Suche:not was

Strut Records proudly presents a new reissue of the original Afrobeat classic Low Profile (Not For The Blacks), recorded and composed by Afrika 70 saxophonist and bandleader Lekan Animashaun and produced by Fela Kuti. After years touring the world as Fela’s baritone saxophonist, Animashaun stepped forward to lead the legendary Egypt 80 band following Tony Allen’s departure, remaining the group’s musical director until Fela’s death in 1997. He continued on subsequent tours with Seun Kuti until 2016. Lekan began recording his only solo project, Low Profile, in 1977. The album was composed and recorded across sessions at home in Nigeria and on tour with Fela, who both produced the recordings and added keyboards to the album’s title track. ‘Low Profile (Not For The Blacks)’ referenced a government campaign during the country’s 1970s oil boom: “It was inspired by a speech by Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s military Head of State, when he urged black people to keep a low profile about their wealth and not to behave in a vulgar, arrogant way,” explains Lekan. “I argued that low profile is not just for the blacks, as everyone is human, regardless of race.” On the flip side, the simmering Afrobeat anthem ‘Se Rere’ (which translates as ‘Do Right’) delivers Animashaun’s message of living with integrity: do right, and you will reap what you sow.

The song later became the band’s opening number during Fela’s live performances both in Nigeria and internationally throughout the 1980s and ’90s. Despite recording beginning almost two decades earlier, Low Profile did not receive an official release until 1995, when it finally surfaced on Fela’s Kalakuta label. One of only a handful of albums led by core members of Kuti’s band, Low Profile captures a pivotal moment in Afrobeat history. Over time, the original has become a rare and highly sought-after record, and this new reissue places the spotlight back on a modest but influential Nigerian legend. Strut’s reissue features the complete original artwork, is fully remastered by The Carvery, and includes brand new liner notes by Lekan Animashaun himself.

Cut The With The Cake Knife was recorded by Rose McDowall in 1988/89 following the break up of her group Strawberry Switchblade. Produced with the aid of several musicians in several studios, the album features songs written for the fabled second Strawberry Switchblade album. More importantly perhaps it showcases the honest, direct and life-affirming songs of one of the greatest unsung songwriters of the modern pop era at a tumultuous time in her career.

Tibet opens the set and could be one of the best pop songs you've never heard. The innate sadness of the songs' content - the loss of a friendship, impending sorrow - is heightened to heart-melting level by McDowall's pop nous and melodic sensibility. Choruses and hooks are everywhere on Cake Knife, from the outsider take on stadium 80s pop in Wings Of Heaven to the spiraling, ecstatic So Vicious, a glorious anthem that highlights the human fragility in McDowall's vocal performance, an instrument that has never lost the naïve purity it first exemplified in Strawberry Switchblade's early 80s recordings. The centerpiece of the album, the title-track, is the greatest Switchblade pop chart hit that never was. Like the veiled melancholy of her former group's hits, Cut With The Cake Knife hints at a darkness beneath the gloss, a darkness that saw McDowall delve into more esoteric territory with her subsequent recordings and collaborations. Cut With The Cake Knife serves as the bridge between the pop music McDowall had been making with her friends Jill Bryson, Lawrence from Felt and Primal Scream to what became a more extreme, deep sound informed by neo-folk and post industrial music.

Rose McDowall's role in the canon has always been one of an outsider. Beginning in Glasgow's East End in the avant proto-noise group The Poems, achieving fame briefly in the 80s and then disappearing into counter-cultural folklore, the emphasis in the internet-age has been skewed towards her image and cultural significance. Unseen to many, her solo work, her groups Sorrow and Spell and her collaborations with a whole host of underground luminaries have still touched lives. As McDowall elucidates: 'They're real sad songs, about real life. I've had people come up to me to say I'd connected with them and helped them. I remember a gig in America when we made a whole room cry. It was bizarre. A couple at the front of the stage started crying and then these two boys beside and suddenly everyone was crying. And I thought, "that's power."

Night School's issue of Cut With The Cake Knife includes unpublished photographs, extensive sleeve notes from Rose McDowall and 2 bonus tracks culled from the bootleg 7' 'Don't Fear The Reaper.' First vinyl pressing is Clear w/ Black swirl; 500 only / has DL card and booklet, with a poster
CD has extensive booklet and is packaged in anO-Card.

