With all due respect to Errol Brown, we're not talking about that Hot Chocolate...
Hello, Friends.
The esteemed Numero take us back to Cleveland in the 1970's this week for a Lou Ragland double. Perhaps best known as a late period lead vocalist for the famed Ink Spots, these two 1970 albums totally knocked us sideways.
Firstly, and not to be confused with English commercial funk outfit, Lou Ragland’s Hot Chocolate powered out of Cleveland's fertile R&B scene with a straight-up grooving, self-titled LP. Funk with some great changes of pace, this really is cooking.
The second part of the story is Ragland's spiritual magnum opus with the soul set Is The Conveyor "Understand Each Other". His voice is just amazing and the cinematic orchestral flourishes are right up there with anyone else recording in the 70s.
Numero have - naturally - done a killer job on the reissues, beautifully rendered replica jackets and fun Milky White and Brown colour vinyl pressings to match the art.
Another project clearly made with a lot of love is the All In One reissue via the Bella Union crew. An absolutely delicious piece of private pressing musical archeology, with a first full issue of the mysterious 1968/69 folk set. A six-piece group with fragile and sun-strained harmonies and gently pattering rhythms. It's evocative stuff. Really great liner notes from Jen Monroe and Kieron Tyler to shed a little more light on this magic.
Mac Demarco's debut Rock And Roll Night Club gets a 10 Year Anniversary edition on Captured Tracks. The new pressing compiles all twelve original recordings and includes bonus tracks “Only You” and “Me and Mine”. It is pressed on limited edition "Night Club "vinyl (Brown and Custard colour vinyl) with brand new liners written by DeMarco himself.
They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top is the first instalment of the new Liars reissue series, where every two months an album from the back catalogue will be released on recycled coloured vinyl. The band's debut is super raw, really great stuff.
Lastly today, a lavish repress of Paul Weller’s 9th studio album 22 Dreams. Out of print since its release in 2008, the album features Oasis stars Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer as well as Steve Cradock (Ocean Colour Scene) and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon.