Jackie Wilson ‎– Do Your Thing 1968 (Brunswick)

Label : Brunswick

Value :

Born Jack Leroy Wilson on June 9th, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan, the only child of Jack and Eliza Wilson from Columbus, Mississippi.
Jackie grew up in Highland Park, Michigan, an enclave of Detroit.He started singing at the age of 6 years old. By the age of 10 he was vocalizing on the streets of Detroit in perfect key - both gospel and blues. At 12 Jackie joins the Ever Ready Gospel Singers, which became the rage of Detroit's black churches.

He attended Highland Park High School. Truancy landed him in the Lansing Correctional Institute. At Lansing Jackie takes up boxing, following in the footsteps of Detroit's hometown hero Joe Louis.

At 16, he becomes a Golden Gloves boxer known as Sonny. Boxing becomes central to Jackie's identity, it teaches him to dance.  He never won the Detroit Golden Gloves but Jackie's record was 2 and 8. His Mother Eliza, not a boxing fan, makes him pursue a much more promising career, Singing!

In 1951 Jackie made the first R&B recording for Dizzy Gillespie's Dee Gee Label in Detroit. The label released two singles from Jackie's session under the name Sonny Wilson. One, being the standard  "Danny Boy". Jackie, years later, recorded this song twice. It became a top requested number among club audiences. Also in 1951, Jackie became a member of a street corner group, "The Thrillers" which would go on to form the "Royals", later to metamorphose into the "Midnighters". In December 1951, Johnny Otis came to Detroit scouting talent for King Records. He found and recommend,  Little Willie John, The Royals, and Jackie Wilson. Otis decided that he only wanted The Royals.By Jackie Wilson biography.

Taste :

Jackie Wilson ‎- Helpless


Jackie Wilson ‎- Eleanor Rigby


Download Lp

By Electric Looser

Arthur Conley - I'm Living Good 1964 -1974 2011 (Kent)

Label : Kent

Value :

Arthur Conley’s career as a first-tier soul man was largely overshadowed by the worldwide success of his biggest hit, ‘sweet soul music’ & the entertaining, but often clichéd, funk & dance tracks that he was obliged to record in his attempts to find a follow-up hit of comparable magnitude. the tracks compiled here were hidden on the flips of many of those funk workouts &/or spread across 3 albums. ‘i’m living good’ assembles Arthur’s great deep & sweet soul sides for ru-jac, atco, jotis, fame & Capricorn Records, cut for producers like Otis Redding, Clarence Carter, Swamp Dogg, Tom Dowd & Rick Hall over 10 years.

Taste :

Arthur Conley - i'm gonna forget about you


Download Cd

By Electric Looser

Irma Thomas - A Woman's Viewpoint the essential 1970s recordings 2006 (Kent)

Label : Kent

Value :
The 1970s were lost years for Irma Thomas in some respects. She was wholly out of the commercial mainstream and, sometimes, without a recording contract. Nor had she yet carved out her well-deserved niche as a torchbearer of the New Orleans vocal soul tradition. Instead, she was only able to grab some recording time and record releases here and there, usually on small labels. While this 19-song CD, A Woman's Viewpoint: The Essential 1970s Recordings, is probably about as good a compilation as can be assembled from this period, there's no getting around the realization that this is far from her best work on record.

The biggest chunk of the disc (though less than half of it) is devoted to her 1973 Swamp Dogg-produced album In Between Tears, on which Swamp Dogg (aka Jerry Williams, Jr.) also wrote much of the material. It's adequate early-'70s soul, well-sung but lacking in as much personality as Thomas' best recordings, perhaps because Swamp Dogg had such a strong role. "These Four Walls," with its soaring dignity and strange fishbowl-bubble guitar, is an exception, perhaps because it was written by someone other than Swamp Dogg, and was actually taken from a 1970 single. The 12-minute "Coming from Behind"/"Wish Someone Would Care" also has to count as a highlight for its long spoken rap, even if that's not characteristic of Thomas' style.

Filling out the CD are a lot of hard-to-find cuts, including a couple fair, 1970 45 rpms for the Canyon label, and a couple of relatively poppy rarities done for the Scepter/Wand label (actually in the late 1960s, not the 1970s). The half-dozen late-'70s tracks done for the RCS label that close the disc are erratic; the worst of them have unsuitably stiff modernized production, though some hints of her longing, trademark New Orleans soul are heard in "Zero Willpower" and the Dan Penn-Spooner Oldham-penned "A Woman Left Lonely." The live '77 "Don't Blame Him for What You Didn't Do" is the most New Orleans-sounding track here, but suffers from substandard fidelity, complete with tape defects that make parts of it sound like a warped record.

