Raduza - V Hore 2005

Some people have argued that in an ideal world, there would be no language barriers because everyone would speak the same language, but a monolingual world would be a boring place -- incredibly, sadly boring. Would we really want to live in a world in which Edith Piaf never sang in French, Antonio Carlos Jobim used no Portuguese, and Celia Cruz never uttered a word of Spanish? Of course not. That said, many English speakers allow the language barrier to prevent them from enjoying singers whose lyrics they don't understand, which is regrettable because V Hore is an enriching album even if you don't understand Raduza's lyrics (which are mostly in Czech). For those who don't speak Czech, the thing that makes the female vocals on V Hore (Raduza's third album for Indies Records in the Czech Republic) a winner isn't what is being said but how it is being said. The vocals on this album are not only passionate; they are delivered with tremendous conviction. Combine all that conviction with an abundance of haunting, brooding melodies, and Raduza has a recipe for creative success. V Hore, like Raduza's previous Indies releases ...Pri Mne Stuj and Andelové Z Nebe, is best described as Czech folk-rock. Raduzaobviously gets a great deal of inspiration from traditional East European folk, but American and British rock (including punk) and French pop are certainly influences as well. V Hore has its quiet, gently reflective moments, but most of the time, Raduza provides folk-rock that is as insistent as it is melancholy-sounding. Those who enjoyed ...Pri Mne Stuj and Andelové Z Nebe won't find V Hore to be any less rewarding; Raduza's excellence doesn't decrease one iota on this 2005 release. AMG.

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Otis Clay - Got to Find a Way 1990

Otis Clay made most of his best-known records in Memphis during the early '70s, but he's still universally hailed as Chicago's deep soul king. In a city filled to overflowing with legendary blues artists,Clay has become the proud standard-bearer for Chicago's enduring soul tradition.

Like so many of his contemporaries, Clay's intense vocal style reflects a gospel background. He made the secular jump in 1965, signing with Chicago's One-derful Records and issuing a series of gospel-tinged soul records that were a lot grittier than the customary Windy City soul sound. Clay inaugurated Atlantic's Cotillion subsidiary in 1968 with a supercharged cover of the Sir Douglas Quintet's "She's About a Mover," produced by Rick Hall in Muscle Shoals shortly before the singer joined forces with Hi Records boss Willie Mitchell. With the relentlessly driving Hi Rhythm Section in tow, Clay waxed his biggest seller in 1972, "Trying to Live My Life Without You," later covered very successfully by Bob Seger.

Although Clay's tenure on Hi may have been his most commercially potent, he steadily recorded and gigged ever since. He is a genuine hero in Japan, where he's recorded two sizzling live albums filled with the churning grooves, punchy horns, and searing vocals that inevitably characterize the best deep soul -- no matter where it's recorded, a fact proved by another live set recorded in Switzerland in 2003, Respect Yourself, and released in 2005 by Blind Pig Records. In 2007, Clayreturned to the studio and recorded the gospel album Walk a Mile in My Shoes on his Chicago-based Echo label. AMG.

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Salif Keita - M'Bemba 2005

The Grammy nominated West African artist, Salif Keita, whose voice The Washington Post once declared as "one other mortals can only aspire to" returned after many years to Bamako, Mali to record M'Bemba, a remarkable, multifaceted collection which beautifully blends native choirs (comprised of his foster sisters), rolling hypnotic guitars, happily dancing percussion, and such indigenous instruments as ngoni lute and kora. These evoke the memory of Keita's ancestor, Sundiata Keita, the warrior king who founded the Mandingo Empire in the 13th century. Over the course of an hour, Keita -- whose globally successful 35-year career has somewhat offset the hardships he's faced in his homeland being an albino and a musician -- weaves a true tapestry of all of his favorite global influences. These include rock, soul, French chanson, and Afro-Cuban rhythms, all stirred up around his deep, guttural vocals, echoing chants, the seductive, jangling guitars, and a variety of earthy grooves. On the gentler reflections, like the opening track "Bobo," and the sweet, anthemic title track (enhanced by the female chorus), there's a hauntingly beautiful sense of history mixed with struggle and, ultimately, optimism. While the album will mostly be enjoyed by fans of real-deal African music, newcomers will hopefully be inspired to begin mining Keita's rich history as both a musician and a survivor. AMG.

