France Chébran - French Boogie 1981-1985Various Artists

Analog Africa focuses on a DIY scene in the African country’s capital Yaoundé during the 1970s. Recorded in haste in an adventist church and distributed by the DIY network set up by French label Sonafric. Launching the careers of several Cameroonian artists represented in this essential compilation!

Gone back from 2021-06-18 to 27/08/2021

Second part of MOV's Trojan compilation series, which celebrates the best works from the legendary reggae label Trojan Records. It was compiled by Laurence Cane-Honeysett, who also wrote the linernotes. Some of Trojan’s finest are featured on this compilation; as there are The Gladiators, The Melodians, The Gladiators, Ken Boothe a.o. 750 individually numbered copies on orange vinyl. The package also includes an exclusive Trojan / Music On Vinyl coaster.

This compilation focuses on uncovering hidden electronic and dance music gems - from house to disco and electro - from the overlooked ‘80s and ‘90s South Asian music scene.

First released by Trojan Records in 1968, “Explosive Rock Steady” was the first long-player to showcase the work of a budding record producer who in time would become one of the most popular and influential figures on the Jamaican music scene: Joel Augustus Gibson a.k.a. Joe Gibbs.

Unavailable on CD since 1997, the much sought-after album is here augmented by an incredible 46 bonus tracks from the rock steady era, their number including numerous Jamaican hits, alongside many long-lost rarities, including 7 tracks new to CD.

Featured artists on this double disc set include some of the most talented Jamaican performers to make their mark during the tail end of the Sixties, with the superior quality of the recordings demonstrating the high standards of work for which Gibbs would soon become renowned.

* Previously unavailable on CD

**Featuring amazing music from British jazz legends such as Don Rendell, Michael Garrick, Neil Ardley, Ian Carr, Dick Morrissey, Harry Beckett and more!**

A deep dive into the one of most collectable jazz catalogues in the world, a selection of some of the rarest and most sought-after recordings from the 60s and 70s, a time when British jazz began to find its own identity. Drawn from the iconic labels of Decca, Deram, Argo, EMI Columbia/Lansdowne Series, Fontana, Mercury and Philips.

Compilation of seldom heard tracks from UK tape label Mindscan Tapes covering late 80's and early 90's experiments with house, techno and industrial.

"The very personal vision of a young Englishman who would spend all of his dole money on the production of underground compilation cassettes spanning across electro, early techno, ambient, experimental, house and industrial music."

Tramp Records' top 'Can You Feel It?' series continues with some rare and obscure modern soul, disco and boogie originating from countries as diverse as Barbados, Guyana, Germany, and the US.

Cold Wave #2

Ltd. Edn. Dayglo sleeve + PURPLE VINYL 2xLP, + mini-fanzine/ Ltd. Edn. Dayglo sleeve + BLACK VINYL 2xLP, + mini-fanzine/ Dayglo CD + Slipcase + Booklet

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soul Jazz Records new ‘Cold Wave’ is a new collection of current electronic artists who have all been shaped by the early European cold wave artists of the late 70s and early 80s.

This is the second release of Soul Jazz Records’ new Cold Wave overview.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This second edition Cold Wave #2 comes in two vinyl editions – a one-off pressing purple coloured vinyl edition and a black vinyl edition. Both come as heavyweight double vinyl housed in bespoke individual inner sleeves and the limited edition first pressing of this album comes with its own free pull-out fanzine on the groups featured. The CD edition comes with artist booklet/fanzine and slipcase. All editions are printed in special dayglo colour finish.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These first artists created new electronic musical landscapes as well as pursuing a stubborn D-I-Y aesthetic, often releasing material on cassette and pioneering use of lo-fi technology, primitive drum machines and home-recording techniques. As part of this continued evolution today many of the artists featured here also self-release their own material, run labels, publish fanzines, or are part of wider musical collectives.

Aside from the first electronic, no wave, and post-punk artists cited as influences –Suicide, Patrick Cowley, The Normal, Martin Hannett, Laurie Anderson, Public Image – this new generation of artists also show an exquisitely open source of electronic and disparate influences, everything from Underground Resistance to Purcell, from Scientist to New Beat and more besides.

