For decades, the prime fount of Afrobeat has been Nigeria. However, turning retrospective attention southward to the landlocked nation of Zambia reveals a distinct strain of ’70s African rocking; Now-Again Records’ two Welcome to Zamrock! compilations spotlight this movement with appropriate depth. The CD editions come with a 104-page hardcover book co-authored by Now-Again’s Eothen “Egon” Alapatt and Zambian music historian Leonard Koloko, while the 2LPs are accompanied with an edited booklet and a WAV download card. Together, they offer 34 tracks recorded from ’72-’76 that in the label’s words represent every important Zamrock band.

The music blog wave has long ebbed and without much in the way of commiseration, but it’s worth noting that an occasional curatorial gem did shine amidst the sea of digitized record collections. For example, music blogs are where this writer first heard a pair of Zamrock’s most prolific acts, specifically the Ngozi Family and WITCH; in a positive turn, Now-Again has licensed full-length reissues of both (amongst others) and awarded them prominent positions on these two overviews of the style.

In terms of groove, Zamrock is certainly related to the sounds that emanated from Nigeria during the same period, but overall, the Zambian approach is distinguished by a larger ratio of rock in the mix, a circumstance that can be attributed to the impact of colonial rule. Having broken free from Britain less than a decade prior to the start of Welcome to Zamrock’s timeframe, the country’s reality is succinctly expressed in Now-Again’s choice of subtitle: How Zambia’s Liberation Led to a Rock Revolution.

The Ngozi Family’s “Hi Babe” is illustrative of the Zambian recipe, and it smartly opens side one of Vol. 1. The cut’s most striking element is a distortion-soaked guitar riff that registers far beyond fuzzy to the point of being downright serrated, the garage-like production bringing it a slightly muffled quality as the sharp crack of the drums strengthens the hard rock foundation.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Stop the presses because this is one whale of a story.

…Rocks Your Lame Ass is one of the lost gems of the ’90s and a record that has NEVER seen a vinyl pressing. Originating from Dallas, Texas, Hagfish is the perfect blend of punk and power-pop. …Rocks Your Lame Ass was a defining moment for the band. Produced by Descendents members Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton and originally released on London Records, it packs a Ramones-style wallop and birthed MTV music videos for the songs “Stamp” and “Happiness.” The band was voted Dallas’ best Alternative Rock/Pop act in 1996.

With blazing guitars courtesy of Zach Blair (Rise Against) and the nasal vocal delivery of George Reagan, …Rocks Your Lame Ass sizzles with two-minute punk and power-pop stylings that stick like glue. Porterhouse will create a 500-copy limited pressing for the LP on opaque orange vinyl, and the package will include liner notes with never-before-seen photos.

Pre-sales for a July 1st release are on, and they will go fast. Hagfish will support the release with live shows in the future.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Rusted Root were part of the first wave of post-hippie jam bands and perhaps the most commercially successful of ‘em all, as 1994’s When I Woke, their second record and first major label release, went platinum.

In fact, the band’s popularity transcends the bonds of this planet, as their hit “Send Me on My Way” was chosen as the “wake-up” music for the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity! But we Earthlings have heard that song everywhere on our own terrestrial airwaves, from sitcoms like New Girl to movies like Ice Age. Grateful Dead-style acoustic jams, Peter Gabriel-esque chants, and Graceland-like world beats infuse this music with both heady nostalgia and forward-looking fusion; latter-day bands like The Polyphonic Spree definitely owe a debt to Rusted Root.

But it’s the spiritual concerns of lead songwriter Michael Glabicki that lend When I Woke its healthy heft…this album’s got more on its mind than just having a good time (though it is all that and more!). For its long, long-awaited LP debut, we’ve had it remastered for vinyl and pressed it up as a double record in rust and blue sky vinyl, complete with an enclosed insert. Limited to 2500 copies—to quote another song on this album, pure “Ecstasy!”

Remembering Jackie Wilson, born on this day in 1934. —Ed.