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Quasar - Man Coda 1980

This is completely off-the-hook abstract Australian psych-rock. Evidently self-produced by the band and never formally distributed, copies of this super-limited pressing are creeping their way across the globe. Only 500 were ever pressed. Recorded direct to digital tape by just a drummer, bassist, and guitarist, the sounds run the gamut from surging, moody, textural, and nearly beatless masterpieces like “Man Coda” and “Reality’s Way” to the tense, jazzy, and angular “The Little Prince” to the stupid ill cut “Zeitgeist,” an all-out sonic rock assault that would make Les Claypool shit in his pants. This song also has an insane drum intro. Demented genius.

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Doug Sahm and The Sir Douglas Quintet - The Complete Mercury Masters 2005

Doug Sahm is one of the great figures in 20th century American music, which isn't quite the same thing as saying he's one of the best-known musicians. As the frontman of the Sir Douglas Quintet, he had a Top 20 hit with the garage rock classic "She's About a Mover" in 1966 and a Top 30 single with "Mendocino" three years later, but after that he settled into a small but intensely devoted cult following. Not that there weren't attempts to break him on a wider scale -- after the Quintet broke up, Atlantic launched a publicity blitz for a pair of solo albums in 1973 -- but they never quite clicked, probably because Sahm's music, no matter how brilliant it was, never was popular music. It was a wild, wooly blend of rock & roll, soul, country, blues, and Tex-Mex, as informed by the sunny vibes of hippiedom as it was by the rowdy spirit of garage rock. Sahm created this sound with the Sir Douglas Quintet in the late '60s and over the next three decades he never strayed from it, but those records that the band released between 1968 and 1971 (plus 1973's rarities round-up Rough Edges) remained at the core of his legacy, and for good reason: not only did they illustrate the breadth and depth of Sahm's ambition, they're simply dynamic rock & roll, truly visionary American roots music. What separated the Sir Douglas Quintet from their blues-rock, country-rock and hippie contemporaries is that there wasn't a shred of pretention in their music. All the genre bending and unpredictable juxtapositions flowed naturally, performed with the muscle of a roadhouse blues band and the warm, welcoming vibe of San Franciscan rockers. Of all their peers, the Band were the closest touchstone, in terms of scope and achievement, butthe Sir Douglas Quintet lacked that quintet's American gothic literary bent. They were simply a rock & roll band, out to have a good time and have others follow. As such, they never got quite as much critical respect in the traditional rock history books as they deserved, but the six LPs they released for Smash/Mercury constitute one of the strongest bodies of work for an American rock & roll band of the '60s.

Even if they were terrific, these Smash/Mercury records weren't always easy to find (which may be another reason why the Sir Douglas Quintet weren't given much credit in rock histories; critics can't review what they can't hear). They went out of print in the '70s and they were never reissued during the great CD-reissue boom of the late '80s and early '90s (they were compiled on the 22-track 1990 CD Best of Doug Sahm & the Sir Douglas Quintet 1968-1975). None of these LPs saw CD release until 2002, when Raven in Australia released 1970's 1+1+1=4 and 1971's The Return of Doug Saldaña on one CD, and the U.K.-based Acadia released all the albums -- the aforementioned pair, plus 1968's Sir Douglas Quintet+2=Honkey Blues, 1969's Mendocino and 1970's Together After Five -- with bonus tracks, which eventually covered everything that was on Rough Edges plus a few other odds and ends. This was a blessing, not just for longtime Sir Douglas fans but for the curious who never had a chance to easily hear this wonderful music, and their release has the unfortunate side-effect of making Hip-O Select's splendid five-disc box set The Complete Mercury Masters seem just a bit anti-climatic. Released just two years after the 2002 reissue campaign, The Complete Mercury Masters is housed in a hardcover book-sized wallet and contains all the music from the Acadia reissues, along with a handful of rarities, of varying interest. These rarities include a country version of "Texas Me," the four-song Mexican EP by the Quintet(featuring Spanish versions of four tunes, including "Mendocino" and "And It Didn't Even Bring Me Down"), a single Sahm produced for Roy Head and four Sahm-produced sides for Junior Parker, plus an entire disc of mono-single mixes. All this is good, especially the Sahm productions, but it's not material that's significant, particularly for those who already own the Acadia reissues. Those fans may be reluctant to spend $100 to get material they bought recently, even if the packaging on The Complete Mercury Masters is handsome and the sound is a considerable improvement on the Acadia issues (nevertheless these recordings will never sound amazing -- they were recorded cheaply and no amount of cleaning can make these tapes sound full-bodied. Also, part of the music's appeal is that it's greasy, gritty, and dirty, so some listeners might actually find the grungier Acadia mixes more appealing, even if the sound on this set is hardly clean and is faithful to the original records). For those listeners, purchasingThe Complete Mercury Masters is a judgment call -- are the rarities, the mono mixes and the remastering worth replacing your existing CDs? -- but for anybody that doesn't own the Acadia titles, this is flat-out essential. The converted already know how terrific these Smash/Mercury LPs are, and will be glad to get them all in one place, but this is a necessary purchase even for the curious, since this is tremendous music that gets stronger, better with age. The Complete Mercury Masters may be expensive, but consider it an investment that will pay you back tenfold, since this is truly priceless and timeless music. [The Complete Mercury Masters is a limited-edition release available only through www.hiposelect.com.] AMG.