Taste :

Irma Thomas - In Between Tears


Download Cd

By Electric Looser

Cal Tjader - Hip Vibrations 1967 (Verve)

Label : Verve

Value :

Cal Tjader recorded frequently for Verve during the 1960s, yet this is one of his more unusual sessions. Instead of fronting his regular group in a typical Latin setting, the vibraphonist plays arrangements by Benny Golson or Bobby Bryant, accompanied a band that includes Ernie Royal, Marvin Stamm, J.J. Johnson, Jerome Richardson, Mel Lewis, either Ron Carter or Richard Davis on bass, and three different pianists: Herbie Hancock, Patti Bown, or John Bunch.

The solo focus is almost exclusively on the leader in these fairly brief charts, though there are brief spotlights on Richardson and Hancock. The best tracks are Golson's "Blues March," John Lewis' "Django," and Tjader's "Hip Vibrations." A pair of current pop songs of the day ("Georgy Girl" and "Windy," the latter a hit for the rock group the Association) seem a little out of place but prove to be no more than innocuous. This 1967 session has long been out of print and seems like it might be an unlikely candidate for reissue, but there's enough good music within it to justify picking it up if it can be located.

Taste :

Cal Tjader - A Waltz For Diane


Cal Tjader - Sweet Honeybee


Download Lp

By Electric Looser

various - Scoctopus The In Sound From Octopus Records! 1997 (Schema)

Label : Schema

Value :

As the lounge-core scene developed in Europe thanks to groundbreaking releases like The Sound Gallery and the Easy Tempo series, record companies all over Europe began digging into the vaults of old music libraries to discover loungey instrumentals to satisfy the needs of the lounge-core scene. A typical release of this stripe is Scoctopus, a compilation that collects a series of instrumentals from the catalog of an Italian music library label called Octopus.

Subtitled "The In Sound from Octopus Records," Scotopus leans toward tracks that combine soul and jazz elements in the gently poppy way that defines European lounge music. Highlights include "Curly," a funky keyboard excursion with some exciting organ solos, and "Games," a quietly grooving track that layers some jazzy flute lines over a funky, percolating bassline. There are also some interesting tracks that make good use of wordless vocals: "Save Up" effectively uses a scat vocal as a counterpoint to its funky bassline and "Verso L'Infinito" brings the vocals front and center with its complex, jazzy choral arrangement (trivia note: this track was penned by Alessandro Alessandroni, the vocal arranger on many of Ennio Morricone's classic soundtracks).

On the downside, Scoctopus lacks the consistently strong compositions necessary to make it a truly memorable lounge compilation. Most notably, the first half of the album is weighed down by some generic lounge tunes that fail to stick in memory. For example, "Miles" is a bouncy but faceless slice of bebop jazz that lacks the interesting arrangement twists that would make it memorable. As a result, Scoctopus lacks the cohesiveness of the best lounge compilations, but offers enough strong tracks to make it worth a spin for avid fans of European lounge music.

Taste :

Stellio Subelli – Curly


Enzo Scoppa – Miles 


Download Cd

By Electric Looser

Tim Maia - Tim Maia 1970 (Polydor)

 
Label : Polydor

Value :

In the 1970s, Maia started to record albums and perform shows promoting his synthesis of American soul and Brazilian music with elements of samba and baião. The movement gradually took the working-class suburbs of the north side of Rio de Janeiro, exploding in 1976 with the black movement.

In 1970 Maia recorded his first full-length LP, Tim Maia, which included the classics "Azul da Cor do Mar", "Coroné Antônio Bento", and "Primavera", and topped the charts for 24 weeks in Rio de Janeiro. His first four albums were all self-titled.
Taste :

Tim Maia - Flamengo


Download Cd

By Electric Looser

Shirley Scott Trio ‎– For Members Only 1964 (Impulse!)

Label : Impulse!

Value :

Organist Shirley Scott released this LP in 1964 on Impulse Records, personnel on tracks 1-4 is Shirley Scott on organ, Ed Shaughnessy on drums, Art Davis on bass, Joe Venuto on percussion, Mundell Lowe on guitar and Eddy Manson on harmonica, plus trombones & trumpets, while on tracks 5-8 it is Shirley Scott on organ, Earl May on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Orchestra arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson, produced by Bob Thiele.