Bill Withers was a modest, gentle, and yet towering musical figure responsible for some of the most important, universally known soul hits ever written. It’s no wonder that “Just the Two of Us” and “Ain’t No Sunshine” won him two Grammy awards and undoubtedly played a huge role in getting him inducted into both the Songwriters and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Live at Carnegie Hall is Withers' only live album, recorded on October 6, 1973 but not released until April 21, 1973. The fact that Bill got to play his heartfelt and honest soul at one of the most prestigious venues for both classical and pop music speaks volumes: his first two records Just As I Am and Still Bill were really that influential.

Bill Withers' Live At Carnegie Hall was recorded more than 50 years ago on a rainy Friday evening, but it is still regarded as one of the best live performances in the history of Soul music. Withers appears on stage with an ensemble of only the best session musicians the 1970s had to offer: Melvin Dunlap, Ray Jackson, James Gadson, Benorce Blackmon, and Bobbye Hall, at the time one of the few female session percussionists. They all had worked together on Still Bill and had the knack for expanding Bill's intimate songs to fit a hall of that size and stature. And as far as the recording goes, no corners were cut; it really feels like you're up there with them.

The set features evergreens such as "Ain't No Sunshine", "Lean On Me", "Grandma's Hands", but also tunes that are only available as part of this live set, such as "World Keeps Going Around" and "I Can't Write Left-Handed".

Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall is available as a limited edition of 5000 individually numbered copies on magenta vinyl, and includes printed inner sleeves and a 4-page booklet featuring liner notes on Bill Withers written by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and reflections by Aloe Blacc.

Assault & Battery is the second studio album by Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo and was released in 1981. Like the first album it was produced by the Vanda & Young team, who are most known for producing AC/DC's classic 70s albums).

Rose Tattoo (or The Tatts, as they;'re affectionately called) play peerless, street-level heavy blues with the emphasis on slide guitar and strident lyric statements.

After years of touring in Australia, Europe and America opening up for acts like ZZ Top and Aerosmith, the band started writing/recording their second studio album, Assault & Battery.
It includes fan favorites:"Out Of This Place" & "Rock n Roll Is King" & "Suicide City"
The album is noted for its "hard as nails," no-prisoners approach, described as a mix of AC/DC's power-chord style with a faster, punk-infused intensity.

Assault & Battery is available as a limited numbered edition of 1000 copies on black/white swirl vinyl.

‘Cécile McLorin Salvant ... sings standards, show tunes and old novelties in a taut, flinty, elusively beautiful voice, erring toward material with difficult lyrics and tough places in history. Salvant wins over her audiences by tweaking them slightly: daring them to go there with her—not just into the archive, but toward the darkness of the past.’ – New York Times

‘Although Salvant is known as a jazz musician, her approach to music is defined by her instinct for experimentation ... Her music is beloved for ... embracing theatre and subverting classics with playful renditions.’ – Guardian

Salvant, who has performed with orchestras regularly over the last decade-and-a-half and intended to make an album with one sooner in her career, but logistics and her abundant creative ideas led to other new projects intervening. Having finally found time to make this album, With Every Breath I Take is a different sort of record than it might have been even ten years ago.

“It is a rare opportunity to be able to make an album at this scale, which has been a dream of mine for many years,” Salvant says. “Darcy James Argue wrote stunning arrangements and the Metropole Orkest, conducted by the extraordinary Jules Buckley, gave these stories a cinematic dimension. We overcame quite a few obstacles to even get into the recording studio for this project; it took almost four years for us to do so, and I am so incredibly proud to share it.

“I did not choose these songs because they are beautiful, but because they are crucial to me,” she adds.

Cécile McLorin Salvant, a 2020 MacArthur Fellow and three-time Grammy Award winner, is a singer and composer bringing historical perspective, a renewed sense of drama, and an enlightened musical understanding to both jazz standards and her own original compositions. Classically trained, steeped in jazz, blues, and folk, and drawing from musical theater and vaudeville, Salvant embraces a wide-ranging repertoire that broadens the possibilities for live performance.

