"Every Day I Have The Blues: The Sixties Anthology" by ALEXIS KORNER (November 2018 UK Grapefruit Records UK 3CD Clamshell Box Set - 2006/2007 Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Prayer Meeting..."

'The Alexis Korner Collection – The Godfather Of British Blues Remastered' series of digital reissues put out by Castle Music of the UK in 2006 and 2007 numbered nine expanded albums alone - roughly covering his first decade of music from 1962 to 1972. There was also one all-eras double-CD compilation called "Kornerstoned" in 2006 to round off that huge haul up to ten (I loved that set - the last song on Disc 2 here "Rosie (Alternate Version)" was an exclusive to that 2CD compilation). But all are now deleted and in many cases very expensive to acquire on the used market. There have also been wads of other CD reissues (before and since) touching on the same territory.

So with so many albums and off-cuts to his credit spread across too many disparate compilations  - how good is it to see this gorgeous 2018 Box Set from current day reissue kings Grapefruit Records of the UK finally gather together a huge chuck of his primo 60ts output and associations into one sweetly presented place and at a good price too (Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser from Free are here amongst other luminaries). And even if there isn't technically a wad of newbee Previously Unreleased material (which is a bit of a disappointment) – the jam-packed playing times of each remastered disc more than makes up for it. And I for one am digging the sheer scope of what's on offer too. First, a potted breakdown...

Across 66-Tracks, "Every Day I Have The Blues..." includes songs from the nine albums "R&B From The Marquee" (November 1962, 9 of 12 tracks), "Red Hot From Alex" (June 1964, 5 Tracks), "Rhythm & Blues" (October 1964, 1 Track), "At The Cavern" (October 1964, 6 Tracks), "Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated" (June 1965, 5 Tracks), "Sky High" (April 1966, 9 Tracks of 15), "A New Generation Of Blues" (July 1968, 8 Tracks of 11 in Stereo), "Both Sides" (May 1970, 6 Tracks from a Dutch LP) and "Bootleg Him!" – an August 1972 2LP compilation of 60ts and 70ts outtakes (9 Tracks). There is also a rare acoustic-guitar song from an early British EP with Davy Graham, single and flexi sides, CD compilation exclusives and much more. Here are the intricate details...

UK released 22 November 2018 - "Every Day I Have The Blues: The Sixties Anthology" by ALEXIS KORNER on Grapefruit Records CRSEGBOX048 (Barcode 5013929184800) is a 3CD Retrospective in a Clamshell Box with Mini LP Sleeves and Booklet. It plays out as follows:

Disc One "Night Time In The Right Time" (77:40 minutes):

1. 3/4 A.D. - ALEXIS KORNER with DAVY GRAHAM

2. She Fooled Me - BLUES INCORPORATED

3. Gotta Move

4. Rain Is Such A Lonesome Sound

5. I Got My Brand On You

6. Keep Your Hands Off

7. I Wanna Put A Tiger In Your Tank

8. I Got My Mojo Working

9. Down Town

10. How Long, How Long Blues

11. I Thought I Heard That Train Whistle Blow

12. I'm Built For Comfort (Aka Everything She Needs)

13. Up-Town

14. Rockin'

15. Night Time Is The Right Time

16. See See Rider

17. Blue Mink

18. Rainy Tuesday

19. Yogi

20. Sappho

21. Preachin' The Blues

22. Taboo Man

23. Whoa Babe

24. Every Day I Have The Blues

25. Well All Right, O.K., You Win

Disc Two "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" (79:28 minutes):

1. Little Bitty Gal Blues

2. Hoochie Coochie Man

3. Kansas City

4. Woke Up This Morning

5. Stormy Monday

6. Cabbage Greens

7. Chicken Shack

8. Haitian Fight Song

9. I Need Your Loving

10. Please Please Please

11. Little Baby

12. Roberta (Single Version)

13. I Got A Woman

14. Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me

15. Long Black Train

16. Rock Me

17. I'm So Glad

18. Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting

19. Oo-Wee Baby

20. River's Invitation

21. Money Honey

22. Louise

23. Floating

24. Rosie (Alternative Version)

Disc Three "What's That Sound I Hear" (79:35 minutes):

