Lowland Brothers Can You Hear me

Aside from being a fine act on record, Renaissance were also a marvellous live band, featuring the sublime vocals of singer Annie Haslam. Although Esoteric's expanded Renaissance re-issues featured BBC recordings, this set comprises material previously omitted from these releases. 'Can You Hear Me: Broadcasts 1974-1978' includes the stereo radio version of the band's 1977 BBC Sight & Sound In Concert performance (recently discovered in the archives and issued on CD for the first time) and a previously unreleased performance for BBC Radio's In Concert from October 1978, both newly remastered from the BBC masters. Also included is a region free video Blu Ray disc which features the band's appearance on the Swiss TV show Kaleidospop from 1974 (previously unreleased), the complete 1977 BBC TV Sight & Sound In Concert performance & a performance of Northern Lights from BBC TV's Top of the Pops show. 'Can You Hear Me: Broadcasts 1974-1978' is a collection of wonderful live performances by Renaissance and is an essential addition to their fine body of work.

Aside from being a fine act on record, Renaissance were also a marvellous live band, featuring the sublime vocals of singer Annie Haslam. Although Esoteric's expanded Renaissance re-issues featured BBC recordings, this set comprises material previously omitted from these releases. 'Can You Hear Me: Broadcasts 1974-1978' includes the stereo radio version of the band's 1977 BBC Sight & Sound In Concert performance (recently discovered in the archives and issued on CD for the first time) and a previously unreleased performance for BBC Radio's In Concert from October 1978, both newly remastered from the BBC masters. Also included is a region free video Blu Ray disc which features the band's appearance on the Swiss TV show Kaleidospop from 1974 (previously unreleased), the complete 1977 BBC TV Sight & Sound In Concert performance & a performance of Northern Lights from BBC TV's Top of the Pops show. 'Can You Hear Me: Broadcasts 1974-1978' is a collection of wonderful live performances by Renaissance and is an essential addition to their fine body of work.

These are 70s African nuggets and garage rock from Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe and a download card is included. Globetrotter of parallel subcontinents and digger of rare, forgotten records, Eothen “Egon” Alapatt tracks sounds from the dawn of time to the four corners of the world. On the other side of the globe, French designer Christophe Lemaire stays forward thinking and audacious in his choices: far from our deified present, he cultivates a love of timeless designs and mixed influences; a passion for iconoclastic music hidden in the dark corners of a global cultural industry.

The 45 of Everyday People - World full of people is well known on the modern soul and funk scene and it relatively easy to find a copy for maybe 500 pounds. What was always less well known was that there was also an LP by the same band but labels as People Pleasure. I first came across this LP in Turku, Finland in the early 2000s when at the house of DJ and Collector Felix Manell who pulled a pile of rare and interesting bits that day. I did not really appreciate the true rarity until trying to source my own copy.

The "nuggets" in the title is very well placed here – as all the cuts here have every bit as much freak and fuzz as the American garage and pre-punk work chronicled famously on the lengendary Nuggets series! Yet these tracks are all even more obscure, and all come from African sources that never got any exposure over here back in the day – records from Zambia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe – all brought together in a massive collection that's filled with heavy guitar work, and a fair bit of monstrous basslines too – which gives some of these tracks a slightly funky current at the bottom, even while the guitars and vocals are tripping out up top! The collection's a great complement to some of the Zamrock reissues from Now Again in recent years – and titles include "The Bad Will Die" by Keith Mlevhu, "Can't You Hear Me" by Paul Ngozi, "Black Power" by Peace, "Mad Man" by Born Free, "Breakthrough" by Funkees, "Few Bena Zambia" by Revolutions, "Come Home" by Wells Fargo, "Amanaz" by Amanaz, "Don't Take Me For A Ride" by Founders, "Like A Chicken" by Witch, and "Making Life Out Of Music" by Eye Q. Also includes the reworked "No Time (Pilooski edit)" by Witch.

Some dusty-fingered diggers may be familiar with "World Full Of People", an insanely rare and suitably sought-after 1976 7" by a little-known band called Everyday People. Most thought that was their only release; in fact, they also released a full-length the same year under the People's Pleasure alias. That album is apparently even harder to find, making this first ever vinyl reissue a must-have for fans of quality funk and soul. Much of the material sits somewhere between rubbery funk, jaunty jazz-funk and storming soul, with highlights including the laidback bliss of "Heavenly Feeling" (very Idris Muhammad), the righteous, horn-heavy "World Full of People" and the seductive, synth-laden slow jam "Fantasies and Dreams".

The uncertainties of first love. Misgivings about a friend’s choices. Thoughts that come and go. The best music has the power to illuminate a moment in time more vividly than anything else. A song, well played and passionately sung, has a life of its own that goes beyond genre and temporary musical fashion. The songs on Maya Rae’s new release, ‘Can You See Me?’ are timeless and universal.