"The Joshua Tree: Super Deluxe Edition 2007 Version" by U2 – Fifth Album from March 1987 on Island Records (7 December 2007 Universal/Mercury Music Group/Island/Interscope Records 2CD/1DVD SUPER DELUXE EDITION Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joshua-Tree-U2/dp/B000WTNCQS?crid=X3H2ZYNI3Y1B&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.L4CtGqGJBwomWU0OZQ0Y1g.TVmaOiT5uJJGIAlZAxnatvfOY7nxtqgVbfBUJVrDcyw&dib_tag=se&keywords=602517509481&qid=1715015553&sprefix=602517509481%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=b014cb2d43fb56f83f3d7cba62a33131&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

"...I Want To Reach Out And Touch The Flame..."

I remember it vividly. It was the summer of 1987, probably August, and I was standing in the HMV Megastore in Oxford Street in London browsing through their CD racks looking for something else to punish my long-suffering credit card with. Back then the 'video' was king. I mean the buggers were everywhere. MTV had them on rotation on our television sets at home all day and the more elaborate and expensive ones even made the news. 1987 was a year when a pop video was given as much credence as the release of the album it was promoting. And HMV was no different. The flagship shop had loads of black TV monitors hanging out of their Oxford Street ceiling covering every square inch of floor space in their huge new store. So I'm standing there in this busy Megastore browsing like everyone else. And then it happened.

On came the new U2 video for "Where The Streets Had No Name". It was filmed in California on top of a building with the band playing live without announcement while American street goers below simply stopped in their tracks and looked up in amazement. And so did we. We all stopped and we all looked up in amazement. It was the only time I've ever seen this. The entire music store stopped and looked up at the TV monitors - hooked instantly by this incredible song and this dog's bollox of a band. The tune creeps in - building, building, building - then it bursts out of the speakers with this stunning chiming trailblazing guitar work and Bono's impassioned growl and lyrics. It was mesmerizing. I remember looking around me and noticing - people's smiling faces. No one was browsing anymore. And I remember thinking - my God - they really have hit the Global zeitgeist with this. And it wasn't just that I was a Dubliner and therefore proud of 'our' band - this was different - in 1987 U2 really was dripping brilliance and 'everyone' knew it.

So what's this jaunt back down memory lane got to do with this re-issue? The answer is 'wonder'. The same thing I felt all those years ago in that megastore is 'back'. Because this reissue folks is truly one of the best I've ever heard or seen - a genuine 'wow' in every sense of the word. And one that fans will thrill too...

"The Joshua Tree" was released globally in March 1987 on Island Records and after 4 albums of escalating brilliance - U2 finally hit their penultimate moment (even the album's outtakes put out as B-sides on the singles were undeniably good). But the album on the relatively new format of compact disc was disappointingly dull and this magical record has remained in dullard sound-land ever since. There have been re-masters of some of the tracks on "Best Of 1980-1990" of course and the more recent "18 Singles" set, but this 20th Anniversary Edition Remaster issued globally on Monday 3 December 2007 is the first time in 20 years that the 'entire' album has received a total overhaul and the sound quality and presentation is beautifully realised. The sound especially is just GORGEOUS.

Here's the lay of the land - the December 2007 CD Remaster for "The Joshua Tree" by U2 comes in 3 variants:

The 1st is a standard CD in one of the new round-corner hard jewel cases and presents the 11 tracks of the original album in newly remastered form (a 20th Anniversary Edition). There are no bonus tracks but there is an upgraded booklet. Mercury Music Group/Island/Interscope Records 1744939 (Barcode 6 02517449398) sells for around £10.

The 2nd issue (loosely called a Deluxe Edition) is housed in a gatefold digipak where the 2nd bonus disc gathers up all of the B-sides from the Album's single releases (7 tracks) - track 8 is the single edit of "Where The Streets Have No Name" - track 9 is the Sun City Version of "Silver & Gold" which features Keith Richards and Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones - and last but not least - a juicy 5 new unreleased 'outtakes' from the album. Disc 2 has a total of 14 tracks in all. This 2CD version on Mercury Music Group/Island/Interscope Records 1750947 (Barcode 602517509474) sells for £20 or £22 or £18 online - depending where you buy it.

