"Shout It Out" by PATRICE RUSHEN - Third Album from March 1977 on Prestige Records (November 2009 Soul Brother CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…You Got To Get Over…Gotta Try…"

Still only 23 when she released this vinyl gem (her 3rd album for Prestige since 1974) - March 1977's "Shout It Out" has long been a hugely sought-after jazz-funk and fusion piece - and this November 2009 remastered reissue by Soul Brother Records of the UK does that rarity proud.

"Shout It Out" by PATRICE RUSHEN on Soul Brother Records CD SBCS 37 (Barcode 5013993573722) is part of their "Classic Soul" and "Pure Jazz" reissue series and is the first appearance of the 8-track album on CD anywhere (there's a vinyl version too - LP SBCS 37 - a limited edition). The 8-page inlay has affectionate and informative liner notes by LAURENCE PRANGELI and track-by-track session details.

1. The Hump

2. Shout It Out

3. Stepping Stones

4. Let Your Heart Be Free

5. Roll With The Punches

6. Let There Be Funk

7. Yolon

8. Soujourn

Remastered from the original master tapes (licensed from another top reissue label - Ace Records of the UK) - the result is stupendous - detailed, clear, full of presence and as funky as James Brown's sock drawer. The sound throughout is wonderful - incredibly clean.

Originally released on LP in the USA on Prestige P 10101 in March 1977 - this fully remastered CD (43:47 minutes) also tags on the rare 7" single edit of "Let Your Heart Be Free" as a bonus track (it was issued on Prestige P-766 in the same year).

Featuring top musicians like AL McKAY on Guitar, CHARLES MEEKS on Bass and BILL SUMMERS on Percussion and a host of other great session-men - the album is in fact more notable for Patrice's own astonishing playing. She was blisteringly good on everything - Electric Piano, Clavinet, Mini Moog and even Electric Bass.

There's some vocals on the fantastically funky opener "The Hump" (lyrics above) and "Let Your Heart Be Free", but mostly it's all fusion instrumentals - fast and funky one moment - "Roll With The Punches" - soulful and jazzy and almost Bacharach the next - "Stepping Stones". It all leads up to the big finisher "Sojourn" which is magnificent - sort of what a great Santana track should sound like.

A great job done - and kudos to the guys at SB for the truly superb remaster quality.

PS: other titles by Soul Brother include...

1. Anthology - GARY BARTZ (CD SBPJ 23)

2. Hell Of An Act To Follow/Bobo - WILLIE BOBO [2LPs on 1CD] (CD SBPJ 39)

3. Gambler's Life - JOHNNY HAMMOND (SMITH) (CD SBCS 9)

4. Anthology - EDDIE HENDERSON (CD SBPJ 3)

5. Anthology - The Soul Jazz And Fusion Years 1966-1982 - FREDDIE HUBBARD (2CD set on CD SBPJ 10)

6. Rhythm Of Life - JAMES MASON (CD SBCS 3)

7. See The Light/Take A Look At Yourself - EDDIE RUSS [2LPs on 1CD] (CD SBPJ 37)

8. Fusion With Attitude - VARIOUS (CD SBPJ 28)

9. Now That I've Got Your Attention - LESETTE WILSON (CD SBCS 16)

PS: see also my reviews for two superb Edsel/Rhino 2CD Reissues for her later Elektra Records stuff - "Patrice/Pizzazz/Posh" - and "Straight From The Heart/Now"...

CHRISTMAS PRESENT IDEAS for CD Volume 3 - "The Path Even Less Taken Than The First Two Paths" - A List of Not So Obvious BUDGET BUYS by AMAZON Hall Of Fame Reviewer Mark Barry...

22 November 2019
I get asked a lot (via e-mail) to advise on gifts (especially music titles). 
This list is for those on a budget but still looking for quality 
and maybe even a bit of quantity into the 3CD bargain...

CD PRESENTS FOR CHRISTMAS 2019 Volume 3

BEST BUDGET BUYS

HIDDEN AMAZON GEMS... 

Given that there are so many 'Best Of' and 'Anthology' CD sets for such a wide spread of music artists and genres, it can be a little hard to see the wood for the chaff and re-records. 

For this post, I'm focusing on DEMON and EDSEL Records and their "Gold" 3CD Anthology Sets via their budget label imprint CRIMSON. So far there's been over 20 Titles (and counting) released across 2018 and 2019...

These are cheap and cheerful, usually pitched at six quid or less, but quietly feature those Edsel Remaster of old usually a hugely generous 40 to 60 tracks. Acts from the Seventies include Kiki Dee, Labi Siffre, Mungo Jerry, Brotherhood Of Man, Chas and Dave, T.Rex with Marc Bolan, Boney M, Bay City Rollers and more - with the Eighties and Nineties featured by Belinda Carlisle, Shalamar, Hank Marvin, 5 Star, M People, Ace Of Base and Micheal Bolton. 

The 3-way card flaps credit the album or 45 on a track-by-track basis so don't expect a booklet in any (these are not Box Sets as Amazon often mistakenly credits them as). But with this much quality music on display in pretty packs and at such a low price - these "Gold" 3-disc sets offer a chance to explore artists you know by name but probably don't know the hidden gems in their back catalogue (Labi Siffre, Kiki Dee, T.Rex etc). 

Here are some of those titles - simply click the logo below for today's price and in some cases, you'll notice some are even cheaper on site...

CHRISTMAS PRESENT IDEAS for CD Volume 2 - "The Path Even Less Taken" - A List of Not So Obvious BUDGET BUYS by AMAZON Hall Of Fame Reviewer Mark Barry...

22 November 2019
I get asked a lot (via e-mail) to advise on gifts (especially music titles). 
This list is for those on a budget but still looking for quality 
and maybe even a bit of quantity into the 3CD bargain...

CD PRESENTS FOR CHRISTMAS 2019 Volume 2

BEST BUDGET BUYS

HIDDEN AMAZON GEMS... 

Given that there are so many 'Best Of' and 'Anthology' CD sets for such a wide spread of music artists and genres, it can be a little hard to see the wood for the chaff and re-records. For this post, I'm focusing on SONY/BMG Music and their "Real...Ultimate Collection" 3-CD sets. Sony began theirs as far back as 2011, but have upped the numbers considerably across 2018 and 2019.  

Sony/BMG's catalogue of labels is vast - Columbia Records (USA) and CBS Records (UK), Epic, Philadelphia International, Kirshner, Portrait, RCA Victor, Monument and loads more. 

Across the decades huge swathes of their Rock, Pop, Soul, Country, Rhythm and Blues, Easy Listening, Male and Female Vocalists, Latin, Swing Jazz and Folk output has been remastered onto single CDs and multiple Box Sets (using their LEGACY imprint) by great Audio Engineers like VIC ANESINI, GREG CALBI and BERNIE GRUNDMAN. For huge artists like say Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Santana, Paul Simon and more still selling strong - Sony puts their considerable output onto "The Essential" Series - usually double CDs priced about £10 or more. 

But there are other artists who don't sell in such numbers but still have catalogues that can often stretch back to the Fifties and Sixties (Johnny Cash, Eartha Kitt, Roy Orbison, Nilsson, John Barry) and those from the Seventies like say Earth, Wind and Fire, Bill Withers or Carole King and on into the 80s and 90s with Clannad and the Gipsy Kings. 

For these, Sony/BMG has put out 3CD digipaks called "The Real John Barry - The Ultimate John Barry Collection" (see my review), "The Real Carole King", "The Real Dean Martin", "The Real Doris Day" and some genre compilations on "Folk, "Country" and "Blues". 

They are cheap and cheerful, usually pitched at six quid or less, but quietly feature those Legacy remaster engineers I've mentioned and a hugely generous 40 to 60 tracks. The 3-way flaps barely credit the release date so don't expect a booklet in any, but with this much quality music on display in pretty packs and at such a low price - these "Real" 3-disc sets offer a chance to explore artists you know by name but probably don't know the hidden gems in their back catalogue. 

They even have one for Bob Dylan, the Johnny Cash title offers an astonishing 88 Columbia songs for four quid, Bacharach and David lift up the Dionne Warwick entry, stunning mixture of legends on the multi-artist "Blues" mannish boy set, can't get over the songwriting talent of Carole King, the Miles Davis triple currently gives you 30 for three pounds and Philly's Teddy Pendergrass has cuts for when he was one of the lead vocalist with Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes. And the Bill Withers/Isley Brothers sets are wall-to-wall Soul-Funk class. All Tasty! 

Here are the bulk of the SONY titles in "The Real..." Series. Simply click the logo below for today's price and in some cases, you'll notice some are even cheaper on site...

CHRISTMAS PRESENT IDEAS for CD Volume 1 - "The Path Less Taken" - A List of Less Obvious Buys by Amazon Hall Of Fame Reviewer Mark Barry...

I get asked a lot (via e-mail) to advise on gifts (especially music titles), so here goes...
I've reviewed most of these so look up the Index below for more details...

CD CHRISTMAS PRESENTS FOR 2019 Volume 1

OFF-THE BEATEN-TRACK GIFT SUGGESTIONS

HIDDEN AMAZON GEMS... 

For the Soul nutter in your life, a genius selection of 20 iconic albums stretching from the early Sixties through to the early Seventies - each remastered and each in a natty card repro sleeve. Obvious choices (Otis, Aretha, Pickett and so on) but its the slices in-between that are such great discoveries like Donny Hathaway and Howard Tate...about £30...

Stunning Double-Album from Elton in 1973 (originally on DJM Records)  - Reissued and Remastered onto a DELUXE EDITION 2CD Set. Features the entire double on Disc 1 - new duet and collaboration recordings on CD2 with a live gig from the day...and only £7.89...

Was to be Zeppelin's vocalist before Plant nabbed the best job - Terry Reid is one of those fantastic British singers that can wow you (still gigs to this day). Think Steve Marriott meets Gary Holton (of The Heavy Metal Kids) with the Soulfulness of say Joe Cocker or Robert Palmer. This 5CD Series has a lot of hidden gems in it - and this is one of them. Albums from 1968, 1969, 1973, 1977 and 1991. Around eleven quid or less...

Vastly underrated American Icon - what puts this 'Best Of' for John 'Cougar' Mellencamp into the winner catagory is the excellence of the two exclusive songs "Thank You" and "Walk Tall" alongside storming Remasters of a huge range of album tracks you don't know but should...only six quid and less in certain places...

Shockingly good value for money considering the sheer class of this - all her best Atlantic Records singles (including rare but beautiful B-sides like "Pledging My Love/The Clock") on a 2CD kicker. 

Less than a fiver!

There is a 2-Disc Deluxe Edition of this but this 1CD variant is all you need. Again much of his Eighties material has remained infuriatingly untouched as far as decent remasters go (excepting expensive and deleted Mobile Fidelity titles) - so this lot expertly transferred by Stephen Marcussen (who did The Stones Seventies catalogue) offers crafted goody after crafted nugget. Six quid and less in the right places...

While "Jagged Little Pill" remains many people's fave by ALANIS MORISSETTE (and a 90s icon) - she made a few after that didn't go down so well. So this absolute nugget from 2004 kind of got lost through the years. It's a stunning and positive rocker of an album where songs like "Excuses" and "Knees Of My Bees" are lyrically and musically brilliant (pain and joy in equal measure). Yours for less than four quid and under a £1 in places...

It hit many so hard when Soundgarden/Audioslave's awesome singer CHRIS CORNELL finished with the world in May 2017 aged only 52 - but this gem remained. Possessed of a way with Acoustic Guitar melodies and a set of vocal pipes that would make Robert Plant and Brian Johnson nervous - for such a hurt man - he produced incredibly uplifting and soul-touching music. Like Stevie Ray Vaughan - his loss rankers even now. Give this a try...less that six quid...

Five more DAD ROCK choices from Universal's 2CD DELUXE EDITION Series - fabulous remasters and all now the cheapest they've ever been...

More DAD ROCK but from Sony's LEGACY EDITION 2CD Series - again great remasters and some surprising bargains/forgotten albums...

CD BOX SETS THAT ROCK BUT WON'T COST YOU A LIMB LET ALONE A ROLL...

EAGLES. Their six studio albums from the self-titled 1972 debut (with "Take It Easy" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling") to that final effort before break up "The Long Run" in 1979 with Joe Walsh ("Heartache Tonight"). Each in those natty card repro sleeves (all remasters) and properly great value for money. Just over two quid per disc, hits and forgotten gems like the gorgeous Acoustic Folk of "My Man" on the massively underrated "On The Border" LP, the Bernie Leadon instrumental "Journey Of The Sorcerer" used in The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (on "One Of These Nights") and Timothy B. Schmit's vocals on "I Can't Tell You Why" alongside Don Henley on "The Sad Cafe" and Walsh on "In The City" - all on "The Long Run".

BYRDS. Staggering music and such amazing value for money - 13 albums (one a double) and wads of Bonus Material - beautiful Vic Anesini Remasters - Card Repro Sleeves - chunky booklet rammed with tidbits and memorabilia. This used to sell for up to £50 and more - now less than £29 new and on your door...