physically and musically – as Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood were drawn into the project, effectively reforming the band.
It’s a sophisticated progressive jazzy rock, redolent of the times which whilst displaying a distinct English folk flavour on the title track – misleadingly compiled on folk-rock anthologies and completely unrepresentative of anything else here – is mainly filled with lengthy keyboard, sax and guitar-driven funky progressive jams, underscored by Winwood’s soulful and distinctive vocals. This style took the band away from their earlier – and almost entirely preferable – quirky ’60s material, a direction they would pursue on subsequent releases. A bonus disc includes album outtakes and
live recordings from a ’70 Fillmore East show. Richard Allen
VARIOUS ARTISTS Local Customs: Lone Star Lowlands Numero Group CD/2-LP
www.numerogroup.com
OK, we know the story by now. Guy gets interested in production, guy starts a recording studio, hopefuls come,
record and leave. Little gets released save the odd vanity 45. Four years and practically no commercial action later, studio closes, tapes are forgotten then rediscovered… nearly four decades later. Say hello to Mickey Rouse’s Lowland Recording Studio archive from the Texan golden triangle of the early ’70s.
Simultaneously beautiful (the music) and
frustrating (the packaging – the artist names and song titles are only given on the actual record labels), this is a polished set of largely melodic and commercially viable recordings. Jackson Browne-like AOR (Mother Lion’s ‘Simple House’) rubs shoulders with the occasional psych-out (Boot Hill’s ‘No Control’) and southern rock workout (Circus’s ‘Give Me Time’). The sound quality is excellent and the liner notes detailed. Buy this direct from Numero and get a
bonus CD with another 20 tracks on while stocks last! Paul Martin
VARIOUS ARTISTS Thai? Dai! The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground Finders Keepers CD/LP
www.finderskeepers.com So how quick was this writer last issue to
pooh-pooh the supposed lack of Luk Thung compilations on the market? Who not only pooh-pooh’d but went so far as to
pee-pee on the prospect of ever hearing such wonders from the sacred vaults of Finders Keepers? Like Taiwanese buses, you wait for one
and two come along at once, crammed with colourfully exotic and quixotic characters. After Soundway’s excellent Sounds Of Siam release last year comes this inspired beast. Which, like some self-aware sonic transistor radio, tunes itself intuitively in and out across the decades, leaving the feedback fuzz and Eastern buzz in (’cos that’s how radio woulda wanted it) on tracks by Sroeng Santi (the amazing ‘Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng’) and Plearn Promdan, who bastardise Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ and Morricone respectively. Like vintage bits and pieces of aural
flotsam and jetsam, reassembled and rewired, something a little more original than the Western World’s answer to the common or garden “cover version”? Hell. Yes. Richard S Jones
PAUL WILLIAMS Someday Man Now Sounds CD
www.nowsounds.co.uk
When many of us were growing up, Paul Williams was sort of a vague figure in the soundtrack of our lives.We knew he
wrote classic songs like ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ and ‘(Just An) Old Fashioned Love Song’, but that was nebulous to us… and it wasn’t “cool”. Then we became record collectors, and found to our amazement that the elfin face on the cover of the country flavoured pop-psych gem by The Holy Mackerel was his. Finally, as our soundtrack broadened and we embraced soft-pop, Paul Williams became an icon in our eyes with his classic album, Someday Man. Whether or not your life fits the above description, you need to check this reissue out, immediately! Williams – with songwriting partner Roger Nichols (another icon) – created a true masterpiece, with tunes all at once personal, poignant, and earthy, with string arrangements by Perry Botkin Jr, creating a most beautiful
embroidery.This reissue appends several bonus tracks, including instrumental and mono versions of classics like the title track, ‘To Put Up With You’ and ‘The Drifter’. Not to be missed. David Bash
115
Specialising in 1950s, 60s, 70s vinyl and CDs
-original and reissue.
rock, Psych, west-coast rock, folk-rock, folk blues and soul.
47 Main Street Symington Biggar ML12 6LL Scotland UK tel/fax: +44 (0)1899 308 077
www.blackvinylrecords.co.uk
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