P.s Check Shirley Scott - Lean On Me 1972 (Cadet)

Taste :

Shirley Scott Trio ‎- Blues For Members


Shirley Scott Trio ‎- Blue Piano


Download Lp

By Electric Looser

Don Julian and the Larks - Shorty The Pimp 1998 (Southbound)

Label : Southbound

Value :

Killer funky reissue of this rare soundtrack by Don Julian & The Larks! You probably already know Don Julian's funky work from the Savage soundtrack, and this one's just as good – with even more cuts than the original, including a lot of tasty soul cuts and covers with a deep soulful sound. The plot of the film has Don and The Larks playing a cool little lounge funk band, caught up in sort of a mini gang war between 2 thugs who want to manage them. One of the thug's named "Shorty The Pimp", and his name provides Don with the funky title to the great theme of the film, which is a very tasty groover. Other tracks have the band covering other current soul hits, and playing some extra-dope instrumentals with a nice hard sound.

Taste :

 Don Julian & The Larks - Shorty The Pimp


Don Julian & The Larks - I Love You


Don Julian & The Larks - Just Tryin' To Make It


Download Cd

By Electric Looser

Piero Umiliani ‎– La Morte Bussa Due Volte 1968 (Cinevox)

Label : Cinevox

Value :

Wonderful work from one of the grooviest soundtrack composers ever! At the end of the 60s, Piero Umiliani wrote some of the best film scores to come out of the Italian scene – and this little gem, long out of print, is certainly one of them! The album's got some beautifully jazzy numbers – touched by all the right elements of whimsy and sexiness that make Umiliani's other work so great – and the short little tracks on the album offer up a blend of slinky themes that intertwine wonderfully, moving from groove to sleaze, but always handled with the highest of class and care!

Taste :

Piero Umiliani - La Morte Bussa Due Volte

Download Cd

By Electric Looser

George Semper ‎– Makin' Waves 1966 (Imperial)

Label : Imperial

Value :

Most of Makin Waves reads like a soul food menu with titles like Collard Greens, Hog Maws N Cabbage and Corn Bread N Chittlins. What the album actually consists of is a number of organ driven RnB tunes, sort of like an early Bill Doggett. The best overall song is Shortnin Bread that starts off with a little conga and drum break before going into a soulful melody.

The break gets repeated in the middle as well. A cover of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction also has several very short drum and conga breaks. The best break however, starts off Get Out Of My Life Woman. The drums are played a little more upbeat than usual and it gets repeated again in the middle.

Taste :

George Semper - Thank You (4 Letting Me Be Myself)


George Semper - Green Onions


Download Lp

By Electric Looser

Jacques Dutronc - Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi Jacques Dutronc 1966-1969 2009 (RPM)

Label : Rpm

Value :

Jacques Dutronc had it all. He was Françoise Hardy’s beau, impeccably dressed and equally handsome. Above all, he was a consumate musician, able to turn his hand to whatever style took his fancy. Although the non-French interest in Dutronc stems from his superficially garage-rock leanings, his mix of sarcastic lyrics with the boulevardier tradition and ‘60s rock offers so much more

Taste :

Jacques Dutronc - On Nous Cache Tout, On Nous Dit Rien


Jacques Dutronc - Le Mythofemme


Jacques Dutronc - Je suis content


Download Cd

By Electric Looser

Piero Umiliani ‎– La Ragazza Fuori Strada 1973 (Liuto Records)

Label : Liuto Records

Value :

One of the coolest Italian soundtracks we've heard in a long time – a wonderful set of tunes that moves from slinky, to easy, to groovy, and beyond! The tunes start out bubbling very spare and slow – with floating piano, moog, and other nice bits – and as the record progresses, the sound gets heavier, with some nice funky elements thrown into the mix! The whole thing's a brilliant exercise in understatement – not only one of the best soundtracks by Umiliani from the 70s, but also a perfect example of why we dig Italian soundtracks so much!

Taste :

Piero Umiliani ‎– La Rinuncia


Piero Umiliani ‎– Senza Tregua


Download Cd

By Electric Looser

Mr. z - Bossa Nova στην Ταράτσα 2013 (B-Otherside)

Label : B-Otherside

Value :



Καφέδες,βόλτες,δίσκοι,ξενύχτια,διακοπές,μετακομίσεις,πυρκαγιές τι να πρώτο θυμηθώ και να μη βάλω τα γέλια.....

Με τον Mr.Ζ γνωριζόμαστε περίπου 10 χρόνια. Δουλεύαμε σ’ ένα κεντρικό δισκάδικο της Αθήνας. Αν και σε διαφορετικά τμήματα απ το πρώτο κιόλας διάστημα αναπτύχτηκε μια φιλία που κραταει χρόνια......

Εν όψει καλοκαιριού, ένα απο τα 16 κομμάτια του album ''επανάληψη'' του mr. z που θα κυκλοφορήσει τον Σεπτεμβριο απο την b-otherside records σε βινύλιο και free download digital μορφή.


Taste :

Mr. z - Bossa Nova στην Ταράτσα



Download track (For the first time on web)

By Electric Looser