All the week’s old hits and shoulda-hits from yesteryear.
Firstly, a trip all the way to - and right through - purest serenity this week with; Echoes, Spaces, Lines, a set collecting Trans-Millenia Consort, Plot Zero, and Spectre, the first three albums by the late West Coast composer, healer, and medium Pauline Anna Strom. The set also includes the previously unreleased LP Oceans of Tears. Self-released between 1982 and 1984, they are such magic. Soothing but spiritually rousing mediations that sway and bleep. If you’re looking for a transformative experience whilst you lay on a rug (which we do), this is a gift that keeps giving.
Originally released via the legendary Factory Records, Substance compiled all of New Order’s singles to that point in their 12” versions, and specially new recorded versions of ‘Temptation’ and ‘Confusion’. A lot of bangers for your bucks, including Blue Monday that was played a few times yesterday on a fairly Blue November Monday. This new 2LP edition is available on limited and exclusive 180g Red and Blue vinyl.
Mr Bongo are in a pretty serious mood this week with a 2023 pressing of Grupo Los Yoyi’s absolutely groovin’ Yoyi. It’s a rare Cuban gem from 1977, with Afro-Cuban rhymes swirling into funk, low tempo disco and other soundtrack-esque grooves.
Right out of nowhere this week we have stock of Sleep's Holy Mountain, one of the absolute pillars of sludged-out stoner rock. We gave it a very special airing on Friday afternoon and all had a killer weekend. Heavy, gritty and - every time - such a great experience. A Drift All-Time Classic™
Keep Walkin’ is a beauty from Nancy Sinatra’s Archival Series, with the iconic singer’s lesser-known gems, B-sides, and previously unreleased recordings, pressed on yellow vinyl. She really swaggers, but there is plenty of humour too and the overall production is just so good it’s like she’s very much in the room. We’ve been playing this loads.
+ Available on limited double Yellow colour vinyl.
The jazz offering this week is absolutely fantastic.
Don Cherry’s 1988 Art Deco LP gets the ‘Verve By Request’ treatment with a new 2023 edition. Avoids the horrible production of so many albums recorded around then. Also via Verve By Request is trumpeter Roy Hargrove’s Hard Groove under the name The RH Factor. It features a 10-piece band, and special guests include D’Angelo, Q-Tip, Erykah Badu and Anthony Hamilton. Lastly on Verve, The Peace-Maker was the first of ten collaborations between the great tenor saxophonist Harold Land and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. Such a lightness of vibe.
All three are pressed fresh on 180-gram vinyl at Third Man in Detroit.
Released in early 1961, John Coltrane’s Lush Life was assembled from previously unissued tracks from three recording sessions at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1957 and 1958.
Sun Ra’s iconic 1962 album The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra is back in the racks, with all-analogue re-mastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI. The package includes Tom Wilson’s original liner notes, plus insightful new essays by jazz historian Ben Young and author Irwin Chusid.
We have very limited copies of Bright Eyes’ A Christmas Album (do you want a Drift Christmas albums feature? Or shall we just stick to this, Low, Sufjan and Vince G?) and for balance, that is sat on the shelf next to Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back which sounds fantastic on it’s 35th Anniversary.
Two-Piers continue their excellent compilation work with Wig Out! Freak Out!, a deep-dive into 60s freakbeat and psych! This has been flying out, straight off the stereo.
Lastly for today, released in conjunction with the band’s last ever song Now and Then, we have new 2023 pressings of The Beatles iconic The Red Album 62-66 and The Blue Album 67-70. The 3LP editions were Half Speed Mastered and are pressed on 180g vinyl in gatefold sleeves, they feel decent. Both include extra tracks and have new mixes for 2023. An insert contains new sleeve notes by journalist and author John Harris.
Trying to pick the perfect time to go Red to Blue in full. Suggestions are always welcome!
- Drift