Tag: Reissue
Following the well-crafted reissue of Wendell Harrison and The Tribe’s Farewell To The Welfare 45rpm, London’s Clap City Records has recently dived back into the vaults of Detroit’s legendary Tribe Records and reissued keyboardist David Durrah’s highly obscure 1975 7-inch single Venus Fly Trap.
After years of research and tracking down the artists responsible for the recording, Paris-based Hot Mule records, who continue to put out great rare recordings, has reissued the highly obscure 1984 tropical masterpiece Meliza, which has been a well-kept secret for years amongst Caribbean music lovers.
Not only did we see a ton of great new music released in 2020, there was also an abundance of extremely hard-to-find recordings being reissued throughout the year. Similar to how difficult it was to put together the “Favorite Albums” list, it has been just as challenging to dive into all the great reissues, and generate a similar “Favorites” list.
London-based reissue label, Outernational Sounds, who has been releasing many incredible albums over the past few years, has just made available for the first time outside of South Africa, one of the most sought-after and obscure international jazz recordings in Kirk Lightsey and Rudolph Johnson with the All Stars’ 1974 funky spiritual jazz holy-grail Habiba.
Earlier in the year, London’s Cordial Recordings put out a full-length album featuring previously unreleased material recorded in the 70s from an Oakland based funk and soul group Family of Swede, titled Family Album. Due to high demand and heavy rotation from Gilles Peterson and others, the long version of the brilliant soul track “Set You Free”, which was originally only included on the CD version, has been released as a twelve-inch single.
Record Store Day has typically been an annual event that has took place in mid-April. Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year’s RSD was originally postponed to June 20th, and unfortunately moved again to now three separate Saturday dates, August 29th, September 26th, and October 24th. Even though many record stores have been able to find ways to open up again in a limited capacity, it’s safe to say like everything in 2020, this year’s RSD will be very different than what it has been in the past.
New York based Frederiksberg Records has reissued, for the first time, the highly obscure and adventurously eclectic 1984 instrumental album from Ethiopian-rooted group Admas, titled Sons of Ethiopia.
Due to continued demand, London’s Far Out Recordings has reissued for a second time in four years, pianist and composer Antonio Adolfo’s highly obscure 1979 Brazilian jazz-funk album Viralata.
Legally blind from birth, Brazilian keyboard player and composer Manfredo Fest contributed to a number of great recordings during the sixties and seventies, both as a solo artist and with the group Bossa Rio. London’s Far Out Recordings has just reissued, what arguably might be his greatest recording, in his 1976 jazz funk masterpiece Brazilian Dorian Dream.
The Berlin-based label Matasuna Records has recently put out a pair of 7inch releases featuring two essential Latin funk gems from Nico Gomez And His Afro Percussion Inc’s “holy grail” classic Ritual.
