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Pulp’s debut and one of their most honest recordings - capturing a band at the beginning of their startling career. ‘It’ is a gentle, mainly acoustic album that hints at the musical directions Pulp would later pursue. The album touches on the majestic, theatrical ballads of Scott Walker, as well as the stark, folky song poems of Leonard Cohen. Certainly an album by a young band trying to pinpoint their direction, and absorbing many an influence from all around, ‘It’ has aged beautifully into a charming collection. Fire are to reissue Pulp’s 1983 debut album ‘It’ as part of the Fire reissue series with bonus material. Liner notes by Everett True. Featuring 4 Bonus tracks including single version of ‘My Lighthouse’ and alternative mix of ‘Blue Girls’, ‘Sink Or Swim’ and ‘Please Don’t Worry’ from Pulp’s John Peel session in 1981.

, Old fat furry cat-puss , Wake up and look at this thing that I bring, Wake up, be bright , Be golden and light , Bagpuss, Oh hear what I sing. 12th of February, 1974, and for an audience of small children at 1:45pm, a life irrevocably coloured by the wayward wonderings of one saggy cloth cat. Some 44 years later and Earth Recordings opens the door to Bagpuss & Co. once again, revealing for the first time the original music in all its newly-mastered splendour. The 32 tracks that make up the main body of the compositions are – like all good folk music – a patchwork of traditional pieces, half-remembered tunes and pure improvisation. It's testament to Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner's musicianship that the recordings work so well, not only within the context of the television episodes, but as an album in its own right. Of the recording, Oliver Postgate (in his exquisite autobiography 'Seeing Things') says: "Between them Sandra and John could play every sort of instrument from a mountain dulcimer to an Irish fiddle. They knew and could sing every tune in the world and didn't bother with written music, except as a last resort. They were exactly suited to Gabriel the Toad and Madeleine the Rag Doll and in those roles were happy to play whatever music and sing whatever songs would be needed." Those songs manifested themselves as reworkings of familiar tunes ('I Saw A Ship'; 'Row Your Boat'; 'Bucket's Burning'), takes on traditional ballads ('Brian O'Lynn'; 'The Frog Princess'; 'Weaving Song'; 'The Old Woman Tossed Up in a Basket') and delicious flights of fancy ('The Bony King of Nowhere'; 'Turtle Calypso'; 'Uncle Feedle'). The counterpart to Madeleine and Gabriel's more polished ditties are the interludes from the mice; a raggle-taggle chorus that accompanies the creatures' efforts of help (with the mice once famously going on strike when they were not permitted sang as they worked). Again, Postgate muses: "Once I had worked out a few episodes I would make a very rough list of the bits where I though music would be appropriate. I would send it to Sandra and John to think about. Then we would borrow a fairly silent room in a remote house and, taking the various articles that we intended to celebrate with us, would spend a happy day with a tape recorder, thinking up and recording whatever songs and tunes came to mind." The outtakes provide an intimate – and often very humourous – insight into the trio's work ethic, if it can be called such a thing. (By all accounts they sound as though they're having a very jolly time indeed.) Highlights include alternative opening words and end music, as well as Postgate sound-checking in character as Bagpuss. This never-before heard audio provides a real treat for fans (and indeed those new to the Smallfilms stable) – affirmation again to the enduring quality of these special recordings, and the beloved programme that inspired them. "An accidental classic of the folk-roots underground that we never dared hope we’d hear with such clarity."Stewart Lee

There's a new guitar in town....nein besser gesagt altbekannte Recken mit neuer Band, die 2022 beim Rebellion-Festival vom Geheimtipp schnell auf sich aufmerksam machten: We proudly presents: ON THE HUH mit ihrem Debut "Bit on the side" und wer auch nur einen Hauch für den good oldschool UK-Streetsound übrig habt wird diese Band lieben! Aufgenommen in den altehrwürdigen Londoner Perry Vale Studios und produziert von Pat-"Vibrators"-Collier verbergen sich hinter der East-Coast-Slangphrase "On the Huh" (meint: slightly on the piss) Musiker von Infa Riot, Braindance und Special Duties und liefern 15 Brickwall-Oi! / Streetpunk Hymnen mit dezentem Glam-Touch der Extraklasse ab! Klassische Singalongs, eine unglaubliche Spielfreude, rotzige Chorals und traditionelle Punkrock-Einflüsse aus vielen Jahrzehnten "Made in Britain" und dabei extrem abwechslungsreich und halt a little "Bit on the side"!