Singer Jackie Wilson landed a slew of hit singles in the 1950s and early ’60s with a sophisticated strain of R&B that crossed over to the pop charts. In 1967, he managed a sizable comeback with the song for which he is now likely best remembered, “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.” The coinciding LP Higher and Higher, finds Wilson in strong form throughout with typically dynamic backing from members of the Funk Brothers.

To insinuate that Jackie Wilson is today a neglected figure would be ludicrous given how “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” has endured as a musical staple. It feels safe to say I’ve heard this tidy platter of pop-soul uplift at least 50 times while shopping for groceries alone, a number that can be doubled (probably tripled) when taking oldies station rotation into account.

To be clear, Wilson has other killer songs in his body of work, and to expand on his importance, he’s a crucial figure in bringing an admittedly smooth and erudite strain of R&B to wider acceptance. In turn, he helped lay the groundwork for soul music of a refined variety. But here’s another flat fact: Wilson hasn’t been well served in the vinyl reissue market, perhaps in part because none of the full-length albums he cut have grown into consensus classics.

Wilson recorded over two dozen albums between 1958 and 1976, but only a small number made a dent in either the R&B or the pop charts. But just as germane to the issue is how that many LPs is a surefire recipe for an uneven discography, especially considering Wilson’s penchant for Broadway show tunes and straight schmaltz (a tendency spanning back to the ’50s that necessitated his comeback).

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Third Man Records is proud to announce a very special 30th anniversary edition of Heatmiser’s landmark 1996 third and final album, Mic City Sons. Remastered and reimagined as a two-LP opus containing a set of rare demos and unreleased tracks, the expanded new version of Mic City Sons will be available via Third Man on standard black vinyl and limited-edition Sunset Pink Transparent & Starry Night Blue Glitter vinyl on Friday, July 25. Pre-orders/pre-saves are available now. 

A 12-song dynamo set to explode, Mic City Sons is both the sound of Heatmiser breaking up in real time as well as an era-defining slice of brilliance that lingers like the after-effects of lightning in the sky. Founded in 1991, the Portland, OR-based band—comprised of Neil Gust (vocals/guitar) Sam Coomes (bass), Tony Lash (drums), and the late Elliott Smith (vocals, guitar)—had won critical acclaim and a growing fan following for their darkly combustible brand of indie rock, earning them a major label deal with Virgin Records.

Heatmiser built their own studio in a shared house in Portland and set to work, joined by producers Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock (with whom Smith would go on to record his classic solo albums, Either/Or, XO, and Figure 8). Unfortunately, the sessions were fraught with interpersonal conflict, almost every moment a battle: Lash was a burgeoning gearhead, while Smith liked rough edges; Coomes sometimes felt Schnapf and Rothrock were breathing down his neck; and Gust lost his confidence as he and Smith grew apart due to his longtime friend and collaborator’s increased focus on his burgeoning solo career. “He became such a thing on his own, and then just disappeared from the plans we’d made together,” Neil Gust says. “It sucked.”

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I used to sleep well knowing that the English progressive rock band Family, like Savoy Brown and Steeleye Span, was one of those groups I could spend my entire life ignoring without having to worry I was missing something.

I was wrong. True, some of the songs on 1971’s Fearless—their fifth—are just what I expected: drab progressive rock with a folk edge. But they’re all over the place, and at their best, they’re surpassingly strange; the oddball odes “Sat’d’y Barfly” and “Blind” blow me away, and on several others, they more than hold their own. Family will never be a member of my family, but I’d be a poorer man for never hearing them.

Family are a conundrum—formed in 1966, they released their first album in 1968, and established a reputation as a formidable live act, one so formidable it’s been said “that the Jimi Hendrix Experience were afraid to follow them at festivals.” Maybe so, but I haven’t heard anything on their live albums that would make me think they gave Jimi a fright, and their studio albums are even less electrifying. True, lead vocalist Roger Chapman amazes with his totally idiosyncratic vocals—one writer described his voice as a “bleating vibrato” and another described him as an “electric goat,” and there’s no denying he’s an excitable boy. But a goat boy of a lead singer does not a great band make.

