Browse by Label: HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)

Artist:	BROOKS & LIGHT OF SABA, CEDRIC 'IM'
Title:	Light of Saba - Lambs Bread Collie
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 004EP

"You may know Cedric Brooks from the Soul Jazz Dynamite series. He was a serious sax player who left Jamaica for the States in the mid 60's, became heavily influenced by Sun Ra & went back to Jamaica to express his own vision of Ra's message, fusing rastafarian drumming with Afro beat, funk & Latin. This is a sampler for a forthcoming compilation we're doing of his own Light of Saba record label. All the originals go for big bucks & are impossible to find. The EP itself consists of a wonderful instrumental & dub & a roots vocal on the B side, with a DJ version."

Artist:	THE CONGOS
Title:	Congo Man (Carl Craig Edits)
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 005EP

2009 repress, originally released 2003. "From one the finest albums ever made, The Congos -- Heart of the Congos. Originally recorded in the late 1970's by Lee Perry & featuring the unique falsetto vocals of Cedric Myton backed by the deep, religious harmonies of the Congos. Carl Craig has spliced up different issues to make a more minimal mix, making more use of the ancient, drum machine sounds from the original. The A- side is a dub, the B-side features more of the vocals."

Artist:	BROOKS & LIGHT OF SABA, CEDRIC 'IM'
Title:	Africa
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 006EP

"A second helping from the forthcoming Light of Saba compilation. This time the sound is Afro-funk with a Jamaican edge, coming across more like an early Kool & the Gang or Cymande. This is reggae with a Disco beat and flailing Nyabinghi drums. The extended remix is exclusive to this 12", the album will only feature the shorter version. The B-side 'Sabebe' is an equally wonderful afro-JA disco funk workout. Comes in Honest Jons house bag, emblazoned with the Light of Saba logo."

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Playing Moondog's Music
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	10"
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	HJP 017EP

Repressed! "Recorded in 1955, released on his own short lived Moondog label. 4 tracks of manic saxophone and snare drum mayhem. You will not find an original of this anywhere. Blind from the age of 17, classically trained in music, Moondog aka Louis Hardin left the countryside in the late 1940s to busk on the streets of New York, playing percussion instruments of his own creation. He later became the darling of the NY arts & music set. He also recorded for Folkways, Woody Herman's Mars label, then Prestige and CBS." CD of this was previously issued in 2003 by Moondog's Corner.

Artist:	CAMERON, CALVIN BUBBLES
Title:	Wareika Hill Sounds
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 021EP

"Calvin Bubbles Cameron is the veteran trombonist of Tommy McCook's Supersonics, Count Ossie's Mystic Revelation, The Light Of Saba, and The Skatalites. Since the old days he has resided above the headquarters of The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari, in the Wareika Hill district of Kingston, Jamaica. This lineage is perfectly expressed for 2004 by these new cuts. The uptempo A-side should rock any dancefloor to pieces, reggae or not -- Warrior Charge comes to mind -- with full, bones-heavy horns, swirling organ and blood and fire nyabinghi drumming; and it comes with a storming dub. The B carries a grounation instrumental, and another reminiscent of The Light Of Saba classic 'Lambs Bread Collie'. For the first pressing, the record comes in a three-colour silk-screened sleeve, with handwritten notes by Calvin Cameron."

Artist:	HIGHTOWER, WILLIE
Title:	6 Track Sampler
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 022EP

"Originally from Gadsden, Alabama, Willie Hightower only released three singles whilst contracted to Fame in the early seventies, but they're three of the greatest soul records ever made, six simple songs that contain all that's magical about southern soul. They stand alongside anything to come out of Rick Hall's small studio, which is saying something when you count in classics like Etta James' 'I'd Rather Go Blind', Otis Redding's 'You Left The Water Running', Aretha Franklin's 'Do Right Woman, Do Right Man'. That's not even getting into the records that Rick released on his own Fame imprint by artists like Candi Staton, Spencer Wiggins and George Jackson. This EP from Honest Jon's comprises all six sides Willie Hightower cut at Fame Studios."

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Moondog And His Friends
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	10"
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	HJP 024EP

Repressed! 7 track 10" release, originally released by Epic! "Originally released in 1953 -- a fantastic collection of recordings from the eccentric genius that was Moondog. This mini-album features Moondog's pioneering techniques in tape overdubbing -- he harmonises with himself on voice, double bass and home-made drums. Touches of his classical music education are underpinned by his signature and irresistible Native American rhythms. Epic, prophetic, naive -- seriously lovable music. 10" vinyl only release." Tracks: "Dragon´s Teeth -- Voices of Spring," "Oasis," "Tree Frog -- Be a Hobo," "Instrumental Round - Double Bass Duo -- Why spend the dark night with you?," "Theme and Variations -- Rim Shots," "Suite No. 1," Suite No. 2"

Artist:	WAREIKA HILL SOUNDS
Title:	Coconut Head
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 026EP

"New four-tracker from Wareika Hill Sounds smashes open their 'Coconut Head' rhythm with a heavy, heavy, heavy dub version featuring the original Light Of Saba drummers, thumping bass, chant-down-babylon trombone -- blood on the dancefloor and up the walls. 'Joseph C' is in a more laid-back groundation style, with beautiful bonework from WHS-leader Calvin Cameron evoking his years with Count Ossie. 'Tears In Exile' is blood-and-fire again -- tough, scintillating roots percussion alongside a crowded brass section, and brilliant soloing from both. Finally, 'They Say' is pure nyabinghi, upful and defiant."

Artist:	ALLEN, TONY
Title:	One Tree: TP's Spirit Of Unity Mix / Instrumental
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 030EP

"Terrence Parker is an underground Detroit original. Unlike, say, Carl Craig or Claude Young, though -- both of whom are preparing mixes for this Honest Jon's series -- his music falls outside the city's techno traditions. Terrence Parker makes classic Detroit house. Since his debut in 1988 -- a collaboration with Marc Kinchen -- and then his legendary first solo EP, TP1, in 1990, Terrence has released more than a hundred records, under aliases like Disciples Of Jovon Blade, Disco Revisited, Plastic Soul Junkies, Minimum Wage Brothers, Seven Grand Housing Authority. These remixes are romping, stomping, tearaway house, the old school way."

Artist:	ALLEN, TONY
Title:	Moyege
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 032EP

"Mark Ernestus, one half of the Basic Channel, Maurizio and Rhythm & Sound teams, inaugurates our series of reworkings of tracks from Tony Allen's Lagos No Shaking album. 'Mark's Mix' is not a nowadays-style remix, more an extended mix in the classical tradition headed by Tom Moulton, back in the days when Francois Kevorkian was his teaboy, and there was a cupboard in his office stuffed with Studio One master-tapes. 'Mark's Disco Dub' is its dub. This record brings to Afrobeat the dubwise intelligence of the discomix. It's beautifully crafted, irresistibly grooving, heavy."

Artist:	ILORI AND HIS AFRO-DRUM ENSEMBLE, SOLOMON
Title:	Igbesi Aiye (Song Of Praise To God)
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 035EP

...Gbogbo Omo Ibile (Going Home). "The first time ever on vinyl for these 1964 Rudy Van Gelder recordings for Blue Note; and astral strides beyond the flat highlife cuts originally issued. With Donald Byrd, Hubert Laws and Elvin Jones stretching out breathtakingly amongst resplendent Nigerian drumming, and anticipating the vibes of classic Pharoah and Alice Coltrane. Around thirteen minutes each side."

Artist:	ALLEN, TONY
Title:	Ole Remix/Ise Nla Reggae Land Dub
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 036EP

With totally killer Mortiz von Oswald (Basic Channel) remix! "After Mark Ernestus' mix of 'Moyege' in this series, now his Basic Channel/Rhythm And Sound partner comes to the control tower. Moritz's deep Berlin steppers discloses dubwise traces of our original Lagos recording -- the percussion of Yinka Ogunye, the singing of '50s palmwine legend Rolling Dollar, Oscar Olimbi's guitar lick -- in with his own Oberheim voicings, additional drumming, and cool-and-deadly rhythm track. It's a tough, masterly dance record in fine Rhythm And Sound style -- which during its ten-and-a-half minutes seems to ponder time elapsed and journeys undertaken. Like a stepping razor, but t-u-m-p-i-n. This Reggae Land version is the take-no-prisoners, pared-down dub of Wareika Hill Sounds' rootical rework of Ise Nla. Magnificent trombone and percussion; expert, classical JA mixing. Brings to mind those great dubs of Glen Brown's 'Black Man Stand Up Pan Foot.'"

