OXFORD AMERICAN - 17th Annual Southern Music Issue

"The Oxford American is proud to present its 17th annual Southern Music issue, which celebrates the immense musical legacy, both past and present, of the state of Georgia. 

Published in partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development's Tourism Division, the issue comes with a 25-song CD compilation that features music by Georgia artists such as James Brown, Sandy Gaye, Gram Parsons, Otis Redding, OutKast, Indigo Girls, Drive-By Truckers, the Allman Brothers Band, and many more. This showcase of Georgia music also includes a cover of the song 'Midnight'—written by songwriting legends Boudleaux Bryant and Chet Atkins and recorded by Ray Charles—by the Athens-based band Futurebirds. This song was recorded exclusively for the Oxford American. The compilation ends with a recently discovered 1961 demo recording of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer performing 'Moon River.' The CD was mastered by Grammy-winning producer Michael Graves of Osiris Studio in Atlanta.

In the magazine, more than 45 writers take on the task of chronicling numerous musical traditions and artists from Georgia—including legends, innovators, and the state's brightest visionaries. A few highlights: Peter Guralnick on his discovery of Blind Willie McTell and the electrifying experience of seeing the James Brown Show in 1965; Kiese Laymon on the influence of OutKast; Amanda Petrusich on the Allman Brothers Band and Capricorn Records; Elyssa East on Gram Parsons and his 'Nudie suits'; and Brit Bennett on Janelle Monáe and Wondaland Records. The issue also has a special section called 'Athens x Athens,' in which musicians from the city's famous scene share stories and anecdotes about what makes the town an unmatched hub for creativity." - The Oxford American

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND - The Complete Matrix Tapes (4CD)

"The first song on the Matrix Tapes is a languid, 13-plus-minute-long version of 'Waiting for the Man,' complete with a whistling break and two previously unreleased verses, seemingly made up on the spot. But what makes this collection essential is the cohesion of the band and the setlists: the shows find the Velvets at their absolute peak as a live unit, with Reed and Sterling Morrison's guitars—the former raucous and unhinged, the latter pristine and precise—meshing with an almost subconscious cohesion. The 42-track set finds the band cruising through some 22 different songs sprawling across their entire career: 'Sweet Jane' is rendered in versions much calmer than the familiar recording on Loaded, forceful on the first round (and with yet another unreleased verse), gentle on the second. Doug Yule introduces a loping melodic bassline into 'Heroin' (first night, second set) before moving over to organ. But most of all, the clarity of the sound—which is drastically improved from the Live 1969 album, where several of these songs were first released, and The Quine Tapes collection, which is rough-quality audience recordings of songs from the same set of shows—makes it feel as if the band is performing right in front of you." - Billboard

VA - Coxsone's Music

"Coxsone's Music is a stunning new 3-CD/two separate double LP (+ free download) collection featuring over two and half hours of early Jamaican proto-ska, rhythm and blues, jazz, rastafari and gospel music, charting the earliest recordings produced by Clement Dodd, in the years before he launched the mighty Studio One Records, brought together here for the first time ever. Featuring Don Drummond, Roland Alphonso, Derrick Harriott, Owen Gray, Clancy Eccles, Count Ossie, Monty Alexander, The Blues Busters, Ernest Ranglin, Rico Rodriguez and many, many more all captured here in their formative early years." - Soul Jazz Records

VA - Georgie Fame Heard Them Here First

"Ace's popular Heard Them Here First series continues to grow with each new volume eagerly anticipated by those with an interest in the inspirations of their musical heroes.

In their pomp, Georgie Fame and his group the Blue Flames regularly played four or five sets a night at London's Flamingo and Roaring 20s clubs, so were always on the lookout for new songs to play. Material came to Georgie from all directions: the GIs and West Indians who frequented the clubs and brought him new soul imports, friends such as clued-up Mick O'Neill (Nero of early-'60s instrumental specialists Nero and the Gladiators), the record collections of members of the Blue Flames, specialist soul/jazz/R&B record shop Transat Imports, and the copious record box of sound system operator Count Suckle. Musical sponge that he was, Georgie absorbed it all in order for the group to put their own spin on things.

