James O'shaughnessy

Esoteric Recordings are proud to announce the release of a newly re-mastered and expanded edition of the classic gold selling 1978 album by Barclay James Harvest,"XII". Originally released in September 1978, the album was another big selling release for the band achieving Silver disc status in the UK and Gold in Germany. The album followed in the wake of “Gone to Earth” and saw BJH consolidate the success they had found in Germany and Europe.

Esoteric Recordings are proud to announce the release of a newly re-mastered and expanded edition of the classic gold selling 1976 album by Barclay James Harvest, “Octoberon”. Originally released at the end of October 1976, the album was a big selling release for the band achieving Silver disc status in the UK and Gold in Germany, their first breakthrough album in that territory.

With some 800 songs in his repertoire, James Brown influenced countless contemporary artists from virtually every popular music genre –rock, funk, soul, jazz, R&B, hip hop and rap. His polyrhythmic funk vamps reshaped dance music, and Brown was by far the most sampled artist during the early days of hip hop. Though he would be dogged by legal troubles and controversy in later life, he was a principled artist, adamantly refusing to conform to anyone’s vision. This 3-D set presents five of his best albums, along with 8 bonus tracks from the same period.

José James spent a decade reshaping jazz with the genre-blurring verve of a crate-digging beat guru, before becoming a solo R&B star. The last couple years he lived in Bill Withers' shoes — recording and touring his legendary songbook for the Lean On Me project. Now, the satin-voiced songwriter's latest is No Beginning No End 2, a sequel to his 2013 album that resurrects the bold eclecticism audiences first fell in love with. After the Bill Withers tour, James recalls: “I wrote a thing on Instagram saying I was thinking about No Beginning No End 2 and people went insane. They wrote thousands of comments about how the first one changed their life. I don't sit around and think 'my work is so important' so that was kinda nice."

It was in the Sixties when Etta James truly found her musical direction and made a lasting mark as a soulful pop and blues diva. Her debut album, At Last!, was released in late 1960 and was noted for its varied choice in music from jazz standards to blues numbers to doo-wop and rhythm & blues. This CD compiles James’ greatest hits. She expertly handles jazz standards like “A Sunday Kind of Love,” as well as Willie Dixon’s blues classic “I Just Want to Make Love to You.” This comprehensive edition gives ample proof of both her amazing singing talents and her extraordinary versatility.