Salvant’s performances range from spare duets for voice and piano to instrumental trios to orchestral ensembles. Her unreleased work Ogresse is an ambitious long-form musical fairy tale that is being made into a feature length animated film. She has performed at national and international venues and festivals such as the Newport Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Village Vanguard, and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Her previous Nonesuch albums, Ghost Song (2022) Mélusine (2023), and Oh Snap (2025) received critical accolades; the former two were both nominated for Grammy Awards. Salvant is also a visual artist, and Oh Snap was named a best album of 2025 by the Guardian, Jazzwise, JazzTimes, and the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll.

A year or two back, original Nottingham deep house don Gavin Belton (famed for being part of Smokescreen and Drop Music-adjacent duo The Littlemen) returned to the UK after living in New Zealand. One thing led to another and soon he was back in the studio alongside former creative partner Steve Lee for the first time in 15 years. Featuring heady spoken word vocals from Hector Moralez, the result is 'House For Change', a lightly electrofunk-fired slab of classic East Midlands deep house. Raising funds for homeless charity Help The Framework, this surprise EP also includes 2004 classic 'Tell Me' (a free party deep house classic) and two fresh reworks: a TB-303-bass-driven revision of 'House For Change' by their old pals Inland Knights, and a squelchy, spacey take on 'Tell Me' by Lee under his solo alias, Positive Divide.

Downtown Boys have pushed relentlessly forward as an artistic and political project since their founding. Singer Victoria Marie and guitarist/singer Joey La Neve DeFrancesco first met at union meetings while working together at a hotel in Providence, RI, writing many of the band's early songs about labor organizing and exploitative workplaces. The quintet is completed by Joe DeGeorge (sax/synth), Mary Jane Regalado (bass), and Joey Doubek (drums). Over years of touring, and three acclaimed albums, Downtown Boys have continued to grow as artists, musicians, and organizers. Now, the band has arrived with Public Luxury, an enthralling album that keeps politics front and center while summoning the band's most urgent and powerful sound to date. The definition of Public Luxury falls very much in line with that of the title of the second Downtown Boys LP, Full Communism. Straight up, Public Luxury means, "everything for everyone." It's the stubborn insistence that a better world is possible, while fully recognizing the horrors we witness daily, and the individual and collective responsibility to resist the nihilism and hopelessness we all feel. Sentiments like "everything for everyone," and "we will have it all" perfectly represent the cathartic, communal live experience this cadre of multi-instrumentalists create. These sentiments also encapsulate the inclusive, joyful sonic fusion that defines the album: anthemic punk and indie rock mix with Latin traditions, drum machines blend with acoustic drums, saxophones punctuate riffs, and layers of synths add flourishes from new-wave to industrial. The amount of ground covered on Public Luxury can't be overstated, and yet the album feels totally vital and cohesive. Public Luxury is a revisitation of the band's past for the sake of their future. It was co-produced by DeFrancesco with recording engineer and longtime Downtown Boys supporter Seth Manchester (Lambrini Girls, Lightning Bolt, Model/Actriz) at the Pawtucket, RI studio and arts space Machines With Magnets, not far from the band's first home of Providence, RI. Victoria Marie's grandmother-a monumental figure for the band throughout their existence-passed away in May of 2025, and her influence looms large over the album; the songs "No Me Jodas" and "Sirena" are crystallized representations of the love between a woman and her ancestor. Beyond the loss, rage and frustration of the present, Public Luxury points boldly towards a vibrant, open-hearted vision of both music and the world: "Our music is simply for anyone and everyone who believes in the new future we can make together," Victoria Marie declares. "A world that will be awkward, inconsistent, yet truly free when it comes to all that matters."

Wewantsounds continues its reissue program of Bob Shad"s cult jazz label, Mainstream Records, with Hadley Caliman"s superb 1972 album, Iapetus. Recorded in LA and featuring a heavyweight lineup of West Coast players including Todd Cochran, Woody "Sonship" Theus, Luis Gasca, and Victor Pantoja, the majority of the album was composed by Todd Cochran (aka Bayeté) soon after he had composed Bobby Hutcherson"s Blue Note classic, Head On. A true hidden treasure, it is reissued here on vinyl for the first time since 1971, featuring its original gatefold artwork with rare first-generation photos. This edition comes with newly remastered audio and a two-page insert with exclusive liner notes by Todd Cochran, reflecting on Hadley Caliman and the making of the album.