Artist:	ALLEN, TONY
Title:	Kilode Reworks by Waajeed
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 038EP

"Detroit native Waajeed cut his teeth with Slum Village, before forming the Platinum Pied Pipers in 2002. Recently he's stepped up solo and production projects -- check his ace Marvin vs. WJK edits from last year -- and for Honest Jon's he's totally re-worked Tony Allen's tough Afrobeat protest song: this is jazzy and soulful, percussive and a little bit bruk, with a gorgeous, searching vocal by Zaki Ibrahim. Together with an instrumental, and a grooving, roomy dub."

Artist:	ALLEN, TONY
Title:	Hypnotic Brass Ensemble/Salah Ragab Reworks
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 041EP

"When The Hypnotics handed over this monster, they mentioned something about its 'Egyptian' vibe, so -- on top of the fact that a couple of them are sons of Ra trumpeter Phil Cohran -- it seemed apposite to couple it with new recordings made for us in Cairo by space jazz luminary Salah Ragab, who once himself recorded and toured with the Arkestra. The shimmering, burnished, refined funk of Sankofa takes Tony Allen's 'Losun' for its departure point; the Cairo side is a burning basement session in the Ra big-band tradition, full of life and living, heavy on the percussion and choca with fine solos."

Artist:	SON PALENQUE
Title:	Samba/El Lobo/Aguata
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 043EP

The last of Honest Jon's Tony Allen series, presenting the legendary Afro-Colombian band from San Basilio de Palenque -- three new recordings curated by Lucas Silva and mixed by Moritz von Oswald -- a delirious brew of highlife, chalupa, Afrobeat and champeta. "Samba" is a homage to Nigerian musical heroes, and the burning horns are arranged by Colombian maestro Ramon Benitez. "El Lobo" tells the story of a wolf lost in the Palenque bush and "Aguata" -- played in the tambora rhythm -- is about rain.

Artist:	HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE
Title:	Alyo/Flipside
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	10"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 047EP

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is comprised of 8 brothers from the south side of Chicago, all sons of the Sun Ra trumpeter, Phil Cohran. They are a street-marching brass band in the New Orleans tradition; jazz to dance, with a funk sensibility honed by hip-hop. Here are two scorchers from their Honest Jon's full-length. "Alyo" (with Malcolm Catto from The Heliocentrics on drums) is hard and funky, written by Cohran in memory of Alyo Tolbert, star dancer for the Montu Dance Company. "Flipside" wobbles and tips, with the spirit of Mingus in its gait. One pressing only, in a metallic-ink sleeve.

Artist:	BOCOUM, DAMON ALBARN, TOUMANI DIABATÉ AND FRIENDS, AFEL
Title:	Mali Music
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 001LP

"In July 2000, Damon Albarn travelled to Mali for Oxfam's On The Line project, which focussed on people living along the Greenwich Meridian. He seized the chance to meet and play with the Malian musicians whose recordings he loved, to exchange ideas with them in their own backyard. Damon's chosen instrument was a battered melodica. His musical encounters were leisurely, low-key and immersive, as natural and spontaneous as could be. Touring the capital Bamako and its surrounding villages, he sat in on club and private jam sessions, playing concerts and street corners, bars and boats. He hooked up with practically any musician he came across, from enthusiastic amateurs to such master-musicians as Toumani Diabaté, Lobi Traoré, Afel Bocoum, Kassé Mady Diabaté, and the only female ngoni-player in Mali, Ko Kan Ko Sata Doumbia. 'One of my favourite memories is Les Escrocs playing a party at Toumani's house', says Damon. 'Bass and drums doing dead funky Malian reggae, with them in shell-suits and patent-leather shoes doing a kind of feminised ragga version of the James Brown shimmy.' The tapes kept on running, for more than forty hours, capturing the volatile collage of sound that would become Mali Music. Back home in Damon's London studio, the recordings take a few more spins. In line with their original, inherent diversity, they make nods to reggae, house, rock, ragga; and some stay just as they are. The bass-playing of Junior Dan emerges with a unifying authority which recalls his years with Augustus Pablo. Then the tapes return to Mali, for further contributions from the musicians there. 'My idea is to set up loads of dialogues between this music and other music that I love', says Damon. 'I'm sick of the cultural self-assurance you get in the West. I want to get everyone into Malian music.'" [CD version is on Astralwerks in the US]

Artist:	BROOKS & LIGHT OF SABA, CEDRIC 'IM'
Title:	Cedric IM Brooks & Light Of Saba
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 004LP

Double LP version. "The eminent Jamaican saxophonist, who played on many a classic Studio One tune, embarked on his Light of Saba project after trying to join Sun Ra's Arkestra, in the late 1960s. Saba was Brooks' own vision of Ra's spiritual music,which expressed itself in jazz, roots, dub, afro-funk & mento. The double album comes in a lavish package, including an exclusive interview with Cedric Im Brooks."

Artist:	HALL & MUSHTAQ, TERRY
Title:	The Hour Of Two Lights
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 005LP

"This is an album of genre-bending that fuses Arabic and Jewish musical forms, Asian and East European sounds, hip-hop atmospherics and wild gypsy passions and slamming beats. In short, an album quite unlike anything you've ever heard from Terry Hall before. That in part is because The Hour Of Two Lights is not a Terry Hall solo album, although it may have started that way. First, Mushtaq, once of British-Asian pioneers Fun-Da-Mental, came on board as an equal partner. Then the cast list expanded to include a Tunisian singer, a Syrian flautist, an Egyptian who had settled in Iraq, Hebrew vocalists, Turkish musicians, a 12 year old Lebanese girl called Natasha, a blind Algerian rapper from Paris, a troupe of Polish gypsy refugees and a septuagenarian clarinetist famous for playing the Pink Panther theme. And Blur's Damon Albarn is also in there somewhere. And yet The Hour Of Two Lights is not a world music record, or a DJ album. It's not even a DJ album with world influences. 'I don't think it fits with anything, really,' Hall says. 'I don't really know what it is. Or what it isn't.' Which, of course, isn't very helpful in a world that demands instant categorisation and easy pigeon-holing. Yet there is a unifying thread that comes from a shared humanity. 'We wanted to take influences from everywhere,' Hall says. 'But it's not a bish-bosh of other people's cultures. Everybody had a sense of something in common in their minority and oppression and struggle. In the end, it felt more like we were editing a film than making a record.' As the songs took shape in all their unconventionality, more and more voices were added. Lyrics were translated into different languages, including Arabic, Hebrew and Romany, with music as the esperanto that united different cultures, traditions and temperaments."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Lif Up Yuh Leg An Trample
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 009LP

"The best contemporary Trinidadian Soca. Hard edged, dancehall tinged with a smattering of sexuality & politics, this album also commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Notting Hill carnival." Double LP, full color gatefold sleeve. Artists: Laventille Rhythm Section, Dawg E Slaughter, Timmy, Maximus Dan, Andre Tanker, Massive Gosine, Denise Belfon, Bunji Garlin, Machel Montano, Michelle Sylvester, Bobo & Agony, Machel Montano & Black Stalin.

Artist:	SON CUBANO NYC
Title:	Cuban Roots New York Spices 1972-82
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 010LP

2005 release, repressed on vinyl. "Gorgeous, organic Cuban dance music -- rootsy and big-city at the same time -- from the neglected period in the seventies, when small independent New York labels like SAR and Mericana were emerging from the domination of Fania. In premature reviews, Q Magazine awarded Son Cubano its coveted 'Q recommends' accolade; DJ reckoned it 'a must'; and Music Week celebrated 'some of the most vibrant music on the planet'. Featuring Rey Roig y su Sensacion, Charlie Rodriguez y su Conjunto, Chocolate, Henry Fiol, Roberto Torres, Lita Branda and more." Elaborate gatefold jacket.