Most of the featured artists are based in Europe and include Krikor from France, Beta Evers and L.F.T. from Germany, Lena Willikens, Job Siffre and De Ambassade from the Netherlands, Toulouse Low Trax from Germany, Dave I.D. and Broken English Club from the UK, and V.C.V.S from Georgia

All of the bands featured here make distinctive contemporary music out of the 80s roots of the first cold wave movement.

Some of the rarest gospel funk records from Greg Belson’s amazing collection featuring everything from the laid back breakbeat laced “I Don’t Want to Be Alone by Allen Gauff Jr to the high octane and socially-on-point take of the Gospel classic ‘This Little Light Of Mine’ by the Gospel Ambassadors to drum break funk of the Wearyland Singers ‘If You See Me Doing Wrong” to the sublime soulfulness of Zella Jackson’s “Days Are Just People.

Industrial music pioneer Steven Stapleton lifts the veil and exposes the sought-after tunes from his uber-legendary psych/prog/punk peculiarity shopping/check list known as 'The Nurse With Wound List'. This volume via Finders Keepers focuses on lesser known music from the German kosmiche/rock scene.

Ltd. Edn. Dayglo sleeve + ORANGE VINYL 2xLP, + mini-fanzine/ Ltd. Edn. Dayglo sleeve + BLACK VINYL 2xLP, + mini-fanzine/ Dayglo CD + Slipcase + Booklet

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soul Jazz Records new ‘Cold Wave’ is a new collection of current electronic artists who have all been shaped by the early European cold wave artists of the late 70s and early 80s.

This is the first release of Soul Jazz Records’ new Cold Wave overview and a second volume will be released just four weeks later.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This first edition of Cold Wave comes in two vinyl editions – a one-off pressing orange coloured vinyl edition and a black vinyl edition. Both come as heavyweight double vinyl housed in bespoke individual inner sleeves and the limited edition first pressing of this album comes with its own free pull-out fanzine on the groups featured. The CD edition comes with artist booklet/fanzine and slipcase. All editions are printed in special dayglo colour finish.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These first artists created new electronic musical landscapes as well as pursuing a stubborn D-I-Y aesthetic, often releasing material on cassette and pioneering use of lo-fi technology, primitive drum machines and home-recording techniques. As part of this continued evolution today many of the artists featured here also self-release their own material, run labels, publish fanzines, or are part of wider musical collectives.

Aside from the first electronic, no wave, and post-punk artists cited as influences –Suicide, Patrick Cowley, The Normal, Martin Hannett, Laurie Anderson, Public Image – this new generation of artists also show an exquisitely open source of electronic and disparate influences, everything from Underground Resistance to Purcell, from Scientist to New Beat and more besides.

Most of the featured artists are based in Europe and include Krikor, Dissemblance and VQOA from France, De Ambassade from the Netherlands, Moisture from Sweden, Kriedler from Germany, Céline Gillain and Carcass Identity from Belgium. One exception is FIT Siegel out of Detroit, connecting the electronic pathways of Europe to the Motor City.

All of the bands featured here make distinctive contemporary music out of the 80s roots of the first cold wave movement.

'Oz Echoes' peels away another layer of Australia’s ‘80s DIY hive mind. The Oz Waves successor exposes a deeper circuit of micro-run cassettes, community radio archives and irrationally abandoned studio sessions, as Steele Bonus sequences a 10-track compendium of drone pop, psycheelectronics and agitated tape cut-ups. Highly recommended!

'Strong Love' explores the first wave of openly gay songwriting that emerged after New York's Stonewall Riots kickstarted the modern gay rights movement in 1969. It took just a few years for the defiant chanting and interlocked arms of early 70s pride marches to reverberate onto record, and Strong Love begins with one of the earliest known recordings of openly gay songwriting, 1972's 'A Gay Song' by London hippie collective Everyone Involved. Across 15 tracks, the compilation takes in disarmingly personal folk, uplifting soul, outsider country and dark synth-rock.

Expanded version of the best-selling TV advertised album from 1973, comprising 55 of the biggest reggae hits of the late Sixties and early Seventies.

The double disc collection includes numerous chart-busting hits and dancefloor-fillers, performed by some of the greatest Jamaican performers of the era, including such legendary artists as Desmond Dekker, the Maytals, Dave & Ansel Collins, the Pioneers, John Holt, Greyhound and Bob & Marcia.