Family’s lineup underwent consistent changes over the course of their career, as did their sound from LP to LP, but come Fearless they featured Chapman on vocals; John “Charley” Whitney on guitar, mandolin, and percussion; John “Poli” Palmer on keyboards, backing vocals, vibes, flute, and percussion; John Wetton (who would ultimately move on to King Crimson) on bass, backing and lead vocals, guitars, contracts (?), and keyboards; and Rob Towsend on drums, Paiste cymbals, and percussion. Family were a crack outfit, but on Fearless they’re a crack outfit that occasionally bores me silly.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | “The Winchester Cathedral recordings showcase a one-of-a-kind outfit that was already at the peak of its powers, long before it became internationally famous. Sly is fully in command, while the unique arrangements and tighter-than-tight ensemble playing point clearly to the road ahead, and the enduring influence of Sly & The Family Stone’s music.” —Alec Palao

High Moon Records is proud to announce the official release of Sly & The Family Stone’s The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967, available Friday, July 18 on CD, LP, and digital download. This earliest live recording of the pioneering band is accompanied by a deluxe booklet with liner notes from the set’s GRAMMY®-nominated producer Alec Palao, featuring exclusive interviews with Sly Stone and all of the original band members, never-before-seen photos, rare memorabilia, and more. The CD edition includes a bonus performance of Otis Redding’s classic “Try A Little Tenderness.” An electrifying “I Gotta Go Now / Funky Broadway,” premieres today.

Sly & The Family Stone were true pioneers on so many levels: black/white, male/female, rock/soul, the act shattered all preconceptions of what popular music could be and would go on to become one of the most innovative and influential groups the world has ever witnessed. Originally released as a sold-out, limited edition LP, earlier this year for Record Store Day, The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967 is an electrifying live performance by the original Family Stone line-up, a full year before their chart breakthrough with “Dance To The Music.”

This fascinating recording was featured in Questlove’s critically acclaimed 2025 documentary, Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) and spotlights Sly Stone’s singular brilliance on a tremendously exciting and atmospheric set of vintage soul covers and original compositions, peppered with the arrangements, motifs, and intoxicating energy that would soon become familiar during the group’s ascent.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Bear Family Records® is proud to announce the July 11th re-release of the second soul/blues album Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland recorded in Los Angeles during 1973/’74: His California Album, another milestone in soul/blues history on high-quality 180 gram vinyl.

Bland is quite justly regarded as one of the greatest US blues, soul, and R&B singers of all time. Producer Steve Barri—also responsible for Dreamer (BAF18029) the following year—brought guitarists Larry Carlton, Mel Brown, and Dean Parks, among others, into the studio to create this flawless album. Stand-out tracks include “This Time I’m Gone For Good,” “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right,” and “Help Me Through The Day,” all classics of the genre. This first reissue on 180-gram vinyl has been carefully remastered, and the original cover art has been reproduced.

When Bear Family released Dreamer by Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland (1930–2013) on vinyl for the first time since its original release, they had no idea of the demand for that record. In 1973/’74, Steve Barri produced two albums in Los Angeles with perhaps the greatest soul/blues singer of all time, which both met with a mixed reception at the time. After more than 50 years, however, Dreamer and its predecessor, His California Album, sound cool and timeless, and have become fantastic classics. The chant of the church combined with deep blues in Bland’s interpretation is incredibly moving, and the melancholy in his voice sounds so emotional, sometimes heartbreaking, and at times cool and soft.

Bland could be tough, but he also possessed the crooner qualities of Nat ‘King’ Cole, for example. With both LPs on ABC Dunhill and the subsequent records with B.B. King, he reached a wider audience. His California Album is the perfect synthesis of black soul and blues from the South and the coolness and laid-back attitude of Los Angeles.

Celebrating Tom Jones in advance of his 85th birthday tomorrow.
—Ed.

