Mahavishnu Orchestra: Birds Of Fire

A great second album from Mahavishnu Orchestra – one that has them still very might in the same tight formation as the first! As before, there's a heck of a lot of power here – monstrous work on drums from Billy Cobham, sharp-edged guitar from John McLaughlin, and a range of great keyboards from Jan Hammer – all played without the cliche of his later years! The group's completed by the surprisingly great electric violin of Jerry Goodman and the bass of Rick Laird – and the tunes nicely blend a few more contemplative moments with full-on, rock-inspired fusion jamming. (Dusty Groove)

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This Is Lovers Rock

As the lovers rock sound began to emerge out of London in the mid-'70s, the city's longstanding reggae label Greensleeves got wise and set up the Cool Rockers imprint to separate the sweet and the dreamy from the revolutionary music they usually traded in. The liner notes in their 2007 compilation This Is Lovers Rock are brief, informative, and surprisingly defensive about this move and the music. One listen to One Blood's slick and thin "Get in Touch (With Me)" or any number of the sugary tracks included here and it's easy to see this isn't the respected Gregory Isaacs or even Dennis Brown definition of lovers rock. This is soulful reggae that aims for polish no matter what the budget, with love being communicated through tenderness and delicate crooning. The title to key track "I'm in Love with a Dreadlocks" is the compilation's most dangerous moment, although that doesn't mean there isn't room for sass, like when Sister Love gets rid of a lover with "Goodbye Little Man." The breezy "Let's Dub It Up" from Junior Murvin sound-alike Dee Sharp is wonderful, and with Keith Douglas' "I Specialize in Good Girls" plus Sandra Cross covering the Mighty Diamonds' "Country Living," the set proves it knows its way around the lesser hits. Without Louisa Marks' "Caught You in a Lie," Janet Kay's "Silly Games," or all the Jamaican spawned tracks that followed in the U.K.'s footsteps, This Is Lovers Rock is hardly the definitive collection the title may imply, and as the liner notes point out, this gentle set won't sway the roots men or rude boys. Still, the sound quality is impressive, there are some desirable extended mixes, and enough prime material from reggae's underappreciated, softer side to warrant a recommendation. (AMG)

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Best Of Steely Dan (according to me)

01. Babylon Sisters
02. Dirty Work
03. Bodhisattva
04. Rikki Don't Lose That Number
05. Kid Charlemagne
06. Aja
07. Hey Nineteen
08. My Old School
09. The Boston Rag
10. Doctor Wu
11. East St. Louis Toodle-oo
12. Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)
13.  Any Major Dude Will Tell You
14. Josie
15. Third World Man

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Anthology Of American Folk Music

Originally released in 1952 as a quasi-legal set of three double LPs and reissued several times since (with varying cover art), Anthology of American Folk Music could well be the most influential document of the '50s folk revival. Many of the recordings that appeared on it had languished in obscurity for 20 years, and it proved a revelation to a new group of folkies, from Pete Seeger to John Fahey to Bob Dylan. The man that made the Anthology possible was Harry Smith, a notoriously eccentric musicologist who compiled 84 of his favorite hillbilly, gospel, blues, and Cajun performances from the late '20s and early '30s, dividing each into one of three categories: Ballads, Social Music, and Songs. Smith sequenced the three volumes with a great amount of care, placing songs on the Ballads volume in historical order (not to be confused with chronological order) so as to create an LP that traces the folk tradition, beginning with some of the earliest Childe ballads of the British Isles and ending with several story songs of the early 20th century. The cast of artists includes pioneers in several fields, from the Carter Family and Uncle Dave Macon to Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt, and the Alabama Sacred Harp Singers. Many of the most interesting selections on the Anthology, however, are taken from artists even more obscure, such as Clarence Ashley, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, and Buell Kazee. After the Anthology had been out of print for more than a decade, Smithsonian/Folkways reissued the set in a six-disc boxed set, with the original notes of Harry Smith, as well as a separate book of new reminiscences by artists influenced by the original and a wealth of material for use in CD-ROM drives. (AMG)

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Impressed With Gilles Peterson

Talkin' Loud Records' big cheese is back to offer us another glimpse into his record collection, and for a change the opportunity to find out a little more about British Jazz from the 1960s. Given that British Jazz from this period is all but forgotten by most of us, Peterson shows that there was a treasure trove here on the grey side of the Atlantic to rival America's output.
Most of the names on this compilation will be new to many, with the possible exceptions of Tubby Hayes (featured here on Vibraphone rather than his usual Tenor Sax) or pianist/composer Michael Garrick, and a variety of styles are accounted for. From the hard bop of Ronnie Ross' "Cleopatra's Needle" to Garrick's modal workouts and even--on Joe Harriot and Amancio D' Silva's Gabor Szabo-esque "Jaipur"--a smattering of scatmanship, underscored by an eastern swing.
Peterson likes to keep things recognisably in the "cool" side with electric piano, vibes and muted trumpets as the most prominent lead instruments. He saves the best for last however, with the achingly beautiful "Lullaby for a Lonely Child" by Graham Collier and the Coltrane-influenced jazz waltz of "Dusk" where Don Rendell's soprano saxophone and Ian Carr's flugal horn trade with each other to catch the last glimpse of twilight. (Amazon)

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Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware: Revenge Of The Super Female Rappers

A fantastic tribute to the Fly Girls of hip hop – a filler free collection of some of the funkiest female fronted singles of the 80s – included a few genesis cuts from the 70s and a couple of important 90s numbers – blueprint rap from JJ Fad, Sweet Tee, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Bahamadia, Sparky D, Dimples D, Roxanne Shante and more! The set is heavy with classic material from NYC, naturally – as that's where hip hop was born – Soul Jazz does a fine job of selecting important cuts from other scenes, stretching back to the 70s for influential tracks by Camille Yarborough and Sarah Webster Fabio, and into the 90s for modern classics by Bahamadia and Missy Elliot. No label is more reverent to the classics they round up for killer compilations than Soul Jazz – and this is a great one – with rare photos and notes on each track. (Dusty Groove)

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