Guaranteed to bring a touch of warm Jamaican sunshine to even the coldest of days, “The Best Of Reggae” is sure to brighten up any occasion, 365 days of the year!

Soul Jazz Records’ new Studio One collection ‘Fire Over Babylon: Dread, Peace and Conscious Sounds at Studio One’ features a stellar selection of 70s roots music – classic and rare tracks recorded at Clement Dodd’s musical empire at 13 Brentford Road in the 1970s.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rastafarian-inspired Roots music was an ever-important aspect of Studio One’s output from the start of the 1970s onwards and this album features many of the ground-breaking groups and artists that established the sound of Jamaica during this decade and beyond.

Featured here are seminal artists such as Freddie McGregor, The Wailing Souls, The Gladiators, Horace Andy, Devon Russell, Cedric Brooks, Count Ossie, Judah Eskender Tafari alongside a host of lesser-known rare cuts made at Studio One from artists such as The Prospectors, Viceroys and Pablove Black.

Studio One and founder Clement Dodd’s connection with Rastafarianism dates back to the early 1960s, with Dodd accompanying members of the Skatalites up to the hills of Kingston to listen to the music of the Rastafarianism Count Ossie and his drummers. The album sleevenotes discuss how Clement Dodd’s musical links, as well as his role in heading the most important record label in Reggae, are in many ways linked to the beliefs of Rastafarianism.

This album is released as a heavyweight black vinyl double-album with gatefold sleeve, full notes and download code, deluxe CD with full booklet and slipcase and digital album.

UNBELIEVABLE new compilation of deep spiritual music by John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Oliver Nelson, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp and other groundbreaking Impulse Artists.

"Orange and black. Fire and ebony. Fury and pride. Wearing its signature colors proudly and raising its exclamation point high, Impulse! Records was the go-to label for music that harnessed the searching and political stand-taking of the Sixties. Launched in 1961, Impulse grew to become an inherent part of the era’s velocity as well as its volume, pulling jazz into the age of Black Power, Afrocentricity, and Spiritual Expansion. In its balance of tradition and transition, it bridged the golden age of jazz, that brief window from the late Fifties to the Seventies when players representing every jazz era were alive and active—from Louis Armstrong to Albert Ayler, from the legends of lore to a new generation of energy players. Impulse treated all its musicians as innovators, revolutionaries even—from swing and bebop, to free and Afrofuturist. The performances on Impulse Records: Music, Message and the Moment draw their staying power from a wide embrace of styles and sounds, as well as a tight focus on a historic moment when the promise of change was in the air and the message of racial harmony was in the music. Today that music has lost none of its relevance: the promise still deferred, the message still on time."

Afro groove compilation featuring tracks from the late, great Manu Dibango alongside such luminaries as Dele Sosimi and Pat Thomas and more!

LAST COPIES

This is the new 20th anniversary edition of one of Soul Jazz Records’ classic Studio One releases now available as a one-off pressing special blue vinyl very limited-edition pressing ( 2000 copies worldwide).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Studio One Roots set the standard for Soul Jazz Records’ long-standing series of Studio One collections and features many of the classic artists from Clement 'Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s mighty roster of reggae.

This album includes Freddie McGregor, Willie Williams, Cornell Campbell, Alton Ellis, Devon Russell alongside some of the defining crack-session men groups of Jamaican reggae history - The Sound Dimension, Brentford All-Stars, The Skatalites, New Establishment and more. As ever the album is filled with a mixture of seminal cuts and super-rarities from the vast vaults of 13 Brentford Road.

Stand-out tracks include Alton Ellis’s Blackish White, a surreal and powerful Afro-centric dream, Count Ossie Nyabinghi and Rastafarian drummers genre-defying interpretation of Booker T and The MGs ‘Meditation’, Willie Williams awe-inspiring versioning of the Skatalites' seminal Rastafari anthem Addis Ababa and many, many more.

This album has been fully digitally remastered, analog cut and packaged complete with the following: Original sleevenotes by Lloyd Bradley (author of When Reggae Was King), compiled by Mark Ainley (Honest Jons), high-quality Soul Jazz mastering, wicked images of Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari on the cover, and a rare image of Clement Dodd and musicians inside the studio at Studio One on the full colour inner sleeves.