Artist:	LE VOLUME COURBE
Title:	I Killed My Best Friend
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 014LP

"This is the long-playing debut of Charlotte Marionneau. Her 'Volume Curve' project features contributions from Hope Sandoval, David Roback, Colm O'Ciosoig and Malcolm Duffy, amongst others. Kevin Shields' contribution -- as co-writer, performer and producer -- is so thorough-going that this album really marks his first fully-realised music since My Bloody Valentine. The sound-world here -- it has the integrity of a classic soundtrack -- is intimate and uncanny, playful and compelling, brimming with musical ideas."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Lagos Chop Up
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 015LP

"Fela's success in the West has hidden from view the mind-boggling range of modern Nigerian music. Though formally these two compilations put things in perspective -- ranging across styles from the mid-sixties to the early eighties -- musically they are just staggering. There is juju apala, Afro-funk, highlife. Some breathtaking classic fuji -- raw Muslim street music -- for twenty-five years now the real soundtrack of Lagos youth. And the Afrobeat tracks here include one of the best you'll ever hear: thirteen minutes of Shina WIlliams And His African Percussions. As Chief Ebenezer Obey puts it -- 'Eyi Yato,' something different. With detailed notes by Michael Veal, Fela's biographer, and great artwork from Lagos." Artists: Sir Shina Adewale And His Super Stars International, Dr Victor Olaiya, Etubom Rex Williams, Kollington Ayinla, Ikenga Super Stars of Africa, Nigeria Army Rhythm Group, Eastern Minstrels, Oliver De Coque And His Expo '76, Steven Amechi And His Rhythm Skies, Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson, Workers Brigade Band.

Artist:	VA
Title:	London Is the Place For Me 2
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 016LP

... Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz From Young Black London. "Another installment of amazing music from the first wave of modern black settlement in England. The focus remains on the fifties, classic calypsos running alongside the African jazz of Ambrose Campbell -- the father of modern Nigerian music -- and some blistering high-life. Amongst the contributions from the sixties there is some South African kwela (featuring Chris McGregor), and a jazz-dance percussion workout from the Trinidadians who put the Notting Hill Carnival on London streets. The LPs are housed in a gatefold sleeve with a beautiful folded insert. There is a trenchant introduction by Paul Gilroy, full discographical notes, and numerous wonderful photographs."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Lagos All Routes
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 017LP

"Honest Jon's bring us the second of two compilations (Lagos Chop Up being the first) focusing on music from the Nigerian city of Lagos circa the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s (considered to be the golden age of African popular music). With many African nations fighting for (or gaining) independence, locally produced modern music was seen as a powerful expression of new national identity. Bands either modernized folk, classical or traditional African genres, or Africanized foreign genres such as R'n'B and funk. From West Africa came 60s highlife, which then influenced Fela Kuti's Afro-funk of the 70s, while from the traditional Yoruba religion came juju, fuji, waka and apala tracks, all of which are included here." Artists: Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey & His Inter-Reformers Band, Sir Victor Uwaifo, Travellers Lodge Atomic 8, Sagbeni Aragbada, Super Negro Bantous, Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson, Ambali Adedeji, Chief Umobuarie And His Group, Mike Ejeagha, Kollington Ayinla, The Harbours Band, Haruna Ishola, Dr. Victor Olaiya, Sir Patrick Idahosa And His African Sound Makers.

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	The Viking of Sixth Avenue
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 018CD

Previously licensed to Astralwerks in the U.S., now re-released on its original label, Honest Jon's, with new and improved gatefold card wallet sleeve packaging. Poet, composer, street musician and cosmologist Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin, 1916-1999) learned rhythm from American Indians and counterpoint from J.S. Bach. Many of his recordings feature instruments he built himself: trimba, yukh, tuji, oo. Sometimes you can hear in the background the streets of New York, where Moondog often slept. In addition, he was blind, due to an accident when he was 15. Sometime in the 1950s, fed up with being mistaken on the street for Christ (his regular busking spot was uptown on Sixth) Moondog put on a Viking costume, with spear and horned helmet; and he dressed like this until the late 1970s (by which time he was working with orchestras in Germany). Moondog's renown was extensive: Igor Stravinsky lobbied a judge on Moondog's behalf. Charlie Parker wanted to play with him, Julie Andrews DID play with him, and he was feted by the likes of Bob Dylan, Marlon Brando, and Steve Reich. Andy Warhol's mother designed one of his covers, and Weegee took photographs of him (included in the booklet). Janis Joplin covered him, Mr. Scruff owes him badly, and Antony and the Johnsons covers his songs. This is the first retrospective of Moondog's music -- 36 tracks from 1949-1995, most of them exceptionally rare, all of them miraculous.

Artist:	CAMPBELL, AMBROSE ADEKOYA
Title:	London Is The Place For Me 3
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 021LP

"Ambrose Campbell was acclaimed by Fela Kuti's generation -- by Fela himself -- as the founder of modern Nigerian music. Several of his recordings lit up London Is The Place For Me 2: now volume 3 is devoted to his music, drawing on the 78s he cut in London over ten years from 1949. Nearly all the tracks assembled here come from recordings made for the Melodisc label and originally released as 10" 78rpm singles. People who bought these records at the time can still recall how it was when the percussion team -- among them Ade Bashorun, Salustiano Dos Anjos, Manny Myers and 'Lati' Pedro -- built their polyrhythms in Ola Dosunmu's kingdom. With the melodic guitars of Brewster and Ambrose coming together behind Campbell's soothing voice, the musicians contrived to paint an evocative, enduring picture of palmwine Lagos nights." -- Val Wilmer

Artist:	STATON, CANDI
Title:	His Hands
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 023CD

Honest Jon's re-releases this modern soul classic by legendary U.S. soul/gospel singer Candi Staton, in a new card-gatefold packaging. Previously released in 2006 in the U.S. on Astralwerks. After years of gospel releases (including two gospel album Grammy nominations), His Hands marked Candi Staton's return to secular music with an album that collects four of her own compositions alongside songs originally written by Charlie Rich and Merle Haggard, as well as the heart-wrenching stand-out title track by Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy). Staton's renowned musical history includes a turn with the Jewel Gospel Trio in the 1950s, as well as tours with Sam Cooke, Mahalia Jackson and the Staple Singers. In the late-'60s, she reached the top ten with her version of "Stand By Your Man" and the Grammy-nominated "In the Ghetto." She even moved briefly into disco-diva territory with her 1976 smash hit "Young Hearts Run Free." His Hands sees Staton returning home to the tear-soaked and aching Southern soul that first guided her career, with consummate backing support by Muscle Shoals legend Barry Beckett on the Hammond B3 organ, various members of Lambchop, as well as Candi's son Marcus Williams on drums and daughter Cassandra Hightower on back-up vocals.

Artist:	STATON, CANDI
Title:	His Hands
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 023LP

LP version, repressed. Honest Jon's re-releases this modern soul classic (originally issued in 2006) by legendary U.S. soul/gospel singer Candi Staton. After years of gospel releases (including two gospel album Grammy nominations), His Hands marked Candi Staton's return to secular music with an album that collects four of her own compositions alongside songs originally written by Charlie Rich and Merle Haggard, as well as the heart-wrenching stand-out title track by Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy). His Hands sees Staton returning home to the tear-soaked and aching Southern soul that first guided her career, with consummate backing support by Muscle Shoals legend Barry Beckett on the Hammond B3 organ, various members of Lambchop, as well as Candi's son Marcus Williams on drums and daughter Cassandra Hightower on back-up vocals.

Artist:	VA
Title:	London Is the Place For Me 4
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 025LP

...African Dreams and the Piccadilly High Life. Double LP version. "This is the fourth volume in our series celebrating the music of black London, staying for now with the first waves of modern immigration from Africa and the West Indies. After devoting a third installment to the accomplishments of the late Nigerian genius Ambrose Campbell, Honest Jon's resumes an open-house policy, suited to musicians whose lives and artistic ambitions carried them all over the world: calypso and kwela are back, and highlife and bebop, with a little rock n' roll, a 'mambo indio,' a shango hymn, and a cha-cha-cha for bellydancing jazzbos. A lake in a Johannesburg zoo pops up next to a Chinese on the Harrow Road. Astronauts and prostitutes mingle with landlords and Test cricketers, sex with streetfighting and doing a runner. The music is presented alongside very rare artist photographs by Val Wilmer, and detailed notes."

