... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Sure, the cover's a bit dated – but the politics have stayed surprisingly strong over the years – as has the music as well! Keep in mind that The Clash were waging war in the Mideast years before Desert Storm – in this searing mix of London punk, rocksteady roots, and slight new wave elements – delivered here with a surprising sense of self that really gave the whole thing a sense of wit – and more than enough legs to keep on going without collapsing under the passage of time! Titles include the hit "Should I Stay Or Should I Go", the classic "Rock The Casbah", and the tracks "Ghetto Defendant", "Car Jamming", "Know Your Rights", "Straight To Hell", and "Inoculated City". CD

Sure, the cover's a bit dated – but the politics have stayed surprisingly strong over the years – as has the music as well! Keep in mind that The Clash were waging war in the Mideast years before Desert Storm – in this searing mix of London punk, rocksteady roots, and slight new wave elements – delivered here with a surprising sense of self that really gave the whole thing a sense of wit – and more than enough legs to keep on going without collapsing under the passage of time! Titles include the hit "Should I Stay Or Should I Go", the classic "Rock The Casbah", and the tracks "Ghetto Defendant", "Car Jamming", "Know Your Rights", "Straight To Hell", and "Inoculated City". CD

Maybe the crowning moment on record of the mighty McSolaar – certainly the first French MC to conquer the global world of hip hop, and also maybe one of the first non-American artists to show that other languages could work equally well with the music! The production here is every bit as great as Solaar's lyrics – handled by Jimmy Jay and La Funk Mob, the latter of whom you might know from albums of their own – definitely pioneering European talents in taking the best US modes of the early 90s, and mixing them with a fresher array of beats and samples! Titles include "Obsolete", "Dix De Mes Disciples", "La Fin Justifie Les Moyens", "Sequelles", "Prose Combat", "Nouveau Western", "Superstarr", and "Temps Mort". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

With a name like Cinephonic, you can imagine some of the sound here – but that's also only the tip of the iceberg, as there's a heck of a lot going on with the record! There's definitely a cinematic vibe to the music, yet the work isn't just any retro-styled material influenced by film scores – as these guys have all sorts of wonderful instrumentation of their own, including great use of flute, tenor, trumpet, and some especially nice organ, clavinet, and vibes – all handled by Pierre Chretien, the maestro behind the whole project! Strings provide a nice backdrop, but they're used sparingly, and with a nicely sinister tone – that darkness you might find in the larger charts of David Axelrod at his best. The whole thing's great – every bit as wonderful as their previous record – and titles include "Pyramides", "L'Etoile", "Les Souterrains", "Penombre", "Douleur", "Cendres Et Poussieres", and "Le Combat". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes "Rat Patrol", "Surf Combat", "Gear", "Metastasis", "Leeches", "Roller Queen", "On", "I Don't Know", "Libido", "Only In America", "No Sex", "Stupid", and "Managua" LP, Vinyl record album

Includes "Rat Patrol", "Surf Combat", "Gear", "Metastasis", "Leeches", "Roller Queen", "On", "I Don't Know", "Libido", "Only In America", "No Sex", "Stupid", and "Managua" CD

A nice little album – featuring some of the sides that Gene Ammons cut "off contract" for Chess/Argo during the early 60s, and ones that feature him paired with Sonny Stitt, his longtime partner in legendary tenor battles from the 50s. The two horns aren't really locked in combat here, but they do complement each other nicely on the album's mellow groovers and ballad tracks. Titles include "Cha Bootie", "Tenor Eleven", "The Last Mile", and "Full Moon". LP, Vinyl record album

A couple of non-LP numbers from the Clash, cut in '81 during their transition between the hardcore politics of Sandinista! and the crowd pleasing punk-funk of Combat Rock. With some nice dubby disco-not-disco style mixes on the flip side too! 12-inch, Vinyl record

