The second album by Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart continued the bassist's exploration into ethnic fusion, merging together music from different world traditions with pop production and his own dub-influenced bass guitar. Fans of Wobble's earlier work with Holgar Czukay and Public Image Limited might be surprised and a bit dismayed at first by the glossy production and pop nature of some of the tracks here; one would never have guessed that Wobble would come up with something as commercial as the Latin pop of "Ungodly Kingdom." However, much of the music is remarkable and on each listen seems to contain something new. Wobble is far more interested in experimentation than simply adding world sounds to pop music. The tracks with Middle Eastern influences, including the amazing "Everyman's an Island," are quite remarkable and most feature the fine talents of Natasha Atlas. Meanwhile, the trance-like opener, "Visions of You," which guests Sinéad O'Connor on vocals, is absolutely beautiful. On the title track, Wobble even returns to his past, with he and guitarist Justin Adams bringing the sound of early PiL forward ten years.
Archival reissue of rare 1984 jazz-funk fusion diamond in the rough by German-Australian-British madcap ensemble Bells of Kyoto, produced by Ollie Marland of De-Lite and Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart fame. Fusions grooves with Orient-funk detours and looking out the window of a Swissair aircraft moments of cool mid 1980s contemplation.
Spirals , the slow reveal, cyclical but eventually coming to a point . ‘Realm of Spells ‘ is for me the point . Maybe the last time I will get to work with Bill. For me personally, this record embodies and contains a lot of the basic approach I had right from the beginning , especially in regard to playing the bass. The circumstances of our trip led to me using a Fender P bass for the first time in years. All the early PiL stuff plus Full circle ⭕️ with Holger and Jaki was played on Fender P. I was taken back to that beautiful naive beginning . At that juncture some pristine mathematical truth shot like a ray of vajra light from deep space .
In the wake of punk’s seismic and well recounted impact on the UK music scene, countless hitherto unavailable influences suddenly became available and de rigueur for the nation’s would-be pop stars. Enabled by a new kind of record shop that began to appear across the country in Rough Trade’s image, and encouraged by an absolute disregard for ‘the rules’, interested young people were quickly exposed to a broad spectrum of music from beyond the realm of three chord rock ‘n roll. Nowhere was the outcome more notable than on the dancefloors of the day.
Spirals , the slow reveal, cyclical but eventually coming to a point . ‘Realm of Spells ‘ is for me the point . Maybe the last time I will get to work with Bill. For me personally, this record embodies and contains a lot of the basic approach I had right from the beginning , especially in regard to playing the bass. The circumstances of our trip led to me using a Fender P bass for the first time in years. All the early PiL stuff plus Full circle with Holger and Jaki was played on Fender P. I was taken back to that beautiful naive beginning . At that juncture some pristine mathematical truth shot like a ray of vajra light from deep space.
The four-disc box set Dear Mr. Fantasy digs deep into Jim Capaldi’s legacy, providing a thorough overview of the musician best known as Steve Winwood’s sparring partner in Traffic. Appropriately, there is a hefty chunk of Traffic here along with a good sampling of his solo albums, plus a fair number of rarities ranging from his first group the Hellions to the pre-Traffic bands Revolution and Deep Feeling and a previously unreleased collaboration with George Harrison called “Love’s Got a Hold of Me.” It’s a generous set that will satisfy the devoted while providing several surprises to those who have looked no deeper than Traffic but were always curious about what else Capaldi had to offer.
Weighing in at a hefty 34 tracks, this is the most exhaustive Swinging Blue Jeans anthology available…