Acid Jazz Vinyl & CDs

Review: Acid Jazz's announcement of the 30th anniversary 2LP remastered edition of Mother Earth's The People Tree is a momentous occasion for fans of acid jazz and soul music alike. Originally released in 1994, this album holds a significant place in the genre's history, blending elements of soul, funk, and folk-tinged rock from the 70s with a modern twist. The special edition reissue boasts the original album, along with three previously unreleased tracks and six making their vinyl debut. Remastered from the original analogue recordings, this release promises to breathe new life into the beloved classic. Featuring guest appearances from iconic artists like Paul Weller, Dee C Lee and Simon Bartholomew of Brand New Heavies, The People Tree is a testament to the collaborative spirit of the acid jazz scene. Notable bonus tracks include the previously unreleased alternative version of 'Apple Green,' an alternate take on 'Illusions,' and the title track itself. First-time vinyl cuts offer fresh perspectives on tracks like 'Jesse' and 'Slide Sweet Baby,' adding depth to the listening experience. The album's presentation is equally impressive, with a beautiful 'wide-spine' layout, printed inner sleeves, and insightful notes from label-founder Eddie Piller, accompanied by unseen photos from the original cover shoot. Overall, this anniversary edition of The People Tree is a album worth your time as it often selected for one of the best examples in the genre.

Review: The return of New Street Adventure was met with great warmth by longtime fans earlier this year. Now, one of our favourite bands is celebrating the tenth anniversary of their debut album No Hard Feelings with a special limited-edition olive green vinyl which coincides with an extensive UK tour. Initially pressed in small numbers before the vinyl resurgence, the album became highly sought after, with prices skyrocketing on Discogs. This reissue, remixed by Mitch Ayling, captures Nick Corbin's soulful, socially aware songwriting at its best with rare photos and new sleeve notes making it a must-have reissue.

Review: The Acid Jazz label recently celebratedits 35th year in business and, despite having an entire genre named afterit, has been very influential in supporting various genres, with its roster like a who's who of downtempo music. One of the newer artists that has received much critical acclaim has been New Street Adventure, their urban street soul with a modernist cool and insightful lyric have set out from the crowd. This reissue of 'The Big AC' on 7" features for the first time, the original version by the late Noel McCoy, taken from their standout 2015 album No Hard Feelings.

Review: Arakou, situated over 400 km north of Cotonou, housed the Orchestre Anassoua-Jazz de Parakou. Through the 1970s, they recorded several singles and EPs for Albarika and a few others, but never completed a full album.Their 1975 45rpm release is exceptionally rare; no copy has surfaced on eBay, nor is it listed on Discogs. Beyond rarity, 'Bakassine Gabou' offers a highly-charged, hypnotic dance track perfect for DJs, while 'Moumouni Bassina Borou Fo' intensifies with layered guitar, vocals, and percussion. What's more, this version finds both tracks were meticulously transferred, restored, and mastered from the original 1/4 inch tape.

Review: Originally released in 1980 on the Alberika label, Orchestre Les Volcans du Benin Vol. 1 has long been a 'holy grail' LP for Afro-Cuban aficionados. It now sees it's first official reissue on Acid Jazz Records, with four infectious tracks across the two sides, including Oya Ka Jojo - latin dancefloor dynamite and a DJ must-have. Remastered by Nick Robbins at Sound Mastering and presented in a wonderful colour sleeve, it's an opportunity to finally own this special and highly sought after LP.

Review: The legendary Afro funk fusionists Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou Dahomey have got unlimited amounts of big tunes in their back catalogue and the fiery 'It's A Vanity' is one of them. It has fat and chunky drums with trademark horns leading the way next to the impassioned vocals. The tune twists and turns on a vibe as it funks you up and then on the flip is the more lo-fi and stripped back, earthen funk sounds of 'Nougbo Vehou' (La Verite Blesse). Anotehr killer 7" reissue from this great collective.

Review: Benin funk supergroup Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou have an essential discography that takes in some of the most definitive afro-funk sounds you can hear. The Acid Jazz label serves up a couple of such betters here with 'Kpede Do Gbe Houenou' layering up the driving grooves, killer horns and wild keys into something intoxicating. Less intense but just as good, 'Ma Wa Mon Nou Mi O' brings the guitar work to the fore, with plucked and funky riffs underneath the imploring vocal work that's up top. Both tunes have been restored and remastered.