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Jack Logan - Fundamentally Live At The 40 Watt 2006

Singer/songwriter Jack Logan was anything but the overnight success he appeared to be at first glance -- a prolific and gifted talent, he spent over a decade as an unknown before emerging as a critic's darling with his 1994 debut, Bulk. A native of southern Illinois, after high schoolLogan and his friend Kelly Keneipp relocated to Winder, GA, a small town located near Athens, a longtime musical hotbed home to acts ranging from R.E.M. to the B-52's. Logan garnered some underground notice during the mid-'80s for creating a comic book depicting R.E.M.guitarist Peter Buck as a superhero, but for the most part he languished . AMG. 

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Cheick Tidiane Seck - Guerrier 2013

Over the years, the musical exchanges between Africa and the West have been fascinating. African rhythms have had a direct or indirect impact on a variety of musical genres that started in the West -- everything from jazz, blues, R&B, and rap in the United States, to salsa, bachata-merengue, plena, samba, and cumbia in Latin America. And things came full circle when many of those western art forms influenced African pop in countries ranging from Ethiopia to Mozambique to Nigeria. The western influence is also quite strong in the Afro-pop of Mali, where Cheick-Tidiane Seck was born and raised. Recorded in 1999, 2002, and 2003 in three different cities (Paris, New York, and Los Angeles),MandinGroove thrives on the sort of east-meets-west energy that Manu Dibango, King Sunny Ade,Habib Koité, Mahmoud Ahmed, and the late Fela Kuti are all known for. AMG.

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Aquarium Rescue Unit - In A Perfect World 1996

The Aquarium Rescue Unit released In a Perfect World in 1994. The album is packed with some great jams and beautiful sounds, but average bluesy rock songs. This album, however, was popular with jam band fans, and led to the band's appearances at the H.O.R.D.E. Festival. In a Perfect World probably translated well live, but on record the band falls flat. The funky "How Tight's Your Drawers" has some awesome organ and flute parts, but the lyrics are pedestrian, as they are on most of the record. Every song on this CD sounds similar and, upon completion, leaves little imprint. There is a line in "Swallows" that describes the album well: "There we go again, searching for another escapade." The Aquarium Rescue Unit is a good example of the technically proficient band whose chops are tangential excursions, not tight songwriting. Bands like Blues Traveler and the Spin Doctors were successful because of their pop instincts. And Phish mixed pop selections with eclectic musicianship. Since the Aquarium Rescue Unit lacks enough of both, their albums make little more than good background music. Track down music by these bands instead: Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Phish, Everything, the Spin Doctors, or Allgood. AMG.

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Mara Tremblay - Tu m'intimides 2009

Born in Hauterive, Québec, on the very day that man first walked on the moon (July 21, 1969), Mara Tremblay spent her early childhood near the St. Lawrence, breathing in the fresh air of the North Shore and the sound of her father's guitar and violin. When she was five, Mara moved to Montréal and attended école Le Plateau, where she took violin lessons. At the age of nine, she caused a sensation when she stood as the Rhinoceros Party candidate in the Rosemont riding.

Over the years, Mara sang in various choirs including the Orchestre métropolitain de Montréal chorus; she also played a role in the 1982 movie La couleur encerclée directed by Serge and Jean Gagné. As a teenager, she travelled to Tunisia and spent a year in Burkina Faso with her parents. When her violin cracked due to the excessively dry climate in Ouagadougou, she abandoned her favourite instrument in favour of the bass…

In 1989 and 1990, she took part with her uncle JAT in l’Empire des futures stars and was spotted by the singer from the rock band Lard Bedaine. Shortly afterwards, she joined the group, which she would later describe as a "rock school". From 1991 to 1993, Mara also played bass with Les Maringouins, well-known for their versions of La Bolduc songs.

