Grace Jones Disco 2015 limited edition 3CD set featuring digitally remastered editions of her Portfolio (1977), Fame (1978) and Muse (1979) albums including unreleased tracks and rare mixes. All three discs are individually packaged andhoused together inside a deluxe sealed picture boxset with lift-off lid which comes with an extensive booklet.
Portfolio (1977). Disco mix king Tom Moulton produced these tracks at Sigma Sound in Philadelphia using the same musicians Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff held hostage for their sessions. The results are quite different: though polished, these tracks don't jump out at you. It's really a producer's album. Moulton probably had these tracks completed long before he knew who was going to sing them. Give Grace Jones credit though, she gives credence to old fuddies like "Send in the Clowns," "La Vie en Rose" is lilting, and "I Need a Man," displays a vulnerable Jones…
Beyond the Darkness is an anthology of the second half of the career of the Italian band Goblin, best known for its propulsive scores for Italian film director Dario Argento.
Combining elements of progressive psychedelia with jazz-rock, Eastern European folk music and the Baroque, Goblin’s music remains an eerie one-off.
Argentinian composer, instrumentalist and producer Litto Nebbia (real name Félix Francisco Nebbia) is a veteran of the Argentinian rock scene. A highly influential one at that, and a pioneer. In the first half of the 1960's he sought his fortunes in rock music, and as a forming member of Los Gatos he got his share of fame and fortune early. A part of his career that inspired many contemporary musicians too, with artists such as Charly García and Luis Alberto Spinetta acknowledging the importance of Nebbia and Los Gatos as inspirations for their own careers.
While most renowned as an instrumentalist, jazz musician and for his later day excursions into other styles, the 1970's saw Nebbia exploring a stylistic field rather more refined. A string of albums issued between 1971 and 1977 saw Nebbia either incorporating elements from or actively exploring progressive rock, fusion and jazzrock. This period of his career concluded with the advent of The National Reorganization Process in Argentina and Nebbia's subsequent exile in Mexico, and when he moved back again in the 1980's he had moved on to different pastures as a composer and musician both. And while he continued being, and still is, a driving force in the Argentinian music scene, for fans of progressive rock it's his albums from 1971 til 1977 that may be worth investigating.
Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of an expanded 2CD re-mastered edition of the classic 1977 album A Major Fancy by Barclay James Harvest guitarist and vocalist John Lees. Although originally released in 1977 by EMI’s Harvest label, the album was recorded between December 1972 and January 1973 at Abbey Road studios and Strawberry Studios in Stockport. Produced by Wally Allen of the Pretty Things, the album sessions featured a host of notable guest musicians including Eric Stewart and Kevin Godley (of 10cc), Skip Allen (Pretty Things), Gordon Edwards (Pretty Things) and Rod Argent (Zombies & Argent). The sessions for A Major Fancy also gave birth to the classic Child Of The Universe along with impressive material such as Untitled No. 1 - Heritage, Long Ships, Witburg Night and Kes (A Major Fancy)…
Grace Jones Disco 2015 limited edition 3CD set featuring digitally remastered editions of her Portfolio (1977), Fame (1978) and Muse (1979) albums including unreleased tracks and rare mixes. All three discs are individually packaged andhoused together inside a deluxe sealed picture boxset with lift-off lid which comes with an extensive booklet.
Portfolio (1977). Disco mix king Tom Moulton produced these tracks at Sigma Sound in Philadelphia using the same musicians Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff held hostage for their sessions. The results are quite different: though polished, these tracks don't jump out at you. It's really a producer's album. Moulton probably had these tracks completed long before he knew who was going to sing them. Give Grace Jones credit though, she gives credence to old fuddies like "Send in the Clowns," "La Vie en Rose" is lilting, and "I Need a Man," displays a vulnerable Jones…
Jazz-rock combo Sea Level was formed in 1976 by keyboardist Chuck Leavell, bassist Lamar Williams, and drummer Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson following their exit from the Allman Brothers Band; guitarist Jimmy Nalls completed the original lineup, which in 1977 issued its self-titled debut LP on the Capricorn label. Honing its distinctive marriage of rock, blues, and jazz through relentless touring, the group returned to the studio with an expanded lineup including vocalist/saxophonist/keyboardist Randall Bramblett, guitarist Davis Causey, and drummer George Weaver to cut Cats on the Coast, also released in 1977, followed in 1978 by On the Edge featuring Paul McCartney & Wings drummer Joe English; although Jaimoe had returned to the Allmans, Sea Level recorded two more albums - 1979's Long Walk on a Short Pier for Capricorn (finally released in the U.S. in 1998) and 1980's Ball Room for Arista - before dissolving.
Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of an expanded 2CD re-mastered edition of the classic 1977 album A Major Fancy by Barclay James Harvest guitarist and vocalist John Lees. Although originally released in 1977 by EMI’s Harvest label, the album was recorded between December 1972 and January 1973 at Abbey Road studios and Strawberry Studios in Stockport. Produced by Wally Allen of the Pretty Things, the album sessions featured a host of notable guest musicians including Eric Stewart and Kevin Godley (of 10cc), Skip Allen (Pretty Things), Gordon Edwards (Pretty Things) and Rod Argent (Zombies & Argent). The sessions for A Major Fancy also gave birth to the classic Child Of The Universe along with impressive material such as Untitled No. 1 - Heritage, Long Ships, Witburg Night and Kes (A Major Fancy)…
John Renbourn - The Lady And The Unicorn (1970). The Lady and the Unicorn is the 1970 solo album by British folk musician John Renbourn. Featuring Terry Cox playing hand drums and glockenspiel, with future John Renbourn band member Tony Roberts and violinist Dave Swarbrick. The repertory consists of medieval and early classical pieces, interspersed with the expected folk material - keyboard works from the Fitzwilliam virginal book (transcribed for guitar) stand alongside traditional tunes such as "Scarborough Fair," which turns up as part of an 11-minute track that also incorporates "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker," with Swarbrick at the top of his form on violin. The album is entirely instrumental, but as with other Renbourn releases, one hardly misses the vocals…