Gorizont Sobytiy (Event Horizon), the duo of veteran electronic musician Nocow and his wife, DJ Designer, mark the project's debut with an album worth of material of 'frogg-step' / Pankratov Step. It's safe to say this is an intriguing proposition for even those well-initiated into the world of the contemporary Russian underground. What is perhaps most immediately obvious across the 11 tracks is a clear appreciation for golden-era Rephlex records, as if the duo are reflecting on how the iconic label was perceived in the Eastern bloc at the time. There's a nostalgic touch tugging at the heart strings with the warm ambient tones of 'Bananoivy Twist' or even the ballroom-esque organ melodies of follow up 'Chacha', both swiftly followed by a switch back into frantic gabber style kicks that recur across the album.

To give a little more away in terms of a background story, Nocow and DJ Designer draw influence from a film called Winter Evening in Gagra, a somewhat distant feeling artefact of late-Soviet cinema about a tap dancing champion's late nights spent gallivanting across the glitz of Moscow's pop music scene in the 1980s. Maximalist in its sound design, Pankratov Step draws its name from actor-protagonist Pankratov, not quite an out-of-time soundtrack as such but at the least a wry nod to the former world in which the film takes place. The cascading, brittle synthesis of 'Cemetry's Boss' forms an icy cinematic fusion again with a gabber influence at play whilst a fierce acid line works alongside myriad glitch rhythms and repeating keys on 'Octopus Werk'. Influenced by the local humour and sentimentality surrounding the film, a melodrama with themes of lost art and a kind of old-world transcendence the young circus performer yearns for, the duo use it as a vessel to describe the projects sound - a coalescing of vintage Soviet soundtracks, early IDM, Jake Slazenger and Expert Knob Twiddlers album. 'Pankratov-Step' becoming their own fictional genre. The LP marks another avant-garde chapter in Nocow's long back catalogue, as well as a fully formed collaborative debut for the currently enigmatic DJ Designer. Pankratov Step is the second release on GOST ZVUK sub-label MEMONT, curated by Kuzma Palkin.

ROCK JUSTICE is a new hard rock/metal act featuring singer Maggy Luyten (Ayreon, Beautiful Sin, The Prize, ex-Nightmare) and guitarist Bas Maas (Doro, After Forever).

The upcoming debut album, You’ve Been Served, is the result of Bas Maas’s long-held dream. He teamed up with Maggy Luyten to shape the powerful, driving sound of ROCK JUSTICE. The album blends varied song styles, tied together by a nostalgic vibe and well-crafted production.

“The idea came to life when I was still playing in After Forever, where I didn’t get a serious chance to contribute to the songwriting. I had written a couple of songs that didn’t make the cut and realized that if I wanted to get my own music out there, I’d have to do it myself, or at least with other people,” says Bas. When he decided to form a band, he had two rules: he wouldn’t sing himself, and it wouldn’t be a female singer. Finding the right guy proved impossible and after several try-outs, one name kept coming up: Maggy Luyten. “Mag’s voice completely blew me away. I thought, ‘This chick sings like a dude and she delivers.’ Not long after that, we met at an Ayreon album presentation in Utrecht. She wanted to hear my songs to see if they inspired her. They did.” The rest is history. Maggy recalls with a smile: “When Bas came over to hear what I’d worked on, we both knew we had something. I still picture him driving back home: window down, our demo blasting, arm out, metal horns up, huge smile!”

R&B outsider Zsela joins forces with inc. no world's Daniel Aged and film composer Taul Katz on '4 Dreams', a billowing ambient-neoclassical hallucination that'll tickle fans of Mary Lattimore, Malibu, Nala Sinephro, Gigi Masin. If you only know Zsela thanks to her dramatic 2024 debut album 'Big For You', the mostly beatless, fully reflective '4 Dreams' might come as a surprise. But look a little further back in her catalogue and things will fall into place; remember 'Angels Pharmacy' and Remembrance' from Actress's 'Karma & Desire'? That was Zsela on vocals, so she's got priors. '4 Dreams' started life as the soundtrack to 'Seven Heavenly Senses', an art exhibition from last year at Paris's Hôtel de la Marine, but has since taken on a life of its own. Zsela's breaths are stretched and sculpted into warm, washing biomechanical pads on the opening dream, left to weather tinny arpeggiated FM synths and muggy bass drones. So far, so predictable. But Zsela muddles proceedings with her confident delivery, layering her voice into jazzy, R&B inflected key changes that keep you guessing. Imagine an astral plane answer to Dawn Richard's ambient-inflected pop and you'll have some idea of where this is headed.