On Valentine's Day 1993, Mara received a call from Dédé Fortin asking her to play the violin for the launch of the first album by Les Colocs. To the delight of everyone, she took up the instrument again and joined the group. Shortly afterwards, Les Colocs opened the ADISQ Gala to wild acclaim. That was the evening when a lady by the name of Nanette Workman noticed Mara and invited her to join her "Rock et Romance" tour… From then on, things happened fast: Mara also joined Les Frères à Ch’val, an adventure that lasted three years, and collaborated very successfully with a number of people, including Mononc’ Serge and Lhasa de Sela. It was during this period that her first child, Victor, was born (1996).

Soon afterwards, Patrice Duchesne of Les Disques Audiogram asked Mara to prepare her first solo album. In 1999, Le Chihuahua, produced jointly with Fred Fortin, Olivier Langevin and François Lalonde, took Québec by storm. On Radio-Canada, Marie-Christine Blais described it as a "mixture of PJ Harvey and La Bolduc". Defying classification, Le Chihuahua went on to win 9 ADISQ nominations, received the Félix for Best Video Clip for "Le teint de Linda" (produced by Robin Aubert), the Félix for Alternative Album of the Year, and the Félix for Best Album Cover, which was designed by none other than Mara herself.

Winner of the Prix Félix-Leclerc in 2000, Mara Tremblay performed live at many different events: Festival d’été de Québec, Coup de cœur francophone, Les FrancoFolies, Le Printemps de Bourges, and finally, for a week at Les Sentiers des Halles in Paris.

After more than two years of touring and songwriting, in 2001 Mara issued Papillons, which she produced jointly with Olivier Langevin and Pierre Girard. In case anyone was still in doubt, this album proved that Mara was a key player on the Québec music scene; among other awards, the disc earned her the SOCAN award at the MIMI gala for Song of the Year, for "Les Aurores". Next came the "Tout Nue" tour, which took Mara all over Québec, followed by an acclaimed performance at Les FrancoFolies de Montréal in 2002, in a tribute to Gilbert Bécaud organized by Monique Giroux. The same year, Mara appeared in the Robin Aubert movie Cadillac clown. Her second son Édouard was born, and she recorded stories and songs on the children's album Le chat musicien (La Montagne secrète).

In 2004, Mara ended her "Tout Nue" tour and also left Fanfare Pourpour. She had worked with the group since 2001 but her schedule was now too full. That year, she recorded a duo with Vincent Vallières for the title track of his album Chacun dans son espace, and was also featured on the album Daniel Grenier et Les guerriers de la lumière. Mara then immersed herself in writing for a year, in preparation for her third album.

Les nouvelles lunes was issued in April 2005. This was another album produced jointly with Pierre Girard and Olivier Langevin, and it included several gems such as "Grande est la vie" and "Poussières". Mara also took part in the "Pamplemousse" fundraising project (JaJou productions) in aid of suicide prevention, performing Jean Leloup's song "Laura". Collaborating with various different artistes, she sang L’amour fait mal, an adaptation of Love Hurts, with Éric Goulet (Monsieur Mono), and on the Beau D’Hommage album, performing the song "23 Décembre" with Vincent Vallières. Another of Mara Tremblay's acclaimed duo performances was with Stefie Shock, performing the classic "L’été indien" on the Joe Dassin tribute album Salut Joe!

In the last few years, Mara Tremblay has often been on the road again for a successful solo tour or the "Toutes les filles" tour, on which she performed live with performers who were already, or would become, close friends: Catherine Durand, Marie-Annick Lépine, Catherine Major and Ginette. These productive experiences and her appearance in Quai no 5, at the Festival international de la littérature in 2007, reciting or singing the poetry of Élise Turcotte, paved the way for an impressive fourth album, testimony to Mara's talent for constantly reinventing herself. Tu m’intimides, produced by Olivier Langevin and co-produced by Mara and Pierre Girard, was released in January 2009. Info Audiogram.

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Peter Bardens - The Art Of Levitation 2002

An accomplished organist, Peter Bardens was a founder member of the Cheynes, prior to a brief spell in Them. By 1966 he was fronting a club-based act, Peter B’s Looners, which included drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Peter Green. The unit recorded a single, "If You Wanna Be Happy," but was then absorbed into the Shotgun Express, a soul-inspired revue that featured Rod Stewart. Bardens later formed the short-lived Village before releasing his first solo album, The Answer, in 1970. This informal selection featured several telling contributions by Peter Green, masquerading under an "Andy Gee" pseudonym, but an undisciplined approach undermined its obvious potential. A second collection, Peter Bardens, was more focused and showcased the artist’s touring group, which included the multi-talented Victor Brox, a former member of the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation.