REVIEWS:

"Having established himself as one of Jamaica's top producers the day Studio One opened its doors in the early '60s, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd was unable to maintain his status during the roots era of the subsequent decade. This can be attributed to a couple of factors. One was Dodd's apparent reluctance to record the new, overtly Rasta-inspired music. The other was an infusion of new blood into the Jamaican music business. Eager to make a name for themselves, producers like Joe Gibbs, Bunny Lee, Lee "Scratch" Perry, and Winston "Niney" Holness managed to supplant the island's "big three" (Dodd, Duke Reid, and Prince Buster) in the process, driving the music's evolution in the '70s.

There isn't a weak number across these 16 tracks, from the Gaylads' ode to "Africa" and Devon Russell's version of the heavyweight "Drum Song" rhythm, to a trio of stunning instrumentals: Jackie Mittoo and the Cyclones with nyahbinghi drummer Count Ossie on "Meditation," Lenny Hibbert's sparkling vibe work over Mittoo's "Ghetto Organ" ("More Creation"), and Sound Dimension's "Congo Rock."

The music of this compilation is of a rare, rare beauty and is essential to anyone's reggae collection." All Music

Superb compilation of rare AOR tracks from the West Coast and some other oddities from Europe. Breezy sounding soft rock tunes that have been influence by the sounds of soul and disco; expertly compiled by Charles Maurice!

Mid-90s classics from Strictly's golden era feat. essentials from the likes of Mole People (Aramand Van Helden), DJ Sneak, Wamdue Project, Barbara Tucker and more!

It was in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria, that a new hybrid of intoxicating highlife music known as 'Edo Funk' was born. It first emerged in the late 1970s when a group of musicians began to experiment with different ways of integrating elements from their native Edo culture and fusing them with new sound effects coming from West Africa´s night-clubs. Unlike the rather polished 1980's Nigerian disco productions coming out of the international metropolis of Lagos, Edo Funk was raw and reduced to its bare minimum.

Analog Africa focus on this style with an essential, 12 track compilation with extended notes and photos.

Featuring boogie, house and modern disco vibes (check the killer version of the Dusty Springfield classic 'That's The Kind of Love I've Got for You' by Prospect Park) from the likes of The Sunburst Band and label boss Joey Negro with remixes from Andres (!), Jimpster, The Vision and Jkriv!

In 1970 Miles Davis released “Bitches Brew”, which crystalised the trumpeter and bandleader’sexperiments in rhythm, electronics and musical structure which he had been building on over the previous three years. The album has since become one of the most influential in musical history and was joined over the next couple of years by “Jack Johnson and “On The Corner” in defining the future of music.

Miles was the master bandleader and his LPs at the time declared that these were his ‘Directions In Music’, but he forged them with the help of a hand-picked group of musicians who proved themselves good enough to share his space on stage and in the studio. These players would all become central to jazz’s continued relevance and many would go on the record best-selling jazz records of their own. This compilation looks at the records that they made around the time they played with Miles and how they fed into or were fed by their time in his group.

So we have Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul with versions of tracks they cut with Miles. Herbie Hancock’s journey into the electronic instruments that Miles convinced him to play, and Keith Jarrett’s firm rejection of them. Lonnie Liston Smith borrows the Indian percussion from “On The Corner” for his take on electronic funk. Chick Corea, John McLaughlin and Gary Bartz all show their distinctive talents that were allowed to shine in Miles’ band. As a bonus, we have Miles’ musicians alongside Betty Davis (his wife at the time) on a take of Cream’s ‘Politician Man’ and Miles’ 1970 group live at The Cellar Door on Joe Zawinul’s ‘Directions’.

New York Rave Flyers from 1990 to 1995 - 88 page groovy small book. Well nice! Limited copies

**Upfront SOTU exclusive!**

Undercurrents is a stellar selection of moods, styles and MONSTER breaks from the albums recorded for the these UK music libraries between the late 1960’s and mid-1980s.

There are shimmering synth arpeggios/kosmiche by Tim Cross (Mike Oldfield, Hall & Oates, The Adverts); fretless ambient grooves by bassist and producer Mo Foster (Scott Walker, Dusty Springfield); fuzzy orchestral funk by German library don Peter Thomas; a tough, funky fusion jam by library supergroup Midas Touch; a bold as brass porno-Moog theme by Pete Smith (used in 1970’s skin flick Highway Hookers - check those breaks!) plus film-noir suspense and percussive jams by avant-garde UK jazzer Bob Downes and more!

