Best Italy Vinyl & CDs

Review: While this fabulous album may sound old - as if it was an obscure, jazz-funk-tinged Italian disco release from 1982 - it is in fact brand, spanking new, making it the first new LP of original material released by legendary Italian imprint Best Record in over four decades. Created by Raffaele 'Whodammy' Arcella and Cosimo Cosmo Mandorino, it offers the same kind of boundary-blurring fusion of early '80s boogie, electro, low-tempo Italo-disco, jazz-funk, disco, Afro-cosmic and colourful Balearic pop (with a few cheeky raps and spoken word vocal passages thrown in) as the Neopolitan albums of the early-to-mid 1980s that inspired them. It's a brilliant set all told - one that authentically pays tribute to their influences and inspirations while offering something genuinely new and exciting.

Review: Robert Cotter originally released Timeless in 1980, capturing the magic of the disco wave while it was still informed by a classic 70s studio approach before synths and drum machines become the dominant medium. The stand out track on the record is ‘Rock Me With Your Love’ - a timeless gem of get-down heat laid down by a crack team of players and captured by Ned Liben at Sundragon Studio in New York. If you’re always on the hunt for the fiercest jams from that era, you won’t be disappointed by what you find on this album of expansive, expressive tracks from an undeniably talented crew that missed out on wider recognition when their magnum opus was originally released more than 40 years ago.

Review: During the pre-Italo-disco era, many Italian musicians and producers made the move to New York after making their own surprisingly authentic-sounding disco records back home. There, they frequentlyworked with Black American singers to make singles and albums that were, curiously, then released in Italy rather than the U.S. New Jersey singer Robert Cotter's 1980 set, Timeless, is a particularly good example - especially as it's a fantastic collection of disco, disco-funk and dancefloor soul workouts. Reissued here for the first time, highlights of the five-track set include the infectious, stretched-out opener 'Rock Me With Your Love' - an under-played dancefloor classic - and the boogie-tinged disco shuffler 'Timeless'.

Review: Fabrizio Fattori has been a deep cover hero in Italian dance music since the mid 80s, and while he may have shifted his attention to tribal house music in the 90s, this collection zeroes in on his earlier afro disco funk work, which drips with Balearic groove appeal. Collecting sought after records and other archival gems, this lengthy EP is a joyous, synthy excursion through sunny climes, from the MIDI brass and plastic slap bass of "Leg Pulling" to the intricate percussion and live sax of "Bara-Hum-Ba." This is a quintessential Best reissue - beautifully packaged, and putting super rare music back in the hands of the fans.

Review: For this sublime release, legendary Italian label Best Record has raided the archives of 'private recordings' by multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Pino Presti. Sharade was apparently inspired by the work of painter Tania Cantone and features Presti alongside keyboardist Claudop Calzolari, his son Andrea, bassist Andrea Verardi and organist Guido Mazzella. The results are colourful, sonically vivid and musically rich, with the quintet variously blurring the boundaries between ambient, jazz-funk, Balearic, Mediterranean deep house, downtempo, library music, cinematic soundtracks and slow-motion leftfield pop. It's hard to accurately pigeonhole, but that's no bad thing - especially as the album's varied tracks are united by a classiness and a wholeheartedly enjoyable sun-baked mood.