In 1972 Bardens formed a new band, Camel. He remained with this successful unit for the next six years before resuming his solo career with Heart to Heart. He later divided his time between session work and crafted adult rock and new age material, exemplified on the U.S.-charting 1987 release Seen One Earth and 1991’s Water Colors. In 1994 he formed Mirage with several leading prog rock musicians, including his former Camel bandmate Andy Ward and Caravan's David Sinclair. On January 22, 2002, Bardens succumbed to lung cancer in Malibu, CA. Write My Name in the Dust, a two-CD set covering his entire career, was released in 2005. AMG.

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Roger Chapman - Mail Order Magic 1980

Roger Chapman's second studio album, Mail Order Magic, was recorded under some tough conditions for the singer. Punk and new wave were sweeping England of any "oldies" acts, and Chapman was having trouble taking root in his own country. In addition, the label to which he had signed was folding, giving him a deadline to finish and release the album. Meanwhile Chapman, still high from the success of continental tours, tried to up the ante by recording with better players, including old Family-mateJohn Wetton. But lack of finances bumped the sessions from studio to studio, and Terry Barham andPaul Smykle (notable for reggae production) were brought in to stitch together the recordings into a pressable album. Considering all of this, the results were fantastic. The hard-edged rock, especially "Unknown Soldier," suited Chapman's edgy voice best. The Shortlist also served up R&B and even a little experimental music ("Ground Floor" sounds like an early demo of "Higher Ground"). Chapman would find a more comfortable career down the road, but the material would rarely be as convincing and as powerful as this. AMG.

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Silence 4 - Silence Becomes It 1998

Surfacing in the end of the '90s as one of Portugal's major rock bands,Silence 4 opened new frontiers for other English singing bands to follow. Overcoming the country's rock tradition built upon Portuguese-language songs, and choosing to create mostly acoustic compositions, the band quickly conquered a large following. It was in 1995, in Leiria, a central-northern Portuguese city, that David Fonseca, along with Tozé Pedrosa decided to get the band together. A year later, the addition of Sofia Lisboa (vocals) and Rui Costa(bass) completed the group's line-up. Struggling with several technical difficulties, the band managed to record a demo, later presented to the Portuguese Polygram label. Their debut was made on a home country compilation disc, Sons de Todas as Cores, in which they played a cover of Erasure's "A Little Respect." Three years after the band's formation, Silence Becomes It, their debut album, hit the record stores. The critics were unanimous to consider the record as one of Portugal's best rock albums and the public gave an enthusiastic response. The disc achieved remarkable sales, staying on top of Portuguese tables for months. Silence 4 then made an extended tour throughout the country, reappearing in the year 2000 with Only Pain Is Real, their second album, that attested the band as one of Portugal's best. AMG.

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S.E. Rogie - Dead Men Don't Smoke Marijuana 1995

Gentle, fingerpicked, acoustic guitar melodies and smooth-as-silk baritone, vocals were combined via the palm wine music of S.E. Rogie. While remaining rooted in the high life music of his birth place, Sierra Leone, Rogie incorporated influences of western pop and folk music to create his unique, heartfelt, music. As a youngster, Rogie was heavily influenced by the country music and yodeling of Jimmie Rodgers. Emigrating to England, in 1973, he worked frequently in schools as a cultural ambassador, introducing eager students to the art and music of Sierra Leone. Forming his own label, Rogiephone, he released his debut album, African Lady, in 1975. Rogie's self-produced 1986 album, The Sixties Sounds of S.E. Rogie, was reissued by Cooking Vinyl the same year. Rogie was featured in the 1990 film Acoustic Sounds from Africa, performing his songs "Please Go Easy with Me," "Clua Koonde," "Don't Touch Me Tomato," and his best-known tune, "My Lovely Elizabeth." Rogie's final album, Dead Men Don't Smoke Marijuana, released in 1994, was recorded in London with upright bassist Danny Thompson and lead guitar player Alfred Bannerman. The album also featured Rogie's band featuringSimon Clarke (keyboards), Zozo Shuaibu (percussion, electric bass, background vocals), and Emile Ogoo(guitar, background vocals). Shortly after the album's release, Rogie passed away at the age of 68 in June 1994. AMG.

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