A well-done collection of images from the second world war – editorial cartoons that address the conflict in a variety of different ways – from the looming threat of war in the late 30s, through the actual years of combat that took up most of the first part of the 40s – into some materials that deal with the aftermath of the war as well! The book is in black and white throughout, and presents each cartoon with brief notes and sometimes a bit of translation – as the cartoons are from a variety of sources, US and UK, but other European territories as well – served up with a great array of very striking images that match the wit and politics of their themes. Softcover edition is black and white, 192 pages, with far more images than that number. Book

A classic shot of The Clash live in the Combat Rock era is on the cover – for a feature on that pivotal era for the band, in which they were breaking out bigger in some ways and in some regions (particularly in the US in the early days of omnipresent music videos on TV) and in other ways starting to signal the end of the band as we knew it! It's a great piece, and there are loads of other features, smaller items, news and reviews on bands both old and new in this issue –including The Godfathers, The Professionals, Ruts DC, New Model Army, Die Toten Hosen, Nine Below Zero, Random Hand and lots more. As usual, just flipping through the pages and seeing ads for all the gigs coming up around the UK is worth the price alone! Magazine

With a name like Cinephonic, you can imagine some of the sound here – but that's also only the tip of the iceberg, as there's a heck of a lot going on with the record! There's definitely a cinematic vibe to the music, yet the work isn't just any retro-styled material influenced by film scores – as these guys have all sorts of wonderful instrumentation of their own, including great use of flute, tenor, trumpet, and some especially nice organ, clavinet, and vibes – all handled by Pierre Chretien, the maestro behind the whole project! Strings provide a nice backdrop, but they're used sparingly, and with a nicely sinister tone – that darkness you might find in the larger charts of David Axelrod at his best. The whole thing's great – every bit as wonderful as their previous record – and titles include "Pyramides", "L'Etoile", "Les Souterrains", "Penombre", "Douleur", "Cendres Et Poussieres", and "Le Combat". CD

A live recording that reworks Mondo Grosso's Next Wave album – and adds in a lot of extra bits! The set's got the feel of a spacious amphitheater concert, but is filled with new mixes of Mondo Grosso's soulful club work – interspersed with a few additional tunes, all mixed together live in this unusual setting! This part 2 features the tracks "Blaze It Up", "Shake Ya Body", "Discarga", "Shinin (Mondo Grosso rmx)", and "Blazilian Rhyme (Fearless mix)" – as well as a bonus disc with the tracks "Fire & Ice (Switch voc mix)", "Motormouth (2020 Soundsystem remx)", "Dancefloor Combat", and more live material! CD

Two classic albums from the big free jazz explosion in Paris in 1969! First up is Ketchaoua, an early gem from the great Clifford Thornton – maybe his best-known album over the years, thanks to its placement on the post-68 series of French free jazz releases on the BYG/Actuel label – but a set that's got a much more New York vibe overall, and stands as a key precursor to so many loft jazz recordings of the 70s! The style is very open and organic – not nearly as bombastic as some of the other Actuel sets of the period – with an earthy energy that really allows the players to come together naturally, collaboratively, and not combatively. The lineup of players shifts from track to track – again echoing some loftish modes – and the lineup includes Thornton on cornet and percussion, with Grachan Moncur on trombone, Archie Shepp on soprano sax, Arthur Jones on alto, Beb Guerin and Earl Freeman on bass, Sunny Murray on drums, and Dave Burrell on piano. Titles include "Pan African Festival", "Brotherhood", and "Ketchaoua" – plus "Speak With Your Echo", a cool track that has Clifford's cornet playing in a spare setting with only 2 basses! Next up is Scorpio, one of our favorite albums in the legendary run of BYG/Actuel free jazz sessions from 1969, and one of the most obscure as well – one of the few albums as a leader from alto player Arthur Jones, a musician who's really incredible throughout this freewheeling set! The vibe is almost more ESP than BYG – as there's a rhythmic pulse to most of the tracks, provided by Beb Guerin on bass and Claude Delcloo on drums – working with Jones in a mode that really evolves past the saxophone trio style first pushed by Sonny Rollins, with incredible solos from the leader throughout the whole set – which also seem to open up new territory for the alto sax as well! Titles include "CRM", "BT", "Sad Eyes", and "Brother B". CD