Mad About Vinyl & CDs

Review: Courtial With Errol Knowles's Don't You Think It's Time album gets a first ever vinyl reissue here, and gets deluxe treatment. The original was recorded in 1976 in San Francisco's Bay Area and soon became a real collector's classic for its vital soul and jazz funk sounds. To be honest, the cover art alone is worth the entry price here, but the sounds sure are sublime, with wiggy synth lines weaving their way in and out of the funky drumming on 'Don't You Think It's Time,' 'Best Of Friends' offering lush string sounds and silky grooves and 'Love Nevermore' having a bit of a samba shuffle next to the acoustic guitars and golden Rhodes chords.

Review: LA-based label Emkay Records put out just one album, and this is it. Free Love hailed from St Louis and was led by Philip Westmoreland with production by Kent Washburn and Oliver Sain. Plenty of others featured such as backing vocals from The Georgettes, bass from Tom Zuzenak, vocals from Marcus Kelly and many more who helped to make this such a fantastic and soulful album. It's mega-rare these days and so this reissue, in deluxe form, is welcome in deed and allows you to tap into some of that endless retro love.

Review: Calvin "Popcorn" Ward is one of those legendary musical figures form time gone by. He put out just one album and a couple of Eps, but they were good enough to secure him an enduring elegy with funk and soul fans. His Prime Choice album came on Shanell in 1983 and the one copy currently for sale on second-hand sites is over 630 quid. Thankfully Mad About has assembled this heavyweight reissue. Sentimental soul, analogue disco and lo-fi funk all characterise each tune, as does Calvin's own vocals which range from upbeat and positive to heartbroken and raw. A real gem.

Review: Sam Sanders & Visions delivered their The Gift Of Love back in 1983, and what a romantic offering it is too. Sanders composed and directed the whole album as well as producing it and supplied the tenor sax sounds that define it. It is his only album with the band - though he also released one solo album under his own name - but it stands tall as a jazz classic rather apart from its peers of the era. His mix of modal, post-pop and soul-jazz is steeped in history as it goes from busy dancers to more mellow and introverted pieces like the standout 'Fantasy.'