1970s


unique sound that acknowledges soul (‘She’s Having A Baby Now’), psychedelia (‘Seeing With Love’), folk (‘Have You Seen Your Brother Lately?’) and rock (‘It’s My Life’) in equal measure.


Post-album 45 sides including the world-


class ‘Fantasy Island’ and ‘I Read You Like An Open Book’ make this one practically indispensable. Andy Morten


VARIOUS ARTISTS The Afrosound of Colombia Volume 1 Vampi Soul CD www.vampisoul.com


Working from the seminal Disco Fuentes studio during the ’60s and ’70s, musician/ producer Julio Ernesto “Fruko” Estrada promulgated a fusion of


traditional Colombian roots music, disco-oriented pop and African rhythms to produce a frenetic cocktail of funky Afro-Latino sounds. This cocktail is referred to here as Afrosound


in deference to one of the popular bands of the time and in recognition of the part that the musical influences of African slave descendants played.


Sometimes the African influence is even


stronger than the Cumbia – Wganda Kenya’s ‘El Abanico’ is a dead ringer for Fela Kuti. Occasionally, the use of a Moog errs on the verge of distraction, even to the point of downright cheesiness (see ‘Cumbia En Moog’). At other times it’s used to great effect in combination with the rawer organic Afro-Latino rhythms. Like most styles of Latino music though,


Afrosound and all the sub-genres it combines is ultimately uplifting and becomes an unstoppable force of unrelenting rhythm. Buy with confidence.


Rich Deakin


VARIOUS ARTISTS Cumbia Beat Vol 1: Experimental Guitar Driven Tropical Sounds From Peru 1966-1976 Vampi Soul CD/LP www.vampisoul.com


In the wake of the successful Gozalo Bugalu Tropical Vol 1 and Back To Peru 1964-74 collections, Vampi Soul continue their colourful forays


into the exotic world of retro Peruvian sounds with this the first instalment in an ongoing series devoted to the prolific genre of cumbia andina or “chichi”. The defining theme of the material on this


double digipak set is the transformation of cumbia – the then predominant urban musical genre in Peru – as a result of the all-transforming power of the electric guitar and the stylistic innovations made possible through the use of reverb, distortion and wah wah, to say nothing of the associated influences of pop, rock and psychedelia. With its 25 tracks all originally released during


the mid-60s to mid-70s on a variety of small Peruvian labels, Cumbia Beat offers an intoxicating taste of a cultural revolution in progress, powered by the simple and subversive act of plugging in and turning up. Grahame Bent


DAVID BOWIE Station To Station: Special/Deluxe Editions EMI CD/DVD


www.emimusic.com


After the chart-topping success of the Stones’ expanded Exile reissue, hopes were high among Bowie fans when similar treatment was announced for the album


regarded by many as the then-Thin White Duke’s grandest statement of the ’70s. Where the Stones included a whole CD of out-


takes, Bowie’s ace-in-the-hole is a previously unreleased live recording from Nassau Coliseum in 1976, which most diehards will have on bootleg. The deluxe version also boasts vinyl, booklet,


DVD for surround sound versions and a stack of memorabilia. As I’ve said elsewhere, these download-defeating attractions are irresistible for collectors and nutters but, ultimately, nothing tops the original statement unless it’s an amazing outtake.


Station To Station still sounds breathtaking


with its coked-out future visions, churning funk and spectacular ballads ‘Wild Is The Wind’ and ‘Word On A Wing‘. The live show is a cracker too, Bowie in great voice with a shit hot band. Golden years… Kris Needs


CLARK-


HUTCHINSON Free To Be Stoned: The Complete Decca Recordings Anthology Esoteric 2-CD


www.esotericrecordings.com


The three Clark-


Hutchinson albums spread across these two CDs represent a whole gamut


BUFFALO Dead Forever Repertoire CD www.repertoirerecords.com


It’s no hyperbole to claim this dirt-soiled debut from Australian rockers Buffalo may well be The Holy Grail of desert and stoner-rock. Black Sabbath aside, this band


is responsible for laying the founding stones for much of what has followed in the genre(s). The low-slung, bottom heavy, mid-tempo, wasted


vibe doesn’t let up for the whole record, with only one concession (‘Suzy Sunshine’) to attempt to make pop music. The 10-minute cover of ‘I’m A Mover’ surpasses the original and the second side, typified by the fried phantasms of ‘Bean Stew’ and the sinister title track, is near faultless. Buffalo’s second, Volcanic Rock, is an even


better album, which I pray Repertoire will re- release in the same handsome “mini LP” format as this. Essential in every regard. Austin Matthews


CRADLE The History Cradle Rocks CD


www.myspace.com/pleasureseekerscradle When The Pleasure Seekers compared blokes to beer on the girl-garage classic ‘What A Way To Die’ (and found blokes coming up short), it was obvious


of musical emotions, and bear testimony to exactly just what talented multi-instrumentalists Andy Clark and Mick Hutchinson were. The first album, A=MH2, released early in


1970, is suffused with Eastern inflected rhythms and Indian ragas that showcase Hutchinson’s proto-pedal tone picking and fast guitar runs. It’s an innovative fusion that draws on


global musical influences as diverse as Arabic, Indian, Spanish and blues-rock, and titles like ‘Improvisation On An Indian Scale’ and ‘Acapulco Gold’ certainly reflect these influences. Later that same year, by now augmented by a bassist and a drummer, came Retribution – a


Stoned immaculate. Clark-Hutchinson enjoy the effects of Acapulco Gold.


these were not dames to be messed with. After finding their ambitions increasingly frustrated as the ’60s wore on, The Pleasure Seekers mutated into Cradle.


It was more than just a name change.


Consisting of the Quatro sisters (Patti, Nancy and Suzi) along with Nancy Rogers, Cradle was progressive and loud, the songs full of electric complexity, featuring Nancy’s impassioned howl. ‘Living Machine’ is a hard-rock hallelujah, while the closer,‘Dream’, is a deconstruction of ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’ saturated in feedback and power. Very rarely did girl groups or bands of the ’60s


change their sound in this way.Thus these recordings, released for the first time, show Cradle to be ahead of the game in terms of ’70s rock and even prefiguring heavy metal in places. Jeanette Leech


OHO Okinawa Rockadrome CD www.rockadrome.com


The ever-excellent Rockadrome label changes step, releasing this 1974 private press prog/experimental LP from Baltimore fruit loops OHO.


completely different mess of blues altogether. It’s as far removed from A=MH2as you could imagine, dominated by a bludgeoning heavy blues-rocker ‘Free To Be Stoned’ on which Hutchinson’s Hendrix style guitar is given free rein. Retribution also lurches wildly between atmospheric numbers like the rather plodding jazz instrumental ‘After Hours’ and the emotionally charged 10 minute epic ‘Best Suit’, replete with a Hammond organ break by Clark and a four minute guitar solo from Hutchinson. Then there’s the fantastic ‘Death The Lover’ – not easy to categorise. Clark’s vocals scream over a repetitive, percussion- heavy, marching beat whilst Hutchinson’s discordant lead guitar only adds to the sense of uneasiness and impending doom. Breathtaking stuff. By the time of their third and final album,


Gestalt, Clark-Hutchinson had taken on a much more pensive and thoughtful demeanour – just check out reflective numbers like ‘Love Is The Light’ or ‘Boat In The Morning Mist’. They still weren’t afraid to rock out


though. After a flourish of flamenco guitar, Gestalt opens with the reverb heavy riffola that is ‘Man’s Best Friend’, whilst ‘Poison’ is a stunning guitar driven funky rock number with Hutchinson’s guitar work being on a par with the late Eddie Hazel’s –it wouldn’t have sounded out of place on any of Funkadelic’s albums between ’70 and ’71. Clark-Hutchinson must surely be one of


the most criminally overlooked outfits of the late ’60s and early ’70s, and whilst commercial and critical success eluded them at the time, hopefully this anthology will do something to address this long overdue recognition. Rich Deakin


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