This is an altogether terrific 25-track cross-section of material Georgie covered or revived across his early singles, his four Columbia albums and first CBS EP. Many of these originals will be familiar to lovers of vintage soul and jazz but we have included several major obscurities, a few of which, including Shorty Billups' original of Georgie’s rare single ‘Bend A Little,' are receiving their first ever reissue here." - Ace Records

LINK WRAY - 3-Track Shack

"Following his instrumental hits 'Rumble' and 'Jack The Ripper,' Link Wray settled into a routine of gigging with his band the Raymen in the Northeastern states, particularly the rough and ready dives of Washington, DC. In the early '70s this stopped, and Link concentrated on working on the farm his brother Vernon had bought in Accokeek, Maryland. Vernon installed a three-track recording studio in the basement of the farmhouse, but his wife complained about the noise so it was moved outside to an old chicken house: the 3-Track Shack was born.

Producer Steve Verroca caught one of Link's performances in a local bar, was impressed, and thought the time was right for a comeback. Extracting elements from his own country, blues and gospel roots and somehow melding them together with the very landscape itself, he created an organic blend of downhome music that was imbued with a primitive spirituality. There is an unpolished, spontaneous feel to the music which sparks it greedily into life, and the Accokeek earth seems to be ground deep into every groove.

These three albums have been out on CD before, but never mastered from the original tapes. You can even hear the frogs croaking outside the shack!" - Ace Records

ROYAL JESTERS - English Oldies

"Twenty-eight homespun stunners from the Alamo City's scrappiest souleros. The Royal Jesters were the kings of San Antonio's cross-cultural teen scene in the 1960s, soundtracking lovelorn slow dances with their heart-sick harmonies. For the first time, English Oldies gathers the best early doo-wop, R&B, and blazing Latin rock and soul from these Tex-Mex masterminds—a simmering melting pot of diverse regional flavors, best served hot." - Numero Group

DION - Recorded Live At The Bitter End, August 1971

"When the wave of early rock and roll ebbed, Dion reinvented himself as a singer-songwriter and interpreter of others' songs, and there was nobody hipper. It was at this point, in 1971, that this recording was made live at the famous Bitter End in New York City.

It was only Dion and his acoustic guitar on stage that night as he charmed his way through laid-back versions of his own songs and covers of some of the best songwriters around, like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and even, surprisingly, Chuck Berry and Lightnin' Hopkins. He included, of course, his last big hit, 'Abraham, Martin and John,' which captured the emotion of many who lived through the lives and deaths of the American icons the song is about." - Blogcritics

VA - Hung On You: More From The Gerry Goffin & Carole King Songbook

"This bumper collection of numbers penned by Gerry Goffin and his wife Carole King includes familiar hits (The Shirelles' 'What A Sweet Thing That Was,' Bobby Vee's 'Sharing You,' The Cookies' 'Will Power,' The Drifters' 'When My Little Girls Is Smiling,' et cetera), overlooked gems (The Hondells' 'Show Me Girl,' The Hearts & Flowers' 'Road To Nowhere,' Walter Jackson's 'Anything Can Happen') and some new-to-CD rarities ('You Turn Me On Boy' by The Honey Bees, The Orlons' 'Keep Your Hands Off My Baby,' The Clovers' 'The Sheik' and Theola Kilgore's 'It's Gonna Be Alright')." - Ace Records

JOHNNY ADAMS - I Won't Cry: The Complete Ric & Ron Singles 1959-1964

"It was a lucky day for music lovers when Johnny Adams' songwriter neighbour Dorothy La Bostrie knocked on the young gospel singer's door and asked if he would consider singing the demos for two R&B songs she was hoping to pitch to record man Joe Ruffino of Ric and Ron Records. One of the songs was 'I Won't Cry,' which started the Tan Canary on a career that spanned five decades, gave so much pleasure to fans of New Orleans soul and R&B, and which now features as the title track of a must-have Ace CD.

It was only a local hit, but 'I Won't Cry' set standards for the great music collected in this first-ever compilation to include the A- and B-sides of all 11 of Adams' Ric and Ron singles, along with two otherwise unrecorded demos that made their first appearance on a vinyl single in a boxed set of Ric and Ron 45s issued for Record Store Day a couple of years back. It beggars belief that of these 11, only 'A Losing Battle' became a national R&B hit, so high is their overall quality." - Ace Records

VA - Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou: Mad Dogs, Sweet Daddies & Pretty Babies

"On this tenth volume in the By The Bayou series, the third to focus on R&B, we have 28 tracks from the vaults of J.D. Miller's Crowley studio, Eddie Shuler's Goldband facility, Floyd Soileau's Rod label, Sam Montel's Montel label and Golen Richard's Richland imprint, all from South Louisiana.