But the 3rd issue of "The Joshua Tree" by U2 (the one I've bought this morning on day of release) is a 2017 Super Deluxe Edition of 3 discs (2CDs and 1DVD) on Mercury Music Group/Island/Interscope Records 1750948 (Barcode 602517509481). It's the issue I would recommend. It costs £27 (I didn't see any price difference in any store - except that it's available online for £22 in some places with free p&p). And it really is gorgeous - pricey for sure - but a genuine peach for fans. The box itself is DVD sized housing 3 imbedded gatefold card sleeves - the album in one, the bonus audio CD of 14 tracks in another and a 3^rd is a bonus DVD. The DVD contains an 18-track July 1987 concert filmed in Paris, which is new, the "Outside Is America" documentary, an alternate video for "With Or Without You" and a rarely seen video of "Red Hill Mining Town". At over two and a half hours, it's a truly fantastic bonus.

I'm also tempted to buy the new vinyl version because it's been put onto 2LPs and not squashed onto one. The pressing run will be limited and will almost certainly become a collectable within months (Mercury/Island/Interscope 1750949 – Barcode 602517509498).

CD1 - THE ALBUM
1. Where The Streets Have No Name [Side 1]
2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 
3. Without Or Without You 
4. Bullet The Blue Sky
5. Running To Stand Still 
6. Red Hill Mining Town [Side 2]
7. In God's Country
8. Trip Through The Wires 
9. One Tree Hill
10. Exit 
11. Mothers Of The Disappeared 

CD2 - BONUS AUDIO
1. Luminous Times (Hold On To Love)
2. Walk To The Water
3. Spanish Eyes 
4. Deep In The Heart 
5. Silver And Gold 
6. Sweetest Thing 
7. Race Against Time 
8. Where The Streets Have No Name (Single Edit)
9. Silver And Gold (Sun City)
10. Beautiful Ghost/Introduction To Songs Of Experience 
11. Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland)
12. Desert Of Our Love
13. Rise Up
14. Drunk Chicken/America

DVD: 
U2 Live In Paris
Outside It's America Documentary 
(Video for) With Or Without You
(Video for) Red Hill Mining Town 

PACKINGING: All 3 CDs are in housed in gatefold card sleeves. The album has the same artwork of course, but the Bonus Audio CD and DVD discs feature Anton Corbijn's photo outtakes from The Joshua Tree sessions. It means that visually - all three are matching - a nice touch. The 5 DVD sized Photographic Prints from the same sessions are housed in an embossed "Joshua Tree' symbol envelope and are nice, but a bit superfluous. The hardback book of 56-pages, however, is just gorgeous. There are all the lyrics from the album with singles pictured alongside their release dates, essays from all the key people around the album, the boys themselves, Daniel Lanois, Anton Corbijn, Steve Averill, Brian Eno and others. There are unpublished photographs, detailed production/reissue credits and even Allen Ginsberg's "America" poem reproduced at the end (one of the outtakes uses it). The whole shebang is lifted out of its recesses by a black ribbon. Classy. Some people have complained that £27 is excessive - money for old rope so to speak but that kind of misses the point. The album has always deserved Rolls Royce treatment and now it finally gets it. The Super Deluxe Edition is without question the one to buy for lovers of the album.

SOUND: First up is the album itself. The Edge has supervised the tape transfers with remastering, production and engineering credits going to Arnie Acosta of Bernie Grundman Mastering and production by Cheryl Engels of Partial Productions. And a bang up job they've all done too. The difference in quality is astonishing. The original LP ran to just over 50 minutes, a lot for that format, and the last track on Side 1 always suffered for that. "Running To Stand Still" is now spectacular - worth the price of admission alone. I'm hearing new sounds both during and at the end of this beautiful and overlooked gem. Similarly, "Red Hill Mining Town", "In God's Country" and "One Tree Hill" leap out of the speakers instead of limping. And if this isn't good enough, the album's finisher, the haunting "Mothers Of The Disappeared" now has absolutely extraordinary power - Eno's swirling and crashing soundscapes matching Bono's touching and heartfelt lyrics - it's magnificent and immensely moving - even after two decades of familiarity. All of these U2 tracks have been screaming out for sonic upgrades for years and this muscular re-mastering of them does not disappoint.