1. Yellow Dog Blues

2. The Love You Save

3. Corina, Corina

4. Mary Open The Door

5. Little Bitty Girl

6. Go Down Sunshine

7. The Same For You

8. I'm Tore Down

9. In The Evening

10. Somethin' You Got

11. What's That Sound I Hear

12. I Wonder Who? (Alternative Version)

13. Operator

14. Steal Away

15. Mighty Mighty (Spade And Whitey)

16. Funky

17. Wild Injun Woman

18. To Whom It May Concern

19. I See It

20. You Don't Miss Your Water

Each of the themed-CDs has a period photo - Blues Incorporated for Disc One with Cyril Davies and Dick Heckstall-Smith, Alexis alone in the recording studio on a chair for Disc Two and for Disc Three – Alexis with his trademark rounded hipster black glasses and an acoustic guitar at a gig microphone. The 22-page booklet features new liner notes from noted writer DAVID WELLS and has all the Ace of Clubs, Decca and Liberty album sleeves, loads of trade adverts from NME, Evening Standard, Melody Maker and Jazz News, those rare Blues Incorporated Parlophone singles, a flyer for a Champion Jack Dupree gig with Al Sykes and Alexis on the same December bill (six schillings at the door!) and even a picture of Herbie Goins during the recording of the "Red Hot From Alex" LP. It's very tastefully done.

There is no mastering credit so it’s got to be the Sanctuary/Castle Music remasters done in 2006 and 2007 and they reflect the recording standards of the time – a lot of the basically-recorded Mono on Disc 1 is good to ok, while Discs 2 and 3 get better and 3 in particularly (largely Stereo) sounds amazing (the late Sixties outtakes on the cool "Bootleg Him!" double are hair-raising).

It opens with a very cool and wonderfully recorded acoustic duet instrumental "3/4 A.D." recorded April 1961 and released March 1962 on the uber-rare British "Alexis Korner/Davy Graham EP" on Topic Records TOP 70 - a tune that's more John Renbourn Folk than Blues. It's followed by the first of the "Bootleg Him!" outtakes - a cover of Billy Boyd Arnold's "She Fooled Me" as done by Blues Incorporated. The lavishly presented 20-track "Bootleg Him!" double-album first appeared August 1972 in the UK on Mickie Most's RAK Records SRAKSP 51 and "She Fooled Me" is one of the earliest cuts on that trawl-haul, recorded January 1962. Even then Alexis's voice had that cool to it - and if you can forgive the terribly sexist lyrics, you can enjoy Cyril Davies warbling so effectively on the Harp.

"Gotta Move" is a good Korner original - a boogie instrumental from the groundbreaking November 1962 British LP "R&B At The Marquee" on Decca's budget label Ace Of Hearts ACL 1130 (credited to Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated). Better is the fantastically evocative vocals of the dapper Long John Baldry fronting a cover of Jimmy Witherspoon's "Rain Is Such A Lonesome Sound" as Cyril lays into the Harmonica in between verses - another winner from the "Marquee" LP. Speaking of Cyril Davies, he finally steps up to the microphone on the Willie Dixon-penned Muddy Waters song "I've Got My Brand On You" and while he was never Baldry or Korner in terms of sheer expressiveness - I've always thought Cyril's vocals just as good as say John Mayall (he also fronts "I Wanna To Put A Tiger In Your Tank" and "Got My Mojo Working" on the same LP). Baldry returns two more times to great effect on "How Long, How Long Blues" (a Leroy Carr cover) and his own composition "I Thought I Heard That Train Whistle Blow" which nicks lyrics from the Carr song.