Review: Acid Jazz Records' has got a licensing agreement with legendary Benin label Albarika Store that is seeing them put out some of the best music to have ever come from West Africa. Benin's almighty Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Dahomey made plenty of it. This latest 45 is another stunner with plenty of raw screams, wails and grunts all adding extra life and vitality to the already trilling guitars and bustling drum rhythms. Add in heavy percussion and you have a real heavy Afro psych-funk tune. The flip is more deep and soulful, and just as good for different reasons.

Review: Acid Jazz has got an ongoing deal to issue and reissue music from Benin funk supergroup Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou and the latest fruits of that is this reissue of their Le Sato album. It is a follow-up to the one they dropped back in 2021 and is another section of traditional voodoo ceremonial music from the group from the mid-seventies. The name of the album is taken from the large ceremonial Sato drum, which is played with wooden stick beaters at special ceremonial occasions. Here it can be heard in all its glory making traditional rhythms and deeply ritualistic grooves that will leave you in a trance.

Review: The Acid Jazz label opens it archives to turn out this magnificent slice of northern soul from the legend that is Dean Parrish, a man who sold over a million records and worked with the likes of Jimi Hendrix. It's 10 years old but still bangs and is maybe one of the best records of his career. The psychedelic 'It's Time - Purple Mountain Majesty' is a hard hitting tune with layers of percussion, amour nines, bendy guitar riffs and soaring vocals that have female backings for extra richness. The version on the flip is more tense, steamy and rousing.

Review: Maestro Argentinian producer Kevin Fingier returns with a brand new 45 on his Finger Records imprint, this time lifting the curtain on Santa Fiebre, the newly tipped red-hot rhythm & soul outfit from Buenos Aires. Forged in the fire of the Argentinian capital comes this rip-roaring band, debuting a rootsy, double-clapping, firebrand form of Latin soul. Fingier's in-house production backs up the band's taseringly tasty performances, as 'That's Where We Go' is heard to riff highly on brasses and bombast, and 'Earthsplosion' predicts a future detonation beneath our shared subterranean mantle, producing a bubble-bursting, Hammong-hummingl, bongo-banging funk stank of cosmic proportions.

Review: Following on from her recent cover of the legendary house anthem 'Promised Land', Gloria Scott now serves up the full length album it has been taken from. So Wonderful finds the big-lunged vocalist serve up full spectrum of glorious soul tunes. Gloria was discovered by Sly Stone and worked with Barry White as well as Ike and Tina in the Ikettes so has a long history and all that shines through here. There are five originals here as well as her collab with White and it makes for a fine statement of soul from this classic artist.

Review: Hardly a week seems to go by without the arrival of another essential collection of sounds form Acid Jazz. This one presents a superb album by Nick Manasseh and David Hill's Soul Revivers which was an always ambitious and passionate coming together between the two. It features musicians form across the ages such as modern jazz trumpeter MS. MAURICE (who famously works with Kokoroko And Nubya Garcia), and vocalist Alexia Coley. The record takes us on a trip thorough the moodier end of the reggae spectrum with progressive sounds and innovative new ideas in each cut.

Review: Soul Revivers are a UK-based project of musicians and producers spanning seven decades, including Nick Manasseh and David Hill from Rootikal. Played off as a reissue of two classics (the design of the 7" is convincing enough), this actual fresh single has got two lovably layered numbers on it: 'Shouting Dub' and 'Furthest Version'. The former is an attention-grabbing yet leisurely plod through the smoke-hazed forestreets of yore, graciously alternating between two-toned basses and globular guitars. The B is much more spacious and phat.

Review: Soul Revivers return with 'Holding it Down', the lead single from their highly anticipated follow-up to the acclaimed debut album 'On The Grove'. Teaming up with West London's keyboard maestro and producer Ash Walker, along with vocalist Lyn Gerald, the pair of Nick Manasseh and David Hill deliver an ethereal yet captivating tune that brings to mind Jackie Mittoo's legacy and the essence of balmy summer evenings. As expected from Soul Revivers, the release includes a dub version by Manasseh on limited edition 7".