Die britischen IRON MONKEY melden sich mit ihrem mit Spannung erwarteten neuen Album "Spleen and Goad" zurück!

Auf dem neuen Album ist die legendäre Band so kompromisslos wie eh und je und liefert den düstersten Sludge-Doom ihrer über 25-jährigen Geschichte ab. IRON MONKEY, die von The Sludgelord als "Doom-Sludge-Vorreiter" bezeichnet wurden, werden ihrem Erbe gerecht und prügeln sich durch jeden der 9 Tracks auf ihrem neuen Album.

Von dem zwei Tonnen schweren Riff, mit dem "Concrete Shock" eröffnet wird, zeigen IRON MONKEY keine Anzeichen von Nachlassen; verwaschene Gitarren krachen gegen pulsierende Drums, unterlegt mit bösartigem, misanthropischem Gebrüll und Gebell. In anderen Stücken wie dem treffend betitelten "Rat Flag" gibt die Band mit spürbarer Wut und Unbehagen Vollgas. Aufgenommen in ihrer Heimatstadt Nottingham, wurde Spleen and Goad in den USA von Brad Boatright bei Audiosiege gemastert.

400 copies purple wax! Fold Out Poster, remastered & remixed by Eroc Welcome to the definitive Vortex. The LP you're holding has been on a journey, and no, not just shipping. Mouth's second after 2009's Rhizome, Vortex was mostly recorded in 2011 and 2012 over five sessions in a small space where the band rehearsed. Material was pieced together intermittently over a period of 11 months with Chris Koller handling guitar, keys and bass and Nick Mavridis on drums. That's where it started. Two construction projects: the studio and a recording that would help define the course of the band in classic and melodic progressive rock, happening almost simultaneously in a creative meta-narrative that could easily stand as analog for the depth of pieces like "Into the Light" or the sprawling "Vortex" itself, which opens the record (new and old editions) in an encompassing display of impulse and fluidity Through experiments in atmosphere like "March of the Cyclopes" and toward the finish of "Epilogue," Mouth married sounds that in other contexts would come up disparate, like finding a hidden magnetism between two north poles. Most of the Vortex songs were created on the spot in the studio.There would be no way to know it at the time, but this process would result in a collection of songs with a broad range, within as well as between the component tracks. "Parade" taps Sly Stone on the shoulder and asks if he wants to party (he does), while the penultimate "Soon After_" resonates with its smoky, mellow-jazz vibe. "Vortex" itself happens over six movements and was put together across different sessions, while "Epilogue" happened in a day. Dissatisfaction with the original mix - and when an album has as much put into its arrangements as Vortex, that balance matters - would lead Mouth to offer Out of the Vortex in 2020 as a collection of alternate versions of pieces like "Mountain" and "Parade," as well as the unreleased "Ready" and "Homagotago's Paddle Boat Trip," the latter an apparent successor to a cut from Floating. But sometimes a thing nestles itself into the back of your head and just won't leave, and Mouth's pursuit of a finished Vortex would lead them into the studio again. Koller handled the remix himself in Oct. 2023, and in addition to helming the new master, krautrock legend Eroc (who drummed in Grobschnitt) brought a gong to mark the beginning of "March of the Cyclopes." Like a lot of the finer touches on this Vortex, be it a hashed-out stretch in the title-track built on a drum/bass jam or just pulling the vocals and Hammond down a bit in "Epilogue," the result is a stylistic flourishing that was there all along throughout the journey and now can finally shine as the band intended. - JJ Koczan / Dec. 2023

In 2013, between Hypnoflip Invasion and Stup Virus, Julien Barthélémy aka Stupeflip composed the soundtrack for Parenthèse, the first feature film directed by Bernard Tanguy. Julien and Bernard had recently met at a photo exhibition by Nathalie Sauvegrain, whose film Océane Bernard produced. Bernard, who has just been nominated for a César and shortlisted for an Oscar for a short film, is developing his first feature-length film as a director: Parenthèse, a buddy film about the feeling of growing old, an in camera film on a sailing boat in the Mediterranean, set against the magnificent backdrop of the Port-Cros and Porquerolles National Park (Var). A Stupeflip fan, Bernard considered Julien to compose the music, in his Pop Hip version rather than King Ju, convinced that his 80's style would fit perfectly with the nostalgic vision of the heroes of the story and that Stupeflip was also capable of bridging the gap between generations. Julien composed 11 tracks for the occasion, 8 of which found their way into the final version of the film. The title track, "Parenthèse", features arrangements by Anne Gravoin's string orchestra, giving it a depth and density never before seen in Stupeflip's discography. For the 10th anniversary of the filming, the soundtrack, which was only available on the DVD released in 2017, is being offered for the first time in a remastered version (Marie Pieprzownik, Translab), including 3 previously unreleased tracks not included in the original cut.