Artist:	LAS MALAS AMISTADES
Title:	Jardin Interior
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	3x7"
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 026LP

"Psych folk! DIY punk! Tropicália! From Bogotá! Las Malas Amistades -- 'the bad friends' -- formed in 1994, when several art students in Bogota, Colombia, began meeting up to play music together (though none of them were musicians). From the start their method has been to make up songs there at the session, sometimes whilst their four-track is already running, moving straight on when something is caught on the tape. The music is fresh, spontaneous, intimate, spare. It's lovely, heartfelt, a bit wrong, full of poppy wit and beauty. There are six members at present. They use a hulking charity-shop synth and a Casiotone, electronic drums, an acoustic guitar and a cuatro, various small percussion gadgets. Sometimes songs are acoustic, sometimes electronic, usually both. Las Malas Amistades are heirs to the anthropophagism of the Tropicália movement, gobbling the brains of a scrumptious range of musical intelligence. The heroes and traditions of Colombian music: Los Carrangueros, Noel Petro, Andres Landero, Juancho Polo Valencia, cumbia vieja and Discos Fuentes. Also The Residents, Moondog, Sun Ra, Aksak Maboul, Morricone, Arthur Russell, Serge Gainsbourg, Paco Ibanez, The Slits, Tom Ze. '60s and '70s crooners like Jose Jose, Raphael, Sandro, Jeanette, Leonardo Favio. Las Malas Amistades have released two records. The first, La Música De Las Malas Amistades, compiled songs from the first five or six years of the band. The second, Jardín Interior, was recorded in Bogotá in March 2005. This three-7" set presents seventeen tracks, with full translations and great original artwork by the group."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Boogaloo Pow Wow: Dancefloor Rendez-Vous In Young Nuyorica
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 027CD

Originally released in 2006 on Honest Jon's, but not previously distributed in North America -- now fully available on CD here for the first time. A scorching compilation which features the brilliant, hybrid array of styles which burned up Latino dancefloors during the '60s in New York. The '60s were years of explosive transition for Latin music in New York: in tune with the times of strident political protest and cultural affirmation, new rhythms like the pachanga, boogaloo, típico and salsa signalled significant changes in musical sensibility among a new generation. By the early 1960s, the heyday of the great mambo era was passing, and by the end of the decade, the catch-all phrase salsa had been implanted on the rich variety of styles and rhythms that made up the repertoire. In between, throughout the 1960s, a thousand flowers bloomed in the Latin music field, with the bands conversant in the traditional Afro-Cuban styles of son and guaguancó and cha cha chá, Latin jazz and bolero, while also trying their hand at a range of newly-emerging styles, beginning with the pachanga in the opening years through to boogaloo and shingaling, until the roots sounds of típico as the decade ended. This array of styles came together in those heady years, and the eclectic tastes of those dynamic times are all here, from "Tanga," the first recorded example of Cubop and the classic "Descarga Cachao," to the jaunting guaguancó of Ray Barretto and Bobby Pauneto. But while some of the selections represent the preceding musical generation, and others anticipate the salsa sound of the key Fania years of the early 1970s, the focus here is on the boogaloo and Latin soul sound which was the most characteristic soundtrack of the period. Listen to the two Willie Rosario cuts, "Cool Jerk," and the pieces by Joe Loco and Willie Bobo, and you'll hear the trademarks of the style: the raucous hand-clapping, the party exhortations, the back-beat drumming, the African-American street English -- the result was a crazy, motley style named after the African-American dance craze of the moment, the boogaloo. Boogaloo and related styles of Latin soul were the first real crossover sounds that broke the language and style barriers, and the first to make it onto the Billboard charts as top sellers nation-wide. However, it was a genre not destined to last long, soon eclipsed by the more commercially-durable salsa boom of the early 1970s. But notwithstanding the brief life-span of boogaloo, to this day many of its top hits are loved by dancers everywhere. Other artists include: Manny Corchado, Macito, Tito Rodriguez, Kako, La Playa Sextet, Chuito Velez, Joe Loco, The La Playa Orchestra, Rene Grand And His Combo New York, and Dianne And Carole.

Artist:	WHITE, SIMONE
Title:	I Am The Man
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 028CD

I Am The Man is California-based Simone White's debut full-length release for Honest Jon's. These 13 heart-stopping tracks of soulful folk loveliness were recorded in Nashville with the team behind numerous Lambchop/Calexico/Will Oldham/Silver Jews classics. White was born in Hawaii and raised in a commune where they listened only to classical music and didn't have a TV. She first started playing the guitar at 22, influenced by Sonic Youth and The Pixies. It took several years and multiple moves -- Seattle, Paris, London, New York -- before White began playing and singing in what she describes as her true voice, also inspired by Low and Bonnie Prince Billy's Master And Everyone, produced by Mark Nevers, who would go on to record her The American War EP for Honest Jon's. White is resistant to making comparisons to her sound: she's much happier talking about her influences, which have moved from Sonic Youth to Nina Simone, Cesaria Evora and Odetta. Leading off with Carole King's "I Didn't Have Any Summer Romance," I Am The Man takes in an enormously broad range of subjects and moods -- from a surrealist flight of fancy like "Why Is Your Raincoat Always Crying?" to the stricken intimacy of "Sweetest Love Song" to the clear-eyed and full-voiced protest of "The American War." Politics, humor, love, despair and good tunes, Simone White has it all.

Artist:	WHITE, SIMONE
Title:	I Am The Man
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 028LP

"Simone White makes a kind of soulful American folk music, a gorgeous, heart-stopping mixture of the bluesy longing you get in the music of saudade -- singers like Cesaria Evora and Joao Gilberto -- and political protest. Will Oldham's in there; but so is Dionne Warwick. Great songs -- mostly Simone's own -- and masterful production again by Mark Nevers, who did Candi Staton's album for Honest Jon's last year." LP version contains 3 bonus tracks.

Artist:	LAS MALAS AMISTADES
Title:	Patio Bonito
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 029CD

Patio Bonito is the second Las Malas Amistades release on Honest Jon's. Las Malas Amistades -- "the bad friends" -- formed in 1994, when several art students in Bogota, Colombia, began meeting up to play music together (though none of them were musicians). From the start, their method has been to make up songs there at the session, sometimes while their four-track is already running, moving straight on when something is caught on the tape. Six members use a hulking charity-shop synth and a Casiotone, electronic drums, an acoustic guitar, a cuatro and various small percussion gadgets. Sometimes songs are acoustic, sometimes electronic, usually mixed. The music is spontaneous, intimate, spare. It's lovely, heartfelt, full of poppy wit and beauty, about to fall apart. Patio Bonito was recorded with the natural percussion of the raindrops hitting the tiles on the roof. In Bogota, when it rains so much, people tend to stay indoors and probably that spirit of confinement can also be heard on the record (although less clearly than the rain). As one member illustrates, the record "sounds like that brief and pineapple-y interval when the rain stops, the clouds open up, the light shines and people realize that the sun hasn't gone anywhere, that it was always up there, waiting to shine again."

Artist:	JUDD, ELMORE
Title:	Insect Funk
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 030CD

This is the second full-length release by North London's Jesse Hackett aka Elmore Judd. Weird, between-the-sheets soul from Tufnell Park. P-Funk running into art-school disco, rock avant-gardism, UK hip-hop, African roots music, a bit of rembetica from Greece, horror soundtracks and jazz. An ecstatic, danceable, menacing record populated by pirates, rats, Snakefinger, dead men and Tron. Drummer Tom Skinner, who played on Elmore Judd's first record Angel Sound, makes a re-appearance on Insect Funk, playing a kit, primitive drum machines, scaffolding poles and pots and pans. A dirty exploration of the scaly underbelly of soul as played by art hobos.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Migrating Bird: The Songs of Lal Waterson
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 031CD

Honest Jon's Records presents a tribute album to UK folksinger Lal Waterson, with tracks specially commissioned for this release. Lal Waterson was a member of The Watersons, a key 1960s precursor of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. Migrating Bird features 19 different voices from different decades and countries, all with a different take on the singularly haunting quality of these works. From the gyrating keyboards of King Creosote to the ramshackle accordion of Michael Hurley to the gentle ambience of Vashti Bunyan, the simplicity of Waterson's lyrics and her mellifluous folk spirit shine through. Other artists include: Nancy Elizabeth, James Yorkston, Victoria Williams, Lavinia Blackwall and Alex Neilson, Alasdair Roberts, Danny & The Champions Of The World, Charlotte Greig, Jeb Loy Nichols, Adrian Crowley, Richard James, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Sabbath Folk, Lindsey Woolsey, Richard Youngs, The Memory Band and Mark Olson.