I've had the B-sides on original 1987 UK CD singles for years, but they are ordinary sounding like the original CD album. They too have been beefed up - they're now warm, clear and full of life. Very enjoyable rehearing them. A small point worth making is this. The supposed 2nd CD single here in the UK "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" has eluded my grasp for 20 years - I'm still not sure it exists. It's always documented in the band's British discography and presumed it's out there - but I've NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN ONE?? So the inclusion of its 2 rare B-sides here is welcome. The five new out-takes as you can imagine are a mixed bag, some good, some iffy - and obvious in most cases why they were relegated to the vaults.  But as a rabid fan of the album, I'm grooving to them more and more. The lyrics to one of them, "Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland)", is even in the hardback book.

The DVD is not in 5.1 Surround, but it still sounds and looks amazing. Filmed at The Hippodrome de Vincennes in Paris on the 4th of July 1987, it shows the band in full flight - and they were just electrifying - on fire. Some mellow tracks like "October" and "MLK" also get rare outings here too - superb. The band then hits the crowd with an absolutely lethal triple whammy of "In God's Country", "Electric Co." and "Bad". The Edge's playing during "Electric Co." is simply hair-raising - and I swear - at moments during the song - they were simply the best band on the planet! Also towards the end of the song, a "huge" bare-chested male French fan is lifted up onto the stage; he in turn lifts Bono up into his arms and Bono then adds "Break On Through" by The Doors onto the end of the blistering "Electric Co". The crowd went wild...

To sum up: the album is remastered to spectacular effect, the bonus CD of B-sides and outtakes is never less than fantastic and the DVD simply the visual icing on top of an extraordinary cake. When you think that June 2007 has passed without a 40th Anniversary appreciation of "Sgt. Peppers" by The Beatles and November 2007 without a 35th Anniversary Edition of Zeppelin's "Four Symbols" - at least those at Universal and Island have had the brains not to miss this masterpiece's 20th Anniversary.

Whatever way you cut it, this is an exceptional re-issue of one of 'the' great albums of our times - and with the weeks bleeding into 2008, not a moment too soon. A thing of wonder indeed. U2 are of course millionaires now - way too big for their britches - way too mouthy - and spend way too much of their time pissing about with hotel properties - when they should be pissing 'in' hotel properties and generally vandalizing them like proper rock stars do. Still, back then, they had 'magic' coming out of their ears. Idealism, love, deserts, slappin' em down and The Edge's cool hat - it's all in there. "Get involved in the fight..." they told us in the liner notes to the album. Join Amnesty International and Greenpeace they urged - and swept away by the glorious positivity of it all - many of us did. What a band - what a landmark record.

"...I want to reach out...and touch the flame..." the frontman sang.

And now we can...

"Any Way You Like It" by THELMA HOUSTON – Album from December 1976 (USA) on Tamla and January 1977 (UK) on Tamla Motown (February 2015 SoulMusic 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

This Review Along With Over 300 Others Is Available in my

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
HIGHER GROUND

SOUL, FUNK and JAZZ FUSION 
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

Just Click Below To Purchase for £6.95

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"…Come To Me…"

A timely and official CD reissue of a long-forgotten Tamla Disco LP from late 1976 including two chart hits – Thelma’s cover of the Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes 1975 classic “Don’t Leave Me Way” and “If It’s The Last Thing I Do” – and it sounds amazing too. Here are the glitter ball details...

UK released February 2015 - "Any Way You Want Me" by THELMA HOUSTON on SoulMusic Records SMCR 5126 (Barcode 5013929082632) an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with Six Bonus Tracks that break down as follows (53:38 minutes):

1. Any Way You Like It [Side 1]

2. Don't Leave Me This Way

3. Don't Know Why I Love You

4. Come To Me [Side 2]

5. Don't Make Me Pay (For Another Girl's Mistake)

6. Sharing Something Perfect Between Ourselves

7. If It's The Last Thing I Do

8. Differently

Tracks 1 to 8 are the album "Any Way You Like It" - released December 1976 in the USA on Tamla T6-345S1 and January 1977 in the UK on Tamla Motown STMP 12049

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Do You Know Where You're Going To (Previously Only Issued in New Zealand)