Available for the first time on vinyl in a remastered version + 3 previously unreleased tracks

Debut 7” from Dave Guy. Member of The Roots, El Michels Affair, Menahan Street Band, The Dap Kings, The Budos Band. Produced by Homer Steinweiss & Nick Movshon.

Big Crown Records is proud to present the debut offering from the newest artist to join the label, the man on trumpet, Dave Guy. Dave is a long time friend, collaborator, and contributor to a boatload of songs on the label and far beyond it.

A member of The Roots, The Dap Kings, and The Budos Band, he has lent his talents to the music of everyone from Amy Winehouse & Lizzo to Lee Fields & Charles Bradley. Now Dave steps to the front of the stage with a debut record that could have only come from a seasoned veteran. Teaming up in the studio with fellow long time collaborators Homer Steinweiss & Nick Movshon, who handle the production as well as play on the recordings, the set of songs on this 7" are telling of what's to come.

Side A, "Footwork" is a Latin inspired tune that gets you up from the intro drum fill and is sure to soundtrack many a dancefloor from Soho to Harlem and far beyond the city that inspired it. Dave's trumpet lines are infectious, something about his playing walks the line of jazz and vocal arrangement. The choruses are moving, the verses are gorgeous, the backing band couldn't be sharper as they push the tune down the tracks making this an instant classic. Side B, "Morning Glory" is drenched in swag. The trumpet line repeats to great effect over the walking beat and the arrangement takes you through all the changes while staying entirely in the groove. It is easy to draw comparisons to 70s soundtrack music a la Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man but Dave's music is clearly contemporary pulling the best influences from the past and pushing them forward.

No Wahala Sound Orchestra is a contemporary, London-based collective with members from backgrounds as diverse as Jamaica, Ghana, Bangladesh, Poland, Trinidad, Denmark, Ireland and the UK.Gideon Coe ( 6Music) Neil Luscombe (BBC Radio 3) and Steve Barker ( BBC Radio Lancashire) have all offered their support over the years.

The music takes in elements of electronica, jazz, reggae, dub poetry, Afrobeat, classical Indian music and many other global sounds."On Gossamer Clouds" is a compilation of some key recordings over the last ten years. It features 12 tracks which vary in styles and mood, but form a coherent whole.

As its title suggests, Stornoway"s 2010 debut album, Beachcomber"s Windowsill, is something of a treasure. Featuring singles "Fuel Up", "I Saw You Blink" and "Zorbing", it showed just why so many were excited by the Oxford indie-folk quartet"s arrival - a DIY guitar band unusually rooted in folk tradition. They stood out further with their deft ability to try their hand at most instruments, never shy to experiment while their pure pop harmonies soared. Warmly received on release, Beachcomber"s Windowsill quickly attained Silver status in the UK and among the many positive reviews, The Observer praised it for having a "real emotional depth that transports their music from throwaway sunny songs to something altogether more poignant and enduring", while the NME called it "beautifully rendered and melodically magnifi cent; a Constable landscape of a record." The album is complemented by a stunning sleeve by designer Chris Bigg, who has played on the album"s title and their songs about nature by working with illustrations of shells, aquatic life and old maps.