The majority of the material comes from that goldmine on North Parkerson Ave in Crowley, where the music store founded by J.D. Miller is now operated by his youngest son Mark. The ceilings and walls are hung with guitars and the floor space is taken up with amplifiers and speakers. The counters and stands are festooned with guitar strings, picks, cords, cables, plugs and all manner of paraphernalia for the professional musician. In one corner is a dwindling number of CDs, which are difficult for a small-town store to sell in competition with outlets such as Amazon, even if much of the material was recorded right here. Behind the store area, hidden from view, is a large working studio where Mark, a bass player, sound engineer and producer record local talent. Most important to us is another part of the building – the tape store, where Alec Palao and I have sifted through the reels, and Alec has transferred close on 3,000 tracks, including 22 of the titles on this CD, eight of which are previously unissued." - Ace Records

VA - Cracking The Cosimo Code

Cosimo Matassa, who passed away very recently, was an essential figure in the development of R&B, rock'n'roll and soul in New Orleans. Cracking The Cosimo Code provides a great taste of just some of the incredible talent who recorded in Matassa's studio in the Sixties. 

"What is the Cosimo Code? Quite simply, it's an ongoing, website-based discographical tool at www.cosimocode.com documenting the 1960s recordings from Cosimo Matassa’s studios in New Orleans. This CD release has been compiled by website co-founders Red 'Soul Detective' Kelly, John 'Sir Shambling' Ridley and John Broven. It brings to life the Cosimo Code data, unveiling many of the mysteries surrounding New Orleans R&B and soul recordings from the post-Fats Domino era.

As the '60s started, Domino and his producer Dave Bartholomew, with their timeless brand of R&B, still dominated the New Orleans recording scene. Soon there would be a changing of the guard, led by producers Allen Toussaint, Harold Battiste, Wardell Quezergue and Eddie Bo. Under these younger men, the music would take on a funkier soul edge while still imbued with the eternal New Orleans street rhythms." - Ace Records

VA - DJ Snowboy Presents The Good Foot

DJ Snowboy runs a club night called The Good Foot in London's Soho district. This compilation gives listeners an excellent and accurate picture of the exciting '60s R&B, soul, funk and Latin grooves Snowboy spins for the club's lucky patrons.

"Madame Jojo's, in an outpost of old Soho where Snowboy wears his DJ hat, is where he runs his weekly club night, the Good Foot. In the past, this central London area was known for its bohemian nightlife and shady characters. Most of that has gone now, replaced by modern life's big brands and identikit shops, but step down the velvet-lined stairwell into Jojo's subterranean space and you're into a lost world where the music played by Snowboy and his guests keeps an audience of enthusiastic dancers glued to the club's sunken dancefloor.

The Good Foot plays the best of '60s soul, R&B and latin with a touch of funk, and Snowboy always looks to find a perfect blend of classics and records that you are unlikely to have heard in a club before. Our compilation attempts to recreate the feeling of a night at the club, and features many of the tunes that have become signature plays there." - Ace Records

VA - Mod Jazz And Then Some! / VA - Paul Murphy Presents The Return Of Jazz Club

Two new jazz sets from Ace Records' Kent and BGP imprints, with the former expanding upon the the Mod Jazz series' focus on the early-'60s intersection of jazzy R&B and bluesy jazz, while the latter features the sort of latin jazz and hard bop cuts that once filled the dancefloor during Paul Murphy's mid-'80s proto-rare groove/acid jazz DJing heyday in London.

"You probably know the Mod Jazz drill by now: 24 cuts that have the feel of a smoky early-'60s basement about them, with plenty of jazz attitude, a touch of the blues (as Bobby 'Blue' Bland might have sung) and a pinch of latin spice. It's the sort of music that makes you want to don a midnight blue mohair two-piece with some well-polished Bass Weejuns and take to the dancefloor." - Ace Records

"Culled from the extensive Prestige and Riverside catalogues, The Return Of Jazz Club is mix of all the things good about Paul Murphy's original Jazz Club compilations: distinctive latin jazz from Art Farmer and Billy Taylor, a touch of vocal jazz from Eddie Jefferson and dancefloor-friendly blues-filled gems such as Bennie Green's 'Hi-Yo Silver'." - Ace Records

VA - Bowie Heard Them Here First

Following up on the soul/girl group focus of the Dusty Springfield edition of the always interesting Heard Them Here First series, this selection of songs covered by David Bowie is an eclectic mix of genres, to be expected given the chameleonic nature of his career. If you thought "Alabama Song" was first performed by the Doors (as I did), pick this up and hear who really recorded it first. The perpetual journey of musical discovery continues...