10. Together (Previously Only Issued in New Zealand)

11. Today Will Soon Be Yesterday – non-album B-side to "Don't Leave Me This Way" US 7" single on Tamla 54278

12. You've Been Doing Wrong For So Long – non-album A-side – USA 7" single on Tamla 1316

13. One Out Of Every Six (Censored Version) – non-album A-side – USA 7" single on Tamla 54275

14. Don't Leave Me This Way (US Tamla Single Edit) – non-album A-side version on USA 7" single Tamla 54278

Licensed from Universal - ALAN WILSON has done the remaster - and the audio is fantastic - full of power, presence and detail. The album is very much in the Disco/Light Soul vein with a mixture of steppers and smoochers Produced by people like Michael L. Smith who had worked with Jerry Butler, Jermaine Jackson and The Temptations. The 16-page booklet is pleasingly packed with details about her recording history courtesy of David Nathan’s affectionate liner notes while the rear pages picture US, UK and foreign 45s of note.

I'd be hard-pressed to say that "Any Way You Like It" is a masterpiece – it isn’t – but there are likeable ballads on here like "Come To Me" (Jermaine Jackson had a hand in the writing) and the huge hit "Don't Leave Me This Way". The album managed a respectable No. 5 placing on the American Billboard R&B charts. The Bonus Tracks smartly include two rare foreign sides making their CD debut here as well as four other non-album single sides.

A 3-star album given a 5-star reissue on a CD that’s pitched at mid-price - Disco lovers should dive in...

"The New Folk Sound Of Terry Callier" by TERRY CALLIER – Debut US Album from 1965 on Prestige Records in Mono (July 2003 Ace/Beat Goes Public 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue - Joe Tarantino Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Over 300 Others Is Available in my

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

HIGHER GROUND

SOUL, FUNK and JAZZ FUSION 
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

Just Click Below To Purchase for £6.95

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"…Better Days Coming…
You And Me Brother…We Can Make It So…"

There are now TWO CD issues of this gorgeous and cool 60ts Folk-Soul album on Ace/Beat Goes Public that requires some explanation...

The first CD was released in November 1995 in the UK on one of Ace Records label imprints - Beat Goes Public CDBGPM 101 (Barcode 029667510127). It was a straightforward reissue of the 8-Track Mono 1965 US vinyl album on Prestige 7383 (also credited as PRLP-7383 on some original copies). It ran to 37:46 minutes and had no mastering or remastering credits. The sound quality was ok but it has been made redundant by...

This 2nd issue of "The New Folk Sound Of Terry Callier" by TERRY CALLIER was UK released July 2003 on Ace/Beat Goes Public CDBGPM 156 (Barcode 029667515627) and is an upgraded Remaster that adds on Three Previously Unreleased Outtakes from the original session to the album's eight tracks upping the playing time to 55:01 minutes.

1. 900 Miles [Side 1]

2. Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be

3. Johnny Be Gay If You Can Be

4. Cotton Eyed Joe

5. It’s About Time [Side 2]

6. Promenade In Green

7. Spin Spin Spin

8. I’m A Drifter

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Be My Woman

10. Jack O’ Diamonds

11. The Golden Apples Of The Sun 

This new version on Beat Goes Public CDBGPM 156 has been transferred by JOE TARANTINO at the Fantasy Studios in California - and if I was to describe what's better - it's the vocals - they're far more amplified and to beautiful effect. Unfortunately, it's still a gatefold slip of paper that provides no history of the record (the original May 1965 liner notes are reproduced, but it's the usual vague Sixties babble that doesn't actually inform you of anything).

Aged only 23 - "The New Folk Sound Of..." was recorded by Samuel Charters in the Webb Recording Studios in Chicago in just one day - 29 July 1964 - and released late summer of the following year 1965 (no one seems to know the exact month - there’s even talk that it wasn’t released until late 1968 because the first reviews appeared January 1969). There are only 3 musicians - TERRY CALLIER on Guitar and Vocals, TERBOUR ATTENBOROUGH on Bass and JOHN TWEEDLE also on Bass. Another surprise is that all the songs are covers - five being Public Domain Traditionals while the other three were from songwriter catalogues of the time. 

Side 1 opens with the lovely and lonesome "900 Miles" which sets up his style and the album's overall feel. Although it's just him on Acoustic Guitar with his voice high up in the mix and the other instruments behind him, the effect is more FOLK-SOUL than just Folk or Roots. It's beautifully atmospheric - the kind of album you'd play on a quiet Sunday morning when you just want something soothing on the ear and brain.

Some tracks work better than others. It's difficult to hear "Oh Dear What Can The Matter Be" now without thinking of a schoolyard song we used to sing which rudely rhymed a "Lavatory" with "Matter Be". But things get better with the quietly lovely "Johnny Be Gay If You Can Be" and "Cotton Eyed Joe". The difference on the Remaster of "Cotton Eyed Joe" is stark - the vocals soar out of the speakers.

One of the album's true masterpieces is Side 2's opener - the plea for racial equality and an end to all war - "It's About Time" (lyrics above). Written by a beat poet and a female US songwriter (Kent Foreman and Lydia Wood) and running to a mere 3:33 minutes, it features a lovely guitar strum, but this time it has the added double bass of TERBOUR ATTENBOROUGH which lifts the song out of it's folk-roots feel into something so much more powerful and substantial. It still sounds awesome to this day - as relevant then as it is now. It's followed by "Promenade In Green" which is a Negro song from Alabama copyrighted by Robert Kaufman and Len Chandler in 1961 (a year before Callier started singing) - it's heart-meltingly lovely. "I'm A Drifter" is excellent too, but probably overstays its welcome at just short of nine minutes.

The extras are a revelation. It's easy to see why they were left off the album - it's not that they're sub-standard - it's just that they were more of the same and something had to give. Which is good news for us some 45 years later because the gambling song "Jack O' Diamonds" is superb. But the real winner is his cover of the Judy Collins song "The Golden Apples Of The Sun" which incorporated the poetry of William Butler Yates into the words. It's gorgeous. What a find!

As you've no doubt gathered, I've been soppy about Terence Orlando Callier for years, so perhaps my review is overly gushing - but once your weary lugs actually hear this criminally forgotten gem, you'll understand why...

Despite the lack of notes and an appreciation of the man's legacy - this is a great reissue of a soft and graceful start - and a philosophy to life that continues to inspire to this day.

I strongly urge you to get this superb CD reissue into your life...

PS: see also my reviews for the three albums that followed on Cadet Records - "Occasional Rain" (June 1971), "What Color Is Love" (March 1973) and "I Just Can't Stand Myself" (October 1973)

"Occasional Rain" by TERRY CALLIER – Second Album from June 1971 on Chess/Cadet Records (USA) featuring Charles Stepney Arrangements and Production with Minnie Riperton and Kitty Haywood from The Rotary Connection on Backing Vocals (July 2008 Universal/Verve Originals CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 333 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

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

Just Click Below To Purchase for £6.95 (2024 Update)

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00MTCDTWS&asins=B00MTCDTWS&linkId=f95dca2244c8856012cccc3c6c25fff6&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Occasional-Rain-Terry-Callier/dp/B0016CP1QY?crid=2YL2RK1C0P44D&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.b0yUkZzz2J6drrWE7hZ_xQ.mpKkEL_nwqtvkxIPlt4IYRLHfpqHWEDlBR28XqG5BPo&dib_tag=se&keywords=602517664883&qid=1709685460&sprefix=602517664883%2Caps%2C60&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=cf8c44a41f0cb77789a8814e4ab7223b&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

"...Outside The Golden Circle Of Your Love…"

'Lost Masterpiece', 'Forgotten Classic', 'An Album You Must Hear Before You Die' - take your pick... Because 1971's "Occasional Rain" by TERRY CALLIER genuinely fits them all - it really does.

Hailing out of Chicago and a childhood pal of Curtis Mayfield - Callier had put out only 1 album before this called "The New Folk Sound Of..." on US Prestige in early 1965 (see separate review). It did little business. Session years then went by until his signing to the Chess offshoot label Cadet, where he made 3 albums with legendary producer and writer CHARLES STEPNEY. The other two albums are "What Color Is Love" (1973) and "I Just Can't Help Myself" (1974) which are equally good - especially "Color" (see reviews for all).

Charles Stepney is another big name in small circles - a hero of sorts for soul lovers. He was involved in The Rotary Connection with Minnie Riperton, produced four albums with The Dells and even twiddled the knobs on the iconic and now much-vaulted psych-blues-fusion album "Electric Mud" by Muddy Waters. I'd personally scour down anything he had a hand in...a genius...

UK and Europe released July 2008 - "Occasional Rain" by TERRY CALLIER on Universal/Verve Originals 0602517664883 (Barcode 602517664883) is a straightforward CD transfer and remaster of the June 1971 US LP on Cadet Records CA 50007 (his 2nd album) and plays out as follows (43:26 minutes):

1. Segue No.1 - Go Ahead On [Side 1]

2. Ordinary Joe

3. Golden Circle

4. Segue No. 5 - Go Head On

5. Trance On Sedgwick Street

6. Do You Finally Need A Friend

7. Segue No. 4 - Go Head On [Side 2]

8. Sweet Edie-D

9. Occasional Rain

10. Segue No. 2 - Go Head On

11. Blues For Marcus

12. Lean On Me

13. Last Segue - Go Head On

Two other words printed on the back inlay beneath the CD also give this reissue the edge - GAVIN LURSSEN. He's an American sound engineer and I've sung his praises before (see separate reviews for "Gold" by THE CRUSADERS and "Careless" by STEPHEN BISHOP). Lurssen has just short of 900 mastering, remastering and audio restoration credits to his name (Universal, Hip-O Select) - his work stretches back decades, so he knows his way around a master tape or two. He was also called upon by the George Harrison Estate to handle the 2014 remaster of the Triple-LP Box Set/2CD Remaster for “All Things Must Pass” (see review).

I mention this because a lot of the songs on here are quietly soulful, Stepney didn't clutter them with instruments except when it complimented the melody - so the remaster needed the deftest of touches and Lurssen has done that. The sound quality isn't trebly or loud or showy - it's just there - sweet as a nut - the music just 'sails' out of your speakers in the most gorgeous way. You're left with a genuine sense of shock on two fronts (a) why has this beautiful soul album gone unnoticed for so long by the vast majority of music lovers out there and (b) a sense of relief - that in finally releasing "Occasional Rain" in 2008, Universal have picked the right guy to do the job.

Musically it breaks down like this - there's eight 8 songs separated by five 40-second "Segue" bits. No one knows why the first Segue is called "Go Ahead On" and the other 4 "Go Head On" (which is what the lyric is)? Some people think the Segues cool, while others feel they haven't worn well and now sound gimmicky. Personally, I find the songs surrounding them so beautiful that I don't notice...they're that good. I would love to hear the full song proper...

The most famous track off the LP is "Ordinary Joe" which has turned up on Acid Jazz type compilations and was a big draw in the UK. Other highlights are the acoustic urban trouble song "Trance On Sedgwick Street" which along with "Blues For Marcus" features the beautiful Cello work of EARL MADISON - and combined with Callier's impassioned vocals makes the tracks sound like Cat Stevens meets Nick Drake - really lovely and soulful. The love songs are up there as well - "Do You Finally Need A Friend" and the truly gorgeous "Golden Circle" (lyrics above). There's a strange guitar ping that floats over "Occasional Rain" giving it an ethereal otherworldly feel - very soulful and very Donny Hathaway in structure and churchy feel. Then comes the album's big finisher - and what a peach it is. "Lean On Me" is an impassioned six and half minute long friendship song with backing vocals from Minnie Riperton and Kitty Haywood - it's just gorgeous and finishes the mellowest of LPs on a genuine high.

Downside - although the gatefold card digipak is nice to look at, for me one of the big let downs is the complete lack of a booklet and therefore a sense of history, photos, insights etc... If ever a soul album deserved a little more luxury shown, then "Occasional Rain" is it.

If you're unconvinced and have heard too many praising reviews before - the entire LP is available on iTunes as a download - I'd recommend trying "Golden Circle" or "Occasional Rain" or "Lean On Me"- you'll be hooked. (The 2008 "Originals" remaster of "What Color is Love" is also available on iTunes).

Like Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On", Donny Hathaway's "Extension Of A Man" and Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions" - this is a proper soul album - a gem all the way through and sill beautiful and inspiring to this day - some 30/40 years after the event.

Of late Terry Callier has morphed (like Richie Havens) into a sort of elder statesman of soul still spreading his gospel of love and understanding - check out "Timepeace" from 1998 - unbelievably good and relevant to the now and not just past glories.

I've warbled on a bit I know, but this album deserves it. Buy it, cherish it, enjoy it - and I envy you the journey...