Harriet Brown Obsessions

There are so many James Brown compilations out there that it can be tough to pick which one is the most suitable for a particular listener's budget or pleasure. This set from Polydor in the U.K. is – for a single disc – quite solid if bare in places. Containing 20 tracks and presented for a very attractive price point, it contains all major hits – albeit edited single versions of some of them like "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine." Of course, there is plenty missing, but it would be easy to come up with what is – tracks like "Mother Popcorn," "Hot Pants," and "Ain't It Funky Now" are all very conspicuously absent. But it's difficult to argue with what is here, even of the later 1970s material. There is no single compilation of James Brown's music that can really be considered complete, but this one, containing all original recording sources and stellar material, stands with the best of them despite lacking some cuts.

Study in Brown features the 1955 version of the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet, a group also including tenor saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Richie Powell, and bassist George Morrow. One of the premiere early hard bop units, this band had unlimited potential. Highlights of this set are "Cherokee" (during which trumpeter Brown is brilliant), "Swingin'," and "Sandu." All of this group's recordings are well worth acquiring.

Arthur Brown was one of the prime movers behind the Progressive underground in late 1960s England, famous for his outlandish stage act which included psychedelic robes and a helmet of fire!
Digitally remastered two-fer containing a pair of albums from the British Rock icon. "Requiem" is an end-of-the-world concept album that comes on with a bang, not a whimper, and may well be the best thing that Arthur Brown has ever done! It's got all of the sonic excess you'd expect from the man who gave US 'Fire', but Brown's ornate Art-Rock tendencies are invariably backed up with enough visceral punch to make them marvelously affecting, not merely affected, while producer Earl Mankey handles the electronics well enough to maintain an unusually high level of interest and detail…

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to release the classic lost album by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Strangelands. Recorded in the Autumn of 1969, the sessions were an attempt to resurrect the Crazy World by Arthur Brown and featured some classic material. Divided into four sub-headings, (The Country, The City, The Cosmos and The Afterlife), Strangelands was certainly ahead of its time but failed to gain a full release for nearly two decades. In hindsight, the material can be seen as the blueprint for Arthur s next project, the innovative Kingdom Come.
This Esoteric Recordings reissue also adds the legendary Replicas sessions by Rustic Hinge. Featuring Crazy World drummer Drachan Theaker and guitarist Andy Rickell, the project was originally intended to feature Arthur Brown as vocalist and also featured the legendary High Tide guesting on one track…

A lotta funk power, a lotta soul power-and some gems you won't find on other collections. Joining I Got You; Papa's Got a Brand New Bag; Get on the Good Foot; Cold Sweat; Soul Power; Prisoner of Love, and It's a Man's Man's Man's World are his early ballad Try Me; his often overlooked 1968 hit America Is My Home and more.

On June 7, 2019, hard working rock 'n roll band Hollis Brown from Queens, NY, released their new album 'Ozone Park' on Mascot Label Group/Cool Green Recordings. Formed by singer/guitarist Mike Montali and lead guitarist Jonathan Bonilla, the band has been together 10 years, during which it’s released an EP and two albums, along with a Record Store Day tribute to the Velvet Underground’s ‘LOADED’ album. Hollis Brown is a group that lives up to the blue-collar legacy of their hometown. But, as evidenced on their new album 'Ozone Park’, there’s also a great deal of sophistication in the mix with rich melodicism and advanced harmonics that allows Hollis Brown to blend a wealth of influences into their own distinctive sound.