The funky, post-punky, always danceable !!! show no signs of slowing down on their sixth album, As If. Their last record, Thr!!!er, lived up to its title and this record is all-thriller, no-filler too, jammed with songs that almost dare the listener not to dance. Recorded and produced by the band with help from James Ford, Jim Eno, Ewan Pearson, Chris Coady, and Chris Woodhouse, and culled from an intense session of songwriting done by driving force Nic Offer and bassist Rafael Cohen, the album was recorded in studios around America. Despite the various locales and collaborators involved, the album is focused and tight as it deals out pounding grooves and thundering basslines. Add in wire-tight guitar, wobbling old synths, and Offer's unhinged vocals and it's vintage !!! with a little extra energy added…
Jimi Hendrix's headlining appearance at the Atlanta Pop Festival would be the largest U.S. audience he would ever play to. Most people assume it was Woodstock, which was a larger festival, but by the time Jimi took the stage at around 9 a.m. on Monday morning, the Woodstock crowd was down to about 25,000 stragglers. Estimated between 300,000 and 400,000, the actual crowd at Hendrix's Atlanta Pop performance was hard to pin down due to the fact that many of the festivalgoers turned up after dark, in an effort to stay out of the stifling heat of Atlanta in the summertime. The trio of Jimi, Mitch, and Billy Cox had been touring for about two and a half months solid when July 4 rolled around, and they sound really tight kicking off the show. "Fire" starts the set, and one immediately notices how differently Billy Cox plays it versus Noel Redding. "Spanish Castle Magic" has Jimi trying out some new solo ideas and he really starts feeling it on a very improvisational, extended "Red House." A rare live performance of "Room Full of Mirrors" is followed by an absolutely incredible version of "Hear My Train A Comin'".
Royal Southern Brotherhood is an American blues and blues rock supergroup, consisting of singer and percussionist Cyril Neville, vocalist and guitarist Devon Allman, vocalist and guitarist Mike Zito, drummer Yonrico Scott, and bassist Charlie Wooton. New blood. New beginnings. For Royal Southern Brotherhood, Don’t Look Back isn’t just an album title, but the attitude that drove the award-winning US band’s third release. Tracked at the iconic Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with an all-guns-blazing new guitar lineup and production team, this is the sound of a band rolling with the punches and turning the page.
Recorded for live FM broadcast at the Nippon Budokan, Tokyo on 7th March 1983.