For anyone with even a passing interest in Eastern European music, then Magnetband-Experimenteller Elektronik-Underground DDR 1984-1989 is essential listening. It documents the five-year period before the reunification of Germany. During this period, artists, musicians, performers and poets became part of the …
Lets Do The Boogaloo. Label: BGP. By the time eighteen year old Chubby Checker released his cover of The Twist in the summer of 1960, records that that launched new dance crazes were nothing new. They had been around since the late-fifties, when The Diamonds 1957 single The Stroll launched a short-lived dance craze. It …
Bobby Byrd-Help For My Brother: The Pre-Funk Singles 1963-1968. Label: BGP. During a long and successful career Bobby Byrd was a musician, producer, songwriter and talent scout. He was also one of the founding fathers of funk, and the man who discovered the future hardest working man in show business, James Brown in 1953. This …
Gil Scott-Heron-The Revolution Will Not Be Televised…Plus. Label: BGP. After releasing a trio of studio albums on Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman Productions between 1970 and 1972, Gil Scott-Heron signed to Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell’s Strata-East Records. By then, Gil Scott-Heron was well on his way to becoming America’s conscience. Gil Scott-Heron was a poet, …
A Dose Of Soul-The Sylvia Funk Recordings 1972-1975. Most people won’t have heard of Chet Ivey. That’s despite him enjoying a recording career that spanned the best part of thirty years. It began in 1959 and continued until the mid-eighties. During that period, Chet Ivey released over thirty singles. The majority of these singles were …
The Best Compilations Of 2016-Part 1. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been looking back at the music released during 2016. The final part of this annual series looks at the compilations released during 2016. Just like previous years, thousands of compilations were released during 2016. They cover literally every musical genre. Quite simply, there …
The Best Compilations Of 2016-Part 5. The Golden Age Of American Country Music: More Country Hits. For many people, the golden age of country music was the late fifties and early sixties. During that period, country music provided the soundtrack to much of American life. Providing the soundtrack were giants of country music like Johnny …
I’M NOT TALKIN’-THE SONG STYLINGS OF MOSE ALLISON 1957-1971. During a career that spanned sixty years, Mose Allison influenced several generations of musicians. They were won over by Mose Allison’s unique mix of blues and modern jazz. It found favour with everyone from Van Morrison, Tom Waits, Jimi Hendrix, The Yardbirds, The Who, The Pixies, …
CELESTIAL BLUES-COSMIC, POLITICAL AND SPIRITUAL JAZZ 1970 TO 1974. Sometimes, music has been compared to fashion. Both industries are cyclical, with music and clothes both falling in and out of popularity. One minute a genre is popular, the next, it’s fallen from grace. That has been the case since the birth of rock ’n’ roll. …
ALICE CLARK THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS 1968-1972. The cream always rises to the top. This may be the case in some industries, but sadly, not in the music. Far too often, hype and image triumph over talent. Meanwhile, commercial success and critical acclaim eludes truly talented artists. Chastened by the experience, many of these artists …
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