Born Bad continue their mind-expanding and totally essential series of library music 'Space Oddities' compilations with this set focusing on French musician and composer Sauveur Mallia.

In the ever-expanding universe of 70s and 80s French library music, Mallia holds a special place; his career, multifaceted work and the uniqueness of his talent have made him an exemplary figure in the unsung world of library musicians.

In those years a few of them, often for economic reasons, would set off on a space conquest, taking along just a few synthesisers. Their ambition well surpassed the modesty of their means; it was in turn the condition to their experimentations with sound which were to create a new sonic space: that of a nation tumbling into modernity. From French soil to the farthest reaches of the cosmos, there were just a few steps to take. It's with the label Tele Music, boarding the spaceship Arpadys, along with the Voyage crew, that Sauveur Mallia took the big leap.

Funky and kitsch 16-track compilation of French cha-cha-cha played in a Middle Eastern style! This collection of the French equivalent of exotica from the early 1960s - think Les Baxter, Yma Sumac, Martin Denny etc!

Born Bad Records present this killer fifteen track completion of deep biguines and Gwo Ka from the ‘60s French West Indies. Biguine is a rhythmic style of music that originated in Guadeloupe and Martinique in the 19th century, which fuses 19th-century French ballroom dance steps with African rhythms. Gwo Ka combines responsorial singing in Guadeloupean Creole, rhythms played on the Ka drums and dancing. Recommended!

SUPERB compilation of eccentric, mutant disco from the French underground between 82-89!

Killer collection of tracks from Bukino Faso artist Sandwidi Pierre on the ever reliable Born Bad Records.

Pierre Sandwidi stands as one of the finest Voltaic artists from the 1970s. He belonged to an unsung elite of Francophone artists such as Francis Bebey, G.G. Vickey, Amédée Pierre and many more. His entire released output consists of less than ten 7 inches, two LPs and a bunch of cassettes.

Recommended!

Compilation of of French musical recording wizard Bernard Estardy's best works between 1970 and 1982. He was the master of the mixing board, as well as the head of CBE studios where he shaped everything from Gérard Manset’s concept albums to Claude François’ hit singles, Françoise Hardy’s delicate tear-jerkers and Michel Sardou’s soul-stirrers.

SUPERB compilation of eccentric, mutant disco from the French underground between 82-89!

Boogie funk soul

Philly disco 79

Original = Original USA 12" Vinyl VG+/Sleeve VG+

100% Guarantee on this and all Original Vinyl at Sounds Of The Universe - 'if you're not happy we're not happy' or your money back!

Kitch disco

Soul Jazz Records’ new Punk 45 release documents the first radical underground punk bands to come out of France including Metal Urbain (the first group ever to be signed to Rough Trade Records), Marie et Les Garçons, Asphalt Jungle, through to the earliest experimental cold wave/minimal wave electronic groups such as Kas Product, Charles de Goal and A3 Dans le WC who emerged at the start of the 1980s.

The accompanying large 44-page outsize booklet shows how punk in France emerged out of the country’s history of rebellion and revolution (from Serge Gainsbourg to the Paris ‘68 riots) as well as a love for American punk and proto bands like The New York Dolls and The Stooges, and was kick-started by witnessing the first UK punk bands (including the Sex Pistols who played in Paris in Sep 1976).

It also explains how French revolutionary, artistic and intellectual ideas influenced the birth of punk in both New York (Dadaism and Surrealism, Rimbaud and Voltaire) and in Britain (Situationism), how Paris based art collective Bazooka influenced the work of Jamie Reid and The Sex Pistols, and more besides. 

The booklet features extensive text, exclusive photography as well as interviews with key French figures in the movement including Marc Zermati (Skydog Records), Patrick Eudeline (Asphalt Jungle), Michel Esteban (Ze Records) and Eric Debris (Metal Urbain).

Soul Jazz Records’ new Punk 45 album comes as a heavyweight double vinyl LP with gatefold sleeve, inserts, full sleeve notes + download code and also as a deluxe CD pack + 50-page outsize booklet and as a digital album.