Artist:	HALO, ABDEL HADI & THE EL GUSTO ORCHESTRA OF ALGIERS
Title:	Abdel Hadi Halo & The El Gusto Orchestra of Algiers
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 032CD

Chaabi ("of the people") has its roots in the Andalusian music of Moorish Spain, spreading to North Africa with exiled Jewish and Moorish communities; but it really took off in the music schools, parties and bars of occupied, post-WWII Algiers, where its Andalusian, Middle Eastern and North African lineage fused with the Mediterranean soundtrack of that era -- chanson, jazz, snatches of tango, a little boogie-woogie. A chaabi band combines traditional instruments such as the quanoun (or zither), mandole, oud, gambar (a stringed turtle shell), bendir and derbouka (types of drum); together with the piano, flute, banjo (brought to Algiers by American GIs), violin (played upright on the lap to save space in crowded venues), accordion and bongos. With subject matter ranging from God to pretty girls, the songs often touch on taboo issues. For this recording, the Abdel Hadi Halo & The El Gusto Orchestra of Algiers includes four singers -- joined in chorus by the voices of the entire orchestra and five-man banjo, percussion and violin sections. The scale and organization are thrilling; the music is swirling and improvisatory, surging from the haunted to the bluesy, the devotional to the knees-up. This album was recorded on the tilting fifth floor of the Conservatoire d'Algiers, in a room overlooking the sea on one side, and the Casbah on the other: the orchestra was recorded live in full flight -- all together, in continuous takes.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Living Is Hard: West African Music in Britain, 1927-1929
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 033CD

Honest Jon's has prepared a series drawing on some of the earliest recordings in the EMI Hayes Archive -- recovered from more than 150,000 78s -- staggering music from Iraq, Turkey, Caucasia, Lebanon, Iran (including sides made in Old Street, London, in 1909), Egypt and the Belgian Congo. This series opener presents the music of the West African underground of 1920s Britain, recorded at Hayes and released on the Zonophone label (which exported nearly all the records to West Africa). You can hear Caribbean influences here, the promise of highlife there, but Living Is Hard mostly disavows fusion and assimilation. And by contrast with antecedents in the history of black music in Britain -- minstrelsy and spirituals, for example, ragtime and jazz -- these recordings are unhitched from the protocols of a white listenership. These are startling, trenchant, elemental roots -- carrying troubled news home, along with signs of the new African nationalism -- and an enthralling glimpse of other lives, other times. Artists include: Oni Johnson, Isaac Jackson, Ben Simmons, Harry E. Quashie, Douglas Papafio, Prince Zulamkah, The West African Instrumental Quintet, The Ga Quartet, Domingo Justus, James Tucker, John Mugat, Kumasi Trio, James Thomas, Nicholas De Heer, George Williams Aingo and James Brown.

Artist:	ALLEN, TONY
Title:	Lagos Shake: A Tony Allen Chop Up
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 034CD

Two years ago, Honest Jon's travelled to Lagos with the great drummer Tony Allen, to make his first recordings there since his time with Fela Kuti -- an album entitled Lagos No Shaking, a classic of contemporary Afrobeat. Since then, the label has widely commissioned numerous responses to those new sides: from legends of dance music culture like Basic Channel in Berlin, for example, and founding father of Detroit techno, Carl Craig; and young tigers like Dizzee Rascal's Newham Generals, MIA producer Diplo in Baltimore, and carioca sensations Bonde Do Role from Rio De Janeiro. There are also new recordings from Cairo, Saturn, Bogota and Kingston, Jamaica -- fresh interpretations or complete reworkings by the space jazz pioneer Salah Ragab, a street brass band descended from Sun Ra's Arkestra, highlife-inspired Afro-Colombian drummers from the village of San Palenque De Basilio, and a veteran of Count Ossie's Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari. Afrobeat, dub, jazz, chalupa, electro, highlife, techno, grime, carioca, champeta and funk from all corners, fizzing away together here... it could only be from Honest Jon's. Vinyl version includes 2 bonus tracks.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Give Me Love: Songs of the Brokenhearted: Baghdad, 1925-1929
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 035CD

This is the second in Honest Jon's series of albums exploring the earliest 78s held in the EMI Hayes Archive. In the mid-1920s, The Gramophone Company -- soon before it became EMI -- employed two or three Europeans to criss-cross Iraq. They logged regional demographics, assessed the German competition, and checked out the scores of record shops and hundreds of musical venues. In Kerbala, its man fearfully disguised himself as an Arab. This was the groundwork for three sessions, conducted in Baghdad in the second half of the decade, which produced nearly 1,000 recordings. Business was good -- the first group of records, though deemed aesthetically unsuccessful by the Company, immediately produced 12,000 sales to just two outlets in the city. Drawing on the full range of these Baghdad recordings, it is a wondrous, deeply poignant glimpse of social living since obliterated, in which ethnicities, faiths and traditions appear woven richly and meltingly together, however precariously. There is dance music featuring Arab folk singers from the countryside, backed by professional Jewish musicians in Iraqi styles popularly termed "Egyptian," and perfected in nightclubs where the first duty of the secular women singers on this album was prostitution. Also including some Arabic word-play, in a nod to the musical form of the Arabic mawwal, a Hebrew hymn is kick-started with a cry of "Allah!," most likely from one of the Jewish performers. There are pieces from Bahrain and Kuwait; sometimes mixed together in one performance -- the different dialects are far-flung. There are beautiful, high and lonesome Kurdish violin improvisations; and some unaccompanied circular breathing on a zourna so unearthly it seems to cross late Coltrane with Sun Ra. All the songs are characterized by searing emotion and crises of feeling, many by erotic urgency. As with the other titles in the series, the recordings have been startlingly restored at Abbey Road; and they are presented with full translations, rare photographs (in this case, several performers), and notes -- including an extensive interview with a citizen of Baghdad throughout this period, who knew many of the musicians here personally.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Sprigs Of Time: 78s From The EMI Archive
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 036CD

This is the third in Honest Jon's series of albums exploring the earliest 78s held in the EMI Hayes Archive. Honest Jon's has spent the last two years delving through more than 150,000 78 records in the temperature-controlled steel vaults of EMI's Archive in Hayes, Middlesex. Following studious compilations of West African and Iraqi music of the 1920s, the latest release in the Honest Jon's Hayes Archive series is a sparkling late-summer lucky dip, Sprigs Of Time: 78s From The EMI Archive. An eccentric survey of the Hayes shelves, Sprigs Of Time is thirty tracks recorded between 1903 and 1957, everywhere from England (Percy Grainger's recording of the title song, sung by Joseph Taylor in 1908) to Japan (the bewilderingly beautiful "Seigaiha," by the Japanese Imperial Palace Band, five years earlier). Organ rolls from Georgia run alongside Tamils impersonating motorized transport, and rumba from Beirut; '40s fado sits next to the songs of Bengali beggars. As with the other Hayes releases, the tracks have been restored at Abbey Road and are beautifully presented, with extensive contemporary photographs included. There are recognizable names (Joseph Taylor, the incomparable Fairuz, Mighty Sparrow and an uncredited Rubén González, singing lead vocals on "Rumba Negra") and extraordinary oddities (Vengopal Chari's rather unfunny "Laughing" and the peculiarly affecting hand bells of "Gas All Clear"). Taken out of the library and put back on the turntable, every track here is remarkable; every one worth the saving.