What’s new pussycat? For starters, the legendary Tom Jones—that manly hunk of a man with the curly crop of black hair and awe-inspiring mutton chop sideburns—is back with a new LP, 2021’s Surrounded by Time. So what you ask? Well consider this—the world’s most beloved Las Vegas casino lounge act is 80-years-old and still has the mighty baritone pipes that propelled him to fame with “It’s Not Unusual” back in 1964.

What sets Jones apart from his contemporaries is his dedication to keeping up with the trends. Most have opted to play it safe, sticking to the sentimental favorites beloved by their aging fan bases. They may toss in an “edgy” number along the lines of “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Bad Bad Leroy Brown,” but you’re far more likely to be subjected to such dentures-pleasing tear-jerkers like “The Little White Cloud That Cried” and “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast.”

Such isn’t the case with Jones, who has taken risks galore. Try to imagine Engelbert Humperdinck singing “Sex Bomb,” a collaboration between Jones and German DJ Mousse T—or “Burning Down the House.” Why Jones hasn’t gotten around to covering the Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen” is a mystery.

On Surrounded by Time Jones shakes things up even more than unusual, singing covers of artists from alt-country stalwart Todd Snider, The Waterboys, Tony Callier, Cat Stevens, and Bob Dylan. And I’m not talking about done-to-death Stevens/Dylan wheezers like “Morning Has Broken” or “Lay Lady Lay.” No, Jones dives deep and comes up with Stevens’ “Popstar” and Dylan’s “One More Cup of Coffee.”

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Mona Kayhan owns The Bridge, a large-room recording studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This stunning space is devoted to making exceptional recordings in a manner that has become less common and upholding the tradition of sonic excellence.

The new tradition that should also be celebrated here is that this space is a woman-owned commercial recording studio. Mona and I talked about her training as a classical pianist, making field recordings of traditional music in West Africa with Griot masters, working at indie labels, starting the Electronic Music School at the forefront of Dubstep, running stages at Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, and her deep love of artists and making them heard.

Radar features discussions with artists and industry leaders who are creators and devotees of music and is produced by Dylan Hundley and The Vinyl District. Dylan Hundley is an artist and performer, and the co-creator and lead singer of Lulu Lewis and all things at Darling Black. She co-curates and hosts Salon Lulu which is a New York based multidisciplinary performance series. She is also a cast member of the iconic New York film Metropolitan.

I love this album. I love that it’s a sprawling mess, I love it for its good songs and bad songs, and I love it for the demo-like quality of said songs, but I love 2013’s Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter most because everybody’s Prince Charming couldn’t have made a weirder and more contrarian comeback album. Adam Ant is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter, is Ant’s Exile on Main Street, but unlike the Stones, Ant was a real exile, a forgotten man, a has-been.

Some eighteen years had passed since Ant (aka Stuart Leslie Goddard) released 1995’s Wonderful. During the long hiatus, Ant wrote his autobiography and dabbled. And struggled with mental illness. “The Blueblack Hussar is me coming back to life,” he told one interviewer. “I’m like The Terminator—I was a dead man walking.” Which doesn’t make a lick of sense, but you get what he’s saying. Ant was back amongst the living, and for all its very human flaws, Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter is the proof. The album has more red blood coursing through its veins than just about any album I can think of.

On Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter Ant did exactly what he wanted, fashion and chart success be damned. I don’t hear a big number one hit single amongst its seventeen tracks, and I doubt Ant did either, but apparently he didn’t care. Its one single, “Cool Zombie,” died an awful death, gasping its last at Number 154 on the UK charts before being unceremoniously buried in the Potter’s Field of British pop flops. England’s Prince Charming had apparently decided he’d sooner be the Mad King of Bavaria.

This is not Antmusic. Gone are the Goody Two Shoes persona, the Burundi drums, and catchy pop proclivities. AA began the project with long-time collaborator Marco Pirroni, but they decided to go their separate ways. He then recorded the album on a laptop computer with long-time Morrissey collaborator Boz Boorer. He also co-wrote several songs with 3 Colours Red guitarist Chris McCormack.

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