For a long time, the music of Congo-born Bony Bikaye had to be sought in the purgatory of "world music", where diamonds in the rough cohabited with bland nightmares of white dudes who froze rumba like fish sticks. Worse, they did put it on the menu, when so many longed to move on. Take Bikaye, who grew up listening to modern european music, digs Krautrock, struggles with tradition, obviously looking for trouble in the genre. In Brussels, he recorded a few albums with CY1 (Loizillon/Micheli), and brilliant defectors from Aksak Maboul, produced by Hector Zazou. Now it's up to french trio TONN3RR3 to take up the torch and build this project that proudly brags: "It's a bomb". Thought up at home by Guillaume Gilles (compo/keyboards), the album was finished at One Two Pass It studio, with Olivier Viadero and Gae"lle Salomon on percussion, Yoann Dubaud (machines & bass) and Guillaume Loizillon (synth of CY1 fame, and matchmaker of this affair). It's a deeply musical record, crafted by no-attitude reference players with nothing left to prove, and you can hear it. Floats well above the fray. "Keba na butu", beware. Indeed : beyond the simple pleasures of soukouss, or the rumba guitar riff that spins like a merry-go-round that skipped technical inspection, lie lush orchestrations. Freestyle, synthetic : something old, something new, something what-the- fuck-is-that-now. There's straight, there's syncopated, there's 808 and knee-jerk inducing bass patterns_with a vision. BIKAY3 plays his voice more than ever. His crazy vibrato has improved like hard liquor over the years. In "Zela" and "Balobi" in particular, he puts it to good use with flamboyant, Screamin' Jay Hawkins-style antics. He can also resort to pure storytelling : "La fore^t et les dieux", is a French-spoken excursion into the wild, moving along in grasslands of synths and percussion with TONN3RR3. A tale of gods and spirits, plain and simple. Nicole Mitchell brings the occasional flute in "Akei" for this trip in the bush of ghosts where lingala and kikongo rub with English and French. They saved "It's a bomb" for the end, a bastardized rumba, with rimshots that slap like a cool hand on willing skin. We're living in a golden age of reissues coming out in droves and satisfying our desire to catch up on our neighbors' musical heritage, but let's not miss the boat : it's now or never to listen to the music of the living. - Halory Goerger

Gently Down Your Stream marked a creative zenith within the Columbus, Ohio, soul scene, at the juncture of the 1960s and '70s. The Four Mints were one of the most influential local group harmony outfits of their era and - with assistance from Columbus doyen and Capsoul purveyor Bill Moss - among the few to release a full length LP. The roster of backing musicians hired to provide aural landscaping reads like a Midwest super-group, with surprising appearances from Indianapolis-based vibraphonist Billy Wooten and drummer Bobby Allen of the Fabulous Originals from Dayton, Ohio. And though most of the material on 1973's Gently had been previously released as 45s, the collection - five singles and one priceless track saved from the scrap heap - gives witness to a world-class vocal quartet at its professional and intuitive peak. Under the watchful eye of arranger and mega-talent Dean Francis, the Four Mints pour forth from your speakers soulful, faithful and clear, but perhaps more importantly, intrinsically homegrown and utterly honest.

Canadian bowed guitarist and multi-instrumentalist C. Diab announces his fifth album Imerro, out February 16th, and presents the trip-infused lead single 'Lunar Barge'.

(Real name) Caton Diab creates soundscapes that evoke the spectacular wilderness of his childhood home in northern Vancouver Island. Incorporating experimental textures, folk overtones and tape manipulations, C. Diab uniquely finds the unseen spaces in-between, and fittingly dubs his creations "post-classical grunge". Imerro explores new sonic realms and is the culmination of a sound world that Diab has built up since the critically acclaimed 'No Perfect Wave' (2016, Injazero) and subsequent releases 'Exit Rumination' (2018), 'White Whale' (2020) and 'In Love & Fracture' (2021). The Wire calls it "ambient music in the best sense - music for living, which can be both non-invasive and immersive...epic"

Imerro was recorded in late July and August of 2021 at Risque Disque Studio in Cedar, BC, during the summer's unprecedented second "heat dome", which saw temperatures soaring to over 40 degrees. Recorded with regular collaborator and engineer Jonathan Paul Stewart, the pair journeyed by boat to the studio to a place with minimal distraction with a plan of "simple ecstatic improvisation." Diab explains: "I wanted to place myself in a space for creation with little thematic pretence, with the belief that music 'shows its face' as you move along. I would pick up an instrument, whether I had experience playing it or not, and make a sound. If it wanted to be played, it would play."

Transistor Radio: the fourth M. Ward album. Listening to M. Ward's breezy ode to radio's forgotten heydays is a lot like taking in a huge breath of dust-bowl wind -- however, its charms are rooted in the hazy lemonade-sipping of summer rather than the great depression-obsession of the post-O Brother, Where Art Thou? mainstream.