The audio takes a leap upwards for the five tunes featured from the June 1965 LP "Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated" originally on Ace Of Clubs ACL 1187. All are instrumentals – four Alexis originals and a cover of the Son House classic "Preachin’ The Blues". Top audio or not, I wish I could say I’ve always enjoyed them but they’ve always felt plodding to me – strangely dull. Better is the greasy and dirty live recording of "Whao Babe" from the October 1964 UK LP "At The Cavern" originally on Oriole PS 40058 – an AK original that at least has heart amidst a manic letting rip. Herbie Goins does lead vocals on the second and third "At The Cavern" inclusions – the set’s title tune "Every Day I Have The Blues" and "Well All Right, O.K., You Win" – Alexis announcing him as “...someone you can sing...” while Dave Castle plays a blinder on Saxophone behind a clearly inebriated band (Malcolm Saul on Organ).

Disc 2 offers three more "At The Cavern" instalments – a cracking groove for Big Joe Turner's "Little Bitty Gal Blues" – once again Dave Castle complimenting an Alexis' vocal with superb Saxophone fills. The other two are the Willie Dixon Chess Records classic "Hoochie Coochie Man" (made famous by Muddy Waters) and Lieber/Stoller's Wilbert Harrison rocker "Kansas City" sung by Herbie Goins. Upping the audio again - Goins adds some of that vocal class to five from the superb "Red Hot From Alex" set, a June 1964 UK LP on Transatlantic Records TRA 117. The band features Danny Thompson of Pentangle fame on Double Bass while Dave Castle gets to drag out the flute for a cool version of T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday" - a gorgeous groove. Dick Heckstall-Smith also returns for Saxophone on "Chicken Shack" along with fellow horn player Art Thelmen. But my faves on Disc 2 are two quiet Acoustic and Harmonica shuffles from the lesser-seen June 1966 UK LP "Sky High" on Spot JW 551 - a Johnny Temple cover of "Louise" and his own "Floating" - just Acoustic and naught else. Nice...

Disc 3 has the sensational "Steal Away" recorded September 1968 before Robert Plant had joined Page's motley crew as Led Zeppelin's front man. It's pure 'Zep I' territory, Plant wailing in that fantastic Bluesy voice while Korner answers in mumbles. It could even double as a debut outtake. Zeppelin famously included a nod to "Steal Away" by incorporating a snippet of it in "How Many More Times" - the song that ends Side 2 of their explosive January 1969 debut on Atlantic Records. Another forgotten gem is the "Both Sides" album from May 1970 issued in Germany on Metronome Records and in the Netherlands on Phillips 6413 008 (its this version they use). Andy Fraser of Free plays Bass on the album while the subtly distinctive vocals of Paul Rodgers can also be heard duetting with Korner on "To Whom It May Concern" - while Avant Garde artist Lol Coxhill lends his saxophone warbles to Korner's cover of Free's "Wild Indian Woman" (mysteriously respelled as "Wild Injun Woman"). Korner's love of Soul Music is very prominent on the "Both Sides" album too – he covers The Staples Singers "Soul Folk In Action" LP cut "I See It", William Bell's classic "You Don't Miss Your Water" (how I cry) and Curtis Mayfield's call for racial social justice in "Mighty Mighty (Spade And Whitey)" – Paul Rodgers of Free joining him on the backing vocals. Very tasty...

If ever an artist/catalyst deserved reverence and remembrance, then the part-Greek, part-Turk, part-Austrian and yet somehow all-English Alexis Korner is that guy. Along with Cyril Davies and John Mayall - Korner is often referred to as 'the Godfather of British Blues' and these three themed-CDs show why. A great reminder of a great artist (with a whole lotta help from others)...

"It's The Beer Talking - Adventures In Public Houses" by IAN CLAYTON (Paperback, Route Publishing, February 2019) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Bet Your Bollocks On It!"

Characters and more characters...