Review: Nkrumah Jah Thomas is a legendary voice in Jamaican music best known for his influential work as both a DJ and producer through his Midnight Rock label. He has collaborated with notable artists like Anthony Johnson, Early B, King Tubby, and Super Cat. Acid Jazz group label Roots Records, which has worked with Thomas since the late 1990s, now releases his first-ever vocal collection in the form of this album which features 12 essential tracks, including his debut hit 'Midnight Rock,' plus 'Dance Hall Connection,' and 'Dance On The Corner,' as well as his versions of 'Cool Profile' and 'Joker Smoker.' It also includes the 80s dancehall hit 'Dance Inna New York,' sampled by Nas on 'The Don.' The remastered tracks come with sleeve notes by reggae historian Tony Rounce, making it a must-have for dub and dancehall fans.

Review: Deep diggers and Afro lovers have long been locked into Benin-based West African funk fusionists Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo de Cotonou. The group started laying down their rhythmic madness as far back as the late 60s when they were formed by leader Clement Melome, and still drop new heat today. This new collection from Acid Jazz's Albarika Store series is a collection of some of their most legendary jams from over the years. Standouts are many but include 'Gbeti Ma Djro', 'Segla' and the legendary 'It's A Vanity' - add them all up and you have some of the most essential Afro-funk to have ever been written.

Review: One of the greatest soul voices working in the US today, Billy Valentine's latest release, first plotted out in the summer of 2020, sees the artist responding to the chaos of a global pandemic and the seismic impact of George Floyd's murder via legendary works from Curtis Mayfield, Gil Scot Heron and Pharaoh Sanders. In collaboration with acclaimed producer and songwriter, Bob Thiele Jr. (son of Flying Dutchman founder, Bob Thiele), Valentine's rich, velvety vocals breathe new life into these already-powerful tracks, bringing them into the contemporary political context with renewed urgency. Released on Acid Jazz in partnership with renowned US label Flying Dutchman, Valentine's latest output marks the first new music from the label since the '70s - a momentous return for a keystone tastemaker of the American jazz world.

Review: A year after dropping his acclaimed album 'Billy Valentine And The Universal Truth' with Flying Dutchman and Acid Jazz Records, Billy unveils a fresh take on a soul classic. Recorded at LA's prestigious Henson Recording Studio, alongside producer Bob Thiele Jr. and a stellar band including Larry Goldings, Pino Paladino, Jeff Parker, James Gadson, and John Philip Shenale, he introduces three new tracks. His rendition of Gil Scott-Heron's 'Lady Day & John Coltrane', debuted on Gilles Peterson's BBC6Music, mesmerising live audiences. This special edition 7" includes a unique edit of 'Home Is Where The Hatred Is', not previously available on vinyl.

Review: Acid Jazz top up their longstanding Rare Mod series, one of their most fervently clamoured-over compilations to have been conceived since their launch. A recent three-volume boxset set the tone for its recollection; and now, we're met with a further Best Of record, bottling the essence of the highly headsy and in-the-know series into a tighter thirteen-track compendium. Compiling the many lost classics without which there would be no 'sound' to typify the original Mod scene - a fusion of hard 60s r&b, freakbeat, soul and pop - the likes of Cathedral, Shyster, Fleur De Lys, Dog Soul, Maxine and Richard Kent Style all abound across a well-rounded quadraphonic crunch.

Review: Founded in the late 1960s by record store owner Seidou Adissa, Albarika Store became one of Africa's most influential independent labels and did a fine job of showcasing Benin's rich musical landscape. This compilation highlights the post-colonial music scene and is centered on Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo and founder Melome Clement who recorded under various names to spotlight key musicians. Also featured are pioneering acts like Les Sympathics De Porto Novo and Les Volcans who mix up Western funk, soul and Latin influences with traditional African rhythms. With contributions from Ipa Boogie and Ogassa, this collection celebrates local music infused with funk, disco and Afrobeat in all their glory.

Review: X-Press 2 signed a deal with Acid Jazz that not only means all their back cat is now more widely available, but also that the legendary house outfit will release new music with them. However in the midst of that and a superb new album comes this, a reissue of a 1992 classic for Record Store Day 2024. It features two bold and anthemic treks that tap into their signature style which is raw, stripped back, driving and hypnotic with subtle but smart samples adding just enough detail to really keep you laced in for the ride.