British singer-songwriter Katherine Priddy releases her much-anticipated sophomore album "The Pendulum Swing" via Cooking Vinyl. This follows her highly acclaimed 2021 debut The Eternal Rocks Beneath, which announced Priddy as a singular new talent on the contemporary roots music scene. Once again recorded in Birmingham by producer Simon J Weaver, guest musicians comprise John Smith (lead guitar), Harry Fausing Smith (strings), Marcus Hamblett (brass/double bass), George Boomsma (guitar, backing vocals, co-writer on track "Ready To Go"), Polly Virr (cello) and even a brief appearance from Priddy"s family members right at the end of the album, in keeping with its themes. With The Pendulum Swing, Priddy has managed to keep moving forward whilst acknowledging and honouring all that has gone before. For fans of Nick Drake and John Martyn.

This album is a prime example of misunderstood genius, not particularly liked by the fans because of its rather radical low-key atmosphere, quite distant from the previous "Heavy Prog" formula. In fact, it's so moody it can verge on soporific, like a soundtrack for an opium den. But these guys are full of surprises and they succeed in paving the road for future prog acts such as PTree, NoSound, White Willow, Paatos and the brilliant Sunscape by deliberately expanding on the veil on the sonics, less rock and more roll if you will. Landberk is unquestionably led by the scintillating guitar work of Reine Fiske, a unique somber style that winks reverently at a reserved Fripp or U2's The Edge on quaaludes combined with an abundant use of fluffy mellotron carpets at the hands of producer Simon Nordberg. Both bassist Stefan Dimle and drummer Jonas Lindholm excel at setting a mood and keeping it firmly anchored, just plain solid.

The organic minimalism of composer and producer Kirk Barley is collected on his new studio album Marionette, released via Odda Recordings.

Whether drawing from field recordings, found sound, instrumental improvisations or synthetic processes, Barley’s compositions evoke unfolding sound worlds, as simple ideas or motifs are layered and developed into complex set-pieces that reveal themselves over time.

Marionette showcases the breadth and variety of the Yorkshire-born artist’s sound, weaving together familiar and uncanny moods of rural England and its Victorian architecture, as suggested by the gated garden print of the album’s cover. Unfurling between physical textures – the patina of vinyl crackle or gentle rain – and the hyper-real spaces that his music inhabits, Barley describes the compositions as “landscape or static scene paintings,” with many of the album’s tracks taking nature’s rhythms as their compositional cue.

On ‘Seafarer’, this manifests in the repeated synth swells of a boat on rough waters, while title track ‘Marionette’ imagines an eerie scene, were shadows flicker by an open fire. Similarly,‘Lake of Gold’ layers plucked strings at different scales and velocities to create what Barley calls the “rain-like quality” of the rhythm.

Drawing from jazz, minimalism and techno, Barley focuses on the detailed qualities of sound, experimenting with time signatures, temporals and tuning systems. His esoteric alter-ego Bambooman (2013-2018) found a home on Matthew Herbert’s Accidental imprint, releasing the album Whispers in 2017.

In contrast, under the pseudonym Church Andrews (most notably in collaboration with drummer Matt Davies), he produces synthetic, often beat-focused music, using digital synthesis and algorithmic composition techniques, with the live drum performances triggering and modulating Barley’s synths. The duo has recently performed at festivals such as Rewire and Waking Life, filmed sessions for Fact Magazine and Slate & Ash, and recently had their music played out by Aphex Twin.

Under his own name, Barley released his debut album Landscapes in 2019 on 33-33 Records and received support from the likes of NTS Radio and BBC 6 Music. Barley has performed at events across the UK and Europe alongside the likes of Andy Stott, Beatrice Dillon, Jan Jelinek, MF DOOM and Madlib. He has also completed commissioned work for the British Art Show, Camden Arts Centre, MSCTY and the Open Music Archive.

If the genesis of The Big Idea was written both in the corridors of their high school and the surroundings of La Rochelle, the first chapter truly takes place in a big house in outskirts of Paris, where the six boys settled once they got their baccalaureate in 2015. Throughout these five years, The Big Idea hosted every European band playing in Paris with no landing place. The house of Champigny-sur-Marne, almost invisible in the monstrous metropolis, became a central location of the capital’s underground scene.

That creative cyclone within which the band is placed quickly shows results and the band hit it hard with their debut LP “La Passion du crime 3” (2017). This quadruple album, written as the movie score of a police investigation story, affirms something fundamental: The Big Idea is determined not to do things like everybody else. The influences of the great psychedelic rock’n’roll tribes naturally appear, the band release several record, start touring all around Europe allowing them to develop a furious alchemy on stage. But then covid brought everything to a halt. However, the band returned to La Rochelle and plotted a new, mad project.