Then 'Dream 2' takes an unexpected diversion, the vocals replaced by swirling harp flourishes and the kind of floating synth stabs that draw a core logic from classic Ambient - Harold Budd, Laraaji et al - then adding extra colors just where necessary. And on 'Dream 3', faint, almost folk-y strings enter the frame, calling out from beyond the horizon, almost blotted out by a synth part that's in the thrall of Gigi Masin's legendary 'Clouds' - the track that ended up being repurposed by Björk on 'It's In Our Hands'. Zsela, Katz and Aged keep that momentum for the final track, too, letting cinematic strings echo around subtle synths and vanishing rhythms, hitting those hypnagogic, tranquil notes that so much contemporary ambient music seems to avoid. 'Cause at its heart, '4 Dreams' is deeper than that, a record that's entrenched in jazz, soul and classical minimalism rather than throwaway numbing music, of the contemporary variety.

Founded in Puebla City in 1998 by Alberto Tlahuetl, Grupo Soñador played a key role in shaping a distinct regional take on cumbia at a time when the genre was largely dominated by Mexico City and the coastal scenes. Working with minimal resources, home recordings, cassettes, and affordable keyboards, the group developed a clean, melodic, and dance-driven sound that resonated deeply within the sonidero circuit. Their breakthrough track El Paso del Gigante (2001), spread organically through DJs and street dances, establishing Grupo Soñador as a cornerstone of Puebla’s emerging musical identity. Without a formal label structure, their music travelled hand to hand, from local fairs to migrant communities in the United States, becoming part of a wider underground network of circulation. Blending electronic instrumentation with sonidero rhythms, Grupo Soñador helped place Puebla on Mexico’s cumbia map, not through industry infrastructure, but through the dance floor.

The Mexican band The Survival created a blend of blues and acid rock influenced by the U.S. West Coast movement and British blues, captured on this 1971 album-the only one they recorded. They are often described as a combination of Country Joe and the Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Moby Grape, and Ten Years After. One of the rarest records ever released in Mexico, it stands as a significant testament to the "onda chicana," a historical moment when Mexican youth took up instruments to express their reality. The group formed in August 1970 and recorded a single album, "La onda de The Survival" (1971), which combined laid-back blues with distortion. One distinctive feature was that lead vocals were handled by drummer Andrés Lusher-an unusual choice that gave the band a unique sonic identity. The album captured the spirit of the time, portraying generational shifts, repression of youth, fraternity, pacifism, and the influence of drugs. Despite their brief existence, The Survival and their sole album remain a significant testament to the "onda chicana", a lasting mark on the history of Mexican rock. Includes an insert with liner notes.

Antal, founder of the Amsterdam-based Rush Hour Records & Store and renowned for his global DJ touring and eclectic sets spanning house, techno, rare funk, soul, and jazz, curates a personal selection from the historic label Timeless Records.

For Timeless Presents From The Archives, he handpicked highlights from 1974–1994 by jazz luminaries such as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Pharoah Sanders, Carter Jefferson, Gary Bartz, Woody Shaw, and more. “I want to thank the Wigt family for allowing me to dig deeper into their catalog to compile a selection of personal jazz favorites. Their passion for jazz and independent labels has inspired me as a DJ and record store owner. A great song is a great song, no matter when or where it was made,” Antal reflects. For this double album, Antal shares his love for modal and spiritual jazz, celebrating a pivotal era in jazz and creating a must-have for collectors, selectors, and new explorers.

Timeless Presents From The Archives 1974-1994 is packed in a gatefold sleeve, featuring notes by Antal and artwork by Dirk-Jan Deckwitz. Affixed on the protective sleeve is the 50th Anniversary Timeless Jazz sticker.

