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LP
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NA 5188LP
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"The re-discovered third album by India's best known psychedelic-rock ensemble, presented in its entirety. The companion piece our Atomic Forest anthology Obsession. Covers of Deodato, Stevie Wonder and 'Spectrum,' the heaviest Indian psych-funk jam unearthed to date. Over the course of four years, culminating in 2011, we at Now-Again Records assembled the Atomic Forest anthology Obsession, which delved into and told the story of India's 70s rock underground and this psychedelic ensemble's story. At the time we issued Obsession, we were not aware of the third album that the Atomic Forest had recorded, issued under Kanga's name as Disco Roar. When it came to our attention, we figured that we owed it to anyone entranced by this hard-to-believe, underground, Indian rock scene to issue this, the first album that the Atomic Forest recorded. 'That Disco Roar album was the first time we were doing anything like that. It was the first thing we did. It progressed into the Hit Film Themes album. Then these guys came with more commercial potential songs (which became Obsession '77). But originally it was just a band, the live performances that we did, that made us very popular, these simple songs,' guitarist Abraham Mammen recalls. Atomic Forest's story stands in for the untold stories of many of India's underground bands, bands remembered vividly by those who witnessed their performances, bands that often homemade, cassette recordings -- that have been lost to time. Mammen, now a traveling preacher splitting his time between India and the United States, reflects on the unlikely reissue of the Atomic Forest's recordings: 'What's left of the Atomic Forest? It's just like smoke: smoke on the water.' With the release of Disco Roar, that smoke keeps rising."
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2LP
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NA 5180LP
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Double LP version. Gatefold jacket with OBI. Contains a 24 page booklet with extensive liner notes and photos. Download card for WAV files of the album and bonus tracks. "Sometimes, all it takes is one man to recognize a city's potential for an industry. In Indianapolis, that man was Herb Miller, and his business was soul and funk. He came to prominence long after Indy's allure as a jazz destination waned. He founded LAMP Records in the late 1960s to wake Naptown from its musical slumber. Miller served a critical role in city's burgeoning soul and funk scene, providing not only financial backing, but acting as a one-stop, record-making shop for artists that had, to that point, been doing it all themselves. He's the Berry Gordy you've never heard of. His roster -- national acts like the Vanguards and Ebony Rhythm Band alongside talented, regional acts such as the Moonlighters, Montiques, Pearls and the Words of Wisdom Truth Revue -- rivaled that of any American independent and paved the way for the ascension of 80s and 90s hitmakers Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds and Antonio 'L.A.' Reid, both of whom cut their teeth with LAMP alumnus."
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4CD
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NA 5180CD
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"Sometimes, all it takes is one man to recognize a city's potential for an industry. In Indianapolis, that man was Herb Miller, and his business was soul and funk. He came to prominence long after Indy's allure as a jazz destination waned. He founded LAMP Records in the late 1960s to wake Naptown from its musical slumber. Miller served a critical role in city's burgeoning soul and funk scene, providing not only financial backing, but acting as a one-stop, record-making shop for artists that had, to that point, been doing it all themselves. He's the Berry Gordy you've never heard of. His roster -- national acts like the Vanguards and Ebony Rhythm Band alongside talented, regional acts such as the Moonlighters, Montiques, Pearls and the Words of Wisdom Truth Revue -- rivaled that of any American independent and paved the way for the ascension of 80s and 90s hitmakers Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds and Antonio 'L.A.' Reid, both of whom cut their teeth with LAMP alumnus."
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LP
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NA 5187LP
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"Comes packaged in a gatefold jacket with a 28-page booklet. Earth Rot is visionary composer/arranger/producer David Axelrod's third album, and the last of his Capitol trilogy. Recorded as a concept album about the decrepit state of the environment in 1970 Los Angeles, and scheduled for release on the first Earth Day, it marks a departure for Axelrod's signature sound, which would take on a jazzier feel in the 1970s. The instrumental version of Earth Rot was first issued by Now-Again, overseen by the label's Eothen Alapatt in conjunction with Axelrod's estate as a limited double LP offering. The instrumentals are now available for the first time ever as a stand-alone LP. The master was approved by Axelrod's son Michael, who adapted ancient lyrics for the album in one of three collaborative projects he did with his father. Contains a 28-page booklet that delves into Axelrod's incredible life and music, replete with never before published photos and an interview. 'There are very few people who see the Grand Picture of the Universe and understand the Nothingness that it all comes from. There are even fewer who can express these ideas through music -- David could do it all.' --T-Ray"
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NA 5186LP
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"Comes packaged in a gatefold jacket with a 28-page booklet. Earth Rot is visionary composer/arranger/producer David Axelrod's third album, and the last of his Capitol trilogy. Recorded as a concept album about the decrepit state of the environment in 1970 Los Angeles, and scheduled for release on the first Earth Day, it features choral vocals and marks a departure for Axelrod's signature sound, which would take on a jazzier feel in the 1970s. This definitive version of Earth Rot, overseen by Now-Again's Eothen Alapatt in conjunction with Axelrod's Estate, fulfills a request Axelrod made while alive -- to see the instrumentals of this album, never before released, issued. They see release here as the second half of a deluxe CD reissue. This is an audiophile reissue, with the vocal version transferred directly from Axelrod's original master tapes at Capitol Records by Ron McMaster. The master was approved by Axelrod's son Michael, who adapted ancient lyrics for the album in one of three collaborative projects he did with his father. Contains a 32 page booklet that delves into Axelrod's incredible life and music, replete with never before published photos and an interview. "There are very few people who see the Grand Picture of the Universe and understand the Nothingness that it all comes from. There are even fewer who can express these ideas through music -- David could do it all.' --T-Ray"
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2CD
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NA 5185CD
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"A rock concept album, as progressive as it is psychedelic, recorded by a 17-year-old Tom Nehls and his high school friends in Minneapolis over a three-month period in late 1972. Nehls original notes describe his influences: The Beatles, Zappa, Tolkien. But that amalgamation cannot prepare you for the depths that this wunderkind explored with first-time engineer Paul Stark, who would later co-found Twin/Tone Records and sign and develop punk legends The Replacements and dozens of other bands. Stark privately-pressed 1000 copies of I Always Catch The Third Second Of A Yellow Light and gave them to Nehls, who hand glued photo copied artwork on the front and back cover of the album and tried to sell copies to his high school friends. Shortly thereafter, 900 copies were destroyed when his parents' basement flooded, Nehls went off to college, and his masterpiece was left, undiscovered and unappreciated, until fringe vinyl collectors in the early 1990s found and shared a handful of copies. Nehls' album has gone on to be a welcome addition to the genre Paul Major called 'Real People Music'; a wonderful and sincere exploration of the human predicament that reveals more of itself with each listen. Mastered from a flat transfer of Stark's original master tapes, this is the best that this album has ever sounded. The Now-Again Reserve Edition of I Always Catch The Third Second Of A Yellow Light possesses a fidelity that Nehls' rare original didn't." 2CD, fold out eco-wallet. Nearly an hour of unreleased music on disc two. Contains a 24 page booklet with Nehls story told in great detail, with never before published photos.
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LP
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NA 5185LP
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LP version. Gatefold jacket with obi. Hand taped front and back covers, an homage to Nehls' hand assembled original. Contains a 16 page booklet with Nehls story told in great detail, with never before published photos. Download card for WAV files of the album and unreleased music. "A rock concept album, as progressive as it is psychedelic, recorded by a 17-year-old Tom Nehls and his high school friends in Minneapolis over a three-month period in late 1972. Nehls original notes describe his influences: The Beatles, Zappa, Tolkien. But that amalgamation cannot prepare you for the depths that this wunderkind explored with first-time engineer Paul Stark, who would later co-found Twin/Tone Records and sign and develop punk legends The Replacements and dozens of other bands. Stark privately-pressed 1000 copies of I Always Catch The Third Second Of A Yellow Light and gave them to Nehls, who hand glued photo copied artwork on the front and back cover of the album and tried to sell copies to his high school friends. Shortly thereafter, 900 copies were destroyed when his parents' basement flooded, Nehls went off to college, and his masterpiece was left, undiscovered and unappreciated, until fringe vinyl collectors in the early 1990s found and shared a handful of copies. Nehls' album has gone on to be a welcome addition to the genre Paul Major called 'Real People Music'; a wonderful and sincere exploration of the human predicament that reveals more of itself with each listen. Mastered from a flat transfer of Stark's original master tapes, this is the best that this album has ever sounded. The Now-Again Reserve Edition of I Always Catch The Third Second Of A Yellow Light possesses a fidelity that Nehls' rare original didn't."
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CD
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NA 5182CD
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"Sho is Funky Down Here and The Grodeck Whipperjenny are a pair of albums that are the result of an unlikely but highly productive musical relationship between James Brown, a superstar at the creative and commercial peaks of his long career, and David Matthews, a then young arranger-musician whose limited professional experience had little or nothing to do with the funk and soul of his collaborator. James Brown's psychedelic album, created by his then-bandleader David Matthews, and issued at the same time as Matthews' classic The Grodeck Whipperjenny. Underground, fuzzy, rambling psych-funk. The genesis of Brown's 'Talking Loud And Saying Nothing,' a 1990s hip hop sample staple, informing A Tribe Called Quest, Large Professor, Brand Nubian and others. Both albums were lacquered directly from the original master tapes at Capitol Studios. This is the first official reissue of both of these rare titles. Each album contains an extensive booklet with full annotation, liner notes by Brown historian Alan Leeds and never-before-published photos."
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CD
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NA 5181CD
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"Sho is Funky Down Here and The Grodeck Whipperjenny are a pair of albums that are the result of an unlikely but highly productive musical relationship between James Brown, a superstar at the creative and commercial peaks of his long career, and David Matthews, a then young arranger-musician whose limited professional experience had little or nothing to do with the funk and soul of his collaborator. James Brown's psychedelic album, created by his then-bandleader David Matthews, and issued at the same time as Matthews' classic The Grodeck Whipperjenny. Underground, fuzzy, rambling psych-funk. The genesis of Brown's 'Talking Loud And Saying Nothing,' a 1990s hip hop sample staple, informing A Tribe Called Quest, Large Professor, Brand Nubian and others. Both albums were lacquered directly from the original master tapes at Capitol Studios. This is the first official reissue of both of these rare titles. Each album contains an extensive booklet with full annotation, liner notes by Brown historian Alan Leeds and never-before-published photos."
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LP
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NA 5182LP
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RSD 2019 release. "Sho is Funky Down Here and The Grodeck Whipperjenny are a pair of albums that are the result of an unlikely but highly productive musical relationship between James Brown, a superstar at the creative and commercial peaks of his long career, and David Matthews, a then young arranger-musician whose limited professional experience had little or nothing to do with the funk and soul of his collaborator. James Brown's psychedelic album, created by his then-bandleader David Matthews, and issued at the same time as Matthews' classic The Grodeck Whipperjenny. Underground, fuzzy, rambling psych-funk. The genesis of Brown's 'Talking Loud And Saying Nothing,' a 1990s hip hop sample staple, informing A Tribe Called Quest, Large Professor, Brand Nubian and others. Both albums were lacquered directly from the original master tapes at Capitol Studios. This is the first official reissue of both of these rare titles. Each album contains an extensive booklet with full annotation, liner notes by Brown historian Alan Leeds and never-before-published photos."
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LP
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NA 5181LP
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Repressed. "Sho is Funky Down Here and The Grodeck Whipperjenny are a pair of albums that are the result of an unlikely but highly productive musical relationship between James Brown, a superstar at the creative and commercial peaks of his long career, and David Matthews, a then young arranger-musician whose limited professional experience had little or nothing to do with the funk and soul of his collaborator. James Brown's psychedelic album, created by his then-bandleader David Matthews, and issued at the same time as Matthews' classic The Grodeck Whipperjenny. Underground, fuzzy, rambling psych-funk. The genesis of Brown's 'Talking Loud And Saying Nothing,' a 1990s hip hop sample staple, informing A Tribe Called Quest, Large Professor, Brand Nubian and others. Both albums were lacquered directly from the original master tapes at Capitol Studios. This is the first official reissue of both of these rare titles. Each album contains an extensive booklet with full annotation, liner notes by Brown historian Alan Leeds and never-before-published photos."
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CD
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NA 5184CD
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"Kraut-jazz-rock produced by JJ Whitefield (Poets of Rhythm/Whitefield Brothers). The long-standing band's third album. Featuring Marja Burchard (Embryo). It's been over ten years since Karl Hector and the Malcouns' Sahara Swing saw release on Now-Again in 2008. The album swung with influences from across the African diaspora and set the stage for a cult, but influential following. Hermes designer Christophe Lemaire picked tracks from Karl Hector and The Malcouns as amongst his favorites in the Now-Again catalog, and included them on his Where Are You From anthology. Festival promoters intrigued by the possibility of resurrecting the careers of once forgotten African mavericks -- from Ghana's Ebo Taylor to the progenitors of Zambia's Zamrock scene -- brought Hector and crew across Europe playing festivals for ecstatic fans. Producer JJ Whitefield even founded an Afro-Rock band, Johnny!, with Taylor's son Henry. Unstraight Ahead, their sophomore release from 2014, found the band exploring territories even outside of the expansive scope of Sahara Swing: West African sounds of Ghana and Mali met the East African sounds of Mulatu Astatke's Ethiopian jazz, tied together with the groove heavy experimentalism of The Malcouns' 70s Krautrock godfathers: Can, of course, but also more obscure and equally adventurous groups like Agitation Free, Ibliss and Tomorrow's Gift. 'We look to Middle Eastern funk and psychedelic fusions, and to various ethnic records for sound and phrasing,' Whitefield stated at the time of Unstraight Ahead's release. 'We're trying to combine the global experimentalism of Krautrock with the backbeat of funk.' Non Ex Orbis, the band's third studio album, digs deeper into the Krautrock history embedded deep in the soil of their native Munich - three of the most influential bands of the 1970s experimental German rock scene sprung from there: Amon Düül, Popol Vuh and Embryo. Influenced by these musical heroes, Whitefield shapes a sound that takes the experimental approach of the classic Krautrock era and slides between beat-heavy drone and spacey, prog-rock suites. Marja Burchard, daughter of Embryo mastermind Christian Burchard, fronts the group on keyboard, vibraphone and other-worldly vocals. Al Markovic joins longstanding Malcoun Zdenko Curilija to round out the ensemble. Non Ex Orbis, read by Whitefield and the band as Out Of This World, symbolizes an innocent way of composing and improvising music, free from the influences of our contemporary environment, preserving a childlike way of hearing sounds in their unfiltered purity."
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LP
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NA 5184LP
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LP version; includes download card. "Kraut-jazz-rock produced by JJ Whitefield (Poets of Rhythm/Whitefield Brothers). The long-standing band's third album. Featuring Marja Burchard (Embryo). It's been over ten years since Karl Hector and the Malcouns' Sahara Swing saw release on Now-Again in 2008. The album swung with influences from across the African diaspora and set the stage for a cult, but influential following. Hermes designer Christophe Lemaire picked tracks from Karl Hector and The Malcouns as amongst his favorites in the Now-Again catalog, and included them on his Where Are You From anthology. Festival promoters intrigued by the possibility of resurrecting the careers of once forgotten African mavericks ? from Ghana's Ebo Taylor to the progenitors of Zambia's Zamrock scene ? brought Hector and crew across Europe playing festivals for ecstatic fans. Producer JJ Whitefield even founded an Afro-Rock band, Johnny!, with Taylor's son Henry. Unstraight Ahead, their sophomore release from 2014, found the band exploring territories even outside of the expansive scope of Sahara Swing: West African sounds of Ghana and Mali met the East African sounds of Mulatu Astatke's Ethiopian jazz, tied together with the groove heavy experimentalism of The Malcouns' 70s Krautrock godfathers: Can, of course, but also more obscure and equally adventurous groups like Agitation Free, Ibliss and Tomorrow's Gift. 'We look to Middle Eastern funk and psychedelic fusions, and to various ethnic records for sound and phrasing,' Whitefield stated at the time of Unstraight Ahead's release. 'We're trying to combine the global experimentalism of Krautrock with the backbeat of funk.' Non Ex Orbis, the band's third studio album, digs deeper into the Krautrock history embedded deep in the soil of their native Munich - three of the most influential bands of the 1970s experimental German rock scene sprung from there: Amon Düül, Popol Vuh and Embryo. Influenced by these musical heroes, Whitefield shapes a sound that takes the experimental approach of the classic Krautrock era and slides between beat-heavy drone and spacey, prog-rock suites. Marja Burchard, daughter of Embryo mastermind Christian Burchard, fronts the group on keyboard, vibraphone and other-worldly vocals. Al Markovic joins longstanding Malcoun Zdenko Curilija to round out the ensemble. Non Ex Orbis, read by Whitefield and the band as Out Of This World, symbolizes an innocent way of composing and improvising music, free from the influences of our contemporary environment, preserving a childlike way of hearing sounds in their unfiltered purity."
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2CD
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NA 5174CD
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Now-Again Reserve series. "Al Manfredi is the father of hip-hop producer Exile, and Blue Gold is his little-known West Coast rock masterpiece from 1973. Manfredi's dreams of securing a record deal with this album faded, but he spent the rest of his life recording music. This version of the album was overseen by Exile. Born into a musical family Al Manfredi started writing songs when he was child. As a teenager in 1965, he formed the Nuts & Bolts in the small beach town of San Clemente, California. Inspired by the Kinks, the Beatles and the Byrds, the group separated themselves from the pack by also performing original material written by Manfredi and band mate Mike Ingram. In late 1966 they changed their name to the Lost & Found and relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, where they cut a rare single, 'Don't Move Girl' b/w 'To Catch the Sun,' which now commands high coin from '60s garage collectors. When they returned to San Clemente in early 1967 their music had taken a more psychedelic direction. The Lost & Found were riding high that year, until tragedy struck. Ingram was found hanged under suspicious circumstances and soon after Lost & Found drummer Mike Ryer died of cancer at the age of 19. Heartbroken, Manfredi gave up on the band scene completely and moved to Garden Grove to teach at his family's music store. But alone, behind closed doors, he kept writing songs and working on his music, recording hours of tapes, often tracking all the instruments himself. In 1973 he chose six of his best songs, some of them written back in the Lost & Found days, and had them custom-pressed as an LP. Only a handful of copies were pressed, and most of these were sent out to various record companies in the hope of landing a deal. Despite the outstanding quality of the music, there were no takers. But decades later, collectors discovered the Al Manfredi album and hailed it a West Coast rock masterpiece. In his Acid Archives book, Patrick Lundborg called its discovery a deus ex machina and compared it to David Crosby's first solo album and Hawaii-era Merrell Fankhauser, 'not just the acutely captured mellowness, but the self-confidence and the talent.' This little-known West Coast rock masterpiece was rediscovered and celebrated by Acid Archives founder Patrick Lundborg and others around the time that Manfredi died in 1995. This version of the album, overseen by Manfredi's son Exile, and with Manfredi's story told by Ugly Things' founder Mike Stax, presents the complete package of an incredible lost and found artist."
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NA 5174LP
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Now-Again Reserve series. LP version. Gatefold sleeve; Extensive, photo-filled booklet documents the history of the band, their mission, and their arc; Download card included for WAV files, including bonus tracks. "Al Manfredi is the father of hip-hop producer Exile, and Blue Gold is his little-known West Coast rock masterpiece from 1973. Manfredi's dreams of securing a record deal with this album faded, but he spent the rest of his life recording music. This version of the album was overseen by Exile. Born into a musical family Al Manfredi started writing songs when he was child. As a teenager in 1965, he formed the Nuts & Bolts in the small beach town of San Clemente, California. Inspired by the Kinks, the Beatles and the Byrds, the group separated themselves from the pack by also performing original material written by Manfredi and band mate Mike Ingram. In late 1966 they changed their name to the Lost & Found and relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, where they cut a rare single, 'Don't Move Girl' b/w 'To Catch the Sun,' which now commands high coin from '60s garage collectors. When they returned to San Clemente in early 1967 their music had taken a more psychedelic direction. The Lost & Found were riding high that year, until tragedy struck. Ingram was found hanged under suspicious circumstances and soon after Lost & Found drummer Mike Ryer died of cancer at the age of 19. Heartbroken, Manfredi gave up on the band scene completely and moved to Garden Grove to teach at his family's music store. But alone, behind closed doors, he kept writing songs and working on his music, recording hours of tapes, often tracking all the instruments himself. In 1973 he chose six of his best songs, some of them written back in the Lost & Found days, and had them custom-pressed as an LP. Only a handful of copies were pressed, and most of these were sent out to various record companies in the hope of landing a deal. Despite the outstanding quality of the music, there were no takers. But decades later, collectors discovered the Al Manfredi album and hailed it a West Coast rock masterpiece. In his Acid Archives book, Patrick Lundborg called its discovery a deus ex machina and compared it to David Crosby's first solo album and Hawaii-era Merrell Fankhauser, 'not just the acutely captured mellowness, but the self-confidence and the talent.' This little-known West Coast rock masterpiece was rediscovered and celebrated by Acid Archives founder Patrick Lundborg and others around the time that Manfredi died in 1995. This version of the album, overseen by Manfredi's son Exile, and with Manfredi's story told by Ugly Things' founder Mike Stax, presents the complete package of an incredible lost and found artist."
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8LP
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NA 5159LP
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Limited bundled edition, 100 copies made. "Revolutionary, spiritual jazz bandleader, drummer, and activist from Houston. This is the definitive box set of his four classic albums with his Lightmen band, each mastered from the original tapes, expanded with bonus tracks and alternate mixes. Bubbha Thomas had toured America with R&B revues, served as a session musician for Peacock and Back Beat Records, and played straight ahead jazz with legends before the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s led him to a path first charted by Coltrane. His first set of self-issued albums predated the deep-set, maverick jazz issued by the likes of Tribe and Strata East and were a harbinger of best of the 1970s jazz underground. Over the course of the decade, he contributed to a collective voice of resistance to the musical and cultural status quo that is just beginning to be understood. Each album contains 2LPs and comes with a download card for WAV files, and footage of live performances included. Booklet detailing Thomas and his band's remarkable trajectory also included in the set. Album details below. Includes: Free As You Wanna Be, Fancy Pants, Energy Control Center, and Country Fried Chicken."
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NA 5173LP
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"They have been known to deep soul, funk and disco collectors for decades for their sought after 7" 'Watching Out/Dazed,' long thought to be the band's only recordings. Egon tracked down Split Decision Band's vocalist and songwriter Gordon Starr Flipping in the hopes of more and got it -- with Split Decision Band, Now-Again presents an album of devastatingly good disco and boogie from the unlikely city of Des Moines, Iowa. Flipping's collaborations with Prince's stable made him a Midwestern legend, but his band's music is more than an urban tall tale -- this album finally proves to the world their merits."
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2CD
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NA 5172CD
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"Drum-machine soul, funk, disco and boogie from Buffalo, NYC. Rare 7' singles and previously unreleased tracks presented as an album for the first time. In the early '70s, Jessie Key and Sylvester Cleary -- two passionate idealists living in Buffalo, New York -- formed a close friendship based on a mutual mission to better their city. The Attica State Prison Riot of 1971 was a burning memory, and the Arthur vs. Nyquist lawsuit -- brought against the City of Buffalo for creating and maintaining a racially segregated school system -- was on the docket. Key was once a cotton-laborer in Mississippi, who journeyed north for school where he met his kindred spirit, Cleary. The two struck up an intense friendship, bought a drum machine and recorded their first 45, 'A Man', a paean to self-actualization and Black American empowerment, which they custom pressed and issued privately. Dozens of recordings followed over a decade-long span, issued on local labels and warehoused on cassette tapes. Perennial optimists, Key & Cleary tried any -- perhaps every! -- path they could demarcate in hopes of forwarding their agenda of self-effected, positive change. They formed Buffalo's first minority-owned construction company, opened a health food restaurant in a building previously occupied by a fast food chain, and even concocted a candy bar called 'The Buffalo Treat', which they manufactured and sold locally. Eventually they started their own label, Buffalo's Reflection. On it they released their masterpiece, What It Takes To Live, a sought-after disco and Northern Soul classic, which previously appeared on Now-Again's Soul Cal anthology. This album collates the breadth of Key & Cleary's recordings from 1970 until the mid-1980s, both the songs issued on rare 7' singles and previously unreleased. It presents a conjoined musical vision and tells the story of a duo years ahead of their time, both musically and culturally. Love Is The Way was their ethos; their goal was to enlighten humanity and to bend history in a more loving direction through communion."
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LP
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NA 5172LP
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LP version. Now-Again Reserve series. "Drum-machine soul, funk, disco and boogie from Buffalo, NYC. Rare 7' singles and previously unreleased tracks presented as an album for the first time. In the early '70s, Jessie Key and Sylvester Cleary -- two passionate idealists living in Buffalo, New York -- formed a close friendship based on a mutual mission to better their city. The Attica State Prison Riot of 1971 was a burning memory, and the Arthur vs. Nyquist lawsuit -- brought against the City of Buffalo for creating and maintaining a racially segregated school system -- was on the docket. Key was once a cotton-laborer in Mississippi, who journeyed north for school where he met his kindred spirit, Cleary. The two struck up an intense friendship, bought a drum machine and recorded their first 45, 'A Man', a paean to self-actualization and Black American empowerment, which they custom pressed and issued privately. Dozens of recordings followed over a decade-long span, issued on local labels and warehoused on cassette tapes. Perennial optimists, Key & Cleary tried any -- perhaps every! -- path they could demarcate in hopes of forwarding their agenda of self-effected, positive change. They formed Buffalo's first minority-owned construction company, opened a health food restaurant in a building previously occupied by a fast food chain, and even concocted a candy bar called 'The Buffalo Treat', which they manufactured and sold locally. Eventually they started their own label, Buffalo's Reflection. On it they released their masterpiece, What It Takes To Live, a sought-after disco and Northern Soul classic, which previously appeared on Now-Again's Soul Cal anthology. This album collates the breadth of Key & Cleary's recordings from 1970 until the mid-1980s, both the songs issued on rare 7' singles and previously unreleased. It presents a conjoined musical vision and tells the story of a duo years ahead of their time, both musically and culturally. Love Is The Way was their ethos; their goal was to enlighten humanity and to bend history in a more loving direction through communion."
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NA 5167CD
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"Includes never before issued instrumentals! Comes with a 32-page booklet! New audiophile transfer directly from Axelrod's original EQ'ed master tapes. Earth Rot is visionary composer/arranger/producer David Axelrod's third album, and the last of his Capitol trilogy. Recorded as a concept album about the decrepit state of the environment in 1970 Los Angeles, and scheduled for release on the first Earth Day, it features choral vocals and marks a departure for Axelrod's signature sound, which would take on a jazzier feel in the 1970s. This definitive version of Earth Rot, overseen by Now-Again's Eothen Alapatt in conjunction with Axelrod's Estate, fulfills a request Axelrod made while alive -- to see the instrumentals of this album, never before released, issued. They see release here as the second half of a deluxe CD reissue. This is an audiophile reissue, with the vocal version transferred directly from Axelrod's original master tapes at Capitol Records by Ron McMaster. The master was approved by Axelrod's son Michael, who adapted ancient lyrics for the album in one of three collaborative projects he did with his father. Contains a 32 page booklet that delves into Axelrod's incredible life and music, replete with never before published photos and an interview."
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2CD
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NA 5157CD
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"Revolutionary, spiritual jazz from the unlikely city of Houston, Texas: the definitive issue, mastered from the original tapes. Bonus disc contains previously unreleased tracks. Drummer, bandleader and activist Bubbha Thomas had toured America with R&B revues, served as a session musician for Peacock and Back Beat Records, and played straight ahead jazz with legends before the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s led him to a path first charted by Coltrane. Energy Control Center, his third LP with his Lightmen band is his masterpiece: deep-set, maverick jazz on par with the best Tribe and Strata East titles. This is a highpoint amongst the best of the 1970s jazz underground, a collective voice of resistance to the musical and cultural status quo. Contains second disc with bonus tracks: unreleased alternate takes, including two versions of the spiritual jazz classic 'All Praises To Allah', all housed with an extensive booklet with photos and liner notes."
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2LP
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NA 5157LP
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Double LP version, tip-on gatefold jacket. "Revolutionary, spiritual jazz from the unlikely city of Houston, Texas: the definitive issue, mastered from the original tapes. Bonus disc contains previously unreleased tracks. Drummer, bandleader and activist Bubbha Thomas had toured America with R&B revues, served as a session musician for Peacock and Back Beat Records, and played straight ahead jazz with legends before the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s led him to a path first charted by Coltrane. Energy Control Center, his third LP with his Lightmen band is his masterpiece: deep-set, maverick jazz on par with the best Tribe and Strata East titles. This is a highpoint amongst the best of the 1970s jazz underground, a collective voice of resistance to the musical and cultural status quo. Contains second disc with bonus tracks: unreleased alternate takes, including two versions of the spiritual jazz classic 'All Praises To Allah', all housed with an extensive booklet with photos and liner notes."
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2LP
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NA 5158LP
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Double LP version. "Jazz, funk, disco and boogie from the unlikely city of Houston, Texas: the definitive issue, with bonus tracks, mastered from the original tapes. Drummer, bandleader and activist Bubbha Thomas had toured America with R&B revues, served as a session musician for Peacock and Back Beat Records, and played straight ahead jazz with legends before the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s led him to a path first charted by Coltrane. Country Fried Chicken, his fourth LP with his Lightmen band is his most accessible, a mixture of funk and spiritual jazz. Contains second disc with bonus tracks: alternate, synth-lead mixes of songs from his first two LPs as well as rare and unreleased disco and boogie tracks. Extensive booklet included."
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2LP
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NA 5167LP
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[sold out, will be replaced by single LP version] "2018 Black Friday RSD release. Earth Rot is visionary composer/arranger/producer David Axelrod's third album, and the last of his Capitol trilogy. Recorded as a concept album about the decrepit state of the environment in 1970 Los Angeles, and scheduled for release on the first Earth Day, it features choral vocals and marks a departure for Axelrod's signature sound, which would take on a jazzier feel in the 1970s. This definitive version of Earth Rot, overseen by Now-Again's Eothen Alapatt in conjunction with Axelrod's estate, fulfills a request Axelrod made while alive ? to see the instrumentals of this album, never before released, issued. They see release here as the second LP in a two-LP set. This is an audiophile reissue, with the vocal version lacquered directly from Axelrod's original master tapes at Capitol Records by Ron Mcmaster. The master was approved by Axelrod's son Michael, who adapted ancient lyrics for the album in one of three collaborative projects he did with his father. Contains a 28 page booklet that delves into Axelrod's incredible life and music, replete with never before published photos and an interview. 'There are very few people who see the Grand Picture of the Universe and understand the Nothingness that it all comes from. There are even fewer who can express these ideas through music - David could do it all.' --T-Ray. Includes never before issued instrumentals. Comes packaged in a gatefold jacket with a 28-page booklet."
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2LP
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NA 5134LP
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"21 rare and unreleased tracks. Long overlooked ballads from the flip sides of the funk 45s in the now-again vaults. We at Now-Again unearthed so much information about the bands that recorded the definitive disco and modern soul contained in our recently launched Soul Cal anthology that we decided we had no choice but to release an album and a book at the same time. Well, following that line, the music contained on Loving On The Flip Side music is too damn good to be anonymously relaunched, decades after musical visionaries blended the best of heavy funk and sweet soul into a unified whole. And simply telling the stories of these vocalists and bands without allowing their lovelorn pleas to be heard again wasn't an option. Thus, Loving On The Flip Side again offers the enthused a chance to listen to, read about and reflect on another great burst of black American creativity: the creation of the sublime genre we like to call 'sweet funk.' It seems laughable to skip past Thomas East's 'Slipping Around' 7' for the cheesy funk of 'Just A Trip,' or to listen obsessively to Lou Ragland's instrumental funk on the Hot Chocolate LP and ignore his indolent-yet-stirring 'We Had True Love.' Yet we did just that, until we first heard the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy's beautiful two-sider nearly ten years back. This was the record that set Loving On The Flip Side in motion, as the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy's two songs precipitated the sweet funk genre: the dichotomy of Funky Heavy's skull snapping rhythm section and the teenage Dears' angelic harmonies didn't sound like anything we'd heard before. That discovery set off a decade long search for the band and culminated in their discovery, the documenting of their stories, the emergence of their master tapes and the inclusion of their songs on Loving On The Flip Side. The excitement we felt while listening to the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy's masterworks forced us back into the field, in search of other sweet funk swooners and beat-heavy ballads to round out this anthology. The opportunity to present anew such wondrous soul music made the exhaustive process that produced Loving On The Flip Side worthwhile, and allowed us to collect one-offs that escaped prior investigations into the deep funk and sweet soul genres."
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