Adventures in Gospel, spiritual Jazz and a hefty great slab of Pavement.
Hello, Friends.
No ordinary Best New Reissue Monday, it's a Best New Reissue Monday with Pavement on the racks! Matador look backwards this week and present an exhaustive, 45-track reissue of the band’s much-loved fifth and final album, Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal. A 23rd Anniversary blow-out!
It's such a killer record (yeah, we know, they all are), they successfully worked with Nigel Godrich to make it sound EPIC without losing the Pavement-y idiosyncrasies.
Double CD and lavish 4LP box sets (more due shortly) include a book with never-before-seen photos and commentary/context from band members Mark Ibold, Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich, Spiral Stairs, and Steve West as well as producer Nigel Godrich. Did you know that Jonny Greenwood added harmonica?
In addition to this heavy beast, we also have a limited 12" of the band's Spit On A Stranger EP. Includes a never-before-released live recording of ‘Harness Your Hopes’, from Pavement’s final shows at the Brixton Academy in 1999.
Absolute gold on the Luaka Bop label this week with I Just Want To Be A Good Man from Pastor Champion. As they explain; This album is a tribute to Pastor Wylie Champion, who died while we were in the process of releasing this, his first record, and his wife, Mother Champion, who died a few months earlier. We met Pastor Champion a few years ago while we were putting together another release, The Time for Peace Is Now: Gospel Music About Us. We found him in a collection of YouTube videos from the 37th Street Baptist Church in Oakland, California, put together by the pastor there, Bishop Dr. W.C. McClinton. There was quite a lot of talent in those videos, and among them was Pastor Champion whom we liked so much that we decided to make a record with him.
Powerful, spiritual and really euphoric stuff.
Reissued this week on the Blue Note is saxophonist Jackie McLean's Tippin’ The Scales. Fast and bopping, with a quartet to include Sonny Clark, Butch Warren and Art Taylor. It was recorded in 1962 but not released until 1979 (We don't know why) and scantly available since. Great energy and the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Edition treatment really is lush.
Strut present the final instalment in their series of reissues of Sun Ra’s historic recordings in Egypt with the Sun Ra Arkestra meets Salah Ragab in Egypt plus the Cairo Jazz Band, originally released on Greek label Praxis in 1983. Three suprisingly tight Ra recordings (under the shadow of the Sphinx herself) on the A side, with three additional tracks by Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Orchestra on Side B. Some really lush pacing, it sure gets hypnotic.
Sacred Bones Records' Moon Duo reissues kick off this week, with Occult Architecture Vol.2 (on Blue vinyl) in the building. Expect the equally excellent Vol One shortly, with Shadow of the Sun, Stars Are The Light and Escape all coming soon.
Lastly today, a very timely set of reissues on War Child Records, with four compilation albums reissued to raise awareness and money.
2002's 1 Love includes tracks by The Prodigy, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers and Sugababes.
2003's Hope includes tracks by Spiritualized, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Beth Orton and The Charlatans.
2005's Help! A Day in the Life includes tracks by Radiohead, Gorillaz, Tinari
2009's ‘War Child Presents Heroes’ including Beck, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip and more reimagining the classics. Our stock has gone missing on this one, so keep checking back as we'll get it live this week.
Some really iconic tracks across the set and a very important charity indeed.
This week is all about goods in and trying to find space. We'll start posting some pictures of RSD stock arriving soon as that always goes down well!
- Drift