Artist:	STATON, CANDI
Title:	Who's Hurting Now?
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 037LP

Vinyl version. Honest Jon's releases a new studio album by legendary U.S. soul/gospel singer, Candi Staton -- the follow-up to her sublime 2006 soul re-emergence, His Hands. Who's Hurting Now? could arguably be even better than His Hands, once again recorded in Nashville by producer Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Silver Jews), with a grittier, more live, Southern-funk sound. As before, this album hosts a combination of veterans and newcomers, including Candi's son on drums and her daughter singing back-up; but this time, the band is led by keyboard-player Mose Davis, from Detroit funk legends The Fabulous Counts. Again, there is a mix of original compositions, including another song written for Candi by Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy), and country and soul revivals by songwriters such as Dan Penn, Mary Gauthier, and Dave Crawford, who also wrote Staton's 1976 disco-hit, "Young Hearts Run Free." Another soul classic in the making.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 038CD

Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa celebrates the West African counterpart of the 1950s Soho scene uncovered in the Honest Jon's series, London Is The Place For Me. Issuing from centuries of to-ing and fro-ing between England, the West Indies, and West Africa, the same musical styles -- calypso, highlife, jazz -- overlap, proliferate, and adapt, with local traditions freshened up and thrown into the mix. With numerous faces and reference points cropping up in both milieu, this contemporaneous music-making is brimming over with the same passion for life, sparkling topicality, and extravagant, magpie creativity. The inter-war dance bands of British West Africa are often strikingly similar in sound to Trinidadian orchestras like Lovey's String Band (credited with the first calypso recordings in 1912). However, the first West African calypso recordings in the modern style are from Freetown, Sierra Leone in the early 1950s, by Ebenezer Calendar and Famous Scrubbs. In arrangements blending African and European instruments, the brass plays out the legacy of colonial military bands, albeit hair-down and a little ramshackle now; and the beautiful Creole lyrics are as quick and musical as any classic calypsonian's. Decca also organized the first calypso recording session in Ghana, down the coast, where a sound interchangeably designated "calypso" or "highlife" ruled urban dancefloors, courtesy of The Tempos and its spin-offs including The Rhythm Aces. The invasion of King Mensah of Ghana, and The Tempos' money-spinning tour of Nigeria at the start of the 1950s sparked a decade of musical innovation. Bobby Benson's new highlife 11-piece included the great trumpeters Victor Olaiya and Roy Chicago and his calypso "Taxi Driver" was their first, huge, signature hit. (By contrast, little is known about the Nigerian Rolling Stone). The Mayor's Dance Band was run by the celebrated Erekosima "Rex" Lawson, whose trademark blend of Igbo lyrics over a Calabari rhythm reflected his mixed parentage. Steven Amechi was from eastern Nigeria, and the guitar solo on "Nylon Dress" is by the king of Igbo highlife, Stephen Osita Osadebe. Saxophonist Chris Ajilo and his band The Cubanos didn't produce much calpyso-highlife, but rather, cooking Afro-Cuban jazz with traditional roots, exemplifying the open hybridity of all these forms. By the early 1960s, calypso was fading in West Africa, and U.S. soul and rhythm and blues were poised to replace Caribbean influences. Still, the dying embers would produce its most classical exponent, Godwin Omabuwa, Nigeria's own Lord Kitchener. Omabuwa cut only a few records, but his mastery of the genre was a fitting end to the heyday of calypso in British West Africa.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Open Strings: 1920s Middle Eastern Recordings- New Responses
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 039CD

This is the fourth release in Honest Jon's series of albums exploring the earliest 78s held in the EMI Hayes Archive. Open Strings is a dazzling selection of virtuoso string-playing from Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Turkey, all recorded in the 1920s, and pretty much unheard ever since. In addition, Open Strings includes a disc of newly-commissioned responses to the themes in this music by underground luminaries committed to the drone such as Sir Richard Bishop of legendary Sun City Girls renown, West Coast psych-guitarist Ben Chasny aka Six Organs Of Admittance, UK folk-guitarist Rick Tomlinson aka Voice Of The Seven Woods, and Western Massachusetts' raga-inspired duo, MV And EE. From resonant bow-drone, to frenetic fret-runs to delicate, circular acoustic musings to sitar fever-dreams, no matter the nationality, there is a resonance and truth in this music that is ancient, timeless and transcendent. Scorchers past and present, every one. Other artists include: Micah Blue Smaldone, Michael Flower, Charlie Parr, Bruce Licher, Paul Metzger, and Steffen Basho-Junghans.

Artist:	VA
Title:	The World Is Shaking: Cubanismo From The Congo, 1954-55
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 040CD

This is the fifth release in Honest Jon's series of albums exploring vintage recordings held in the EMI Hayes Archive. This album uncovers the dizzy beginnings of the golden age of African music zinging with the social and political ferment of the independence movement and anti-colonialism, after the Second World War and the daredevil origins of Congolese rumba -- the entire continent's most popular music in the '60s and '70s. The new music grew in concert with a burgeoning night life especially in the twin capitals of Leopoldville (today's Kinshasa) on the Belgian side, and Brazzaville on the French, where humming factories lured increasing numbers of rural Congolese with the offer of a steady, relatively well-paying job. The astonishing inventions of Europe and America also played an important role in the music's development. Traditional Congolese musicians began to master imported guitars and horns by mimicking what they heard. The jazz of Louis Armstrong and the ballads of European torch singers like Tino Rossi captured the imagination of the rapidly-expanding working class as well as the familiar-sounding music of Latin America. Local musicians swapped the Spanish of the originals for Congolese languages. In his version of "Peanut Vendor," included here, A.H. Depala replaces the seller's cry of "mani," or "peanut," with a lovelorn lament for a woman named "Moni." Depala went on to land a spot in the house-band of the prestigious Loningisa studio. Others failed to gain equivalent recognition, but their music was no less impressive. Listen to likembe (thumb-piano) player Boniface Koufidilia as he makes the transition from traditional to modern in the first few seconds of "Bino," which hits you with a vamping violin while he muses about death (including that of the popular Brazzaville musician Paul Kamba). Andre Denis and Albert Bongu both echo the sounds of palm-wine brought to the Belgian Congo by the coastmen. The sweet vocal harmonies of Vincent Kuli's track were learned, perhaps, in a mission church. Rene Mbu's nimble, likembe-like guitar plucking shines on "Boma Limbala," and is Laurent Lomande using a banjo as a backdrop to "Elisa?" Aren't those kazoos, buzzing along on Jean Mpia's "Tika?" It's as if the musicians, fired up by the times in their zeal for experimental self-expression, tossed into a bottle some new elements and some old, some near and some far, and then shook it hard, to see what would happen. With rare photographs and notes by Gary Stewart, author of Rumba On The River. Sound restoration done at Abbey Road.

Artist:	VA
Title:	The World Is Shaking: Cubanismo From The Congo, 1954-55
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 040LP

Deluxe double LP version, in a beautiful gatefold sleeve. This is the fifth release in Honest Jon's series of albums exploring vintage recordings held in the EMI Hayes Archive. This album uncovers the dizzy beginnings of the golden age of African music zinging with the social and political ferment of the independence movement and anti-colonialism, after the Second World War and the daredevil origins of Congolese rumba -- the entire continent's most popular music in the '60s and '70s. The new music grew in concert with a burgeoning night life especially in the twin capitals of Leopoldville (today's Kinshasa) on the Belgian side, and Brazzaville on the French, where humming factories lured increasing numbers of rural Congolese with the offer of a steady, relatively well-paying job. The astonishing inventions of Europe and America also played an important role in the music's development. Traditional Congolese musicians began to master imported guitars and horns by mimicking what they heard. The jazz of Louis Armstrong and the ballads of European torch singers like Tino Rossi captured the imagination of the rapidly-expanding working class as well as the familiar-sounding music of Latin America. Local musicians swapped the Spanish of the originals for Congolese languages. In his version of "Peanut Vendor," included here, A.H. Depala replaces the seller's cry of "mani," or "peanut," with a lovelorn lament for a woman named "Moni." Depala went on to land a spot in the house-band of the prestigious Loningisa studio. Others failed to gain equivalent recognition, but their music was no less impressive. Listen to likembe (thumb-piano) player Boniface Koufidilia as he makes the transition from traditional to modern in the first few seconds of "Bino," which hits you with a vamping violin while he muses about death (including that of the popular Brazzaville musician Paul Kamba). Andre Denis and Albert Bongu both echo the sounds of palm-wine brought to the Belgian Congo by the coastmen. The sweet vocal harmonies of Vincent Kuli's track were learned, perhaps, in a mission church. Rene Mbu's nimble, likembe-like guitar plucking shines on "Boma Limbala," and is Laurent Lomande using a banjo as a backdrop to "Elisa?" Aren't those kazoos, buzzing along on Jean Mpia's "Tika?" It's as if the musicians, fired up by the times in their zeal for experimental self-expression, tossed into a bottle some new elements and some old, some near and some far, and then shook it hard, to see what would happen. With insert featuring rare photographs and notes by Gary Stewart, author of Rumba On The River. Sound restoration done at Abbey Road.