When I worked at Reckless Records in Soho's Berwick Street – I'd be standing there, all magnificent and humble - vacuuming dry yet another Atlantic Plum label LP on our whizz-bang ding-dang-dolally Loricraft PRC 6. Judging it an act of extraordinary generosity (and nay even compassion) – I'd often regale to the young lads and lassies that worked with me (lucky sods), that as an Irishman my absolute favourite thing about England and English people is their lunacy. They're all mad. Even the ones who tell you they're quite sane and have a fabulously convincing front of normalcy (and possibly even possess impressively typed bits of paper to prove it) – they're almost always the worst. Nuts the whole dang lot of them. Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. And I love it...

I mean the Irish are bonkers for sure too – and famously so – what with the marauding Viking blood coursing through our hirsute Celtic groins and Shamrock-Shaped Y-Fronts (you want a pair of those don't you) – a land where fine looking women turn into swans for no good reason and then go and live on a lake for a thousand years (weeping and wailing the entire time), a country traumatised by the sheer volume of all those Lord Of The Dance costumes and Michael Flatley comebacks, where Guinness is prescribed for acne and toothaches (tastes good but doesn't fix either) and people consume pancake-sized mushrooms just to make it through the 80ts mix tape  on the last bus home. Mad, mad, mad - mad as a ring-dum-a-doo-dum-a-da (whack for your Daddy-O) - in a land where men are men, sheep worry and seagulls fly in pairs.

But we pale into mere insignificance against the towering achievement of the British - the biz-snitz when it comes to bonkers. And at long last along comes an entire book of such people and their lifestyles to bolster up my long held views – views it has to be said that have often been questioned and even ridiculed by longhaired types of lesser bearing (probably bloody foreigners - see Daily Mail for incontrovertible proof).

Ever since his first widely acclaimed tome on Music and its effect on his life "Bringing It All Back Home" – I've had genuine warmth for Ian Clayton's writing and superb knack of recollection, his way of bringing those tiny moments of life and connection into your living room – in short the kind of writer that makes you smile and think. Well once again Clayton has gathered together the stories of characters he's met along life's pathways and collated together their often whacky motivation. These are the kind of nutjobs that can only be found in pubs – especially ones where the beer is good and the landlord even more nutty than the dog asleep under the darts board with half a tail and an eye once reputedly owned by Napoleon.

Inside "It's The Beer Talking – Adventures In Public Houses" (published by Route, February 2019) you'll meet rugby fans in Pontefract pubs with a roaring thirst after a good game, men stripping down Triumph motorbikes that refuse to work (but they do it anyway), Delaney the Irish road digger who downs a gallon of pints and then sweats that off on miles of tarmac, Ianto the Cornish scaffolder who'll polish off a half dozen Tetley Bitters in 35 minutes and work the planks and girders until dark without incident, Josie the tough but warmhearted Irish landlady who'd feed the shivering workers still waiting for payday to make sure they didn't do themselves and their already old bodies a mischief and the shifty womaniser 'Suitcase John' - out the window and gone in the morning. In its pages you'll encounter railway pubs that smell of sweat and wintergreen and have portly bartenders who wipe glasses with towels close to being condemned as bio-hazardous material. You get knackered decades-old but inviting snugs in watering holes with names like The Jubilee, The Greyhound, The Junction, The Green Dragon and The Travellers Rest – boozers that have poured thousands of glasses of Bass, Tadcaster, Old Peculiar, Adnams, Pedigree and Sam Smith by Tuesday night let alone the busy weekend. Bars where broody out-of-work miners itching for some fisticuffs would be told by tough landlords to 'cut it out lads'.

And on the opposite end of the social scales, there's the dapper Mr. and Mrs. Whitney-Mayo who ate Kippers and Dundee Marmalade for breakfast and had been tea planters in India back in the days of the Raj. There's the curmudgeonly old landlord Ron Crabtree who served a beer of legendary flooring power called Enoch's Hammer - named after a bit of machinery some welders broke (it had the same effect on your brain). Pubs where Northern Men would discuss ferrets, roll-ups, the game on Wednesday, the state of some of the pillocks on Mastermind, the beautiful cisterns of original Thomas Crapper loos, the life-affirming joy of Motown, Stax and Atlantic 45s, the curves of Sonja Kristina in Curved Air and the psychedelic escape pod of Spirit's "Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus" vs. the proletariat's plight highlighted in Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" - and all whilst rectifying the problems of Western civilisation by closing time.

Clayton doesn't just scour England for the perfect pint and chat either – he casts his public house net far and wide. There's Jurgen and Volker and the young hipster types in the Katzengold Bar (Fool's Good) in Wuppertal in Northern Germany where a perfect pint of Pils can often takes up to the seven minutes to pour. He's sampled bottles of Fruh Kolsch in China, supped real ale at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague and loved the purity of the beer brewed in Bavaria to the Reinheitsgebot laws that go back to the Middle Ages – an enlightened Euro settlement where pipes from the local brewery go underground and literally into the bars of the town. And on it goes in his search for the perfect pint accompanied by a congenial natter...

You meet people in life who seem to think that others are largely there for their amusement. Ian Clayton isn't one of those life-voyeurs. He's inquisitive, talkative, interested in your story, your ups and downs and even your heartache (he, his wife Heather and his family have had a few of their own). But what occurs time and time again throughout the text is that he's connecting – luxuriating in expression and banter - seeking out people - especially if it leads to that precious stuff called friendship. You would imagine Ian has a lot of friends who value him and isn't that the loveliest thing to say of anyone, let alone a writer. We should all be so lucky.

I enjoyed "It's The Beer Talking – Adventures In Public Houses" so much and I think you will too – take time to make friends with it...

Obscure But Beautiful Cover Version by ELIZABETH FRASER [of Cocteau Twins] of a CHIC Song... (2003 Rough Trade CD)

Obscure But Beautiful Cover Version of a CHIC song

by ELIZABETH FRASER [of Cocteau Twins] 

"At Last I Am Free"...

A real obscuro this...

"At Last I Am Free" first turned up as a Disco/Soul ballad on the second studio album "C'est Chic" by CHIC in November 1978 on Atlantic Records - penned of course by the mighty duo of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers (I think Luther Vandross might have been one of the backing singers too).

Here the stunning vocals of The Cocteau Twins' lead singer Elizabeth Fraser takes that forgotten lovely and gives it a new lease of life in 2003 whilst still retaining the heartbreak melody that Edwards and Rogers always had in the original.

Elizabeth's version is on "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before..." - a 16-Track cover versions CD compilation put out September 2003 in the UK to celebrate 25 Years of independent releases on Rough Trade Records (Rough Trade RTRADECD100 – Barcode 5050159810024). Each of the 16 artists covers a diverse set of tunes – Aztec Camera has their "We Could Send Letters" done by Mystic Chords Of Memory, Galaxie 500 has "Tugboat" taken on by British Sea Power while Young Marble Giants see their "Final Day" stabbed at by Belle & Sebastian. Royal City do an acoustic pretty version of "Is This It" by The Strokes while Delays pop up the slight menace in the Mazzy Star tune "Ride It On". And so on...

In truth, its probably more likely that Liz Frasier based her version of "At Last I Am Free" on a Robert Wyatt cover of the song that showed up on an Italian Rough Trade LP in 1981 - the self-titled "Robert Wyatt" album issued on Base Records.

Whatever you look at it - along with Tom Smith's equally obscure cover of Prefab Sprout's "Bonny" (Tom Smith of The Editors) and Peter Gabriel's truly innovative strip down of David Bowie's "Heroes" - its one of those rare occasions in music where the second-go-round compliments the first - or (it could be argued) even equals it.

Gorgeous and then some...

"Cosmic Truth/Higher Than High" by THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH (27 February 2019 UK Ace/Kent Soul Compilation - 2LPs Remastered Onto 2CDs) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Spaced Out..."

Between July 1971 and April 1979 - Norman Whitfield's Motown Soul/Funk band THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH issued eight studio albums in the USA - six on Gordy Records and the final two on his own label Whitfield Records (they were on Tamla Motown and Whitfield in the UK). And much like that other off-kilter Motown act RARE EARTH - their digital output has been a minefield for fans across the decades.

Well at last, with this 27 February 2019 twofer release, Ace Records of the UK (via their Kent-Soul label imprint) has plugged the final CD gaps - their fifth and sixth albums "Cosmic Truth" and "Higher Than High" both from 1975 on Gordy Records (March and October). So for fans of this wicked and often underrated band - this 2019 double-disc reissue will finally allow to purchase their entire catalogue on CD (see list below) and I for one couldn't be a happier Little Red Riding Hood (cosmically speaking of course). Here are the boogie bump boogie details...

UK released Wednesday, 27 February 2019 - "Cosmic Truth/Higher Than High" by THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH on Ace/Kent-Soul CDTOP2 483 (Barcode 029667093828) offers two albums from 1975 Remastered onto 2CDs (no bonus material) and they play out as follows:

CD1 "Cosmic Truth" (41:20 minutes):

1. Earthquake Shake [Side 1]

2. Down By The River

3. UFO's

4. Lil' Red Ridin' Hood

5. Squeeze Me, Tease Me

6. Spaced Out [Side 2]

7. Got To Get My Hands On Some Lovin'

8. 1990

9. (I Know) I'm Losin' You

Tracks 1 to 9 are their fifth studio album "Cosmic Truth" - released March 1975 in the USA on Gordy Records G6-970S1 and June 1975 in the UK on Tamla Motown STMA 8023. Produced and Arranged by NORMAN WHITFIELD - it peaked at No. 44 on the US R&B LP charts (didn't chart UK)

Disc 2 "Higher Than High" (39:40 minutes):

1. Higher Than High [Side 1]

2. Poontang

3. Life Ain't So Easy

4. Boogie Bump Boogie

5. Help Yourself [Side 2]

6. I'm In The Red Zone

7. Overload

8. I Saw You When You Met Her

9. Ma

Tracks 1 to 9 are their sixth studio album "Higher Than High" - released October 1975 in the USA on Gordy Records G6-972S1 and November 1975 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 12009. Produced and Arranged by NORMAN WHITFIELD - it peaked at No. 52 on the US R&B LP charts (didn't chart UK)

Overlooking the alarming period photo of five gold and silver painted faces beneath bleached white afros that adorns the fullness of the centre pages for the 16-page booklet (it might be cosmic man, but my God do they look silly) - Soul and Funk aficionado and long-time associate to Ace and other reissue labels TONY ROUNCE provides the suitable loaded and affection liner notes. They're packed with repros of US and UK single labels, rare Euro picture sleeves for "Poontang", "Earthquake Shake", "Higher Than High" and "I Saw You When You Met Her" as well as Promo Photos and LP labels. It's a typically thorough job and the NICK ROBBINS Remasters pack a hefty punch. Great stuff as you would expect from Ace...

The full album cut of "Earthquake Shake" opens proceedings on a fabulous and frantic funky groove - disappearing half way through the song into almost silence (probably though it would make a great single edit) before the Funk slides back on in like a dude entering a bar (the "Cosmic Truth" album opener is a co-write with Joe Harris). Whitfield's band then dives into unusual territory - a fantastic cover version of Neil Young's "Down By The River" from his second album in 1969, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere". Across its six and half minutes, the pace is slowed right down, turning a once hard-edged angry rocking tune and converting it into an ache ballad, the Isley Brothers fuzz guitar floating over sublime vocals. Reminds me of the best tracks on September 1971's "Givin' It Back" by The Isley Brothers where they Soul-ified a whole album of contemporary Rock tunes. It segues right into more drum-driven Funk - the very cool "UFO's" telling us that there's unidentified objects in the sky and the concerned band wants to know where do these uptight lights come from? It was an obvious single and in April 1975 Gordy paired it with "Got To Get My Hands On Some Lovin'" on the B-side of Gordy G 7143F but the Hendrix trippy vocal and groove didn't chart. As far back as October 1974, Gordy had issued "Lil' Red Riddin' Hood" as a US 45 ahead of the "Cosmic Truth" album with "Big John Is My Name" from 1974's "Down To Earth" as its B-side (Gordy G 7140F). It's 'funny smelling cigarette' lyrics reflected the times and again it's a fab Whitfield groove amped up with layers of vocals and stinging guitars over on the left channel. Cool and Funky cuts like "Spaced Out" give us floating keyboard notes that reflect the song's title while their returns to "1990" and a six-minute "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (both originally done by The Temptations) pour on the spacey synth notes and chug-a-bug grooves while telling the people there's trouble in the White House as Americans walk the streets with no food breathing dirty air. Love the whole damn album...

Between July 1971 and April 1979 - Norman Whitfield's Motown Soul/Funk band THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH issued eight studio albums in the USA - six on Gordy Records and the final two on his own label Whitfield Records (they were on Tamla Motown and Whitfield in the UK). And much like that other off-kilter Motown act RARE EARTH - their digital output has been a minefield for fans across the decades.

Well at last, with this 27 February 2019 twofer release, Ace Records of the UK (via their Kent-Soul label imprint) has plugged the final CD gaps - their fifth and sixth albums "Cosmic Truth" and "Higher Than High" both from 1975 on Gordy Records (March and October). So for fans of this wicked and often underrated band - this 2019 double-disc reissue will finally allow to purchase their entire catalogue on CD (see list below) and I for one couldn't be a happier Little Red Riding Hood (cosmically speaking of course). Here are the boogie bump boogie details...

UK released Wednesday, 27 February 2019 - "Cosmic Truth/Higher Than High" by THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH on Ace/Kent-Soul CDTOP2 483 (Barcode 029667093828) offers two albums from 1975 Remastered onto 2CDs (no bonus material) and they play out as follows:

CD1 "Cosmic Truth" (41:20 minutes):

1. Earthquake Shake [Side 1]

2. Down By The River

3. UFO's

4. Lil' Red Ridin' Hood

5. Squeeze Me, Tease Me

6. Spaced Out [Side 2]

7. Got To Get My Hands On Some Lovin'

8. 1990

9. (I Know) I'm Losin' You

Tracks 1 to 9 are their fifth studio album "Cosmic Truth" - released March 1975 in the USA on Gordy Records G6-970S1 and June 1975 in the UK on Tamla Motown STMA 8023. Produced and Arranged by NORMAN WHITFIELD - it peaked at No. 44 on the US R&B LP charts (didn't chart UK)

Disc 2 "Higher Than High" (39:40 minutes):

1. Higher Than High [Side 1]

2. Poontang

3. Life Ain't So Easy

4. Boogie Bump Boogie

5. Help Yourself [Side 2]

6. I'm In The Red Zone

7. Overload

8. I Saw You When You Met Her

9. Ma

Tracks 1 to 9 are their sixth studio album "Higher Than High" - released October 1975 in the USA on Gordy Records G6-972S1 and November 1975 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 12009. Produced and Arranged by NORMAN WHITFIELD - it peaked at No. 52 on the US R&B LP charts (didn't chart UK)

Overlooking the alarming period photo of five gold and silver painted faces beneath bleached white afros that adorns the fullness of the centre pages for the 16-page booklet (it might be cosmic man, but my God do they look silly) - Soul and Funk aficionado and long-time associate to Ace and other reissue labels TONY ROUNCE provides the suitable loaded and affection liner notes. They're packed with repros of US and UK single labels, rare Euro picture sleeves for "Poontang", "Earthquake Shake", "Higher Than High" and "I Saw You When You Met Her" as well as Promo Photos and LP labels. It's a typically thorough job and the NICK ROBBINS Remasters pack a hefty punch. Great stuff as you would expect from Ace...