"The latest release in our Heard Them Here First series traces the career of David Bowie via an eclectic selection of the other writers’ songs he chose to record...As one might expect from the chameleonic Bowie, the featured tracks emanate from a diverse array of musical genres, eras and artists, from Lotte Lenya & the Three Admirals' 1930 recording of Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill’s 'Alabama Song' to the Pixies' spiky 'Cactus' from 1988's Surfer Rosa. Other unlikely bedfellows: Johnny Mathis and Iggy Pop; Bobby Bland and the Velvet Underground; Jacques Brel and Chuck Berry; Martha & the Vandellas and Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers, make for a strikingly wide-ranging programme." - Ace Records

VA - Sweet 'n' Salty Popcorn

Popcorn is a genre named by Belgian DJs who, in the late '60s, began spinning slow and medium-paced pop from five to ten years earlier to appreciative dancers. The Popcorn scene grew, remaining vibrant in Europe, and this collection compiled by Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley serves as an excellent introduction with its mix of R'n'B, soul, and smoky Latin-tinged numbers.

"A unique collection! The first-ever UK compilation of Popcorn, the continent's answer to the Northern Soul scene. The atmospheric sound of Popcorn has been an underground club phenomenon in Belgium since the late sixties, and has spread across Europe and hit British clubs in the last ten years." - Cherry Red Records

"What is Popcorn music? Bob Stanley of the band Saint Etienne and the new Croydon Municipal label wants to tell you. 'Popcorn is a genre after the fact, built by curation rather than creation...Its narrative was formed by Belgians in the seventies from records made in the fifties and sixties—there was no such thing as a Popcorn artist because no one had set out to make a Popcorn record in the first place. It was all in the rhythm, which had to suit the unusual 'slow swing' dance, and it could be Latin boogaloo, an orchestrated Italian ballad or an early Tamla Motown single." - The Second Disc

VA - Lou Adler: A Musical History

Plenty of classic tunes by legends like Sam Cooke and Carole King on this collection of music produced by Lou Adler, but the real gems are the tracks from lesser-knowns like Dante & The Evergreens, The City and Peggy Lipton. Fans of 20 Feet From Stardom should check out the wonderful covers by The Blossoms/Darlene Love ("Stoney End") and Merry Clayton ("Oh No, Not My Baby"). However, most exciting of all is The Brothers & Sisters' version of "Blowin' In The Wind," a preview of the much-anticipated Light In The Attic reissue of Dylan's Gospel, due to be released April 1st.

"The latest release in our Producers series contains key tracks from the career of Grammy-winning record producer, songwriter, publisher, record company owner, film director and all-round music biz mogul Lou Adler, an architect of the California sound...Adler, whose story is told in more detail in the picture-packed booklet, much of it in his own words, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a recipient of the Ahmet Ertegun Award in 2013. 'If you asked me how to succeed as a record producer,' he said on being presented with his accolade by Cheech & Chong, 'I’d say it helps to work with three of the best singers and songwriters: John Phillips, Carole King and Sam Cooke.'" - Ace Records

Adler – whose story is told in more detail in the picture-packed booklet, much of it in his own words – was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a recipient of the Ahmet Ertegun Award in 2013. “If you asked me how to succeed as a record producer,” he said on being presented with his accolade by Cheech & Chong, “I’d say it helps to work with three of the best singers and songwriters: John Phillips, Carole King and Sam Cooke.”  - See more at: http://acerecords.co.uk/lou-adler-a-musical-history#sthash.nf53htta.dpuf

The latest release in our Producers series contains key tracks from the career of Grammy-winning record producer, songwriter, publisher, record company owner, film director and all-round music biz mogul Lou Adler, an architect of the California sound. - See more at: http://acerecords.co.uk/lou-adler-a-musical-history#sthash.nf53htta.dpuf

The latest release in our Producers series contains key tracks from the career of Grammy-winning record producer, songwriter, publisher, record company owner, film director and all-round music biz mogul Lou Adler, an architect of the California sound. - See more at: http://acerecords.co.uk/lou-adler-a-musical-history#sthash.nf53htta.dpuf

RONNIE LANE AND SLIM CHANCE - Ooh La La: An Island Harvest

A rollicking rock revue, Lane and his post-Faces outfit recorded two albums for Island, Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance and One For The Road, both collected on this double-disc set along with alternate takes as well as a BBC concert from 1974.