Artist:	HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE
Title:	Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 042CD

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is comprised of eight brothers from the south side of Chicago who come from an extraordinary musical family. Other sisters and brothers are professional musicians, their mothers are singers, and Phil Cohran, their father, has roots running back to Mississippi, the musical hothouse of 1940s St. Louis, Sun Ra in Chicago in the 1950s, and the founding of the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). At night when they went to bed, the children would hear their father rehearsing with his band the Circle Of Sound. They were wakened at 6 a.m. for several hours of music practice before going to school and were a central part of their father's Youth Ensemble. Meanwhile, they were also sneaking under the covers and listening to NWA and Public Enemy, later forming their first group, GWC (Gangsters With A Curfew), which morphed into Wolf Pak (War On Pigs And Klan). By the end of the '90s, they brought together their musicianship, their jazz roots and their hip-hop sensibility, and made a living busking on the streets of Chicago, which honed their burgeoning skills as composers. (They wrote all of the tracks on this album except "Alyo," written by their father, and "Rabbit Hop," written by Moondog.) Eventually, the group transferred to New York City, and after playing out relentlessly, including gigs with Mos Def and Erykah Badu, and some particularly incendiary shows in Europe, they have come to be known as one of the hottest and most individual bands around. This album is the result of a chance encounter in 2005: during a cold market day on Portobello Road, strains of Ellington and the swagger of brassy funk cut through the morning fog. Stationed on the corner of Talbot Road, eight horns and a drum kit rocked Ladbroke Grove. Since their initial meeting, Honest Jon's and HBE have stayed close. In 2007, HBE contributed a monster of a track "Sankofa" to the Tony Allen remix project, Lagos Shake (HJR 034CD/LP), and have not stopped blowing minds since. In London, Lyon and New York, HBE tore it up both as leaders and in support of artists as diverse as Victoria Williams and Candi Staton, both rousing and tender in turns. Honest Jon's are proud to present the gorgeous, thrilling music of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

Artist:	TREMBLING BELLS
Title:	Carbeth
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 043CD

This is the hotly-tipped debut of new new-folk outfit, Trembling Bells, masterminded by protean drummer Alex Neilson, one of the UK's leading young improvisers. From the ashes of Scatter, a Glasgow-based collective which long anticipated the free-folk phenomenon, emerges a new song-based venture. Having served apprenticeships with some uniquely talented songwriters (Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Current 93, Alasdair Roberts, Baby Dee, Red Krayola, Six Organs Of Admittance, Josephine Foster, amongst them), Neilson sets out with the group to reanimate the hidden, mythic landscapes of Yorkshire and Glasgow (in particular) via a love of canonical rock, early music, and traditional folk. Featuring the diverse musical talents of medieval music scholar and psychedelic siren, Lavinia Blackwall, Venusian bluesman, Ben Reynolds, Lucky Luke progenitor Simon Shaw, plus trombonist George Murray, and viola player Aby Vuillamy from Scatter and the Bill Wells Group. Carbeth is absolutely sweeping, grandiose baroque-folk like a newly-minted Pentangle or Fairport Convention, but with strange keyboard/horn arrangements, and sometimes thunderous percussion. This isn't music for tatted lace-wearers, but for folk-rockers wearing sturdy woolen travelling capes for backwards horse-rides through a long-lost Britain.

Artist:	VON OSWALD TRIO, MORITZ
Title:	Vertical Ascent
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 045LP

Gatefold 2LP version. This is the highly-anticipated debut full-length release by The Moritz von Oswald Trio, comprised of members Moritz von Oswald (Basic Channel, Rhythm & Sound), Max Loderbauer (NSI, Sun Electric), and Vladislav Delay (Luomo). Through Basic Channel and Rhythm And Sound -- his collaborations with Mark Ernestus -- Moritz von Oswald first of all conjured from thin air -- then comprehensively mapped out -- the grounds of a deep exchange between real-deal Jamaican dub and classic, Detroit-style techno. The duo's accomplishment and influence are immense. The repercussions of their work within electronic dance music have been incalculable. Though a departure, Vertical Ascent retraces various signatures of the earlier styles -- the fastidious density of sound, the massive bass and detailed upper registers ("a frequency massage," Ricardo Villalobos has called the album), the stripped, stepping repetitiousness, the seriousness. The striking differences stem from the qualities of live performance (the driving, clattering percussion in particular, and the loose, improvisatory approach), the exploded palette of sounds, including a trace of steel drums, something like a cuica -- and of course, most of all -- the fresh line-up. Vladislav Delay is a drummer and electronic musician from Finland -- like von Oswald, trained in classical percussion (while the third member studied classical piano for 20 years) -- who released a landmark album on Basic Channel's Chain Reaction imprint, before working with a diversity of artists (under pseudonyms like Luomo and Sistol), from Massive Attack to the Scissor Sisters. On Vertical Ascent, he plays home-made metal percussion. From Munich, Max Loderbauer was a partner in the ambient duo Sun Electric. Behind the scenes, his work has ranged between Tresor and Can's Spoon Records. In 2004 he teamed up with Tobias Freund to form NSI (Non Standard Institut). On Vertical Ascent, he plays synthesizers, alongside von Oswald, who also contributes Fender Rhodes and additional percussion. At the heart of Vertical Ascent is a dream crossing of Basic Channel, Larry Heard and Can -- as at home with calypso as it is Stravinsky.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Black Slavery Days
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 100LP

"Legendary, militant, magnificent roots reggae from the mid-seventies, originally issued on the NYC Clappers label in 1980 (and much sought after ever since). Clayton Downie's productions showcase dubwise four JA groups -- the Skulls, Mercenaries, Arrow, Original Survivors -- with backing by luminaries like Horsemouth, Junior Dan, Chinna, Augustus Pablo, Robbie Shakespeare, and Vin Gordon, Herman Marquis and Bobby Ellis on blazing rebel horns. Fans of 'Marcus Garvey'-era Burning Spear will be in heaven."

Artist:	WILLIAMS, TUNDE
Title:	Mr Big Mouth
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 101LP

First reissue of this legendary Afrobeat LP from Nigeria, originally recorded in 1975. Produced by Fela Kuti. "Out of print for years, the release of these albums by Lekan Animashaun and Tunde Williams is a welcome addition to the catalogue of available Afrobeat recordings. In Fela Kuti's band Afrika 70, Tunde was the most consistent soloist, and his trumpet improvisations graced virtually all of the band's 1970s recordings. The tracks for Mr. Big Mouth had been recorded in 1975, but by the time they were released in 1977, Fela was engaged in a bitter battle with the original label, Decca Records. As a result, many of Afrika 70's Decca releases from 1977-8 fell through the proverbial cracks, and Mr. Big Mouth was unfortunately one of them. Although it is a great album, it was given little promotion and as a result, is known only to the most committed Afrobeat aficionados, even in Nigeria. The music on Mr. Big Mouth is similar in feel and mood to other Afrika 70 releases from this time on Decca's Afrodisia imprint such as Fela's No Agreement, Stalemate, and Fear Not for Man, and Tony Allen's No Accomodation for Lagos. The title track is typical of Afrika 70's uptempo grooves and like much of Fela's music the lyrics are socially-critical in tone, although unlike Fela's songs, Tunde's lyrics are not directed at the government. Rather, he says the title track was a commentary on 'some of the indigenous contractors at that time. The government would give these contractors money to complete a job, and instead they would take the money and surround themselves with women, fancy clothes, and flashy cars, and go around the town bragging like big shots. The jobs never got done, and many of them ended up going to jail for defrauding the government. That's what I was singing about.' Tunde's mid-tempo instrumental 'The Beginning' is certainly one of the most infectious tracks to come out of Fela's organization. The laid-back Afrobeat groove is dark and suspenseful, and one can easily hear why the song was often played during Afrika 70's warm-up sets, as it perfectly sets the tone for a late, smoky night at the Afrika Shrine. After leaving Fela in 1978, Tunde was in heavy demand as a session trumpeter in Lagos. His credits from this time are numerous, including Manu Dibango's seminal Home Made set (the first of Dibango's LPs to be fully recorded in Africa), and Orlando Julius Ekemode."

