01 Through The Looking Glass

Bassist Eric Revis typically has so many ideas in play that it's virtually impossible for him to limit himself to one ensemble at a time. This is one of the reasons why he's used a variety of groups over the years to deliver his music. His trio with pianist Kris Davis and drummer Andrew Cyrille released City of Asylum (Clean Feed) in 2013, and then another iteration of the trio, Crowded Solitudes (Clean Feed) in 2016, with Gerald Cleaver taking over the drum chair. His quartet project makes excellent use of tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry and altoist Darius Jones, and adds drummer Chad Taylor to the mix: see 2014's In Memory of Things Yet Seen (Clean Feed). Another version of the quartet swapped Jones and McHenry for Davis and saxophonist Ken Vandermark, on 2017's Sing Me Some Cry (Clean Feed). And then there are his many collaborations with other artists, not the least of which was his appearance on Branford Marsalis' excellent 2019 album, The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul (Marsalis Music).

The Super Deluxe Edition contains 75 audio tracks across 7 CDs, of which 47 are previously unreleased, including 33 studio tracks from Prince’s legendary Vault. • The Super Deluxe Edition opens with Prince & The New Power Generation’s multi-platinum album, Diamonds And Pearls, dazzlingly remastered for the very first time by Prince’s original mastering engineer Bernie Grundman. Also included are 15 of the incredible remixes and B-sides from the era, including the never commercially released “Gett Off (Damn Near 10 Min.)” mix, all of which have also been remastered for the very first time. At the heart of the set sit 33x previously unreleased studio recordings from Prince’s legendary Vault, making up three hours of audio. The set also includes an entire previously unreleased audio recording of Prince & The New Power Generation’s preview performance of the Diamonds And Pearls tour at Prince’s Minneapolis club, Glam Slam, on January 11th, 1991.

It would have been easy to write off the Banshees after the so-so Superstition, especially given the fact that it came after two uneven and disappointing albums (including the unnecessary covers collection Through the Looking Glass) Frankly, one of punk's most consistently invigorating acts seemed to have run their course. Sure enough, The Rapture proved to be their final recording. The surprise is that it's a career highpoint. The band deny, incidentally, that they knew this was to be their last album. Quite how Siouxsie, Severin and Budgie rediscovered their chemistry is a moot point - some credited producer John Cale, who worked on four tracks - but rediscover it they did. Despite nods to the band's past in the savage "Not Forgotten," the real gems are the sunny-side-up "O, Baby" (when did Siouxsie ever sound so genuinely happy?) and an 11-minute title-track that is as dazzling as anything they have ever performed. A classic case of leaving the scene on a high note, and a fitting final chapter from one of punk's finest, and most dignified, bands.

Between 1968 and 1974, amateur songwriters, musicians and home taping enthusiasts Peter Howell and John Ferdinando - aka H & F Recordings - retreated to their makeshift home studio in East Sussex to mastermind a series of privately-issued albums that were attributed to semi-fictitious groups such as Ithaca and Agincourt. Only pressed in double-digit quantities, those albums are now amongst the most valuable vinyl artefacts of the era, with copies selling for upwards of £2,000 on the extremely rare occasions that they surface. A Game For All Who Know: The H & F Recordings Box gathers together all four albums and adds an unreleased-at-the-time fifth, the Friends LP Fragile, which was abandoned at acetate stage after Howell accepted an invitation in 1974 to join the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on a full-time basis. The first four albums are presented in miniature card sleeve replicas of the original vinyl artwork, while the Friends album recreates the duo's original plans for the artwork had the LP reached pressing stage.