This is the latest in Soul Jazz Records’ Punk 45 series which documents punk around the world, following on from earlier releases Punk 45: Kill The Hippies (USA punk), Punk 45: There Is No Such Thing As Society (UK punk and post-punk), Punk 45: Sick on You (proto-punk), Punk 45: Burn, Rubber City Punk (Akron), Punk 45: Extermination Nights in The Sixth City (Cleveland) and Punk 45: Chaos in the City of Angels and Devils (Los Angeles) as well as the book Punk 45: Singles Cover Art of Punk with Jon Savage

REVIEWS

Read PITCHFORK article here

Private-label gem originally released in 1976, Manfredo Fest's 'Brazilian Dorian Dream' drew upon the influences of Brazilian rhythms,+ USA jazz and funk in a radical and new way.

Add to this Manfredo Fest’s visionary use of Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, Arp and Moog synthesizers (plus a whole load of effects units), makes for a seminal and groundbreaking album light years ahead of its time!

Soul Jazz Records new ‘Apala: Apala Groups in Nigeria 1967-70’ is the first ever collection of Apala music to be released outside of Nigeria.

The album focusses on a wide selection of recordings made in Nigeria in the 1960s, a time when Apala music was at the height of its popularity. Apala is a deeply rhythmical, hypnotic and powerful musical style that combines the striking nasal-style vocals and traditions of Islamic music, the Agidigbo (thumb piano), and the equally powerful drumming and percussion rhythms and techniques of the Yoruba of Nigeria.

The most significant figure in Apala music is undoubtedly Haruna Ishola who features throughout this album. Ishola holds an almost mythological status in his role as populariser of Apala music in Nigeria. Ishola’s singing was believed to be so powerful that, without proper restraint, it could kill the recipient of his music.

Apala is a popular music that also functioned as a form of cultural resistance – Apala music involved no western instrumentation and is sung in the Yoruba language, its aesthetic an implicit cultural rejection of the British Empire’s colonial rule over Nigeria which lasted from 1901 until independence in 1960.

Apala music was popular and widely accepted in Nigeria due to its philosophical and profound lyrical content alongside the complex rhythmic patterns of this heavily percussive style, which highlighted many of the percussion instruments of south-west Nigeria.

Apala is one of a number of popular urban styles of music that came out of Nigeria in the 20th century and sits alongside the more well-known (in the West) styles of Fuji, Highlife, Juju and Afrobeat. Of these modern forms Apala remains perhaps the most ‘roots’ style (sometimes described as ‘neo-traditional’) due to the authenticity of its sound. It has similar Islamic roots to other neo-traditional styles of Nigeria – including Waka and Sakara – examples of which are also included on this collection contextualising the music of Apala.

These recordings were originally made and released locally by Decca and EMI Records as well as a variety of independent labels in Nigeria and have never been released outside of the country before. Soul Jazz Records are releasing this album as a deluxe double gatefold vinyl (+ download code), CD, slipcase and booklet, both containing full text and photography.

Soul Jazz Records’ new album ‘Kaleidoscope – New Spirits Known and Unknown’ brings together many of the ground-breaking artists involved in the new jazz scene that has developed in the UK over the last few years. Featured artists include Matthew Halsall, Yazmin Lacey, Ill Considered, Tenderlonious, Theon Cross, Emma-Jean Thackray and many, many more in this ground-breaking release.

As well as sharing a pioneering spirit in these new artists’ approach to frontier-crossing musical boundaries, a further theme of this album is that many also share a determination to independent practices - and most of these artists’ recordings featured here are either self-published or released on independent labels. While the attention of this new wave of jazz artists has up until now has been London-based, this album shows how this movement is spread across the whole of Britain (and indeed beyond).

‘Kaleidoscope – New Spirits Known and Unknown’ shows that while there is commonality in these artists approach to music, there is a wide variety of styles – from deep spiritual jazz, electronic experimentalisation, punk-edged funk, uplifting modal righteousness, deep soulful vocals and much more.

Soul Jazz Records’ new release comes as a superb one-off pressing special deluxe triple album edition which comes with a bonus limited-edition one-off pressing 7" single, a standard triple album, and a deluxe double CD pack. This album also comes with extensive sleevenotes, artist interviews and exclusive photography.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soul Jazz records are also releasing an exclusive one-off pressing double-headed 12” single featuring Theon Cross and Pokus released on the same day as the ‘Kaleidoscope’ album release. These two tracks do not feature on the vinyl edition of the album - this 12" single will will also be deleted on day of release.