Artist:	ANIMASHAUN, LEKAN
Title:	Low Profile
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 102LP

First reissue of this legendary Afrobeat LP from Nigeria, originally recorded in 1979. Produced by Fela Kuti. "Baba Ani's two songs here were tinkered with over a period of years, but the basic tracks date from the last days of the regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo, around 1979. This was a tough time for the Afrika 70 organization, which was still recovering from the military attack (allegedly ordered by Obasanjo) that was launched on Fela's 'Kalakuta Republic' in February 1977, as well as the departure of Tony Allen and most of the Afrika 70 band following the Berlin Festival in 1978. By mid-1979, Fela had finally opened his new Afrika Shrine in Ikeja (an outlying suburb of Lagos). Animashaun was appointed bandleader of the new band, which was also named Afrika 70 until 1981 when Fela rechristened it Egypt 80. The opening of the new Afrika Shrine ended over two years of harassment and performances forcibly aborted by the government and soldiers of the Nigerian Army. Nevertheless, Fela's battles with the Nigerian authorities continued, and were particularly severe during the early 1980s. As a result, Baba Ani's songs remained unreleased for years until they were finally released on Fela's Kalakuta Records as Kalakuta 003. Even then, Animashaun laments that the release wasn't given much promotion by the label's staff. As a result, Low Profile remained primarily familiar to the faithful attendants of the Afrika Shrine, while 'Serere (Do Right)' given a bit more exposure, used as Egypt 80's set opener. Animashaun's two songs were social criticisms of a sort, filtered through Fela's Afrobeat experience. The title of 'Serere' (Do Right) is self-explanatory; the lyrics ask the listener to act constructively in society, regardless of professional or social status. The title Low Profile (Not for the Blacks) takes as its inspiration comments made in late 1976 by then-General Olusegun Obasanjo. In response to a surge in armed robberies at the height of the Nigerian oil boom, General Obasanjo urged Nigerians to avoid ostentatious displays of wealth and to adopt a 'low profile,' in order to discourage the thieves who preyed upon the Nigerian nouveau-riche. Animashaun disagreed with this sentiment, recalling 'I was trying to say that a 'low profile' is not for black people. Black people are supposed to be living like kings and queens. Why should our rulers be telling us to live a low profile, while they themselves are living a 'high profile' in [the upscale areas of] Ikoyi and Victoria Island?'. Taken together, Mr. Big Mouth and Low Profile contribute two of the most important pieces of the puzzle."

Artist:	MRWEBI, GWIGWI
Title:	Mbaqanga Songs
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 103CD

"This is the first release in a sister series to London Is The Place For Me. Gwigwi Mrwebi travelled to London from Johannesburg in 1960, to appear in the musical King Kong -- alongside the likes of Dorothy Masuka, featured on London 4. (Back home earlier that year he'd recorded with Hugh Masekela and Kippie Moeketsi in the Jazz Dazzlers; and earlier he'd played with the Jazz Maniacs and the Harlem Swingsters.) The Blue Notes came after him in 1965, and two years later Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana and Ronnie Beer joined Gwigwi for this session at Dennis Duerden's Transcription centre in Covent Garden, together with Jamaican bassist Coleridge Goode (from Joe Harriott's group), and on drums the Welshman Laurie Allan (a Blue Notes regular, who played with Gong in the seventies). Mbaqanga Songs is a reissue of the LP which resulted (originally entitled Kwela by Gwigwi's Band, and impossible to find pretty much ever since). Sixteen short, exhilarating jazz tracks in the dance style then captivating South Africa (kwela means 'get moving' in Xhosa), bursting with beautiful melodies. Carefully remastered at Abbey Road; with poignant new sleevenotes by Steve Beresford."

Artist:	MRWEBI, GWIGWI
Title:	Mbaqanga Songs
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 103LP

"This is the first release in a sister series to London Is The Place For Me. Gwigwi Mrwebi travelled to London from Johannesburg in 1960, to appear in the musical King Kong -- alongside the likes of Dorothy Masuka, featured on London 4. (Back home earlier that year he'd recorded with Hugh Masekela and Kippie Moeketsi in the Jazz Dazzlers; and earlier he'd played with the Jazz Maniacs and the Harlem Swingsters.) The Blue Notes came after him in 1965, and two years later Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana and Ronnie Beer joined Gwigwi for this session at Dennis Duerden's Transcription centre in Covent Garden, together with Jamaican bassist Coleridge Goode (from Joe Harriott's group), and on drums the Welshman Laurie Allan (a Blue Notes regular, who played with Gong in the seventies). Mbaqanga Songs is a reissue of the LP which resulted (originally entitled Kwela by Gwigwi's Band, and impossible to find pretty much ever since). Sixteen short, exhilarating jazz tracks in the dance style then captivating South Africa ('kwela' means 'get moving' in Xhosa), bursting with beautiful melodies. Carefully remastered at Abbey Road; with poignant new sleevenotes by Steve Beresford."

Artist:	WAREIKA HILL SOUNDS
Title:	Wareika Hill Sounds
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 104CD

"'I was born and grew up in D'Aguilar Town, eastern Kingston, at the foot of Wareika Hill. I came up playing with Tommy McCook's Supersonics, and The Skatalites. I was the lead trombonist of Count Ossie's Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari. My first instrumental to hit was 'Lambs Bread Collie,' which I recorded with The Light Of Saba. These are my new recordings, blazing grounation roots reggae." -- Calvin Cameron. "This is 2007 dubwise roots reggae by Calvin Cameron from The Light Of Saba alongside his regular crew, and musicians like Deadly Headley Bennett, the original Saba drummers, and David Madden from the Black Ark -- with a special appearance by Tony Allen, architect of Fela Kuti's Afrobeat!"

Artist:	JUNIOR DAN
Title:
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 105CD

"I recorded first for Randy's, around 1967-68, then Joe Gibbs, GGs, Lee Perry, Treasure Isle, Channel One... I even did quite a bit of work for Harry J as well. I played bass on the 'Black Slavery Days' sessions, and I was at the Rockers studios with Augustus Pablo from the start till I left Jamaica in 1980. I was with Burning Spear at the time of Hail HIM. This compilation is some of my own records -- deep roots reggae from the 1970s. -- Junior Dan. Classical reggae -- Black Ark, Yabby You and Augustus Pablo vibes -- with contributions from The Upsetter, Fred Locks and the Twelve Tribes musicians, Pablove Black, Zoot Sims, The Light Of Saba's recording engineer Joseph Robinson, and King Tubby, amongst an illustrious rootical roll-call. Compiled from ultra-rare singles."

Previous Page Index of Labels Next Page

Artist:	KNOTS/MIKEY MURKA, KENNY
Title:	Watch How The People Dancing
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 001EP

Artist:	ORN, EINAR
Title:	Ghostigital
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2x10"
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJP 009EP

Artist:	VA
Title:	Dougla Rhythm
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 013EP

Artist:	LAVENTILLE RHYTHM SECTION
Title:	Two Rhythms
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 015EP

Artist:	SEIJI & SPOONFACE
Title:	Ying Yang
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 019EP

Artist:	DEMOCRAZY
Title:	Rappy Song (Freaks Remixes)
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 020EP

Artist:	DE CLIVE-LOWE, MARK
Title:	Mesmerized
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 023EP

Artist:	LONE OFFICIAL
Title:	Monarchos
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	3x7"
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJP 029EP

Artist:	ALLEN/ELEWEDU OF AGEGE, TONY
Title:	Awa Na Re: A Remix By Bonde Do Role
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 034EP

Artist:	VA
Title:	Fuji Ouija
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 042EP

Artist:	STEEL AN' SKIN
Title:	Afro Punk Reggae Dub
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 045EP

Artist:	LORD KITCHENER AND FRIENDS
Title:	London Is The Place For Me
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 002LP

Artist:	SWANN, BETTYE
Title:	Bettye Swanne
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 008LP

Artist:	VA
Title:	Never the Same: Leave-Taking from the British Folk Revival
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	HJR 019LP

Artist:	WILLIAMS/ANIMASHAUN, LEKAN, TUNDE
Title:	Mr Big Mouth/Low Profile
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 101/102CD