The Big Idea becomes the first band to record an album on a sailing boat while crossing the Atlantic. Once again, the idea is fabulous, and “The Fabulous Expedition of Le Grand Vésigue” represents both the thirst of adventure of the sextet from La Rochelle, and their yearning for calm, psychedelic horizons. After the release of the documentary film and the big tour that followed this extraordinary adventure, the band decides to reaffirm the most essential part of its identity and announces for February 2024 the releasing of a new record more electric and radical, in the image of their live performance with more and more intensity. “Tales of Crematie” is a story built on a fantasy medieval backdrop, but could have however taken place in our modern era. If the elegant, psychedelics parts have not disappeared, the record’s tone is clearly more rock than what the band has ever created before, and as The Big Idea always likes to go overboard, the album will be released as a double LP in which you’ll hear trumpets as well as pianos, violins, tropical influences, post-punk, and above all, loads, loads of fuzz. Just like a toy chest whose key would’ve been thrown away on purpose, hidden arrangement treasures abound inside of “Tales of Crematie” , along with a violent revolt against the modern archetypes of “too normal music.”

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records! 180-gram 45 RPM double LP Mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog tape Contains Otis Redding's posthumous hit "Sittin' On the Dock Of the Bay" Appeared on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, rated 161/500! Pressed at Quality Record Pressings Gatefold old-style "tip-on" jacket by Stoughton Printing Hybrid Mono SACD Mastered directly from the original master tape by Bernie Grundman The guts of the story are this: While on tour with the Bar-Kays in August 1967, Otis Redding's popularity was rising, and he was inundated with fans at his hotel in downtown San Francisco. Looking for a retreat, he accepted rock concert impresario Bill Graham's offer to stay at his houseboat at Waldo Point in Sausalito, California. Inspired, Redding started writing the lines, "Sittin' in the morning sun, I'll be sittin' when the evening comes" and the first verse of a song, under the abbreviated title "Dock of the Bay." He had completed his famed performance at the Monterey Pop Festival just weeks earlier. While touring in support of the albums King & Queen (a collaboration with female vocalist Carla Thomas) and Live in Europe, he continued to scribble lines of the song on napkins and hotel paper. In November of that year, he joined producer and esteemed soul guitarist Steve Cropper at the Stax recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, to record the song. Cropper remembers: "Otis was one of those the kind of guy who had 100 ideas. ... He had been in San Francisco doing The Fillmore. And the story that I got he was renting boathouse or stayed at a boathouse or something and that's where he got the idea of the ships coming in the bay there. And that's about all he had: 'I watch the ships come in and I watch them roll away again.' I just took that... and I finished the lyrics. If you listen to the songs I collaborated with Otis, most of the lyrics are about him. ... Otis didn't really write about himself but I did. Songs like 'Mr. Pitiful,' 'Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)'; they were about Otis and Otis' life. 'Dock of the Bay' was exactly that: 'I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay' was all about him going out to San Francisco to perform." Redding and Cropper completed the song in Memphis on Dec 7, 1967 with tragedy, unknowingly, looming. Just two days later Redding lost his life on a routine commute to a performance when the small plane he was in crashed. The other victims of the disaster were four members of the Bar-Kays — guitarist Jimmy King, tenor saxophonist Phalon Jones, organist Ronnie Caldwell, and drummer Carl Cunningham; their valet, Matthew Kelly and pilot Fraser. Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn completed the music and melancholic lyrics of "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay' which was taken from the sessions — Redding's final recorded work. Cropper added the distinct sound of seagulls and waves crashing to the background. This is what Redding had wanted to hear on the track according to Cropper who remembered Redding recalling the sounds he heard when he wrote the song on the houseboat. One of the most influential soul singers of the 1960s, Redding exemplified to many listeners the power of Southern "deep soul" — hoarse, gritty vocals, brassy arrangements, and an emotional way with both party tunes and aching ballads. At the time of his tragic death he was 26. ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ was released just a month following Redding’s death and became his only ever single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1968. The album, which shared the song's title, became his largest-selling to date, peaking at No. 4 on the pop albums chart. "Dock of the Bay" was popular in countries across the world and became Redding's most successful record, selling more than 4 million copies worldwide. The song went on to win two Grammy Awards: Best R&B Song and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. With the album, Redding confirmed himself as a talent lost far too soon. All the hallmarks of a top-notch Analogue Productions reissue are here for you to savor: Mastered directly from the original master tape by Bernie Grundman and cut at 45 RPM. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing.