"A's & B's" by HUE & CRY [Patrick and Greg Kane] - 1986 to 2008 Single Sides, Album Tracks and Non-LP Rarities - Mostly 1986 to 1990 on Circa and Blairhill Records (October 2012 UK Demon Music Group/Music Club Deluxe 2CD Compilation) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"…Your Words Hit Me…"

Like Deacon Blue, Love And Money, The Fat Lady Sings, Lies Damned Lies and Del Amitri - in the late Eighties and early Nineties I collected all their CD singles avidly. But it wasn’t for the edited or remixed A's – but the non-album B-sides which were often better than the commercially restricted radio hits. Scotland's wonderful HUE & CRY featuring Soul brothers Patrick and Greg Kane were the same - launching their career on Virgin's Circa Records in 1987 (still going in 2023) - Circa being the home of cool and quality artists like songstress Julia Fordham and Billy MacKenzie of The Associates.

 

The last CD compilation of any real worth for Hue & Cry was "The Collection" from September 2009 on EMI Gold – a 16-Track Budget Set of Remasters done by EMI in 2008. Although there is no mastering credits on this October 2012 2CD Budget Compilation from Demon’s Music Club Deluxe label imprint – the liner notes clearly show that some of those 2008 Digital Remasters have been used for this new compilation and I’ve noted those below. Unfortunately it looks pretty much like the rest of the Circa Records material from 1986 to 1989 (which make up the bulk of this twofer) remains as is – untouched.

 

There are a few screw ups with regard to what actual track is what – see list below – but the set is sequenced by Patrick Kane so that’s cool. But bear in mind, this is one of those budget sets that might be cheap folks and largely forgotten, but it rocks in terms of both content and sound (mostly). Here are the details...

 

UK released 1 October 2012 - "A's & B's" by HUE & CRY on Demon Music Group/Music Club Deluxe MCDLX175 (Barcode 5014797671751) is a 33-Track 2CD Compilation with many rarities unavailable digitally anywhere else.

 

CD1 (63:26 minutes):

1. Labour Of Love (12" Single Version) - see NOTES

2. Headin' For A Fall (2008 Album Track, "Open Soul")

3. Wide Screen (Non LP B-side to "Labour Of Love")

4. Violently (7" Version)

5. Calamity John

6. I Refuse

7. Ordinary Angel (7" Single Version)

8. Hymn To Hands (Non LP B-side to "Ordinary Angel")

9. I Am John's Heart (Non LP B-side to "Ordinary Angel")

10. Joe And Josephine (Non LP B-side to "I Refuse", Debut 7" Single Issue on Circa YR 2)

11. The Man With The Child In His Eyes (Kate Bush cover, B-side of "Violently")

12. Rolling Home (Non LP B-side of "Ordinary Angel")

13. Peaceful Face

14. Mother Glasgow (Live) - B-side to "Peaceful Face")

15. A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke cover - B-side to "Peaceful Face")

16. Labour Of Love (Joey Negro Extended 12" - 1993 Version)

NOTES:

Track 1 is uncredited as being the 12" Single Version from June 1987 that runs to 4:25 minutes and not the LP cut or 7" single version at 3:22 minutes

Track 2 is uncredited as the September 2008 "Open Soul" album version on Blairhill Records at just under five minutes (4:57) when there is a 7" Single Edit at 3:33 minutes

Track 6 is the album version re-record and January 1988 UK 7" single on Circa YR 8 and not the 1986 recording orginally issued as their January 1987 debut 7" single on Circa YR 2   

Track 13 is the studio/album version and not the live version from "Bitter Suite"  

Tracks 5, 7, 11 on CD1 and Track 6 on CD2 are listed as '2008 Digital Remasters' 

 

CD2 (73:08 minutes):

1. Looking For Linda

2. Strength To Strength

3. Sweet Invisibility

4. My Salt Heart

5. Duty To The Debtor

6. He Won't Smile (B-side to "Looking For Linda")

7. Under Neon (Bright Lights, Big City Mix)

8. Seen It All (B-side to "Strength To Strength")

9. White Collar (B-side to "My Salt Heart")

10. Poet's Day (B-side of "My Salt Heart")

11. Long Term Lovers Of Pain

12. She Makes A Sound

13. Stars Crash Down (B-side to "Long Term Lovers Of Pain")

14. Heart Of Saturday Night (Live) - Tom Waits cover, B-side of "Long Term Lovers..."

15. Remembrance And Gold

16. Too Shy To Say (B-side of "She Makes A Sound")

17. Dangerous Wreck (B-side of "She Makes A Sound")

NOTES:

Track 2 is the full-length album version and the not the 7" Single Edit

Track 6 is the full-length version

Track 11 is the album version and not the 7" Single Remix

Track 12 is the album version and not the "Quiet Storm" single version 

 

The 8-leaf foldout inlay has liner notes on the Scottish band by PAUL LESTER that hit all important points up to 2008 – but there is no Mastering Credit. Still, a bit of volume welly on tracks like "I Refuse" and the rare B-side "Joe And Josephine" will show you they have all the sonic muscle anyone would need. To the tunes...

 

Because Patrick Kane sequenced this compilation - he jumps from the 1987 UK 12" Version of "Labour Of Love" straight into their latest at the time of release - "Headin' For A Fall" from their "Open Soul" album on Blairhill Records in 2008. Perhaps he's trying to show that little has changed - you still get that fantastic white-boys Soul vibe off of "Headin' For A Fall" - which was the lead off single from their then new album. Imagine the Average White Band meets Earth, Wind & Fire meets - well - Hue & Cry - and you get the sonic landscape. 

 

But of course what fans will want and newcomers enjoy are this fab Non LP B-sides that often saw our Scotty Lads slip the chains of their commercial needs and let rip with Soulful abandon. There's also Patrick Kane's lovely vocal delivery when just at a piano - "Wide Screen" being such an example - a June 1987 UK 7" single B-side (Circa Records YR 4).

 

I still have the 3 x 3" CD singles for "Violently", "Looking For Linda" and "Peaceful Face" as well as the rare "Strength To Strength" CD single on Virgin CDEP 11 in 1987 which only ever made it out in a gatefold white card Promo Sleeve. Most of their fab B-sides are here (a lot of remixes are excluded).

 

Highlights include the two stunning live cuts off the "Peaceful Face" release – "Mother Glasgow" and an Acapella version of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" which just slays the audience. And I’ve always thought that "Violently" (despite its title) is one of the loveliest songs they ever did (it’s represented here by the 7" single mix - lyrics above). Their Soulful cover of Kate Bush's "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" was a clever choice and is a truly gorgeous version. "Under Neon" is represented here by the 'Bright Lights Big City Mix' and is as funky as a recording session with Nile Rodgers. The piano and voice of "Wide Screen" is sweetly Soulful Rock too - and like so many of the songs here - touching and moving in a way you can't often explain (like all great music). There’s so much to enjoy on here really - and all of it in spiffing sound quality whilst being dirt cheap into the bargain.

 

In lieu of ever seeing a Universal 2CD Deluxe Edition of their 1988 nugget "Remote" album or even an Esoteric Recordings Box Set remastering the four/five Circa Records Albums – then this October 2012 Music Club Deluxe twofer "A's & B's" will have to do. But truth – this is one of those doubles I play so often – a winner - and in 2023 available for less than three quid.

 

It was and is no Labour Of Love re-hearing this cracking band – HUE & CRY deserve to be recognized and acknowledged as great and up there with fellow Soul-thumpers Simply Red and AWB. And what a voice Patrick Kane has still. Dig in and enjoy...

"Secret Combination/Windsong" by RANDY CRAWFORD – A Review Of Her 1981 and 1982 Warner Brothers Breakthrough Albums - Now Reissued And Remastered Onto 2CDs By Edsel Of The UK In 2013…A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review and 317 Others Like It 

Are Available in My Amazon e-Book

GOODY TWO SHOES

2CD Deluxe Editions (Occasional Threesome), Expanded Reissues and Compilations 

All Info From The Discs Themselves 

No Cut and Paste Crap

Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer 6 Times

 

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"…Make The Darkness Go Away…" 

Secret Combination and Windsong by RANDY CRAWFORD

For years Randy Crawford’s long run of quality albums on Warner Brothers have languished unloved by digital reissue companies. Well here comes Edsel of the UK doing the job with real class and style. This is the third instalment of four 2CD sets covering her entire output with the monster label – and containing a slew of global hits - it’s probably the best of the bunch.

UK released October 2013 - "Secret Combination/Windsong" by RANDY CRAWFORD on Edsel EDSK 7043 (Barcode: 740155704339) breaks down as follows…

Disc 1 (45:17 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 10 are her 5th album "Secret Combination" – released May 1981 on Warner Brothers BSK 3514 in the USA and K 56904 in the UK (it reached No.12 on the US R&B Chart and No.2 on the UK Album chart).
Track 11 is a BONUS TRACK – "Street Life (Live)"

Disc 2 (43:58 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 11 are her 6th album "Windsong" – released June 1982 on Warner Brothers 1-23687 in the USA and K 57011 in the UK (it reached No. 23 in the US R&B charts and No. 7 in the UK album chart).
Track 12 is a BONUS TRACK – "Your Precious Love" – a cover of Jerry Butler & The Impressions’ 1958 hit - it's done as a duet with AL JARREAU

The outer card wrap gives the whole reissue a quality feel – as does the 20-page booklet which pictures the albums, publicity photos, track by track recording info and exceptionally detailed, affectionate and witty liner notes by Soul Expert and long-time Edsel Associate TONY ROUNCE. It’s a pleasure to read.

The remasters by PHIL KINRADE at Alchemy are fabulous – warm and clear - but then the original production values of Tommy LiPuma on both albums were top notch anyway. And both records also used high-class session players like Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather, Dean Parks, Lenny Castro, Abraham Loboriel, Chuck Findley, Robben Ford and Larry Williams. There’s even Michael Sembello and Buzz Feiton on Guitars with David Sanborn on Sax.

After building up steam with "Street Life" in 1979 and the "Now We May Begin" albums in 1980 (both featuring The Crusaders) – "Secret Combination" was the LP that made her a global star. Featuring huge hits like "You Might Need Somebody" and her sexy cover of Tony Joe White's "Rainy Night In Georgia" – it was exactly what the doctor ordered. But for me - the real unsung hero of the record is songwriter Tom Snow who co-wrote "You Might Just Need Somebody" and also penned the gorgeous finisher on Side 1 "You Bring The Sun Out" – itself a co-write with Jesse Dixon. It's as lovely a tune as Randy Crawford's ever recorded (lyrics from it title this review).

"Windsong" opens with the beautifully produced "Look Who's Lonely Now" – a chipper song about relationship misery. "Letter Full Of Tears" and "Windsong" are Don Covay and Leon Russell covers – but best is her upbeat take on the Stevie Wonder/Syreeta Wright song "We Had A love So Strong" which has a lovely Steely Dan guitar solo in it.

Bum note – neither of her truly lovely live versions of John Lennon’s "Imagine" and "Give Peace A Chance" which were non-album single tracks in 1982 were available to license – so are notable no-shows. What a shame. It doesn't say where the live version of "Street Life" was recorded but the production values are superb - and the clapping crowd - loving it. It's a tasty addition and better than the rather insipid cover of "Your Precious Love".

Soulfulness - these now forgotten albums deserve reappraisal. A sweet lady – take a punt on this classy reissue…

"City Of Angels" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 1998 Brad Silberling Movie Now Reissued On BLU RAY In 2014 In The USA

"…None Of This is In My Hands…" – City Of Angels On BLU RAY (2014)

As she reads 105 degrees on the thermometer she’s just taken out of her six-year old daughter’s mouth – we hear Mum’s panicking thoughts - pleading for help from a higher power. "I don't really pray…but if you could help out here…" she says in escalating dread. Yet her child Susan doesn’t seem fazed – staring instead at a man in a long black coat with a peaceful face on the other side of the room that Mummy doesn’t seem able to see.

His name is Seth - and next thing he’s walking alongside Susan who’s lying in her pyjamas on a hospital gurney looking up at him as a group of doctors and surgeons try to get her to the operating room on time. Moments later Seth and tiny Susan are looking in at the medical commotion through the glass outside – holding hands as they watch an unresponsive child’s body and a mother breaking down in agony. Susan looks up and asks Seth - "She won't understand?" He calmly replies - "She will…someday…"

Inside hot cars motionless on a log-jammed freeway - we see the citizens of LA and hear their thoughts about doomed love affairs ("he's never gonna leave her…"), work worries and how everything takes twenty minutes in Los Angeles. We then witness more angels in human form at work – one listening to the thoughts of a mother proud that her daughter has had a 6lb 4oz baby and become a parent too - helping an air-traffic controller concentrate when his debt problems almost distract him from Flight Federal 595 - and two working a kid and a scared liquor store owner on opposite sides of the counter – urging them both to 'stay cool' as the jumpy young man nervously robs his till with a gun.

These angels aren’t flashy – they don’t have wings nor halos - they don’t stop bullets or avert car crashes – they remain invisible to the human world and only lay on hands to help and sooth. They ponder what their charges say about life – usually from a height - dangling their legs over skyscraper girders, aeroplane wings, 100-foot high cowboy adverts for cigarettes and the Hollywood Sign. They also gather on the beach each morning (without leaving footprints in the sand) to witness the sunrise and hear the music of possibility…as a new day begins...

As you can imagine a reworking of Wim Wender's beloved 1987 classic movie "Wings Of Desire" by Hollywood types was always going to be open to ridicule and charges of crass commercialism – but 1998's "City Of Angels" pulled off the transition with a genuine deftness of touch – producing a film that moved many movie-goers far more than they thought it would. The brilliant Dana Stevens adapted screenplay smartly keeps it about people – about finding humanity – the joy in everyday occurrences – and knowing there is always love in your life in one form or another.

Principal in pulling this off is the spot-on casting of Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan. Cage plays Seth – an Angel who is more than curious about what it would be like to actually 'feel' let alone be human - while the talented Meg Ryan plays Doctor Maggie Race – a Thoracic Surgeon in L.A.’s Mission Hospital who is having a crisis of faith after losing a 50-year old patient called Tom Bradford on her table in what was a routine bypass.

Dr. Maggie suddenly feels no longer in control and can’t shake off the stricken reaction of Bradford’s family as she broke the news to them. She did it with a little too much of that scalpel-like precision and detachment that works so well in the operating theatre but not in the real world - cockily playing Jimi Hendrix as she dabbles with someone else’s heart. It was a textbook operation - yet it went wrong - her patient’s fading arrhythmia literally in her hands – powerless to stop him from dying (dialogue above). But her partner and fellow surgeon Jordan Ferris (a suave Colm Feore) thinks that Maggie is not out of sorts nor crazy nor chemically imbalanced – just tired - and with a little rest - she should just "come back to work on Monday and get back on the saddle". But Maggie doesn’t seem able to get that confidence nor that belief back.

Then one night – tired and still trying to figure out why an abandoned male infant on the 4th floor keeps crying all the time (her Doctor friend Anne is played by the lovely Robin Bartlett) – Maggie exits the lift at the 6th floor by mistake and sees a man standing outside a ward bedroom. He turns around and it’s the beautiful Seth.  They engage in small talk about the benefits of visiting hours and being in despair on the stairwell  – and a flame of attraction is lit between them. His eyes haunt her and she wonders how he knew her first name when her ID tag only displays the initial 'M'?

They meet again in the heavenly upward concrete circles of the city library as she returns a book - Hemmingway's "A Moveable Feast – Sketches On The Author’s Life In Paris In the Twenties". More feelings grow as Seth sexily explains about the great American author’s skill at describing the senses of taste and touch (things he can’t experience himself but longs to). At this point Maggie thinks Seth’s a bit weird - with his cryptic replies and always wearing the same clothes whilst saying he’s not a bike courier but a Messenger of God. But something inside her aches for him – like a lost Soul moving towards its mate.

Seth tries to discuss his growing feelings with another celestial body - Cassiel (the wonderful Andre Braugher) but Cassiel seems sceptical. Then one afternoon Seth meets the rotund hedonist Nathaniel Messinger (superb casting in Dennis Franz) in the heart ward munching down on yet another tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Nathaniel can hear and feel Seth’s presence - and Seth soon works out that Nathaniel was once an angel too – but one who fell in love with a woman on Earth and 'chose' to fall to be with her (nice work from Joanna Merlin). Over more food Nathaniel explains that he gave up his power to travel at the speed of thought - never grow old and never feel any pain – for love – and hasn’t regretted a day since.

And on it goes to Maggie working out why the child keeps crying and what her strange man in black really is (from a photo) and finally to a decision that Seth must make of his own 'free will'…

Director Brad Silberling’s movie cleverly avoids any flashy 'ghost' or 'angel' tricks and allied with Gabriel Yared’s truly gorgeous film score (the acoustic "The Unfeeling Kiss" used during the market scene as they shop for fruit is particularly stunning) and other clever song choices by Peter Gabriel, Paula Cole, Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan – gives his angelic messengers a calming presence – benevolent beings watching over us all but not interfering nor judging.

The February 2014 AMERICAN BLU RAY I bought on Barcode 883929374298 is REGION FREE so there are no compatibility problems for UK or European buyers. The picture is defaulted to 2.4:1 Aspect Ratio so there's bars top and bottom - but even stretched to Full Screen - the print quality is lovely throughout. You wouldn’t say it was exceptional by any means – but I feel its an improvement over the DVD I had  – never overly glossy – classy in its presentation. Eyes are blue – sunsets are multi-coloured and his sweat and blood when he falls onto a steel platform look real. Meg Ryan has probably never looked more beautiful or assured while Cage brings an other-worldliness to his character than few actors could achieve. The behind-the-scenes documentaries feature fun talks with the cast both in studio and on location (skyscraper shots that terrified both Cage and Franz because they are real – short on girders way up there).

Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio English 5.1, Dolby Digital French 5.1, Spanish Castilian 5.1 and Spanish Latin 2.0. Subtitles include English SDH, French and Spanish. 

Maggie says to Seth about her lost patient – "I wanted him to live…" And Seth replies, "He is living…just not in the way you think…"

Ever wonder what your invisible guardian looks like? Convert to "City Of Angels" and find out…

"Trouble Man: 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition" by MARVIN GAYE - Soundtrack Album from December 1972 (USA) on Tamla and February 1973 (UK) on Tamla Motown (November 2012 (US) and January 2013 (UK) Universal/Hip-O Select 2CD Reissue And Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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This Review Along With 289 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

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70ts Soul, R'n'B, Funk, Jazz Fusion
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

Just Click Below To Purchase for £6.95 (2021 Update)

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"…A Little Different Time Wise…"

As I sit here listening to Marvin instructing Trevor Lawrence (the Saxophone player) on Disc 1's Alternate Version of "T" Stands For Trouble" (dialogue above) – I’m properly drooling. This is just stunning stuff - and as a veteran of over 2000 reviews (hundreds for Soul) – I can safely say that this gorgeous 2CD set may just well be the coolest reissue ever put out in digital history.

While 1971’s "What's Going On" and 1973's "Let's Get It On" are regularly acknowledged as Soul masterpieces and name-checked by everyone who is everyone in love with music that genuinely touches you – real MG fans have always had a rush to the head at the mere sight of 1972's "Trouble Man" on vinyl. 

Gaye himself seemed to rate it as his best work and on the evidence presented to us on this fabulous 2013 overhaul – hot like an oven – doesn’t even come close to how good Marvin was at the time. So let’s get to the Blax facts right away…

Released November 2012 in the USA (January 2013 in the UK) – "Trouble Man" by MARVIN GAYE is a 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition 2CD Remaster on Universal/Hip-O Select B0017676-02 (Barcode 602537184040) and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (73:41 minutes):

1. Main Theme From Trouble Man (2)

2. "T" Plays It Cool

3. Poor Abbey Walsh

4. The Break In (Police Shoot Big)

5. Cleo’s Apartment

6. Trouble Man

7. Theme From Trouble Man

8. "T" Stands For Trouble

9. Main Theme From Trouble Man

10. Life Is A Gamble

11. Deep-In-It

12. Don't Mess With Mr. T

13. There Goes Mr. T

Tracks 1 to 13 are the album "Trouble Man" – originally released December 1972 in the USA on Tamla T322L and February 1973 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11225. The American issue famously came in a die-cut sleeve with a flap that had him seated beneath the flap – the UK version came in a single laminated cover with no flap and only the seated photo.

The "T" Sessions: 

14. Main Theme From Trouble Man (2) – Alternate Take With Strings

15. "T" Plays It Cool – Unedited Version

16. Poor Abbey Walsh, Part 2 – Take 1

17. Poor Abbey Walsh, Part 2 – Take 2

18. Trouble Man – Extended Version

19. Theme From Trouble Man – Vocal Version

20. "T" Stands For Trouble – Unedited Vocal Version

21. "T" Stands For Trouble – Alternate Version

22. Man Theme From Trouble Man – Vocal Version)

Tracks 14 to 22 are all PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS

Disc 2 (47:37 minutes):

1. Trouble Man

2. Pool Hall

3. "T" Plays It Cool

4. Cadillac Interlude/Cleo’s Apartment

5. Man Tied Up/Jimmy’s West/Conversation With Cleo

6. Crap Game (A.K.A. The Break In)/Getting Rid Of Body/Talking To Angel

7. Outside Police Station

8. Bowling Alley Parking Lot

9. Stick Up

10. Cleaners/Cleo

11. Closing Jimmy’s

12. Police Break In

13. "T" Cleans Up/Police Station

14. Packing Up/Jimmy Gets Worked/Saying Goodbye/"T" Breaks In/Movie Theatre

15. Car Ride/Looking For Pete

16. Parking Garage/Elevator

17. Penthouse

18. Getting Pete

19. My Name Is "T"/End Credits

Tracks 1 to 19 are "Trouble Man Original Film Score" (in MONO) which features the movie score chronologically reconstructed for the first time since release over 40 years ago. It is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED in this form.

Track 20 is a Film Band Bonus - "T" At The Cross

The three-way fold out digipak looks the business – the CDs are the same colour as the 1973 American Tamla label while the centre pages of the booklet picture the shot of Marvin sat in his chair from the die-cut sleeve. Under the see-through plastic trays are snaps of tape boxes for Side 1 and 2 and each flap has lovely colour shots of the great man. Very tasty…

But the booklet is a mixture of the beautiful and the baffling – it’s 28 pages are gorgeous – filled with Motown Archive memorabilia, stuff from the collection of Mathieu Bitton, British and American trade adverts from the time, full colour spreads - even Turkish and Japanese pressings of rare singles. There are superb contributions from fans like Joni Mitchell, Lenny Kravitz, movie legend Cameron Crowe and filmmaker George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food, Men Of Honor and Notorious) –as well as reminiscences from the album’s song arranger Dale Oehler (Joni used him for "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns") and the lone guest musician Trevor Lawrence who played Saxophone (Marvin played everything else). All this and detailed annotation on the sessions on the last set of pages etc.  All good…

But then when you get to Page 17 of the Andrew Flory liner notes and the last sentence starts "Less than a year after its release, Trouble…" – you turn over the page – and nothing! It’s not continued because someone’s obviously missed a whole set of paragraphs. It’s staggering sloppy for such a classy looking reissue.

But although that’s a goof worth pointing out – in truth it’s a sideshow to the real deal for long-time Gaye fans and lovers of this nugget album – the BEAUTIFUL NEW REMASTERED SOUND and STUNNING PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED EXTRAS…

ANDREW SKAROW did tape Research, JOHN MORALES mixed the bonus tracks and long-standing Universal Engineer KEVIN REEVES did the overall remaster. The work is exceptionally good – full of muscle and power. The booklet informs us that the 'reconstruction of the score for Disc 2 was painstaking' and it sounds it – segments I’ve never heard finally mixed in with what punters saw on the night. Some of it seems to fade out prematurely but I suspect that is to do what they had to work with. Other than that – track after track – and you’re hit with sonic clarity and warmth that is thrilling.

I’ve had the 1998 CD remaster for years and this version is better – more detail and without being over-trebled for the sake of it. The punch off some of the tracks is shocking – and who can resist the only single taken off the album "Trouble Man" b/w "Don’t Mess With Mister "T"" – it sounds glorious.

The Bonus Tracks on Disc 1 for me are the best – the Unedited Vocal Version of "T" Stands For Trouble is brill – huge sound and sexy rhythms – with Marvin scatting over the cool rhythm and Sax. WOW!

Over 300 tiny sound cue segments were recorded for the movie and for this reissue the usable cues have been painstakingly cobbled together to make a cohesive whole. It’s easy to see why music-hall crud like "Pool Hall" was left off the album but slink like "Cadillac Interlude/Cleo's Apartment", "Crap Game…", "Outside Police Station", "Cleaners/Cleo" and the sexy patter of "Penthouse" are so good and moodily atmospheric that they make you want to check out the actual movie itself (well almost). Although the Film Band Bonus "T" At The Cross is probably the worst audio on here – its string arrangement is lovely and I can hear why it was included despite the wall of hiss that comes at you as it plays.

Apart from the presentation glitch – this is yet another superb Hip-O Select Motown release (they did the award-winning Singles Box Sets Volumes 1 to 12A).

As the years go by – Marvin Gaye's legend only grows. And I'll be honest – this fabulous reissue made me shed a tear. Put the blame on Mister T people…