Sweet Valley

These two albums are part of a clutch of albums Michael made when he was between record companies and which he recorded for his own production company Rural Retreat Records. Rural Retreat West Virginia, on the old Virgin Creeper Line, was the subject of one of O.Winston Link's famous "train" pics of whom MC is a huge fan. We made the pilgrimage on one of our US road trips hence the name. 2xCD + Booklet in 6 panel Digipack with sleeve notes by Andru Chapman.

To welcome the spring, British ensemble I Fagiolini puts aside it's beloved Monteverdi to uncover it's own national heritage: the best of John Wilbye's classic Golden Age madrigals. Whilst his oeuvre may have been small (just 75 works that we know of and most just a couple of minutes long), time and again, in these exquisite cameos, Wilbye delivers what might be reckoned the ultimate madrigal experience. The plangent dissonance of 'Draw on, sweet night' and 'Weep, weep, mine eyes' perfectly evoke English melancholy, while 'Sweet honey-sucking bees' and 'Adieu, sweet Amaryllis' are such sheer pleasure to sing that many listeners will scrabble to unearth old scores. This album is, in a nutshell, 75 minutes of madrigalian bliss! Rediscover or enjoy anew this central part of English choral culture, strangely out of fashion for so long, sung by a group that has matured into the repertoire like a good wine.

Honus Honus (aka Ryan Kattner) has devoted his career to exploring the uncertainty between life’s extremes: beauty and ugliness, order and chaos. The songs on Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between, Man Man’s first album in over six years and his Sub Pop debut, are as intimate, soulful, and timeless as they are audaciously inventive and daring.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is one of Russ Meyer's greatest movies, capturing everything that was good and ridiculous about the 60s all in one place (although it was actually released in 1970). It tells the story of the best all-girl rock band ever, the Carrie Nations and their battle with fame and the fickle music industry. The music was by Stu Phillips of the Strawberry Alarm Clock ("Incense and Peppermints") with help from Lyn Carey amongst others. It's classic jangly 60s pop, and the SAC play at one of Z-Man's parties, so you get some classics from them.