One of the most beautiful records to come out of the early 70s – a tremendous indie effort from a young Weldon Irvine! Irvine put this album together as sort of a musical "time capsule" of his generation – an effort to capture the era's thoughts, feelings, and emotions through a mix of music, vocals, and a few spoken bits – all woven together in a way that changes moods nicely, but always keeps the same righteously spiritual vibe! Weldon plays keys that are both electric and acoustic throughout – and he's joined by a very hip batch of players who include Jimmy Owens, Lenny White, Alex Blake, George Cables, and others – all working here in a very rough-edged and soulful mode. Titles include the classic break track "Bananas", the sweet vocal number "Deja Vu",and the soul classic "Feelin' Mellow" – also covered by Fatback Band, but even better here in the original! Other tracks include "Soul Sisters", "Watergate Don't Bug Me", "Spontaneous Interaction", and "I Am". CD

Stories from another time and place – and music that's almost without comparison, either – as the set brings together material recorded by Angolan guitarist Mario Rui Silva, a musician whose range of expression stretches far past his West African roots! There's a heck of a lot going on here – definitely plenty of the acoustic guitar pictured on the cover, but often used with sensitivity that's more Brazilian than you'd expect – and interspersed with tracks that have other instrumentation in the lead, including balafon – sometimes spare instrumentals, sometimes vocal numbers – mostly acoustic, but with a few electric elements from time to time. The music has both a complexity and really organic mixing of modes – maybe a bit like some of the global experiments that you might have found on the Crammed label at the time, but also very unique to Mario himself too. Titles include "Ngisumba", "Mgeni", "Kazum Zum Zum", "Maniku", "Lembranca De Um Veho", "Depois De Uma Conversa", "Kabanza K'Etu", and "Dembita". CD