"If Lane still doesn't get full credit for his role in two groups dominated by their turbo-charged vocalists, his post-Faces career is even more badly undervalued. A new anthology confirms that he did some of his greatest work in the mid-'70s with Slim Chance, a loose rustic-rock band he built in his own image, the good-time exterior masking genuine soulfulness...After leaving the Faces he'd retreated to Fishpool farm, near the village of Hyssington on the Welsh-English border. The music he made there was dug from the soil and baked in the sun. Mixing eclectic covers with originals and drew from rock'n'roll, country, folk, blues, early jazz, vaudeville and blue beat, Fishpool sounds a bit like a Welsh Big Pink, only with sheep farmers living down the lane rather than Bob Dylan." - The Guardian

VA - You Talk Too Much: The Ric & Ron Story Volume 1

While Mississippi's Ace Records (the label from which the UK reissue label in turn takes its name, anthologized on its multi-volume The Ace Story series) was first to record and market New Orleans rock'n'roll and R&B, Joe Ruffino's Ric and Ron imprints soon followed suit, recording early cuts by Professor Longhair, Eddie Bo and Irma Thomas, among many more featured here in this first volume, covering 1958 to 1960.

"From 1958 to 1963 the Ric and Ron labels brought the sound of New Orleans rhythm and blues to the world and paved the way for the great Crescent City independents that followed. They were not the city’s first R&B indies, but they forged a template to which their successors adhered and built upon for many years afterwards. Ric and Ron were founded by Joe Ruffino, who named the labels after his two sons. Ruffino had learned how the R&B business worked through his association with Record Sales, the New Orleans record distribution outlet, and with Johnny Vincent, who based his Ace and Vin labels in Jackson, Mississippi but recorded almost exclusively in New Orleans. For a while Ruffino was Vincent’s eyes and ears, bringing several acts to Ace, including the Supremes and Lenny Capello. However, in 1958 Vincent cut him loose to do his own thing." - Ace Records

VA - Youths Boogie: Jamaican R&B and the Birth of Ska

Stepping sideways and sailing south from the rock'n'roll/Americana zone of focus we're by now accustomed to from them, the typically multi-disc compilers at Fantastic Voyage set their sights on late-'50s/early'60s Jamaica with this single-CD look at the initial impact of stateside boogie-woogie, doo-wop, jump blues and R&B on the island's then-burgeoning record industry.

"Compiled by specialist black music writer Mike Atherton (Record Collector, Echoes), Youths Boogie portrays the popular music of Jamaica in the period 1959 to 1962, before it became formally known as ska, but by which time most of the characteristics of ska were present and correct, alongside the influences of American R&B. Disc One showcases the productions of Chris Blackwell, a white Jamaican who ran the local R&B and Island labels, before moving his operation to Britain, and Duke Reid, who ran the Trojan sound system, and issued many of his productions on the Duke Reid’s label, before founding the famous Treasure Isle label in the sixties. Disc Two looks at the productions of other individuals like Simeon Smith, Charlie Moo, Dada Tewari, Byron Lee, Roy Robinson, Vincent Chin and the London-based Sonny Roberts, who were all vying to make names for themselves." - Fantastic Voyage

VA - Sophisticated Boom Boom! The Shadow Morton Story

Best known for his role as the Shangri-Las' svengali, Sophisticated Boom Boom! serves to shine a light on the rest of the reclusive producer's behind-the-scenes career.

"George 'Shadow' Morton was an instinctive musical genius who, despite never really playing an instrument, somehow wrote and produced several milestone works, most notably the great sequence of Shangri-Las pop-operettas which established him as the 'East Coast Spector.' But he was no one-trick pony: he would go on to produce 16-year-old Janis Ian's controversial breakthrough hit about interracial love, 'Society's Child,' discover The Young Rascals, and help invent heavy metal." - The Independent

"This collection covers Shadow’s career from his debut as lead vocalist with the Markeys and the Lonely Ones through to the New York Dolls' Too Much Too Soon album. Also included are tracks by the Beattle-ettes, Shangri-Las, Goodies, Ellie Greenwich, Shaggy Boys, Nu-Luvs, Janis Ian, Blues Project, Vanilla Fudge, Vagrants, Iron Butterfly and Mott The Hoople—everything from 1950s doo wop to 1970s glam-punk via girl group melodramas and Long Island psychedelia. In other words, a very varied listening experience." - Ace Records