★Future Shock
África Brasil
África Brasil is a 1976 release by Brazilian artist Jorge Ben. It was Ben's 14th studio album and a milestone in his career with a switch to electric guitar and funk music leaks. For África Brasil Ben reworked three of his earlier compositions: "A Princesa e o Plebeu" from Sacundin Ben Samba, "Taj Mahal" from Ben, and "Zumbi" from A Tábua de Esmeralda. The album's opening track "Ponta de Lança Africano (Umbabarauma)", a song about an African football striker, became a well known soccer-associate…
I Know About The Life
*Great spiritual jazz album. Blue Vinyl* Much-needed reissue on vinyl for this classic Jazz album originally recorded in September 1975 at A & R Recording Studios in New York and released in 1977 on Baystate Japan. Charles Greenlee worked extensively throughout his career with Archie Shepp who also participated in the sessions for John Coltrane's A Love Supreme in late 1964. Late in the 1940s he converted to Islam, changing his name to Harneefan Majeed; he continued to use Charles Greenlee for p…
Fôrça Bruta
The combination of Jorge Ben and Trio Mocotó had already produced great things when Força Bruta first appeared in 1970. Ben's self-titled album of the year before had reeled off a succession of Brazilian hits, including "País Tropical" and "Cadê Teresa," and made the four musicians very busy as a result. Força Bruta was a slightly different album, a slice of mellow samba soul that may perhaps have been the result of such a hectic schedule during 1969. One of the hidden gems in Jorge Ben's discog…
Asylum
'Asylum' has a striking cover artwork, very typical of the style of the day, and was Cressida's second album of eight extended rock workouts, with Peter Jennings' superb keyboard playing backed by John Culley on lead guitar, enhancing the lead vocals of Angus Cullen. With extra percussion and orchestral accompaniment, Cressida's sound has often been compared to their contemporaries, the Moody Blues.
Cressida
Cressida's debut was issued in 1970 on the famed 'Spiral' label, the home of Progressive rock. The 12 tracks highlight this excellent British band's ambitious and attractive blend of vocals, guitar and keyboards. The band enjoyed critical acclaim back in their day and their music still sounds fresh today.
Psychedelic Picnic - A Breath Of Fresh Air
Picnic - A Breath of Fresh Air is a sampler issued originally by the Harvest Records label, originally released in 1970 and is remarkable for including the full-length version of the unreleased Pink Floyd song, "Embryo". EMI as a record label did not generally have a reputation for taking risks; however, having seen that progressive music had become popular, the niche Harvest label was launched in 1969 to take advantage of that market. As with many record labels at the time, a budget-priced show…
Anywhere
Reissue of Flower Travellin' Band's debut album Anywhere, originally released in 1970. Anywhere is the first album from the legendary Japanese rockers fronted by Yuya Uchida. Although an album consisting mainly of cover versions, Anywhere still exhibited many of the musical traits that were to come to the fore on the band's next release, the classic 1971 album Satori, an album of original material delivered with panache by the increasingly confident Uchida. An album made memorable by its risky c…
Tim Maia
Originally issued in 1978, his last one from the 'Seroma' period. A great one from Brazilian soul singer Tim Maia – an album that's sung almost entirely in English, and which shows Maia really maturing into one hell of an international star! The set's got some great mellow grooves – tracks that would be right at home in the New Jersey scene of the early 70s – especially given their laidback execution, and honest, heartfelt lyrics – as well as the relatively spare, stripped-down instrumentation –…
Variation
Essential jazz album among the influences of the future-jazz quartet Sleep Walker by trombonist Hiroshi Suzuki. "Variation" is a joint project including the legendary jazz drummer Masahiko Togashi featurig pianist Yuji Ohno, saxophonist Jun Suzuki and trumpeter Tetsuo Fushimi. Masahiko Togashi was a major figure alongside Masahiko Sato, Masayuki Takayanagi and Yosuke Yamashita in the blooming of free jazz in Japan in the late sixties whose "Variation" is one of the iconic masterpiece.
Empyrean Isles (LP)
Reissue of Empyrean Isles a classic Herbie Hancock album from 1964. From soul-jazz cuts to avant-garde explorations, Empyrean Isles revealed that Herbie Hancock was a jazz icon in the making. Clear vinyl.