A mixed bag of classics, from NYC to Kingston and from clattering guitars to deranged synths. Like.
Technically a few weeks shy of its fiftieth anniversary, Patti Smith’s iconic and quite seminal debut LP, Horses gets a nice pressing this week and it is our main event. Produced with fellow icon John Cale (although they apparently didn’t get on at all) Horses is a primitive rock and roll record, high on delivery, knotty poetry and stage energy. That's it in a nutshell; lightning in a bottle, captured and preserved. Gave us the chills blasting it on a bleak Monday morning.
+ Both LP and CD sets feature the album remastered direct from the original master tapes, and previously unreleased outtakes and rarities - including Patti Smith’s 1975 RCA audition tape. Very, very limited.
Following the recent reissue of the landmark Digeridoo EP, R&S Records have reissued another long out of print early Aphex Twin gem, with Xylem Tube EP. Hard propulsives that start to move the parameters with ambient tones, hazed out samples and strange cacophonies. The synth arpeggios are pretty special stuff, but when the beats really rip it all to shreds it’s wildly euphoric stuff.
Caroline Polachek’s critically acclaimed Desire, I Want To Turn Into You album gets a very lavish pressing this week as a 44-page hardcover book. This ‘Everasking Edition’ features all of Desire’s iconic photographs, single covers and lyrics, along with a double LP pressed on Translucent Milky Clear vinyl. These are well nice.
Numero presents a 25th anniversary remaster of The Mercury Program’s From The Vapor Of Gasoline. Gorgeous and dissonant progressions through post-rock haze. Pressed on ‘Green Vapor’ colour vinyl.
Foals continue their reissue series with a ten-year anniversary edition of their fourth studio album, What Went Down. Embossed details on the sleeve and a very handsome ‘Clear Coke Bottle Smoke’ colour vinyl.
We end this dispatch with a couple of very very good compilations for your consideration. Firstly, Soul Jamaica collects some sublime light, with reggae funk and soul tracks from the legendary Studio One stable. Curated by Soul Jazz Records, it includes Jackie Mittoo, The Heptones, The Gladiators, Slim Smith and Peter Tosh and The Wailers amongst many more… but to be totally honest, this is all absolutely scorching hot.
And lastly, Tough Love have been doing this job man and boy, and revisit the last twenty years with Tough Love 20: Don’t Do Anything Important With Anybody Else. Another record with no wasted moments, all bangers (albeit beautifully low-key and maudlin bangers in parts) to include; William Doyle, Ulrika Spacek, Cindy, April Magazine, Daily Toll (who we have been raving about loads lately) and Hospital (who we are big fans of and are thrilled to have back on the stereo). Some fantastic music, and the way it all sits together so coherently is testament to a label doing it right… consistently! Well in lads, the hype stickers are also amazing.
