Echoes of Giants

Hugh Masekela kicks off the 70s with this wonderfully bold statement - a record that's light years from the shorter, simpler instrumentals of his earliest American years - and which really shows Hugh trying to reach out for a new groove! Masekela sings a bit on the set - often with this raspy tone that echoes his slight grimace on the cover - and instrumentation includes lots of work from other LA electric jazz giants, including members of The Crusaders - with Joe Sample on Fender Rhodes, Monk Montgomery and Wilton Felder on bass, Arthur Adams on guitar, and Larry Willis on piano.

Ignored by the majority but adored by a faithful, modest few, Failsworth, Manchester's Puressence were something of a contradiction in terms. Although they shared a laddish image and an implied arrogance with the mid-'90s incarnations of other north west England indie rock acts such as Oasis and the Charlatans, the high-register, ethereal vocals of frontman James Mudriczki pointed to something altogether more sophisticated. Claims that the band met on a bus on the way to the Stone Roses' legendary May 1990 gig at Spike Island, helped fuel and maintain their down-to-earth credentials, while in contrast their music represented a transcendence of the mundane – similarly executed during this period by acts such as Aberdeen, Scotland's Geneva, and later by Southampton's the Delays.