April 1, 1996, saw Tina Turner release her ninth studio album, Wildest Dreams. It peaked at #26 in the Billboard R&B Chart, #4 in the UK Album Chart, and secured numerous Top 5 placements across European charts, earning double platinum status in the UK and Europe. The album featured the hit song "Goldeneye", the James Bond theme tune which saw the franchise relaunch with Pierce Brosnan in the starring role, the song was penned by U2’s Bono and The Edge. Five further singles were also released, including collabs with Sting and Barry White.

The set will be rounded out with Live In Amsterdam / Wildest Dreams Tour, originally released on Eagle Rock DVD, with newly remastered audio and on Blu-ray for the first time, and with a new booklet featuring new liner notes by UK music writer and former Record Collector editor, Jason Draper.

The 2LP 140g vinyl will feature the remastered album, now spread across two vinyl for superior sound.

Shokolokobangoshay was a collaboration between three members of Pogo Ltd. The three of us felt we were crazier than the other members of Pogo Ltd. and decided to work together on the Kosmik 3 album. Robo was worked in the graphics department of NTA Benin. He was an amazing artist, a crazy guy, he was extremely creative, he invented a musical notation language that only he understood. He was amazing, he took me to his place in Asaba and showed me his compositions, he must have had over 500 songs.

Emman Osagie was my floor manager when I was a producer at NTA (Nigerian Television Authority) Benin. We were all on the same wavelength. He was a member of Severe 7, and heavily involved in the Bini music scene working with Ehi Duncan and others. we really enjoyed making Shokolobangoshay, it’s a river of influences, a bit of this, a bit of that, but it is really our thing. The musical ideas we were playing with at the time.

Emmanuel Ogosi. 3rd March 2026.

This record is why I went into reissuing records with Odion. The feeling to sharing records that went under the radar when they were initially released, with a greater audience. Shokolokobangoshay is uniquely Nigerian in a very personal way, it makes references to the societal and political ills that plague us in Africa. It’s title, Shokolokobangoshay, references a play song, kids in Lagos and western Nigerian sing when they play in the streets. Most Nigerians can relate. The music references afro beat, country music, reggae without falling firmly on any side. This is one for the ages. Amazing production, I personally love this record for the free spirit, creativity and excellent song selection. We had to licence it, we just had to. Limited repress only 500 copies.

It is also excellently produced. Big up to all involved, from the Vinyl Rip (James Law, Fidgit Studio, South Africa), to the master production by DJ Simbad (Cape Town, SA) and the cover restoration by Angelo Mitchell (SA). I am so happy to be doing it with the boys in the motherland. Peace and appreciation to all. Special dedication to Mother Tongue for creating a great pressing. Please file under Afro.
Blessings,

Temitope Kogbe, Odion Livingstone

“When forty, I was still wearing miniskirts, extravagant patterns, pink, fluorescent colours, star shaped earrings. I walked around with my leopardskin hat, my fluffy bag, my floral outfit, until the gaze of others made me feel like it was not age appropriate anymore. Although I am still the same person I was at 16. It's the others I see changing."
There's no better way to describe ageing than through the gap that arises and continues to grow between physical reality and the specular image of the self : one deteriorates over time, exposed to the cruel laws of gravity and oxydation, while the other never ages, remaining intact and unaltered… frozen in a moment of blissfulness. The more time goes by the more the gap becomes a separate entity (ou “world” pour etre plus prosaïque). It can become so painful that many try to escape it, using and abusing every trickery.
“Youth looks so good on you” is a sonic ballad which bizarrely explores the world that lies between reality and self-fantasy, a world where the aesthetic cult of youth becomes sovereign to the people.
This piece was produced in 2022 as part of the Festival « Les Heures Sauvages - Nef des Marges dans l'ombre des certitudes », at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris.
After "A Story of a Global Disease" in 2022, "Youth looks so good on you" is the second piece of music by Naomie Klaus released on moli del tro records.