"Must read Best Books of 2020" Financial Times

‘Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Album Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90 ’ is a stunning new deluxe 250-page large format hardback book compiled and edited by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that features many 100s of stunning and unique Cuban record sleeve designs made since the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959. These album covers have rarely been seen (nor heard) outside of Cuba and show a rich previously hidden history of both music and design.

‘Cuba: Music and Revolution’ is the first ever book about Cuban record sleeve design and has been five years in the making, made in full co-operation with the Cuban government. The record sleeve designs reflect both the rich cultural Latin musical legacy of Cuba, as well as the political and aesthetic influence of revolutionary Communism, which manifests itself both in the music created on the island and the artwork of the designs included here.

Cuban music is the source of much Latin music in the 20th century. Salsa, the all-encompassing Latin music that came out of New York in the 1970s, and soon spread across Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere, owes all of its success to the Cuban music on which it is fundamentally based.

These record sleeves help document the dramatic change in Cuba’s identity from that of 1950s tourist paradise to socialist state. Following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the United States imposed a trade embargo which exists to this day, and as a consequence the many 100s of Cuban records featured here have rarely been seen outside of Cuba.

The book is edited and compiled by Gilles Peterson, BBC broadcaster, record label owner, DJ, record collector, founder of Worldwide FM and Stuart Baker, founder of Soul Jazz Records. Together they have edited two earlier critically-acclaimed music and design books ‘Freedom, Rhythm and Sound – Revolutionary Jazz Cover Art 1965-83’ and ‘Bossa Nova and The Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s’.

In conjunction with the deluxe book, Soul Jazz Records will be releasing an album also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker, charting the rise of Cuban music in the 1970s and featuring many of the artists who appear in this book.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Out everywhere now or direct from us right now here!

*Paying for this by PAYPAL? Don't! Paypal will not let you buy this amazing book about Cuban music - use Mastercard, Visa etc*

After the second volume's Afro oriented atmospheres, this new chapter will take us right back to the heart of 70's disco-funk/proto-disco/cosmic. A glorious decade made of lots of "cheap" records, obscure B sides, and forgotten or even unreleased instrumental versions. Tons of often ignored and yet stellar studio productions...

Straight off the back of Soundway's stunning 'Gumba Fire' compilation, the label selects more sure-fire disco burners. This is a 4-track EP drawing from the Heads label out of South Africa.

The Heads label lasted a brief two years between 1982 and 1984. Started and run by the late South African producer and singer Emil Zoghby, it released only a handful of records before folding. The early 1980s in the country was a time when disco was starting to fade into what was becoming known as Bubblegum: pop music aimed at the black population of South Africa.

NEW USA IMPORT PAPERBACK £6 BARGAIN!

Prince is the first book to give full treatment to his thirty-five-year career. Acclaimed music journalist Ronin Ro traces Prince's rise from anonymity in the late 70s, to his catapult to stardom in the 80s, to his reemergence in the twenty-first century as an artistic icon. Ro expertly chronicles his music and career, showing how Prince and his albums helped define and inspire a generation.

Light In The Attic’s 'Japan Archival Series' continues with 'Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990', an unprecedented overview of the country’s vital minimal, ambient, avant-garde, and New Age music – or kankyo ongaku (environmental music).

This compilation features internationally acclaimed artists such as Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Joe Hisaishi, as well as other pioneers like HiroshiYoshimura, Yoshio Ojima and Satoshi Ashikawa, who deserve a place alongside the indisputable giants of these genres.

Mix by Tom Savarese

PROMO Salsoul 79 peachy clean original disco 12"

Original = Original USA 12" Vinyl VG+ /Sleeve VG+

100% Guarantee on this and all Original Vinyl at Sounds Of The Universe - 'if you're not happy we're not happy' money-back guarantee!

Originally released in 1980 on Casablanca Records. This album contains their number one hit "Funkytown".

Produced by Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards

Produced by T Life

MONSTER dark, old school house vibes from Decius, who membership includes Paranoid London's Quin Whalley and various Fat White Family associates!