The full album cut of "Earthquake Shake" opens proceedings on a fabulous and frantic funky groove - disappearing half way through the song into almost silence (probably though it would make a great single edit) before the Funk slides back on in like a dude entering a bar (the "Cosmic Truth" album opener is a co-write with Joe Harris). Whitfield's band then dives into unusual territory - a fantastic cover version of Neil Young's "Down By The River" from his second album in 1969, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere". Across its six and half minutes, the pace is slowed right down, turning a once hard-edged angry rocking tune and converting it into an ache ballad, the Isley Brothers fuzz guitar floating over sublime vocals. Reminds me of the best tracks on September 1971's "Givin' It Back" by The Isley Brothers where they Soul-ified a whole album of contemporary Rock tunes. It segues right into more drum-driven Funk - the very cool "UFO's" telling us that there's unidentified objects in the sky and the concerned band wants to know where do these uptight lights come from? It was an obvious single and in April 1975 Gordy paired it with "Got To Get My Hands On Some Lovin'" on the B-side of Gordy G 7143F but the Hendrix trippy vocal and groove didn't chart.

As far back as October 1974, Gordy had issued "Lil' Red Ridin' Hood" as a US 45 ahead of the "Cosmic Truth" album with "Big John Is My Name" from 1974's "Down To Earth" as its B-side (Gordy G 7140F). Its 'funny smelling cigarette' lyrics reflected the times and again it's a fab Whitfield groove amped up with layers of vocals and stinging guitars over on the left channel. Cool and Funky cuts like "Spaced Out" give us floating keyboard notes that reflect the song's title while their returns to "1990" and a six-minute guitar-work-out of "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (both originally done by The Temptations) pour on the spacey synth notes and chug-a-bug grooves while telling the people there's no love in the White House as poor Americans walk the streets with no food and their children are breathing in dirty air. Funky and still amazingly relevant – I love the whole damn album. The second album presented here "Higher Than High" simply offers up more of the same - and again with a shockingly high quality rate. Cuts like the Sly & The Family Stone homemade feel to "Poontang" (Hollywood types beware) and the piano-groove of "I'm In The Red Zone" are just brilliant. Gotta tell you papa indeed.

A really great reissue then from Kent-Soul (should we expect anything less) and one that fans will eat up. I miss Funk and Soul like this - rare grooves, social commentary, damn but them was the days my man...

By way of info for fans - THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH CD REISSUES, A 2019 LIST:

1. "Nothing But The Truth – 3 Motown Albums on 2 CDS Plus Bonus Tracks"

Issued 25 August 2017 in the UK on Ace/Kent Soul CDTOP2 469 (Barcode 029667084628)

Contains "The Undisputed Truth" Debut US LP from July 1971, third album "Law Of The Land" from July 1973 and fourth LP "Down To Earth" from August 1974 (all on Gordy Records) Plus Six Bonus Tracks

2. "Face To Face With The Truth" - their second album from February 1972 on Gordy Records – first reissued May 2003 as a CD Remaster on Universal Music Group/Gordy/Miracle Records 067 100-2 (Barcode 044006710020) - see review

3. "Face To Face With The Truth" – June 2015 second CD Reissue of their second album on Universal/Elemental 88509 (Barcode 8435395500941)

4. "Cosmic Truth/Higher Than High" – Their Fifth and Sixth albums both from 1975 on Gordy Records (March and October), reissued 27 February 2019 in the UK on Ace/Kent Soul CDTOP2 483 (Barcode 029667093828) on 2CDs (no bonus material) – review above

5. "Method To The Madness/Smokin'" – their seventh and eight albums from January 1977 and April 1979 on Whitfield Records reissued 20 November 2015 in the UK on Robinsongs WROBIN2CDD (Barcode 5013929950221) as a 2CD set (no bonus tracks) - see review