M.a. Merikan

It's September 1981 and it's matter of weeks away from the release of I'm A Rainbow, the second album Donna Summer had recorded for Geffen Records, which had been produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. At the time that the album was being recorded, the musical landscape had changed and production techniques were developing further. Geffen also wanted a more R&B-influenced album, despite the album having a more R&B feel than The Wanderer had done. The songs and their lyrical content were very strong and Donna's voice had never sounded better, which was always a tough comparison against previous albums. A decision was taken by the label to withdraw I'm A Rainbow just prior to it's release.

This album was released in 1973 following the amazingly original albums 'Back To Front' and 'Himself' released in 1972 and 1971. It seems the 70s are O'Sullivan's vintage era and it is astonishing he could keep writing so many songs of highest quality and originality. Like the previous album, this one includes, not only hit songs like 'Get Down' and 'Ooh Baby', but also heart-warming and memorable songs like 'Where peaceful waters fllow', 'Afriend of mine' and 'They've only themselves to blame'. One of the characteristics of this album is the unabashed sense of humour and striking melodies which go very well with the witty lyrics in the songs like 'I'm a writer not a fighter', 'Who knows perhaps maybe' and 'If you love me like you love me'. This is certainly one of the best albums by O'Sullivan.

Although vintage British psychedelia is viewed by many these days as an Alice In Wonderland-style enchanted garden full of beatific flower children innocently gathering flowers or chasing butterflies, there was always a more visceral element to the scene. Pointedly free of such fripperies as scarlet tunic-wearing gnomes, phenomenal cats and talismanic bicycles, the power trio format that was popularised by the likes of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience spawned a host of imitators. As the Sixties drew to a close and pop evolved slowly but inexorably into rock, psychedelia gave way to a sound that was harder, leaner, heavier, louder.

It shouldn't have taken Johnson a full decade to find his way back into a studio, but such are the injustices of the record business. The wait was worth it, though - backed by his touring trio of the timeframe, Johnson mixes blues and soul, originals (a heartfelt "Black & White Wall" and the soaring ballad "My Ring") and covers (his takes on McKinley Mitchell's "End of a Rainbow" and Wilson Pickett's "Engine Number 9" hit home), in decidedly solid contemporary form.

It shouldn't have taken Johnson a full decade to find his way back into a studio, but such are the injustices of the record business. The wait was worth it, though - backed by his touring trio of the timeframe, Johnson mixes blues and soul, originals (a heartfelt "Black & White Wall" and the soaring ballad "My Ring") and covers (his takes on McKinley Mitchell's "End of a Rainbow" and Wilson Pickett's "Engine Number 9" hit home), in decidedly solid contemporary form.

British EMI continues its "two on one" series of combining two vintage LPs on a single CD with a couple of Peggy Lee albums from two different eras. I'm a Woman, which Capitol Records released in February 1963, was a rush job. Lee was enjoying a hit single with the Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller-composed title song, which had been issued as a one-off single, in early 1963, so Capitol had her quickly cut an album's worth of tracks in order to have an LP of the same name out to take advantage commercially…