Im Februar 2026 erscheint zum zwanzigjährigen Jubiläum Hard to Love a Man" von Magnolia Electric Co. als erweiterte Edition und zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl. Diese Jubiläumsausgabe der ersten EP der Band enthält drei zusätzliche Tracks: remasterte Demos von 31 Seasons in the Minor Leagues" (zuvor unter dem Titel Tonight I'm So Down" bekannt) und Lonesome Valley", aufgenommen in den Echo Park Studios in Indiana während der Hard to Love a Man"-Sessions, sowie One Thin Dime", aufgenommen während der Black Ram"-Sessions in den Sound of Music Recording Studios in Richmond, Virginia. Working-Class-Rock" ist ein Begriff, der häufig zur Beschreibung von The Magnolia Electric Co. verwendet wurde. Kategorisch hatte sich die Band ihren Platz unter gleichgesinnten Ikonen wie Bob Seger, CCR, Tom Petty und Bruce Springsteen gesichert, doch es handelte sich nicht nur um eine ästhetische Beschreibung, sie untermauerten dies mit ihrer Arbeitsmoral. Im Jahr 2005 waren The Magnolia Electric Co. erstaunlicherweise acht Monate unterwegs. Diese Tatsache wurde den Bandmitgliedern selbst am deutlichsten bewusst, da sie so lange von ihrem Zuhause und ihren Liebsten getrennt waren. Daher die Bedeutung des Titeltracks. Wenn Jason Molina die Perspektive der Person einnimmt, die er zurückgelassen hat, und in Hard To Love A Man" singt: "It was hard to love a man like you / Goodbye was half the words you knew / While you were waiting for me not to call / I sent my love", dann wird die Einsamkeit und Schuld der Trennung schmerzlich deutlich. Jennie Benfords verletzliche Stimme, gepaart mit Jason Groths fließender Gitarre und Mike Kapinus' klagender Orgel, unterstreicht dieses Gefühl eindrucksvoll, unterlegt vom charakteristischen, präzisen und geschmackvollen Rhythmusfundament von Mark Rice und Pete Schreiner, während Nicole Evans eine neue, dynamische Stimme hinzufügt. Hard To Love A Man" und der Live-Favorit Werewolves Of London" wurden mit Steve Albini in seinen Electrical Audio Studios aufgenommen, die übrigen Tracks entstanden während eines kurzen fünftägigen Heimaufenthalts in Indiana bei Echo Park Studios mit Paul Mahern, dessen Engineering-Resume schon damals Projekte wie The Blake Babies, Lisa Germano und John Mellencamp umfasst. Während die Magnolien weiter wuchsen und erblühten, ließ Jason Molina die Insassen das Irrenhaus regieren.

Funkadelic’s eleventh studio LP, released in 1979, was more militant in tone than its predecessor 'One Nation Under A Groove' which described a Funk utopia. In contrast, ‘Uncle Jam Wants You’ stated mandate was to “rescue dance music from the blahs”. The album features a 15-minute version of what was to become the Funkadelic’s last hit single ‘(Not Just) Knee Deep’, an edited version of which made no.1 in the US R&B chart. This was Funkadelic’s first album since 1972 not to feature a cover design by artist Pedro Bell (although he did contribute the interior design). A reference to the “Uncle Sam Wants You!” US Army recruitment poster, the sleeve depicts George Clinton aka Dr Funkenstein in a Huey Newton Black Panthers pose. ‘Uncle Jam Wants You’ and Funkadelic-Parliament had a huge influence on Prince, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Bill Laswell, Tupac Shakar, De La Soul and many more across all musical genres. George Clinton’s genius Funk & Style will continue to be an influence for many more years to come... FUNKADELIC Masterminded by the larger-than-life figure of George Clinton, Funkadelic was a key component of his influential P-Funk empire. Funkadelic’s unique combination of Rock, Psychedelia, R&B & Soul led to the band crossing over to the pop mainstream & gaining a vast international following, becoming one of the most important & influential groups in music. On 6 May 1997, Parliament / Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame by Prince. To commemorate six decades of thrilling & delighting fans, George Clinton returned to the stage in 2022 for a series of concerts. To celebrate, Charly have reissued Funkadelic’s classic four albums ‘Hardcore Jollies’; ‘One Nation Under A Groove’; ‘Uncle Jam Wants You’; & ‘The Electric Spanking Of War Babies’ (originally released by Warner Bros during a golden period for the band between 1976-1981). Each album will be available as deluxe gatefold Digi-Sleeve CDs in PVC wallets + obi-strip & facsimile-edition gatefold LPs on 180-gram black vinyl & limited edition 180-gram colored vinyl + 1970s-style obi-strip in a protective PVC sleeve. “They played a HUGE role in creating the future of music.” PRINCE