That time when Nancy came to London, excellent adventures in Jazz and peak pop Zappa.

Firstly this week, half an hour of swinging pop magic from Nancy Sinatra during her hugely prolific mid-sixties run of LPs. Nancy In London was indeed in London, recorded at the iconic Pye Studios and arranged and conducted by Billy Strange, with production from Lee Hazlewood. It really is stacked with proper groovers, including Friday’s Child and Summer Wine with Lee also on vox.

+ We have limited "Summer Wine" Red colour vinyl and the audio has been freshly remastered from the original analogue tapes by John Baldwin. It does sound delicious.
Ever the tortured pedant, Charlie Brown is seriously on-point this week with a timely reissue of Vince Guaraldi’s You’re Not Elected Charlie Brown soundtrack. The 1972 Peanuts TV special is all about a bitter and divisive student presidential campaign (we won’t spoil i), but Guaraldi’s score really is fantastic and groovin’. Everything from a sombre jazz underscore to Dixieland Jazz joy and a belting version of the ever-iconic Joe Cool (which Guaraldi sang!).

This reissue (on yellow vinyl) features all the original tracks, plus nine never-before-heard bonus and alternate tracks that have remained in a closet since their recording in San Francisco in 1972.

They are not eating cats and they are not eating dogs. Have faith!

We have a really belting compilation this week called ‘Twisted Dream Machine’ on Futurismo which is concerned with The Paisley Underground and California's Psychedelic Renaissance: 1982-1986. It was a fairly unprecedented melting pot with avant pop, 60’s pop, garage rock, the shadows of punk, country and lots of psychedelia creating something DIY but expansive. Some proper bangers (Bangles, The Dream Syndicate, Green On Red) and tons of stuff we didn’t know. Been enjoying this muchly.

+ Available on Electric Balloon coloured double vinyl. The double LP is housed in a gloss laminated outer sleeve with colour inner sleeves and contains a large, fold-out poster with unseen photos and liner notes by Lisa Fancher of Frontier.
The week’s jazz offer really is a punnet of peaches! We start with two on the Verve by Request series.

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers’ Art Blakey!!!!! Jazz Messengers!!!!! Is a slammer, a hard bop take on standards (mostly). There are some luscious moments too, the movement between the two paces is gripping.

Freddie Hubbard’s The Body & The Soul is a real mood record. It’s not exactly downbeat, but the pacing is languorous and the occasional string gestures make for a really filmic energy. Whisper it, but it’s Christmassy.

+ Both editions are pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Third Man in Detroit.

More Blue Note Blue Vinyl series releases this week with pianist Horace Silver and saxophonist Dexter Gordon.

Silver’s Song For My Father is just so light, inspired by Latin grooves and the title track that opens the album is rightfully part of any conversation about all-time side one, track ones.

Gordon’s Go! is so full, with an all-star septet and even flourishes of strings. Mournful ballads and clicking bop workouts, it is such a classic.

So then lastly for this week’s set, we end on Z and the Z section mainstay Frank Zappa, with a 50th Anniversary Edition of his Apostrophe. His humour really shines through (especially with the hugely popular and strongly advised “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow”), but the density of the arrangements and the complexity of what he was doing is dazzling and absolutely some of his most impressive moments.

+ Newly remastered by Bernie Grundman and pressed on limited Gold Nugget colour vinyl.